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Come Down to a Lower Place
Seul, a construction project manager, investigates a foul stench beneath the premier department store in Seoul. Hidden records from the building's construction during the colonial era hint at madness. The only clue is a cryptic "Bin-o-jae." Beneath the glittering showroom, she uncovers secrets tied not only to workers' suffering and capitalism's horrors, but to her own body.
Come Down to a Lower Place is part of the Lovecraft Reanimated project, where leading Korean speculative fiction writers reimagine the works of horror master H.P. Lovecraft. While honoring his eerie, grotesque imagery and the blurred boundaries between reality and fantasy, they update his ideas for a global audience.
Come Down to a Lower Place is part of the Lovecraft Reanimated project, where leading Korean speculative fiction writers reimagine the works of horror master H.P. Lovecraft. While honoring his eerie, grotesque imagery and the blurred boundaries between reality and fantasy, they update his ideas for a global audience.
- GenresHorror
100 pages, Paperback
Published October 17, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
November 11, 2025
Female repression combined with scorn for bodily functions leads a female engineer to a luxury department store.
How can this happen again? How, after everything we’ve endured for so long, how could this happen?
Luxury’s department store is confronted by a terrible smell that stems from a dark history of female abuse during the Japanese occupation.
Seul is an engineer who in a male dominated world is made fun off for her vaginal discharge while her menstruation pains are ignored. While events are disturbing they also have an appeal to Seul and an enigmatic shop assistant:
Bin-o-jae was simply warm despair, a single entity of stickiness.
How can this happen again? How, after everything we’ve endured for so long, how could this happen?
Luxury’s department store is confronted by a terrible smell that stems from a dark history of female abuse during the Japanese occupation.
Seul is an engineer who in a male dominated world is made fun off for her vaginal discharge while her menstruation pains are ignored. While events are disturbing they also have an appeal to Seul and an enigmatic shop assistant:
Bin-o-jae was simply warm despair, a single entity of stickiness.
September 23, 2025
Come Down to a Lower Place is Janet Hong's translation of 낮은 곳으로 임하소서 by 이서영 (Yi Seoyoung).
This is one of three beautifully produced novellas released by Honford Star as part of their Lovecraft Reanimated project - a translation of a selection of an original series of eight published in Korean in 2020 (see below).
Now I will say upfront I have zero familiarity with HP Lovecraft so most echoes of his work would have passed me by - I'd be interested to see what others pick up - and I read the books in the series as originals.
The novel is told from the perspective of Seul, a young woman working as a construction project manager. She is delighted to be given a prestiguous assignment - making repairs in the original 1930s building of a luxury department store in 명동 (Myeongdong) in Seoul. Seul herself suffers from strong vaginal discharges as well as severe period pains.
On arrival she discovers that the department store is suffering from a strong stench, whose source no one can trace, but which seems to rise from the basement shopping area - and which comes and goes. Her firm, under her direction, have been hired to fix it, but she is told rather than drilling into the basement floor to find the source, she should simply remove the marble floor and add another layer of concrete, something which goes against her instincts:
For Seul, the biggest appeal of construction work was that she could fix the root cause of a problem. When she was a girl tormented by menstrual cramps, Seul would hunch over her desk and imagine removing her uterus, splitting it down the middle, and drying it in the sun. If there were any cysts inside, she would carefully pop and remove each one, apply ointment, sew the freshly dried uterus together, and put it back into her body. Somehow, imagining this lessened the pain. But of course, that was impossible.
But construction was different. There's a reason for every bad smell. It could be a broken pipe from rust, a decayed wall, or a dead pigeon in the septic tank. But instead of examining these potential issues, they just wanted her to remove the top layer and cover it with something thicker. Seul couldn't help but feel like she was deceiving them.
공사라는 일의 가장 큰 매력은 근본적인 문제를 뜯어고친다는 점이다. 어릴 때 생리통으로 고생을 할 때면 슬은 책상에 엎드려서 가만히 상상을 했다. 자궁을 뜯어내서 반으로 가르고 햇볕에 뽀송하게 말리는, 혹시 열어서 안에 무슨 혹이라도 있다면 정성껏 하나씩 터뜨리고 잘라내고 약을 바르는, 햇볕에 산뜻하게 마른 자궁을 다시 잘 꿰매서 몸 안에 집어넣는 상상을 하고 나면 어쩐지 배가 덜 아픈 느낌도 들었다. 물론 그런 일은 있을 수 없다.
하지만 공사는 다르다. 냄새가 나는 곳엔 다 그럴 법한 이유가 있다. 배관이 녹슬어서 망가졌을 수도 있고, 벽이 썩어 있을 수도 있고, 정화조에 비둘기 시체가 들어 있을 수도 있다. 그런데 그 많은 문제들을 하나도 검토하지 않고 그냥 위에만 뜯었다가 더 두꺼운 걸로 덮어달라니. 슬은 어쩐지 사기를 치는 기분이었다.
She asks to see the store's archives to see if there is any information there, and discovers, in papers from 84 years earlier, dating back to the Japanese colonial period, that investigating a similar stench at the time the building was first built led to the death of one worker and the insanity of another:
Even after reading the whole document, it was still unclear what lay beneath the floor. At the end, there was a hastily scrawled note. The earlier text was written with a fine brush, but this part looked like it was done with an ink pen — small, hurried letters with crooked lines.
"After that day, Gaebong fell ill for three days and eventually lost his mind. 牝污災, 牝污災”
She could easily read the second character, 污 (o) for filth, and 災 (jae) for disaster, but she didn't recognize the first character, 牝. She opened an online dictionary and traced the character crookedly with her mouse. It was "bin" the character for "female." Bin-o-jae. Female, filth, disaster.
Deciding, despite her instructions, to drill some test holes into the concrete floor she is warned by a raving old man not to do so, and she is also haunted by one of the saleswomen from the store, the most successful at dealing with customers but oddly cold otherwise.
"You have no idea what you're doing. You're letting Bin-o-jae loose! There's a rotten gutter flowing under here. A rotten gutter you created with your digging is still here! It's been flowing since the Japanese occupation. Since the Japanese occupation!
"You were probably just born during the Japanese occupation," an officer blurted, unable to hold back. "So what do you know?"
"That's right, I was born during the occupation! Even though I was just a baby, I knew that name. You have no idea what's down here-the stench, the pus, the shapeless mass of vengeful spirits trapped underground! The monster born from between the legs of the women who worked here back when this was the Mitsukoshi Department Store is still alive down here bitter and reeking like those women's crotches!"
