Myungsoo and Yong Sook are two weird people. End of discussion.

            At that moment, I felt like a toy being pulled apart, particularly when they both nagged on opposite sides of me. Besides, I didn’t know any of them too well. Yet, they seemed like my older brothers fighting over their little sister. Perhaps I took it the wrong way, but seriously, that was the impression I was getting. So I left. That’s the best thing I am at. Abandoning something so easily. I was a giver-upper.

            To my surprise, when I entered my shack, the kettle was boiling on the stove with a figure opening a packet of instant miso soup. This could only mean one thing.

            “Tae Hee unnie!” I suddenly discarded my belongings on the floor and wrapped my arms around the nineteen-of-years hostess. She momentarily turned around so that I got a quick look at her aging face. Although she was nearing the age of forty, she still looked in her late twenties. I didn’t know how she did it, even though she offered to give a skin care lecture, which I knew would be more than half an hour. Not worth my time.

            “Lina, I’ve been wondering where you were.”

            “Just finished locking up the casino, took a quick stroll over here and here I am!”

            “That was a rhetorical statement, just putting it out there.”

            “Hey!” I playfully stuck out my tongue as I grabbed the only two cups in the shack from the counter top. “Water?” I cautiously proceeded to pour out the sizzling water from the tea kettle—one for Tae Hee, one for me. “Here, it’s still pretty hot.”

            “Just leave it on the table to cool…or your little kiddie table, to be more correct.” Tae Hee shot a backwards glance at me before continuing to stir the miso soup. “Seriously, Lina, how can you live in such conditions?”

            “Unnie, it’s not like I’m dying. Don’t worry about me,” I waved away my hand nonchalantly.

            “Oh, but I’m worrying. Where do you even sleep?”

            “The sofa, obviously.” I gestured to the throw-up colored green sofa tucked in the far corner of the room. Tae Hee shot me a look, as if she was disbelieving me. “You sleep in that?”

            “Look, Mary has feelings too okay.”

            “Mary?”Apparently the miso soup was done, seeing as how Tae Hee began rolling up a large piece of napkin so she could place the pot on it, and at the same time, I could drink from the pot. 

            “Yeah, her name is Mary. Although she may be a little springy and rusty, I love her with-“

            “Lina, did you reconsider living with me?” Tae Hee suddenly interrupted me as she set down the pot in front of me. I my lips, as if I could already taste the soup washing down my throat.

            “Are you even listening to me, Choi Lina?!”

            “Yeah, yeah. I’m listening.” I grabbed the nearest plastic spoon and dipped it into the warm dish of heaven. “You want me to move in with you. But I just can’t unnie.”

            “Lina, you can’t tolerate with this any longer. This is no place suited for anyone to live in. You’re like a dog.”

            I shrugged my shoulders as I puffed some cold air onto the steaming hot soup, “So a dog I will be. Unnie, you’ve already done too much for me. I can’t ask for anymore, or my life will be indebted to you.”

            “I don’t care Lina! This is like hell Lina. Wait no, in fact this is hell. I can’t stand seeing you like this.”

            “Unnie, how old am I?” I delicately sipped on my soup, careful to not burn my tongue.

            Tae Hee rolled her eyes before replying, “21.”

            “Exactly. I’m 21. I’m a legal adult. I can do this myself, okay?”

            “Fine,” Tae Hee admitted defeat, “Lina, have you ever considered pursuing school again?”

            “Are you seriously asking me that, unnie?”

            “Yes, I seriously am asking you that.”

            “I can’t. You and I both know that I can’t do so. I’m under a slave contract. I work seven days a week, twelve hours each day. I don’t even get paid, for Pete’s sake! I have time for education? Think again, unnie.”

            Heavy silence wrapped around Tae Hee and I before she slowly spoke, “I’ll pay for it then.”

            “No. Don’t you dare. You helped me enough, especially when you’re paying the bills for this.”

            “It’s nothing, really.”

            “I hate to break it to you, Tae Hee unnie,” I softly started, “The hostess business is hard now. Men covet for young women with fresh faces. You’ve been in the industry for more than nineteen years. I think it’s high time you stop. I’ll take over-“

            “Alcohol. It’s a scary thing,” Tae Hee roughly took my hands, “Lina, I’m not forcing you into the hostess industry. It’s much more risker, and you still won’t be paid.”

            “Yes I will! If I satisfy my customer’s needs, they’ll pay me secretly. The gangsters won’t know-“

            “STOP.” Tae Hee’s eyes pierced into my own set of orbs, “We’re not talking about this. We already did, and we decided to keep it the same way. I will support you all the way through Lina. You are not going down my path. You’ll regret it, I know you will. Be a good dongsaeng and listen to unnie, alright?”

            I gradually—and hesitantly nodded. “Did you eat yet?”

            “Already did. I hosted a fairly wealthy and chubby man today. Treated me out to lobster.”

            “Oh.”

            “Now hurry up, I have somewhere to take you,” Tae Hee nudged me suggestively.

            “Where now?”

            “It’s a surprise. But I think you’ll like it. You like action don’t you?”

            “Uh…yeah.”

            “Good, now chug all the soup down, and don’t forget to bring a jacket. We might stay outside the entire time. I don’t want you to get catch a cold.” 

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