Magic Candies 2024

Dong-Dong is a young, friendless boy who finds simple joy in playing with marbles. One day, while trying to buy more marbles, he ends up purchasing round candies instead, and samples them as soon as he gets home.

The first candy is patterned like the couch in the family living room, and when he bites it, the couch can actually talk — but only while the candy remains in his mouth. The couch asks him to retrieve the remote from its side, and to tell Dad to stop farting on it so much. Shocked, [Dong-Dong] eats the candy and the moment passes; the candy melts away, leaving the couch inanimate once more.

Realizing the candies are magical, he tries the next piece, patterned after his dog, Gusuri. He asks why Gusuri no longer enjoys playing with him. Gusuri explains that he is now an older dog who prefers quieter activities, but he still loves Dong-Dong and has fond memories of when he was a puppy. He reassures him that he still cares for him and urges him to make friends and not worry about him.

Dong-Dong’s dad soon returns home. He is a strict father with many rules and expectations. Dong-Dong, feeling stifled by his father’s rigidity, eats a candy in bed, which is revealed to be connected to his father. He hears his father’s affectionate, loving thoughts toward him, and he gets up to hug him, appreciating and reciprocating those feelings.

The next day, while doing homework, he tastes the next candy, which turns out to be bubblegum. The bubble floats out the window and returns with the voice of his late grandmother, who says she is enjoying the afterlife, meeting old friends, and watching over him. She, like Gusuri, urges him to make friends of his own. Dong-Dong stores the gum under the desk, pleased that he can speak to his grandmother whenever he likes.

The next candy leads him outside, where he hears the leaves of the trees happily wishing each other goodbye as they fall. After finishing that candy, he spots a boy his age watching him. The final piece, clear and flavorless, inspires him to create his own voice for it and to invite the other boy to play. The boy agrees, and they become good friends.