Sabine raises her brow demanding explanations, but I tell her I have nothing to say, and we get out of the hotel.
"He was a very good-looking guy," she tells me and I don't fake it at all when talking to her, so I firmly agree with her.
I switch the topic, telling her about my talk with the girls at the reception and about how we had to make up our mind whether we would adventure ourselves alone in that area full of bars and clubs. We figure out that we wouldn't be doing it that evening whatsoever and that the best way was to wait a bit, since Sabine was hoping to find somebody on that group, who would recommend something more specific to us, a place where we wouldn't be the only strange ones. I don't know if it was only our impression, but, besides looking different from them, we also had another kind of fashion style.
Today, we were both wearing some slinky straight dresses, which were sporty and short, and sneakers, but, looking around, the classic outfit of the girls was made up of shorts and a very baggy shirt, or schoolgirl-like skirts, maybe some overalls with a light-colored shirt, buttoned up to the neck or even oversized. Their outfits were very... innocent, and that brought about a very long talk between us on that topic.
"Their makeup is nowhere near exaggerated," I notice while heading to Namdaemun Gate. "A little bit of mascara and pink or red lipstick. That's all."
"I see that some of them are using foundation, but, wanting to light up their skin even more, they don't really use the same shade as their skin tone."
"I don't think they really need foundation," I remark while being charmed by the doll-like face of a local girl waiting at a traffic light close to us. "Their skin is so perfect!"
Sabine smiles and agrees.
"We must get some of their famous face creams."
"We'll stack up, don't worry," I say cunningly.
Time goes by while we visit that old gate and read its history in some flyer we got at the entrance, and then we head to a nearby market, where we feel quite like in our traditional markets, full of stalls with cheap stuff or fake brands that amuse us with their names. We find some more interesting stands with traditional products, from where we decide that we would buy souvenirs before the end of our vacation.
We keep on going on foot to a park nearby and, without even noticing, we walk for miles, but we don't feel the tiredness anymore when we discover some temple or a place we had read about and which was on our list of tourist attractions. After a long walk, we reach N Seoul Tower, where we discover with delight millions of locks of different colors and forms, full of love messages – we assume, based on the little hearts drawn upon them. This habit is one of the favorite ones of South Korean couples: to put a lock in this place at certain anniversaries, thus signifying the bond between them and their eternal love.
Melancholic, we remain there for some time, mostly quiet, looking at couples leaving their locks there and taking selfies, kissing each other shyly because of all the people around them.
We look at each other and begin laughing because each of us is here without a date, but we mustn't feel weird, because there are other tourists or families that haven't come here for the ritual of this place. We get up at the same time and we go further, with a feeling of emptiness in our souls.
The best moment of the day occurs in a traditional village at the base of this mountain, where we rent traditional costumes and, for more than an hour, we feel like two authentic local girls. We've even had our hair done by the staff there, with cute braids and little flowers scattered all around our hair. The traditional costumes, by the name of Hanbok, give us a feeling of closeness towards this place. At least this is what I feel like. It's so beautiful and even the lady making my hair eventually tells me that I'm very beautiful and that the South Korean tradition looks good on me.
I give her a warm smile and I thank her, knowing that my fiery hair has nothing traditional in it.
Sabine is even more amused by her costume – it is a little too short for her, as she's taller than the usual customer. But we feel good in these outfits and when we realize that in one hour we were scheduled to go on a tasting tour of traditional dishes, we regretfully part from our costumes. We're happy to have taken a lot of pictures and we know that they'll always remain in our hearts.
We leave looking back to that wonderful place, but the next destination awaits and we hurry to get to the place where we have to meet our guide for tonight.
It's not easy to find the address, but we arrive on time, even earlier actually, and we get to know the other participants. All in all, we're a team made up of 7 tourists, 4 Americans, one girl from Germany and us, two French gals that surprise everybody with their very well spoken English.
"We only speak English," confesses one of the Americans, quite amused; he had come on this trip with his son. "We don't even speak this one well."
The Americans have come two by two on this trip, but the girl from Germany is alone and we are impressed by her courage to go alone on such a trip, which would also end with a few days in Tokyo.
