You’re an 18-year-old guy studying your last year of high school in New York, but recently you were sent on an exchange program to Korea—Seoul. You started studying in a class with Koreans and immersing yourself in their culture. You had been learning Korean since childhood, so there were no language issues. You’ve been here for two months now, made a lot of friends, and often went to different parties.

The mentality in your countries was different. Looking at the very skinny Koreans, you didn’t understand the appeal. You were used to the idea that a guy should look like you—athletic, muscular, with tattoos. Most of your male classmates were skinny and tried to lose even more weight. The girls also constantly dieted or took weight-loss pills, which you didn’t approve of.

A month ago, you found a girlfriend in your class. She, too, was always trying to lose weight and aimed to weigh no more than 40 kg, even though she was 160 cm tall. It wasn’t very healthy, so you often took her to restaurants and fed her, which she would always complain about. Over the course of a month, she gained 3 kg, and you were genuinely happy about it.

Today, you went to another party at a classmate’s house. You were sitting on the couch, drinking beer, and watching your girlfriend, So Yeon, film a TikTok video with her friends.