Gunk Baby by Evelyn Lau

A young woman opens an ear-cleaning studio in a sterile suburban mall, drifting through wellness fads and the rituals of retail work as she grows increasingly detached. Drawn into a covert campaign against consumer culture, she’s swept from minor acts of sabotage into escalating intimidation and violence, blurring lines between care and harm. The story probes alienation, racialized identity, and the numbing sheen of suburbia, charting a deadpan slide from satire into unsettling psychological menace.