SASAENG

Chapter One – The Meeting

Hi! My name’s Alice Kang, and as of tomorrow, I will start my first full-time job! I have an uncle who works as a stylist, he offered me a job since I had finished beauty school. And so here I am, packing my bags and moving from my small village in Derbyshire England to the big city of Seoul in South Korea.

My mother and sister hated the idea of me moving away but after almost a year of being unemployed in England, I had to take the leap. My uncle, however, never told me about where he works or what exactly he does. All I know is that he does hair and he’s well paid, and I will be his trainee for a few weeks since he’s moving to America in a couple months.

“Call me when you land! I’m serious Alice!” my mother cried as she clung to my neck, her blonde curls tickling my nose as she rubbed her tears on my shoulder.

“Janie, give her some room to breathe” my father pulled her from me, only to take her place. “I love you honey, good luck and tell my brother to call me more” he kissed my cheek and joined my mother. They were a perfect couple, my British mother and Korean father. Meeting in university, they’ve never apart since.

“Lily, don’t you want to say something to your sister?” My mother turned to my little sister, who was stood behind her with tears rolling down her small face.

“No! I hate her!” she snapped before running to dad, he picked her up and she continued to cry into his shoulder.

“Love you Lil, see you at Christmas” I gave her a kiss on the cheek and said my goodbyes before leaving to board the plane. 14 hours later I was arriving at Incheon airport and was immediately overwhelmed. I had been to Korea only two times before, when I was 3 for my grandmother’s funeral and when I was 15 for my grandfathers.

“ALICE!” was all I heard before strong arms crushed me in for a bear hug. “You’ve got so big!” he laughed as he aggressively pulled me back to look at me. “You look like your mum” he pinched my cheek and grinned.

My uncle knew no English and was the double of my dad, only his eyes were double lidded. I haven’t seen him since I was last in Korea, but I’d called with him many times. He was a very funny man, but I knew hardly anything about him.

“Hello Uncle” I smiled back, but he as he looked at me, his smile faded.

“Are you eating enough?” he took my arms and squeezed them. I was pale and weak looking, something I got from my English mother, but I had the appetite of a beast!

“I’m eating plenty” I pouted and began walking for the exit, my uncle quick on my heels.

“Well, I was thinking of going out to my favourite stew place?” uncle took my suitcase and began walking next to me with a happy grin.

“Okay, but I need some sleep, I didn’t sleep at all on the plane” I yawned at the thought of sleeping on a comfy futon, the under-floor heating warming me.

“Okay, let’s get you home” he said as we went out into the hotness of the Korean summer. The car ride was boiling in my uncle’s truck, even with the windows down. It was a lot different from the Summer back in England which was about 10 degrees cooler.

“So hot” I gasped in English as I turned aircon on full.

“Is it too hot?” my uncle looked worried as I fanned my face with my hands. I nodded and he handed me an ultra-cute pink electric hand fan with teddy bear ears on the rim… “It’s my girlfriends” my uncle flushed a little and we pulled out of the carpark.

“It’s cute” I chuckled as I tried to cool down. “Am I going to meet her?” I eyed him as his cheeks deepened.

“She’s waiting at the apartment, she’s been organising your room for the past two weeks” a small smile tugged at his lips as he tried to hide his love. He’s been dating a woman called Hyerin for the past year, but she recently got a job offer in America. They’ve graciously offered me their apartment while they’re away.

“I can’t wait to meet her in person” I beamed at my red uncle before reaching for the radio. BTS’s DNA came on and I leaned back, singing along.

“I thought you didn’t like KPOP?” my uncle asked, his eyes suddenly darting. I sighed, looking out the window at sunny Korea.

“Lily loves BTS, their songs are okay, I guess” trying my best to sound nonchalant about them… but inside I was screaming the fan chants as loud as a thousand Army… I was a closet KPOP fan who was secretly in love with many artists and idols!

“Okay, well, that’s a relief” he breathed, relaxing back into his seat.

