Itaewon Class

The host

Chapter IV: The Host

Yi-seo was exhausted. Everyone had been nagging her for overworking herself, but she had been in complete denial regarding the matter because she truly thought she was fine—until she wasn't. And that scared the hell out of her. She started getting nosebleeds more often, constantly felt like throwing up, so she began skipping more meals than she already was, sustaining on Red Bull and coffee, which was the worst existing combo. She'd get these horrible hot flashes and would lose vision for a few seconds, while the rest of the time she just felt colder than everybody else in the room. She skipped gym for the past weeks because she just hadn't the strength anymore for physical effort. When she was feeling the worst, she'd hide in her car or in the toilet to close her eyes and not give into any sort of panic when her body was fighting against her. That's what she was doing, sitting in the toilet of the TBTC studio where her boss was giving an interview. She promised she'd be here in time, and she was. She cleared her schedule and ran to the studio, but on her way to the fitting room they attributed to Ro-yi, she started to feel dizzy and ran to the first toilet she found. She was taking deep breaths, inhaling some peppermint which somehow worked wonders in these crises when she heard some girls talking outside about none other than her boss.

"He's really handsome. Isn't he?"

"He is. But have you heard what the stylist said? He's got these crazy scars on his body. The poor girl was so scared she turned livid. Was he a gangster or what?" Yi-seo felt her blood rushing through her veins.

"Well, he did go to jail... apparently he killed someone..." she added in a whisper.

"You see why someone's uprising is important, it's not all about the money... Your background, education...your parents...Trash will always be trash, I suppose."

Yi-seo slammed the door open as the girls jumped in their spots. She pondered on how she should act as she recognized the interviewer herself being the one slandering her boss, Jang-Hae-In, a pure product of nepotism whom Yi-seo wasn't a fan of when suggested by the channel but eventually got convinced when they showed her some correct references. Along with her was one of the content managers Yi-seo had already encountered during a meeting to prepare the interview. The latter turned green and started to stammer some incomprehensible words that Yi-seo quickly ordered her to cut with a simple gesture of her hand. She walked to the sink and opened cold water to wash her shivering hands. She wasn't sure if it was her health or the anger. A heavy silence was filling the bathroom. As she grabbed some tissues to dry her hand, she looked at the manager through the mirror.

"Find another host, or I'll get you fired."

Ro-yi was sitting nervously on the couch of the fitting room he was given after a rather clumsy stylist had brought him clothes while he was half-naked and a makeup artist had prepared his skin for the camera. He felt embarrassed, out of place, tense, and absolutely desperate to see her. He grabbed his phone and wondered if he should call again. She had just finished her meeting when he called the first time, and at the parking lot when he called for the second time. What was taking her so long? He looked at his screen while stroking his head when he heard someone tap on his door.

"Yes?"

"Hey..." she said weakly, entering the room as he stood immediately relieved.

"What took you so long? I started to get worried?" he asked.

"Sorry, something came up," she said with a small voice, walking towards the first chair she found.

"Are you okay?" he asked, noticing how pale she was. He tried to talk her out of work as Hyeon-yi asked him, but in vain.

"Yes," she replied evasively. "Wow, how is it possible to look even more handsome than usual?" He smiled half-heartedly at the compliment, sensing that she was drifting the subject. He cleared his throat.