Today I had something to take care of, so around lunchtime I went out toward Jamsil. The errand ended quickly, and since the weather finally felt like spring, I was able to walk around pleasantly. The sky was deep blue, with clouds drifting here and there. The sunlight was bright enough that the contrast between shadow and light was dazzling, and the temperature was warm. I saw more people in short sleeves than at any other time this year. I too was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and carrying a bag.
I got off at Jamsil Saenae Station and followed my companions through a winding exit that I felt I would not have found on my own. The final exit was reached through an underground passage so narrow it seemed to have been forced into existence after too many complaints demanding an exit. It was too narrow even for a small stall, let alone an underground shopping arcade. We passed through the good-weather street, met the rest of the group in front of McDonald’s, went into a back alley, bought coffee from the Hard Hand cafe I had only heard about by rumor, and came back out. I did not order anything because I had received a Starbucks coupon and had drunk a venti Americano just before leaving.
The work ended in an hour. During that time, I occasionally searched, half as window shopping, for devices that might be usable as writing tools. But I did not find much useful information. Pomera seems expensive because it has developed many functions useful for writing in Japanese, but for someone like me who writes Korean, I would have to pay for functions I would never use. Even with the weak yen, it would still cost around 400,000 won. Next there was a product called Neo from WordSmart. It seemed to be discontinued, but the price was low, around 160,000 won, so I became curious. Yet no matter how much I searched, I could not find information showing it could use any language other than English. Perhaps it was developed for the same sort of users as the Freewrite Alpha, which looks similar and does not plan to support languages other than English.
As for typewriters, manual or electric, that print letters onto paper, I gave up because the follow-up work after writing would be too complicated. The Corona model with two rows on both sides is tempting in shape, but it is an English typewriter and seems useless for me. Korean typewriters have a later-period design I do not particularly like, and after writing, I would have to scan the pages again and run character recognition. These days, of course, I can take a picture with my phone, long-press the image, and copy the text. I tested that by email, and it definitely worked better with handwriting than a scanned document did. I do not know how it would do with typewriter text, but if I had to do that page by page every time I wrote, then even if it were possible, it would only be worth trying if writing became my occupation. For now, in any case, no.
When the errand was done, I walked again through a street that felt like Seoul. I do not know exactly what I use as the standard for “Seoul-like,” but there are streets that make me think, this feels like Seoul. Itaewon, City Hall, Jongno, and the area in front of Hongdae feel Seoul-like, but strangely, places around Gyodae, Gasan Digital Complex, and Chungjeongno Station do not. It is purely a personal feeling, and even I do not know the exact criteria. In any case, today the area near Jamsil Saenae Station felt richly Seoul-like. While enjoying that feeling, I saw an Aladin used bookstore and went in.
It was like a warehouse of books. Books densely occupied the narrow shelves. The space itself was not small, but there were so many books that the aisles were quite narrow. They were just wide enough for two people to pass. Walking through that place, I understood what a place full of books really means. When I order used books online, I have already received two Aladin books shipped from Jamsil. With this density of books, that seemed entirely natural. I had received a message saying volume one of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World had arrived at home, and since I had unknowingly bought and finished volume two first, I should have been waiting only for that book. But with such a field of books spread before my eyes, I could not resist reading whatever drew my curiosity.
I already had one book about books and one book about experiences in Italy in my hands, and I kept looking through one book after another. Of course I did not read them all. It was closer to checking, one by one, what books I had only heard about were actually like. Then I saw Paul Auster’s books, and I was surprised that there were fewer than I expected. I was especially glad to find Mr. Vertigo, because I had been considering buying it new after failing to find it near where I live. But the previous owner had apparently treated it roughly without breaking in the spine, because when I opened the cover, a page automatically fell open.
Since it is text printed and sold as a literary work, I will not hide it. What immediately entered my eyes was: “You damned son of a bitch!” I shouted. “You unlucky swindler! Trash with a shit-like face!”
The reason those two lines jumped into my eyes was that they had been underlined with a blue marker. It was so absurd that I even took a photo. Farther into the book, the same kind of marking changed to highlighter. The later part of the book was very clean, so I could not tell whether it had even been read. Perhaps the owner was someone studying fiction. I do not know the intention, but it was hard to understand why such a book had not been caught during inspection and was being sold there. They certainly check the condition when they buy used books.
Strangely, the moment I saw those underlines, all the fun vanished, the way appetite disappears when you see an insect while eating. I simply checked the books I was already holding, paid, and left.
I read Paul Auster’s Moon Palace in college and, drawn by its strange sense of speed, went on to read several of his books. I had thought I should read Mr. Vertigo too, since it is one of his representative works, but I do not know when that will be. Probably not for a while.
That was the end of today’s Jamsil outing. I heard Haeju Naengmyeon was nearby and tried to go, but it seemed they had earned enough money to put up an entirely new building toward Jamsil Stadium. So in the end I did not taste it. Still, even if I had gone, I probably would not have been able to eat the signature spicy naengmyeon and would have chosen the mild version, so I did not feel too disappointed. Rather, while looking for the location, I learned that they sell meal kits, so I should buy one and try it at home soon.
As I got back onto the outer-circle Line 2 train, the Jamsil outing was completely over. What remains in my memory is that surprisingly few people got on and off at Samseong Station and Gyodae Station.
Original Korean article: 잠실 새내 나들이