Chapter 38 – First, You Need a Job

Seijin dropped me off at my dorm, where the landlady watched me wander in with a cheeky smirk on her face, no doubt thinking that I had been whisked away on a night of passion by some random pretty-faced Korean boy… Which I kinda had, I suppose. Except he wasn’t so random.

Anyways, I let her think whatever she wanted and crashed into my bed, only to rise several hours later, disoriented, and to three messages from Tae and one missed video-call attempt. Apparently he had wanted to show me his little cousin, because moments later, two short videos of him snuggling a 5y.o. appeared on my feed and I just spent a few minutes sleepily watching them, grinning stupidly at the cuteness, before calling him back.

“Hyungwan wants to talk to you.” was all he said before passing the phone to the child.

“Annyeonghaseyo? Blablablablabla noona blablabla…” was pretty much how it sounded from my end of the line.

“Hello…” I said into the phone, trying to sound friendly, and he responded “Hello!!” quite eagerly, before Taehyung thankfully took the phone away from him and came back on.

“Sounds like someone’s having fun…” I said to him teasingly, and he just giggled something back, before obviously shooing the child away (there were noises of complaint) and returning his attention to me.

“Yes, I’m so happy to be home. It’s sooooo nice!!!” he exclaimed happily, making me chuckle, and then as an afterthought, “But I don’t have any much time for call you. Sorry.” he apologized into the phone, sounding like he was biting his lip.

“Babe, is being away from me making your English worse?” I cringed, voicing my  immediate thoughts and trying to shift the convo away from a depressing subject.

“Huh?”

“Nevermind…”

“Well anyway,” he paused to say something in Korean to someone on the other end, “I send you to the school map where my dad friend work. You go there today. It’s better.”

It took me a moment to process his terrible English – he was definitely getting worse – before I saw that indeed, there were two map files he’d sent a little bit earlier on my screen, pointing the way to… somewhere near Gangnam station.

I glanced at the clock, noticing that it was already 5pm and wondered aloud, “Is it okay to go this late?”

“Oh yes, it’s open til 11pm, I think.” he replied, as if his attention wasn’t completely on the conversation.

“Really??” I replied, secretly hoping I wouldn’t be expected to work that late.

“I think so.” he assured me, “Anyway, you should go. He is waiting for you now.”

“Now?!” I panicked, looking down at my messy, just out of bed, state.

“Well, not now, now, but you know…” he went on. I could hear the face he was making in his tone. The way the tip of his lips lifted just a little into a smirk, the way his eyes went all playful as he looked to the side and back to the object of his attention, the way that he meant “I know you’re my noona, but actually, I’m still the man, so listen to me.” the kid was really starting to get me.

“Alright…”

I started saying something else but was interrupted by a slew of Korean from the other end.

“Noona, I gotta go. I love you.” He said, very quickly, once the other voice was done talking. Then he smacked a loud kiss into the phone and hung up before I was even given any time to react.

“Well then. I guess that’s that.” I grumbled, tossing my phone on the bed and debating if I should shower or not before going to meet my future employer.

I decided not. (I’m gross).

***

I walked into the lobby of the hagwon at around 6:30pm. I’d heard horror stories about these types of places (just like Eikaiwa schools in Japan) but I immediately had a good feeling about this one. It was on the 8^th floor of a tall building in Gangnam, and seemed to occupy the entire floor. They gave classes in all subjects, not only English, and just by the décor, I could tell they were trying to appear hip and trendy, to appeal to a younger crowd of high-schoolers, university students and young professionals.

I must’ve looked very obvious as I walked in, because within seconds, the cute little receptionist, walked over her desk and came over to greet me in near perfect English.

“You must be Emma! I’ll go tell Mr. Baek you’re here!” she beamed from under her spectacles at me – she can’t have been more than 5 feet tall. “Come this way!” she added, leading me down a hallway into what seemed to be a staff lunch room and begging me to sit down at one of the round tables, “Please wait here!” she went on, before leaving as quickly as she’d waltzed in. Every statement out of an order, but somehow not quite so offending as it would’ve been coming from a native speaker.

I took a moment to observe my surroundings. The place was definitely very nice. I’d always enjoyed teaching in real schools but this place seemed new and hip, and we’d passed some classrooms on the way that had seemed pretty active and full. Everything was sleek and new and the staff was young… Everything quietly shouted of a place that was doing really, really well.

While I was admiring the view from the lunchroom window, a middle-aged man walked in and took the seat in front of me, startling me with his smile when I happened to turn around and find him there.

“Sorry,” he grinned, not seeming sorry at all and not offering any more of an apology before extending his hand out to me, “I’m Baek Jun-Ho, I’m the boss here.”

