Inhae's blog

筷：怪談競演奇物語, collection of short stories by 三津田信三 Mitsuda Shinzo (Jp), 薛西斯 Xerses (Tw), 夜透紫 JeTauZi (HK), 瀟湘神 Xiao Xiang Shen (Tw) and 陳浩基 Chan Ho Kei (HK)

This is a project where five different authors create urban legends related to chopsticks. Each short story is independent, but they are also deeply connected to one another, but this connection only appears as you read the fourth and fifth short stories. It’s best to read them in order, and treat the collection as a whole rather than five separate stories.

The first three authors each created an urban legend or ritual associated with chopsticks, and they all came out with very different things. But then, Xiao Xiang Shen‘s story creates an unexpected link between the stories of Mitsuda Shinzo and Xerses, which was really mind-blowing. More impressive even is how Chan Ho-kei links Xiao Xiang Shen’s story to JeTauZi’s.

I’ve read several collections of linked short stories were authors would hint at one another (there’s even a Korean publisher that invites the reader to spot this kind of references as a game added to the reading experience), but I’ve never read anything like this. Xiao Xiang Shen and Chan Ho-kei really add a new perspective to the collection, it’s almost like the short stories slowly blend to become a novel. If it was written by the same author, I would have found it fascinating already, but it’s written by five different authors!

서바이벌 태스크포스 by 황수빈

This novel has been incredibly entertaining!! 🤩 I loved it so much!! It’s a mix of workplace/office and survival/post apocalyptic genres, and the blend was just exquisite. Our protagonist is manager Kim, and he finds himself trapped in the office with some colleagues because of a zombie outbreak.

Now what’s really fascinating is that it’s not a workplace novel that turns into a survival one, it’s really the two at the same time! The novel continues to be a workplace novel even after the zombie outbreak, as the main characters are trapped on their floor and have to learn how to survive together while filling the days that seem never-ending.

Kim is a character that is extremely relatable, and his relations with his colleagues is described in a very humorous way. Hierarchy and clash of generations are two main topics, and it’s really interesting to see how these relations involve (or not) after the zombie outbreak.

The survival part is also incredibly good, from management or resources to crazy plans of escape, it has everything that makes the genre so attractive, and the novel is a real page-turner.

Overall, it was both suspenseful and funny, a really great entertainment that also reflects on life and work and the value of both. When you start the day longing for the 퇴근 시간, is it all worth it in the end?

That’s the kind of book I wish got translated… I’m sure it would work very well!

I should also mention that it won the 최우수상 at the 12th Kyobo Story Contest, and I believe it’s a debut novel (?), which would be very impressive!

노간주나무 by 김해솔

This novel won the 대상 at the 12th Kyobo Story Contest.

I really loved the first part of this novel, it was about very dark theme of mothers killing their own children, and how and why this happened. At the same time we had a protagonist who was raising her son alone and had to face social pressure and exclusion to the point of being very isolated and helpless. I liked how it shows how other members of the community would quickly turn against you if the behaviour of your child is labelled inappropriate by them.

But then the novel took a direction (importance of dream and even a little bit of occult) that I personally found less engaging, and I also found that the second part made us run in circle without true character development. Then the twist at the end felt artificial. It felt like a complete turnaround that was not very justified or built up. All of a sudden, things change, scientific evidence is given a new interpretation, characters remember things they had forgotten, see things they weren’t seeing before or just start seeing the past differently. The twist just happens, but it is not really supported by clues that were in the novel all along, so I found it a bit artificial.

So all in all, I think that this novel is not as much a mystery novel than a drama (even though it’s labelled mystery). There’s a police officer in the story, but all the parts about police investigation didn’t feel realistic at all. This character was clearly not here to be an investigator, but for her own story and past.

I can see why a lot of people enjoy this novel, it just wasn’t for me I think.

I’m learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese to read mystery novels and play video games in these languages.

Learning languages has always been one of my favourite hobbies, but I’m not a social person, I don’t like to meet new people and make friends, this is just not me. I keep hearing that languages are meant for communication, that we have to actively use them, talk with natives, etc. and for a long time, I thought it was weird to learn languages just to read books, with zero interest in communication.

Now I don’t really care what people think, and this blog helped me a lot to stop doubting myself and just do what I enjoy doing.