“어린 새끼들이, 아무것도 모르고 빈오재를 해방시키려고 해. 이 밑에는 썩은 개굴창이 흘러. 너희들이 밑구멍으로 만든 썩은 개굴창이 흐른다고. 왜정 때부터 있었어. 왜정 때!”
경찰 한 명이 어이가 없다는 듯 말을 툭 뱉었다.
“왜정 때 기껏해야 태어나셨겠구만, 왜정 때 뭘 아신다고 그러세요.”
“그래, 내가 왜정 때 태어났다. 왜정 때 갓난아기였어도 설마하니 그 이름을 모를 수는 없지. 너희는 이 밑에 뭐가 있는지 몰라. 썩은 내가 나고 고름이 흐르고, 원귀들의 시간이 형체도 없이 뭉쳐 있는 그 끔찍한 존재를 모른다고! 미츠코시 때부터 백화점에서 일하던 계집년들이 다 같이 가랑이로 낳은 괴물이 이 아래에 살아. 계집년들 밑구녕 냄새를 풍기는, 짓뭉개진 원한이 산다!”
And, reading her boyfriend (and soon to be fiance)'s Kakao chatroom with his friends, she discovers that her 'stinking pussy' is a running joke with his mates.
The novel takes a more fantastical turn in its closing period as 牝污災(Bin-o-jae) is revealed to be (or at least appears to Seul as) a real monster trapped under the concrete floor, but freed by Seul's investigations, one in the tradition of Lovecraft's Cthulhu (explicitly referenced in the text), and which feeds on the resentment of the colonial period and of, in particular, women's suffering down the years, and goes on to feed on Seul's in a powerful ending.
Impressive. 4.5 stars rounded to 5 for the beautiful production.
The UK publisher and the Lovecraft Reanimated project
Honford Star is committed to bridging literary worlds, celebrating the richness of East Asian literature. Our goal is to respect the authenticity and diversity of these narratives, bringing them to a global audience through collaborative partnerships with skilled translators, artists, and designers.
The Lovecraft Reanimated project features leading Korean speculative fiction writers reimagining the works of horror master H.P. Lovecraft. While honoring his eerie, grotesque imagery and the blurred boundaries between reality and fantasy, they update his ideas for a global audience.
The original Korean series of 8 books (by 9 authors, one co-authored)
러브크래프트를 통해 2020년 오늘의 공포와 경이를 보다
눈이 멀듯한 불꽃의 신을 내게 강림시킬 수 있다면!
한국의 대표 SF 작가들이
오마주와 전복으로 다시 창조하는
H. P. 러브크래프트의 세계
In English translation:
1.『외계 신장』 이수현
2.『낮은 곳으로 임하소서』 이서영
3.『친구의 부름』(그래픽노블) 최재훈
Additional titles:
『악의와 공포의 용은 익히 아는 자여라』 홍지운
『별들의 노래』 김성일
『우모리 하늘신발』 송경아
『뿌리 없는 별들』 은림, 박성환
『역병의 바다』 김보영
This is one of three beautifully produced novellas released by Honford Star as part of their Lovecraft Reanimated project - a translation of a selection of an original series of eight published in Korean in 2020 (see below).
Now I will say upfront I have zero familiarity with HP Lovecraft so most echoes of his work would have passed me by - I'd be interested to see what others pick up - and I read the books in the series as originals.
The novel is told from the perspective of Seul, a young woman working as a construction project manager. She is delighted to be given a prestiguous assignment - making repairs in the original 1930s building of a luxury department store in 명동 (Myeongdong) in Seoul. Seul herself suffers from strong vaginal discharges as well as severe period pains.
On arrival she discovers that the department store is suffering from a strong stench, whose source no one can trace, but which seems to rise from the basement shopping area - and which comes and goes. Her firm, under her direction, have been hired to fix it, but she is told rather than drilling into the basement floor to find the source, she should simply remove the marble floor and add another layer of concrete, something which goes against her instincts:
For Seul, the biggest appeal of construction work was that she could fix the root cause of a problem. When she was a girl tormented by menstrual cramps, Seul would hunch over her desk and imagine removing her uterus, splitting it down the middle, and drying it in the sun. If there were any cysts inside, she would carefully pop and remove each one, apply ointment, sew the freshly dried uterus together, and put it back into her body. Somehow, imagining this lessened the pain. But of course, that was impossible.
But construction was different. There's a reason for every bad smell. It could be a broken pipe from rust, a decayed wall, or a dead pigeon in the septic tank. But instead of examining these potential issues, they just wanted her to remove the top layer and cover it with something thicker. Seul couldn't help but feel like she was deceiving them.
공사라는 일의 가장 큰 매력은 근본적인 문제를 뜯어고친다는 점이다. 어릴 때 생리통으로 고생을 할 때면 슬은 책상에 엎드려서 가만히 상상을 했다. 자궁을 뜯어내서 반으로 가르고 햇볕에 뽀송하게 말리는, 혹시 열어서 안에 무슨 혹이라도 있다면 정성껏 하나씩 터뜨리고 잘라내고 약을 바르는, 햇볕에 산뜻하게 마른 자궁을 다시 잘 꿰매서 몸 안에 집어넣는 상상을 하고 나면 어쩐지 배가 덜 아픈 느낌도 들었다. 물론 그런 일은 있을 수 없다.
하지만 공사는 다르다. 냄새가 나는 곳엔 다 그럴 법한 이유가 있다. 배관이 녹슬어서 망가졌을 수도 있고, 벽이 썩어 있을 수도 있고, 정화조에 비둘기 시체가 들어 있을 수도 있다. 그런데 그 많은 문제들을 하나도 검토하지 않고 그냥 위에만 뜯었다가 더 두꺼운 걸로 덮어달라니. 슬은 어쩐지 사기를 치는 기분이었다.
She asks to see the store's archives to see if there is any information there, and discovers, in papers from 84 years earlier, dating back to the Japanese colonial period, that investigating a similar stench at the time the building was first built led to the death of one worker and the insanity of another:
Even after reading the whole document, it was still unclear what lay beneath the floor. At the end, there was a hastily scrawled note. The earlier text was written with a fine brush, but this part looked like it was done with an ink pen — small, hurried letters with crooked lines.
"After that day, Gaebong fell ill for three days and eventually lost his mind. 牝污災, 牝污災”
She could easily read the second character, 污 (o) for filth, and 災 (jae) for disaster, but she didn't recognize the first character, 牝. She opened an online dictionary and traced the character crookedly with her mouse. It was "bin" the character for "female." Bin-o-jae. Female, filth, disaster.
