As soon as the plane steadied in the air, I pulled my new laptop out of my carry-on bag and stuck in the Super Show 4 disc that my sister had gotten me. When the movie started playing, Julia leaned over and looked at the screen. "So... this is Super Junior?"

"Yup. I'm watching the show to pass the time. By the time it's over we should be about halfway there."

"Ooooh, who's that one? Right... right there? He's cute."

"That one? Siwon. Really? Everyone likes Siwon. Personally, I don't think he's even that good-looking."

"But he's so... well-built."

"Okay, so his abs are good-looking. But I guess the rest of him just isn't really my type."

"So this is the group you love so much?"

"Yeah."

"You mind if I watch with you? I've been a bit curious, because I've been working with you so much."

"It's in Korean. you realize that, right? The only subtitles are in Japanese and Chinese."

"That's alright. I'll be fine. Here, let me plug in my headphones."

It was surprisingly only slightly awkward to have Julia watching it with me the whole time. In a way, it was better, because it made me feel slightly less alone in going to Korea. Of course, she didn't get most of the jokes and didn't know any of the songs save the English covers, but she did completely Eunhyuk's dance to "Sorry Sorry Answer" (Mostly because he was shirtless for the end of it Although, I must admit, I liked that part, too). 

By the time we finished the first disc and had to swtich to the second one, though, Julia said that she was fairly impressed with them. They were incredible dancers, amazing singers, and very diverse people overall. Of course, I had to remind her, the group in SS4 wasn't even all of them. Then she said that she hoped I could be just as good as them someday. I hoped so myself, although I doubted it. There was NO WAY I was ever going to be as good a dancer as Hyukkie or Fishy. But discussion stopped when we started the second disc.

We had finished the show and fallen asleep long before the plane touched down in Korea. When we were woken up and had to get off, I had to keep Julia steady. I was easy to wake up. Apparently Julia was not. During the brief time we were in the airport, I went around taking pictures to send home, and Julia got herself two cups of coffee. 

When we finally left, I was juggling my carry-on bag and one of my luggage cases, and julia had the other. We got a taxi outside, and Julia told it where it was to go, before we put all of my luggage in the truck.

"You're almost there, Mel," Julia told me as we got in. "We're going straight to the dorm from here. And, sadly... that's where we'll have to say goodbye."

My heart sank. I'd known from the beginning that Julia would only be with me until I got to the dorm with all of my belongings, but I'd been dreading the loneliness that would come with it. 

We arrived at a big apartment building somewhere in Seoul (I didn't know where, because I didn't know Seoul at all), and got out. Julia asked about my dorm at the desk, and then we took the elevator up. Both of us were still a little bit tired.

Julia found the room number, handed me the key to unlock it, and then we went in. I looked around it, putting my luggage in a corner. When I turned back to Julia, she had her arms out.

"Well, here's where we have to say goodbye, Mel. I have to go back to the U.S. You have to start your life."

I embraced her, not crying. "Thanks for everything, Julia."

We separated. She had just turned to go when I thought of something. "Hey, Julia?"

"Yeeees?"

"Umm... is it possible I could get a guide? To... you know, show me around SM, so I know where everything is, and at least get a start on figuring out what I'm supposed to do? An English speaker, since I don't know Korean."

Julia nodded. "I'll see what  can do. Go get ready for bed, I'll call."

I did as I was told, digging through my bags for my toothbrush and face wash. When I came out, she had finished the call. "Well, it's certainly a good thing you came here, because those people have terrible English. Nonetheless, they said that they're sending someone for you tomorrow morning. Is that all, Miss?"

"No, that's all. Goodnight, Julia. Have a good trip home."

She smiled. "I think that bed there is yours. Get some sleep." 

And then she left.

The next morning, despite not arriving in Seoul until just before midnight, I got up at my usual time of 5:10 to get dressed, eat, (Julia and I had gotten cinnamon rolls at the airport), drink some tea to freshen myself up, brush my hair and teeth, and then watch a few episodes of "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood". After all, I didn't know when my guide was coming, other than "this morning."

Getting slightly impatient, I went to go dig through my carry-on bag to look for my phone. I couldn't find it. I was starting to panic, frantically dumping out the small bag onto th bed. Then, suddenly a knock came from the door. 

"Is this the dorm that the English speaker... Melissa lives in?"

English. Thank goodness. I forgot about my phone and ran to the door. 

