Return to the Dallergut Dream Department Store

The second book of Miye Lee's whimsical and moving duology, translated from the Korean language by Sandy Joosun Lee.

It has been a year since Penny first walked through the doors of DallerGut Dream Department Store, and surviving a year at the store means one thing... She is now an official employee of the dream industry! She can finally take the express commuter train to the Company District, where all the dream production companies are located and discover how all raw dream materials and testing equipment are produced.

But the Company District is not quite what she expected, it hides the darker underbelly of the magical industry that Penny thought she was a part of.

Penny discovers the Civil Complaint Center, full of people filing complaints about their dreams. She also learns about the regular customers who have stopped coming to the store. As she gets to the bottom of each complaint, she begins to expand her horizons, transforming from just selling dreams to understanding what lies in the hearts of their lost regulars.

Return to the DallerGut Dream Department Store delves deeper into the dream industry and its customers. Why do some of them buy a dream and never return? Will Penny and her colleagues be able to bring their regulars back?

About the Author

Miye Lee was born in Busan in 1990. After graduating from the Busan National University School of Materials Science and Engineering, she worked as a semiconductor engineer at Samsung Electronics. Her debut novel Dallergut Dream Department Store published entirely funded through a crowdfunding service in Korea in 2020 and has since drawn many enthusiastic responses and favourable reviews.

About the Translator

Sandy Joosun Lee is a translator and interpreter based in Seoul. Her translations include Won-pyung Sohn's Almond (HarperVia, 2020). She also works in animation, translating and developing animated content, which includes The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (2021) and Star Wars: Visions (2023).

Praise for DallerGut Dream Department Store

"These days I'm reading a book called DallerGut Dream Department Store and when they talk about the dream department store I can see it in my head. I imagine I'm shopping there as I read." —Wonwoo, member of the K-Pop group Seventeen

"The writer of this novel must be brilliant, because this world was so creative. You need to read this too!" —Yugyeom, member of the K-Pop group Got7

"A charming foray into the land of sleep. This is an excellent choice for a gentle book club read." ―Library Journal

"This book has the unique ability to evoke both tears and tranquility. A perfect read for moments of exhaustion and the yearning to escape reality, it possesses the power to mend weary hearts." ―Insight Korea

"DallerGut Dream Department Store provides empathy and comfort to readers who have found it increasingly difficult to dream in the midst of the painful realities of life."  ―Opinion News