I was a Soryeong since the beginning of the year. A few weeks after that, I was appointed the head of the language department. Though I only spoke Korean and English, I liked the role because it allowed me to visit many Navy bases in different countries to cooperate. Just like the previous week. I went to Singapore and met the officers in charge of their language department. That was my first time to visit that city-country. Although the area of the country was relatively small, they had a very strong military.

I was in my office reading some emails when I got a phone call. I was requested to see my Daeryeong[1].

I knocked the door and someone from the inside ordered me to come in. I saw that he was not alone.

“Salut! Do you need to talk to me, Sir?”

“Yes, Chanyeol! Sit down! This is Major Park Chanyeol, the head of the language department. Chanyeol, this is Captain William Battye from The US Navy!”

“Salut, Captain! I’m Major Park Chanyeol!”

“Nice to meet you, Major Park!”

“Captain Battye and I were talking about the possibility of exchanging some officers from both countries on a language program. It is not a new thing for both of us but it is going to be the first one in three years. So we want to hear what you think about this, Major!”

“I think it’s a great plan, Sir! It would give the officers from each country a new experience. When do you plan to start and will we send them in several groups or is it going to be only one person each time?”

“As a starter, we are thinking of sending a group of 4-5 officers who already studied Korean before so they won’t be surprised to see something that’s completely different from their country!”

“That’s great! And when do you plan to send the first group, Captain?”

“Next month!”

I was happy to hear about the cooperation program with the US Navy but it gave me headache because no instructor, who spoke both English and Korean well, would be available! I informed that to my captain and he said, “Contact some reputable language schools in this country and ask them to send their company profiles to us!”

So, I spent almost the rest of the day searching and emailing several language schools and informed them what I was looking for. There were at least fifteen schools on my list. One school replied my email very quick and sent an attachment of its company profile. Nice!

I printed the company profile and brought it home with me. I lived in a medium size apartment that I bought last year with the money I saved for so long with a little bit of extra from my father. It had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a small kitchen, and a living room. And it was only twenty minutes driving from my base.

I was tired for sitting too long. “I should start going to the gym more often!”

I took a shower and had a simple dinner. I switched on the TV in the living room and lay down on the couch. I was not a big fan of TV programs so I decided to choose the first music channel I found. They played some old songs when I started reading the language school profile.

It was Lingua Language School which had been running since 1987. They had three departments; Korean, English, Mandarin.

“Mandarin, huh? Interesting!”

The campus was located in Gangnam – nice area – and most of the students took a private class or a group which consisted of maximum five people.

“A perfect number for a language class!”

They had clients from various backgrounds; students, diplomats, researchers, and even housewives. They had experience in sending their staff to teach some companies’ staff within South Korea. They had seventeen teachers who mostly taught Koreans and English but there were only two people who taught Mandarin and only one who could teach those three languages.

“Okay! The first school sounds promising but I’d better sleep now!”

“Are you busy, Baekhyun?” The director of the school where I worked, Mrs.Kim Minji, asked me.

“No. I was just reading emails from old friends and my ex-students. Do you want me to go to your office?”

“No, we can talk here. So, the ROKN contacted us yesterday and asked for our company profile. They’re going to have an exchange language and culture program with the US Navy. This morning their staff contacted me and they invited us to presen