"Oh yes, you must be my..."

I opened the door and lost all of the blood in my face, forgetting how I was going to end that sentence. 

"...Henry? Henry... Lau?" I asked, wincing when my voice cracked.

He grinned. "Hi there! You know who I am! Are you Canadian? You sound Canadian."

"Me? Uh, no. I'm from Wisconsin."

"Ooohhh, that explains it. Close enough. Well, as you've already said, I'm Henry Lau. I've been asked to show you around SM."

"But... aren't you, um... busy?"

"For now, nah. Anyway, They asked all of the English-speakers in the company if they wanted to do it, so I volunteered. I was curious to meet someone who was fluent. It's been so long! Not to mention that with everyone else you'd still be totally confused."

 "Not even Tiffany?" I asked, referring to the member of Girls' Generation that had been recruited from California. 

"Okay, compared to a lot of people, her English is good. But it's not her first language. Not like us!"

It felt a bit weird to be put in the same category as Henry, despite what that category entailed. 

"By the way, Melissa, one thing I should probably tell you about Korea... It's a bit rude to leave your guests standing in the hallway."

It took me a second to realize what he was saying. "Oh! Oh, I'm sorry, please come in. I haven't really unpacked anything yet, so there's not much to see. Do you want some tea?" I asked, picking up the teapot I had made using the hot water from the bathroom sink.

Henry's eyes widened. "You're an American and you drink tea?" 

"Call me weird. You think I'd have auditioned for SM if I was your typical American?"

"Point. So, are you ready to see SM Entertainment, or do you have something else to do?"

I shook my head violently. Spending the whole day with violinist-slash-singer-slash-dancer-slash-rapper-slash-god-knows-what-else? Yeah, no way I was gonna skip out on that.

"No, I'll be ready in a second. i just have to shut my computer off." Usually I'd never stop an episode in the middle of watching it, but the circumstances this time were different. Usually watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood didn't entail keeping Henry Lau waiting. So I quickly shut the computer down, checked to make sure I wasn't an ugly mess, then looked for my phone. All the while, Henry just leaned against the wall, humming to himself. Finally I went back to my carry-on bag to try to find my phone again. No such luck. Frustrated, I stuck my hands in my pockets. And there it was. God, I'm such a blonde sometimes. 

The phone found, I went back to him with my purse slung over my shoulder, and the file of documents that Julia had left for me to get started in my hand. "Am I going to need anything?"

He thought for a moment. "Taxi fare?"

"Sure, I've got some Won in here," I answered, holding up my purse.

"Good, that makes Won of us," I couldn't help but laugh at his lame word play. Now this was the Henry I'd gotten to know from Super Junior-M Celebrity Tours.

"Alright, Melissa, let's go!"

"Okay, so here we are in the main SM building. This is where the practice studios and offices are. Can I see your schedule?" Henry asked. 

I dug through the file until I found what looked like a schedule, although it was hard to tell, since the Engrish was so bad.

"Is this it?"

"Yeah! Wow, this is worse than MY first schedule! Give me a second, I'll try to translate it for you." Henry peered closesly at the paper in his hands. "Day begin 6:00 morning. Korea language teacher office 67."

"Okay, I think it means that by six o'clock you need to be in office 67 for your Korean lessons."

"Great! So... where's office 67?"

"The offices are that way. Can't you see the sign?" He pointed to a sign over a flight of stairs.

"Uh, Henry?"

"What?"

"I can't read Korean, remember?"

"Oh... point. This is going to be harder than I thought. Well, come on."

I followed him up the stairs and down a hallway, looking around me as we went. It was definitely an office section. Carefully, I drew a map of how to get here in my head. 

"Henry..."

He was looking around, very focused on what he was doing. 

"Henry."

"Hang on, I think it should be about here..."

"Henry, we just passed it!"

"Really?"

He took a closer look at the number on the door next to him. "Office 71."

I rolled my eyes. "I thought you were supposed to be my guide, Henry-shi!"

He cringed at the Korean formality I had added to the end of his name. "Okay, first rule: Whenever you're talking to me, leave off the titles. We're American! Americans don't speak formally! Call me Henry."

"Ok, Henry, call me Mel. My full name does sound a bit tacky coming from you. I just felt a little bit weird calling you by your first name, when you're like, a big star, and I'm just a trainee."

