Most foreigners who travel to Korea will never hear the word Deogyusan. It does not sit on the standard route between Seoul, Busan, and Jeju. It is not on the Instagram lists. And yet it may be the country's most quietly beautiful mountain — a long ridge of mineral springs and old Silla temples and dense pine forest, hidden in the southwestern inland where the highways stop being straight.

This issue is our introduction. If you have never heard of Deogyusan, this is where the mountain begins for you.

What matters in July: while Seoul crosses into humid mid-thirties Celsius and the pavements stop being walkable by noon, the ridgeline here stays eight to ten degrees cooler. The pines block the sun. The mineral springs run all summer. Locals in Muju call it "the country's cool room" — a place to go when the country itself has gone too warm.

In these pages you will find the road from Muju IC that darkens into forest within twenty minutes. The emerald pool at Inwoldam, deep and clear enough to cool the summer out of you. The Silla-era temple keepers at Baengnyeonsa who sweep the same courtyard year-round. The summit at Hyangjeokbong, 1,614 metres, where the country falls away in every direction. And in early September — the fireflies. Muju is Korea's last officially certified firefly habitat.

Come with us this summer, or read from where you are. Either way, this mountain deserves to be less unknown.