My head is pounding, you thought, as you closed your eyes in the airport terminal. The noise was so overwhelming you couldn’t stand to look at the people around you. It was a busy New York morning. You couldn’t even find a seat in the next six waiting areas on either side. People were piled up with babies, luggage, and most annoyingly—selfie sticks. Why are they taking selfies in an airport terminal? Remembering that they were heading to the same destination, you groaned. I am never going to get used to this… you tried to sleep for the next two hours with your headphones in, volume up blasting your favorite song on repeat.

“반짝 짧게 빛났었던/행복 속에 취해 저 기억의 빛에…”

You shifted peacefully. Finally, you were able to start blocking out the noise around you. Leaning against a pillar on the ground, you drifted off to sleep.

“FLIGHT 3747 TO BEIJING LAST CALL FOR BOARDING”

“WHAT? Wait!!! Wait for me!” You scrambled to your feet, glad you just brought a light backpack with you. Practically tackling the flight attendant, you pulled out your boarding pass. He chuckled at your reaction, patting you on the shoulder and motioning you forward. Smiling, you boarded and got to your seat in first class. Damn, that flight attendant’s is out of this world. It’s out of this galaxy. You glanced behind you and blushed to see he was smiling at you too.

Finding seat 4E, you turned to sit down but saw a pile of pretentious designer bags in your seat. Uh, what? Some guy was sitting in the window seat next to it with a face mask, snapback, and sunglasses on.

“Excuse me,” you directed at him, “this is my seat.”

No response. Maybe he doesn’t speak English?

Clearing your throat you repeated in Korean, “Excuse me.”

Nothing. You were already mad you didn’t get your window seat and now this clown was getting on your sleep-deprived, stressed-out nerves.

“HEY LISTEN YOU JUSTIN BIEBER WANNABE—”

He didn’t sit up, he didn’t look at you; he just snapped his fingers, and said in Chinese to the guy sitting on the opposite side of the aisle, “Take care of… this. I’m tired.”

The man, I guess his assistant, stood up and bowed—or tried to, in the shallow airplane cabin—moving the bags out of the way and into his lap. He didn’t look comfortabl