In the dark light of a below ground area, a lots completely groomed boys stoop in rows, calling out their names.
Muscular, with shiny boy-band hairstyles, they cram side-by-side into the narrow area, awaiting us to make our choice. Outdoors in the passage, even more of their coworkers are arriving for an additional evening at work. It is 2am, as well as we are their very first customers.
Hidden below the sidewalks of Seoul's ritziest postal code, Gangnam, the men at Bar 123 become part of a growing market, which outgrew the long customs of Japanese geisha and also Korea's kisaeng homes yet with one important difference - the clients right here are all ladies.
Called "host bars", these all-night drinking rooms supply women consumers the possibility to pick and pay for male buddies, occasionally at a cost of thousands of pounds an evening.
Among the women I meet at Bar 123 is Minkyoung, a waitressing manager for a luxury hotel. When or twice a month, she states she comes to host bars.
The appeal of host bars can be refined. Right here, she says, she has more attention from her male friends, more selection and, most importantly, more control.
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" In normal bars the individuals that consume with me have just one objective - to have a casual sex. I don't want that, so that's why I come right here, I want to have enjoyable," she claims.
Hosts are hired by bars such as this one to supply companionship as well as home entertainment. Formally that implies pouring drinks for their customers, speaking and dancing with them, and vocal singing karaoke.
Host bar in Seoul
Sex is not formally on deal in the majority of host bars. That would be unlawful yet even Minkyoung appears satisfied to touch and tease with her host, and also the men here approximate that around half the customers desire to spend for sex, either on or off the properties.
James has been operating at Bar 123 for a pair of years. In Korean culture, he says, there is a great deal of pride and also working out a cost for sex is never done explicitly. Instead, he tells me, it is all to the host's own assessment.
" The individuals right here are pros - we know what we're doing," he says.
" After speaking with a lady for an hour we essentially know how much cash she makes as well as what she does for a living. We've currently analysed her personality and also what she's prepared to give."
James and also other hosts claim their consumers include some of South Korea's elite, which the money as well as benefits available boggle the mind. One client James fulfilled, throughout his initial week in the job, asked him to sign himself over to her for 2 years.
" She claimed 'allow's make a contract. I've obtained this paper and also I've numbered it 1-5. Whatever you write down alongside those numbers, I'll obtain you.'".
James claims at the time he took it as a joke yet given that figured out the same female spent 60,000 ($ 97,000) on an additional host.
" If it happened currently, Iwould certainly do it - Iwould certainly be assuming straight.".
Paradoxically possibly, host bars grew out of one of Korea's most established and, some claim, misogynist company practices - the room beauty parlor. These are exclusive drinking areas where groups of men pick, and are served by, attractive female people hosting.
It was the people hosting' demand to allow off heavy steam after work, says expert host Kim Dong-hee, that developed the preliminary demand for host bars, with all-male team.
These women are required to do things they don't desire to do for money.
" I assume a great deal of them are in discomfort, as well as a lot really feel lonely. Put simply, they want to purchase our time as well as our bodies.".
Hostesses still compose a big portion of the clients at host bars right here, however at Bar 123, for instance, up to 40% of the customers on a given evening are now from other profession.
The factors for that expanding appeal are tied up in South Korea's quick economic surge. Within 50 years, the country shifted from post-war destruction to OECD participant.
However, according to Jasper Kim, head of the Asia-Pacific Global Research Group in Seoul, something crucial was lost in the process.
" I believe that with all this rapid growth comes quick modification, as well as Koreans just don't understand just how to handle it. Increasingly, commercialism is overtaking standard social norms that you would expect a number of decades earlier.".
Jasper Kim claims South Korea's infamously lengthy working hours have actually left numerous Korean females feeling lonesome, while the nation's technological advance has actually left many individuals feeling detached.
" The human component of Korean culture that existed previously just does not exist today. Individuals are focused on modern technology, individuals are focused on their work, they aren't concentrated on human relationships any longer.
" In numerous methods, Korean society today type of advises me of 1960s culture in the United States, where it's on the verge of some kind of cultural transformation.".
The grandfather of Seoul's host bar scene, Kim Dong-hee, concurs that a number of the women that come to host bars are not paying for sex yet for friendship, which is why he opened up a new chain of freshly-marketed electrical outlets aimed at the mainstream market - called Red Model Bars.
Red Model Bar hosts.
Image caption,.
Hosts at Red Model Bars can not touch clients.
" Men intend to have aesthetic satisfaction as well as desire to really feel things, they're responsive. Women like to chat and to listen. Which's why I assumed of opening up a bar like this - a type of discussion bar.".
Red Model Bars are various to conventional host bars in one crucial respect - there is a no-touching regulation. Hosts remain on one side of the table, consumers on the various other, and no physical get in touch with is allowed, and also absolutely no sex.
Probably consequently there is an absence of furtiveness amongst the individuals that function or drink below - the lights are low, the decoration primarily dark red as well as the room is split right into very discreet booths, however it is an open-plan space and consumers and hosts are split in each booth by a huge table.
This new service version depends entirely on ladies paying the equivalent of hundreds or even countless dollars to speak to fine-looking young males over a drink. Still, it seems to be functioning - three brand-new branches result from open this year.
Resting at a table at one end of bench was among their routine clients, a flower shop called Kim Nayu. She informs me she comes here daily to meet her much-loved host and go over concerns she is having at job.
The cost for this piece of male focus is $487-650 ( 300-400) a day.
" Talking to good friends would be cheaper" she admits, "but they don't pay attention as much. They're active, and also in a rush to chat concerning themselves. Below, people will take notice of me as well as they'll pay attention to me.".
" I invest a great deal of cash however it deserves it of what I get psychologically. People pay to go to see a psycho therapist or psychiatrist, so it's similar however less difficult.".
Nayu's preferred host Sung-il claims it can be difficult to keep his expert and personal life separate.
" Honestly Iwould certainly be existing if I say I haven't been lured to take things additionally with some clients, due to the fact that we're human, we're males, yet there are policies.".
Among his customers yapped to her spouse concerning him and when the 3 of them met, Sung-il as well as the spouse ended up being close pals.
" No one hides - the employees do not hide that they function right here, and also customers can be open too.".
This openness is posturing a brand-new type of challenge to South Korean culture, different from the occasionally sleazy underworld of typical host bars as well as their hinterland of male prostitution.
By offering ladies a "decent" means to challenge conventional sex duties and flex their financial power, these brand-new bars ask inquiries of Korean society that are coming to be more challenging to overlook.
Hear the complete report on BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents. You can listen through the Radio 4 website or using the Crossing Continents podcast.
The appeal of host bars can be refined. Below, she claims, she has more interest from her male companions, even more choice and, crucially, more control.
James has actually been functioning at Bar 123 for a pair of years. Instead, he informs me, it is all down to the host's own assessment.
And that's why I thought of opening up a bar like this - a kind of discussion bar.".
