The Soju-minati

[This story begins at Hongdae’s KFC]

[click to enlarge]

I had never been woken up in a KFC before. The cleaning lady was trying to reach something beneath my shoe and was desperately trying to push the space around me to pull whatever she was after. After a few frustrating minutes she decided it was time to wake this stranger up. I did.

Having absolutely no clue exactly HOW I ended up in KFC, I scan my environment for some vital information. Half eaten chicken tortilla, some overturned chairs, a pretty much deserted KFC and a very angry looking cleaning lady. Obviously she was pissed about something.

She looked at me, I looked at her back. She was telepathically telling me to get the fuck out. If there’s one thing that I have learnt is to never mess around with Korean old folks, especially the Ajummas. My Ajumma Professor nearly ate my guts out just for asking what book I should use for her class. I fled that instant.

Having successfully dragged myself down the stair, into the street and into the subway, I began my slow process of going back home. I got into the subway and against my will, fell asleep again.

I was suddenly awoken by a strong jerk. After my vision cleared up, I looked around to check what station I had reached. Hongdae was pretty far from Seoul National Station.

The displayed showed something I didn’t expect:

Hongdae.

Wait.. what?I rubbed my eyes a bit, narrowed my vision. If my English hadn’t vaporized, I was still reading H-o-n-g-d-a-e.

I knew I had slept quite a while so it must mean….

Did I just make a full round trip?

I had.

Finally, after making sure not to sleep on the remaining trip back, I told the story to a Korean friend. Instead of telling me how stupid I had been, he beamed excitedly, slapped me on my back and said:

“Every Korean in Seoul has done that… welcome my friend. Welcome.”

It felt as though I had entered some secret brotherhood, like as if I had completed the first initiation. I would imagine it to be Sojjuminaiti or Soju's Templar,yeah...I bet Dan Brown is on this one big time.