We quit our jobs to travel the world. Now my wife and I run her family's farm in South Korea.

Kang "Kay" Soo-il and Lily quit their jobs to travel; now they run her family's farm in South Korea.

Provided by Kang "Kay" Soo-il Eight years ago, Kang "Kay" Soo-il left his job at Samsung after feeling burned out.

He reconnected with Lily, a childhood friend; they married and spent two years traveling the world.

Now they run her family farm in rural South Korea — but his advice to corporate-job quitters: "Don't do it!" This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kang "Kay" Soo-il, a 39-year-old South Korean national who quit his job and traveled, before returning home to run a farm.

It has been edited for length and clarity.

Eight years ago, at 31, I was living in a Korean city south of Seoul, and working as a software developer and designer for Samsung Electronics.

Burned out, I texted my friends, "I'm quitting my job to travel the world!" Lily, then my childhood friend, who's now my wife, replied: "I'm also quitting my job." At the time, she was working as a flight attendant.

The timing was a complete coincidence.

We'd known each other since middle school, and got back in touch.

We both grew up in Yesan, a rural town that's about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Seoul .

She grew up on her family's farm where they grew deodeok, or bonnet bellflower.

It's a mountain root vegetable commonly used in Korean cooking.

I lived a 10-minute walk away.

We started dating in January and were married by May.