The Last Root

In a near-future Korea where every tree in the city is monitored by a municipal AI (the "Green Census"), a young woman named Ji-woo receives a notification: her beloved garden tree has been flagged for removal. The roots are damaging a new smart-pathway installed by the city. She has 30 days to say goodbye. But Ji-woo isn't just attached to the tree. Her grandmother, a shaman (mudang), planted it decades ago and told her a secret: "This tree is not a tree. It is a lock. The roots keep the old things asleep."

When the city workers arrive to cut it down, they unleash something. The AI system starts glitching, showing visions of a Seoul that existed before the skyscrapers a city of forests, rivers, and ancient spirits (Dokkaebi, Gumiho, Imugi). The spirits are waking up, confused and angry, and they are furious at the humans who paved over their world. Ji-woo must team up with a disillusioned city arborist and a hacker to stop the removal, save the tree, and find a way to put the spirits back to sleep before the old gods of Korea decide to take their city back by force.

( note: AI was used to make this book bilingual and into the Korean language as well as English.)