Written by Kim Da no and Illustrated by Lee Yoon Hee


Following the first volume, ‘Secret Wish’, the second volume, ‘Secret Homework’, written by Kim Da No, has been published. Yi Rang, the fifth grade student, went abroad with her father to study. She was a stranger every day there and she finally realized her another name she had never imagined before, ‘Asian’. She had never recognized her as ‘Asian’ before, so she got confused with herself facing this new name.
Yi Rang is Korean but she doesn’t know K-Pop or Kimchi. Instead, she likes McDonald. However, she had so many moments that she had to prove whether she was Korean or not. Ironically, the fact that she preferred McDonald to Kimchi even solidified the fact that she was Asian and enough to be discriminated. As time went on, Yi Rang began deeply thinking over a new category she was included, which is Asian. Should I just stay in the boundary others have made? Or should I step over the boundary and move forward? She asked herself, ‘Is it really necessary that I have to prove myself whether I am Korean or not?’

“Will you show your bag?”
“I mean, I think you stole something, so let me check out your bag.”
“There are so many thieves among young Asians. Especially, the ones with these small rat eyes are 100% thieves.” (p. 57-59)

Yi Rang couldn’t respond anything to the storekeeper. She knew. It was unfair she was accused of stealing just because she was a ‘young Asian’. However, she didn’t know how to respond to that fact. For direct discrimination, it happened in the public place and was accepted quite naturally. Moreover, for secretive discrimination in her ordinary life, it was not that easy to be named. The victims had to be alone under the discriminating circumstances. In front of the logic that it was ‘racial discrimination’ only if I had to deny myself, she was all alone. Therefore, people tried to run away not to deny themselves. The victims ran away and the bullies just stayed there. The discrimination had been there in the arena for a long time in the way that victims escaped. However, she decided to stay in the arena, carrying a sign that said what really happened that day near the store. Passengers started noticing Yi Rang one by one, and suddenly, something came upon her when she was in Korea. It was the moment when her teacher told the bullied victim to endure just because she was a good girl. Finally, she began talking to the storekeeper whether he knew how many people in the store got damaged due to their discrimination.

“If the peace is achieved by someone else’s sacrifice, it that really peace? It is not us who broke the peace. You should know that it is you in the past.” (p. 97)

Yi Rang finally began her homework. It was perhaps the easiest or the most difficult one at the same time – ‘to describe myself’. She couldn’t start a single word since the day she got that homework, but then, she came up with a sentence in the end after coming back from the picket demonstration. ‘A person who perhaps changed the world a bit.’ She continued. ‘A person who doesn’t care what people’s hair colors are’. She made her choice in front of the incident happened regardless of her will. She chose the way to grow up a step forward, and her ‘good friends’ were with her.
Her story shows us amazing changes even such a small and meaningless action can make. We can learn from this book that taking an action can actually change the world, not just doing nothing. The writer dreams of the world where children who are vulnerable and suffering in their ordinary life can proudly say out loud that they are sick.