Deciding, despite her instructions, to drill some test holes into the concrete floor she is warned by a raving old man not to do so, and she is also haunted by one of the saleswomen from the store, the most successful at dealing with customers but oddly cold otherwise.
"You have no idea what you're doing. You're letting Bin-o-jae loose! There's a rotten gutter flowing under here. A rotten gutter you created with your digging is still here! It's been flowing since the Japanese occupation. Since the Japanese occupation!
"You were probably just born during the Japanese occupation," an officer blurted, unable to hold back. "So what do you know?"
"That's right, I was born during the occupation! Even though I was just a baby, I knew that name. You have no idea what's down here-the stench, the pus, the shapeless mass of vengeful spirits trapped underground! The monster born from between the legs of the women who worked here back when this was the Mitsukoshi Department Store is still alive down here bitter and reeking like those women's crotches!"
“어린 새끼들이, 아무것도 모르고 빈오재를 해방시키려고 해. 이 밑에는 썩은 개굴창이 흘러. 너희들이 밑구멍으로 만든 썩은 개굴창이 흐른다고. 왜정 때부터 있었어. 왜정 때!”
경찰 한 명이 어이가 없다는 듯 말을 툭 뱉었다.
“왜정 때 기껏해야 태어나셨겠구만, 왜정 때 뭘 아신다고 그러세요.”
“그래, 내가 왜정 때 태어났다. 왜정 때 갓난아기였어도 설마하니 그 이름을 모를 수는 없지. 너희는 이 밑에 뭐가 있는지 몰라. 썩은 내가 나고 고름이 흐르고, 원귀들의 시간이 형체도 없이 뭉쳐 있는 그 끔찍한 존재를 모른다고! 미츠코시 때부터 백화점에서 일하던 계집년들이 다 같이 가랑이로 낳은 괴물이 이 아래에 살아. 계집년들 밑구녕 냄새를 풍기는, 짓뭉개진 원한이 산다!”
And, reading her boyfriend (and soon to be fiance)'s Kakao chatroom with his friends, she discovers that her 'stinking pussy' is a running joke with his mates.
The novel takes a more fantastical turn in its closing period as 牝污災(Bin-o-jae) is revealed to be (or at least appears to Seul as) a real monster trapped under the concrete floor, but freed by Seul's investigations, one in the tradition of Lovecraft's Cthulhu (explicitly referenced in the text), and which feeds on the resentment of the colonial period and of, in particular, women's suffering down the years, and goes on to feed on Seul's in a powerful ending.
Impressive. 4.5 stars rounded to 5 for the beautiful production.
The UK publisher and the Lovecraft Reanimated project
Honford Star is committed to bridging literary worlds, celebrating the richness of East Asian literature. Our goal is to respect the authenticity and diversity of these narratives, bringing them to a global audience through collaborative partnerships with skilled translators, artists, and designers.
The Lovecraft Reanimated project features leading Korean speculative fiction writers reimagining the works of horror master H.P. Lovecraft. While honoring his eerie, grotesque imagery and the blurred boundaries between reality and fantasy, they update his ideas for a global audience.
The original Korean series of 8 books (by 9 authors, one co-authored)
러브크래프트를 통해 2020년 오늘의 공포와 경이를 보다
눈이 멀듯한 불꽃의 신을 내게 강림시킬 수 있다면!
한국의 대표 SF 작가들이
오마주와 전복으로 다시 창조하는
H. P. 러브크래프트의 세계
In English translation:
1.『외계 신장』 이수현
2.『낮은 곳으로 임하소서』 이서영
3.『친구의 부름』(그래픽노블) 최재훈
Additional titles:
『악의와 공포의 용은 익히 아는 자여라』 홍지운
『별들의 노래』 김성일
『우모리 하늘신발』 송경아
『뿌리 없는 별들』 은림, 박성환
『역병의 바다』 김보영
September 30, 2025
Well, I didnt expect this one to be so gross and disgustingly detailed. Mind you, I meant it in a positive way bcus my god, this one elevates the explicitness of the graphic gross descriptions of bodily fluid to another level. A warning, not to read this while eating 😌
This book is disgustingly gross but I love it! Its so refreshing to read a horror novella that spoke about female suffering so explicitly and overtly descriptive that I was both squeamish and also rooting for it. This story unravels many layers of women's body from menstruation, to the sticky discharge, the blood, the pain, the smell and how we are being shackled by these sufferings all of our life. The ghosts and curses in this story came from the wrath & anger of the people that had been forced to endure from misogyny, the unfairness and how women need to force themselves to submit to others. Gosh, this was such an interesting horror story with weird, bizarre theme that will get u grossed out by how many bodily fluids and body horrors. Oh also the horrific stench described in this book will make you uncomfortable. Dont read this when you are eating.
Full review to come
Thank you to Honford Star for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review
This book is disgustingly gross but I love it! Its so refreshing to read a horror novella that spoke about female suffering so explicitly and overtly descriptive that I was both squeamish and also rooting for it. This story unravels many layers of women's body from menstruation, to the sticky discharge, the blood, the pain, the smell and how we are being shackled by these sufferings all of our life. The ghosts and curses in this story came from the wrath & anger of the people that had been forced to endure from misogyny, the unfairness and how women need to force themselves to submit to others. Gosh, this was such an interesting horror story with weird, bizarre theme that will get u grossed out by how many bodily fluids and body horrors. Oh also the horrific stench described in this book will make you uncomfortable. Dont read this when you are eating.
Full review to come
Thank you to Honford Star for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review
October 20, 2025
Major thanks to Honfard Star for sending me an ARC of this in exchange for my honest thoughts:
Stinky punani disturbs the daily living of our present times. Where is it coming from? Where will it go?
Much like any horrid stench, a great sense of dread prevails in the pages in a short, tight piece of short fiction following the same vein of a Lovecraftian story.
Stinky punani disturbs the daily living of our present times. Where is it coming from? Where will it go?
Much like any horrid stench, a great sense of dread prevails in the pages in a short, tight piece of short fiction following the same vein of a Lovecraftian story.
January 13, 2026
Though Lovecraftian in its atmosphere and sinister news, this is something refreshingly different in the horror genre. It's a graphically developed and nasty novella, complete with a suitably dark endung, and still satisfying; nasty in the malodorous sense, and its reference to bodily fluids, and satisfying in its acknowledgement to HPL.
