This is a Busan Ex-Pat City Guide post. Check out the rest of my list here.
I get a lot of questions from people back home about life in Korea. The most common questions are usually “How are your kiddies?”, “Do you travel around the country much?”, and “Are you having trouble with the language?”. Another one, strangely, makes the cut, too: “Do you go to karaoke bars, like, all the time?”
The answer to that question as of a month ago, friends of the interwebz, is no. No, I do not, and it is shameful. A whole eight months had elapsed in Busan without belting out my favourite pop songs in a smelly, dank room with my friends. Luckily, I did know about the best karaoke room (or “noraebang”, as they are Koreans know them) in the city from Jess and Maddie. Why is it the best, you ask? Likely because its interior looks exactly like a spaceship. Yup, this is why I love Korea.
While we had hatched a plan to visit this noraebang before the girls left, it sadly never came to fruition due to time constraints. Thankfully, I have some amazing 3G (giving, good, and game) friends still kicking around Korea who love to sing and find my tone-deaf singing voice endearing.
Mary, Steph, Nina, Katie, and I visited the spaceship noraebang, called Energy Core, in early April. Energy Core was our first stop in KSU that evening, and the excitement was palpable. As we descended the stairs into the noraebang, we saw that Jess and Maddie were proven right. Energy Core had all the blinking lights, metallic gray walls, and leafy plants we could have ever wanted from a spaceship-themed karaoke place. We were very impressed with our service and our spacious room, with its sprawling red couch and polka-dotted pillows. There is truly nothing better than having expectations of dank smelliness and instead being treated like a space prince!
The song selection at Energy Core was absurd. I’ve heard tell that many noraebangs in Busan (and Korea generally) usually lack adequate songs for Westerners to sing, but this was not the case here. Energy Core’s songbook catered to American Top 40, K-Pop, J-Pop, and classic songs dating back to the 1970s (and perhaps beyond – I didn’t really study it that closely).
The five of us sang a variety of #relevant tunes including “Escape” by Enrique Iglesias, “Best Song Ever” by One Direction, “Red” and “22” by Taylor Swift, and “Timber” by Pitbull ft. Ke$ha. In addition, since we’re all living in Korea, we felt we would be totally remiss if a rendition of “Let It Go“, from the Frozen OSD, didn’t happen. The video recordings of these sing-a-longs will never see the light of day, I promise you that.
We closed out our hour at Energy Core with the rather nostalgic “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind (a total throwback to summer 2012). As the music stopped and the lights went up in our room, I couldn’t help but think how absolutely charmed life in Korea is these days.
Overall, Energy Core’s decor, songbook, and price are out of this world, so blast off into an hour or two of pure ecstasy with Energy Core today! (LOL space puns).
Directions
To get to the Energy Core Noraebang, take the Green Line on the Busan Subway (Line 2) to Kyungsung University/Pukyong National University Station (stop 212). Go out exit 5 and proceed straight. Once you reach the Outback Steakhouse, turn left and continue straight for two blocks. Turn right and the noraebang will be on your left. Take the stairs down to B2, and you’re at Energy Core! Entrance is ₩16,000 for one hour.
Millennial Abroad 
WHAT I WOULDNT DO TO NORAEBANG WITH YOU