▲ At the end of last year, teenagers gathered at the waiting room at Seohyeon Station in Bundang, Gyeonggi province. by Siyeong Im

On Christmas at the end of last year, I made an appointment to meet my friends. Initially, I was slightly hesitant due to the increased pandemic of COVID-19, however, I wanted to go outside and refresh myself after a long, tiring time in online classes and quarantine. Our meet-up time was 7 p.m. due to my academy, however, there was no adequate place to decide where we should meet. Coffee shops, like Starbucks, Twosome Place, Hollys Coffee, etc, only allowed take-outs and deliveries and prohibited consumption in the places. Restaurants, regardless of their closing time, were only available until 9 p.m.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I used to chill by relieving stress at karaoke places with my friends and enjoying fancy dinners. However, the current situation of the pandemic made it impossible to do such activities outside. This lifestyle flowed in as the government entered the 2.5 stage of social distancing from 2020 December. As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased to more than a thousand per day, the government stepped up quarantine measures, further preventing outdoor activities of the civilians across the nation, with no exceptions at all.

In the Seoul metropolitan area, (including Seoul) no meet-ups at public places were allowed to have more than five people, all to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus cases. Since it was a government procedure to prevent an aggravation of the cases, my friends and I had to choose the only option, which was to chill in restaurants with expensive orders until its closing time. Although there was much more to talk about with my friends, I left a lot of regrets and headed to Seohyeon Station in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, to return home, about 30 minutes before the closing time of the restaurant.

Entering the subway station, I could see a scene that I had not usually seen before. Before going down to the train platform from inside the subway station, teenagers sat together on benches all over the passageway, having fun talking, giggling, playing games, even eating with their friends. When there was no place to go due to the pandemic, they flocked to the subway station. Not finding the situation weird, our friends also found an empty bench and talked for more than an hour before breaking up.

▲ At the end of last year, teenagers gathered at the entrance of Seohyeon Station in Bundang, Gyeonggi province. by Siyeong Im

"The benches at subway stations are wide apart, so they are suitable for keeping the social distancing measures and can even be used after 9 p.m.," said a friend who accompanied me. She mentioned, "for teenagers like us, it will be a new trendy place to meet in the COVID-19 pandemic era."

As said, the scene witnessed at the Seohyeon subway station at that time may be an unusual phenomenon that occurred at the end of the year when there were many gatherings. So on the evening of the 2nd, the first Saturday of January, I went to the scene of Pangyo Station on the Shinbundang Line. This time, I met my friends and had dinner at the Hyundai Department Store near Pangyo Station, and headed to the bench at Pangyo Station. Although it was late around 8 p.m., and people were all sitting on about 10 benches, and expectedly, half of them were teenagers of the same age as me. With such experience, I was able to reaffirm the fact that subway stations are emerging as a meeting place for teenagers.

However, it is expected that there will be controversy over whether this phenomenon is desirable or not. Although there is a positive aspect that teenagers will have space for relaxation without a big disturbance, it also interferes with the original use of a subway bench, which is to wait for an acquaintance for a friend for a gather-up. Plus, another issue is also expected that such customs encourage teenagers to break away from their homes, given that they can stay after 9 p.m. without any parental control or protection.

January 11, 2021, By Siyeong Im