Seul, is a project manager at Yukwang Construction whose luck is in (or is it?..) when she wins an important contract, a major repair at the upscale Saesegae Department Store.
But it’s not as straightforward as she expected, the stench comes and goes, and the exact source is difficult to locate. It’s also not the first time this has been a problem, in the 1930s, during the Japanese occupation, the floor had to be reinforced. The regular maintenance company refused to deal with it.
This is a case of the female focus breathing new life into a familiar and even predictable tale. Yi’s writing is very effective.
Seul, is a project manager at Yukwang Construction whose luck is in (or is it?..) when she wins an important contract, a major repair at the upscale Saesegae Department Store.
The job was simple. A smell was coming from the basement, and it could be detected on the first floor
But it’s not as straightforward as she expected, the stench comes and goes, and the exact source is difficult to locate. It’s also not the first time this has been a problem, in the 1930s, during the Japanese occupation, the floor had to be reinforced. The regular maintenance company refused to deal with it.
This is a case of the female focus breathing new life into a familiar and even predictable tale. Yi’s writing is very effective.
July 26, 2026
Lovecraft-inspired story + lots of bodily fluids!?? 5 stars
February 4, 2026
I can't help but read this story in relation to the concept of the monstrous-feminine (Creed, 1993) because it's perfect for it. How often are we given a monster that is explicitly described as an all-consuming and vengeful vagina? Give this book to someone who's squeamish about bodily functions and watch them give up after the first page. I love it.
Seul is tasked with getting rid of a malodour affecting a department store. She also discovers that her boyfriend told his friends that her pussy smells and they've been mocking her in the group chat. The volume and quality of discharge/menstrual blood that her body produces is not something she can control, no matter what she does, but it has caused her a great deal of shame because of her partners. At the worksite, she unearths an ancient being that produces holes and a sticky, acidic substance, and which takes the form of a giant phallic tentacle that rips off some guy's penis.
It's classic monstrous-feminine: male fears about female genitals as a black hole that threatens to devour them, i.e., fear of symbolic castration. When the men who encounter it 'go mad', that's hysteria. The association of birth/menstruation/the natural order with the abject because men fear the great unknown of death, that's here too. And the man's insistence on covering up the holes with concrete because he fears accepting her into himself, choosing instead to become a raving lunatic, that boils down to castration anxiety. In the end, Seul herself transforms into a castrating female as she bides her time, no longer passive and ashamed, and infinitely more dangerous.
Seul is tasked with getting rid of a malodour affecting a department store. She also discovers that her boyfriend told his friends that her pussy smells and they've been mocking her in the group chat. The volume and quality of discharge/menstrual blood that her body produces is not something she can control, no matter what she does, but it has caused her a great deal of shame because of her partners. At the worksite, she unearths an ancient being that produces holes and a sticky, acidic substance, and which takes the form of a giant phallic tentacle that rips off some guy's penis.
It's classic monstrous-feminine: male fears about female genitals as a black hole that threatens to devour them, i.e., fear of symbolic castration. When the men who encounter it 'go mad', that's hysteria. The association of birth/menstruation/the natural order with the abject because men fear the great unknown of death, that's here too. And the man's insistence on covering up the holes with concrete because he fears accepting her into himself, choosing instead to become a raving lunatic, that boils down to castration anxiety. In the end, Seul herself transforms into a castrating female as she bides her time, no longer passive and ashamed, and infinitely more dangerous.
January 11, 2026
Seul, project manager for a large construction company, is offered one of her biggest jobs to date - to fix a mysterious, ephemeral stench rising up from the basement of a luxury department store. She can do whatever she needs to solve the issue but there is one rule that must not be broken - under no circumstances may she dig down beneath the foundations, even if she thinks it could help her investigation into the foul odour emanating from below. Whatever she does, she must not unleash Bin-o-jae.
At the same time as these work struggles, Seul is navigating the choppy waters of her long term relationship, one that is under strain due to a medical condition that results in terrible menstrual cycles. They'd been discussing marriage until Seul stumbles across a private chat between her partner and his friends, revealing a devastating betrayel.
Part of the Lovecraft Reanimated project, where leading Korean speculative fiction writers reimagine the works of horror master H.P. Lovecraft, this is feminist body horror with bite. Not for those who are squeamish about bodily fluids!
At the same time as these work struggles, Seul is navigating the choppy waters of her long term relationship, one that is under strain due to a medical condition that results in terrible menstrual cycles. They'd been discussing marriage until Seul stumbles across a private chat between her partner and his friends, revealing a devastating betrayel.
Part of the Lovecraft Reanimated project, where leading Korean speculative fiction writers reimagine the works of horror master H.P. Lovecraft, this is feminist body horror with bite. Not for those who are squeamish about bodily fluids!
December 26, 2025
Without hesitation or ambiguity, I can say that "Come Down to a Lower Place" is a feminist parable or allegory.
I saw the author, Seoyoung, speak at the launch-event for this Lovecraft Reanimated series in Seoul in December 2025. She was delightful and interesting.
Reading the her story after having seen her talk about it at the event, a lot of things make sense. Some of what she said, I now realize, directly foreshadowed the degree to which her story, "Come Down to a Lower Place," is a feminist allegory.
(See what I had to say about Seoyoung's contribution to the event at my long "event report": https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... ).
There are many attractive things about "Come Down to a Lower Place," as other reviewers at GR touch upon. The story does sustain interest and takes the Lovecraftian premise seriously, even if it doesn't achieve it consistently.
I found the story too vulgar and sexualized, but mostly this is front-loaded, seemingly for effect. I told myself I wanted to give it a "-1" rating-penalty for that (e.g., if tending to give a "4," I'd downrate to a "3"). But in the end I lost my nerve to do this.
But, yes, the vulgar and sexualized content made it less effective, for me, than a more restrained story would've been. Classic writers, and certainly Lovecraft, used restraint to great effect.
"Come Down to a Lower Place" may also be too political. The vulgar-sexualization is not for its own sake but in service of the feminist politics at the heart of the story, premise, plot, and everything.
You don't want your story to seem "didactic," in which the subtext is: There is a Right Way, and you shall be brought to it. Does this apply to this story? At times it felt like it did. But, if it did, it never quite got lost in the didactic trap and also wriggled free and moved onward.
The whole Lovecraft Reimagined project, of which this was one of eight stories originally published in 2020 (four being published in translation, 2025/26) seems to have originally been designed to have Korean women write quasi-feminist versions of Lovecraftian stories. The organizer(s) dropped that constraint. But this story shows, to me, clear influence from of the idea.
