[Baking Typewriter] When Is Your Workday Over?

A Gentle Question for Everyone's Journey Home
Stories Reflecting Our Tomorrows Together

The commute home after a long day at work. Although it is late in the afternoon, the heat of midsummer still fills the city. Among the office workers, hurrying home with tired faces, a few people stand out. One person holds a handwritten sign, passionately shouting their message, while another remembers those they can never meet again inside a tent. For a moment, I wonder when their workday will end, but then, with blurred vision, I am swept along by the crowd toward the subway station.

The book "When Is Your Workday Over?" takes a deep look into the lives and daily realities of people we encounter every day but often overlook. The victims of the humidifier disinfectant incident, which once shocked the nation, are still fighting, but they have gradually faded from our memories and attention. News about labor sites is filled with numbers and statistics, but the voices of the workers within are rarely heard. Through the vivid and honest words written by those workers themselves, this book brings our lives and theirs together in a shared square.

The book is divided into four parts. Part 1, "Testify and Record," brings to light the truths of lives and pain that were buried without a name. It includes memories of victims of the humidifier disinfectant incident, the story of a Palestinian refugee watching the tragedy of their homeland from Korea, and the suffering of a haenyeo in Jeju standing before a polluted sea. These individuals, who have experienced different pains in different places, found the courage to trust in the power of testimony and record. Their stories, crossing the boundaries between the individual and society, capture our previously indifferent gaze and deeply reveal how powerful a living voice can be as testimony.

Part 2, "Endure and Move Forward," tells the stories of people who keep going despite unfairness and hardship in the workplace. Shuttle bus drivers, nurses, homeless counselors, and hotel room attendants?those left in the blind spots of the social safety net?have quietly fulfilled their roles, sometimes with tears, sometimes with a bitter smile. Their stories make us feel the reality of labor much more intensely than numbers or statistics ever could.

Part 3, "Confront and Expose," records the voices of those who bravely speak out against social contradictions and injustices. Disability rights activists, community center directors, refugee journalists, and social workers?these are the people who have confronted issues our society has long ignored. The small cries that challenge unfair structures eventually become a powerful force that changes the world.

Part 4, "Connect and Care," is a record of warm solidarity, caring for and embracing one another. Alternative school teachers, reading instructors, and cooperative activists?those who think about and practice ways of living together?are featured in diverse stories. Their efforts to overcome life's difficulties through the power of "together," not "alone," and their dreams of a sustainable future offer deep comfort and hope to readers living in a harsh reality.

When Is Your Workday Over? may sound like a casual greeting, but it carries a gentle gaze toward the lives of others. That warm perspective becomes a powerful force that gradually changes the landscape of the society we see.

When Is Your Workday Over? | Voices of 6411 | Changbi | 316 pages | 20,000 KRW