"I'll Give You 100,000 Won If You Call Out My Husband's Mistress"... Unusual Job Posts Go Viral Amid Backlash for 'Crossing the Line'

Portrait of Single-Person Households, the Era of Unusual Recruitment on Danggeun
A Society Where Deepening Individualization Turns Even Help into Transactions

Recently, a series of unusual listings posted on Danggeun's recruitment and job-search service "Danggeun Alba" have been attracting attention, revealing both a facet of a personalized society and safety issues. These posts go beyond simple odd jobs and show that even the "private sphere" is becoming an object of transaction.

On February 23 in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, a post titled "Looking for someone to wake me up every morning" appeared on the Danggeun Alba board. Identifying himself as an adult office worker, the poster wrote, "I am late every day," and requested, "I will give you my home door-lock password, so please come in and wake me up, whether by hitting me or splashing water on me."

The pay was 10,000 won per day, or about 220,000 won per month. The listing was registered under the "school pick-up and drop-off helper" category, and the care recipient was set as "boy/elementary school student or older," which many found amusing. The post quickly spread on social media. Comments such as "Isn't this the perfect part-time job?" and "Good enough to do it as exercise" poured in, but there were also many concerns like "It's dangerous to give a stranger your home password" and "It could be exploited for crime."

Foreign car required, calling out an adulterous woman... The ugly side of 'boundary-crossing' odd jobs

Recently, unusual listings posted on Danggeun’s job recruitment service "Danggeun Alba" on the community-based secondhand marketplace have repeatedly become a hot topic, exposing both facets of a personalized society and safety concerns. The photo is an AI-generated image to aid understanding of the article.

Beyond this earlier listing, another recruitment post also stirred controversy. In particular, this listing was a child pick-up part-time job that explicitly stated that only "foreign car owners" could apply. The conditions were two trips a day, less than 20 minutes per trip, with 10,000 won paid per trip. Some criticized the fact that ownership of a specific type of car was set as a condition, arguing that it encouraged class-based discrimination. Others questioned its realism, saying, "Would a foreign car owner really apply for that amount?" and "At 10,000 won for a 20-minute drive, it's less than a taxi fare." Some also pointed out that the very perception of using a foreign car as an indicator of trustworthiness is problematic.

Furthermore, last year a listing appeared seeking someone to call down a female secretary, who had had an affair with the poster's husband, to the first floor of her office building, which also sparked controversy. The job offered a daily wage of 100,000 won and even specified a condition of "woman in her 30s." Among online users, reactions like "I'd do it even just for travel expenses" coexisted with concerns that "There is a risk of trespassing and defamation." In fact, in a 2017 case where someone went to the workplace of a spouse's affair partner and caused a disturbance, a damages judgment was issued. Experts point out that outsourcing private retaliation in the form of a part-time job can lead to legal liability.

Recently, unusual listings posted on Danggeun's region-based secondhand marketplace job service Danggeun Alba have repeatedly attracted attention, revealing both facets of a personalized society and safety concerns.

An era of 8 million single-person households... A society that solves even 'help' through transactions

Not all of these cases only generate controversy, however. During last year's Christmas season, a "one-day Santa" part-time job recorded a competition ratio of 217 to 1. Neighbors selected as Santas visited children's homes to deliver gifts and received an activity fee of 30,000 won per household. About 20,000 people applied, and more than 28,000 households signed up, showing an enthusiastic response. Stories such as "We thought Santa never came to our house because we live too far away" and parents saying, "We want to preserve our child's sense of wonder" are cited as examples that demonstrate the positive functions of a local community.

In addition, there have been posts offering 30,000 won to "catch a cockroach that appeared in the bedroom," listings recruiting someone to pluck gray hairs at an hourly rate of 20,000 won, "line-standing" part-time jobs to wait in line at popular restaurants, dishwashing jobs, and so on, all showing a stream of recruitment posts that outsource the resolution of trivial everyday problems to others. This phenomenon is intertwined with the increase in single-person households. Statistics show that the number of single-person households in Korea has exceeded 8 million. In other words, one out of every three households is a "single-person household."

In a situation where people have few acquaintances they can ask for help, the platform functions as an "immediate problem-solving outlet." Sociologists interpret this phenomenon in connection with the deepening of individualization. They analyze that as the number of acquaintances one can ask for favors decreases, the practice of purchasing help on the market is spreading. The platform quickly connects this demand. The issues are safety, legal liability, and ethical standards. Danggeun emphasizes its original purpose of connecting local labor. At the same time, some criticize that the platform is being excessively used as a channel for resolving private matters.