▬ Chapter 8: Another One ▬

“Mr. Jang, your English is so adorable!” Minji squeaked as she heard Mr. Jang’s – their family chef – Australian accent.

Mr. Jang has lived in Australia almost all of his life; Brisbane, Australia, to be exact. He is currently studying at Queensland University to pursue a field in dentistry. He loves to cook and decided to take a break in his studies which led him to become the Nam family’s official chef after being offered the position when Minji’s father met him during his business trip in Australia.

Today, Mr. Jang offered to teach Minji English since it was almost time for her midterms.

“Thank you,” he smiled, showing his dimples. “By the way, you can just call me Hanbyul or Jason if you’d like. Mr. Jang sounds weird and it makes me feel old ya know.” Hanbyul said in English.

“Excuse me?” was all Minji could come up with as a response.

Actually, before they started studying, Hanbyul made a bet to Minji, saying that for their lesson today, she should only speak English. This was one of Hanbyul’s teaching techniques, thinking that it would make her learn quicker. A bet was also placed beforehand:

“If you speak in Korean, even once, you’ll wash the dishes tonight, got that?” Hanbyul warned.

“Fine,” Minji quickly agreed because let’s face it, he was the best at English.

Hanbyul laughed and popped a cookie in his mouth. “I guess we still have a long way to go.”

“Mr. Ja- I mean, Hanbyul,” Minji began to speak again. She was somehow glad that at least he offered to have him be called by his Korean name. Not that Jason was hard to pronounce but that it was like a shortcut of some sort.

“Hmm?” He munched.

“Stop eat… stop eating, please,” her Korean accent was quite strong and Jason chuckled, happy to see that his student seems to be trying her best.

“Why?” He tried to strike a conversation, in English, of course. “I’m hungry.”

“Because… ah!” She pouted as she couldn't find the right words to retaliate. Without her knowing, she ended up speaking Korean. “I can’t anymore!”

“A-ha!” Jason pointed. “Strike three! You get to wash the dishes tonight as a punishment! I’m free!”

“Hey!”

“Minji! Let’s go!” Her dad’s voice echoed downstairs.

“Coming!” She quickly stood up and grabbed her backpack. “This is not over yet, Mr. Jang.” She eyed him, still talking in Korean.

“I can’t understand you~” He teased.

“Ha! Fine, I’ll see you later!”

“Have fun and the dishes will be waiting for you when you come back home,” he reminded.

Minji sighed and faced the smiling man sitting by her desk one last time. “Don’t worry, I’ll do it.”

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“All right class,” Mr. Kim, the English teacher, walked in the classroom. “I hope you are all studying really hard for your English midterms.” He announced while the class groaned. “Let’s start off with a simple conversation, shall we?”

“No!” Someone at the back called out. Minji noticed that he was the hyper blabbermouth, Lee Sungyeol. He’s a childish one and let’s just say he’s the worst in English.

“Okay, let’s start with you then, Sungyeol.” Mr. Kim flipped his notebook and began writing on the board. “Let’s start with the most basic one.”

안녕하세요

“Tell me,” he turned around after he finished writing. “What does this mean?”

Annyeonghasaeyo. Minji thought. It means ‘Hello.’ Don’t tell me even he doesn’t know this simple word?

“Let me tell you that I studied last night and I definitely saw this word,” Sungyeol began, pointing at the board as if he had some kind of revenge plotting against it.

“And it means?” Mr. Kim motioned for him to answer his question. Sungyeol grew quiet for a moment.

“Hello. It means ‘hello,’ doesn’t it?!” Sungyeol beamed as he remembered the word, grinning from ear to ear.

“That’s right! Good job, Sungyeol.” Mr. Kim looked impressed. “Nam Minji, you’re up.” Mr. Kim turned around again and wrote some Hangul.

난 배고파

“Alrighty. What does this mean?” He turned around and looked at Minji.

I remember this. I remember this. Minji silently scanned her head for the translation. “What did Mr. Jang say when he went to grab a cookie?” She whispered. “Nan baegopa; what is this?”

“Minji?” Mr. Kim glanced at her.

Dang it. I can’t think straight. Is it lunch yet? Ah, I don’t know.

“I’m hungry,” Minji said what her stomach told her.

“That’s correct!” Mr. Kim looked pleased. “I’m so proud of you guys.”

It was right? But I really am hungry, though. Literally.

After a few more minutes, the bell rang, signaling that it was now lunch time.

“Finally! Lunch!” Minji grabbed her stuff and headed outside, eager to leave the class she didn't want to be in for the next minute or so.

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Minji sat down in her usual spot under the “Grandfather Tree.” She took out her notes and began to study for her English class, although she didn't want to. She sighed as she thought of the class. Even the word 'English' was a pain to hear for her.

“I re