My spiritual inclinations run Buddhist, so I read The Vegetarian as a poetic analog for the reality of ego loss
It was like a Bartleby the Scrivener for material life itself. "I prefer not to." That is the big question after all
(Apparently the translation of Vegetarian has been criticized, as you may have mentioned or linked)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2018/jan/15/lost-in-mistranslation-english-take-on-korean-novel-has-critics-up-in-arms)