One Loop Around Seoul Subway Line 2, and Some Thoughts

I Had Nothing to Do, So I Got On

Sunday afternoon. Nothing in particular to do.

A thought popped into my head: what if I rode Line 2 all the way around? It's a circle line — get on anywhere and you end up back where you started. Tapped my transit card and boarded at Hapjeong station. A full loop takes roughly 60 minutes, they say. A 60-minute journey cutting through Seoul — maybe "journey" is too grand a word for it.

Different People at Every Station

Hongdae. Young people pour off the train. You can feel the average age in the car jump up instantly.

Sinchon. College students get on. Music leaking from AirPods, someone has a laptop out doing homework. City Hall. People in suits board. It's Sunday — are they working? Their expressions are indistinguishable from a weekday.

Gangnam. A wave of people floods in. A subtle territorial battle unfolds over the narrow seats. The person next to me pushes my elbow with theirs. I push back. It's unconscious. (Probably.)

Same train, but every station feels like a different city. Line 2 isn't a line — it's a cross-section of Seoul.

The People Across from Me

I steal glances at the people sitting across.

An elderly woman dozes off clutching a bundle. Next to her, a middle schooler absorbed in a mobile game. Next to them, a man in a suit holding a transparent document folder. A resume peeks out from the edge. Must have an interview, even on a Sunday.

Everyone's on the same train but living in their own time. This ordinary scene is somehow, how do I put it — calling it beautiful feels a bit cheesy, but the feeling was close to that.

A Brief Stop at Konkuk University

I got off at Konkuk University station for a moment.

Stood on the platform and watched the train leave. Next train in 3 minutes. I just stood there for those 3 minutes. That subway wind blows through — somehow both warm and cold.

Got on the next train. Different people. Same line, different world.

Passed Guui station. A young worker died there while repairing platform screen doors. I bowed my head briefly. There are people working in invisible places to keep these trains running. That fact suddenly felt heavy.

Back at Hapjeong

Arrived at Hapjeong station. 62 minutes.

I went nowhere, but it feels like I went somewhere. Nothing special happened, but I noticed things I'd been missing. Like thoughts that had been stuck started moving again.

Sometimes traveling without a destination is good. Not to arrive somewhere, but for the time spent in motion.

Line 2 goes in circles. No matter where you board, you always come back. Maybe life is like that too — that's the thought I had walking through the turnstile.

A slightly pretentious reflection, I know. Not bad for 62 minutes of philosophy, though.