Lovecraft would never quite write a story like "Come Down to a Lower Place," in which the horror and monster elements come as a kind of morality-play for how women are mistreated and have resentments built up in them, resentments which physically manifest and lurk in the deep, dark unknown down below.
Yes, as I keep saying the story that amounts to a feminist parable, and would be instantly recognizable as such in the late-20th century in the West. This kind of feminist milieu became strongly established in South Korea in/by the 2010s and stands today as a significant political dividing-line in the society among the younger-age-range South Koreans.
Korean fiction has traditionally been under heavy influence of the political Left. (It has probably not (IMO) been a good thing for Korean fiction's health and dynamism to be so dominated by one political side, but that's another question. By the early-21st century, things were drifting towards a feminist-Left, and that is where it seems to be today. Most significant new writers over the past few decades have been women. (The deeply political-Left nature of Han Kang's work is something few of her outside-Korea readers seem to grasp very much.)
Given this trend, it wasn't necessarily so big a surprise that when Korean science-fiction (SF) finally emerged on its own two feet, around the late 2010s, that it was being driven by feminist writers and readers, and has a default, built-in feminism to it which it doesn't seem even to be aware would alienate quite a few readers. (After all, SF has traditionally been male-oriented just about everywhere I know of.)
I think the story "Come Down to a Lower Place" was written in 2019 and completed not later than about early-spring 2020. Feminism had been strong in literary circles for a long time, by that point, but by the close of the 2010s there was a push-back gathering strength, which could be seen in full force developing in the early 2020s. (Maybe Seoyoung would've gone a slightly different direction if crafting her story in 2025 or 2015 than 2020.)
The author, Seoyoung, came into awareness of her country/culture's literary-political scene in the 2000s decade, maybe very vaguely already in the late 1990s (she is born in 1987), when the new-female-writer trend was already getting underway. I assume someone like this will have seen feminism as a kind of default, right-and-proper moral-political posture. In this, she shares a lot with Western women.
This being a translated text, I'm always interested in how the original audience will see it against how the translation audience will see it. Western women have been seeing institutional feminism as a kind of moral-political, right-and-proper default posture of things, I'd say, since ca. the 1970s. And in ways we hardly even think deeply about. With the kind of angry, violent-fantasy feminism given in "Come Down to a Lower Place," it's probably a little shocking to Western consumers of the translation. Many seem to like it because it challenges them and shock them while also being a pretty good coherent story.
There's a big question about what Seoyoung meant with the ending. I don't want to comment directly on it in a review, except to say: I wonder what political message she intended with the last scene. If you're reading this review first and later read the story, keep the question in mind and left me know, because I'd love outside opinions.
At least one of the GR reviewers said she didn't like the ending because the ending didn't seem to resolve the story. It sounds like Seoyoung has heard this criticism before, perhaps from Koreans back in 2020. She pre-empted the criticism with a line she delivered near the end of the book-launch event in Seoul. She said: "Ghost stories don't wrap up. I wanted to leave the same feeling."
In her original Korean publication, Seoyoung leave an author's note but there is author's note in the English version. I don't know why translation versions rarely include Author's Notes. In it she makes clear that the political tenor of the story was definitely intentional.
_______
On the translation:
The translator of "Come Down to a Lower Place" is Janet Hong. This is someone I remember second-guessing, somewhat often, when I've read her translations. Make no mistake: her work is competent. She knows what she's doing (of course). But maybe not every translator is an ideal fit for every source-text?
I've sometimes felt that something of Janet Hong's translations feels off. I don't know what it is; register? vocabulary? phrasings? I don't know, many small choices have felt not as tight as could be. That can be distracting even if it only comes up once every few pages. In cases it gets denser than that, it can be really distracting.
What some might not realize: no two people in a hundred will translate a significant block of Korean text into English in exactly the same way. (Whereas some would translate in the same, or nearly the same, words between two European languages.) The translator between an Asian and European language is really doing a LOT, making major choices almost casually, at every turn. Not only is absolute mastery of the target language required, cultural and literary tastes must be strong for both source text and target text. Problems with register or word-choice are really hard to get just right.
"Come Down to a Lower Place" will have been a pretty challenging text to translate because of lots of political, cultural, and sexual pitfalls. I felt I notice, somewhat too often for my taste, compromises made.
_______
RATING: 4 / 5. The story is good, the premise interesting, the Lovecraftian genre is generally effective and taken seriously (if not consistently).
The story is too vulgar, and filled with political-cultural subtext that was hard to translate. The translation may not have been up to this tall task, but maybe the task was impossible to do quite as well as I imagine or want.
I appreciate the effort and commitment this story showed, and Seoyoung's whole approach to this thing, and her delight in being part of this latest salvo in Korean literature-in-translation thanks to the published Honford Star. My rating can do nothing but stay with a "4."
_______
NOTE: This book came to my attention thanks to participation in the Lovecraft Reimagined book-launch event, which I attended with many other members of our active, in-person Korean Literature Club (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... )!
I saw the author, Seoyoung, speak at the launch-event for this Lovecraft Reanimated series in Seoul in December 2025. She was delightful and interesting.
Reading the her story after having seen her talk about it at the event, a lot of things make sense. Some of what she said, I now realize, directly foreshadowed the degree to which her story, "Come Down to a Lower Place," is a feminist allegory.
(See what I had to say about Seoyoung's contribution to the event at my long "event report": https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... ).
There are many attractive things about "Come Down to a Lower Place," as other reviewers at GR touch upon. The story does sustain interest and takes the Lovecraftian premise seriously, even if it doesn't achieve it consistently.
I found the story too vulgar and sexualized, but mostly this is front-loaded, seemingly for effect. I told myself I wanted to give it a "-1" rating-penalty for that (e.g., if tending to give a "4," I'd downrate to a "3"). But in the end I lost my nerve to do this.
But, yes, the vulgar and sexualized content made it less effective, for me, than a more restrained story would've been. Classic writers, and certainly Lovecraft, used restraint to great effect.
"Come Down to a Lower Place" may also be too political. The vulgar-sexualization is not for its own sake but in service of the feminist politics at the heart of the story, premise, plot, and everything.
You don't want your story to seem "didactic," in which the subtext is: There is a Right Way, and you shall be brought to it. Does this apply to this story? At times it felt like it did. But, if it did, it never quite got lost in the didactic trap and also wriggled free and moved onward.
