TRAVEL | Chapter 1 - Night in Hongdae

Chapter 1 - Night in Hongdae

Let me talk in the third person to add some spice.

He descended the subway, all alone now at midnight in Seoul. It was only he and his big heavy backpack roaming the now empty streets of Hongdae. He was playing cool pretending that everything was all right. He tried to navigate the streets using his hunch. He was pretty confident that Kimchee Hostel shouldn't be so far. So he walked here and there, until he couldn't take it anymore. It was close to 1am and his back had started to ache.

The streets are seldom passed by taxi's but he waited beside that lamp post hoping that one of the taxi's would halt; and so it did. With some little Korean, he instructed the driver to go the hostel. Korean taxi's have navigators and you only have to give them the exact address and they can track if for you.

And so at past 1am, he reached the hostel. No wonder it was so difficult to find. It was situated in a hidden alley.

David, the European receptionist sleepily attended to him. 

"Why you so late?" David asked.

David was obviously disturbed from bed. His hair gave that away, and by the looks of his eyes, he didn't seem very happy to be awakened. 

Kimchee Hostel has a glass door whose lock can be opened by a code is the guest knows it, otherwise a button inside can be pressed. A door bell was located somewhere near the glass door, and that's what guests like him would press in the middle of the night.

"Sorry, the hostel is not easy to find. I got lost along the way. Had to take the taxi to get here." He replied.

After signing some papers, he was ushered to his room at the third floor. Everyone was sleeping by then. He couldn't turn on the lights so with the light of his phone, he settled to the upper deck of the bunk bed. 

"Hello V..., just wanted to let you know that I safely arrived in Korea. It's late now and I will sleep already." That was his message to a colleague through wats app voice messaging. And then he closed his eyes. Ready for the next day, but for what exactly he is still uncertain.