Palantir – The Children of Aukstakalnis

In 2011, in broad daylight, a member of the National Assembly is murdered by an assailant. Detective Jang Wook from the investigation team hears from his friend Won Cheol that the assailant resembles a character in the advanced online game ‘Palantir’. He asks Won Cheol to delve deeper into the game to find more clues. However, Won Cheol’s character ‘Boromir’, controlled unconsciously, engages in unexpected and uncontrollable actions. As progress slows, Detective Jang Wook raids the game company and secretly investigates the murderer’s belongings, only to be excluded from the investigation team due to coercive investigative pressure from an unknown force. Meanwhile, Won Cheol stumbles upon the assailant’s trace in ‘Palantir’, marking a new turn in the investigation. Are the murder and the online game connected?

This modern thriller novel showcases everything the genre can offer.

The biggest strength of ‘Palantir’ is its immense appeal, universally acknowledged by all readers. A commenter on Naver’s Q&A board stated, “Readers of any age or type can definitely find 100% enjoyment,” emphasizing the undeniable fun that makes the book unputdownable. The various conspiracy theories surrounding advanced technology and the psychological foreshadowing presented by an author who was a former resident doctor at Seoul National University Hospital are indispensable elements of modern thrillers. International hits like Dan Brown’s ‘Digital Fortress’ and Robin Cook’s ‘Medical Thriller Series’ also achieved bestseller status by combining these elements. In Korea, ‘Palantir’ is pioneering the blend of techno-thrillers and psychological thrillers.

A controversial work that foresees and criticizes modern online game addiction.

Korea, becoming the world’s leading IT nation with a rapid 72% increase in high-speed internet coverage in the last five years, faced a surge in cybercrimes from about 1,000 cases in 2000 to over 100,000 in five years, half of which are crimes related to online game addiction (announced by the National Police Agency). According to the Information Culture Promotion Agency, three out of ten teenagers show signs of game addiction, and annually, about 10,000 teenagers fall into crime due to online games. The novel ‘Palantir’ conveys a message to its readers about the societal issues caused by this addiction. It especially adds to the drama by portraying the duality of ordinary people becoming ‘trolls’ and ‘witch-hunters’ on the internet, translated into multiple personalities created by a failure to adapt to virtual reality in the story.