"Ladies and Gentleman, we are now approaching Incheon International Airport, we ask you to please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts."
Finally! Finally after 14 long months, Y/N was finally going back to Korea.
She loved to travel, and loved discovering new countries, new landscapes, new adventures. But she always felt the need to return where she felt home. So once every several months, she would go back to South Korea, the country that had definitely stolen her heart.
This time though, was somewhat special compared to all the other times. She had quit her job after mastering her Tesol certificate, which allowed her to be an online teacher, and thus be able to work anywhere in the world as long as she had an internet connection. It was the very first time she was entering South Korea with no specific departure date.
She knew her tourist visa would only be valid 3 months, but she could do a visa run. Which means that she would have to travel out of the country at the end of the 3 months, and apply for another 3 months as she returned.
All this freedom all at once was sure bit scary, but she just took a long and deep breath smiling to the future and smiling to all the opportunities that ahead of her.
In her past trips she had made a bunch of Korean friends and she was excited to see them all again. She had even booked a flight that would arrive in Seoul early this Saturday, because DongHwan, one of her closest friends, who was a super talented guitarist, had a major performance that night. So she and SongHee, his girlfriend, had arranged it all to keep it a surprise.
"Ladies and Gentleman, we have arrived in South Korea. The weather as you can see is very sunny and the temperature is up to 32°C. It is currently 10:37 am and ..."
Y/N was so happy and excited, she stopped paying attention to what was being said, having just one wish : exhuming the sweet air of this country she loved so much.
She knew that South Korea wasn't as extra as she saw it. But somehow it had always been her safe place.
A lot of people recently loved Korea for Kpop or Kdramas and it made Y/N a bit upset because Korea was much more that few bands dancing and singing and was definitely way more than those fantasy fairy tales everyone was so crazy about.
Okay she admitted her love for Korea had begun like that as well, 15 years ago, when most of western countries didn't even know there was a country called Korea, let alone 2.
But the connection she had felt during her teenage years was quite different. Whenever she would be pressured to be something people were expecting her to be, she would run away to Korea. Mentally at least. Whenever she felt misunderstood, she would run away to Korea. Whenever she was angry, sad, desperate, whenever she had negative feelings, she would comfort herself with the idea that one day she would leave all what made her life miserable behind, and would go to Korea.
When she finally was old enough to go, she felt scared. Right after graduation, nothing holding her back, she had enough savings to stay at least 3 months, but she was so scared.
Not of travelling alone. Not of travelling that far away. But she was scared that all her dreams and hopes would turn out to be illusions. She was scared to death to not have an escaping, safe place to run to anymore. To be disappointed. So instead of going to 3 months, she went for 1.
The result of it was that she cried all the way back home. Korea had not only met her expectations it had exceeded all she had ever hoped or dreamed of.
That's how she continued to travel and discover other countries, but once in a while she felt the need and the urge to resource herself in Korea.
Of course it wasn't a perfect country. Because such thing as perfection doesn't exist in our word yet. But nevertheless, she felt like she belonged here, and that feeling was enough for her.
After quickly picking up her luggage and pass the custom service, there she was in front of a excited SongHee that was holding a placard where you could read : "Welcome Home Onni"
So cute , she thought, and ran up to her and hugged her. Yeah she were really happy to be there and happy to be so well welcomed.
"Onni! how was your trip? Man Onni look at you! You look gorgeous! Did you lose weight?, she asked
-SongHee! Can't believe that's the first thing you ask! pfhahaha yes i did! But look at you! You look mesmerizing as ever!"
She really was beautiful. The first time Donghwan introduced her, she didn't think much of her. Just another pretty Barbie, who dreams about being an idol and wants to use her friend and his connections to peruse her goal.
But Y/N was wrong. She was indeed pretty. She did sing well. And yes she did dream about becoming an idol. But she also sincerely loved Donghwan, and Y/N couldn't be happier for both of them.
"Onni! Donghwan oppa will be soooooo happy to see you! It was sooo hard to keep it a secret!