"What? Oh, forget about that. Geez, are you sure you're American? Didn't secretly live in an Asian country for part of your life?"

I laughed. "No, this would be the first time. It's just that I've watched a lot of Korean and Chinese shows and Japanese anime, so it's had an effect on me. My words, my behavior..."

"Words?" He asked, starting back down the hallway so he could show me the rest of the company. "I thought you said that you don't speak Korean?"

"I don't. I know a lot of Korean words, though. Especially titles, like 'Oppa', 'Eon-ni', 'Sungsaengnim', 'Sunbae'... things like that. I do speak Japanese, though. Or, at least, a decent amount."

"And Chinese?!"

"Yeah, no. I know a few words in Chinese. Very few. Like, a fraction of what I know in Korean."

"What?! You speak Japanese, and are learning Korean, but don't know Chinese?! That's crazy! I won't stand for it!"

"Uh-huh. And what are you going to do about it?" 

"I'll teach you!"

"Henry, I really think that it's a bit more important for me to learn Korean."

"No! Learn Chinese so you can talk to me! What words do you know?"

"Fan bu fan."

"Hey! That's not nice!"

I laughed. I didn't actually think he was annoying. Actually, I thought he was hilariously adorable. But it was funny to see how he'd react.

"Just kidding. Hey, Henry?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are we going?"

We had passed through the lobby and had gone into another set of hallways, just continuing to walk.

"Um... we are..." he looked around. "We're going to the dance practice rooms!" He said, pushing me into one of them. "This is one of the practice rooms. You'll be in here..." He looked at my schedule. "At about five PM. Hey, why do you have so much of the day blank?"

"School, probably."

"As in music school?"

"No, Henry. I mean school. That was one of my mother's conditions for letting me come to Korea. I had to finish high school."

"Woah... what other conditions were there?" 

I listed them off, running through them in my head. "Keep in contact with the whole family, go back home as soon as it gets difficult, make sure I keep eating meat, work hard, stay a ..."

"Stay a ?" Henry cut me off.

"Did I say something weird?"

"One of your mother's condidtions was that you stay a ?"

"Come on, that's not that weird. All moms say that. Maybe not in so many words, but the concept's always the same."

"Bit too much info."

I colored. "Oh, umm.. sorry. I just kind of ran through them in my head. I have a bit of a brain-mouth problem." 

"Me too! We have so much in common!" I couldn't tell if he meant that seriously or sarcastically, so I decided to change the subject. "So, back to this tour. Where exactly are these 'Vocal Practice Rooms'? I assume that's where we're going, since we've gone up these steps at least twice since you showed me the dance practice rooms."

"Yes, of course that's where we're going! They're... this way!" He took off in a certain direction. Crap! Henry was fast! I'm not really snail-paced myself, but I'm a distance runner. 

"Henry! Slow down! Don't just abandon me!"

"Here we are: the vocal practice room you'll be using. This is where your lessons will be." He opened the door, peeking his head in.

"Anyone in here?!" He yelled. 

"Henry!!!!" I heard someone yell something back in Korean, not sounding very happy. 

Henry didn't seem too bothered. "Mianhae, Sunbae!" He turned back to me. "Someone's practicing right now, so you can't go in, but you can take a peek." He opened the door to let me look in, and I couldn't help but gasp.

Shiny pianos. Guitars. Microphones. Things with which you could record your voice, and then listen to it. I desperately wanted to try something. Not that I could play piano or guitar. I had to figure out the ukulele that Aunt Jackie had sent me first. 

"Do I really get to use the stuff in there?!" 

Henry shrugged. "Sure. So long as you dan't break it, of course. Then you'd have to buy a new one, and you'd probably get kicked out. But other than that, yeah. What's so cool? It's just a bunch of stuff."

"I've just never had the opportunity to really practice singing. Especially not anything professional. I didn't have the resources. But this... this is so cool!"

"If you say so. It's not that cool."

"Hey, not everyone has been playing violin and piano ever since they were six!"

"Hey hey, calm down. Let's just go somewhere else."

