BREAK ROOM

Game show contestants chosen for their annoying workplace habits must ferret out the pretender in their midst.

Everyone has a story about the co-worker from hell, and in this intriguing Korean novel, office villains must grapple with their own bad behavior and use it to their advantage. Having written cozy fantasies like The Dallergut Dream Department Store (2024), author Lee turns in a darker but equally charming direction with this tale of office workers employing their worst character traits to win big prize money. The eight contestants are nominated by their fed-up officemates, and the story mostly takes place in a break room designed by the show’s production team. It’s told from the perspective of a player known as Ice Cube, whose co-workers nominated him because he fills their break room’s ice cube trays with coffee and cola. The other contestants are Tumblers, who leaves unwashed beverage containers in the sink; Coffee Mix, who hoards the best snacks; the know-it-all Monologue, who never stops talking; and Cake, who fills the refrigerator with oversized bakery boxes. One of them is an impostor and the money goes to the contestant who can figure out which. The rules of the game aren’t revealed—to either the players or the reader—but if a contestant figures out how to break one, they win a card that hints at the impostor’s identity. On the surface, this is a quirky story about reality TV and people behaving badly, but Lee gets the prize for turning it into a tale of relatable workaday characters attempting to understand how other people perceive them, and why people act the way they do.

You won’t feel like a traitor if you pick up this insightful reality-show thriller.