VOL.69/2024.04

Living a Life in Korea in 2023

Podcaster’s Pick: Korean Books

2023.11.06

In the midst of K-fever in 2023, what does people’s work life look like in South Korea? Here, a group of 11 novelists gathered under the name “Monthly Pay Realism (wolgeupsasiljueui),” have written a book that “realistically depicts the struggles of ordinary people trying to make ends meet.” The book is Thank You For Your Hard Work (Munhakdongne), published in September.
While people thought they had narrowly escaped the economic crisis that followed COVID-19, it seems the aftermath is only just beginning. Working hard for a month to get a paycheck has been referred to as “mining for cash,” and the impatience and anxiety to build on it by investing in coins or stocks that create greater wealth has led many to crash. To those who offload responsibility by saying, “it’s up to the investor to choose wisely,” people who struggle to make ends meet while fighting the devaluation of their labor are left powerless to argue back.
The various scenes captured in some books are like a snapshot of Korean society in 2023 that could appear on the front page of a newspaper. In the book Super Glue by Kim Eui-Kyung, the protagonist switches from a macaron cafe with declining customers to a triangle kimbap factory that can never fail. In The Bench at Night by Seo Yu-Mi, a parent, Kyung-Jin, hopes to protect the bench in her apartment from removal after noticing that the private tutor of her child sits on it for their 15 minute break time every day. In the book Photosynthesis Lunch, written by Lee Seo-Su, the main character tries to convince the CEO of the employees’ complaints without offending him, but feels that she is just a piece of gum paper stuck in the middle and can be thrown away at any time. Also, in the story Poison in Soy Sauce by Chang Kang-myoung, the protagonist is left alone in an empty office at Korea’s No. 1 travel agency after people scatter in the order of voluntary resignation, standby, and advisory resignation as the industry is hit hard by COVID-19. In the face of YouTubers’ encouragement to “unleash your potential and have more than others,” we are forced to gulp down our triangular kimbap and make life-threatening acrobatics for the next destination.

* K-Book Trends Vol. 63 – Go to the interview with writer Chang Kang-myoung

If you finished reading Thank You For Your Hard Work and want to read more about the rest of the story, I recommend Help Me Sister by Lee Seo-soo (EunHaeng NaMu Publishing). In the book, Su-Kyung, the only one earning a salary while living with three generations in a small apartment, is forced to quit her job when she becomes the victim of a crime committed by a coworker at a company dinner. Then she is left with her husband, Woo-Jae, a full-time investor; her mother, Yeo-Sook, who recently quit her job as an environmental cleaner; her father, Cheon-Sik, who blew up their house in a scam two years ago; and her two nephews, who are left to fend for themselves.
Su-Kyung and Yeo-Sook start doing delivery to make ends meet, followed by Woo-Jae and Cheon-Sik, who begin designated driver service and food delivery... Inadvertently, the whole family becomes platform workers to make money. They don’t have the time or money to fight and overcome their unjust reality, which makes them focus on their immediate livelihood, but they come to realize how important it is to have a family to help them get through their lives. They support each other by healing their wounds from the outside world, laughing and encouraging each other instead of crying, and silently sending support to each other so that they can pick themselves up, get out the door and continue on their way. They may not be in a position of strength anywhere, but they can be as strong as they want to be in front of the people who are important to them.
Just like novelist Park Sang-Young said in his recommendation - “Help Me Sister is also filled with people with wounds. Instead of taking the easy way out, turning away from pain and suffering, they embrace and rescue each other. They find a piece of glory in the dullest of days” - the book is about the story of people living in our neighborhood. People who pass by noisily as if they were going out to eat, people who laugh as loud as they can when they are with each other. People who are not so different from me, trying to survive somehow in this world without a moment to look back at those who are left behind, come alive in this novel. The writer’s heartfelt message adds that the decision not to give up and to try again is what makes a miracle.

* K-Book Trends Vol. 48 – Go to the interview with writer Park Sang-Young

Written by Lee Ji-Eun (Book Editor, CEO of UUHEE Press, Podcaster of “Podcast Doostation”)