Instead of “once upon a time,” Korean folk and fairy tales often begin with 호랑이 담배 피우던 시절에. It means “back when tigers smoked (pipes)”

Being a perfectionist in your writing is the default setting for new writers. We all start that way. But when you’re building a house, you don’t paint it as you go. You lay a foundation, build a structure, put in the wiring & pipes, build the walls and lay the floors, THEN you can think about paint.