In the dim light of an underground room, a dozen perfectly brushed boys stoop in rows, calling out their names.
Muscle, with shiny boy-band hairdos, they stuff side-by-side into the slim room, waiting on us to make our selection. Outside in the corridor, more of their associates are getting here for another night at the workplace. It is 2am, as well as we are their initial customers.
Covert underneath the sidewalks of Seoul's ritziest postal code, Gangnam, the men at Bar 123 are component of an expanding sector, which outgrew the long customs of Japanese geisha and Korea's kisaeng residences but with one important difference - the clients right here are all ladies.
Referred to as "host bars", these all-night drinking rooms offer female customers the possibility to pay and choose for male friends, occasionally at a cost of thousands of extra pounds a night.
Among the women I meet at Bar 123 is Minkyoung, a waitressing manager for a five-star hotel. She claims she concerns host bars once or twice a month.
The allure of host bars can be refined. Here, she states, she has more focus from her male friends, more option and also, crucially, even more control.
PROMOTION
" In routine bars the individuals who consume with me have just one objective - to have an one-night stand. But I do not desire that, to ensure that's why I come right here, I want to have fun," she states.
Hosts are employed by bars like this one to offer friendship and also amusement. Officially that indicates putting drinks for their consumers, speaking as well as dancing with them, and vocal singing karaoke.
Host bar in Seoul
Sex is not officially available in many host bars. That would be unlawful but also Minkyoung seems satisfied to tease and touch with her host, and also the men below approximate that around half the consumers intend to pay for sex, either on or off the premises.
James has been operating at Bar 123 for a number of years. In Korean culture, he says, there is a great deal of pride and also working out a price for sex is never done clearly. Instead, he tells me, it is all to the host's own analysis.
" The guys below are pros - we understand what we're doing," he says.
" After talking to a lady for an hour we primarily understand just how much cash she makes as well as what she provides for a living. We've currently analysed her character and what she agrees to offer."
James and also other hosts state their clients include a few of South Korea's elite, as well as that the cash and also benefits on deal boggle the mind. One client James fulfilled, during his initial week in the task, asked him to authorize himself over to her for two years.
" She said 'allow's make a contract. I've got this piece of paper and I've numbered it 1-5. Whatever you jot down following to those numbers, I'll obtain you.'".
James states at the time he took it as a joke but because discovered the same woman invested 60,000 ($ 97,000) on one more host.
" If it took place currently, Iwould certainly do it - Iwould certainly be thinking straight.".
Actually probably, host bars outgrew among Korea's most established as well as, some claim, misogynist business practices - the area hair salon. These are personal alcohol consumption spaces where groups of males select, and are offered by, attractive women people hosting.
It was the hostesses' requirement to allow off heavy steam after work, states veteran host Kim Dong-hee, that produced the preliminary need for host bars, with all-male staff.
" What these hostesses desire is to [make us] do the exact same thing they needed to carry out in their very own work environment. These ladies are forced to do points they do not want to do for cash.
" I assume a lot of them are in pain, and a great deal really feel lonely. Put simply, they intend to acquire our time as well as our bodies.".
Hostesses still make up a big percent of the customers at host bars here, yet at Bar 123, for instance, as much as 40% of the customers on a given evening are currently from other walks of life.
The reasons for that expanding allure are tied up in South Korea's fast economic surge. Within 50 years, the nation moved from post-war destruction to OECD participant.
According to Jasper Kim, head of the Asia-Pacific Global Research Group in Seoul, something essential was lost along the way.
" I believe that with all this rapid development comes fast modification, and also Koreans simply don't understand exactly how to handle it. Significantly, industrialism is overtaking fundamental social standards that you would certainly expect a couple of years earlier.".
Jasper Kim claims South Korea's notoriously long working hours have left several Korean women feeling lonesome, while the country's technical breakthrough has actually left numerous individuals feeling removed.
" The human element of Korean culture that existed in the past merely does not exist today. People are concentrated on innovation, individuals are concentrated on their work, they aren't concentrated on human connections anymore.
" In numerous ways, Korean society today type of reminds me of 1960s culture in the US, where it's on the brink of some kind of social revolution.".
The grandpa of Seoul's host bar scene, Kim Dong-hee, agrees that a lot of the ladies that come to host bars are not spending for sex however, for friendship, which is why he opened a brand-new chain of freshly-marketed electrical outlets focused on the mainstream market - called Red Model Bars.
Red Model Bar hosts.
Picture caption,.
Hosts at Red Model Bars can not touch customers.
" Men desire to have visual pleasure as well as intend to feel points, they're responsive. Females like to speak as well as to listen. And that's why I thought about opening a bar like this - a sort of discussion bar.".
Red Model Bars are various to standard host bars in one vital respect - there is a no-touching policy. Hosts rest on one side of the table, consumers on the various other, as well as no physical get in touch with is permitted, and also absolutely no sex.
Possibly as an outcome there is an absence of furtiveness amongst the people who work or drink right here - the lights are low, the style generally dark red and the space is separated right into very discreet booths, yet it is an open-plan area as well as consumers and hosts are divided in each booth by a huge table.
This brand-new company design depends entirely on women paying the matching of hundreds or perhaps countless dollars to speak with fine-looking young males over a beverage. Still, it appears to be functioning - three brand-new branches are due to open this year.
Sitting at a table at one end of the bar was among their regular customers, a florist called Kim Nayu. She informs me she comes below each day to fulfill her preferred host as well as talk about concerns she is having at job.
The cost for this slice of male focus is $487-650 ( 300-400) a day.
" Talking to buddies would certainly be less expensive" she confesses, "but they do not pay attention as much. They're active, as well as in a hurry to speak about themselves. Right here, individuals will certainly pay focus to me as well as they'll pay attention to me.".
" I invest a great deal of money but it's worth it wherefore I obtain mentally. People pay to head to see a psychologist or psychoanalyst, so it's comparable however less stressful.".
Nayu's preferred host Sung-il says it can be difficult to maintain his professional and individual life separate.
" Honestly I 'd be lying if I claim I haven't been lured to take things further with some customers, due to the fact that we're human, we're males, yet there are regulations.".
One of his clients yapped to her spouse concerning him and when the three of them met, Sung-il as well as the other half ended up being friends.
" No one hides - the employees don't hide that they work below, and clients can be open as well.".
This openness is presenting a brand-new type of difficulty to South Korean society, different from the in some cases shabby underworld of traditional host bars and also their hinterland of male hooking.
By using women a "reputable" method to challenge traditional sex functions and also flex their financial power, these new bars ask questions of Korean culture that are ending up being more difficult to disregard.
Listen to the complete record on BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents. You can listen using the Radio 4 website or using the Crossing Continents podcast.
The appeal of host bars can be refined. Below, she claims, she has more attention from her male friends, more choice as well as, crucially, even more control.
James has actually been working at Bar 123 for a couple of years. Instead, he informs me, it is all down to the host's very own evaluation.
And also that's why I believed of opening up a bar like this - a kind of discussion bar.".