-I can imagine! Thanks for all your efforts though! I am really happy to see you as well! How did you manage to come to the airport so early today?
-He already left for sound check at 8am! Just imagine! He has been so nervous this past week! He has barely been able eat a meal a day...
-But he has travelled the world playing.. it's not his first concerts either.. Why so nervous?
-Well... I am not supposed to know this, but I overheard one of his phone calls...
-SongHee!
-What? he was acting weird... I was worried.. so keeping it short : no he's not cheating on me!
-how could you even doubt it? He loves.. no he adores you!
-I know... but yeah.. well as I said... I found out the reason..
-which is?
- there might or might not be someone today at the concert that would like to sign him.
- sign him... like.. in... being a professional?
- yep...I'm so proud of him... but of course couldn't tell him.. cause I'm not supposed to know right?
- pfhahahha you're crazy! well after the concert tonight, you should tell him!"
She looks shyly at Y/N and nods enthusiastically, like she was waiting for some kind of approval.
The second time Y/N travelled to Korea, she met Donghwan and YoungJoo at a guesthouse in Jeju.
Yongjoo was working there during summer break, while trying to figure out what to do with his life, and some friends from his university came to visit him. Donghwan had been one of them. And Y/N had had the time of her life with all of them. She still laughed when you thought how all of them stayed in the pool until 1 am, laughing and trying hard to stand on a surf board that was almost bigger than the swimming pool itself. How all of them then pretended to go to sleep because it wasn't allowed to be out that late, but then how all of them sneaked out with omija tea and Donghwans guitar, and heard him play until very early in the morning. She didn't sleep that night. Between the sound of the guitar and the sound of the waves, she felt like you were building up memories for life. A friendship also.
They kept in touch long after returning home. That's how she knew that Donghwan and Youngjoo had gotten back to Seoul, and were sharing a flat. They kept going to university to become engineers, even though none of them seemed particularly interested in it.
On the third visit, Donghwan talked about a girl he was interested in, but didn't know if he ever would have a chance with her.. that's when Y/N met SongHee for the first time.
Months later she remembers picking up the phone to a drunken Youngjoo who was upset cause Donghwan had told him he and Songhee, his girlfriend that had moved in with them some months ago already, needed some space, and needed him out of the flat... and Youngjoo felt betrayed.
She laughed it off and talked to Yongjoo all night until he fell asleep. Once sober he knew the situation wasn't that dramatic, and started to search for a new flat.
Having now a flat for her and Donghwan alone, with two bedrooms, Songhee offered to Y/N to move in for at least the first couple of weeks. Until she could find something on her own.
Arriving at Songhee and Donghwan's flat, Songhee showed Y/N her roomwith her bathroom ensuite and told Y/N to rest, knowing that with the jetlag, a nap would be highly welcomed. As soon as Songhee closed the door of her new room, Y/N crashed on the bed. Although she knew, she had no clue what would happen in her life from now on, she surely had never imagined who she would meet that night at the concert, and how it would change her life forever.
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Autor's Note
Hello! So Actually I'm not sure if someone will ever read this. But writing really does heal me somehow. So I thought it would be great to share experiences I had in Korea, beautiful memories and also all what's tangled up in my mind.
I just came back from my second trip from Korea, and i must say that in one way nothing changed. I still feel home there. In the other hand though... Korea got so westernized, and it got me a bit sick and upset. At least Seoul did. The first time I went, in 2017, before BTS had wont their first bbma (was actually in Korea in front of their Rabbit statue in Gagnam that day) they weren't even that famous in Korea itself. But now? they are everywhere! I love them don't get me wrong. But seeing them in every shop for every single product going from cosmetic, to coffee to duty free things, to tourist attractions... hearing them in every single shop, seeing them in commercials, in the subway every 5 seconds... was too much!
Not that I didn't want to see them. But it just made me realize how trapped in their fame they were. they were trapped in a cage. Golden cage yes, but cage nevertheless. And it made me so sad for them. Because before being artists, singers, dancers, performers... they are humans. And it seems like everyone forgot that, even them.
It inspired me to write this story. Hope you enjoy it.