Dano and Tschai, 1997

While checking the shopping list of the next morning, Tschai casually wanted to know the availability of her husband's company. "You are sure to come, aren't you?" Though she pretended to ask a favor from her husband, he knew her question was final. The finality had long been taken for granted between the two.

Girls' and their mother's accessories took the better part of the shopping list. As Christmas neared, Tschai Lee's visits to Namdaemun Sijang were getting more frequent and her store was beginning to brim with all assortments of frills, tinsels, ornaments and trappings.

Though Tschai was not well dressed to fit an average proprietor of a usual accessory store in a major town of Seoul City, she was not so bad as to be named a worst dresser, either. She was shapely but not trendy enough. She was not interested in the brand-new clothing that is worn by most of the tinsel shop ladies. She was very resourceful in dealing in fashion items but she was not the type to dress up with fashionable outfit. That is, she was a minimalist.

As in another line of her duties, Tschai hated delays. She was punctual. She did not enjoy the luxury of procrastination most women do while doing makeups. Like a daughter of a rustic farmer, she was brisk, tough, direct and street-smart.

The early morning traffic was light. The sky was low and gray. Tschai had not figured out the distance between Kepo-dong #4, where she had been living for five years, and the South Portal, but she knew it usually took 20 or so minutes to get there by the city bus during the no-rush hours.

The seats of the bus were visibly vacated, the emptiness of which gave light chills to the couple. When they got by Itaewon, the couple found the city scape beginning to sink with precipitation. And the subterranean dens of the Itaewon area were now disgorging nocturnal wayfarers soaked with inebriation.

The passage of the Namsan Hill Tunnel almost always meant a launch into the whirlpool of a downtown. Getting off the bus at Hoehyon Bus Stop, Tschai accelerated her pace, with Dano picking up just behind her. Crossing a pedestrian underpass, passing a cavernous arcade, they came out breathing deeply once or twice for fresh air, bombarded with the fuss made by shop clerks and inhaling the scent of the morning coffees brewing along the path.

Whenever Dano Wang stepped into the heart of the Namdaemun Sijang, he had mixed feelings about it. Undescribable virility on the one hand and uncontrollable pity on the other, that is. Dwarfed by the towering presence of MESA just on the one flank and intimidated by the Shinsegae Department Store on the other, the popular conventional place of a merchandise trade kept standing, breathing and surviving...

In an effort to survive, the folks of the market used to get involved in copying state-of-the-art fashion items with bogus tag plates of famous original fashion artists plastered on. Local police more often than not raided the "bad stores" in the basement arcade and confiscated Prada handbags, Armani sunglasses and Cartier watches to discard them.

Legend has it that overall alterations are possible in a minute or two even when one stepped stripped and bare-footed into the area, he or she should appear casual and mature. Unlike in the United States, firearms are impossible. But impossible should not be categorical.

“Yobo (darling), what department shall we start with?" Dano asked. "Let's hit Department D first," Tschai said. Flurries of snow were everywhere. Passengers were picking up their paces. Tschai grabbed his hand and pulled him closer. "Watch your step, honey. You could trip and fall."

Winter gears were not really up for grabs. So they hastily bought scarves, leather gloves and children's socks. Dano once asked her why she did not haggle ever. "We do not try and cut off prices," she said between her teeth. "Haggling is not the mode of doing business here. They sell the merchandise to our store owners at a wholesale price."

The carriage of shopping items posed a challenge. A lot of resourceful customers used to run wheel bags to the bus or subway stations. Others employed backpackers with jigae, or wooden A-frames to their cars. Dano used to upload and download the bags as they moved along, which was his usual line of work.

A considerable time of 30 minutes or so passed, the couple plying between departments and mounting and dismounting the stairs. Packing bags in front of the escalator of the first floor of Junggang Sangga (Central Department), she left three large bulging bags with him. "Stay here, yobo. I'll collect some more."

Snow was falling down slow and steady. The vast store windows were getting blurry. Traveling a while around the terrestrial and subterranean wonderland, Tschai returned with an armful of Santa's goodies and Rainbow softies. Repacking, she said, "Shall we go eat some food?"

Dano and Tschai made a little fuss at the entrance of the Snow White, shaking and tapping. They shook their shoulders and took a few lousy taps to get rid of snow dirt. The flavor of various foods in the cafeteria stimulated their appetite.

They ordered two haejanggook (porky vegetable soup known to be good for the release of the hangover.) Picking his spoon and starting to eat, Dano said expansively, quoting "Hunger is the best sauce." Tschai dissented, saying that she didn't agree to the widely held adage. Dano wanted to know her better reasoning. She said hard work was. Dano questioned what she meant. She didn't mean anything.

Merry and resonant human voices were heard around in the cafeteria. They were those of the Japanese folks who had just come from across the East Sea by Japan Air Lines. Or, they might have stayed overnight here in Seoul. Their major quarry of Namdaemun shopping tour used to be Korean mountain herbs and marine products--mostly Korean songhi (pine mushrooms) and tastier laver.

They were rather garrulous yet melodious. They looked to be laid-back yet not indecent. They sounded confident but didn't sound haughty at all. They seated themselves in twos and fours. They didn't rattle off the order; They were so precise; Each one ordered their favorites from it.(to be continued)