on the sidelines (LOOKISM)

5: Gangseo

So this time she just followed her instinct.
She continued like this until she saw a sign with words written in a different font than what was used during her childhood. She quickly read the signs and started walking in circles, trying to find what she wanted.

After a bit, a small cafe that seemed to be newly opened caught her attention.
the cozy and bright atmosphere drew
in people like moths to light.
'I shouldn't waste time here, I need to find that place soon!'

In the end she couldn't resist since sweets were one of her weak points.
'I'll just go in, it's not because I want to try their sweets! I just want to ask for directions!'

She entered and the waitress immediately asked her to take a seat.
She smiled politely and nodded, sitting down at the table.
she ordered  a cup of a milky hot chocolate
and  a slice of cake and ate slowly while drinking it.
"It's yummy!" She exclaimed, blushing in embarrassment when she heard the waitress chuckle.
"I'm glad you like it, miss. Call me if you need anything else" She bowed and left Eunji to enjoy her dessert.

'I'm eating because I thought it'd be rude to come inside and ask what I needed then leave. I'm not doing this because the cake looked so delicious and..'
While Min Eunji was enjoying her food, she wasn't paying attention to the surrounding area.
If she recognised the nearby customers , she would have freaked out.

"Is this the place you keep mentioning, Jerry?"
A tall boy asked his companion.
"Yes, sir."
The big built boy answered, a smile on his face.
"You are right. It's a nice cafe."
They sat down and ordered what they wanted to eat, along with some packed extra  they wanted to take back home for their friends.

Min Eunji finished eating and paid,then she walked out of the cafe, forgetting the reason she first went inside. She checked the time.
'what!? 4:45 pm?! But I wasn't here for that long! Did I spend a lot of time wandering around before coming here?!'
She didn't have much time before her appointment, there was no way for her to find the address on her own.
She had to admit it. She was lost.

'Maybe.. I should have asked Mira to come with me..? No! I already decided to put distance between me and the people mentioned in that weird webtoon!'
She was thinking about any possible ways to find the place without being late, a troubled expression on her face.

The two boys from earlier left the cafe.
She heard them but didn't look at them , yet.
'I need to ask for help!'
She took her phone and turned it on showing the address she screenshotted from the chat last night, walking closer to them.
"Um! Excuse me..! Could you please show me the way to this..place…?"
The moment she saw them, she felt like they were familiar.

They looked at her and the boy called Jerry earlier, took a look at her phone.
"Jerry. Where is it?"
'Jerry? That's a familiar name..'
"it's in xxxxxx(address), sir"
"Ooh, it's near. Come with us, we'll guide you there."
"Thank you!" She bowed, happily tagging along with them.

While walking, one of the boys decided to break the silence,
"I'm Jake Kim and this is Jerry Kwon. What's your name?"
'What the?! Why did I have to run into them here?! Wait.. Gangseo is where  bigdeal is! I'm such a dumbass!'
She was crying mentally while she kept a forced smile on her face to hide her panic.
"I'm Mi- hiccup! " Before she could answer, she got hiccups from how nervous she was.
Her face became red from embarrassment.

"Are you alright?" Jake asked, motioning to Jerry something.
The latter left and came back shortly with a bottle of water handing it to Eunji who thanked him and drank it.

" Yes, thank you.. I'm just so nervous since I'm going for a job interview"
'Well, it's not actually a lie.'
Jake gave her a thumbs up with his popular smile.
"you'll do well!"
"Um, thanks "

Shortly after, they arrived at her destination.
She thanked them again and quickly left before they could ask for her name again.
'We're not going to meet again so there's no need for them to know my name. I wasn't included in the story. Not even as a side of background character. I.. don't belong with them.'
She sighed, knocking on the door.

A middle-aged woman opened the door.
"Are you the person who contacted me yesterday?"
"yes."
"Oh my! I didn't think it would be a young lady like you, hurry come in! You must have had a hard time coming here from Seoul!"

The two sat down in the living room, talking about the tutoring job.
"The person I want you to teach is my son. He is a second year middle schooler. He is.. how do I say this.. a little.."

The woman sighed, continuing her words.
"Slower than his peers. He needs to be homeschooled but he didn't want that. I…can't force him to leave his school after seeing he made friends and wasn't bullied anymore. The only solution I had was this but… no matter who we called to tutor him, they all left in the middle of the job saying they don't have enough patience for someone like that..that's why, please tutor him for at least a month! At least until his second term exams!"

Min Eunji didn't know how to respond.
The woman before her eyes was older, yet she was begging her to not leave the job she wanted to do before she even started it?
"Don't worry ma'am, I'll do my best."
She smiled brightly.

" I would like you to work for 4 days a week, from 5:30 pm to 10:30 pm. Is that alright with you..? Since you would come all the way here."
Eunji nodded, "Please do not worry, I will handle it."

" Alright. I will pay you *****(Reasonable amount of money) for one hour. And if my son gets better results than he usually gets with the other tutors, then I will raise it to *******(money). "
'She's pretty generous huh? To encourage me, she would raise the pay if I do well. Instead of cutting it if I don't do well."
"deal."

The woman beamed.
"perfect! Then my son will be in your care, miss Min Eunji."
Eunji smiled, nodding.

The woman called someone over, who seemed to be the son.
He didn't look like a middle schooler.
He was well built and a lot taller than Eunji.
His face was handsome and looked mature.

She had to lift her head to stare at his face.
"Nice to meet you, I'm.." he said, smiling shyly and fidgeting with his fingers.
(I decided to not name them since they won't have important roles in the story.)
'unlike how he looks, he behaves like a good child.'
"Nice to meet you too, let's work hard together!"
Eunji  smiled, finally securing her part time job.