While we can effortlessly have our food delivered to ourdoorstep with a few clicks on a delivery app, it’s essential to recognize thatsomeone behind this convenience might be enduring a challenging life. Kim Oksuk’s full-lengthnovel unveils the bleak reality experienced by many self-employed individualsin Korea. Amplifying the voice of the self-employed who are struggling botheconomically 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 theCOVID-19 pandemic in the early 2020s, the self-employed find themselves on edgeeach time the government announces new policies. Confronting the harsh realityof plummeting sales due to restrictions and struggling to cover rent andemployee salaries, they are cornered, ultimately turning to delivery services.Can the delivery service act as a lifeline to rejuvenate their crumblingself-employment ecosystem?

Manseok,the owner of a restaurant facing declining customers, embraces a delivery appto broaden his services. However, the contactless nature of the service exposeshim to a stream of rude customers, often demanding refunds or resorting tothreats of lower ratings. Manseok grapples with managing reviews to maintain a highrating, crucial for attracting potential customers heavily reliant on suchcomments and ratings. Some exploit this vulnerability, intentionally wieldingtheir ratings as a weapon to exert power over business owners. The anonymity ofapp users allows them to tarnish reputations with false and malicious negativecomments. The unprecedented shift to “contactless-friendly” living during thepandemic has given rise to more malicious acts leveraging this contactlessness.

Minseong,a recluse immersed in computer games, indulges in ordering delivery foodthrough an app. He derives pleasure from overusing his power, meticulouslycritiquing food and service, and leaving terrible reviews. These reviews arefalse, exaggerated, and slanderous. Despite Minseong’s harsh words, mostrestaurant owners apologize to him, fueling his exhilarating sense of power andsuperiority. This destructive behavior stems from Minseong’s childhoodexperiences of bullying, discrimination, and reproach at school and within hisfamily, leaving him with open and unhealed wounds. The mix of resentment,anger, and an inferiority complex transforms him into a monster projectingthese emotions onto innocent.

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

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

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