If you watch K-dramas long enough, you will eventually run into this scene. Two people should break up. They have fought, hurt each other, and both of them know the relationship is probably over. But when the moment comes, one of them still cannot leave. Then you hear the line: “I can’t leave because of jeong.” The subtitle might say “bond,” “attachment,” or “old feelings.” None of those translations are completely wrong. But they still feel a little too neat. Because jeong (정, roughly “juhng”) is not just love. It is not just friendship. It is not just loyalty, duty, or nostalgia either. Jeong is one of those Korean words that becomes harder to explain the more you try. Even Koreans sometimes pause and say, “It’s just... jeong.” So today, let’s talk about that “just jeong” — the quiet emotional bond that can grow between people, places, memories, and even old things you probably should throw away but somehow never can. Jeong often begins in ordinary time: the meals, pauses, and small ...