“It Never Snows In Busan”
Written by Jordi and MiMi
Copyright 2025 by My Naughty Ghost. All Rights Reserved.
To DanA:
Thank you for helping me learn how to appreciate the music in life again.
Prologue
Sumin’s Diary – February 18, 2025
It never snows in Busan. But on the night you promised to marry me, snowflakes danced through the air like a dream. I almost couldn’t believe it. Was this real? You stood there, your eyes soft, your voice laced with humor, but something in me wanted to believe every word you said.
Is this how love feels, Yoojin? Or am I just imagining something more?
Yoojin’s Journal – February 18, 2025
Snow in Busan. I never thought I’d see it. And I certainly didn’t think my words would come back to haunt me like this. I said it as a joke, didn’t I? I promised Sumin that I’d marry her if it ever snowed in Busan. But the moment those words left my lips, the snow fell, and her eyes—those wide, hopeful eyes—looked at me like I had just granted her the world.
How did I let this happen? What kind of power do my words have? And now… now what?
Sumin’s Diary – February 19, 2025
It feels like fate, like the universe is speaking to us. Snow in Busan, of all places, and on the night you made that promise. My heart won’t stop fluttering, Yoojin. Was it meant to be? My logical side tells me it’s all just a coincidence, but deep down, I want to believe that this is a sign.
You always know how to make me smile with your words, but now those words hang between us, heavy and full of meaning. What do they mean to you?
Yoojin’s Journal – February 19, 2025
I can’t stop thinking about that night. Snow, promises, and the way Sumin looked at me. It wasn’t supposed to mean anything, but now I’m not so sure. Do I really feel this strongly? Am I just running away from something I’m too afraid to face?
Every time I’ve gotten close to love, I’ve pulled away. But with Sumin… it’s different. She’s different. And that scares me even more.
Sumin’s Diary – February 20, 2025
He hasn’t said a word about the snow or his promise. I don’t know what’s going on in his head. Is he afraid? Am I? The uncertainty gnaws at me, making me question everything. I’ve always been so sure of myself at work, but when it comes to love, I feel like I’m standing on shaky ground.
Maybe it was just a joke to him. But for me… it meant something.
Yoojin’s Journal – February 20, 2025
I’m terrified. What if I mess this up? Sumin hasn’t mentioned the snow, hasn’t brought up my promise, and I’m too scared to be the one to say anything first. I’ve never felt so close to someone before, and that’s exactly why I’m hesitating.
I can’t lose her, but I don’t know if I’m ready to be what she needs. What if I’m not enough?
Sumin’s Diary – February 21, 2025
I’ve decided. I’m going to talk to Yoojin tonight. I can’t live with this uncertainty any longer. The snow, his words… they meant something to me. I need to know if they meant something to him too. It terrifies me, the thought of pushing him away, but I can’t keep pretending like this doesn’t matter.
Maybe we’re meant to be, Yoojin. Or maybe I’m just a fool in love. But I have to know.
Yoojin’s Journal – February 21, 2025
Tonight, everything changes. I can feel it in the way Sumin looks at me, the way her silence has stretched on for days. She’s going to bring it up, the snow, the promise, all of it. And I need to be honest with her. For once, I need to stop running.
This could be the moment I’ve been waiting for—our moment. But it could also be the moment I lose her.
For the first time in my life, I want to be brave.
Chapter 1
Sumin’s Diary – January 7, 2025
Ah, seriously… The trip to Busan was such a hassle, and I don’t even know why I got my hopes up. Work has been a nightmare lately—constant fights, people crying, and all the chaos in between. I just wanted to escape for a bit, you know? Thought this trip would give me some breathing room. But then, surprise! Jazz concert canceled. I stood there like, “What now?” Honestly, I was so frustrated with myself for coming here on a whim.
But I couldn’t just head back right away. I figured I might as well clear my head and start walking along the beach. The cold wind was slapping me in the face, but weirdly enough, it felt refreshing, like it was waking me up. The sound of the waves and the quiet night sky kind of made me feel better. Even so, I couldn’t help but be mad at myself for making such a rash decision. “Why am I like this?” I kept thinking.