The whole Lovecraft Reimagined project, of which this was one of eight stories originally published in 2020 (four being published in translation, 2025/26) seems to have originally been designed to have Korean women write quasi-feminist versions of Lovecraftian stories. The organizer(s) dropped that constraint. But this story shows, to me, clear influence from of the idea.
Lovecraft would never quite write a story like "Come Down to a Lower Place," in which the horror and monster elements come as a kind of morality-play for how women are mistreated and have resentments built up in them, resentments which physically manifest and lurk in the deep, dark unknown down below.
Yes, as I keep saying the story that amounts to a feminist parable, and would be instantly recognizable as such in the late-20th century in the West. This kind of feminist milieu became strongly established in South Korea in/by the 2010s and stands today as a significant political dividing-line in the society among the younger-age-range South Koreans.
Korean fiction has traditionally been under heavy influence of the political Left. (It has probably not (IMO) been a good thing for Korean fiction's health and dynamism to be so dominated by one political side, but that's another question. By the early-21st century, things were drifting towards a feminist-Left, and that is where it seems to be today. Most significant new writers over the past few decades have been women. (The deeply political-Left nature of Han Kang's work is something few of her outside-Korea readers seem to grasp very much.)
Given this trend, it wasn't necessarily so big a surprise that when Korean science-fiction (SF) finally emerged on its own two feet, around the late 2010s, that it was being driven by feminist writers and readers, and has a default, built-in feminism to it which it doesn't seem even to be aware would alienate quite a few readers. (After all, SF has traditionally been male-oriented just about everywhere I know of.)
I think the story "Come Down to a Lower Place" was written in 2019 and completed not later than about early-spring 2020. Feminism had been strong in literary circles for a long time, by that point, but by the close of the 2010s there was a push-back gathering strength, which could be seen in full force developing in the early 2020s. (Maybe Seoyoung would've gone a slightly different direction if crafting her story in 2025 or 2015 than 2020.)
The author, Seoyoung, came into awareness of her country/culture's literary-political scene in the 2000s decade, maybe very vaguely already in the late 1990s (she is born in 1987), when the new-female-writer trend was already getting underway. I assume someone like this will have seen feminism as a kind of default, right-and-proper moral-political posture. In this, she shares a lot with Western women.
This being a translated text, I'm always interested in how the original audience will see it against how the translation audience will see it. Western women have been seeing institutional feminism as a kind of moral-political, right-and-proper default posture of things, I'd say, since ca. the 1970s. And in ways we hardly even think deeply about. With the kind of angry, violent-fantasy feminism given in "Come Down to a Lower Place," it's probably a little shocking to Western consumers of the translation. Many seem to like it because it challenges them and shock them while also being a pretty good coherent story.
There's a big question about what Seoyoung meant with the ending. I don't want to comment directly on it in a review, except to say: I wonder what political message she intended with the last scene. If you're reading this review first and later read the story, keep the question in mind and left me know, because I'd love outside opinions.
At least one of the GR reviewers said she didn't like the ending because the ending didn't seem to resolve the story. It sounds like Seoyoung has heard this criticism before, perhaps from Koreans back in 2020. She pre-empted the criticism with a line she delivered near the end of the book-launch event in Seoul. She said: "Ghost stories don't wrap up. I wanted to leave the same feeling."
In her original Korean publication, Seoyoung leave an author's note but there is author's note in the English version. I don't know why translation versions rarely include Author's Notes. In it she makes clear that the political tenor of the story was definitely intentional.
_______
On the translation:
The translator of "Come Down to a Lower Place" is Janet Hong. This is someone I remember second-guessing, somewhat often, when I've read her translations. Make no mistake: her work is competent. She knows what she's doing (of course). But maybe not every translator is an ideal fit for every source-text?
I've sometimes felt that something of Janet Hong's translations feels off. I don't know what it is; register? vocabulary? phrasings? I don't know, many small choices have felt not as tight as could be. That can be distracting even if it only comes up once every few pages. In cases it gets denser than that, it can be really distracting.
What some might not realize: no two people in a hundred will translate a significant block of Korean text into English in exactly the same way. (Whereas some would translate in the same, or nearly the same, words between two European languages.) The translator between an Asian and European language is really doing a LOT, making major choices almost casually, at every turn. Not only is absolute mastery of the target language required, cultural and literary tastes must be strong for both source text and target text. Problems with register or word-choice are really hard to get just right.
"Come Down to a Lower Place" will have been a pretty challenging text to translate because of lots of political, cultural, and sexual pitfalls. I felt I notice, somewhat too often for my taste, compromises made.
_______
RATING: 4 / 5. The story is good, the premise interesting, the Lovecraftian genre is generally effective and taken seriously (if not consistently).
The story is too vulgar, and filled with political-cultural subtext that was hard to translate. The translation may not have been up to this tall task, but maybe the task was impossible to do quite as well as I imagine or want.
I appreciate the effort and commitment this story showed, and Seoyoung's whole approach to this thing, and her delight in being part of this latest salvo in Korean literature-in-translation thanks to the published Honford Star. My rating can do nothing but stay with a "4."
_______
NOTE: This book came to my attention thanks to participation in the Lovecraft Reimagined book-launch event, which I attended with many other members of our active, in-person Korean Literature Club (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... )!
June 23, 2026
I didn't know eldritch horror could be this yonic, and I certainly didn't expect to read a horror novella with this much discharge. It's a fascinating take on Lovecraftian horror that is recognizable in its ancestral link to those stories but also could not be further from something Lovecraft would actually write. A fitting appropriation of the notorious racist's world to a new story told from a perspective that rejects Lovecraft's views. You love to see it.
February 11, 2026
I'm not sure what the point of this was. The body horror element and occasional references to historical eras seemed like they were there for a purpose, and I was expecting the end of the book to tie it all together more - presumably with some point about women's bodies, and the way they've been treated throughout history, or the way we're taught to think about them. That never quite came about though, so now I'm not quite sure what it was all in aid of. It wasn't scary, and I honestly can't tell if the graphic content was intended to be uncomfortable or to make the reader question that discomfort.
Am I over- or under- thinking it? I'm not sure I care.
Am I over- or under- thinking it? I'm not sure I care.
October 10, 2025
A book about 명동 Shinsegae & vaginal-discharge-monster-cum-bringer-of-destruction??? I loved it. Cheers, Honford Star, on this one too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 9, 2026
It felt very on-the-nose - even didactic. In fairness, as a man I did learn some things about physical health issues can face and a effect and how this should be taken into account. However, I'm sure not all women face the issues shown, particularly to that extent - but the novella seems to paint it as if this is the experience of all women.
