BOSU-DONG BOOK STREET has a misleading name. The 62-year-old row of crammed-together used bookstores isn’t so much a ‘street’ as it is a four-foot-narrow back alley drowned in paper. Covered by bright yellow and green fabric canopies, most of its shops open at 10 a.m., staffed by one or two ajummas and ajoshis who wile away their hours by just sitting in their literary caves; as the evening sun begins to set they start the slow process of dredging from the alleyway their collective thousands of pounds’ worth of cheap used books, ready to repeat the ritual the following day.

Too many students candidly prefer spending their spare time dating, gaming and reading, if anything at all, comic books. “His body keep grows,” Jae spoke through his limited English, looking down as he gently prodded at a rice clump in his soup. “But his mind is… like a kid.”

Read the rest at Busan Haps.