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The Mechanics of the Toilet
- Urban housing crisisBizarre creatureSocial satire
- Categories:Science Fiction & Fantasy Thrillers & Suspense
- Language:Korean（Translation Services Available）
- Publication Place:South Korea
- Publication date:June,2024
- Pages:288
- Retail Price:（Unknown）
- Size:110mm×188mm
- Text Color:（Unknown）
- Words:（Unknown）
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★ A bizarre mystery built around the core premise of “toilet water-seal destruction”: This work boldly adopts the peculiar subject of a broken toilet water seal, and features a mysterious alien creature, constructing a suspenseful fantasy story.
★ An interweaving of bizarre fantasy and an intensely realistic grounding: The charm of the story lies in the interweaving of its bizarre fantasy premise with an intensely realistic foundation. The book meticulously depicts the daily realities of urban living: the person who comes at set times to collect recyclable waste; neighbours who exist only through traces such as corridor noise, delivery packages, and recycled rubbish; and, past the age of thirty-five, an intense envy of others‘ stable lunch lives. These details pull the uncanny events right up beside the reader. The work also features a company called “Silver Sparkle,” described as a “modern-day Goryeo burial,” sharply interrogating the survival predicament of “the first generation of young people who are worse off than their parents.”
★ A bizarre mystery built around the core premise of “toilet water-seal destruction”: This work boldly adopts the peculiar subject of a broken toilet water seal, and features a mysterious alien creature, constructing a suspenseful fantasy story.
★ An interweaving of bizarre fantasy and an intensely realistic grounding: The charm of the story lies in the interweaving of its bizarre fantasy premise with an intensely realistic foundation. The book meticulously depicts the daily realities of urban living: the person who comes at set times to collect recyclable waste; neighbours who exist only through traces such as corridor noise, delivery packages, and recycled rubbish; and, past the age of thirty-five, an intense envy of others‘ stable lunch lives. These details pull the uncanny events right up beside the reader. The work also features a company called “Silver Sparkle,” described as a “modern-day Goryeo burial,” sharply interrogating the survival predicament of “the first generation of young people who are worse off than their parents.”
Description
“The water that should have been in the toilet had all disappeared.”
This is a suspense novel of the younger generation, built around the phenomenon of water-seal destruction, full of bizarre imagination. Novelist Seol Jae-in made her debut in 2019 with The Women I Made, and is already a vibrant and accomplished creator in Korean literary circles, with writers such as Cheon Seon-ran and Kim Chang-gyu offering high praise for her work. This work boldly adopts the peculiar subject of “toilet water-seal destruction,” and features a mysterious alien creature, constructing a suspenseful fantasy story.
The protagonist, Seong A-jeong, is a novelist who moves from one tiny rented room to another in Seoul. Thirty-nine is the upper age limit for what Korean society defines as “youth,” and she luckily wins a youth public rental housing project: a two-bedroom apartment, a deposit of 60 million won, monthly rent of only 60,000 won, and a maximum residency of ten years. There are two hard rules for moving in: first, no one other than those registered may live there; second, an internal assessment is conducted every year, and anyone marked as a poor tenant will be immediately evicted. A-jeong, terrified that this hard-won good fortune will slip away, quickly completes her move-in and begins to heal a life abandoned by family and society.
The peaceful days do not last long before strange events come one after another. In the empty hours before dawn, she always hears the rumbling sound of the toilet flushing, and the bizarre phenomenon of the toilet water seal drying up for no reason, with the dried-out toilet emitting a pungent stench. Tormented by this, A-jeong one day is splashed all over by sewage that suddenly surges back up. Furious, she rushes to the door of the offending upstairs resident. The door opens, and out walks a tiny alien life form that looks nothing like a human, along with a mysterious man who lives with this monster. The maintenance worker says that something that should not have been discarded was thrown away upstairs, causing a blockage in the pipes.
What exactly is the man upstairs discarding every dawn? What is the true identity of that strange life form? The book has a tight pace, impossible to put down once opened. The charm of the story lies in the interweaving of its bizarre fantasy premise with an intensely realistic foundation. The book meticulously depicts the daily realities of urban living: the person who comes at set times to collect recyclable waste; neighbours who exist only through traces such as corridor noise, delivery packages, and recycled rubbish; and, past the age of thirty-five, an intense envy of others’ stable lunch lives. These details pull the uncanny events right up beside the reader.
The work also features a company called “Silver Sparkle,” described as a “modern-day Goryeo burial,” sharply interrogating the survival predicament of “the first generation of young people who are worse off than their parents.” A-jeong nearly dies in the bathroom after being mocked by the monster, and the story strikes at contemporary society: people value only personal stability, are vigilant against intrusions into their private space, yet are indifferent to the bonds of family and neighbourhood.
The author candidly states that the novel was inspired by her own real experiences—winning a youth public rental housing unit and personally encountering toilet water-seal destruction. Through the story, she warns readers: do not internalise the circumstances brought by fate as your own “ability.” There are too many things our generation is powerless to change—do not judge yourself by them, and do not be swept along by fate. Amid a slightly rough yet sincere camaraderie, the author hopes to write more works that bring people unexpected feelings.
Excerpt from the text: “The water that should have been in the toilet had all disappeared. A-jeong presses the lever, and with a rumble the water rushes down, the water level rising again. She gazes at the clear water rippling in the middle of the toilet bowl, full of confusion. Was it a dream? What was that sound I just heard? But back in the bedroom, lying under the covers, within a few minutes the sound comes again. In the empty bathroom, the rumbling sound of the toilet flushing rings out. A-jeong bolts upright. The toilet in the bathroom is completely dry, just as before. A foul sewage smell quietly seeps out through the holes.”