And then, out of nowhere, I caught the smell of grilled pork belly in the air. My senses just kicked in, and I followed the smell without even realizing it. That’s when I saw him—a guy grilling pork belly all by himself. He just looked so… at ease, like he belonged there. When he noticed me, he casually flipped his pork belly and smiled like it was no big deal.
I honestly didn’t expect it. I didn’t think I’d actually sit down with some stranger like that. But the way he smiled? It was so natural, I ended up sitting down before I even thought about it. Looking back now, it feels kind of surreal. Usually, I’d never approach someone like that.
His name was Yoojin. At first, I was just there for the pork belly, no lie. But the more we talked, the more I got drawn into his vibe. It turns out that he teaches English literature at a university. And wow, he wasn’t like anyone I’d met before. His thoughts had this depth to them, and the way he talked about things, you could see his eyes light up. It was kind of mesmerizing.
I told him about all the work stress I’ve been under, and he just listened—didn’t judge, didn’t interrupt, just listened. It felt so good to have someone actually hear me out. His voice was calm, steady, like everything was going to be okay. It made me realize how much I needed a conversation like this.
We ended up chatting about everything—jazz, the ocean, even random bits of history. I mentioned some places I’d traveled to, and he seemed genuinely curious, asking me all these thoughtful questions. It felt like everything I knew was coming to life again through our conversation.
And his laughter… Oh, his laugh. It was so warm and real. Even when I said the dumbest little things, he’d laugh like it mattered. That laugh—it put me completely at ease. By the end of the night, I just felt so grateful to have had that moment.
I don’t even know how time passed. Before I knew it, the sky was full of stars, and the wind felt softer somehow. When the conversation ended and I was back on my own, my heart felt oddly warm. It had been so long since I’d laughed like that.
Will I ever have another meeting like this? Or was this just one perfect, fleeting moment? The smell of pork belly, his laughter, the sound of the ocean—it’s all going to stay with me for a long time, I think.
Yoojin’s Journal – January 7, 2025
Man, Busan’s ocean—it’s always so calm and simple. That’s why I came here this weekend. I didn’t have a plan, didn’t need one. Just me, the sound of waves, some pork belly to grill, and the wind. That was all I wanted. But then she showed up, and everything changed.
I still laugh when I think about the first time I saw her. She was walking slow, with her shoulders slumped like the week had completely worn her down. Then she stopped, looking around like she’d lost something or was maybe searching for something that wasn’t there. Her face… it was this mix of hope and disappointment.
I don’t know what came over me, but I wanted to break that moment. I started grilling louder, let the scent of pork belly spread into the air. I even splashed some water on the grill for a loud sizzle. When she turned to look, I waved. Just a small gesture, not expecting anything. But then she smiled—a small, shy smile that caught me completely off guard. And then she came closer.
She actually sat down. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it. I thought she’d just walk away, but no—she joined me. Her name was Sumin. Up close, she seemed so polished and put-together, but there was a tiredness in her eyes that made her feel… human. Real.
She told me she works in beauty aesthetics—a world I know absolutely nothing about. It’s one of those viral places I’ve seen online. She must be doing really well. I live in a tiny one-room apartment and teach English literature—our lives couldn’t be more different. And yet, we were sitting there, sharing pork belly and conversation like it was the most natural thing in the world.
I started talking about my students, about Hamlet and Gatsby—things I never thought she’d care about. But she did. When I mentioned why Gatsby was destined to fail, she actually laughed. A real, honest laugh. That moment… It’s like something shifted. Like we weren’t so different after all.
We talked for hours, about everything and nothing. The waves kept crashing, the night grew darker, and the stars came out. I’d come to Busan just to unwind, but instead, I found… this. Whatever this was. It felt meaningful, like a connection I didn’t know I needed.
I don’t know if I’ll ever see her again. But I know I’ll remember this night—the waves, the stars, the scent of pork belly, and her laughter. It’s not every day you meet someone who reminds you what it feels like to really connect with another person.
Maybe I’ll never find out what this meeting meant. But I know I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.