“Why? Is there something wrong with liking KPOP?” I looked to him with nerves. My Korean family were very weird around the word KPOP, the main reason why I’m a closeted fan.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, but I know how crazy some people can get over them, it’s just good you’re not one of them” he sighed, wiping the sweat off his shiny forehead. I snorted and went back to staring out the window.

There’s no way I could be a crazy fan since I was one of the biggest introverts you’d ever meet and hated confrontation. If I were to meet any of the idols in real life, I'd probably end up running the other way or faint on the spot… I couldn’t handle looking at them in the face, I’d die!! And as for the crazy fans, even though I’m scared of people, they just try and go for the members and they’d awake the fighter… deep… deep DEEP down in my soul.

“It’ll be a couple hours until we get there, try and get some sleep” he patted my head as I leaned against the frame of the window. I pouted and curled up in the seat.

“I’m 23 uncle, I’m not a child” I mumbled as I closed my eyes.

“I know, I know” he chuckled, and I fell asleep, the warm breeze calming me. Almost two hours later and I was being shaken awake by a pretty woman with shoulder-length black hair.

“Alice, wake up, you’re here” her voice was very soft as I blinked awake. It was Hyerin, she was even more beautiful in real life!

“Hyerin!” I yawned as I stretched out in my seat in the car. We were in an underground parking lot; a lot of nice cars were parked around us. “Hello” I greeted her with a small bow of my head, jumping from the truck. We had a small hug before my uncle joined us with my bags.

“It’s so nice to meet you, finally” Hyerin tried in English, she was quite good! I blushed a little at her sudden English and replied in Korean.

“It’s nice to meet you too. You’re really pretty” she shook her head and hid her smile behind her hand.

“Oh no, I haven’t got any makeup on, and my hair is so messy” Hyerin denied but hit my uncle’s arm in flattery.

“Why do you always hit me when you’re embarrassed?” he laughed at her as we walked for the elevator, she giggled and hid behind his arm.

“You’re really pretty, Alice. Your eyes are so big, you look like your mother” she looked up at me since she was a head smaller than me.

“I get that a lot… that I look like my mum! Not that I’m pretty! I mean…” I stuttered, blushing heavily as I shook both my head and my hands in a mess of movements.

“Your dad was right, you don’t do well with strangers” my uncle laughed, patting my head again.

“I’m not a stranger!” Hyerin gasped, putting a hand to her chest.

“I mean with meeting people for the first time, she’s introverted” my uncle said bluntly as he ruffled my hair… treating me like a child again.

“Oh, then she’s like Yoong…” my uncle shot her a shocked look and she snapped shut.

“Yoong?” I raised an eyebrow, looking at them as they struggled with their next words.

“Yoongshik, a… a friend of Hyerin, he’s very introverted too!” he spoke in a louder voice than necessary, sweat dripping down his face.

“Yep! My friend Yoongshik” Hyerin agreed, nodding along with my uncle. They’re acting really weird. The elevator dinged and we walked down a pristine looking hallway… where were we? Uncle put in the house code and we walked in, only to be greeted by a handsome face standing perfectly in the hallway.

“Hyung, I called you and left you a message, but you didn’t reply, I need to ask you about dying my hair” his familiar voice was deep, and his familiar smile looked at my uncle…

“Jin!? What are you doing here!?” my uncle was in full panic mode, looking between me and Jin… BTS Jin… Bangtan… seonyeondan… Jin… Seokjin…. Kim Seokjin… I’m going to throw up!

“I called you, but you didn’t answer, so I came over, but you weren’t in…” it was then that his eyes came to rest on me. His beautiful, gorgeous, dark eyes… I froze, wide-eyed. Holding my breath, I put my back bag slowly on the floor. Turned slowly on the spot. AND LEGGED IT!!!

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AUTHORS NOTES

Hi! I’m EstelleKpop! I hope you like Sasaeng so far! I’m sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes, I’m not a professional writer he he XD

I will hopefully be uploading every Tuesday and Saturday. Please look forward to more chapters soon!

Thank you for reading!

Laters!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KpopEstelle

xxx