From left, Yuju Lee and Bo Gyeong Bak

Q. Hi, Roommate Campers! Could you introduce the roommate sitting next to you instead of yourself?

Yuju My roommate Bo Gyeong comes across as warm and easygoing with pretty much everyone. She's got this charming eye-smile, and people of all ages just naturally take to her, no exceptions. Her bright personality makes her comfortable to be around, and she's got this warmth where she really listens when you talk.

She's also disciplined, steadily working toward her own dreams, always staying in motion, always pulling her own weight. She quietly gets things done while still pushing herself to grow, and watching her take on new challenges is something that always pushes me too, makes me want to learn from her.

She loves clothes and has real range with them too, she can pull off anything from a cool, sleek look to the most vivid colors and make it her own. I think that's exactly what makes Bo Gyeong so striking.

Mangrove Dongdaemun, Bunk Room

Bo Gyeong Yuju is so online that she's always on top of the latest memes, the latest of the latest. Birds of a feather, I guess, because we end up talking entirely in memes too. We can be laughing about complete nonsense one minute, and the next we're deep into a real conversation about life, searching for answers together. She loves art and looks for answers in books, and I end up learning a lot just from being near her.

She loves every animal except humans, basically. She once went all the way to the DMZ just to go birdwatching. She can name pretty much any bird you'd see along a riverbank, off the top of her head.

She's also incredibly tidy. Whenever I'm invited over to her place, it's not just organized, there's not a speck of dust or a single stain anywhere. Same goes for how she keeps herself. Yuju's nails are always trimmed to exactly the right length. She must not give them a single chance to grow out.

Q. That introduction was so full of affection, honestly kind of touching. We're curious about the moment you two first became friends.

Yuju I think we first met sophomore year of high school. Right from the start, her bright energy and kindness stood out, and she had this charisma that contrasted with her sweet, innocent face. We didn't actually get close until after we both got into the same university. While we were still both just students inside the same routine, I didn't notice it, but once we had more freedom, it turned out our tastes overlapped a lot. Going to exhibitions, loving clothes, getting coffee or drinks in places with good atmosphere, reading books together, we just naturally ended up sticking close.

It wasn't really one specific moment, more like time just built up until, somehow, it became a friendship over ten years deep. I think what's kept it going this long is that we each look out for the other, just in our own way.

©Bo Gyeong Bak & Yuju Lee

Bo Gyeong During the class officer election sophomore year, there was one person who ran for vice president instead of president. That was Yuju. She got the spot. I was the type who just sat quietly, while Yuju was always moving around the classroom, talking to everyone. One day, she ended up as my assigned seatmate, and from there she became my seatmate for life.

We didn't really eat lunch together or walk to classes together. It was more sitting next to each other in the classroom, joking around, passing each other little notes of encouragement, and studying together at cafés on weekends, that's how we grew close.

Mangrove Dongdaemun, B1F Library

Q. Before joining Mangrove Roommate Camp, what kind of home was each of you living in?

Bo Gyeong I live in a 5-pyeong (about 16㎡) square studio. The whole layout, bed, clothing rack, bookshelf, fridge, is visible at a single glance. Between the small space and my own need to know exactly where everything is, I've naturally ended up living pretty minimally. If I don't have something, I just make do with what I've got.

To me, home means something like stability. If I had to spell that out, I'd say it's a space that gets warm sunlight, has its areas clearly divided, and lets me keep my life in order.

Yuju lives with two lizards. She moved into a new place last year, and I helped her with the move-in cleaning. Open the front door and you see a cozy kitchen-living room combo. To the right of the entrance is the bedroom she shares with the lizards, and past the living room there's a dressing room. Yuju seems like the type who, if something would be convenient to have, just gets it. There are some cute little decorated corners too.

Yuju Lee's lizards, from left, Guru and Jeomgu. ©Yuju Lee

Yuju Bo Gyeong lives in a small studio with her younger sibling. True to her personality, it used to be kept impeccably tidy, but ever since her sibling moved in, the studio's just too small not to get a bit cluttered. The place doesn't get much sunlight either, so I was hoping this camp could be a little breather for her.

I currently live in a two-room place out in Gyeonggi-do, in a converted multi-unit villa built out of an old house. I used to live in a studio, and honestly, regardless of size or quality, I'm the type who just loves wherever I happen to be living, so that life was plenty satisfying at the time. But moving to this place really changed my thinking. I felt firsthand just how much more breathing room a bigger space actually gives you. I use the smaller room as a dressing room and the main room as the bedroom. There's no living room, but the kitchen is generous, which works out great for me since I cook often.

