In a peaceful village, a 'Chini Warning' is issued.
Two women, determined to drive away those who oppose them, barricade themselves inside.
From the very first page, the novel pulls readers into the heart of this horizontal village. At eight-thirty in the morning, in front of an emergency gathering of elders at the village hall, a self-proclaimed intellectual and the village's power broker, 'Mr. Yoon', dramatically reveals a serious incident: two young women, Seong-jin and Hye-jin, who moved from Seoul, are in a romantic relationship, which they refer to as 'Reji' among themselves. However, the elders interpret 'Reji' not as a lesbian relationship but as a term for women working in tea houses. As the elderly Han, aged eighty-seven, confidently states, "If a new Reji comes, everyone will know," the solemn meeting quickly spirals into chaos. Even after grasping the meaning, 'Jeolgol-dak' calmly asks, "Well, if they live together, what's the problem? If they don't like it, would they live with the same woman?"
The real conflict begins now. Although women can live together, the deeply rooted belief that they cannot love each other turns the Chinis into bizarre and dangerous beings. Mr. Yoon raises his voice, insisting that the 'devil's spawn' must be expelled immediately, while the Chinis, who have fled to this horizontal village to escape the world's harsh gaze, lock their doors again. The villagers cannot understand the two women, and the Chinis cannot endure their violent rudeness. Finally, a 'Chini Warning' is issued in the once-quiet horizontal village.
With laughter spilling from their lips, yet concern lingering behind their backs,
this unusual neighborhood's chaotic play unfolds.
However, Mr. Yoon's plans do not go as intended. Most importantly, the village head's Vietnamese wife, Suan, stands in the way of those trying to drive out the Chinis. Having married into this foreign land twenty years ago and lived as an outsider, Suan does not see the Chinis' situation as someone else's problem. "Did they kill someone? Did they steal? Why are you making such a fuss?"
Suan, who boasts the most unrestrained speech in the village, injects unpredictable energy into the story. However, what perplexes the Chinis even more is the contradictory behavior of the elders. While they whisper about expelling them, they subtly leave dishes of seaweed soup and eggplant at the Chinis' door, and after asking embarrassing questions, they turn around and hand them freshly made pumpkin pancakes. In front of neighbors who are impossible to read—who seem to inflict wounds yet offer food—the Chinis' firmly held beliefs about good and evil, politeness and rudeness begin to waver.
Then, the Chinis' friend from Seoul, Gi-hee, arrives with her pet chickens, 'Pidori and Pisuni', turning the village upside down once again. The absurd commotion between a city woman who treats her chickens like children in a stroller and the elderly who have never considered chickens as anything other than livestock elicits laughter while showcasing how two entirely different worlds can mix in unexpected ways.
Jung Ji-a does not explain heavy social issues such as discrimination, migration, aging, and caregiving in a didactic manner. Instead, through lively dialogue and a series of interconnected events, she joyfully collides different standards of living. The characters, each with their own stories, engage in a lively exchange that keeps readers captivated without a moment's pause.
"You have to save the one who fell into the water first."
A meal of the heart arrives before complete understanding.
As the story unfolds, the novel gains unexpected depth and resonance. A crisis arises for Mr. Yoon, who had vehemently rejected the Chinis, as he faces the loss of his last refuge. Even as the villagers click their tongues in disapproval, they cannot turn away. "No matter how much we dislike them, we have to save the one who fell into the water first." Unexpectedly, someone reaches out to Mr. Yoon. It is not because hatred has vanished or because they fully understand each other. It is simply because a neighbor, with whom they have shared meals daily, is in trouble. This choice marks a turning point, expanding the raucous village drama into a moving narrative about how the weak cling to each other on the edge of a cliff.
Jung Ji-a does not portray a beautiful reconciliation where people suddenly become enlightened and wash away their prejudices. The villagers of the horizontal village remain rude and self-centered until the end, interpreting the Chinis' lives through their own standards. Mr. Yoon, instead of offering a polite apology, merely sends over a mountain of side dishes that are difficult to consume. The food, which is awkward to accept or reject, is tangled with gratitude, pride, remorse, and stubbornness. It is precisely this imperfection that gives their relationships a more realistic persuasiveness and lingering impact.
After laughing heartily, one inevitably longs for human connection.
The most delightful and passionate landscape of community in our times.
The reason 'Chini Warning' is special is that it does not neatly resolve sharp conflicts with safe and pretty answers. In an era where people easily judge others and cut ties with those who think differently, Jung Ji-a asserts that one does not have to perfectly understand each other or create a 'side' to coexist. Even while gossiping and arguing, when someone is in pain, they prepare food, and when a disliked neighbor is in danger, they extend a hand first. This concrete time is stronger than grand concepts. The novelist Hwang Sok-yong praised this work, stating, "This humorous play-like novel, which we know well yet have forgotten, is not boring at all; it is, in today's terms, truly 'glocal'. The immediate fun of being drawn into the vivid imagery is also exceptional." This implies that it vividly unfolds contemporary issues such as queerness, migration, aging, family, caregiving, and community in the most localized dialect of Namdo. Because it embraces the warmth of an old village and the new relationships of the present, 'Chini Warning' does not confine itself to a specific generation or taste, making a wide range of readers laugh and feel deeply.
While 'Father's Liberation Diary' helped discover a person beyond ideology, 'Chini Warning' helps discover a neighbor beyond prejudice. From the first page, it brings laughter, and by the last page, it disarms the heart. People who seem impossible to mix finally remain by each other's side, bumping and colliding. Jung Ji-a succeeds once again in making it hard to easily hate someone. It is a spicy, salty, and tear-jerking feast of life offered to all of us, who are exhausted by people yet ultimately cannot give up on them.