One day, the narrator locks eyes with a single cockroach in their home. Overwhelmed by its massive presence, they rush to the local community center to check the resident register—only to find that, officially, they are the sole resident of the address.
The Underdwellers is a compelling graphic novel that chronicles the unconsented cohabitation of cockroaches, house centipedes, fruit flies, mice, cats, and humans. All of them intersect within the liminal urban space of a banjiha (semi-basement).
Rather than simply expressing disgust toward these creatures or justifying human nature, the narrator asks profound questions: Why are certain lives deemed so easily expendable? Why do we outsource the act of killing, desperately trying to evade the responsibility? And does this choice truly keep us safe?
This record serves as a ledger of slaughter, a history of evasion, and a chilling confession of how deeply we have numbed ourselves simply to survive in the city.