Part 3: 청춘

I rocked on my feet, watching the groups of students hyping each other up and crossing the street into Sinchon. The sun was setting over the city, the lights of the main street shops glistening over the crowds of students and faculty heading toward the subway.

I looked again at my phone to find that it was 7:34pm. I swore I followed his directions perfectly, but I had a feeling I was in the wrong area entirely. There was no drinking atmosphere in the alley I arrived in; it was actually really quiet for a Friday night. Just when I was going to look at Naver maps for the hundredth time, I get a text from Jinhwan: “Are you coming or… :/”

I texted him back saying I got caught up. It was too embarrassing to say I was lost. Looking at my map again I tried the next block. It was brighter with music playing from every which way. I’d started reading the store signs when I got another text: “ㄱ_ㄱ… is that you across the street??”

I make a quick 180 and see Jinhwan standing outside a dimly lit bar, staring me down with his phone in hand. He looks back down at his phone and I get another text: “What are you doing -_-;; hurry up… “

He sure likes using emojis… I never would have guessed. Trying to stifle my laughter, I hurried across the street.

“Sorry I’m late. Didn’t mean to worry you.”

“Worry…? Whatever… It’s fine.”

We entered a bustling samgypsal restaurant, and he brought me to a table where two other guys were sitting, talking jovially with beer in hand. Jinhwan sat first, leaving me awkwardly standing in front of the table. I didn’t expect them to be there, although, honestly, it was fair. It’s just that I wasn’t good with new people, and I also received no warning. I wanted to be pissed, but there was no way he was going to scare me away.

I put on my brave face, and started by introducing myself. I told them my name and they told me theirs: Sungmin and Donghyun. Donghyun had an appearance similar to Jinhwan’s; slick haircut and black aesthetic, but was much paler. He seemed to have a tattoo showing from under his boatneck sweatshirt. Sungmin was a little thicker than the other two, and he was much taller. His hair was died pearl white, and styled in a simple bowl-cut fashion. He had a much softer appearance overall; smiling seemed to be his default.

No sooner than the moment Sungmin finished ordering three (too many) bottles of soju and four servings of pork, he started firing questions one after the other: “What year are you?” “How long will you be in Korea?” “You like Kpop? Which group?” “Where do you live?”

The heat of the grill at the center at the table was immense, but it was Sungmin’s interview making me sweat. I couldn’t tell if this was an actual interrogation or he was simply that interested. By the time our food arrived, he had gotten to know me so well he might as well had known me for years.

Sungmin had poured our drinks and sliced up the meat, and was smiling an enviably attractive eye-smile.

“Ja~ let’s start, shall we?” Donghyun began opening a bottle of soju with absolute glee.

“Jahn!” Sungmin cheered holding his glass in the air. We all made sure to clink the others’ glasses before gulping down the soju in one shot.

As our meat finished grilling, we made sure to catch each piece before it overcooked. Dipping one piece in sesame oil, dipping another in ssamjjang, wrapping another in lettuce with grilled onion and kimchi, taking another shot after every three bites… Samgyupsal was the best. I was glad that I could at least enjoy the food, as the three guys pretty much talked amongst themselves for the rest of the time. I had thought that Jinhwan would reveal his outgoing side while with his friends, but although he would laugh along with his friends sometimes, he was otherwise almost as quiet as I was.

I had to admit, Jinhwan was quite handsome in the dim restaurant light. He had dark, smoker’s lips, his upper lip curving into a bow; absurdly pouty. I was certain he used some kind of lip gloss, just because of how soft they looked.

How long had I been looking at them? I looked up to see if he’d noticed, and he was staring right back at me. I diverted my attention to Sungmin as if nothing had happened. I may have blushed, and if I did I really hoped he couldn’t tell.

“How do you know our Jinhwan?” Sungmin asked suddenly. I raised my eyebrows, startled by the question I’d assumed already came up. I looked at Jinhwan slightly shocked, and he was already watching me, waiting for my answer as if he didn’t know it.

“We live in opposite dorms…” I tried to explain. They didn’t seem to be satisfied with that answer, so I added, “We practically walk to class together every day.”

“Wait,” I was glad Donghyun interrupted, “This has been eating me up for the past ten minutes… Do you busk? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you before.”

“Yeah, I do!”

“I knew it!” he claimed, lightly slapping the table. “There’s no way I could mistake you for someone else. I see you all the time.”

“Really?” Sunghwan interjects. “We should go to karaoke after this.”

I laugh, “Be careful! I never say no to karaoke.”

“Ya,” Donghyun whined, slamming both hands on the table, “You said we’d go to Cream tonight…”

Sungmin remembered quite visibly, as his mouth dramatically made an “O”.

“We’d better get a good pregame going then. Hey,” he looked at me excitedly. “How many bottles can you drink?”

“One?” I answered incredulously. What kind of question is that? I thought. How drunk are we getting today?

He nodded. “That’s reasonable. Donghyun and Jinhwan can drink three.”

Oh.