jayuseogeseo upyeonmureul ilggo jeonhwa buseuro gasseoyo.

자유석 means an unreserved seat or unreserved seating section. You often see it in places like trains, buses, or performance venues, where some seats are assigned and others are open to anyone.

So here, 자유석에서 means something like in the unreserved seating area.

Because 에서 marks the place where an action happens.

In this sentence, the action 읽고 (read) happened in the unreserved seating area, so 자유석에서 is natural.

A quick comparison:

• 에 = location of existence or destination
• 에서 = location where an action takes place

So:

• 자유석에 would not sound right for reading
• 자유석에서 우편물을 읽고 = read the mail in the unreserved seating area

우편물 means mail, post, or postal item(s). It is a bit more formal or official-sounding than some other words.

For example:

• 편지 = letter
• 우편물 = mail/postal items in general
• 메일 = email, or sometimes mail in modern casual usage depending on context

So 우편물을 읽고 literally means read the mail or read the postal item(s). In very casual everyday speech, a speaker might use a more specific word like 편지 if they mean a letter.

The -을/를 particle marks the direct object of the verb.

Here, the thing being read is 우편물, so it takes the object marker:

• 우편물 + 을 = 우편물을

Since 우편물 ends in a consonant, you use -을 rather than -를.

In casual speech, Korean speakers often omit object particles if the meaning is already clear, but including -을 is perfectly normal and correct.

읽고 is the verb 읽다 (to read) plus the connective ending -고.

This form links one verb to another and usually means:

• and
• and then

So:

• 우편물을 읽고 전화 부스로 갔어요 = [I] read the mail and went to the phone booth

It connects the two actions into one sentence.

Not always strictly, but very often that is how it is understood.

In this sentence, the natural reading is:

1. read the mail
2. went to the phone booth

So -고 is functioning like and then.

If a speaker wanted to make the order extra explicit, they could say something like:

• 우편물을 읽은 후에 전화 부스로 갔어요
  = After reading the mail, [I] went to the phone booth

But in your sentence, -고 already sounds natural.

Both 에 가다 and (으)로 가다 can be used with movement, but they have slightly different flavors.

• 에 가다 = go to a place, neutral destination marking
• (으)로 가다 = go toward/to, often with a sense of direction or movement

So:

• 전화 부스에 갔어요 = went to the phone booth
• 전화 부스로 갔어요 = went toward/to the phone booth

In many contexts, both are acceptable. Here, 부스로 갔어요 sounds like moving over to that place.

The standard spacing is 전화 부스, as two words.

So this sentence is correctly spaced:

• 전화 부스로 갔어요

In informal writing, you may sometimes see 전화부스, but the standard written form is 전화 부스.

It is omitted.

Korean very often leaves out the subject when it is already understood from context. So the sentence could mean:

• I read the mail and went to the phone booth
• he/she read the mail and went to the phone booth

depending on the situation.

If you wanted to include the subject, you could say:

• 저는 자유석에서 우편물을 읽고 전화 부스로 갔어요.
• 그는 자유석에서 우편물을 읽고 전화 부스로 갔어요.

But leaving it out is completely normal.

In Korean verb chains with -고, tense and politeness are usually shown on the final verb.

So even though 읽고 does not visibly show past tense, the whole sentence is understood as past because the last verb is 갔어요:

• 갔어요 = went (past polite)

That makes the whole sentence mean:

• read the mail and went to the phone booth

This is very normal Korean sentence structure.

It mainly applies to the first action: reading.

So the sentence is understood as:

• in the unreserved seating area, [someone] read the mail
• then [they] went to the phone booth

Because the second action has its own destination phrase, 전화 부스로, listeners naturally understand that 자유석에서 belongs to the reading part, not to the going part.

It is pronounced roughly like 익꼬.

That is because 읽다 has a tricky pronunciation pattern. In connected speech:

• 읽다 sounds like 익따
• 읽고 sounds like 익꼬

So although it is written 읽고, the pronunciation changes because of Korean sound rules. This is very common and worth getting used to early.