It gets plenty of sunlight, but there's a building right in front, so privacy means I can't really open the windows freely, that's basically my only complaint. So the wide-open city view at Mangrove Dongdaemun was the thing I was most looking forward to.

Mangrove Dongdaemun, Rooftop Terrace

Q. Was there a space you especially liked while staying here during the camp?

Bo Gyeong The 15F canteen was my favorite. The view through the windows was really something. Cooking in a space that open just makes you want to cook more. Maybe that's why everything I made actually tasted good too, even if it might not have quite been good enough to share with anyone else. (laughs)

Yuju Mine was the 1F café lounge. The chairs are so soft, and the whole vibe is relaxed. You get to watch international travelers and people just passing through Seoul bustling about, and somehow that fills the space with this bright, happy energy. Traveling's just a good feeling by nature, isn't it? The Greek yogurt from the Sorry Not Sorry café on the first floor was also great.

Mangrove Dongdaemun, 1F Café Lounge. ©Bo Gyeong Bak & Yuju Lee

To me, home is the place where I don't have to put on the same act I do outside, pretending I'm doing fine, pretending I have it together. I want it to be comfortable, not over the top, somewhere I could stay forever without it ever feeling like a burden.

he Mangrove Dongdaemun experience map for Roommate Campers

Q. We included an experience map in the welcome kit so campers could explore the neighborhood in more colorful ways during Mangrove Roommate Camp. Was there a mission that stuck with you?

Bo Gyeong Actually, just yesterday for lunch we had Pyongyang-style cold noodles at Pyongyang Myeonok, right in front of Mangrove Dongdaemun. After that we went and checked out DDP. It was freezing yesterday, by the way. (laughs) We went with this "fight cold with cold" concept and took on the challenge of eating cold noodles and going for an outdoor walk in the freezing weather.

Q. Last question. What does home mean to each of you, or what would you want it to be?

Bo Gyeong To me, home means something like stability. If I had to spell that out, I'd say it's a space that gets warm sunlight, has its areas clearly divided, and lets me keep my life in order. Right now, my home is basically a place to sleep and a storage unit. Between earning a living in Seoul and keeping up the training to become an actor, I have to be out of the house pretty much all day. I want to find my footing in the work I actually want to do before being out of the house all the time wears me down. Once that happens, I'd love to be able to rest comfortably at home, not just sleep there, both financially and mentally.

I'm not totally sure what home means to Yuju. But when I see her inviting friends over to share homemade plum wine or cook up clam noodles, or when I see her grocery shopping after work and making kimchi stew just for herself, eating well even alone, I get a vague sense of it. I think it's the space where Yuju takes good care of herself and feeds herself well. Alongside her pet lizards!

Mangrove Dongdaemun, Bunk Room. ©Bo Gyeong Bak & Yuju Lee

Yuju Personally, I'm not really into a home that's too perfectly staged, built just to be shown off. I don't want a place that only looks good in photos, I want it to be closer to my actual life and my actual mind than to anyone else's gaze. So even when I'm spending money on interior stuff, I always stop and ask myself: is this really a choice for me, or is it just for show?

To borrow something Chef Choi Kang-rok, the recent Culinary Class Wars season 2 winner, said, home for me is a place where I don't have to put on the same act I do outside, pretending I'm doing fine, pretending I have it together. It's somewhere I can stay comfortably even showing exactly who I am, no performance required. I tend to feel like the state of my home mirrors the state of my mind, so I push myself to keep it tidy even when I don't feel like it. The more dishes pile up and the messier the space gets, the more my mind tends to scatter right along with it. So the home I want isn't a perfectly decorated space, it's somewhere that can hold my body and mind honestly. Comfortable, not over the top, somewhere I could stay forever without it ever feeling like a burden.

Q. So, did Mangrove Dongdaemun feel like home to you?

Bo Gyeong I think it lines up with what I picture as a stable space. The building's interior is comfortable and clean, and my own room only needed a little tidying to look really sharp. I think I had a genuinely comfortable time here, in my own way.

Yuju Comparing my time living alone to my time here at Mangrove, I think my YouTube watching dropped by about 20 percent. Having someone to talk to and spend time with when I get home meant I could actually share my real, unfiltered self and my own stories with another person, which felt really good.

Mangrove Dongdaemun, Bunk Room. ©Yuju Lee & Bo Gyeong Bak