I went into the Shinchon station (신촌역) to use the ATM, the only one in Korea that I know will work with US Bank cards. I insert my card, instruct the machine to withdraw money. Then suddenly the whole system goes dark. The ATM machine is powered off. And my bank card, the only access to cash I have in Korea, is swallowed up by this ATM.
I was in dire straits. I suddenly had morbid dread consume me, as I will be stranded in Korea, with no means to pay for shelter or food. Always, in the back of my mind, I lived here with the insecurity that I something like this could happen, stuck here without any support (either back home or in Korea).
I looked the machine and saw a support number, where I am confident they won't be able to speak English. I called, and got a generic message and realized that they are open at 8 am. I didn't want to leave this machine until I got my card back, even if I had to rip it out of the machine.
Now all the sudden, all the things I have to do today raced through my mind: I have a final that I have to take, and the professor wouldn't accept any story as bizarre as this. Then the girl, the dream girl of hope, is going to visit me if I can help her get here. Further away are rent, bills, and flight to Japan in a few days.
I got up, gave the ATM some Fonzie treatment. Then I give it some Tae Kwon Do for good measure. The system started back up, with what looked like a BIOS prompt. Then it started to bootstrap Microsoft Windows NT 4.0. Lovely.
After several minutes in what seemed like an eternity, the system started, and gave me back my ATM card. I gingerly tried it, and it dispensed the money.
