Seoul Street Market, Winter

“Myeongdong in December. The cold is sharp but the market is a furnace of bodies and steam. Tteokbokki pots bubbling red, the ajumma stirring without looking up. You eat hotteok straight from the oil, sugar burning your lip, dough crisp outside and molten inside. Neon signs stack five stories high, reflecting off wet pavement. K-pop from every storefront competing for dominance. Your breath visible between bites. Someone hands you a sample of something — you eat it, no idea what it was, it was perfect.”