Chapter 1: Oh For the Love of Biscuits

“Okay it will be 460,000 won a month. You will need to turn in the money by the 3^rd of each month, you hear?” The toothpick of an old man that is now my new landlord croaks, handing me the keys. “If you need help finding your way around the city just ask Kim Chung Ae down the hall in Room 306 for help. She moved from the middle of nowhere to Seoul a year ago. She is a nice girl. I’m sure she would help if you ask.” And with that and a grunt the old man strolls away leaving me to my new apartment.

The apartment is tiny, way smaller than the ones in America, but I take no care in it. To me it is now a cozy home. My home. I wheel my huge, heavy suitcases in the apartment one by one thinking about the organization of the place. The apartment is a small one room, one bath with a refrigerator, stove, oven (which took me forever to find one with an oven), sink, and a little floor table. It is perfect, and for the rest of the day I take my time unpacking and organizing my small home.

~~~

“Can you feel my heartbeat!
Heart beat heart beat

 Niga jitbarpgo tteonan simjangi
Ajikdo ttwigo isseo geugeotdo neoreul hyanghae…”

I let out a content sigh and roll over to hit the off button on my radio alarm clock. The first night in my new apartment, with that thought a smile makes its way onto my face. I hop out of bed full of excitement and the boost of being a morning person. Flipping on my iPhone, I blast 2lepik Soul’s Hero while getting ready to start my day.

Emily’s Morning Check-List:

-Make the Bed(Don’t have it yet… still waiting for the shipment to come in for my mattress <3)

-Shower(All squeaky clean in my bathroom/shower combo)

-Eat(Ramen for breakfast… eck! Oh Well food is food and I need the cash)

-Clothes(black skinny jeans, sea-blue stripped cardigan, a t-shirt, the normals and I’m looking fine~)

-Teeth and etc.

I smile wide in the mirror making sure there isn’t any ramen hidden in my incisors. Before running my hands through my short, spiky, natural bleach blonde hair to make sure I got all the Bedhead Gel in. With a final glance and a look at the time I grab my black over-coat and scarf, and head for the door. First stop, the nice hall neighbor with a sense of direction.

I knock lightly on the door Room 306 and wait. After a moment or two the door opens a peek and I see an eye looking at me before it opens all the way to reveal a short Korean girl roughly the same age as me. Standing there in her duck-print PJs with her long black hair tied in a wild bun, and a toothbrush sticking out of she gives me the once-over and looks up to meet my eyes with a slight eyebrow raise. I got the usual look. The one that says: “Oh for the love of biscuits, you’re REALLY tall, REALLY blonde, and REALLY not Asian.”

“Ah… I take it you’re the new neighbor down the hall in Room 302 that The Old Man was talking about?” She mutters through her toothbrush, her eyes now on the floor.

“Yep, I’m Emily, Emily Davis. You’re Kim Chung Ae, right?” I give a smile.

“You can just call me Chung Ae. What is it that I can help you with on this fine day, new neighbor?” She smiles back through the toothpaste and steps aside to let me in.

“I was wondering if you could help me find a building. I don’t really know how to get to my work place. I know the general area, but the map I have doesn’t show more than a broad view.” I mutter fishing around in my purse for the slip of paper with the address.

I wait till she has finished up brushing her teeth then I give her the piece of paper. “Hmm…Oh yeah I know where this is.” She gives me a smile then disappears only to reappear with a notebook and pen in hand. “Here let me write it down for you. This is close to the bus stop I use to get to work. I have always thought that building was so cool.” She scribbles the directions down and hands me the notebook page. “Here you go.”

“Thank-you so much, you’re a life-saver.”

She laughs, “Oh no problem. I know how it feels. Trust me, I got lost more times than I can count. After a month or so you kind of get the feel of your normal routes. It takes more than a year to actually not get lost in this mess of a city.”

“Ugh, I can’t wait,” I laugh and bow. “Thank-you I’ll come by if there is anything else.” With a smile and a wave I head off to meet with my new boss.

~~~

I let out a sigh of relief as I enter the warm building glad to be out of the cold. I walk over it the reception desk with a skip in my step.

“Hello, I here to see Park Dong-Sun for the 11 o’clock appointment.” I say with a smile to the young receptionists. She looks up and gives me the ‘why is there a six foot, master race chick standing in my lobby’ stare before directing me to the third floor and into a room.

“Ah, there you are! I’m glad you could make it. I hope you found your way here okay. I’m Park Dong-Sun.” A stout man says getting out of a chair to shake my hand. I smile and bow, nervous about greeting my new boss. When I didn’t reply he gazes at me confused. “Ah…I was told that you speak Korean well…” He fumbles over his English.

