Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop

Jimi arrives at Goat Beans late with her eyes swollen from crying all morning. She privately asks Minjun if he is alright because of how defeated his eyes look. Minjun returns the question, pointing out how Jimi’s swollen eyes. Jimi is worried that her employees noticed how she looks.

Minjun admits that he feels lost in life. Jimi guesses that the feeling stems from the effort he is putting into life again. Jimi asks Minjun to demonstrate making hand drip coffee and gives him tips on trusting his instincts. Afterward, Jimi admits that she had a fight with her husband, and it almost ended with her slapping him. She feels lost in her marriage.

Jimi asks Minjun about his own aspirations for marriage and family, but all Minjun can think about is how his family used to function when he was still trying to prove his competence at school. Minjun expresses his belief that it is better for him to distance himself from his family, though he isn’t sure of this yet and wants to see what will happen if he holds onto the thought, as Yeongju advised him to. Before leaving the roaster, Minjun tells Jimi that when someone doesn’t make her happy, it is a sign that she doesn’t need to be with them all the time. Jimi is stunned but admires the courage of Minjun’s suggestion.

Yeongju’s book club discusses The Refusal of Work: The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Work by David Frayne. First, one group member refutes the notion that society is necessarily better when it gives its people more opportunities for work. What society should aspire toward instead is its capacity to sustain its people, whether they work or not. Another group member finds the idea of disentangling work and living unfamiliar and idealistic. He admits that the book leaves him feeling empty because it shows that the philosophy of work really is arbitrary.

Another member states that while Puritan morality glorified the idea that work was a means to spiritual salvation, that doesn’t mean it should hold the same value for atheists in Korea. Another book club member feels that even atheists have come to glorify work, which the book argues is bad. The group recalls a passage in the book that describes how work culture has co-opted terms like “family” and “team” to make work feel more essential and acceptable to people, turning them into “company people.”

Yeongju highlights the book’s argument that the value of work can enrich people’s lives. The problem is when work demands too much energy and people have no energy left for restorative activities. This insight resonates with Minjun, who is listening in from the café.

The group wonders if it is possible to live sustainably by doing less work, though they agree that there isn’t a single workplace in the world that would pay anyone the same salary to do less work. This drives resentment for executives who have exorbitant salaries and still work less than lower-level employees do. The group also points out the contradiction that society does not provide ample opportunities for everyone to work, even though certain jobs are too much for one person to handle alone.

One of the book members speaks up to share his experience as a “downshifter”: a person who gives up high-salary work in order to pursue a more satisfying job. He admits that at his last job, he experienced depression and constant frustration over the extra hours he was forced to render. He likes that the book resonated with the pain he felt over giving up that job, but he concludes that quitting ultimately made him happier in the end. Yeongju points out that some people don’t have any other choice but to become downshifters, sometimes because of their mental or physical health. The group agrees that it is exploitative to force everyone to work according to the same standards when some people are clearly suffering.

After recalling some case studies from the book, the meeting ends with Wooshik hoping that society can make life easier for the people who want to work and the people who want to find other ways to live. Minjun resolves to read the rest of Frayne’s book, as well as To Have or To Be? by Erich Fromm, which Frayne mentions. Fromm’s writing restores Minjun’s sense of direction.

Mincheol asks Jungsuh what motivates her. Jungsuh explains that in the past, she used to work so hard that she would get burnt out by the feeling of losing time. Now, she knits for the satisfaction of completing a design. She encourages Mincheol to chase the feeling of satisfaction.

Yeongju considers how to make the bookshop more stable. She theorizes that the solution has to do with space, so she clears up the storage area next to the café to transform it into a Book Club Room. This will allow her to create more book clubs that can meet simultaneously. The three resulting book clubs are led by Wooshik, Mincheol’s mother, and another regular named Sangsu. Yeongju also plans to host movie screenings at the bookshop.

Yeongju consults Mincheol and Jungsuh about the design of the Book Club Room. Jungsuh explains why she prefers the bookshop over other third spaces in the neighborhood, citing the pleasant music, the gentle light, and the feeling of security she gets from the space. The last point surprises Yeongju, so Jungsuh elaborates that the space makes her feel like no one will ever bother her there, even if she isn’t reading anything, and this is exactly what she needs.

The biggest challenge of running a bookshop, Yeongju feels, is that there is no formula for success. What matters to Yeongju is putting effort into something she enjoys. Yeongju prepares to hold writing seminars at the bookshop, inviting Lee Ahreum and Hyun Seungwoo to speak about their process.

