1. Buy it
Any 24-hour convenience store sells T-money cards: GS25, CU, 7-Eleven, Emart24, Ministop. Station ticket machines sell them too, with an English menu. The empty card is about 3,000–4,000 won, and that card price is not refundable, so one card per person for the trip.
2. Load it
Top up with cash at any convenience store (tell the cashier the amount) or at the station machines. As of 2026, Seoul Metro kiosks also take foreign credit cards. Minimum load is 1,000 won; load 10,000–20,000 won at a time so you are not refilling constantly. A single Seoul subway ride is roughly 1,400–1,550 won.
3. Tap and go
Tap in and out on the subway, tap on buses (and tap off too, or you overpay), and most taxis take it. It also pays at many convenience stores. The point on a concert night: you walk straight through the gate with the soaked, packed crowd instead of queuing at a ticket machine.
4. Refund the balance
At the end of the trip, take the card to any convenience store (including the ones at the airport before security) and say "refund, please." If the balance is under 50,000 won they hand back the remainder in cash, minus a 500 won fee. The card-purchase price stays spent.
When the Climate Card is cheaper
Seoul's Climate Card is an unlimited subway-and-bus pass inside the city, around 5,000 won for a day up to about 62,000 won for 30 days. If you are riding three or more times a day around Seoul, especially over a multi-show trip, it can beat pay-as-you-go T-money. The catch: it only covers travel inside Seoul, so it does not help for the Incheon venues (INSPIRE, Asiad) or Goyang (KINTEX), where you still want T-money or a separate ticket.
Concert-night tip
Load enough before you go in (10,000–20,000 won) so you can tap straight out after the encore. The crush at a venue station is the ticket machines and top-up lines, not the gates, so a loaded card is the fastest way through. For the exact route back from your show, open that concert's guide.