Set in a Seoul of the future, where it rains every day without a break, this novel points out that just as light can’t exist without darkness, making a place filth-free is impossible without making somewhere else filth-laden. Is it right to take for granted all the conveniences and clean streets that we’re used to in everyday life? Can we continue to turn away from things that are certainly there but invisible to us? This story looks squarely into various phenomena that can be derived from one question.

As the ceaseless rain renders the world sunless, the need to adapt to the new weather conditions led to the creation of a waterproof system called “Nubis,” and sunbathing in the artificial sunlight became an important routine for many people who are obsessive about hygiene. Hyein is one of them. Like her peers, she also goes to classes at private academies after school, sunbathes, and keeps Nubis on all the time.

One day, however, Hyein’s life is turned upside down, thanks to her grandfather, who lives under a bridge in the rain, refusing Nubis and conveniences altogether. 

From the common point of view, her grandfather is just overly conscientious. After learning that his company dumps wastewater on the lands of Tonghyup-dong, he is racked by guilt and ends up quitting his job. Afterward, he chooses to live homeless under the bridge in an effort to remember the pains and sufferings of the Tonghyup-dong citizens. He even refuses to use Nubis, the personal waterproof system that everyone else cannot imagine living without, because it was made by the same company that discharges the filthy water to Tonghyup-dong. Therefore, when the water under the bridge is rising, Hyein goes out to see her grandfather with an umbrella, an object that has become a rarity now. Then he tells her how most people enjoy a comfortable life at the expense of the life of a smaller group of people and how that makes their life a living hell as a result. Indeed, the people of Tonghyup-dong have spots on their skins caused by the wastewater, like the patterns on salamanders, and because of the spots, they have to live with discrimination. Hyein increasingly realizes the comfortable life she’s been enjoying is not something that can be taken for granted.

However, her parents believe that her grandfather lives under the bridge because he has gone senile and locked him up in a nursing home. Hyein makes a rescue plan for her grandfather, together with Yeomin, a boy she got to be friends with in Tonghyup-dong, and Suhyang, an old lady she met when she was hospitalized for stomach pain. The idea is to switch Suhyang and her grandfather. They sneak into the nursing home, lay Suhyang in bed, and take Hyein’s grandfather out instead. After the escape, Hyein’s grandfather goes to live in Tonghyup-dong. Then one day, a girl with spots all over her body appears before Hyein and says the spots started to show after she was exposed to rain. 

The Flooding Warning pays warm attention to those living in the hidden corner of society and reminds us of the fact that our “ordinary” life is possible thanks to someone else’s great deal of hard work and sacrifice and that people like them are everywhere around us under the surface of the “ordinariness”.   

Taking action for others is not easy, but Hyein, her grandfather, Yeomin, and Suhyang do so willingly. Instead of taking things for granted, they keep asking questions and trying to correct what is wrong. They know that their small acts aren’t sufficient enough to bring significant change to the world, but they don’t stop trying. Their “rescue operation” is actually one big flapping of wings for change, of a little butterfly, for the people who are certainly there but invisible.

Jaein Seol

Jaein Seol is a former high school math teacher and a professional writer. She is also an amateur boxer who she says has more passion than talent. She has written the short story collections Women Who I Made and Packing a Punch, the novels Three Shapes of Heart, Red Mask, If I Can Have Makgeolli With You, Our Mass, If I Come to You, Delete, The Campfire, and The Flooding Warning, and the essay book May I Throw an Uppercut?