Two People’s International: Dear Normal People
Two People’s International: a collection of short stories, was published in May 2024. With the perfect balance of in-depth themes and trendy descriptions, it took no time to become a best-seller and still maintains its prestigious status. With the Sungkyun Times (SKT), it is time to explore this book, Two People’s International.
Preview of Two People’s International
-The Field Where the Nine Pieces Meet
This May, Two People’s International, a book of short stories written by Kim Gi-tae, a rising author who debuted in 2022 and won the Young Writers’ Award in 2024, was released. Since these two lines written in the author’s biography are all, Kim Gi-tae has been shrouded in a veil of secrecy. He became extraordinary in the literary field as his pieces Headlight and Universal Refinement were each published in the 2022 autumn and 2023 winter editions of Novel Beyond: a story collection project organized by Moonji Publications. His first book, Two People’s International, which contains nine pieces of his works from the past three years, achieved best-seller status as soon as it was published. It also received remarkable sensation after it was selected as the book of this month by the critic Lee Dong-jin’s YouTube channel, Lee Dong-jin’s Piarchia. In his book, nine different themes and writing styles individualize each piece, denoting Kim Gi-tae’s ability to cover all styles and intriguing readers with the diversity of his storytelling.
-Synopsis (*Spoiler Alert)
All Seas of the World
Japanese international student, Haku, heads to Jamsil to buy goods from the worldwide K-pop group called All Seas of the World. When he tries to pick up the last flag, someone asks, “Are you going to buy this?” Tanned skin and awkwardly fitted jeans hint that he must be a hardcore fan. It is not so pleasing to get involved with him; however, …
Rolling Thunder Love
Jo Maeng-hui, turning 37 years old this year, thinks now is the time to find a lover. She decides to appear on the reality dating show, Solo Farm. Somehow, she is fascinated by Woo-young, the producer (PD) of the show.
Headlight
After graduating from a prestigious university, a man is now successfully working at a major company. Walking on his well-paved road, if any problems take place, it would be marriage. Then, one day, he encounters the woman he has dreamed of his whole life!
Two People’s International
The student who was called out of the teacher’s room for not paying money on time. That was Jin-joo and Nikolai’s first impression of each other. Years after graduating, they meet again by coincidence. This leads them to develop their relationship further, having lunch together and exchanging daily small talk.
Universal Refinement
Gwak has been assigned to teach the Classic Reading course, which was first registered this year for senior class students. During the vacation, he was absorbed in preparing for this class, dedicating his time day and night, reading and studying. Entering the door with a fluttering heart, unfortunately, he witnesses more students bringing pillows than pencils.
Rona, Our Star
Appearing at the national audition show, Star for Everyone, Rona Rona, a singer-songwriter, becomes a global star. Now, her interest is in music and social issues such as environmental concerns and animal testing. Furthering her scope, she ends up being involved in politics.
Clockwork Is 12 and 1/2 Turns
His guest house is more often vacant than full. Tomorrow is the day his daughter visits his guest house once a year, so he carefully cleans up room 202, the usual room she stays in every year. That is when an old man with a dark blue face enters, requesting room 202!
Heavy and High
Weightlifting is a sport that soars toward the sky. Lifting the barbell in one go and throwing it away is the feeling that Song-hee loves. She promises her dad she will quit weightlifting if she does not perform well in this competition. How will her destiny turn out?
Pax Atomica
The main character, suffering from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, feels like he is carrying a bomb in his head. He constantly doubts everything: whether he closed the door, turned off the boiler, and more. Will the bomb in his head be able to remain there without exploding?
Intersection of Fiction and Non-fiction
One of the reasons this book drew attention was because of the fresh approach utilizing trendy themes such as popular culture and memes. For instance, All Seas of the World and Rona, Our Star cover stories of K-pop Artists and their fandom culture. In Rolling Thunder Love, the main character is a woman appearing on a reality dating show, and references lyrics of 11 popular songs. Countless memes and Graphic Interchange Formats (GIFs) appear in the chatroom of the main characters in Two People’s International, adding a modern and relatable narrative style to the book.
"‘Did we live so wrong?’ The Marine sergeant said to bear the hardships with all your will since you chose this path, and Kim Jong-un shook his head from side to side with his arms crossed. Jang Hyuk, of the drama The Slave Hunters, munched boiled eggs while sobbing, and the frog also oozed tears."
-Two People's International p.134
Utilizing today’s mainstream culture in the novel allows the young generation to strongly empathize with the story. According to an interview with Cinne 21, Kim Gi-tae cited that he disagrees with the idea that the sunlight shining through the trees is literary while the electronic display board is not. If the board is something one faces daily, it must be written as novels. In other words, everything one can look at, hear, and experience can be literature materials.
"My first monthly salary was used to buy a massage chair for my parents. (…) I opened an account for a housing subscription deposit, signed up for retirement saving services, and decided to donate 2% of my monthly salary to international organizations coping with famine and refugee problems.”
-Headlight p.85
Kim Gi-tae’s sentences are also filled with intuitive and realistic descriptions. Since accurate numbers and illustrative information are ever present, readers get the feeling that they are reading a journal or a piece of non-fiction.
“According to NoHeatSroke.org, ever since the statistics were valid, 505 children have died of heatstroke inside vehicles in the United States every year. This means 19 children per year. (…) It is easy to blame the parents. However, all humans make mistakes. Some mistakes simply cannot be fixed.”
-Pax Atomica p.272
Although it is distant from the delicacy and metaphors of traditional literature, the attractive aspect of this book is that it is located on the borderline of fiction and non-fiction, freely crossing between them.
All Normal People in the World
This book handles considerably sensitive social issues and criticizes the system of society by capturing how the world works through keen insight. All Seas of the World addresses in-depth topics such as a terrorist situation and a crowd collapse in a K-pop concert hall. It also portrays Haku’s identity concerns living as a Korean Japanese. Then, Two People’s International covers the harsh life of Jinjoo, a 21st century youth laborer, and Nikolai, 4th generation Koryo-Saram and a foreign worker. The fact that education can never be universal is sharply criticized on Universal Refinement. For some, it may be refinement; for others, it may be luxury. As the book discusses profound themes, it provides the reader with opportunities to consider society’s current contradictions and flaws. Then, the book highlights how these social problems affect the lives of normal people. The stories unfold from this intersection: society and the individual. The keyword that holds throughout all nine pieces is normal. For example, in All Seas of the World, of the 130,000 fans who gathered for the concert, Haku pertains to the group of 30,000 fans who were unable to access the concert hall. Maenghui from Rolling Thunder Love ended up getting nobody’s attention, from dating partners or even the audience. However normal they are, once they become the main characters, all of them transform into unique individuals. Kim Gi-tae’s book grants uniqueness to those who are generalized as the majority, which exposes his affection for normal people. The altruistic perspective he takes when describing his characters is interpreted as a gesture of cheering for the lives of all normal people belonging to society.
The future was still enclosed in an envelope, and living felt like a punishment on the way home some days. They scooped up trivial but certain happiness, and when it did not help, they dreamed of uncertain but grand happiness.”
Two People’s International p.143