Setting work aside, Yeongju chats with Mincheol about his holiday plans. Mincheol argues that he should be allowed to do nothing over the holiday season. Yeongju argues that doing interesting things “clears the airway” (153) and makes life feel more bearable against issues like fatigue and hopelessness. This, she suggests, is why she likes reading so much—it assures her that she isn’t alone in her sadness, and it feels easier to overcome. Mincheol is not fully sure he understands her point but asks if Yeongju thinks he ought to try it for himself. Yeongju encourages him to, if only for curiosity’s sake.

Seungwoo gets home from work and prepares to settle in for the night. These hours are when he can preoccupy himself with his interest in the Korean language.

Ever since his book talk at Hyunam-dong Bookshop, Seungwoo has been thinking about Yeongju’s question about the overlap between his authorial voice and his personality. He wonders why he remains so captivated by her. He wanted to forget about her, but a few days earlier, he received an email invitation from Yeongju, asking him to lead a writing seminar at the bookshop called “How to Edit Sentences.”

Seungwoo initially thinks he should decline the invitation because he does not feel like an expert on the topic, but he cannot bring himself to complete the response. In truth, he has been exhausted by his book tour, which has eaten up his personal time. He knows that the seminar will not be a one-off session, but an eight-week commitment. He realizes that the only thing preventing him from declining the invitation is his curiosity about Yeongju. Choosing to follow his heart, he accepts Yeongju’s invitation, indicating his availability on Saturday evenings.

One night, Jungsuh joins Yeongju and Jimi for drinks at Yeongju’s apartment. Jungsuh expresses her admiration for the space, which she believes is ideal for meditating and knitting. Over drinks and food, Jungsuh listens closely to the conversation between her two companions.

Jimi shares the advice Minjun gave her about her family. She resolves to think about it and take it easier on her husband, though she teases that she may soon stop complaining about him altogether. Yeongju assures Jimi that she isn’t worried about what Jimi is saying. Jungsuh feels a sense of acceptance in the company of the two women, and it reminds her of the first time she entered Hyunam-dong Bookshop. Jimi asks Jungsuh why she took up meditation.

Jungsuh shares that her motivations for meditating stem all the way back to her resignation from work. Jungsuh previously worked at a content development company as a contract worker. Permanent tenure was always promised, but never given. Her bosses explained that they needed to keep their workforce flexible, which Jungsuh realized was a subtle way of saying they needed to have the ability to fire workers at any point. After hearing from a friend who quit her contract job, despite the fact that it was her dream job, Jungsuh became disillusioned with the excuse of the flexible workforce.

She moved to another company but was given the confusing job status of “permanent contract.” She soon learned that the labor conditions in the second company were the same as the ones in the first company. Over time, Jungsuh felt constant anger. She also felt expendable and never truly a part of the company that demanded her time and energy. At one point, Jungsuh was asked to demonstrate her abilities for a special project with the implication that it would earn her tenure if she performed well. After putting all of her effort into the project, Jungsuh was shocked when her boss passed off her work as the work of his incompetent assistant manager. Jungsuh’s rage reached a boiling point, and she started to harbor contempt for other people. This exhausted Jungsuh so much that she ultimately decided to quit her job.

Jungsuh didn’t believe her friends who told her that a vacation would ease her feelings. Instead, Jungsuh turned to meditation, which proved to be a challenge at first since she kept imagining the assistant manager. This is what led her to knitting, which effectively distracted her from the thoughts that triggered her anger.

After Jungsuh finishes her story, the three women lie down. Jungsuh feels at ease and falls asleep, believing she will be in a good mood in the morning.

On the day of his first writing seminar, Seungwoo walks to the bookshop to manage his anxiety. He fixates on the details of everything he can observe in the bookshop, from the atmosphere of the space to the clothes Yeongju is wearing. When Yeongju talks to Seungwoo, he worries that he will make a fool of himself at the seminar. He consoles himself with the knowledge that he will be flustered in any case because of Yeongju’s presence. Seungwoo admits to Yeongju that he is nervous. She reassures him that many of the participants have followed his writing, so they are ready to listen with an open mind. Seungwoo thinks about Yeongju’s writing and personality and how they make him feel calm.

When their eyes lock, Seungwoo admits that he hesitated about accepting Yeongju’s invitation. He wants to know why she chose him, so Yeongju explains how much she loves his writing. She eventually stops when she realizes how much she is fawning over him. Seungwoo shares his observation that the bookshop is in a perfect place because the allure and excitement of the neighborhood makes people feel like they are abroad. Yeongju asks Seungwoo why he accepted her invitation. He only says that he was curious about the allure of the bookshop. Yeongju connects this to what Jungsuh told her about the feeling of security she experiences in the bookshop, and thanks Seungwoo for the comment. Seungwoo is no longer nervous about the seminar.