One day I’m going to go on vacation and actually pack the tech I need. But it is not this day. I was literally still in the Uber to the airport when I realized I didn’t have a webcam or a decent mic for the WAN Show, so I had two options: break a 5-year streak… or go on a side quest through Korea’s biggest tech mall. Welcome to Yongsan Electronics Market—allegedly 5,000 stores across 20+ buildings—and, without a local guide or even the language, it was immediately giving “ghost town” energy: lots of inventory, lots of staff, and weirdly not a lot of people. I bounced between buildings, dealt with the classic “no prices, you’re expected to haggle” situation, and found that while storage and secondhand parts were everywhere (scrapyard-borer heaven), peripherals were way harder. Eventually I shifted the plan: use my phone as the webcam, find a sturdy phone tripod, and grab a proper desktop mic and a light. After some not-fun negotiating and a couple of overpriced accessories, I walked out with a workable travel streaming kit for about $223, then immediately discovered the Linux challenge could’ve made the phone-webcam plan a disaster. In the end, I got audio, got video with surprisingly low latency, and learned that tech malls can still be awesome—just not always for the exact bougie creator gear you need at the last minute.