The hustle and bustle of Seoul never seems to let up even in the cold days of January, but I can’t seem to mind the weather or the numerous people weaving in and out of each other. Today has to be the day! Today, I will get my boss to read my script and finally get it published! You see, I work for the company that produces the South Korea TV Network: MBC, but mostly I’m just doing grunt work at the moment. By grunt work, I mean I literally deliver people their mail and coffee, I’m just an intern for now.

    You see, about two years ago (when I was eighteen) I decided that I didn’t want to go to school, but become a screenwriter and have people see all the shows I write about. It’s funny actually, I started to want to become a screenwriter after binging the American TV show Grey’s Anatomy, it even taught me some of my broken English! Originally, I’m from Tokyo, Japan, but I moved to Seoul to try and make my dreams come true.

    Stopping at the entrance of the shiny glass building, I noticed the snowflakes reflecting off of the windows and I take a moment to be mesmerized. This is a moment to take in and the snow is a sign that I will have a good day, nodding my head, I adjust my book bag on my shoulder. It’s heavier today more than normal, but that’s because I threw in my screenplay this morning in the hopes that my boss will acknowledge me and let me publish my first tv show today. Slowly, my black heels make a clicking sound as I make my way onto the elevator to my office.

    What I’m met with is something very unexpected - okay not unexpected, but it’s strange - people running all around the office in a frantic mess. Shouts from across the room from my boss to his workers, “Somebody get me that script! I needed it an hour ago!”

    People were pushing papers onto the floor and screaming at each other looking for what seemed to be a missing script. I’m just going to slink out of their way for now and get to my locker to put away my stuff. Sighing, I place my navy blue, wool, winter coat in the locker and look to my right, my best friend and the only person I talk to, Hyun Jae, stands next to me. She’s putting away her outdoors clothes and slipping on her work shoes. The older girl is beautiful with her long black hair and her blue eyes are just mesmerizing.

“Would you like a picture, Sakka?” She teases, closing her locker. I snap out of my thoughts and grin sheepishly at her. I pick up the bag that I sat down and placed it into my locker while responding to her with a:

“Sorry, Hyun Jae, I just can’t help it,” I laugh, “If I was as pretty as you, I would not want to do anything. I’d just… be pretty and exist as that.”

“That kind of talk won’t get you a man,” She jokes, heading towards the door. Scuttling after her, I pout at her.

“I don’t need a man, I need to work and provide for my dog!” Opening the door back into the chaos, we are met with more screaming and panicking.

“Can’t we find something better!?” My boss, Do Yun, screams at the poor coworker who handed him a script.

“But sir!” The young man becomes flustered, trying to gain composure over his words, “This is the only backup script we have! The writer has gone to America for vacation!”

“Well, get him back here!”

“We’re trying sir, but-

“Is that an excuse I hear!?” The older man peers into the young boy’s face who goes as pale as the snow that is falling outside.

“No-No sir…” He gulps, hanging his shaggy head so his bangs would cover his eyes.

“Then get me that writer right now!” He screams, walking back through the old wooden door, slamming it shut.

“Looks like Yun the Goon is on a tyrant again today. Of course, his victim is Hun Lee, the leech that he is,” Hyun Jae whispers to me, moving to start helping with the clean up. I gently smack her arm, starting to help her clean up as well, but that moment was short lived.

Hun Lee, who was just yelled at, swiveled on his heels, stomping towards us, “You two! Interns! What’s your names!?” He questions me and Hyun Jae at the same time and we both give each other a side glance before answering him.

“I’m Chun Hyun Jae,” Hyun introduces herself, keeping a level head like she always does. While me on the other, I hate confrontation, especially when somebody is mad at me, so I begin to stumble over my words.

“I’m… uh… My name is… um… It’s…” I stutter out, feeling my palms become sweaty. Hun Lee scrunches his face and his wrinkles become more defined. He isn’t very attractive as a man, wide forehead, broken glasses with a single piece of tape holding them together, a robust appearance and sloppy. His black hair was out of place, he had a coffee stain on his, supposed to be, neat white shirt and his tie was not tied correctly. This made me even more nervous because all I wanted to do was fix this man’s appearance, but his cold brown eyes broke through my already nervous soul.

“Well!?” With a small yelp, I straightened myself up so neatly that a man in the army would be put to shame.

“I’m Sakka Tsukamu, sir!” I yell at the top of my lungs. Satisfied, Hun Lee starts to scrutinize me with his eyes. I am uncomfortable; I am a child. Please stop staring at me sir…

“I want you to run all the way to the airport,” He states plainly which causes me to scrunch up my face this go around.

