Once a journalist for the Fisheries News, Hwang Seol loses her job after exposing corruption and decides to start over by opening a book repair corner inside a secondhand bookstore near Mount Jirisan. While hiking, she gets lost and encounters a moon bear. A man appears, seemingly to rescue her, but in truth he is trying to free the bear from an illegal snare. After cutting her down from the trap she triggered, he scolds her for straying off the trail. Later, preparing for an interview, Seol discovers that the man is Jung Yu-geon, a wildlife veterinarian at the National Park Wildlife Conservation Center. Yu-geon, wary of her background as a journalist, refuses the interview, citing conflicting views on animal rights. Their rocky relationship begins. As Seol continues her work, she learns about the complex public debates surrounding the bear restoration project. They cross paths again at a library workshop, where Yu-geon brings her The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle for repair and offers a sincere apology. Slowly, they grow closer, even traveling together to Seoul for an antique book auction. Just as their relationship begins to warm, Yu-geon overhears Seol’s ex-boyfriend confessing his feelings to her. Believing he has no place in her life, Yu-geon withdraws, leaving their future uncertain.

The first title in the “Lo-Ro” series, which highlights local romance stories set in distinctive Korean regions. Restoration is set in Gu-rye, a town near Mount Jirisan, Korea’s first national park and home to moon bear restoration projects. The story unfolds along the banks of the pristine Seomjin River and in the real-life secondhand bookstore “Seomjin River Book Salon.” A screwball comedy-style love story between a woman who restores books and a man who restores wildlife, it is a sweet healing romance rooted in the culture and landscape of Gu-rye.