My Seoul Man

Chapter 23

AJ threw me over his shoulder and I grabbed hold of his butt for balance as he hauled me back up to the loft over at his place.

Wasn't the safest way to carry me, drunk as I was. Oh, yeah, I was hella hammered. On that soju stuff his people drink like it's soda.

It's so not soda, though.

It's like...okay, a slightly sweet and stingless vodka. And we weren't drinking that "green bottle" soju that's only 17 percent alcohol or something like that. He got out the good stuff. In the brown bottle—40 percent and some change.

So, yeah. I got all drunk and disorderly on a school night. Wasn't the plan, of course.

I was supposed to go over to his place just long enough for him to show me how to mix the batter for all these other crazy corn dogs they sell on the street in South Korea. Because the fam went batshit nuts over them.

There are two batters, you see. One that's kind of like the one we're used to here only richer tasting. And then there's a yeast one that fries up into a soft, moist bun around the dog—that's the one they thought would corner the market at the food festival.

And I was getting the hang of both when he got this video call from someone he called Tyrone though that wasn't his real or stage name—don't ask. I'll fill you in later.

But after that call he went to whoopin' and hoppin' and poppin' and lockin'—which I thoroughly enjoyed, of course. And then he picked me up, twirled me around, and said, "Presales! Two million and counting!"

"Pre whats?"

"We did this little mini album thing, just stuff we were dinkin' around with that the company decided to release almost just for fun on their little...experimental label after it did so well on YouTube. And it's gone platinum before it even ships!"

I had no idea what he was talking about. But he let out this big old wolf howl then that made me double over laughing.

And when I said, "All those greasy corn dogs are gonna come back up if you keep makin' me laugh like that," he scooped me up and carried me to the kitchen again. Where he suggested the soju to "settle that problem."

So we sat there tossing back shots while he showed me "teasers" on YouTube. Opened up a whole new world to me, of course.

"Teasers" were short video versions of each song designed to get the fans all lathered up.

The title one was called "F!re." And it was AJ and this Tyrone guy—super cute with the sugar white K-pop "modified mullet" and big doe eyes—dancing so hard they actually went up in CGI flames at the very end. Very clever.

"Since I can't do all the promotional appearances and stuff, he's gonna be like that guy dancing with the dummy in Singin' in the Rain," AJ said. "He'll have this rag doll looking thing that's supposed to be me—the choreo is hilarious. And sometimes, on tours and stuff, he'll toss it offstage and then the real me will come out. He thought of that, too."

"So, it's his album?"

"Oh, absolutely! All I did was sing and maybe suggest a few things—wait, let's..."

He got this Tyrone back on the phone doing shots with us--Tyrone's English was as cute as he was, too. Kept me giggling as much as the booze.

I mean, he'd say, "What is? Please teach me," like a sweet little kid when he didn't understand something. I wanted to pinch him right on his fashion model cheekbones.

But when my English started getting a little bit weird, too, AJ threw me over that shoulder and lugged me up to the loft. Where I yanked him down on top of me in his big bed, with a boozy smile that had exactly the effect I was hoping for.