People watch the Korean drama “Coffee Prince” (2007) at an all-night outdoor event at Mangwon Hangang Park in western Seoul on Aug. 15. PAIK JI-HWAN[GIVE IT A GO]
Prior to Saturday, pulling an all-nighter outside would hardly have registered in my mind as “entertainment.”
After all, this summer in Korea has been one record-breaking heat wave after another, interspersed only with historic rainfall. The entire season has felt like one long reality show challenge to endure, even for those able to escape to the air-conditioned indoors.
But on this night, 10,000 brave souls thought otherwise. So I chose to give the overnight Han River hangout a shot as well.
When I arrived at Mangwon Hangang Park in western Seoul around 8:30 p.m., a half hour after the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s overnight outdoor event “Hangang No Sleep Weekend: Hangang All-Nighter” had officially kicked off, participants were already enjoying a range of activities, including binge-watching a classic Korean drama on a giant screen. Groups of people had staked out spots in the screening section with picnic blankets, while some of them were still waiting in line to enter the event zone.
Saturday’s gathering was a part of Seoul’s larger ongoing nighttime festival running through Aug. 30, during which visitors can enjoy free outdoor activities hosted by the city at several parks along the Han River.
Any visitor could join Saturday’s all-nighter without signing up in advance. As such, I was able to enter the event zone without requiring any form of admission ticket.
The city had created the festival as part of its stated goal of establishing a thriving nighttime economy. Saturday’s event featured not only a Korean drama but also a host of games and activities — both digital and analog — that participants could play while sitting and snacking by the banks of the Han River.
A 'Squid Game' moment
The temperature had at least cooled from the previous week, when Seoul canceled the event due to a heat wave warning. The mercury on Saturday was “only” hovering around 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit), but the air was still sticky and heavy — not the ideal weather for a large-scale outdoor nighttime event with thousands of people.
However, despite the soupy air, groups of young couples as well as parents with kids and pets still joined the all-night festivities.
I wondered what could possibly keep people entertained from dusk until dawn, only to realize that the Seoul Metropolitan Government had all that figured out. Each divided section of the park offered different types of entertainment.
Besides the drama screening and modern games, though, a more traditional form of fun stuck out: ddakji. Ddakji are made by folding colorful square-shaped origami paper in a particular way to create flat tiles.
Kids play ddakji at an all-night outdoor event at Mangwon Hangang Park in western Seoul on Aug. 15. PAIK JI-HWANMultiple players, usually two, take turns slamming their ddakji onto their opponent’s ddakji, which is placed on the ground, in an attempt to flip it. If they succeed, the thrower gets to keep the opponent’s ddakji, and the game continues until a player loses all their ddakji.
I thought some of the evening's foreign participants might know about this traditional Korean game from Netflix’s dystopian hit “Squid Game” (2021-25). I was right.
“You know in Brazil, it’s very popular,” Paulo Miranda, a Brazilian participant taking his first shot at the game, said. “'Squid Game' is really famous, and I know [it] from this series. And it’s my first time and I thought it was really funny. You know, Korean people are very competitive.”
I challenged Miranda to a game of ddajki, thinking that I could teach him the proper way to play the game, which I did to some extent. But in the end, he flipped my ddajki first and called it a “good match” — I’d been eliminated.
Drama, games and midnight ramyeon
Over at the outdoor viewing section, the night's largest crowd was lounging on the lawn. Unlike Seoul's other Han River night events — such as the ones at Yeouido Hangang Park in western Seoul and Ttukseom Hangang Park in eastern Seoul — Saturday’s event did not allow tents. Instead, participants sat on picnic mats to binge watch the classic Korean drama “Coffee Prince” (2007).
The section resembled an outdoor cinema, with much of its audience glued to the drama playing out on the giant screen.
I couldn't enter, as staff told me that the section had reached the maximum capacity, but I could still watch the drama from afar along with other attendees just outside the roped-off area, many of whom were chowing down on delivery food and other snacks.
Admittedly, “Coffee Prince” never was my cup of tea. The massive assembly of people was more interesting. Though, I began to worry: What would happen if things got rowdy? Nighttime crowds pair naturally with drinking, but alcohol was prohibited at the event. Luckily, I, along with the 20 staff members constantly patrolling the park, didn’t spot anyone breaking that rule.
The only place anyone was getting smashed was in the video game section, which offered free retro games including Street Fighter and Metal Slug.