“Excuse me?” I asked him which apparently was not the response I should have given because his pig face began to turn beat red.

“The airport! Are you deaf or are you stupid!?” He shouts in my face, spitting landing in my eyes and on my cheeks. Don’t recoil in disgust… “Go to the airport and stop Mr. Lee Sam from getting onto  his plane! If you leave now, you’ll make it before take off!” He shouts pushing me to the locker rooms, “If you don’t come back with him, you’re fired!”

“What!?” I shout in surprise, looking at him in bewilderment.

“Did I stutter?!” He huffs, stomping back into the office area. Frantic, I threw back on my winter coat and I pick up my back with all of my strength, throwing it onto my shoulders. I put my dark brown hair in a ponytail so it wouldn’t get in my way while I rush to the airport. If I hurry and grab a taxi, I bet I’ll get there in time!

Rushing from the one hundredth floor (on the elevator obviously, who has time to exercise?) and I rushed back out onto the streets of Seoul, but what I was met with was a disaster. The snow had piled up while I was inside and cars were backed up because of the traffic. There was no way I could get to the airport in time! If I run at my top speed, I could get there in an hour, but it could be too late!

“Ah, screw it!” I huff, holding out my hand, “Taxi!” I shout, getting into the first one I could finally squeeze myself into, “I need you to get me to Incheon International Airport as fast as you can!” The driver stares at me with a bored expression, looking to the traffic,

“That’ll be a while, miss,” He drawls to me and it takes everything in my power not to scream in frustration.

“Just get me there as quickly as you possibly can. I don’t care if we break a few laws, but my job is on the line here!”

“I’m not breaking any laws for some loud mouthed girl,” He grumbles and moves forward ever so slowly in traffic. I groan and impatiently sit in the back. The snow is not letting up and I doubt there could be a plane getting off the ground at this point, so maybe I’m in luck! Maybe he will still be at the airport!

Ten minutes pass and we haven’t moved three blocks from my office; twenty minutes follow and we’re slowly making progress. By the time we reached the forty-five minute mark, I jump out of the annoying driver’s car and toss the money in his face, “Keep the change!” I shout, running inside as fast as possible. I barely note that the snow had stopped falling for the moment as I forced my aching heeled feet to run towards the stairs inside the airport.

“Ma’am!” A security guard shouts, grabbing my arm, “Where do you think you’re going?’ Why does this happen to me?!

“I’m so sorry Miss Police Officer, ma’am,” I bow deeply to her, standing up straight, “But I have to catch a writer who is boarding a plane for America right now and I have to get to him before he leave or else I lose my job and I really like my job. Do you like your job? Because I’m sure you could understand if it was your job on the line and -” I could not stop the rambling from coming out of my mouth. I was in full on freak out mode and I couldn’t stop myself from yammering about the same thing over and over again.

The Police Officer scrunches her face before letting me go, “Ma’am, have you been drinking?” She asks me, eyeing me up and down.

“No, no! I swear, I’m here to get this writer for MBC! He left and we lost his script!” I bow deeply to her once again, “Please believe me! I need to hurry.” I think my begging worked because after a few minutes, she waved me off.

“Don’t cause any trouble,” She told me before walking away from me. I could cry tears of joy at this moment and tell her how much a hero she is to me, but being pathetic has to be put on hold for a second because I have to Lee Sam! I turn on my heel and run upstairs, but I vaguely register the fact that I could hear screaming girls all around me. Now, which one is the plane to America?

“No… No… No…” I murmur to myself, biting my lip as a wavy of nervousness hits my stomach. What if I don’t find him? What if he just tells me I’m an annoyance? What if he ignores me!? Why did they send me out here!? I mentally screaming starting to hit my head in anguish until my eyes rest on the plane I was looking for:

NOW BOARDING: 12:05 TO LOS ANGELES AMERICA FROM SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA.

I let out a small scream as I run to the numbered airport area with my bag slamming against my leg as hard as possible. I should’ve just left it! Sakka, you idiot! Weaving my way through a bunch of people, it took me too late to register that I was about to crash into someone. With all the force in my tiny, five foot two inches stature, I crashed into a boy who in a black hoodie and jeans. Both of our bags go flying off our shoulders and onto the ground, the clacking sound of phones and glasses echo through the loud airport.

“Ow…” The boy groans, looking at me, “Do you watch where you’re going?” He questions, giving me a look that told me I should really apologize. I didn’t have time for this. Quickly picking up everything that seemed to be mine, six other boys surround us as the commotion began to get louder.

“Jungkook, are you alright?” One of the boys asks, helping him up. I stand up to all of them and bow as deeply as I could.