I stood up to shake his hand and bow and he just laughed and told me to sit down. He had a very strange, clipped way of talking, but his English was more than decent and I quickly realized that beneath the rushed speech was just a very friendly – if somewhat nosy - older man.

“So you’re Taehyung’s girl, huh?” he asked me, without beating around the bush, 3 minutes into the conversation.

“I, hum, excused me?!!” I nearly choked on the cup of tea that pint-sized receptionist had offered me.

“No need to be shy. It’s our little secret.” he winked at me, though I was still flustered. “He wouldn’t have called in such a favor if it hadn’t been for someone important,” the man went on, “and seeing you here looking so pretty, it’s not hard to put two and two together.” he finished, quite pleased with himself.

I looked down into my drink, not knowing what to say. On the one hand, it was an incredibly impolite thing to say… in Japan. On the other, I wasn’t in Japan anymore and I really had no idea how anything in Korean culture worked, so for all I knew, this was all totally normal.

“Ahh… but Taehyungie is all grown up now! Look at him!” the man went on, and he nodded towards a TV in the back that happened to be playing a PUMA commercial and I stared at it, distracted for a bit. “You know his dad and I used to go to school together?”

I wasn’t sure if he expected a reply or if he was just reminiscing, so I stayed quiet. He was still looking at the TV. “He stayed there manning his father’s farm, and I moved to make it in the big city.” He turned back to look at me as the commercial ended. “I didn’t do too bad for myself, did I?” he asked, displaying a hand around the room.

I nodded and then, against all odds, the man broke out laughing. “Who would’ve guessed the old bugger would have ended up richer than me because of his son, eh?”

Again, I didn’t know what to say, so I held my tongue.

“You’re a quiet one, aren’t you?” he burst out, suddenly, which made me look up at the absurdity of the statement, “I really hope you’re a bit louder when you teach.”

“I… what?” I stuttered.

“When you’re teaching. Classes usually range from 10 to 20 students, so you need to have a big voice. You can start next month, right?” he carried right on.

“Next… huh?!” I couldn’t make my brain function.

“I thought you were looking for a job?” the man asked, confused by my confusion.

“Well yes, but I thought I was here to interview for one…” I answered.

“What? If little Taehyungie wants me to give his girlfriend a job, I give his girlfriend a job. Mr. Kim and I were tight as thieves in back in our day…. Do people still say that? Thight as thieves? I studied in America years ago… well anyways, I’d do anything for that man and his family. So consider yourself hired.”

I was baffled. This was not how I had expected… well… anything to go.

Mr. Baek on his side of the table seemed quite pleased with himself. He gave me a moment to compose myself before going on, “of course, you’ll have to hurry up with the paperwork if we want to have your visa ready before March.”

“March?” I echoed.

“Well yes, that’s when the school year starts here.”

“But I thought this was like a cram school?”

“A yes, that’s the English word isn’t it? We say hagwon in Korean. And yes, we are, but we follow the school year calendar. It makes it easier for our students. And though we do hire all year round, it really is better to hire new teachers after major school breaks.”

I was silent again. My school year did not end until mid-March. That was going to cause some unhappy conversations with my boss when I went back to Japan… 

“Is that gonna be a problem?” he asked, after a sufficiently polite amount of time had passed.

“Huh? No, no!” I answered quickly. “This seems like a great place to work. And I’ll send you all the documents you need as soon as I’m back in Japan.” I answered, brightly, with a big smile.

“And she does talk!” he exclaimed, loudly. “I’ll have Hyori take your information before you leave. Would you like a tour of the school?” he asked, getting up and extending his hand to me.

“Hum, sure.” I smiled, taking his hand and following him out of the room.

The school indeed occupied the whole floor and held 6 large classrooms, 4 smaller lesson rooms, 2 meeting rooms, 1 children’s play room and one room filled with little studying cubicles. With of course the lobby and the lunch room, which I’d already seen. It was nicer than any language school I’d ever stepped into in Japan, but then again, I hadn’t had much experience with that either. But it seemed like a pretty good place to work. Again, I seemed to have lucked out on my first try.

I was re-introduced to Hyori, the pint-sized receptionist, and to Jaewon, a science and math teacher, who unfortunately did not speak very much English, but seemed friendly enough. After the tour, I was brought back to the lunch room, where I was offered coffee and looked over the contract with the boss. I was blown away that A) there was already a contract ready and B) there was an English version for me to read.  

About an hour later, I was walking out of there light-headed, with a signed copy of a contract that I still didn’t have a visa for, and the promise of an apartment (even though Tae said he’d already got one, though I wasn’t sure if that was what he’d meant…).

