Constructed between 1967 and 1972, the Seun Arcade complex is a mixed-use megastructure in the heart of Seoul’s downtown Jongno district. Designed by a young Kim Swoo-geun, one of Korea’s greatest modern architects, it was an ambitious project that attempted - at least at the planning stage - to incorporate many of the innovative ideas of the era, such as Le Corbusier’s Unité d'habitation, the Team X movement and the Smithsons’ “streets in the sky.”
Sadly, many aspects of the original blueprint were disregarded during construction. Nevertheless, the mammoth complex was talk of the town when it was completed. Its residential spaces, quite modern for their time, attracted entertainers and other famous individuals. As a commercial space, its golden age was the late 1980s, when it was the center of Korea’s burgeoning electronics, PC and software trade. Prior to 1987, when Korea adopted stricter copyright laws, it was also home to many software pirates. The joke at the time was that Seun Arcade merchants could build even submarines or missiles when they got together.
In 1987, however, many of the arcade’s electronics merchants left for the newly created Yongsan Electronics Market. The development of the Gangnam district, the restoration of the Cheonggyecheon Stream and other factors further eroded the vitality of the market. By the early 2000s, the increasingly dilapidated complex was widely regarded as, at best, an eyesore, and at worst, an ugly symbol of the rash, dehumanizing overdevelopment pushed by Korea’s past military dictators.
In 2006, Seoul announced plans to demolish the complex and replace it with a park. Part of the arcade was torn down, but in 2014, the city changed its mind and decided to preserve and renovate what remained. Seoul is now pushing a revitalization project that sounds interesting but is already causing concerns over gentrification.
Anyway, Seun Arcade is a fun place to walk around, combining as it does hi-tech, retro-futuristic Brutalism and urban grit. It’s still home to many electronics shops, computer supply stores and repair shops (most of which are closed at night, FYI). It is also home to many lighting shops. I noticed a few young artists and designers have moved in, too. Lots of vintage electronics around, including arcade games. Surrounding the complex is a maze of claustrophobic alleyways … which I always enjoy, of course.
Your honor! Please direct your attention towards the manga.
As you can see there are small pieces of paper sticking out of every volume.
But no such paper is sticking out of the Batman comic.
The reason? The Batman book doesn’t belong to the library. The photographer put it there to take a picture.
Once again making hasty assumptions, Wright?
First of all, I’d like to direct the court’s attention to this particular spot, in the top right-hand corner.
Notice how the words are blocking the top of the Batman book.
With this in mind, how can you claim that there is “no such paper sticking out of the Batman comic”?!
Say whaaaat?
Well uhm
Look at the size of the paper pieces, they’re all sticking pretty far out.
If there was paper in the batman comic, it would be big enough to stick up over the text.
And while gravity does exist, it probably won’t make the paper do a 90 degree turn and just lean horisontally left at the middle.
Still grasping for straws, Wright?
Hypothetically, if there were a paper there, this picture would not be able to prove its presence. I’ve taken the liberty of drawing a diagram to illustrate my point. We are faced with three possibilities. It is possible that (1) the paper was simply tucked in deeper than the others.
Paper is a soft material, Wright. It’s not unreasonable for it to do a (2) 90 degree turn.
Or perhaps, (3) a paper does not exist there at all.
Either way, you cannot prove your client innocent without sufficient evidence.
Which, of course, is impossible thanks to the obtrusive words.
I’m sorry Edgeworth.
I concede that I can’t disprove theory 1
But the image you submited for theory 2 is contradictory.
Look at the tilt of the other papers. They clearly prove how much the paper would tilt.
And theory 3 is my point! Why would the library’s book not have this piece of paper when the other library books do?
While you still have thory 1, there is another contradiction.
The books are not in alphabetical order, this proves that the batman comic was placed there specifically for the picture!
Ack.
(Perhaps I should’ve left the artistry to the forensic artist…)
Now hold it right there! It doesn’t matter which direction the paper is going because it’s impossible to prove it even exists!
Those theories are all the same! We do not have enough information to prove them. There could be an infinite amount of papers in there for all we know. I simply presented them only so that the court could better understand your baseless conjecture!
… I suppose the order of the books do seem out of the ordinary. However, therein lies not just one possibility. Clearly, those are Japanese graphic novels, also known as “manga”. And the Batman comic book is a graphic novel, too, no?
Seeing as it currently has only graphic novels in the shelf, it is possible that any other novels have simply not yet been restocked. Asserting whether or not this effect was deliberate is useless– there is no way of knowing if the photographer and the captioner are the same person, let alone their involvement in this picture.
Face it Wright, you can’t prove any of these groundless accusations!