“So sorry! Can’t talk though, I have to run!” I cry running around them and many flocks of girls. Well… That was strange, but I don’t have any more time to waste thinking about this! Pounding my feet into the ground, I reach my destination finally.

Looking around, I try to spot the famous writer, “Lee Sam…?” I question, turning in a full circle to see if I could spot him, “Don’t tell me…” I whisper, glancing at the screen above the ticket area. In bold words, my heart began to freeze and harden. I lost all my breathe at the words that appeared at the top:

FLIGHT 0847 TO PERU IS NOW BOARDING

I missed it… I sigh, slumping into the closest plastic blue seat, hanging my head backwards. I can’t believe it, I missed Lee Sam and now I have to go back and take a firing that I did not deserve. Letting myself catch my breath, I sat in that chair for however long I did. It felt like it was only five minutes, but when I trudged back outside, my phone told me that it was 15:30… The office stays open until 17:00, but I’m sure we’ll stay later tonight because of this big fiasco…

Hailing another taxi, I wait for my impending doom and the anxiety inside me would not be quiet. My phone began to rang, but I kept hanging up on whoever was calling me. I am not ready to face this music. The forty-five minutes back to the office feel like an eternity and I just hoped that my execution would be as fast as Marie Antoinette’s. The clicking sound of my heels are the only things heard throughout the quiet office area. The receptionist greets me with a smile as I climb onto the elevator.

The humming of the elevator is soothing as I climb slowly up to the floors. Nobody got on or off, so what should’ve been a long elevator ride turned out to only take a short amount of my time. When the doors open, I’m greeted with all of my coworkers looking up at me with relieved looks until they realized that I was alone. It would be amusing to see all of their faces change from relief to horror if I wasn’t witnessing my own horror show.

“Sakka Tsukuma!” The voice I’ve been dreading comes up to me. Hun Lee’s chubby face comes into the full view of my eyes, “Where is Lee Sam!?”

“I’m so sorry, sir,” I bow deeply as tears started burning my eyes. I can’t cry here… You can’t let him have the satisfaction of seeing you cry… “I did not make it in time, I could not get Lee Sam…”

“That’s all you have as an excuse!?” He screams, his face turning an awful shade of red, “You have costed this company everything! We were riding on that last part of the script, but now we have to wait until the end of the month begin the next part of the show! What do you have to say for yourself!?”

I continue to bow deeply, feeling the heaviness of my bag fall down to the ground with a quiet thud. I couldn’t say anything, I just stayed quiet and stared at the ground with the vain hope that I wouldn’t cry.

“Well!?” He squalled at me, his voice cracking with how much anger he has pent up. I did not move, nor did I say anything and the next words out of his mouth were words that I expected hear, but still made it hard to breathe all the same, “Get out of here! You’re fired! Leave and never come back!” Gulping, I stand up straight to look at him. Hyun Jae tries to come over to defend me, but I just gave her a look that told her to not get involved. This was my punishment and I’ll take it alone.

“Yes sir, I’ll be leaving then,” I murmured, turning around. The office was silent, save for the fuming pig that just fired me. He continued to spat slurs after me, but I just tuned him out with my head held high. He won’t see me cry and he won’t get a rise out of me.

The moments home were ones that seemed as if everything flashed before my eyes. Moving my keychain from my necklace, I open the door with my defeated expression still attached to my face. Tears had been streaming down my cheeks the entire way home and I had blotches of my makeup messed up, not even the yaps from my Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Chi-Chi, could make me feel any better. Bending down, I pick up my loud mouthed dog and just hold her. She up my tears and stayed in my lap for as long as I need. The caramel colored dog was my best friend and she took the best of car of me.

After a while, I sighed and stood up, walking over to the fridge to start on my dinner. Cup of ramen again tonight! I’ll probably drink some beer to try and cheer myself up too. While my food was heating up, I moved into my small bedroom and replaced my purple sweater dress with some panda pj pants and a long sleeved Hogwarts Alumni sweatshirt. I moved into the bathroom to remove my makeup as quickly as possible, and then the microwave gave a cry as to signal to me that my food was ready. Sighing, I trudged my way back into the kitchenette and pulled steaming cup of ramen out of the microwave. While I was getting everything ready for me to enjoy, my phone began to ring again, but it was not a ringtone that I recognized.

“That’s weird…” I murmur, opening up my messenger bag, but blinked my eyes when I saw the contents of the bag, “What is this…?” I whisper, pulling out some sweatpants that smelled almost as horrible as they were worn out. Discarding the nasty clothing, I reached into the bag once more and pulled out a bulky object. A camera…? I blinked my eyes, confusion filling me, “I don’t even know how to use my phone’s camera, let alone one like this… This thing is extremely fancy…” I gently place it down as I continue to rummage through this bag that is, now very obvious to me, not mine.