Chapter 2
Sumin’s Diary – January 9, 2025
Going back to work today felt… different. I don’t know how to explain it, but everything seemed brighter somehow. Maybe it was because I kept thinking about that night on the beach, or maybe it was because I actually got some decent sleep for once. Either way, my coworkers noticed immediately.
“Sumin, you’re practically glowing today!” Hyejin said as soon as I walked into the dental practice. “What happened to you over the weekend?”
I just shrugged and tried to play it off, but I could feel this stupid smile creeping onto my face. Instead of our usual routine of grabbing individual salads or whatever light lunch we could squeeze in between patients, I surprised everyone by ordering pizza for the whole office. Pizza! Me, the person who always splits bills down to the last won and brings homemade kimbap to save money.
“Who are you and what did you do with our penny-pinching Sumin?” Dr. Kim joked, but even he seemed happy about the unexpected treat.
The strangest moment came during my 2 PM appointment with Mrs. Park, one of our regular patients. She’s this sweet woman in her sixties who always has something to say about everything. After her cleaning, while she was rinsing and rubbing her jaw like she always does, she suddenly looked at me with this knowing smile.
“You were humming ‘Love in Your Eyes’ during my X-rays,” she said, referring to that old Lee Moon-sae song from the ’80s. I didn’t even realize I was doing it. “You’re in love!”
My face turned bright red. I stuttered something about just having a song stuck in my head, but Mrs. Park just laughed and patted my hand. “I’ve been married for forty years, dear. I know that look.”
Love? Is that what this is? I’ve never had a real boyfriend before—not like the movies or the dramas. Sure, I’ve been on dates, but they were mostly blind dates my parents set up or meetings that felt more like job interviews than anything romantic. “Study first, date later,” my parents always said. “Only date if you’re serious about marriage.”
So here I am, twenty-eight years old, and I feel like some boy-crazy teenager. Is this what I missed out on all those years? This fluttery, can’t-concentrate-on-anything feeling? Because if it is, I think I understand why people write songs about it.
I keep replaying every moment from that night. The way Yoojin’s eyes crinkled when he laughed. How comfortable the silence felt between us. The way he actually listened when I talked, not just waiting for his turn to speak.
God, I’m pathetic. Two days, and I’m already acting like this.
But maybe pathetic isn’t the right word. Maybe I’m just… happy? When was the last time I felt genuinely happy about something that wasn’t an achievement or a goal checked off my list? I can’t remember. Even getting into dental school or landing this job felt more like relief than joy. This is different. This is the kind of happiness that makes you want to share pizza with your coworkers and hum old love songs without realizing it.
I wonder if he’s thinking about me too, or if I’m just another random encounter to him. The rational part of my brain—the part that got me through seven years of higher education—keeps reminding me that we barely know each other. One night doesn’t mean anything. People meet on beaches all the time and never see each other again.
But then I remember how he looked when he was talking about his students, how his whole face lit up when he mentioned this one kid who finally understood symbolism in poetry. There was something so genuine about it, so different from the guys my parents introduced me to who only talked about their jobs in terms of salary potential and advancement opportunities.
Maybe I should call him. Or text. Do people still call anymore? God, I really am out of practice with this whole thing.
Yoojin’s Journal – January 9, 2025
I keep thinking about Jihye. My ex. The one I broke up with three months ago because she started talking about meeting my parents after we’d only been dating for six weeks. She wanted to know where “we were going” and kept hinting about moving in together. It felt suffocating, like she was planning our entire future while I was still figuring out if I liked her laugh.
“You’re emotionally unavailable,” she said when I ended things. “You run away the moment things get real.”
Maybe she was right. Maybe I do run away. But with Sumin… I don’t want to run. I want to call her.
Actually, I did call her. Yesterday. And then again this morning. Both calls went to voicemail, and I hung up without leaving a message. What was I going to say anyway? “Hi, it’s the random guy you met on the beach who grilled you pork belly.”?
She’s probably busy. She mentioned her work was stressful, and dental practices stay pretty booked up. At least that’s what I’m telling myself instead of thinking that maybe she regretted that whole night and doesn’t want to hear from me.