As if thinking of him somehow summoned him, my phone suddenly started ringing while I was about a block away from my guesthouse and my baby’s cheerful voice filled my ear as I brought my phone to it.

“Hey babe” I called out, happiness choking my voice a little.

“Hey, are you ok?” he asked, his voice suddenly full of worry.

“Yeah, I’m just a little overwhelmed this is really happening, that’s all,” I answered, trying to steele my voice. “I just signed my contract. It’s like, it’s all real now.” I said, tears in my throat, not believing it myself.

“Good.” He said, in that tone that was somehow so y, because it was so full of confidence, “Then we should go celebrate.” he went on, adding a cheekiness to his voice that was already dripping with iness.

I laughed, rounding the corner, not really paying attention to where I was stepping as I asked, “How are we gonna celebrate when you’re in Daegu with your family?”

But when I turned to climb the steps to my building, I stopped dead in my tracks, because he was right there, sitting on the steps, phone to his ear, kicking a tiny stone between his feet as he listened to my voice. He looked up, either because he saw my feet or cuz I stopped talking, looked up at me with eyes obviously trying to avoid any display of emotion, before leisurely turning away and tucking his phone in his pocket. Then he turned back round to look at me.

“Not anymore.” he smirked.

And all I could do was just stand there like an idiot while he stood up and slowly walked the two steps that separated us. He was still two heads taller than me on level ground, so I had to look up at him as he took my face in his. Every moment with this boy seemed like it lasted an enternity. How could he say so many things to me with just one look? With so few words? I’d seen him just that very morning but it felt like forever, and I was just lost staring into his eyes that glittered in the darkness.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, “I thought you were supposed to be home for days.”

“I was,” he answered, my face, his eyes never letting go of mine, “but we got an unexpected schedule tomorrow, so I had to come back.” he explained.

“Really?” I asked, wishing he would just get on with it and kiss me, “What?”

“Music bank” he answered, before pecking me on the lips. Evil bastard.

“But, I thought you guys were done with official promos?” I muttered, in a voice I wished didn’t sound so needy.

“We were,” he answered, pausing to pull back and smirk a little wider, “but boss wants another number 1 in the trophy case.”

“What?!”

And he just stood there grinning at me.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hey everyone! 

If  you are still keeping up with this story, thank you!!! I really mean to finish it, but someohow, well, I don't get a lot of writing time... 
Some of you are aware that I have a major hearth condition and was in the hospital and out of comission for quite a long time last March...
(if not, now you are!) and I just started working again back in September and it's been INCREDIBLY tougher than I anticipated. 
when I am not working, I am sleeping (or going to NTB or UP10TION concerts, ooops...)  usually. but the point is, my health is going up and down.
Sometimes i feel almost like I'm back to normal, just a little weaker, and sometimes I feel like I can barely move and I just wanna go to bed at 3pm.
It hasn't left me much time for writing. though I'm determined to finish this.
Also, I have taken the decision that I need to move back to Canada, because I can't really live like I used to, alone, in this country where I only undestand about 70% of the language, and where the medical care is expensive and less than adequate... so that means stress and preparations... again, less time for writing.

And finally, I've fallen a little bit out of love with Bangtan (although with this new comeback, OH MY GOD) for the simple face that they are just way too famous now. This summer it was nearly impossible to get tickets to their Epilogue tour in Japan (even though I'm FC) and I bought 300 CDS to get into their damn YOUTH event. THREE HUNDRED and what did I win? one Jin card. I'm just so done with the Japanese system, it's a joke. I will always love them and buy their cds but I think my BTS fangirl days are close to be over... (not yet though... damn this beautiful, dark comeback!!!!) I've also started liking a very small, very unpopular group that performs only in Japan called NTB (don't bother looking them up, there is basically near zero info on them on the internet) and my fangirl obsession has kinda shifted towards them. they perform every week, to crowds of 200 people. i can take pictures with them and fansigns or hightouch or hugs every time, and they all freakin know my name. This will never happen with Bangtan. the last time i went to a fan event, it was blantant, the look on Hobi's face, that he had no idea who i was, even though we'd met before and i was the only white girl in a sea of Japanese faces. they are just too famous and it will never happen. and here, with this group of nobodies, I am writing my own, real-life fanfictions. (almost, kekeke...)

So anyways, for all these reasons, it has been really hard to write. and i'm sorry. but I'm not giving up, and I do promise you this story does have an ending! it is actually already written, and I just need to write the chapters from now to there! so please bear with me!!

Thanks, Always.
AoH