Hello.
Why pay for the deposit? Why do you need to stay in Seoul? I have a bad remember about deposit when I was young. When getting the deposit back from the host, the host always deducted lots of money from the deposit under one reason or another returned small money, but there were many unreasonable deductions, and the feeling of losing money always made me bad feeling.
Foreigners only know Seoul, and tend to stick to Hongdae, Myeongdong, Itaewon and Gangam. What do you learn and gain from Seoul? Wherever you stay, there will be pros and cons. I heard they pay exorbitant money but the living environment is often poor with narrow, smelling, dirty, etc., Even though stay in Seoul, often you need to change public tsansit two or more times.
Turn your eyes to the outskirts where convenient transportation. You can find a spacious, clean and affordable living space. Take an hour or two by public transit to Seoul and back, see the faces of so many people, imagine, and meditate too. It will be very fun as well.
