"Break Up Care Insurance"

By Lee Hee-young

Giant Books

We have insurance for our bodies, properties, cars and medical expenses, but a new novel asks: why don’t we have insurance for our emotions?

Young adult fiction author Lee Hee-young, in her 10th novel, introduces the concept of BU Care Insurance, or breakup care insurance. This insurance involves a breakup consultant who helps clients with their emotional (and at times, physical) well-being and recovery after breakups.

The narrative unfolds at a seminar hosted by a postpartum care center, where four mothers decide to safeguard their children’s emotional well-being through signing up for this insurance. This becomes especially relevant as their children grow up and face breakups with their lovers or partners.

When their children come of age, the mothers seek services from two consultants, agents Na and Ahn. The two are experts in comforting people with broken hearts utilizing psychology, psychoanalysis and human relations theory.

The episodes address the issue of "safe breakups," alluding to stalking and dating violence that often make news headlines, offering reflections on the intricacies of contemporary relationships.

She writes in the author’s note: “In human life, there can be no similar love, no such separation, no familiar pain.”

Lee, already renowned for her works like the award-winning novel "Paint" with 400,000 copies sold, establishes herself as a leading figure in YA fiction.