Coming back to our tour, we draw the following conclusions: the food is really good, but they have a few spicy dishes that turn our senses upside down instantly. We learn how to combine types of food, with what sort of local drinks they are usually served and, after visiting three restaurants, each with a different type of cuisine, we're sure that we'll know what to order and what to eat for the following days.
Being fascinated by their culture, I talk quite a lot with the girl that was our guide and she tells me about their customs and traditions and, at the same time, about the differences between everyday life and what I've seen in the South Korean movies I've watched. She's happy every time I add a Korean word to the conversation and, to my satisfaction, she tells me that I pronounce them pretty well and that I should practice more, since I've started off on this road, because I've already learned the hardest part – i.e., to learn the alphabet and to manage, a little bit more slowly, to start reading too.
Totally exhausted, we call it a night, but before bedtime we put on a locally produced facial mask, which we hardly understand how to use, and we laugh, knowing that there's so much that we do our way, and when we look at each other with the masks on, we look like two mummies. We start laughing, but the masks hold our skin tight, which makes the whole scene even more amusing.
We go to bed earlier, hoping that we'll get a normal breakfast at the hotel the next morning, but not before texting Thomas to tell him that it's been a beautiful day, full of beautiful places and that we were going to sleep now. His answer is much shorter: "I'm in a meeting now, the whole day's been full. Keep on having fun!"
I don't know if I was expecting something more special from him or if I was expecting this, but these were again my expectations, the expectations that I hadn't managed to erase from my head just yet.
Because of how tired I am, I quickly fall into a deep sleep and the dream from the night before seems to go on.
This time I run through an airport to something, to somebody, and a woman that seems to be an employee of the airport tells me that I cannot go out anymore, because I'd lose my flight. On the phone, I hear the man's voice and I make the connection between the image and the man I dreamed about the other night. "I'm right in front of the airport", he tells me, and I feel that I can't breathe and I'm desperate to find an exit. "They won't let me get out!" I yell exasperated, running on some long corridors and feeling that I have no way of seeing him, of holding him again, but I know that this is the real end.
Out of a sudden, I wake up and I feel how my soul hurts and how I want to cry. I hardly manage to get out of my confusion and I become more and more aware that it's been nothing but a stupid dream, so I sip some water and, putting my head back on the pillow, I fall asleep again.
I tell Sabine about my dream over breakfast, since I also told her about the first part the previous day.
My soul still hurts and I don't understand why this mood doesn't go away. It's an emptiness that I feel for the most part of the day.
"It's strange to have a follow-up dream with the same person," she tells to me, intrigued. "You do get these paranormal dreams from time to time, be careful not to break someone's heart here."
"I get the concept of fun while we're here, but I don't wanna take advantage of a man by using him to show us around and to help us discover the real essence of these places. Speaking of which, have you found anything on that group? Anybody to go out with?"
"Of course," she says with an exaggerated arrogance. "A guy texted me to see if we wanted to go out tonight and eat at a traditional restaurant and then go to a bar or something like that."
"Long story short, to go with a stranger to places we've never been before?" I ask quite reluctantly.
"He's not really a stranger. You get access to that group by means of recommendations only, and he's been recommended by a former colleague of mine. I'll check if he's trustworthy until tonight, and if there's anything fishy about him, we'll stay away."
After a couple of minutes, Sabine draws my attention to the restaurant exit.
"Isn't that the guy from yesterday?"
"Which one?" I ask while I turn and see the tall guy that had noticed my tattoo the preceding day.
At the same time, he turns his glance directly towards me and looks me straight in the eyes for a few seconds, and then he gets something from a waiter and goes away.
I turn my attention to Sabine again, ignoring the whole thing.
"Ready for a new day of walking around?"
"Let's go!"
And saying that, we wander about for miles on end, enjoying a perfect sunny weather, colorful places, buildings that I know from movies or from the articles we read while doing our research on the tourist attractions here. Everything's wonderful and we're more than thrilled and full of enthusiasm. And yet, that void is still in my soul and there are many moments when I realize that I'm looking for the face of the man in my dreams among the faces of the people passing by.
