<The Haebang Diary - Gokseong> Ep.1 The Pressure

(This is the first episode of The Haebang Diary - Gokseong series.)

As my eyes grew dry from the glow of the monitor, it suddenly dawned on me: our Gokseong workation was just days away. I had signed up for it without a second thought, assuming I’d have everything figured out by then.

It was the end of the quarter. I was tasked with the massive responsibility of launching a new community, yet nothing—not the name, not the concept—had been decided. It was a complete blank slate. The crushing pressure from the mountain of work in front of me and the empty project proposal made it hard to breathe. Doubting whether it was right to take a break during such an intense period, I bolted out the door, stuffing just two changes of clothes into a small bag like I was making an escape. My bag was light, but my heart weighed a ton.

With a heavy heart, I arrived at Rustic Town, a workation space nestled within the Simcheong Hanok Village in Gokseong. The tranquility of the traditional Korean houses was short-lived. In a conference room filled mostly with strangers, an unexpected scene unfolded. Before we had even memorized each other’s names, someone grabbed a whiteboard marker and started tightly packing a 3-night, 4-day schedule onto the board. As if on cue, others chimed in, "Add this to the plan too!" and "Let's go grocery shopping at this time!"

Then, someone quietly broke the momentum.

"Uh... hey... we came here to rest, right?" The room erupted in laughter.

"Are we... actually going to get any work done?" Those of us who came to work burst out laughing, too.

Somehow, we had instantly turned into a cheerful gathering of obsessive planners, and thanks to that, any initial awkwardness melted away completely.

Thanks to that packed(?) schedule, on our second day, we headed to a valley in Gokseong with a whole watermelon in hand. Since it was early summer, we had the valley entirely to ourselves. Sitting in our camp chairs with the refreshing sound of running water in the background felt like absolute heaven.

'Yeah, this is it. This is why we travel.'

Some were reading books, while others laid out on mats to take a nap.

"Oh right! Let's eat the watermelon!" someone suddenly yelled out. Hamin, the youngest of the group, ran over and frantically looked for a knife to cut it. After just one bite, an exclamation burst out.

"This is so good! It's so sweet!" Egged on by the older girls, Hamin, who was cutting the rest of the watermelon, grabbed a slice and struck a bodybuilding pose. The valley was filled with the sound of clicking camera shutters and roaring laughter as we celebrated the birth of "Watermelon Boy."

After plenty of rest, we visited a local rural cafe. The coffee was surprisingly excellent, and non-stop laughter echoed from the traditional games area set up in the corner.

Leave a review and get free local produce.

Assuming it was just a marketing gimmick, we looked at each other in confusion. Then, the owner gently chimed in from behind us.

"Um... if you leave a review, we actually give you local produce. Today, it's zucchini."

When a friend wrote a review and showed it to them, the owners gave a hearty, warm laugh, told us to wait a moment, and headed to their backyard to harvest vegetables. Shortly after, they returned with an armful of fresh produce—from the zucchini on display to freshly picked lettuce, a type of tobacco-leaf lettuce we had never seen before, peppers, and garlic. Is this that famous rural hospitality?

Seeing the massive haul of produce we received, everyone’s jaws dropped. Without missing a beat, they all pulled out their phones. "Whoa... we have to write them a review for this. Everyone, 1 person, 1 review, go!" Watching everyone united in their intense focus on writing reviews right in front of their drinks made me laugh out loud. Glancing at the overflowing bag of vegetables next to us only made me laugh harder.*

"There is no way we can eat all of this before we leave, right?"

Thanks to the generous hearts of the cafe owners we luckily stumbled upon, we truly enjoyed a lavish feast every day until we headed back home.

Perhaps travel is simply a series of coincidences, a process of discovering human warmth within those very chance encounters. The overwhelming dread brought on by my blank project proposal was already melting away.

On our way back to Rustic Town, my heart felt significantly lighter. Out of nowhere, a crude, hand-painted sign hanging on the wall of a rundown thatched-roof house caught my eye.

Selling local wild honey. 010-XXXX-XXXX

A chance discovery. I had no idea back then that it would be the start of yet another connection.

(End of Ep.1 The Pressure.)

*P.S. 1: Maybe it was my occupational disease kicking in, but a brief thought followed me at that moment.

'Ah—I wish people were this wildly enthusiastic about our service, too... How do you make people want to step up and willingly help you out? Do you just have to give things away like this? If so, what exactly should we be giving away?'

P.S. 2: The community we are running is called ACTS29.

**All photos marked with an asterisk were taken by photographer Sungeun.