“Could one small act of kindness really change someone so dramatically?“
Some people believe that human beings can’t change. It’s indeed difficult to change one’s nature. It requires effort, open-mindedness, and an honest heart. More often than not, it requires a spark — or, as we call it in narrative theory, an “inciting incident” — that makes you rethink, re-assess, and pivot. That spark comes from our relationships, from our ability to express ourselves and listen to others, and, of course, the kindness we offer and receive in return. Then, what if one small act of kindness could ignite an entire chain of positive actions, changing the lives of an entire community? That’s the world that Kim Ho-yeon brings to life in his extraordinary The Second Chance Convenience Store.
This review is spoiler-free, but if you’re in a rush, you can pin our summary at the bottom!
Published in Korea in 2021 and brought to Europe in 2024, where it was warmly received, The Second Chance Convenience Store reached English-speaking bookstores in June 2025. The story follows a small convenience store in Seoul’s neighbourhood of Cheongpa-dong. Owned by Mrs Yeom, a retired History teacher who cares about her employees more than anything, this convenience store isn’t the best or most successful. But things change when Mrs Yeom crosses paths with the mysterious Dokgo, a homeless man with no memory of his past, whom she hires to cover the shop’s night shift.
Set at the end of 2019 and early 2020, Kim brings us to a universe that we all recognise oh-so-well. The normalcy of the New Year is slowly replaced by the unexpected anxiety of a brewing pandemic. Kim’s prose, translated by the great Janet Hong, is lucid, vivid, and painfully observant. He allows us to picture his characters — well-rounded individuals who can be anything between virtuous and wicked — as they navigate an environment that feels uncannily familiar.
Left: Cover of Kim Ho-yeon’s The Second Chance Convenience Store (Credit: Pan Macmillan)
The first seven chapters of The Second Chance Convenience Store make use of a third-person limited narrator; that is, the story is told through one character’s perspective. Each of these chapters introduces us to a different person who crosses paths with Dokgo, our enigmatic protagonist. From Mrs Yeom and her employees to the convenience store’s clients, we get to know these characters, their lives, and their challenges. They feel profoundly humane because Kim naturally presents their qualities and flaws, their fears and failures, through their thoughts, words, and actions.
Dokgo’s identity is of little importance at first. With the charm of a fairy tale and the sensibility of healing fiction, these characters’ encounters with Dokgo change their lives. Contrasting with his stutter, clumsiness, and burly figure, Dokgo is almost a fairy godmother, an insightful wizard, a wise man with endless knowledge. He seems to see the hearts of the people he meets, and he always knows exactly what to say. There’s something magical in his ability to help others, but, at the same time, there’s something very rationally noble in his attitude: Dokgo actively chooses to be kind, even in the face of selfishness, intolerance, and disrespect.
Mrs Yeom’s act of kindness in the first chapter then ignites a chain of generosity, with Dokgo carefully forging its every link throughout the book’s first seven chapters. This chain soon becomes a guiding light that allows Dokgo to find himself again.
Dokgo, whose persona we only know through the eyes of the people that meet him and the trail of generosity he leaves behind, becomes a fully fledged individual in the book’s eighth and final chapter. Chapter eight has a first-person narrator — Dokgo is now telling us his story. He quickly reminds us of the events that have brought him to the present moment, and by revisiting these moments through his perspective, we suddenly realise that he is also very much human.
He isn’t a fairy godmother, an insightful wizard, or a wise man with endless knowledge, after all. Dokgo is just a human being who hurts and gets hurt, tries and fails. His potential for good doesn’t mean that he can’t be corrupt, egocentric, and ruthless, too.
The people he has met at the store are just a reflection of him. So, in the book’s eighth chapter, Dokgo realises that kindness always works both ways. The answers he has offered others solved his own questions, and by sharing empathy and warmth, he filled his own life with the light he had been missing. At first, it might seem that Dokgo is always helping everyone, but the opposite is just as true. Thanks to the community that Mrs Yeom introduced him to, he becomes able to identify his mistakes, come to terms with his pain, and find the courage he needs to keep on living — now as a better version of himself.
Dokgo, Mrs Yeom, and the community around the convenience store are all desperately chasing redemption, forgiveness, and compassion. It’s only through the relationships they forge, the honest conversations they share, and the empathy they offer each other that they can reach what they so earnestly seek. Such a vital, life-changing journey is never portrayed with darkness or sorrow, however. The Second Chance Convenience Store gives its subjects the weight and care they deserve, but Kim infuses every line with optimism and lightness. Like his protagonist, Kim seems to choose to see a half-full glass and laugh at our vices and quirks.
The quintessence of healing fiction, The Second Chance Convenience Store is a story of profound sensibility, tenderness, and social awareness. Perfectly paced and impeccably delivered, this is a timeless tale about the indomitable power of kindness, a reminder of how the smallest acts of generosity can change one’s entire world. Kim’s effortless prose, subtle irony, and huge heart result in an unforgettable, poignant narrative that encourages us to believe in our ability to change, persist, and survive despite our mistakes, burdens, and obstacles.
So, if you’re still wondering if one small act of kindness could really change someone so dramatically, The Second Chance Convenience Store answers with heartfelt, inspiring clarity: yes, it absolutely could.
I’ll leave you with the words that Kim Ho-yeon shared in an interview with Vanity Fair Italy last year: “Nowadays, the true act of courage is to be kind and open to others“.
The Second Chance Convenience Store can be found at bookshops all around the world. Its sequel, The Last Chance Convenience Store, came out in Korea in 2022 and is set to be published in English in 2026.
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