The following morning I wake up more down-to-earth, the dream seeming something way more distant, now having the mere form of a dream.
We have breakfast at the hotel again, when Sabine realizes that she's forgotten her purse in the room.
"Since you're going to your room to get your purse, I'll be waiting for you outside, smoking in front of the hotel, ok?"
She agrees, thus I get out of the hotel, passing by the reception, where I spot the guy from the previous days again, that speaks Korean with one of the girls at the reception.
I pass them by and I stop outside the revolving doors of the hotel, where there was a special place for smokers.
At once, I feel an imposing presence and I realize that somebody near me has also lit a cigarette. Naturally, curiosity makes me look at the person that has joined me, and I spot him again.
"Hi," he greets me with a relaxed smile and with a gentle look in his eyes. He slightly has a very elegant English accent, which makes me think that he's travelled a lot for that area.
"Hi," I respond to his beautiful smile as well, feeling that I cannot be a sour face in front of him.
"If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?"
"From France," I give him a simple answer and I take a drag from my cigarette. "You're from South Korea?"
"Born in Busan, raised in Seoul, but I've been out of the country for a long time and now I'm planning on moving back to Seoul."
"A pretty good plan," I tell him, quite impressed that he shares his story with me.
He smiles, but his smile seems a bit sad; however, he changes the subject immediately:
"Are you travelling alone with your friend or sister?"
"My best friend," I add. "But we are both here on holiday."
"Very nice. And are you planning on staying for a while?"
"One week and a half, ten days, more precisely."
"Did you arrive a long time ago?"
"This is the fourth day," I answer shortly, trying, as if a bit embarrassed, to avoid his fixed look; no matter how warm it is, it still makes me feel a little awkward.
Sabine immediately shows up next to us and I think I'm starting to feel a bit more relaxed now.
"I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself," he says quickly and takes out a business card for each of us. I'm Lee Dong Joon.
Knowing the ways of the locals, Sabine pulls out a business card as well and introduces herself, but something holds me back; however, when I notice that they were both looking at me and waiting, I search my purse for a lost business card and I hand it to him.
"Anne and Sabine," he repeats our names, trying to mimic the accent we had used when we handed him our little cards.
He looks up to me and smiles.
"You'll see that people are very happy here to help you with directions, and that's why I'm also offering to be your guide, if you don't mind. After all, we're staying at the same hotel and I think I would enjoy seeing again some places that I haven't visited in a long time."
"We already have a list with things to see, but if you don't mind, we're sure that you know other interesting places we could visit," Sabine speaks in the name of both of us and I nod with a smile, seeing nothing bad in accepting his offer.
As he himself had said it, we were staying at the same hotel, so he wasn't some freak we had met on the street, after all.
"Unfortunately, my day is kind of full, but I've got some free time tonight. What's your plan for today?" he asks us, relaxed.
Sabine takes out a list with the places we had agreed to go to today and he seems very thrilled, saying that we'll love the palace on our list.
"And tonight we've been invited to the Itaewon area by an acquaintance, to see how people around here get their freak on," she laughs.
"I couldn't agree more. That's an area full of fun and you shouldn't miss it. If you haven't chosen a place yet, you can go with that acquaintance to the Prost bar, it's pretty famous in the area. I might get there myself with a couple of friends."
"If that's the case, we hope to see you there," I tell him without realizing whether my words could have been interpreted differently than what I wished for – i.e., thinking that it would have been safer for us to have somebody there besides Sabine's guy, maybe somebody from the hotel.
"The more, the merrier," Sabine adds as if having read my thoughts.
We say goodbye to Lee Dong Joon and we start a new day full of history, spending almost the whole day in Changdeokgung and the Secret Garden. It's a walk back to the past, having as guide a lady dressed in a traditional costume that tells us countless stories about the kings and queens that lived there once. In the middle of all this scenery, I get goosebumps and I let myself get driven by the fascination of the place, by the fascination of history.
Meanwhile, Sabine is chatting a bit with her new friend, virtually, for the time being, with whom she sets up a date for tonight at the bar mentioned by Lee Dong Joon.