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Hwang’s novel fits into an emerging genre of Korean fiction known as “healing fiction.” Broadly defined, healing fiction refers to novels that tackle contemporary issues of emotional and mental health, societal pressures, and work-life balance. Unlike the social novel, which looks at a similar scope of issues with the intention of protesting the status quo, healing fiction is intended to comfort the reader and inspire a sense of sympathy.

Healing fiction gained global popularity throughout the 2020s, though it traces its roots back to the Japanese manga and anime genre of iyashikei (healing type) from the 1970s. Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, the rapid economic upswing of countries like Japan and South Korea drove widespread shifts that entrenched corporate culture into everyday life, resulting in the “salaryman” stereotype that arose in Japanese popular culture. While this trend represented the economic optimism of post-war East Asia, it also led to high attrition among white-collar workers, leading to a new social crisis marked by high-stress work environments and physical and mental harm due to overwork. Japan and South Korea saw the rise of complementary terms karoshi and gwarosa, both of which refer to death by overworking, to articulate the growing concern over their approaches to corporate culture.