The 2026 Archive | 한국의 지혜와 미래 기술

  I flew into this new airport. Big news. “World’s smartest airport.” “No staff. All face scan.” I thought “Cool. Future. I’m ready.” I walked off the plane. Looked around. No people. No desks. Just… gates. Glowing. Humming. I stood there with my suitcase. Like an idiot. Nobody to ask. Nothing to fill out. Just machines staring at me. I realized: the future doesn’t have a help desk. I Tried the Face Scanner and It Said I Don’t Exist Everyone else was walking through. Beep. Gate opens. “Welcome.” My turn. I stood on the footprints. Looked at the camera. Smiled. Like an idiot. The screen said: “Face not recognized.” I tried again. Took off my hat. Shook my hair. Stopped smiling. Looked serious. “Face not recognized.” People behind me started sighing. A kid said “Mom, why is he broken?” I was sweating. The machine and I were in a standoff. It had one job. I had one face. Neither of us was winning. A staff member finally walked over. From somewhere. Took 10 minutes. She pressed a butto...

  I picked up the rental car. Got in. Turned the key. Or, pressed the button. I don’t know. Nothing happened. No sound. No rumble. The dashboard just lit up like a phone. I sat there for 30 seconds. Thought “Great. It’s dead.” I went back inside. Told the guy at the counter “The car doesn’t work.” He came out with me. Got in. Pressed the pedal. The car just… rolled forward. Silent. Like a ghost. He looked at me. I looked at the floor. He said something in Korean that probably meant “You’ve never seen one of these before, have you?” I wanted to disappear into the parking lot. I Tried to Find a Gas Station and Found a Plug Next to Cabbages Instead The car was running low. On… something. The little battery picture on the screen was almost empty. So I looked for a gas station. Drove around. Then I saw a car parked at a market. Next to a vegetable stall. It had a cord. A big cord. Plugged into a box. Like a phone charger, but for a car. A lady was selling cabbage two steps away. She did...

  I took the KTX to Gwangju. Got off. Went to the parking lot to meet my friend. The lot was full of… cords. Like, every second car had a big cable stuck in its side. I thought “Oh, rich people cars.” Then I saw a tiny boxy car. A Kia Ray. An old farmer, like 70s, bent over and plugged it in next to a delivery truck. My brain stopped. Five years ago, the only electric car I saw was a Tesla in Gangnam. Driven by a guy with sunglasses inside. Now a grandpa in a hat is charging his next to cabbages. I felt ancient. And dumb. I still can’t figure out my air fryer. In Seoul, the Chargers Were Next to the Convenience Store and I Almost Tripped Over One Back in Seoul, I was walking to a CU for a banana milk. There was a big white box in front of the store. With a thick cord. And a car attached to it. I almost tripped over the cord because I was looking at my phone. The driver was inside the store buying ramen. Like it was normal. I stared at the box. It had numbers. Big numbers. 350 somet...