【Story Outline】
Novelist Seong A-jeong finally wins a youth guaranteed apartment with favourable conditions, and thinks she has at last found a place to settle. But inexplicable toilet phenomena occur in the apartment: automatic flushing before dawn, the water seal drying up, a foul stench, and sewage surging back up. She traces the source upstairs and encounters a tiny non-human monster and a mysterious man. Beneath the surface of a plumbing malfunction lie the survival predicaments of urban youth, the secret of a strange creature, and the social problems behind “Silver Sparkle,” a company that metaphorically discards the elderly. Beneath a fantasy shell, the book writes about the housing anxiety, neighbourly alienation, and self-worth doubts of contemporary young people—a tale of the uncanny wrapping real pain and gentle comfort.
This is a suspense novel of the younger generation, built around the phenomenon of water-seal destruction, full of bizarre imagination. Novelist Seol Jae-in made her debut in 2019 with The Women I Made, and is already a vibrant and accomplished creator in Korean literary circles, with writers such as Cheon Seon-ran and Kim Chang-gyu offering high praise for her work. This work boldly adopts the peculiar subject of “toilet water-seal destruction,” and features a mysterious alien creature, constructing a suspenseful fantasy story.
The protagonist, Seong A-jeong, is a novelist who moves from one tiny rented room to another in Seoul. Thirty-nine is the upper age limit for what Korean society defines as “youth,” and she luckily wins a youth public rental housing project: a two-bedroom apartment, a deposit of 60 million won, monthly rent of only 60,000 won, and a maximum residency of ten years. There are two hard rules for moving in: first, no one other than those registered may live there; second, an internal assessment is conducted every year, and anyone marked as a poor tenant will be immediately evicted. A-jeong, terrified that this hard-won good fortune will slip away, quickly completes her move-in and begins to heal a life abandoned by family and society.
The peaceful days do not last long before strange events come one after another. In the empty hours before dawn, she always hears the rumbling sound of the toilet flushing, and the bizarre phenomenon of the toilet water seal drying up for no reason, with the dried-out toilet emitting a pungent stench. Tormented by this, A-jeong one day is splashed all over by sewage that suddenly surges back up. Furious, she rushes to the door of the offending upstairs resident. The door opens, and out walks a tiny alien life form that looks nothing like a human, along with a mysterious man who lives with this monster. The maintenance worker says that something that should not have been discarded was thrown away upstairs, causing a blockage in the pipes.
What exactly is the man upstairs discarding every dawn? What is the true identity of that strange life form? The book has a tight pace, impossible to put down once opened. The charm of the story lies in the interweaving of its bizarre fantasy premise with an intensely realistic foundation. The book meticulously depicts the daily realities of urban living: the person who comes at set times to collect recyclable waste; neighbours who exist only through traces such as corridor noise, delivery packages, and recycled rubbish; and, past the age of thirty-five, an intense envy of others’ stable lunch lives. These details pull the uncanny events right up beside the reader.
The work also features a company called “Silver Sparkle,” described as a “modern-day Goryeo burial,” sharply interrogating the survival predicament of “the first generation of young people who are worse off than their parents.” A-jeong nearly dies in the bathroom after being mocked by the monster, and the story strikes at contemporary society: people value only personal stability, are vigilant against intrusions into their private space, yet are indifferent to the bonds of family and neighbourhood.
The author candidly states that the novel was inspired by her own real experiences—winning a youth public rental housing unit and personally encountering toilet water-seal destruction. Through the story, she warns readers: do not internalise the circumstances brought by fate as your own “ability.” There are too many things our generation is powerless to change—do not judge yourself by them, and do not be swept along by fate. Amid a slightly rough yet sincere camaraderie, the author hopes to write more works that bring people unexpected feelings.
Excerpt from the text: “The water that should have been in the toilet had all disappeared. A-jeong presses the lever, and with a rumble the water rushes down, the water level rising again. She gazes at the clear water rippling in the middle of the toilet bowl, full of confusion. Was it a dream? What was that sound I just heard? But back in the bedroom, lying under the covers, within a few minutes the sound comes again. In the empty bathroom, the rumbling sound of the toilet flushing rings out. A-jeong bolts upright. The toilet in the bathroom is completely dry, just as before. A foul sewage smell quietly seeps out through the holes.”
【Story Outline】
Novelist Seong A-jeong finally wins a youth guaranteed apartment with favourable conditions, and thinks she has at last found a place to settle. But inexplicable toilet phenomena occur in the apartment: automatic flushing before dawn, the water seal drying up, a foul stench, and sewage surging back up. She traces the source upstairs and encounters a tiny non-human monster and a mysterious man. Beneath the surface of a plumbing malfunction lie the survival predicaments of urban youth, the secret of a strange creature, and the social problems behind “Silver Sparkle,” a company that metaphorically discards the elderly. Beneath a fantasy shell, the book writes about the housing anxiety, neighbourly alienation, and self-worth doubts of contemporary young people—a tale of the uncanny wrapping real pain and gentle comfort.
Author
Seol Jae-in
Novelist.
Short story collections: The Women I Made, Quite a Heavy Punch
Novels: A Heart of Three Forms, The Red Mask, If You Drink Rice Wine with Me, Our Quality, Strong Opinions, When I Walk Toward You, Delete, Flood Warning, Campfire, Girls Don‘t Endure, Starlight Bright
Series novel: Moonlight Market
Essay collection: Can I Throw an Uppercut?
Novelist.
Short story collections: The Women I Made, Quite a Heavy Punch
Novels: A Heart of Three Forms, The Red Mask, If You Drink Rice Wine with Me, Our Quality, Strong Opinions, When I Walk Toward You, Delete, Flood Warning, Campfire, Girls Don‘t Endure, Starlight Bright
Series novel: Moonlight Market
Essay collection: Can I Throw an Uppercut?
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