Recap:
A sudden "WHAAAAAAAAAAT" burst out of my mouth breaking the silence.
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"Yeah! I know how it's always been such a big dream of yours to sing but couldn't do it because your parents wanted you to be a doctor. You can't be shy forever! It's time for you to show the world your beautiful voice!" She said with the biggest smile on her face.
"AHHHHHHH"
"AHHHHH"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH"
We both screamed for a while out of excitement. Once we had calmed down, happy tears streamed down my cheeks at the thought of what a great friend I had. But then I realized that I had barely paid off my student loans and had about $23.78 in my bank account.
"There's no way I can afford going to Korea, dude" I told her as my happiness turned to disappointment.
"No worries pal! They said they would pay for the whole trip!" I got filled with excitement again and we screamed for another few minutes.
~(2 weeks later)~
OH. MEH. GOSH. I can't believe this is actually happening... An entertainment company actually wants me?? OHHHH MYY
I had heard of BTS before, they were the big Kpop group that was breaking all sorts of records left and right but because of school, I never got the chance to listen to their music or understand the craze about them.
I decided that if they were goin to be my coworkers, I should probably listen to their music. I open YouTube and searched "BTS". Their newest song popped up. They released it about a week ago and yet it has over 250 million views already. Woah... it can't be that good..
I click the video and listen to the song. IT. WAS. AMAZING. I understand now.. they can sing and rap and dance and everything so well... they were a bit older now but they still sing, dance and rap so well..
I need to watch more... I clicked the music video that popped up next but before it could play, my phone started ringing. It was my mom... why is she calling right now of all times? I answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"MoonByul? Where are you? I came to visit you at home but you aren't here."
"Uh.. well I'm actually going on a trip for work right now mom." I lied through my teeth. I couldn't tell her that I went across the entire planet just to sing.
"Ahhh I see! My daughter is so busy! I'll just leave the food in your fridge! Have fun baby!"
"Bye Mom."
I sighed and ended the call. I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes.
Oh wait! I was watching BTS videos! When I opened the video, my phone suddenly died.
"Shoot!" I said out loud. Everyone sitting on my aisle looked over.
"Hehe sorry!" I said, scratching my head and half bowing. Well, this was for the better anyway... I spent the next 6 hours on my laptop doing my work while charging my phone... I'm surprised I even did work for that long.
I laid back in my seat and took a nap for the rest of the ride. Eventually, after almost 20 hours, I got to Korea!
WOOHOO!! WOOHOO! Woohoo! Woohoo...? A sudden shock and fear took over me. What am I doing here? There's no way I can just show up to a new country and expect everything to go well...
NO!!... I can't chicken out now... I've come too far... I grab my luggage and step outside the airport.
It was breezy. For a summer day, this weather felt pretty good. I closed my eyes and smelled the air. It was salty yet almost sweet. The humidity had made me sweat already. A little off the exit of the airport I saw a chubby man with big sunglasses and a sign that read " SHIN MOON BYUL" in Korean.
My name was one of the only things I knew how to read in Korean, the rest was a bit too hard. I speed walked to the man with my luggage and introduced myself as best I could.
On the ride there, he was talking to me in Korean. I understood words here and there.. "children... taxi... crabs?..." I just nodded and said "Yes, Yes" since I couldn't understand enough to understand what he was saying. The whole ride I charged my phone in the taxi and downloaded a speech translating app.
I finally arrived at BigHit after a loooong car ride. I grabbed my luggage and walked to the front desk. Sitting there was a quiet middle aged lady who had smiling eyes and looked pretty slim for her age.
"Do... do you speak English?" I said, worried I wouldn't be able to understand her.
"Yes miss, I do!" I smiled out of relief.
"What can I do for you?"
"Umm.. My name is Shin Moon Byul and I guess I'm here to be a singer...?"
"Ah! I see.. Give me one second. Let me call the CEO."
She picked up the phone and spoke in Korean again.
"Okay, Miss Shin, follow me!"