“When did I switch bags with someone…” I freeze as the moments flash before my eyes again, “It must have happened when I crashed into that boy…” I whine, hanging my head. Once again, the loud ringtone fills my small apartment and, just as I was reaching for the phone, there was a loud banging on my front door. Chi-Chi starts barking at the top of her lungs and I was scared out of my skin, I grab the bat from my coat closet; I’m not expecting anybody to be here tonight… I’ll just have to be on my guard.

I quietly open the door and get behind it so I can hide, I watch as there are quiet and multiple pairs of footsteps entering my house.

“Wow… It’s so clean!” Somebody yells taking off their shoes. The other six people follow the first one’s movements.

“Look at the dog!” One coos, picking up Chi-Chi who is as welcoming as ever. So much for a “guard dog.” Little traitor can’t seem to get enough of other people.

“Someone’s been here,” One person states plainly, probably noticing my cup of ramen on the kitchen table.

“Oh, look! Here’s your bag, Jungkook!” Someone exclaims in excitement.

“Seems like the person who had your bag was rummaging through it too…” Another one sighs, seeming unimpressed with the whole situation.

“Well, we’ve got the bag, lets go.” One person tries to coax everyone out of my home.

“No way! We’re here for a reason! We don’t just need your stuff!” Another one cackles, looking around.

“Somebody let us in, so they should be here.” The unimpressed one stated just as plainly as the first time. Okay… These all seem like boys… Why’re there boys in my house…?

“I think I know where she is,” The one eager to leave states as I hear footsteps coming closer to my hiding place. Squeezing my eyes shut, I clench the bat in hand tighter, holding my breath and soon the door close with a quiet slam, “...So you crash into me and now you’re going to hit me with a bat?” He sounds amused… I open my eyes and am greeted by seven faces.

“Are you Sakka Tsukama?” The tallest boy asks me, greeting me with a friendly smile. Confusion is filling my entire being as I look between them all.

“Um… Depends on why you’re asking…”

“You have my bag,” The one I’m assuming to be Jungkook seems a bit huffy as he makes his way over to his stuff, and then holding up a completely different bag.

“My bag!” I yelped without realizing what I was saying. I quickly cover my mouth realizing that I just admitted that I am indeed Sakka Tsukuma.

“Good! Glad we found it’s owner!” One of the boys cried out, clapping his hands together. What the hell is going on…?

“We actually came here to give you your bag back… Well, that and ask a favor of you…” The tall boy informs me once again.

“A favor…?” I tilt my head in question, looking at them all.

“We read your play,” Jungkook holds up my thick script, placing it on the table.

“You went through my stuff!?” I shout, running over to the table. The sound of the bat hitting the floor missed my eardrums, but I was too preoccupied by my script.

“You went through mine!” He shot back.

“I was trying to figure out where the ringing was coming from!”

“Well, it came from a phone. My phone to be exact.”

“I know that now!” He smirks, plopping himself up on my countertop. The rest of the boys make themselves comfortable in my, now seemingly smaller, apartment.

“Your bag and mine look nearly identical,” Jungkook told me, swinging his legs, “When I realized you had my bag, we were in a van on our way home and had to turn around to go back to that same airport.

“Yeah, it took us a while to find you. After you hightailed it through airport,” The one with, what seemed like, a grin that could make anyone grin with him told me.

“We searched all over the airport for you, but couldn’t find you, so we went back home to try and figure out how we could find you.” The slightly older looking one tells me, tossing one of my plastic apples up and down in the air as he leaned back in his chair.

“That when we stumbled upon your story,” This one seems to have a baby face…

“What really drew us into finding you was this,” The tall one once again begins to talk to me as he holds up a folded piece of paper. Confused, I walked over to him as he casually sits on my cream colored loveseat. I take the paper from his hands and open up the paper to see what were the contents I had written on it.

“A poem…?” I question, looking up at all of the expectant eyes.

“Do you know what you can do with poems?” The one with the longer hair asks me as peers at me through his bangs.

“...Why don’t you just tell me and save us some waiting time?”

“They can become songs,” The last boy informed me as deadpan as his face seemed to tell me he was.

“Songs?”

“That’s what the favor is,” Jungkook states, jumping off the counter, “We want you to write a few songs for us.” Blinking, I stare at him for a long time, not fully understanding what he is meaning, “What we need is a ghostwriter, can you oblige?”