Korea’s early modern pop culture was thus hybrid from the outset, incubated in the shadow of conflict and occupation. By flattening distribution, the platform allowed Korean pop to bypass traditional gatekeepers and reach audiences directly, and at scale. Yet the platform revolution did not remake Korean culture evenly; it exposed an asymmetry that had been hiding in plain sight. The television industry found itself down a different path. "Room Tone," the title of his column series, refers to the ambient sound of a space in which filming takes place.