u/3amdreamer_1004

South Korea is mostly marketed as a bubble that is just kpop, kdramas, ramen, aegyos, or that has you falling for your boss, idol or the son of a chaebol choosing you even though you are from a poor family.

But just like every other country, it’s part of an illusion, it has its dark side, there’s been a movement called 4B among the women in SK, since 2017, encouraging women to reject patriarchy by adopting four "nos": no heterosexual marriage**,** no childbearing, no dating, and no sex with men. It is a protest against high misogyny, sexual violence, and structural gender inequality.

And then there’s the mental health problem mostly, where they have to work till late, the forced drinking/networking sessions after work. People rarely have time for themselves, which is why a lot of Cafe’s are popping up, or camping grounds where you can camp for like half a day, just so that people can feel a bit normal and rested even for a short period.

And then add the burning sun scandal, and the nth rooms case, possibly the worst to hit the women of South Korea, and you wouldn’t be surprised by the high suicide rates, which was at a whopping 40 per day in 2024.

At the heart of the latter problems (burning sun and nth room), and this book, are spy cams, that did and continue to ruin women’s lives while the men that orchestrated these walk free to this day.

Molka is exactly what I expected from a book set in South Korea, it’s atmospheric. Usually, something that bothers me about most Korean and Japanese books is that they are translated, and the feeling or descriptions are lost in translation, so I rarely get a chance to feel the plot or atmosphere because it feels very half described? (Exception being Baek Se Hee’s book translated by Anton Hur)

The book tells things as it is, it doesn’t exaggerate to get the point across but it’s very good at making the reader uncomfortable and angry with the writing, sort of like we are being watched without our consent.

This has 2 POVs, one of Junyoung, a perverted IT worker with spy cams all over the women’s restrooms and Dahye, a working class girl with an extremely rich boyfriend.

The plot, what happens, what leads to it, it’s up-to you to read. The pacing is very fast, I wish I finished it in one sitting, but alas, I started late at night again and it was a work day next.

If you liked Masked Girl and The Glory on Netflix, you might enjoy this.

As for the ending, even though as a reader, I’m satisfied, as a woman, I know that’s not the ideal ending (>!the person still died with dignity!<) and I can’t complain because it’s the reality, perverts and rapists are let out of prison in South Korea way faster than those with drug charges.

TW TW TW ‼️

Even Extreme Horror has its limits, and there are some things that you just don’t include in your books because they are simply WRONG! F*cking dead babies for example.

Someone investigate this author ASAP and check his drives because this was way too vivid. This is a man, that I would bet, has either watched CSAM or indulged in, because the descriptions.

“The skin on the [redacted] neck has ripped and its head is about halfway dislodged, so I have to put one hand on its soft scalp to keep it from detaching completely. The thing is falling apart in my hands, but it just feels so fking good.”
“F me sideways,” I say wheezily. “That was f*cking unbelievable.”
“I didn’t know anything could be like that,”

Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was Epstein writing under a pseudonym.

Dead Inside follows a security guard at a hospital, working the night shift, that does what you can imagine, with the dead bodies of women. (His youngest being 9!)

He befriends a maternity ward doctor, that has a taste for 💀 babies. This part is specific because she describes them as:

“It’s soft and moist, she says, and incredibly tender, like slightly undercooked veal sweetened with a dusting of brown sugar. She says it has a way of melting in your mouth. Some parts of it are jelly-like. The fat is soft but tough”

You’d think this is enough right? But no, the author had to bring both their fantasies together at some point.

It’s extreme horror, so cannibalism, necrophilia, gore, 🍇, anything non consentual is to be expected, but this was a new low.

And there was a character, that’s dying, because she was assaulted by 4 men, and she tells our MC she liked it?! She was assaulted ever since she was 7 and she enjoyed it? And she wants him to be very rough with her when she is dead? (He does).

Is the author justifying ra pe at this point? I mean, how and why are these books getting published? Wasn’t a female author arrested in Australia recently because she wrote a Dark Romance involving an older man falling for a baby or something? So why is it that Extreme Horror authors are allowed to write whatever, even questionable and downright disgusting things and allowed to walk free? I mean, some stories should stay in your head.

I kept going hoping that there’d be a rational explanation, some chance of redemption, none of that.

The plot was convincing, it was well paced, but why would the baby part and justifying 🍇 part be included?!

OVERALL RATING: 2/5

Edit:
On another note, if anyone does want recs, that are uncomfortable but doesn’t question the morals of the author as much, I’d say

Woom by Duncan Ralston (but also Prick from the short story collection In Every Dark Corner, it’s about a sentient 🍆 - definitely not the vegetable that wreaks havoc in an apartment complex)

The Laws of the Skies by Grégoire Courtois

Off Season by Jack Ketchum

And a recent favourite;

Bruja’s Nest by Brenda LaTorre

I think Woom and Bruja’s nest still count as weird fic