In the dim light of a basement, a dozen completely brushed boys stoop in rows, calling out their names.
Muscle, with shiny boy-band hairstyles, they stuff side by side right into the slim space, waiting for us to make our selection. Outdoors in the hallway, more of their colleagues are getting here for another night at the workplace. It is 2am, and also we are their initial consumers.
Concealed beneath the pavements of Seoul's ritziest postcode, Gangnam, the men at Bar 123 become part of an expanding market, which outgrew the long customs of Japanese geisha as well as Korea's kisaeng residences however with one vital difference - the clients below are all women.
Referred to as "host bars", these all-night alcohol consumption areas use female consumers the opportunity to pay as well as pick for male friends, in some cases at a price of countless pounds an evening.
One of the females I fulfill at Bar 123 is Minkyoung, a waitressing manager for a five-star hotel. When or two times a month, she says she comes to host bars.
The allure of host bars can be refined. Right here, she claims, she has more interest from her male buddies, more choice and, crucially, even more control.
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" In routine bars the men who consume alcohol with me have only one objective - to have a casual sex. Yet I don't want that, to make sure that's why I come here, I wish to enjoy," she claims.
Hosts are hired by bars similar to this one to supply companionship and also enjoyment. Officially that indicates putting beverages for their clients, dancing and speaking with them, and also singing karaoke.
Host bar in Seoul
Sex is not formally on offer in most host bars. That would certainly be prohibited but also Minkyoung appears pleased to touch and tease with her host, and also the men right here estimate that around half the consumers intend to spend for sex, either on or off the properties.
James has actually been functioning at Bar 123 for a number of years. In Korean society, he says, there is a lot of pride and also negotiating a rate for sex is never done clearly. Instead, he informs me, it is all down to the host's very own assessment.
" The people right here are pros - we know what we're doing," he states.
" After speaking to a lady for a hr we primarily know how much money she makes as well as what she provides for a living. We've already analysed her personality and what she's ready to offer."
James as well as various other hosts say their consumers include several of South Korea's elite, and that the cash as well as perks available boggle the mind. One customer James met, throughout his initial week in the task, asked him to authorize himself over to her for two years.
" She claimed 'let's make an agreement. I've got this item of paper and also I've numbered it 1-5. Whatever you make a note of beside those numbers, I'll obtain you.'".
James claims at the time he took it as a joke yet considering that discovered the exact same woman invested 60,000 ($ 97,000) on one more host.
" If it occurred currently, I 'd do it - I 'd be believing straight.".
Paradoxically perhaps, host bars outgrew one of Korea's most entrenched and, some claim, misogynist company traditions - the space beauty parlor. These are private drinking spaces where groups of males select, and also are offered by, appealing women hostesses.
It was the people hosting' need to allow off steam after job, states expert host Kim Dong-hee, that developed the first need for host bars, with all-male team.
" What these people hosting desire is to [make us] do the exact same thing they needed to perform in their own office. These women are forced to do points they do not intend to provide for money.
" I assume a great deal of them are in discomfort, and a whole lot really feel lonesome. Just put, they want to buy our time and our bodies.".
Hostesses still make up a large portion of the consumers at host bars below, yet at Bar 123, for example, as much as 40% of the customers on an offered evening are now from various other profession.
The reasons for that growing allure are bound in South Korea's quick financial increase. Within 50 years, the country moved from post-war devastation to OECD member.
Yet, according to Jasper Kim, head of the Asia-Pacific Global Research Group in Seoul, something important was lost along the road.
" I think that with all this fast growth comes rapid modification, as well as Koreans simply do not understand how to handle it. Progressively, industrialism is surpassing basic societal norms that you would certainly anticipate a number of decades back.".
Jasper Kim states South Korea's notoriously lengthy functioning hours have actually left many Korean ladies really feeling lonely, while the nation's technological advancement has actually left lots of people feeling removed.
" The human aspect of Korean society that existed previously merely does not exist today. Individuals are concentrated on modern technology, people are focused on their work, they aren't concentrated on human relationships anymore.
" In several ways, Korean culture today type of reminds me of 1960s culture in the United States, where it's on the verge of some type of cultural change.".
The grandfather of Seoul's host bar scene, Kim Dong-hee, concurs that a number of the females who concern host bars are not spending for sex however, for friendship, which is why he opened up a brand-new chain of freshly-marketed outlets targeted at the mainstream market - called Red Model Bars.
Red Model Bar hosts.
Photo subtitle,.
Hosts at Red Model Bars can not touch customers.
" Men intend to have visual pleasure and also wish to feel points, they're responsive. Ladies like to speak as well as to pay attention. And that's why I considered opening up a bar like this - a kind of dialogue bar.".
Red Model Bars are various to standard host bars in one key respect - there is a no-touching policy. Hosts rest on one side of the table, customers on the other, and no physical get in touch with is permitted, and certainly no sex.
Probably consequently there is an absence of furtiveness amongst the individuals that function or consume below - the lights are reduced, the design mostly dark red and the space is split into very discreet booths, yet it is an open-plan room and also hosts and also clients are separated in each booth by a big table.
This brand-new service version depends totally on females paying the equivalent of hundreds or perhaps thousands of bucks to speak with good-looking boys over a beverage. Still, it appears to be working - three new branches are due to open this year.
Resting at a table at one end of bench was one of their regular consumers, a flower designer called Kim Nayu. She informs me she comes here daily to satisfy her preferred host as well as go over problems she is contending job.
The rate for this slice of male interest is $487-650 ( 300-400) a day.
" Talking to buddies would certainly be less costly" she confesses, "but they do not listen as much. They're busy, and in a hurry to speak about themselves. Here, people will take note of me and they'll pay attention to me.".
" I spend a lot of money yet it deserves it for what I obtain psychologically. Individuals pay to go to see a psychologist or psychiatrist, so it's similar yet less demanding.".
Nayu's much-loved host Sung-il states it can be hard to maintain his specialist and also personal life separate.
" Honestly Iwould certainly be lying if I state I haven't been lured to take points even more with some consumers, since we're human, we're guys, but there are regulations.".
One of his clients chatted a great deal to her hubby about him and also when the 3 of them met, Sung-il and also the spouse became buddies.
" No one conceals - the workers do not conceal that they work here, and also consumers can be open also.".
This openness is posing a brand-new type of difficulty to South Korean society, various from the often shabby abyss of traditional host bars as well as their hinterland of male prostitution.
By offering women a "decent" way to challenge typical sex roles and bend their economic power, these brand-new bars ask inquiries of Korean society that are becoming tougher to disregard.
Listen to the full record on BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents. You can pay attention via the Radio 4 web site or using the Crossing Continents podcast.
The appeal of host bars can be subtle. Below, she claims, she has even more interest from her male buddies, even more selection and also, most importantly, even 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 very own analysis.
As well as that's why I thought of opening up a bar like this - a kind of discussion bar.".