So we did. All the while, he ended up asking me a lot of questions, like why I got in to SM (I don't know), if I knew any instruments (no, but I was planning to learn ukulele), why I chose the ukulele when there were more impressive instruments, like the violin or the piano (It's because I'm Hawaiian, so it has an ethnic connection. Thanks for the implications, though, Henry), whether I was really Hawaiian or if I was just saying it  (Yes, I really am), if I knew how to speak Hawaiian (no, but I speak Spanish), and, finally, how well I knew Super Junior, and if I was a fan. This last one I actually had to think about. Keep it a secret, or not? Well, Henry seemed like a good guy, not that I didn't already know that. So I told him. Of course, he pretended that he knew it all along. I say pretended because it was pretty obvious that he'd had no idea, despite the fact that I'd known his name when he came to my door. Either way, I was enjoying my "tour" immensely.

Henry is a TERRIBLE guide, by the way. Hilarious, and easy to get along with, but as a guide... well, let's just say that he gets distracted. A lot. And his feet have a tendency to keep moving at the same time as his lips, but his brain is focused on the lips and not the feet. I supposed that's how he's able to dance super amazingly at the same time as he's sawing on the violin wickedly fast. His feet move of their own accord, and he's actually thinking about the violin. No proof, of course, just speculation.

Anyway, eventually, after getting lost about five times, I was shown all of the SM entertainment building that I'd be spending the vast majority of my time in. Before we left the building to go to the songwriting studio, though, I made sure I took a lap around a lap around the building to be certain that I had figured things out despite Henry's terrible guide skills. Deciding that I had it down well enough to not get lost the next day, I went with him out the doors.

"Okay, so where are we going?"

"Left. No, right." 

"Henry!"

"Sorry! I always take a taxi!"

"I thought you said that it was only two blocks?"

He gave me a pointed look. "I'm super famous, but not exactly in a good way in this country."

My smile disappeared. My heart always hurt when I thought of how the Korean ELF treated Henry, ever since he'd appeared as the violinist in Super Junior's "Don't Don". There'd been protests outside of the SM building to make sure he never joined the group. To be honest, I felt terrible for him. 

"Does it bother you?" I asked, starting with him down the pavement as he pulled his sweatshirt hood up over his face, "That so many of the Korean ELF refuse to accept you?"

He thought about it for a moment, then said, "it used to. But I'm used to it, now. Besides, people love me in China!"

"And everywhere else!" I added, "All of the ELF in America are Henry and Zhou Mi supporters. It's just the ones in Korea, I swear. All of ELF I've talked to love you!"

"Including you?" He looked at me around his hood, raising an eyebrow.

I tried to avoid his eyes, feeling the heat rise to my face. "Well, yeah. In a fangirl sense."

"Good enough." He suddenly stopped, just quickly enough that I ran into him. 

"What, are we there already? I thought you said it was two blocks?"

"It is."

I followed his eyes, then felt the air go out of me. "A restaurant?!"

"...I'm hungry."

"Henry! I don't have all day!"

"Yes you do. Your schedule said you don't start until tomorrow."

"Okay, so do you have all day, then?"

"No. But I'm hungry."

He looked so darn cute, I had to give in. Of course, Henry was about seven and a half years older than me, but I still thought he was too cute to resist. Who's counting, right?

 I sat down at the table across from him, trying to look inconspicuous. "Aren't you worried that people will see you and get the wrong idea?"

"Not really. I come here all the time. The owner loves me!" He turned toward the counter. "Annyeonghasseo, Ahjumma!" The woman behind the counter smiled, waved, then came up to us. She said something in Korean first to him, which he answered, and then she said something to me in Korean, but I couldn't understand. After I had stared up at her in confusion for a while, Henry leaned over and told me that she was asking me what I wanted to eat.

Uh... um... I had gone with James to Koreana, but the menus there had all been in English! Suddenly, I remembered something from a long time ago. "Do you serve Jjajangmyun?"

Looks like she got the word "Jjajangmyun", because she smiled, wrote something down, said something to Henry, then went into the kitchen.

Soon enough she came back with two bowls of food, one of them full of the black bean noodles that I had always wanted to try.

Henry looked at me curiously. It was a bit disconcerting.

"You sure are a weird American. I mean, you're not even Asian, but you know Kpop, you can speak some Japanese, you act humble, like an Asian, and you know what Jjajangmyun is?"

I had my chopsticks halfway to my mouth when he finished. 

"AND you know how to use chopsticks!"

"I told you already that I'm kind of weird. Besides, if you think about it, have you ever heard of a normal person that got to be famous? Especially your own group! I mean, are any of the Super Junior members really anybody you'd consider to be normal?"

"...good point."

