While we can effortlessly have our food delivered to our doorstep with a few clicks on a delivery app, it’s essential to recognize that someone behind this convenience might be enduring a challenging life. Kim Oksuk’s full-length novel unveils the bleak reality experienced by many self-employed individuals in Korea. Amplifying the voice of the self-employed who are struggling both economically and psychologically during the pandemic that upheaved our lives, Kim vividly portrays the contradictory and ailing aspects of Korean society, compelling readers to confront these issues directly.

As social distancing measures are reinforced due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the early 2020s, the self-employed find themselves on edge each time the government announces new policies. Confronting the harsh reality of plummeting sales due to restrictions and struggling to cover rent and employee salaries, they are cornered, ultimately turning to delivery services. Can the delivery service act as a lifeline to rejuvenate their crumbling self-employment ecosystem?

Manseok, the owner of a restaurant facing declining customers, embraces a delivery app to broaden his services. However, the contactless nature of the service exposes him to a stream of rude customers, often demanding refunds or resorting to threats of lower ratings. Manseok grapples with managing reviews to maintain a high rating, crucial for attracting potential customers heavily reliant on such comments and ratings. Some exploit this vulnerability, intentionally wielding their ratings as a weapon to exert power over business owners. The anonymity of app users allows them to tarnish reputations with false and malicious negative comments. The unprecedented shift to “contactless-friendly” living during the pandemic has given rise to more malicious acts leveraging this contactlessness.

Minseong, a recluse immersed in computer games, indulges in ordering delivery food through an app. He derives pleasure from overusing his power, meticulously critiquing food and service, and leaving terrible reviews. These reviews are false, exaggerated, and slanderous. Despite Minseong’s harsh words, most restaurant owners apologize to him, fueling his exhilarating sense of power and superiority. This destructive behavior stems from Minseong’s childhood experiences of bullying, discrimination, and reproach at school and within his family, leaving him with open and unhealed wounds. The mix of resentment, anger, and an inferiority complex transforms him into a monster projecting these emotions onto innocent.

In his twenties, Seonho worked at an auto parts factory with Manseok and later led the union’s campaign against the factory’s closure. He then opened a thriving bar, a hotspot for university students, which unfortunately succumbed to the impact of COVID-19. Struggling to keep his business afloat, Seonho downsizes the restaurant and employees, eventually becoming a delivery rider himself. “There is no country for the self-employed,” laments Seonho, echoing the cries of many self-employed individuals in our society.

While delivery apps have become a part of our lives, their development has brought both light and darkness to our modern existence. Platforms like delivery apps store customers’ data and attract self-employed individuals, profiting by connecting the two parties. The self-employed, although not technically employed by the platform, find themselves trapped in a cycle of exploitation, unable to escape the platform’s dictates.

In modern capitalist society, these platforms wield immense power. Baedarui Cheonguk (The Heaven of Delivery) exposes the dark side of platform capitalism that pushes small business owners into a system of exploitation and portrays the marginalized who lack even a temporary support system.

Kim Oksuk was born in Hapcheon, Gyeongsangnamdo province, South Korea. She has been engaged in poetry and novel writing since winning the 2003 Annual Spring Literary Contest held by Maeil Newspaper in Daegu with her poem Nakta (Camel), followed by the winning of Jeon Tae-il Literary Award with her novel Neoui Ireumeun Huimangida (Your Name is Hope) in the same year. Her notable works include Huimangnamyeon Se Bongji (Three Bags of Hope Ramen), Pyeonghwaui Bulkkochi Doen Haegui Ai Hyeongnyuri (Hyeongryul, a Nuclear Child Who Became the Flame of Peace), and Kim Hyeongryul, which was selected for the liberal arts category of Sejong Books. She also wrote a poetry collection Saeui Siksa (Bird’s Meal) and full-length novels such as Sikdang Sajang Jangmanho (Restaurant Owner Jang Manho), Hyungteoui Kkot (The Flower of Scars), and Seouldae Naraui Hellikopteo Mam Masunyeong Ssi (Ma Sunyeong, a Helicopter Mom in the Nation of Seoul University). Her work Ellibeiteo Geoul Sogeuro Deureogan Namja (A Man Who Walked into the Mirror of an Elevator) was published in the anthology Genre Novel of the Month 2.