My Travel blog

Monday, September 21, 2026

9/22/26 South Korea public school lunchee

9/22/26 lunchee today

The Great Peach Heist of 2026

The Great Peach Heist of 2026: A Tale of Betrayal, Cold Storage, and Sweet, Sticky Vengeance

Well, it finally happened.

I officially hit my quota for being swindled by the local ajummas.

On September 16th, last week, I boarded the bus downtown for Market Day—which rolls around every five days in my charming little town, just in case you want to schedule your own regular financial muggings. Things started out innocently enough. I bought some persimmons, felt like a functioning member of society, and then saw them: a glorious box of beautiful peaches. Only 15,000 won (less than $15 USD)! Wow! What a steal!

Turns out, it was literal theft.

Since a giant cardboard box isn't exactly the chicest accessory for a crowded bus ride, I politely asked the vendor to transfer my prize into a bag. I then spent the 30-minute ride home dreaming of juicy, perfect peach slices.

Imagine my absolute delight when I opened the bag at home to discover a masterclass in optical illusions. Every. Single. Peach. Every single one of them was completely liquefied, bruised, and rotting on the exact side that had been strategically hidden in the box. I’ve been bamboozled by the old ladies here before, but this was next-level sorcery. They didn't just give me bad fruit; they gave me a bag of compost. I tried to perform CPR on a few of them, but ended up throwing away more than half of each peach.

UNACCEPTABLE.

Naturally, I did what any rational, deeply petty person would do: I plotted my revenge.

I looked at the calendar. Five days later meant Monday the 21st—Market Day: Resurrection. I lovingly stored my bag of expensive mush in the fridge for five whole days, preserving the evidence like a forensic scientist. I even brought them to work today, setting a high-stakes phone alarm for 4:15 PM so I wouldn't leave my biological weapon in the teachers' lounge fridge.

Alarm goes off. Mission is a go.

I took the bus from school back downtown, marched up to the vendor’s stall like a soldier returning from war, and handed her the bag of premium sludge. I didn't yell. I didn't cause a scene. Instead, I deployed the ultimate weapon: Google Translate. I held up my screen to display a beautifully polite, devastatingly passive-aggressive message in Korean: "The fruit was rotten when I purchased it from you. This is not best business practice."

But wait, the plot thickens.

The vendor sitting right next to my scammer had loudly greeted me with a cheerful "HELLO!" when I first walked up. She watched the entire silent transaction go down, took one look at the bag of rotten goo, and then, even louder than before, belted out a massive, booming "GOOD BYE!"

Ha! Talk about getting caught in the act.

They all do it, they all know about it, and they all watch each other’s backs while ripping off unsuspecting people. It’s truly a shame that taking advantage of customers is just a standard team sport at most of these vendors on market days.

Fueled by that incredibly loud, sarcastic parting gift from the neighbor, I kept my head held high and marched right past the entire market area. I didn't even go to my regular bus stop—I walked extra far to the stop before that zone just to ensure I didn't have to look at or listen to any more of that mess.

Lesson learned: next time, I'm inspecting every single peach like a customs agent.