School Librarian in Action: Travel Log Day 2: The Tale of the Joseon Vessel

One of the stops in Day 2 of our ARMY Tour was a department store in Euljiro6-ga. Our tour guide, Jenny, brought us to Seoul’s 168. And yes, it reminded us of Divisoria, alright!

With a limited budget, my purchases were small and few. This was the part of the tour when converting won to peso became a math quiz and I had to put off buying more than what we needed or remember why we came to Seoul in the first place. But stores and marketplaces have their own kind of stories to tell. They speak of the city too, to its tourists and travelers. And this particular story is one that connected us to BTS; to its leader, Kim Namjoon, most especially.

I was quietly marveling at tea cups and ceramic bowls, ARMY daughter was just a few steps away, when one of my Tita ARMY friends pulled me aside. There, tucked in a quiet corner of a display shelf, stood the porcelain bottle or vessel that Kim Namjoon once used as his profile photo on Instagram back in December 2024.

We were stunned.

ARMY chingu and I stared at it with wide eyes: half in awe, half in disbelief. Was it the original? A reproduction? It was certainly a moment of temptation. Do we buy it or not? And standing there, weighing my options, I thought about the coming days and weeks and months; the responsibilities I am to face back in Manila.

In the end, we didn’t.

Maybe the vessel was not meant to be taken home, but simply noticed. Though a reproduction, to behold something Namjoon once beheld and leave it be was enough.

More than this, it was a full-circle moment. One that transported me back to something I wrote in December 8, 2024:

“The Joseon vase, it’s a bottle actually, as curated by the National Museum of Korea, is simple, elegant and astute. It is the rope design that makes the art piece compelling. While the porcelain stands like a Joseon nobility, the golden brown rope tethers it to the ground. It conveys being tied to something or to someone. A connection to one’s roots or heritage. An expression of loyalty. A bond. A devotion.”

At the time I wrote it, I was grieving; mourning a mother recently lost; a father slowly fading into forgetfulness. And in the same breath, I was also letting go of a role in a fan community I had once poured my heart and commitment into. Yet, there I was in a tourist’s trap, standing in front of a reproduction of a porcelain vessel that my bias favored, with my ARMY daughter and ARMY friend on either side of me. I suddenly felt the swirl of grace and the swell of gratitude envelop me all at once.

Days later, I would sketch and paint that vessel from a photo I took. And now, here I am, sharing this log, recalling that moment of serendipity and surprise with a fellow Namjoon-biased ARMY and pottery enthusiast. It was bittersweet. To stand before a similar object Namjoon quietly adored. For why else would he choose it as his profile picture if not to say something he couldn’t with words?

Vessels are not just containers of food, water, oil, wine, perfume, medicines and tonics. They hold the essential things that sustain life, stories, memories and hope.

My friend and I looked at each other, wordless for a moment before I said, “We have reason to go back.”

She smiled. “And we know where to look.”

As for ARMY daughter, I know she is proud of me for making the better choice.

Apobangpo! Purple and true!