"Besides, I grew up with a lot more Asian customs than your average Wisconsinite because my Mom's from Hawaii. a third of the population there is Japanese, so a lot of their customs get adapted, and she brought those into my family. Shoes at the doorway when you come in, always respect your elders, and eat Asian food with chopsticks. I guess it's a bit more of a factor, since I'm part Chinese, too."

"You're lying. You're not Chinese. No way," he answered skeptically.

"Oh wow, this is really good!" I remarked, eating my third bite of jjajangmyun, then responded to him, "And I really am. One-sixteenth, to be exact. Actually, out of all of my siblings, I look the most Asian, but because of this-" I picked up a lock of my blonde hair "-it's hard to tell."

 A thought came to me while he thought over this information. Before he could reply, I changed topic randomly, as I'm apt to do (just ask my parents), and asked, "Hey, um, Henry?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you take a selca with me?" I asked, meaning "Self-camera" by "Selca."

"Sure! Why?" Figures. Henry loved selcas.

"Well, my friends have threatened to come over here and kill me if I don't keep updates about what I'm doing. And I'm pretty sure they'd want to know if I was eating jjajangmyun with Henry Lau. But I'm pretty sure they wouldn't believe me."

"Ohhh... do you have a camera?"

"Yeah, right here." I fished my camera out of my purse.

"Okay, ready?" He held up the bowl of jjajangmyun into the frame with one hand, making a peace sign with the other, and giving a goofy smile. I couldn't help but smile with him. So there was the picture. I had to remember to put it on Facebook later.

"Jacklyn's gonna flip. Your her favorite member. Of course, you're not her favorite group, but you're her favorite member of SuJu."

"I'm not sure if I should be happy about that or not."

I shrugged. "You win some, you lose some."

Henry finished his bowl at least twenty minutes before I did, not without remarking that I ate really slow. When we left, I looked around at the city, struck by a thought. 

"Hey, Henry, do you know where the nearest local market is?"

"Local market? Well, there's a grocery store pretty close to your dorm..."

"No, I mean like, local markets. They still exist in Korea, right?"

"Well yeah, not like America. But why?"

"Mom always said that if you ever go to another country, two things you have to eat are local eggs and local honey. They both carry local bacteria in amounts small enough that you don't get sick, but will let you become a bit immune to local sicknesses. I don't want to be stuck in bed the whole time I'm in Korea."

He looked at me weird for a minute, before I finally couldn't stand it anymore. "What?"

"You're like Kyuhyun, aren't you." He said it more as a statement of fact than a question. 

"What do you mean by that?"

"You smart people and your facts. How do you even know that?"

I thought about it, then shrugged. "I just... learned it somewhere."

Shaking his head, he replied, "Yeah, just like Kyuhyun."

Being told that I was just like Kyuhyun was a bit unsettling, but not at all unpleasing. I mean, I'd already thought that I had a lot in common with him personality-wise. He's insolent and evil, but he's also scarily smart. Not to mention the whole thing about Kyuhyun being my favorite male voice on the face of the planet. So I wasn't really insulted. 

By the time we had toured the songwriter's studio where I'd be spending a good deal of my time when not in the main SM building or at school, it had started to get dark. My body was still adjusting to the time difference, so I was already extremely exhausted by the time we were starting back towards the dorm. By the time we got there I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open, even though Henry was still talkng to me. 

When I got to the door of my dorm, I turned to him and said, "Thanks a lot for showing me around today, Henry. It was really helpful, even if you did get us lost and got distracted a lot." I held out my hand for a handshake.

He smiled and shook my hand. "No prob. Actually, I was just happy to talk to someone who was totally fluent in English. You live in a non-English-speaking country for too long, your English starts to slip. It's getting worse, I tell you! Worse!"

"Well, I'll help that any way I can. English is one of my best subjects. I'm unusually good at it, even for an English-speaker," I laughed.

"Oh, thank God! I'll be coming to you a lot!"

"I'll be happy to see you, Henry," I replied, winking, "I am your fan, after all."

"Great! So, see you next time?"

"Absolutely. ...Well, wait. One more question. Is this mine? I mean, the dorm. Is it mine? Will I be staying here for a while?" 

"Yeah, you'll be here for a while. But you're probably..."

The door swung open.

"...going to have a roommate," Henry finished.

From the doorway, a thin, pretty, somewhat tall Korean girl looked down at me, then spoke. In English.

"Hello, you must be my roommate. I'm Kim Min Hee."