I won’t call again. I don’t want to be that guy—the desperate, clingy one who can’t take a hint. If she wants to talk, she’ll call me back. Right?
Wrong. I’m definitely going to call again. Who am I kidding?
The thing is, Jihye was probably right about me running away, but she was wrong about why. It wasn’t because things got “real”—it was because they got fake. All that talk about the future, about meeting parents and moving in together, it felt like she was trying to fast-forward through all the actual getting-to-know-each-other parts straight to some finish line I didn’t even know we were racing toward.
With Sumin, everything felt unhurried. Natural. Like we had all the time in the world just to sit there and talk about nothing and everything. She didn’t ask me what my five-year plan was or hint about exclusivity. She just… listened. Really listened. And when she talked about her work, about the stress and the pressure she felt, there was this vulnerability that Jihye never showed me, even after two months of dating.
Maybe that’s what I’ve been looking for this whole time—someone who doesn’t need to know where we’re going before we’ve even figured out if we enjoy each other’s company. Someone who can sit in comfortable silence and eat slightly burnt pork belly and make it feel like the best evening I’ve had in months.
I’m overthinking this. One evening doesn’t mean she feels the same way I do. For all I know, she goes to that beach all the time and meets random stressed-out guys who cook her dinner. Maybe I’m just projecting because I’ve been so tired of the Seoul dating scene, with its unspoken rules and expectations and timelines.
But God, the way she laughed when I accidentally dropped that piece of meat in the sand. And how she didn’t pretend it was fine to eat anyway, like some people would have. She just looked at me and said, “Well, that one’s for the seagulls,” and we both cracked up. When was the last time someone made me laugh like that? When was the last time I didn’t feel like I had to perform or impress or be some version of myself that I thought someone else wanted?
Yoojin’s Journal – January 11, 2025
I caved.
Two days of staring at my phone, checking it every five minutes like some lovesick teenager, and I finally sent her a text. Just a simple “Hey, it’s Yoojin from the beach. Hope your week is going better than last weekend.”
She replied within ten minutes. Ten minutes! Maybe she really is just better with texting than phone calls. We ended up messaging back and forth for an hour, and it felt just as easy as that night on the beach. She told me about her coworkers teasing her and a patient who said she was “glowing.” I told her about my students trying to convince me that TikTok was a valid form of literary analysis.
Before I could overthink it, I asked if she wanted to have lunch on Saturday.
Her response: “Saturday’s no good, but how about Thursday? I get off early that day.”
Thursday. As in, the day after tomorrow. As in, she actually wants to see me again, and soon.
I said yes so fast I’m pretty sure I came across as eager as a puppy, but I don’t even care. Thursday can’t come fast enough.
The best part? She suggested a place. Not somewhere fancy or Instagram-worthy, but this little kimbap place near her work that she said makes the best kimchi jjigae in the neighborhood. “It’s nothing special,” she texted, “but the auntie who runs it always gives me extra banchan because she thinks I’m too skinny.”
Nothing special. Jihye would have suggested that new fusion restaurant in Gangnam that everyone’s talking about, the one with the two-month waiting list and the prices that make you question your life choices. She would have worn something that looked effortless but probably took her an hour to put together, and she would have ordered a salad because she was “watching her figure.”
Sumin wants to take me to her neighborhood kimbap place. Where the owner thinks she’s too skinny and gives her extra side dishes. Where we can probably eat until we’re actually full for less than what I spent on appetizers with Jihye.
I’m nervous, but it’s a good nervous. Like the kind you get before a first day of school or a job interview for something you actually want. Not the anxious, walking-on-eggshells nervous I felt with my ex toward the end.
Maybe this is what it feels like when something has actual potential. When you’re not trying to force chemistry that isn’t there or convince yourself that someone is right for you because they look good on paper. Maybe this is what happens when you meet someone and think, “I want to know more about this person,” instead of, “I wonder if this person fits into my life plan.”
Thursday. I should probably figure out what to wear to a neighborhood kimbap restaurant. Something that says “I’m genuinely interested in you” but not “I’m trying too hard.” Do I even own clothes that say that?
God, I sound like a teenager. But for the first time in months, I don’t mind.
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