Seoul, This Summer Is Almost Well Done

I opened my weather app this morning.

35°C.

Feels like 38°C.

At this point, I’m convinced that if the morning sun shines on me for more than thirty seconds, I’ll turn into medium-rare Wagyu.

I came across an interesting news story recently. Korea has always eaten bluefin tuna, but most of it arrived frozen, while the freshest catch usually went straight to Japan.

This year is different.

As the ocean warms, giant bluefin tuna—some over two meters long and weighing more than 100 kilograms—are becoming increasingly common in Korea’s East Sea.

The fish no longer has to cross an ocean. It can be swimming in the morning, sitting on a shelf at Lotte Mart by the afternoon, and served at someone's dinner table that evening.

Working in eCommerce, my first thought wasn't climate change.

It was the supply chain.

The shipping distance disappeared.

Cold-chain costs disappeared.

Several layers of the supply chain disappeared.

Who would have thought that the thing solving part of the supply-chain problem wouldn't be logistics?

Or AI.

It would be climate.

For years we've talked about climate change—reducing emissions, protecting the environment, driving less. The usual response is always the same:

"Yeah... we should really do something about it."

Eventually.

But put a box of fresher—and cheaper—bluefin tuna in front of people, and suddenly opinions evolve remarkably fast.

I found myself feeling a little jealous of the tuna.

At least it gets to stay fresh.

By the time I walk from my apartment to the subway station, I'm already half cooked.

This morning I rushed out the door and tossed half a chocolate bar into my pocket, thinking I'd eat it on the train.

When I reached into my pocket for my phone...

I pulled out my phone—and a handful of melted chocolate.

😑

For a few seconds, my brain simply stopped working.

No tissues.

No water.

Nine subway stops to go.

There was no way I was going to spend the rest of the ride holding one sticky hand in the air.

So I made what I believed was the most rational decision an adult could make.

The most environmentally friendly solution available.

The Korean passenger sitting across from me watched my expression go from confusion...

to horror...

to quiet determination...

before slowly sliding a little farther away.

I can only imagine what was going through his mind.

"What exactly... did that foreigner just pull out of his pocket?" 🤢

Only later did I realize...

the thing that had really melted wasn't the chocolate.

It was my social reputation in Korea.

So this week, I told my team to work from home.

Not because it would make us more productive.

Simply because making it to the office without melting into liquid already feels like an achievement.

Even those few minutes between the subway station and the office leave me feeling like I'm being slow-cooked into an immortality pill.

Dear God...

would You mind turning the sun down just a little?

Summer has arrived.

It's time for Your air-conditioning miracle.

Then again, maybe whenever God closes a door and a window...

it's because He's turning on the AC.

I'll stop here.

Any hotter,

and this weather is officially becoming rude.