With lots of kids gathering around the four machines, the game section became like an arcade from the early 2000s, a hideaway I used to frequent after school.
People play video games at an all-night outdoor event at Mangwon Hangang Park in western Seoul on Aug. 15. PAIK JI-HWANI had to wait around 10 minutes for my turn on Street Fighter while the youngsters in line in front of me finished battling it out. Once at the machine, and feeling confident that I could show off my “hadoken” skills, I decided to take on Shin Jung-hoon, a self-declared Street Fighter lover. The last time I played was at least 15 years ago, but out came the competitiveness again.
I stood no chance against Shin, who K.O.’d me nearly every round.
“Playing this game reminds me of my school days when I was really into it,” Shin said. “I pretty much lived with this game when I was in elementary school.” It showed in his combos.
After burning a few calories via controller, participants could visit the food section to grab a bite or cook ramyeon using instant noodle cookers. I didn't have any late-night cravings, but some people could not seem to resist the guilty pleasure, especially after watching others slurp down the spicy snack.
There were five cookers, and everything proceeded in an orderly fashion, so everyone could get their ramyeon without much waiting. When people were done eating, everyone seemed to follow the rules to keep the area tidy, disposing of their waste in designated bins.
Some treats in the food zone were not for sale, but instead were only receivable as prizes for a random draw. And stores behind the screening section were also selling items like peaches and sandwiches.
For every other midnight necessity, there was a convenience store nearby, where many went to fuel up around midnight, before diving into the second half of the event.
I had expected that by this time many participants would be ordering delivery food, but I didn’t see a lot of riders.
Keeping awake
When the clock stuck midnight, I could already feel my eyes getting heavy. “How can some people pull an all-nighter as if it was nothing?” I wondered sleepily.
The comfort of my bed seemed a long way away, and rest itself was similarly elusive. Episodes of “Coffee Prince” were still playing on the big screen, and lines from the drama, mixed with the din of constant chatter, made it difficult for me to take a break in peace.
While some people were leaving the event after midnight, I was still looking for other options that could keep me entertained. Next to where I had just gotten crushed in Street Fighter, there was a comic book station where participants could freely borrow a casual read. I browsed the shelves, skimming through some titles I had seen before.
A person browses comic books at an all-night outdoor event at Mangwon Hangang Park in western Seoul on Aug. 15. PAIK JI-HWANThere were also board games participants could take out, although few people, myself included, seemed to take them from the shelves. For those wanting to borrow comic books or board games, they just had to inform staff in charge that they were doing so.
By around 1 a.m. I had run out things to do, so I gave “Coffee Prince” a chance while standing some from the screening section.
The last episode of the drama was due to be over around 2:45 a.m., with the horror film “Salmokji: Whispering Water” then scheduled to start at 3 a.m. But before the on-screen drama ended, the real drama began: A drizzle started around 1:50 a.m., followed by a more insistent patter of raindrops. I feared a downpour.
By 2:20 a.m., my fear of being soaked had grown. Others people seemed to be on the same page, including those who had been sitting in the viewing section for hours.
People watch the Korean drama “Coffee Prince” (2007) at an all-night outdoor event while holding umbrellas at Mangwon Hangang Park in western Seoul on Aug. 15. PAIK JI-HWANMany of them started to shuffle out of the area. But despite the exodus, I was still quite surprised to see some participants choosing to stay and continue to watch the drama while holding umbrellas.
For those that did not have umbrellas, organizers gave away a limited number of ponchos. I was one of the fortunate folks to receive one, which allowed me to leave the park without looking like I just took a dip in the Han River.
And yet there were still people at the screening section who were unmoved, seemingly priding themselves on being able to hold out, hopefully to be the last ones left when the event wrapped up at 5 a.m. Umbrella-less and lethargic, I however would not be one of them.
Opportunities to spend the night outdoors in Seoul still await those wishing to do so, though not in the same all-nighter format I experienced. Free camping is available through Aug. 30 at Yeouido Hangang Park in western Seoul and at Ttukseom Hangang Park in eastern Seoul. Visitors can put up tents and pull their own all-nighters while enjoying snacks or swimming at nearby pools. Ttukseom Hangang Park also features live busking performances throughout the park.
Registration for these two events was first-come, first-served through a separate website and closed as of Thursday, but those who show up at the camping sites without registering can still be admitted if registered participants fail to show up.