Bubble Boy

All parents think their children are cuter than average, and we are no exception. We are not so obtuse, however, as to think that everyone shares our subjective opinion.

But here in Gyeongju, he is truly a boy in a bubble.

Not this kind of boy in a bubble:

Seinfeld episode: The Bubble Boy

This kind of boy in a bubble:

30 Rock episode: The Bubble

Old ladies stop dead in their tracks when they see him on the street, stare openly for longer than is polite, and then mutter an amazed "yeppeuda 예쁘다 (adorable)!" Teenage girls stop and point. Middle-aged men roll down their car windows to wave at him in the hopes he'll requite with a "hi" (they are usually disappointed). The 5-year-old boy across the hall exclaimed to his mother that he is "so good-looking!" On one occasion the yogurt-delivery-woman went back into the restaurant she'd just emerged from to drag the owner out for a look. Everywhere he goes he is showered with free swag, including a 10,000-won bill (about US $10) a restaurant owner hurried out to stuff into his pocket as we were leaving.

Some of it could be the bunny-ear hat.

Some of it could be his natural good looks.

But our best guess is that there is something bewitching about his half-Caucasian, big-eyed, fair-skinned visage that just melts Korean hearts.