Realizing my mistake I say, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to say. I’m Emily Davis. Yes, my Korean is very well…most of the time.”

He lets out a short laugh and sits down at the table, gesturing for me to sit in the other chair. “Okay let’s get down to business.” I sit down as he opens up a folder. “I was very impressed with your application. Graduating top of your class at the Savannah College of Art and Design, working for Dark Horse even before you graduated, and I see that your comic “Prototype 008” is having big sales. If I may ask why did you choose to join the Dark Horse Manhwa Project?” He gives me a curious peek from behind the file.

“Umm, well truthfully I have always listened to K-Pop and watched Korean Dramas so I already was familiar with some part of the Korean culture, but really I just wanted to see the world outside of my small hometown.” I give him a smile hoping that is a good answer.

 He laughs, “Good, good. Okay your editor in America told me that you will be doing two series. That you will be finishing up “Prototype 008,” and starting a new series.”

“Yes, that’s right. I brought in the manuscripts for chapters one and two and the name for chapters three through five.”

“Wow, already? Well let’s see them!” I nod and pull out the manuscripts and names, handing them to him. “This is excellent. You really are as good as the comments I got for your editor states.”

I blush with embarrassment, “I still have a lot of room to grow.” He simply nods, continuing to read my pages.

“When did you have time to do this?”

“Ah, on the airplane, it was a very long flight.”

He chuckles, “One question. Why are some of the backgrounds blank on the manuscripts?” Giving me a questioning look.

“I wanted to add in scenery from Korea. Since I have not seen it yet I left it blank. I want to look around the city and take some photos before I add the backgrounds.”

“I see very good idea. I like your direction in this piece. I will assign an editor and an assistant to you for help.”

“Oh no, I would rather not have an assistant. I work faster on my own.”

He studies me for a second. “Okay, but you must make your deadlines. Both series are monthly, but that does not mean you can slack off.”

“Yes sir.”

“Your editor will help with any spelling or language problems too. I will have him call you as soon as he is assigned to you. All chapters will be due on the last day of each month.”

“Understood.”

He gives me a smile and hands my pages back to me. “I look forward to seeing your work Ms. Davis. I hope you decide to stay with us even when the three year contract ends.”

~~~

Time never seemed to slow its pace for me after that day. The hours turned into days, the days into weeks, and the weeks into months. I worked hard, pouring through inked pages, scouting the city, and making friends with my editor, Sang In Ho and my hall neighbors.

In three months I learned that no one in the apartment building calls the landlord by his name, only referring to him as The Old Man. I realized that I am the only morning person in the hallway, and that knocking on Chung Ae’s door at 6am to see if she wants to go running with me is a bad idea entirely. I learned that though there are a lot of big chain restaurants in Seoul, the best places to eat are the ones you don’t normally notice. That I am the only girl Manhwa artist in the Dark Horse Manhwa Project, and to always buy clothes two to three sizes bigger because they are constantly to short for my six-foot frame.

~~~

“Niga geuwa datugo
ttaeron geu ttaeme ulgo
himdeureo hal ttaemyeon nan huimangeul neukkigo
amudo moreuge mam a-a-apeugo
nijageun misomyeon tto damdamhaejigo…”

I smile and a stretch I slide out of my new bed letting Taeyang’s Wedding Dress continue to play as I get ready for my run. Dressed, fed, and jamming to my iPod I jog out the door heading to my favorite spot.

5am, who does anything but sleep at 5am in the morning? Me, 5am is the perfect time for running. When the morning frost is still on the grass and houses, when the sun is just waking up that is when I love to run. Finding my favorite jogging trail I start my rounds, Tablo’s Tomorrow blasting through my ear-buds as I sing along. Just me and the trees that is how I like to start my mornings. Only after 4 rounds through the trail do I notice my very fit jogging mate a few yards ahead of me. Wearing red sweats that are cut off at the sleeves and a hood. I slow my pace down a bit so not to gain on my mystery morning runner and… drool err… admire, yes admire his very sculpted arms. I find myself chuckling as he skips around dancing to an unknown tone on his iPod and singing to himself, only to mentally slap myself as I remember I was doing the same thing just a minute ago. After a few more runs through the trail I mentally say good-bye to Mr. Arms and change my course to home. The shower is calling~!

Author’s Note

Woot, hehe Emily has a thing for running into a certain person. I hope you  all enjoyed Chapter 1. I will be posting Chapter 2 soon, but after Chapter 2 things will be slowing down, because school is starting up again. I won’t have all night to write and edit chapters, sleep will be necessary again. ^.^ I hope to keep all the chapters between 5-12 pages depending on the chapter. This one was short just because things haven’t really started up yet, but I hope for longer ones in the future. Happy 2012~!