I'm a salaryman in Seoul. You can call me Korean Salaryman.
I won't tell you my real name, where I work, or what I earn — and honestly, none of that is the point. I'm an ordinary office worker: I take the packed subway every morning, sit through the same meetings you'd recognize anywhere, and grab dinner with coworkers after a long day.
What makes me a little different is that I write all of it down — in English — for people outside Korea who are curious about what this country is actually like beyond the headlines and the highlight reels.
Most of what the world sees about Korea is the polished version. K-pop, K-dramas, glossy travel videos — they're real, but they're the surface. Behind them is a country of long commutes, strong coffee, fierce trends that come and go in a week, and small everyday rituals that say a lot about how people here actually think.
I wanted a place that explains the why behind all of it — not as a tourist guide, but as someone who lives it every single day.
No sugarcoating, no clickbait. Just Korea, as we actually live it — told honestly and from experience, across four things I keep coming back to.
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트렌드K-Trends
What's trending in Korea right now — the apps, foods, slang, and obsessions everyone here is talking about.
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일상Korean Life
Real daily life — work, money, apartments, relationships, and the small frustrations and joys of living in Seoul.
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문화Culture Explained
The culture behind it all — the context that makes Korea make sense once you understand it.
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에세이Essay
Honest first-person notes — the good and the awkward, written about what genuinely surprises or moves me here.
Everything here is lived, not researched — it comes from my own day-to-day experience of living and working in Korea. It's written in plain English with no assumed background knowledge; if a Korean concept needs context, I explain it.
And it stays honest — the good and the awkward both. I stay anonymous on purpose, so the writing stays about Korea, not about me. A voice, not a personality. Korea changes fast, and I keep writing as it does.