The Korean Mystery Beverage Machine
It’s a whole new world, folks.
I don’t have any real explanation for the machine — what it is, who put it there, or why.
I can at least guess about that last one at least. There is a pretty good chance that this device is a scam. The stolen IP that covers all sides (because it’s unlikely that Disney signed off on this) already suggests that something is a little hinky.
But never mind that — what are we actually look at here? This is a ramshackle vending machine that purports to dispense a mystery beverage for at little at 500 won (about $0.40). As is so often the case with come-ons such as this, the machine is presented with the pretense of charity as demonstrated by the picture of the waif just above the coin slot.
Let’s spoil the ending right now: The machine didn’t work. I put a coin into the slot and it didn’t even drop, let alone dispense an anonymous beverage that I probably wouldn’t have dared to consume. Does that mean that the machine is a scam? Not necessarily — it’s obviously old and beaten to hell and maybe it just doesn’t work anymore. But again, it is decidedly dodgy.
This is a weird machine, no question, but it really doesn’t seem like it belongs here. Had I found this in China (especially in some of the low-development outlying areas), it would make a certain amount of sense to me. The stolen IP, the jury-rigged design — it all feels like the PRC. It doesn’t seem as tight a fit in the government district of a high-development city. It just doesn’t belong there.
So I have to admit that there’s a lot I don’t understand about this machine. It might exist in a cultural context I haven’t mastered yet, but it could also just be an oddity found in a low-traffic side street. Walk down enough streets in any large city and you’ll see something bracing. That’s often just a consequence of having so many people around — more people means more ideas and thus more strange ideas.
…It it really weird though, right? I mean, just look at it.
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