I also didn't think the main woman (Seul)'s life was that bad (unlike the other cursed woman). The has it quite good, without much reason to have so much scorn towards the world, even if she is just off the back of discovering her partner's chat where he said a negative thing about her. Is this supposed to be empowering? It doesn't seem empowering to throw away the good things you have going for you. Is it a lesson to men? I feel like she herself is losing by becoming part of a monster.
I suppose maybe it's the curse amplifying the negative parts of her life experience related to being a woman, causing her to not care so much about losing the positive.
The relationship between Seul and her partner was shown in a very one-sided way too. It tells us how although he is loving and genuinely cares about her and is usually considerate to her, he isn't perfect as he is a share personal details he shouldn't have with his friends and has sex with her when she isn't in the mood (though she consented and he wasn't really pressuring her, she just felt pressured by his disappointment). After the curse he does show a little selfishness with the dress situation. However, it never shows how she's a perfect partner to him - it's only focused on his couple of flaws, not hers. So the flaws are supposed to justify the idea that her life is so mistreated in her relationship on top of having to deal with unfortunate health problems, but we don't see where she's a great partner, if we're setting the bar so high for her partner (who was described by herself as loving and kind). I suppose maybe he has more selfish flaws than she realised, that were covered by their love.
I also wondered towards the end if it was written by a man, because it seemed to focus so much on the negatives and unflattering ailments of women's bodies and was a bit edgy to be honest. It also seemed a bit juvenile in how it used the word p*ssy, but I don't know if it's a translation issue and the equivalent word in Korean might be less juvenile.
I also struggled sometimes with the horror parts. I just found them a little flat and a bit cliche, but I'm not much of a horror fan anyway.
When I was halfway I liked the book and would've given it 3/5, but towards the end I was just waiting for it to finish. The prose and story did flow well. Sometimes the descriptions were lacking a bit - for example, it once described the coldness of the air as "unreal". Another time it said a character's smile blurred the boundary with her body, but I'm not sure what this means. That her lips went inside? I'm unsure.
I also didn't think the main woman (Seul)'s life was that bad (unlike the other cursed woman). The has it quite good, without much reason to have so much scorn towards the world, even if she is just off the back of discovering her partner's chat where he said a negative thing about her. Is this supposed to be empowering? It doesn't seem empowering to throw away the good things you have going for you. Is it a lesson to men? I feel like she herself is losing by becoming part of a monster.
I suppose maybe it's the curse amplifying the negative parts of her life experience related to being a woman, causing her to not care so much about losing the positive.
The relationship between Seul and her partner was shown in a very one-sided way too. It tells us how although he is loving and genuinely cares about her and is usually considerate to her, he isn't perfect as he is a share personal details he shouldn't have with his friends and has sex with her when she isn't in the mood (though she consented and he wasn't really pressuring her, she just felt pressured by his disappointment). After the curse he does show a little selfishness with the dress situation. However, it never shows how she's a perfect partner to him - it's only focused on his couple of flaws, not hers. So the flaws are supposed to justify the idea that her life is so mistreated in her relationship on top of having to deal with unfortunate health problems, but we don't see where she's a great partner, if we're setting the bar so high for her partner (who was described by herself as loving and kind). I suppose maybe he has more selfish flaws than she realised, that were covered by their love.
I also wondered towards the end if it was written by a man, because it seemed to focus so much on the negatives and unflattering ailments of women's bodies and was a bit edgy to be honest. It also seemed a bit juvenile in how it used the word p*ssy, but I don't know if it's a translation issue and the equivalent word in Korean might be less juvenile.
I also struggled sometimes with the horror parts. I just found them a little flat and a bit cliche, but I'm not much of a horror fan anyway.
When I was halfway I liked the book and would've given it 3/5, but towards the end I was just waiting for it to finish. The prose and story did flow well. Sometimes the descriptions were lacking a bit - for example, it once described the coldness of the air as "unreal". Another time it said a character's smile blurred the boundary with her body, but I'm not sure what this means. That her lips went inside? I'm unsure.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 11, 2026
Naturally, it's difficult to tolerate a bad smell at home. Bad odors typically come from bathrooms or balconies with drains, causing significant stress in a space where you should be able to relax. A stench at work can even sap one's motivation. So what about department stores? Although she hadn't received the blueprints yet, the main building of Saesegae Department Store housed luxury stores. The basement showcased watches, the first floor boutiques, and the second floor designer collections.
This was somewhat of an unexpected find and a rare purchase of brand new book (rather than my usual charity shop approach). The striking cover design with wrap around band initially caught my attention and a quick view of the blurb revealed this would be right up my street. The book is part of the Lovecraft Reanimated project, where leading Korean writers reimagine the works of horror master.
This second book is more firmly in the Lovecraftian wheelhouse. It follows a young architect as they investigate a mysterious smell in a high-end department store. Their work is hampered by the store manager refusing to dig up the basement floor. What lies beneath the 'lower place'.
I enjoyed the parallels to the architect's medical issues, the growing impending doom, which is hallmark Lovecraft, and the mentions to Cthulhu.
There is currently one more book in the series, which I will be reading shortly*. This one gets 5 stars.
*yes, I did buy all three!
This was somewhat of an unexpected find and a rare purchase of brand new book (rather than my usual charity shop approach). The striking cover design with wrap around band initially caught my attention and a quick view of the blurb revealed this would be right up my street. The book is part of the Lovecraft Reanimated project, where leading Korean writers reimagine the works of horror master.
This second book is more firmly in the Lovecraftian wheelhouse. It follows a young architect as they investigate a mysterious smell in a high-end department store. Their work is hampered by the store manager refusing to dig up the basement floor. What lies beneath the 'lower place'.
I enjoyed the parallels to the architect's medical issues, the growing impending doom, which is hallmark Lovecraft, and the mentions to Cthulhu.
There is currently one more book in the series, which I will be reading shortly*. This one gets 5 stars.
*yes, I did buy all three!
October 27, 2025
A routine inspection and repair job at a large department store. Nothing too complicated, except...
Why are the bosses being so secretive about the project? Why are there so many restrictions on how the job can be done? Why do the problems seem to stretch back decades?
This is definitely Lovecraftian fiction with a BIG focus on the gross out aspects of the mythos. I liked the story (the creepy buildup is really excellent) & our frustrated narrator (Seul), but thought the finale of the story was weak. The story seemed to come to a really great ending when it reached that revelation in the basement, especially with the frantic/manic coworker summoning the eldritch abomination. But then the story lost some of its punch, and way too much was explained & spelled out.