I followed her as she took me to an office on the 7th floor. Inside a big room with tinted glass doors was an old man. He was big and chubby. His presence filled the room with an intimidating yet chill atmosphere.
"Hello..." I said. "Hello! You must be Miss Moon Byul!" He replied in English.
"Oh! You know English!" I said shocked. "Yup! Welcome to Korea! How was your flight?"
The conversation eventually led to him requesting someone to take me to the dorm I would stay in. I haven't been in a dorm since... since college! This should be fun.
In the dorm there were 3 sets of bunk beds. 2 of the beds were taken so I chose a random one to put my stuff on. "Hello girls" I said.
They just looked at me and didn't reply. I could clearly tell that they didn't like me. But did they need to make it that obvious..?
"Okay.." I said as I awkwardly turned around and high-fived myself.
I tried to sleep but was STARVING so I decided to go out... at 2 in the morning.. oh dear.. jet lag is going to be a thing huh?
I made my way down the street and saw little street food shops open. My mouth watered as I got closer. My eyes were locked on the food.
BUMP.
"A-Aouch... my nose"
"Ah.. sorry.." I said in English and then corrected myself to Korean "ah.. umm.. sorry" I said barely knowing how to say it and holding my sore nose. I bumped into someone.. someone quite tall. He was in all black, wearing a mask and a hat. I guess he was also going to the same street food stand.
I let out a giggle as we both walked in the same direction towards the stand.
"Do you not speak Korean?" He asked in Korean. His voice was deep, almost raspy. It sounded so calm and gentle.
"Ah.. I don't understand.." I said and then realized that I had downloaded a language translating app.
I opened the app and pointed at my phone, signaling him to say it again.
Before he spoke into my phone, he pulled his mask down to his chin. Woah.. he's so handsome.. woah...
"Do you not speak Korean?" He repeated.
"Speak not Korean?" The language app translated for me.
"Oh boy..." I said in awe of how the Korean skills of this app and me were similar.
"No.. No.. No Korean" I replied to him.
We both sat down on the short seats in front of the stands and he ordered for both of us.
I'm sure the guy could see the hearts in my eyes when the vendor passed us our food.
He let out a little "heh" when he saw me take a huge bite.
"You must have been hungry" he said in Korean.
"Hmm?" I tilted my head. My mouth was full. Maybe I shouldn't have stuffed my face in front of such a freakin handsome guy.
He laughed again while taking a bite out of his food as he saw the regret flash my face.
"My name is TaeHyung." He said in English. "TaeHyung Kim."
I paused my eating, stood up, did a 90 degree bow to him and sat back down. I chewed and swallowed my food quickly and replied with. "Hello, my name is Shin Moon Byul" in Korean.
Suddenly, he reached his hand out towards my face.
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[EXTRA SCENE]
"Give me a sign" (TaeHyung POV)
You've got to be kidding me, I ask for a week off and all they can give me is three days? And the media already found out about it so they're probably going to do their best to track me down.
I don't want to live like this anymore. I want to be free.. really free... God, there has to be a reason why my life is so hard.. I don't want to do this anymore... can't I just end it here? Give me a sign... a sign that tells me not to end it here.
I looked up at the sky while walking to check for a sign. Like God would find me important enough to reply to...
BUMP
"Aouch my nose" said the girl who walked into me.
"Ah.. sorry.." She said in English. And then in broken, Korean "ah.. umm.. sorry." An English person? She looks Korean but also foreign at the same time... maybe she's mixed?
Her eyes shifting from me to the food stand next to me. The food actually looked pretty good. I would have just passed it by if it weren't for her.
I walked to the stand with her. She looked over and giggled. Her laugh was cute. She was small and had long curly hair that ran down her back.
Is this God's reply? Is this his sign?
That was the day MoonByul had walked into my life.... Literally.
[END]
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Hello! How are you liking the story so far? I added the extra scene cuz I thought it would be cute!
Leave me a comment!
I actually really love to draw and I was thinking about maybe drawing out the characters for future chapters? How does that sound?
Thank you for reading! I really appreciate it!