August 2013

Krystal zipped her small pink satchel. She locked the drawer and stuck the key on its original position. Slowly, she walked out of Minho’s room with inaudible footsteps. She slowly closed the door, barely making any squeak. She breathed heavily and pretended nothing happened as she walked away from Minho’s room.

Just when she was about to go to the kitchen, Minho unintentionally surprised her as he almost bumped her. “Where did you go?” Minho said as he removed his yellow-green apron.

“I-I just went to the restroom,” Krystal said as she pointed at the back.

“Oh,” he said as he downcast. “I’m just going to my room. You should go help umma.” Krystal nodded eagerly as Minho gave him the apron and wore it. Minho walked towards his room as Krystal went to the kitchen.

While Krystal was cutting the asparagus on the cutting board, Minho went back to the kitchen and asked, “Umma! Have you seen a black notebook in my room?” Krystal’s eyes widened and her heart pounded heavily as she stopped cutting the asparagus.

“What black notebook? I haven’t been in your room for a year now,” his umma replied. Krystal turned back and saw Minho fidgeting.

“It’s a small black notebook. I locked it in the drawer,” he said.

“No one would take it, right?” Krystal said. “I mean, it’s locked in the drawer.” She laughed awkwardly as she pulled her bag, which is on the countertop, near her.

“Ne. You must’ve misplaced it,” his umma agreed.

Minho breathed heavily as he placed both of his hands on his hips. “Okay, whatever. J-j-just continue what you’re all doing.” He turned back and walked heavily to his room.

“He must be very disappointed. I think he had that since he was a teen. Aigoo,” Minho’s umma said as she shook her head and continued cooking. As she turned back, she had a seizure and headache. She winced and held her head. She was about to fall when Krystal held her in the arms.

“Are you okay, Mrs. Choi?” she asked in concern.

“Ne. Don’t worry, I just didn’t have enough sleep,” Minho’s umma said weakly and continued cooking.

After thirty minutes of preparation, they all ate their lunch. After eating, Minho washed the dishes, while Krystal cleaned the table. Minutes later, Krystal went to the living area and saw three navy blue photo albums. She grabbed the one on top as she sat on the sofa. When she opened the album, she became interested as he saw a baby picture of Minho. How cute, she thought.

While browsing, she noticed how Sulli was in most of the photos. Minho walked towards her and asked, “What are you looking at?” He chuckled as he wiped his hands with towel.

“You were really close with Sulli, huh?” Krystal said. “You look like siblings,” she joked.

Minho laughed and said, “Yeah. Didn’t she told you about me back in high school?”

“She told me. But, I never realized that you were really that close. I thought you were just normal childhood friends,” she said. Minho didn’t reply and just smirked.

It was sunset when they both left Busan and rode the Korean Train eXpress to Seoul. It was already a quarter before nine in the evening when they arrived in Seoul. As they exited the Seoul Station, they both parted ways, as Minho lives in a condominium unit, while Krystal lives in a small house.

When Krystal arrived at her house, she quickly opened her laptop and grabbed her flash drive and a blank CD from her CD rack. She inserted the flash drive on the USB port and the CD on the disc tray. She burned Minho’s sample songs, which she secretly copied before from Minho’s laptop. After burning, she labeled the CD ‘Choi Minho’s sample’ and put it in a white case.

Afterwards, she wrote a letter about the intent to apply as writer and composer. She imitated Minho’s penmanship and signature. She made a résumé of Minho after, basing it on what she knew from Minho.

She ped her pink satchel and grabbed the black notebook she snatched earlier. She placed it, together with the CD, the letter and the résumé, in a brown envelope. She sealed it and with her black marker, she wrote Minho’s address as the return address, while the mailing address is:

SM Entertainment
521 Apgujeong 2-dong Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

She wrote ‘Choi Minho’s Application and Sample Songs’ in big text at the middle of the envelope, right at the top of the mailing address.

The day after, she went to the nearest postal service and mailed the envelope. She sighed in relief after and grinned as she exited.

A week has passed. It was in 6PM when Minho went back to the condominium after he bought groceries from the supermarket. When he was about to walk towards the elevator, the lobby receptionist called his attention. “Mr. Choi!”

Minho looked back and raised his eyebrows while holding a brown paper bag.

“A letter just came a while ago. Please check your mailbox,” the receptionist said. Minho nodded and went straight to the stacked mailboxes near the lobby. He placed the paper bag on the floor as he grabbed the key from his pocket.

He unlocked the mailbox with the number 1913. He pulled it and saw a long white envelope with his name and address on it. He grabbed it, inserted it at his back pocket and locked the mailbox. He picked up the paper bag and went to the elevator.

After arriving to his unit, he placed his groceries to the refrigerator and threw the brown paper bag. He went to the living area and sat at the sofa, grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. He was about to lean back when he felt something unusual on his . He stood up, grabbed the envelope, and sat once again.

He looked at the white envelope for a while. His eyebrows became tensed in confusion. He ripped the side of the envelope to open it, and grabbed the paper afterwards. He opened it and was surprised on its content. At the top page is a logo of SM Entertainment with its address, e-mail address and telephone number. He was confused on why SM Entertainment would give him a letter, so he continued reading the letter.

August 19, 2013

Dear Mr. Choi:

Congratulations!

In behalf of SM Entertainment, we’d like to express our sincerest gratitude in sending your application as an in-house songwriter and composer.

His eyes widened.  I don’t remember applying, he thought.

We’ve thoroughly examined your sample works and résumé. And with this, we are pleased to tell you that you’ve been accepted to be part of the growing team of writers and composers in our company.

Please come by the building at the nearest date available. We’d be glad to discuss to you certain aspects of the job and also about the contract.

Thank you!

Yours sincerely,

Kim Young-min
CEO, SM Entertainment

He was stunned on what he read. But, at the same time, he was clueless on why he received this letter. He quickly stood up, brought the letter with him and exited his unit to proceed to SM Entertainment.

He left the TV . It was tuned in on KBS and it’s currently airing its news program.

“Earlier this day, the uprising Hallyu star, Sulli, arrived at the Incheon Airport. She’s back in South Korea after her two-year promotion in Japan. Today, also, SM Entertainment confirmed the rumors circulating about her comeback, but the date is still undetermined,” the reporter said as the scene of Sulli walking out of the airport, wearing a white blouse, skinny jeans, beanie and an Aviator sunglass, was shown.