Why are the bosses being so secretive about the project? Why are there so many restrictions on how the job can be done? Why do the problems seem to stretch back decades?
This is definitely Lovecraftian fiction with a BIG focus on the gross out aspects of the mythos. I liked the story (the creepy buildup is really excellent) & our frustrated narrator (Seul), but thought the finale of the story was weak. The story seemed to come to a really great ending when it reached that revelation in the basement, especially with the frantic/manic coworker summoning the eldritch abomination. But then the story lost some of its punch, and way too much was explained & spelled out.
June 29, 2026
4 stars-
Que librazo, honestamente. Librazo. El terror escrito por mujeres me parece uno de los más sensoriales. Y esta novela corta de Seoyoung Yi logró hacerme sentir asco (en un buen sentido) con cada página que avanzaba. No sé cómo describir lo mucho que disfruté esta lectura y lo intrigada que estuve como para volver a desvelarme leyendo. Pero si tuviera que dar una razón, diría que el trasfondo feminista de la obra (la crítica hacia las pésimas condiciones que deben pasar algunas mujeres en el trabajo, la cosificación de sus cuerpos y su sexualidad, el estigma y prejuicio hacia la propia biología femenina...) fue la principal.
Recomiendo este libro si quieren pasar un buen rato asqueándose.
Que librazo, honestamente. Librazo. El terror escrito por mujeres me parece uno de los más sensoriales. Y esta novela corta de Seoyoung Yi logró hacerme sentir asco (en un buen sentido) con cada página que avanzaba. No sé cómo describir lo mucho que disfruté esta lectura y lo intrigada que estuve como para volver a desvelarme leyendo. Pero si tuviera que dar una razón, diría que el trasfondo feminista de la obra (la crítica hacia las pésimas condiciones que deben pasar algunas mujeres en el trabajo, la cosificación de sus cuerpos y su sexualidad, el estigma y prejuicio hacia la propia biología femenina...) fue la principal.
Recomiendo este libro si quieren pasar un buen rato asqueándose.
July 12, 2026
Devoured this in one sitting.
This would have been five stars from me, but there was something missing from all of it. I loved the ending, but it didn't quite match up to what came before.
We need more feminist body horror of this nature. I mean, hell, it doesn't even have to be "body horror" when the natural female body is already seen as something horrendous in our society, and something that must be altered in order to be accepted.
There were a few typos or errors in my paperback copy, e.g. "his computer" becomes "her computer" a few pages later. This could be related to the general use of pronouns in Korean, but I'm surprised a proofreader didn't catch it.
I will happily read anything Honford Star publishes.
This would have been five stars from me, but there was something missing from all of it. I loved the ending, but it didn't quite match up to what came before.
We need more feminist body horror of this nature. I mean, hell, it doesn't even have to be "body horror" when the natural female body is already seen as something horrendous in our society, and something that must be altered in order to be accepted.
There were a few typos or errors in my paperback copy, e.g. "his computer" becomes "her computer" a few pages later. This could be related to the general use of pronouns in Korean, but I'm surprised a proofreader didn't catch it.
I will happily read anything Honford Star publishes.
February 13, 2026
2.5 -> 2
Остросоциальный арт-хоррор с соответствующим формату содержимым: умеренная физиологичность, антикорпоративная сатира, травмы колониального наследия, критика мизогинии. Обещанная маркетингом лавкрафтиана свелась буквально к следующему — Джексон, простите, Ктулху оказался женщиной.
Остросоциальный арт-хоррор с соответствующим формату содержимым: умеренная физиологичность, антикорпоративная сатира, травмы колониального наследия, критика мизогинии. Обещанная маркетингом лавкрафтиана свелась буквально к следующему — Джексон, простите, Ктулху оказался женщиной.
You have no idea what’s down here—the stench, the pus, the shapeless mass of vengeful spirits trapped underground! The monster born from between the legs of the women who worked here back when this was the Mitsukoshi Department Store is still alive down here—bitter and reeking like those women’s crotches!
May 31, 2026
the graphic descriptions of blood, discharge, sticky fluids, and unbearable smells were utterly bonkers. beyond that, i love how the book focuses on the shame and misogyny women experience in everyday life. seul being mocked for something she can't control felt painfully real. i also found the monstrous feminine themes really interesting, especially the way the book explores men's fear and disgust toward women's bodies. the atmosphere felt suffocating the entire time, though i do wish the ending tied its ideas together a bit more clearly
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 12, 2025
Seoyoung Yi's Lovecraftian novella is intense, merging body horror with patriarchal, sexist attitudes towards women's bodily functions and, possibly with a patriarchal, sexist reaction, I was put off my breakfast yoghurt! This one could have been called "The Yeast from Yuggoth"!
Despite the gross-out factor that doesn't normally appeal to me, I enjoyed (if that's the right word) this entry in the Lovecraft Reanimated series: a stench-filled 4🦑
Despite the gross-out factor that doesn't normally appeal to me, I enjoyed (if that's the right word) this entry in the Lovecraft Reanimated series: a stench-filled 4🦑
November 1, 2025
An amizing short story featuring body horror and chtulu. A feminist Chtulu one may say.
I am really happy to read a book that depicts mysoginy that women have to face in their daily lives as horror.
I love how it highlights not only all sorts of non-violent abuses (work, couple, etc) but also how "gross" and hard having a vigina could be.
I am really happy to read a book that depicts mysoginy that women have to face in their daily lives as horror.
I love how it highlights not only all sorts of non-violent abuses (work, couple, etc) but also how "gross" and hard having a vigina could be.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2026
I loved this so much
It was so creative and well written. The descriptions and dialogue. How the original monster was warped and changed to fit both a modern setting, and tackle something like the female body and misogyny.
It was a short, entertaining read that didn't overstay its welcome.
I would've loved more, and I hope to see more fiction by Seoyoung Yi in the future.
It was so creative and well written. The descriptions and dialogue. How the original monster was warped and changed to fit both a modern setting, and tackle something like the female body and misogyny.
It was a short, entertaining read that didn't overstay its welcome.
I would've loved more, and I hope to see more fiction by Seoyoung Yi in the future.
December 2, 2025
gross!! took a long shower and scrubbed my skin raw after finishing this... (i enjoyed it)
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February 10, 2026The poor tormented souls of women working at department stores.
February 24, 2026
So gross, dark and hauntingly well done.
June 15, 2026
Not as gross to me as reviews, and the first paragraph, lead me to expect
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