He first gained critical attention ten years later with the publication of the short story "A Ready-Made Life" (레디메이드 인생, 1934).
His early stories and plays were written from a class-sensitive perspective, and, with the publication of "A Ready-Made Life" (레디메이드 인생, 1934), he began to focus his attention specifically on the plight of intellectuals and artists during an era of colonial oppression, which he expanded upon in later works such as "An Intellectual and Mung-Bean Cake" (인텔리와 빈대떡) and "My Innocent Uncle" (치숙, 1938).
Chae complied, writing a handful of pro-Japanese works as a result, including a celebratory account of what he had observed when visiting the Japanese Army's Manchurian Front in December 1942.
Until his death in 1950 (shortly before the outbreak of the Korean War), Chae Man-sik continued to produce satires of contemporary society in post-liberation Korea.
He published over 290 works in total throughout his life, including novels, short stories, essays, plays, and reviews.