I am currently living in Ontario, Canada, and I can see realtors' billboards anywhere--Aldridge and Sons, Barry and Carry, etc. Sometimes the billboards look dashing and the realtors look professional and trustworthy, but sometimes they are downright...ugly and the realtors look like charlatans with greedy smirks on their faces (as if saying, "Come on, my lambs, uncle will rob your sweet pockets for you (??)"). Well, at any rate, that is my impression of realtors based on billboards, commercials, and exterior of their agencies. (I've never actually consulted realtors :( )
But the realtors' places that I remember from my childhood in Seoul were rather different.
Of course there were big fancy offices in downtown. Near my home, however, were only a few small offices with a lot of shabby advertisements in the front and with a number of old men sitting idly on sofas and flats.
And I remember thinking, wow, what a boring job that would be.
I know, it is a kind of a stereotype based on a limited childhood experience. :P
But I thought that it would be fun if that image goes a bit further in my story.
(It is about eight people whose souls were suddenly switched... http://blog.naver.com/haejinsung)
(Photo from http://ysland.ysnet.kr/category/%EC%96%91%EC%82%B0%EB%B6%80%EB%8F%99%EC%82%B0%20%EA%B2%80%EC%83%89)
The town in my story would be on the boundaries of Seoul. It is by no means an impoverished part of the city, but it is a pretty much self-contained city where that time goes by slowly. Not much changes or happens in the town. And this real estate agency does not have much job to keep it busy.
Its owner, Mr. Park inherited this place from his father and grandfather who were also realtors. Thus the name of the agency is Park Real Estate Agency (Park Bok-deok-bang). Actually, bok-deok-bang is a rather ancient word. Nowadays hardly anyone uses it. But I thought that since the Parks have been doing it for three generations and they are very proud of it, well, what the heck.
Plus, Park Bok in Korean means "misfortune" or "ill-luck." What better name could there be for a house-finding agency? X)
The sketch of the sign.
It says "Park Real Estate Agency" "for 3 generations."
Well, in my story, it is a gathering place for middle-aged and old men who has not much to do.
They come here to spend their time idly. Or busily. Because they gamble here.
But they each have a history of blowing off their fortune--more or less--due to gambling, so they are prohibited from big-time gambling by their wives and families. :P
But how could they possibly stop? So they came up with an alternative.
They do very very very petty gambling. They bet 500 wons and 1000 wons (approximately 44 cents and 90 cents in CAD) on things like... what commercial would come after a TV show, or whether the next person who passes by the store is above 170cm.
Will the next ad be of Yun-A from Girls' Generation or Hyori Lee??!?! What a suspenseful gambling!!
(I just selected random advertisements from Google image..)
Yep, so one of my characters do this petty gambling here and gets an accident while joyfully leaving here with the money he earned. But he wants to come back again and again here. Even when his souls were switched and now he looks like a nerdy high school student.
A real estate agency could also be useful when it comes to finding a place or a owner that pertains to the plot. ;P
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