What time is it?

It’s five in the morning and I’m sitting in a Chinese food restaurant waiting to board the morning train. Kyong, to my right is video conferencing with two friends on his phone, opposite him Suki, is finishing a television show on hers. I’m chatting with Song Ri over green tea and a bowl of chajang myun, a Chinese food dish that only exists in Korea. One of the televisions continues to loop the country’s Olympic victories, the other plays an American movie dubbed into Mandarin with Korean subtitles. ‘Oh Christmas Tree’ plays over the radio.