These days, a Korean girl's post has been going viral on social media. The gist is: this is the best summer since she became an adult—she found a job, threw all her salary into the stock market, bet on the currently most crowded sector, and her account multiplied. Air tickets are discounted everywhere, and saving a week's salary is enough to fly to an island. In the streets of Seoul, people stopped to hug and cheer. "It feels like living in a golden age." Most people who saw it felt FOMO, but I sneered. I'm well-versed in "Dream of the Red Chamber" and know the story of the Jia family's home visit. Imperial Consort Yuan's visit, paved with gold and silver, like adding fuel to the fire and brocade to flowers. But the shift from peak prosperity to extreme decline often happens in an instant. Present-day South Korea...