People in South Korea are so stressed out that they’re paying to daydream

Stressed out South Koreans are snapping up sessions to zone out at dedicated spaces around the capital of Seoul.

The one and only rule: Just relax.

The rising trend, known as “hitting mung”, is a slang term to describe being completely spaced out. According to The Washington Post, there are different forms of meditative relaxation such as “forest mung”, which involves staring at nature and “fire mung”, “watching logs burn.

One high-demand Seoul cafe, Green Lab, allows customers to reserve a slot to simply sit in silence and daydream into the idyllic Seoul Forest views. They can also take the time to read, write or meditate over a pot of tea.

Their concept, “ritual”, encourages the daily practice of self-care. An employee of Green Lab, Bae Hyun, told The Post: “It’s so hard to find spaces in Korean society where it’s acceptable to do absolutely nothing,”

“People seem to be finding more interest in this, though I think it will take some more time for it to become widely popular. As people’s daily lives change in the pandemic, they have become more familiar with the concept.”

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People are also heading to the cinema for some ‘me-time’. And while there’s nothing uncommon about that, one Seoul movie theatre is running peaceful features to zone out completely.

Seoul’s Megabox has a 40-minute plane ride clip for $6, according to The Post. “Take a brief rest through the fluffy clouds,” the synopsis read.

They also offer a screening of a 30-minute fire crackling clip.

The niche trend has started to branch out beyond the bustling capital. On Ganghwa Island, off South Korea’s west coast, a cafe called Mung Hit also has designated silent areas for people to relax.

Ji Ok-jung, manager of Mung Hit, told The Post: “It’s a place where people can heal themselves. It’s something only you can do for yourself, not something someone else can do for you, and we wanted to facilitate that for everyone exhausted by the demands of modern life.”

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