In a peaceful village, the 'Chini Warning' is declared.
Two women, determined to keep their lives private, face opposition from the villagers.
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 the village elders, self-proclaimed intellectual and village leader 'Mr. Yoon' dramatically reveals a major incident: two young women, Seong-jin and Hye-jin, who have moved from Seoul, are in a relationship that they call 'Lesbian.' However, the villagers think of 'lesbian' as a term for women working in tea houses. An elderly villager confidently asserts, "If a new lesbian comes, everyone will know," and the serious meeting quickly spirals into chaos. Even after grasping the meaning, 'Jeolgol-dae' calmly asks, "If they like each other, why wouldn't they live together? If they don't like it, would they live together even if they are the same gender?"
The real conflict begins now. While women can live together, the deeply rooted belief that they cannot love each other turns the Chinis into strange and dangerous beings. Mr. Yoon raises his voice, insisting that the 'devil's spawn' must be expelled immediately, and 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. The once quiet horizontal village is finally under the imminent 'Chini Warning.'
With laughter at every turn and concern when they turn away,
this bizarre neighborhood's chaotic play unfolds.
However, Mr. Yoon's plans do not go as intended. Above all, the village head's Vietnamese wife, Suan, stands in the way of the villagers trying to expel the Chinis. For Suan, who married into this foreign land twenty years ago and has lived as an outsider, the Chinis' situation is not 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, brings unpredictable energy to the story. However, what confounds the Chinis even more is the villagers' contradictory actions. While they whisper that the Chinis must be expelled, they secretly hang dishes of soup and side dishes on the Chinis' door, and after asking embarrassing questions, they turn around and hand them freshly made pumpkin pancakes. In front of these bizarre neighbors, who seem to both hate and care for them, the Chinis' firmly held beliefs about good and evil, propriety and rudeness begin to waver.
Then, the Chinis' friend from Seoul, Gi-hee, appears with her pet chickens, 'Pidori' and 'Pisuni,' turning the village upside down once again. The absurd chaos between the city woman who treats her chickens like children in a stroller and the elderly villagers who have never considered chickens as anything but livestock brings laughter while showcasing how two entirely different worlds can mix in unexpected ways.
Jeong Ji-a does not explain heavy social issues like discrimination, migration, aging, and caregiving in a didactic tone. Instead, she humorously collides different life standards through vivid dialogues and a series of interconnected events. The characters, each with their own stories, engage in lively exchanges that keep readers captivated without a moment's pause.
"You have to save someone who has fallen into the water first and then see what to do."
A meal of compassion arrives before complete understanding.
As the story unfolds, the novel gains unexpected depth and resonance. Mr. Yoon, who had vehemently rejected the Chinis, faces a crisis of losing his last refuge. As the villagers, who have always found him unpleasant, are faced with his dire situation, they cannot turn away, murmuring, "No matter how much we dislike him, we have to save him first." Then, an unexpected figure 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, whom they have shared meals with daily, is in trouble. This choice marks the transition of the noisy village drama into a moving narrative about how vulnerable beings cling to each other on the brink of despair.
Jeong Ji-a does not depict a beautiful reconciliation where people suddenly become enlightened and wash away their prejudices. The villagers of the horizontal village remain rude and unpredictable until the end, interpreting the Chinis' lives through their own standards. Mr. Yoon, instead of politely apologizing, 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 this imperfection that gives their relationships a more realistic persuasiveness and lingering impact.
After laughing heartily, one inevitably longs for human connection.
This is the most delightful and passionate depiction of community in our time.
The reason why 'Chini Warning' is special is that it does not resolve sharp conflicts with safe and pretty answers. In an era where people easily cut off those who think differently, Jeong Ji-a argues that it is not necessary to perfectly understand each other or form 'sides' to coexist. Even while gossiping and fighting, 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, saying, "This humorous, farcical novel, which we know well but have forgotten, is not boring at all; it is truly 'glocal' in today's terms. The immediate enjoyment that pulls you in as if a scene is unfolding right before your eyes is also exceptional." This implies that it vividly unfolds today's issues of queerness, migration, aging, family, caregiving, and community in the most localized dialect of Namdo. Because it embraces both the warmth of an old village and the new relationships of the present, 'Chini Warning' does not get trapped in a specific generation or taste, making a wide range of readers laugh and feel deeply.
If 'Father's Liberation Diary' helped discover a person beyond ideology, 'Chini Warning' helps discover neighbors beyond prejudice. From the first page, it brings laughter, and by the last page, it disarms the heart. People who seemed impossible to mix finally remain by each other's side after a series of clashes. Jeong Ji-a once again succeeds in making it difficult 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 cannot ultimately give up on them.