For several reasons, I never bothered to hang out at Seoul Station in my twenty plus years of living in Seoul. I’ve been told by friends that it’s a nice place to chill and whatnot, but I think my hatred for Line 1 (the subway line that runs through Seoul Station) made me stay away from that place for years. That is, until today. Now that I’ve actually hung out there, I can say with certainty that I am not going to hang out there ever again. Or at least not in the evening. Aside from my hatred of Line 1, I did not enjoy my time there with the homeless folks and the beggars.

Honestly, I had no idea Seoul Station was practically a haven for these people. While I was there with an acquaintance who came from Gumi — a city near Daegu (LAN!) — we had some strange encounters while we waited for her train.

First encounter dealt with a dude who came up to us and asked for something. I didn’t catch what he asked, but the person I was with did. She told him that we didn’t have whatever it was he asked, and he asked again. She exasperatedly told him that we didn’t have it. He stared at us for about a minute and then went off. Then, near us, a bunch of those guys gathered to eat dinner or something. I had two drinks next to me. Next thing I know, a different guy came and just took my drinks. I stared at them in surprise, but I didn’t do anything. Didn’t say anything. I just let them take it. I mean, what could I do? Luckily, it was just some barley tea water and this extremely nasty kiwi juice from a coffee shop, but still.

I mean, okay, it’s not exactly a bad experience. It could’ve been worse, but I am not going there any time soon! At least not to chill! I’ll stick with my neighbourhood, Itaewon, and Myeong-dong to hang out in my spare time.