Hermit⁷

The Eng. version is below. <Final Episode of “Kian's Bizarre B&B” – On Hospitality> I saw BTS making tofu rice. From that moment on, I couldn’t hold back my tears. I thought, “So this day has finally come…” (If you’ve known me a long time, you already know this—) I did my first master’s degree in North Korean Studies. It all began when I volunteered at an alternative school for North Korean defector students during my undergraduate years. That was back in 2004, and since then I’ve come to know many young people from the North through different paths. I continued to work in this field—as a researcher, a journalist—and stayed close to the stories of friends who had come from North Korea. I will calll them my brothers and sisters from now on, as I always done. Listening to their unimaginable hardships and how they made it all the way to South Korea, I came to realize that unification, to me, wasn’t something grand or abstract. It simply meant letting these younger brothers and sisters from the North reunite with their families and visit their hometowns again. When I visited their homes in South Korea or when my church hosted national holiday events, they would always make tofu rice. Honestly, the sauce was so spicy that someone like me, who can’t handle spicy food, couldn’t eat much of it (they’d laugh at me for this), but watching them carefully prepare this labor-intensive dish and proudly pack up the milder version for me to take home—those moments made me feel so loved. In return, I’d invite them over to my place during national holidays, fry some jeon (Korean pancakes), share a meal, and talk about South Korean holiday customs. I still remember those moments so clearly. So when I saw Choongil being embraced with such hospitality in the final episode of The Kian's Bizarre B&B, I just cried and cried. One of my dreams when I started grad school was that someday, people from the North and South could meet without prejudice, accept the differences in each other’s lives, and simply say, “Wow, you’ve really been through a lot. You’ve endured it all with strength. That’s amazing.” That was my dream. And I saw that dream come true in the final episode of Kian's Bizarre B&B. The reality is, South Korean society still tends to keep its distance when someone is identified as a North Korean defector. The stares get colder. That’s why many of them don’t speak about where they’re from. So when I saw Choongil openly talk about his hometown and his defection journey, and the way Seokjin treated him—without an ounce of prejudice, just calling him “my friend” with ease, even calling him "honey" as a joke, gifting him his sunglasses, joking around so naturally—I couldn’t stop crying. And the way Kian who is the manager made him tofu rice with such care—it was all too much. Everything I’d dreamed of for so long was captured in that show. In the way Seokjin and Kian welcomed Choongil, I saw the “hospitality” of this new hometown of his—South Korea. (I’m crying again as I write this…) Truly, thank you Seokjin. Just being at the heart of that moment of hospitality— I feel like I owe you a debt of love I can never repay. So be prepared—I’ll be showering you with my love for life! The feeling lingers so deeply tonight, I don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep. I need to tell my younger bothers and sisters from the North to binge-watch Kian's Bizarre B&B ASAP. And with that, a lifelong ARMY who will always stan Seokjin signs off.