When you think of a novel set in a convenience store, the first thing that comes to mind is Japanese author Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman (tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori, Grove Atlantic, 2018). In this novel, a bestseller in Japan that has also received international acclaim, the protagonist tries to live a life as conveniently as a 24/7 store, where everything is made possible because everything comfortably follows a manual. There’s no space for emotion. The main character, a woman who finds life difficult because she has trouble understanding and empathizing with others, is able to find her place in society by integrating herself with this mindset, because, at least in Japanese and South Korean urban areas, there is nothing more essential to people’s lives than convenience stores.

       Uncanny Convenience Store by Kim Ho-yeon, which became a bestseller in South Korea, is also set in a small convenience store in Cheongpa-dong, a popular neighborhood in Seoul, but unlike Murata’s work, the convenience store here offers no functionality or convenience. Instead, the store, which has few customers and suffers from a shortage of staff, is run by an old woman named Yeom, a former high school teacher.

       One day, Yeom loses her wallet. She receives a call from the man who has picked it up, but when she goes to meet him at Seoul Station, she finds that he is a large, homeless man who has lost his memory. However, Yeom is impressed by his sincerity and hires him to work at her convenience store. The presence of this man, who has forgotten even his own name and calls himself Dokgo (meaning “solitary”), brings about an unexpected transformation in the struggling store.

       Each chapter focuses on the struggles of a single character with connections to the store. A young woman who works part-time constantly worries about her future, but in this store she feels at home. An elderly female clerk is puzzled about how to connect with her son, who plays video games in his room after quitting his job. A salesman who frequently stops by has trouble with his job and with his family, so he sits alone at a table outside the store, drinking alcohol and eating instant ramen and kimbap. A former actress and playwright struggling with writer’s block becomes interested in a mysterious, middle-aged clerk working at the store, who she observes from the room where she writes her plays. A private investigator, who has lost his former job due to corruption, is also drawn to this mysterious clerk while investigating his identity. Yeom, in addition to dealing with the daily stress of running the store, is also facing pressure from her son who wants her to sell it so that he can use the money for a new business venture.

       Each of the characters’ troubles are different. However, by carefully portraying them, this novel also brings to light the economic and educational disparities as well as gender discrimination issues in Korea. Like many Korean movies and dramas that are now popular around the world, Uncanny Convenience Store captivates readers through its brilliant story, but doesn’t shy away from bringing attention to societal issues. The people who gather at this convenience store in Cheongpa-dong feel suffocated by the pressure of Korea’s fiercely competitive society. None of them leads what can be described as a successful life. The most notable example is Dokgo who is homeless. Dokgo’s past, as revealed at the end of the story, is both shocking and painful.

       Despite this, Dokgo always brims with deep compassion toward others, and he changes the lives of other characters who are suffering from loneliness. By encountering Dokgo’s warmth, they each regain bonds with others that were lost. Dokgo’s humanity transforms this uncanny convenience store into a “third space” that provides people with a genuine sense of belonging. For us readers who live in a stressful, modern society, Uncanny Convenience Store itself will become such a third place, a place of relaxation which we will want to visit over and over again.

 

 

Masatsugu Ono

Author, At the Edge of the Wood (tr. Juliet Winters Carpenter, Two Lines Press, 2022)