The Cabinet by Kim Un Su

“There are two types of lives people can live,' he said. 'The kind of life in which one writes in a diary every day, and the kind of life in which one doesn't. They're as different as a country with a history and one without.”

The Cabinet by Kim Un Su builds upon a premise which appears to be eccentric, yet the unrealistic notion of ‘symptomers’ sets off the story of Cabinet 13, the titular cabinet. Cabinet 13 is an enigmatic presence in the story, whose safekeeping is bestowed in the hands of a persona someplace between a curator and janitor named Kong Deok Geun, an assistant to the enigmatic Professor Kwon. His involvement with the bizarre yet fascinating occurrences, which have been an aftermath of covert experiments. It’s where magic and mundane emulsify, yet far from a rather conventional perception of how it must transpire. Deok Geun’s life unfolds as he documents and supports these ‘symptomers’, a group of people who, what you may call, reinvented themselves. 

Kim Un Su treads through the story in three parts, the initiation being rather lighthearted and comical. The second part manifests itself in a rather complex commentary which bases itself upon a profound rumination of the contemporary world and the absurdity under the shroud of the capitalist society, and amidst such, the theatrics surrounding the Cabinet 13, in which Deok Geun discovers himself to be involved beyond his comfort. The final part sprints towards the aftermath of Kong Deok Geun’s involvement with his entanglement pertaining to the cabinet, the ‘boobytrap’ which ironically the final of the three segments is called, and him the imprisoned. The nightmare which overcasts his lifeforce, paints a grimness brimming with alienation and the unyielding urban existence with the sentiment of loneliness. 

The book demands a reader’s undivided attention to comprehend its themes, as it’s a far from seamless read. The Cabinet is not a usual fantasy read which allows one to binge, but every second spent through multiple sittings is worth the time spent. It’s intellectual, it’s compound and it’s gripping. Kim Un Su inked a spectacular speculative fiction, and his writing prowess reflects in this unorthodox literary piece.