Quick Vocabulary:
>Majayo: "That's right" (I think it can be used in cases where you want to express that you agree and/or understand something that was said. The feel is kinda like "Ahh, right, that makes sense")
>Eonni: "Big sister" (used by females to refer to other females who are older than them; if they approve of being called this way at least)
>Eomma: "Mom"
>Geurae: "Is that so?" or "I see..." or even "Oh, okay." (It all depends on the tone~ I hope you can pick it up based on the contexts I use the word in ^^) JPN
>-chan: A suffix used to address young children/other young people, close friends, close relatives (kaa-chan for mom, obaa-chan for grandma, nee-chan for older sister, etc)
>Sou ka?: "Is that so?" or "I see..."

---

 

"This is the cafeteria."

I leaned forward a bit to look around her so I could see it myself. The glass doors and wall panels allowed us to see right into the cafeteria; I glanced across all the tables and benches. There was a neat buffet-style serving area to one end of the room, but it was bare of food and cutlery at the moment. I could see a couple of kitchen personnel in the back, perhaps preparing things to cook later on in the day.

It was pretty early in the morning. I came to the company today for my first unofficial day of work; one of the staff from the management department, Kyungsoon-eonni, was kind enough to offer me a tour around the place. Later, I would be meeting my mentor producer.

"Are there many staff members?" I queried, half out of curiosity and half me wanting to fill in the silence to make things more comfortable.

Kyungsoon hummed thoughtfully as we walked down the corridor. "Not many, but much more than we started out with, that's for sure." She regarded me with a smile. "Some of them are away at the moment, though."

We turned a corner.

"They're with Bangtan on tour."

"Ahhh. They must be working really hard."

"That's right. It's not easy to keep up with so many tasks, especially while travelling."

"Majayo..." I mumbled quietly to myself as I examined the small lobby-like area we'd just walked into.

"This is the last place I'll be showing you. You see the different corridors leading from here?" She gestured towards one of the corridors as she turned to me.

I nodded in response.

"All the recording studios are within this general area. This is most likely where you'll be spending most of your time at the company."

"Oohh," I uttered, genuinely interested as I peeked into one of the corridors. There were doors here and there, each leading into a different studio, I presumed.

"Do you have any questions?"

I turned to Kyungsoon. "Ah, anieyo. Thank you very much for the tour, eonni..."

She gave a warm smile. "Then, I'll be seeing you around for the next couple of months." I humbly accepted the hand she reached out and shook it. "Don't hesitate to ask anyone when you need help. Everyone at Big Hit is nice, so don't be a stranger, okay?"

With a shy smile, I nodded. "Ne."

"Come on. Let's head back to the office together."

I followed her out of the room, glancing over my shoulder at one point with an internal sigh of relief. It certainly wasn't SoRim Entertainment; but Big Hit was starting to grow on me. Somehow, it had this really homey feeling about it.

 

---

 

With a huff, I stepped into the cafe, feeling extremely grateful for the immediate relief that the air conditioning provided after my fifteen-minute walk in the sun to get here. Thank goodness my jeans were loose and cropped.

As I reached for my purse to get my money, the person ahead of me finished ordering and moved to the serving area. The cashier greeted me as I stepped up.

"Ne, may I have a lemonade, please?"

After collecting my receipt, I went to sit on a stool by the serving counter and watched idly as one of the workers prepared my drink. Just then, my phone began to vibrate. I pulled it out and checked the caller ID; my mother.

I quickly answered. "Eomma?"

"Ah, Soonae-chan?"

"Eung."

"How's everything going today? Are you okay? Did you meet your mentor as yet?"

"Not yet, but everything's okay. I got a tour and met some staff."

"Ahh, that's good then... When will you meet your mentor?"

"A little later; until then, I'm gonna hang out with Hyejin." I held up my receipt as a server called out my order.

"Sou ka?"

"Mm, she's on her way to me now- Kamsahabnida~" I accepted the drink after the receipt was inspected and returned to me.

"Enjoy~" The server said before walking away.

I got up and tucked my hair behind an ear.

"A cafe, huh. Let me guess, you got lemonade?"

"A mother knows her daughter well," I teased as I moved to a seat elsewhere, one with a table.

My mother chuckled a bit. "Tell me about your day later, okay? I'm gonna get back to work."

"Eohhh. Take care of yourself, eomma~"

"Ne~ And tell Hyejin hello for me!"

"Ne~"

Almost immediately after that, I was surprised to look up and see Hyejin entering the cafe. She smiled and gave her thanks to someone who had held the door open for her. She had her laptop clutched to her bosom, and a seemingly heavy bag in her hand. I moved to go help her, but she had already noticed me and was cutely hurrying over.

"Ah, I seriously thought I was gonna die," she said, setting down the heavy bag at our feet before carefully setting her laptop down.

"What's all this?" I asked, leaning down and peering into the bag. "Books?"

"Mm," she uttered over a pant as she sat down across from me. "A bunch of texts I figured I'd need if I intend to graduate. I picked them up on the way here."

I looked at her and drew a sharp breath through my teeth. "I'm not jealous of you at all."

"Congratulations!" She leaned forward a bit. "That means you're a sane person."

I giggled as she casually took a sip of my lemonade.

She made a pleased utterance. "I'll go order one of these too. Ah, didn't you want anything to eat? They have sandwiches out already, right?"

"Mm, but I was waiting for you to come."

"Ah geurae." She got to her feet. "I'll go get for both of us now."

Stretching towards Hyejin across the surface of the table, I whined cutely in mock objection, which was greeted with a straight face.

"Gomawooo~" I said with a laugh as she walked off.

 

I nibbled on the last piece of my sandwich, not wanting to finish it just yet.

For the past half hour or so since we got our order, Hyejin has been diligently typing up an Ethics paper on her laptop. We had short conversations every now and then, but I tried my best not to disturb her. Hyejin is a Marketing student, and probably the hardest working one I've ever met. Although, to be fair, I haven't exactly met any other marketing students...

Still, I admire Hyejin's work ethic. Almost her entire family is made up of persons with Business degrees of some sort, and they are rather wealthy thanks to all their successful entrepreneurial ventures. Since her older brother went into medicine, Hyejin's parents have been hoping that she would be willing to inherit their parts of the family business. Surely it's been stressful, but I've never heard her complain or express even a hint of disapproval towards the matter. If it is that she actually has dreams tucked away in some corner of her heart, nobody knows for certain; not even me, her best friend of six years.

"Ah, that..."

I blinked as Hyejin pulled me out of my thoughts. "Hm?"

"Jeongwon-oppa. I saw him yesterday on his way home from SoRim."

"Oh? He didn't tell me that he started," I murmured with a thoughtful pout.

"Ah, you know him- he was probably being considerate of your feelings."

"My feelings? Wae?"

Hyejin lowered her laptop screen slighty and blinked as she gave me a tight-lipped smile.

"...Yahhh." I gave her a serious look.

"Yah, when are you gonna acknowledge his feelings?"

"I already did, you know that." I took my final bite of sandwich. "I just haven't returned them," I said plainly around the mouthful.

Hyejin rolled her eyes.

"I don't get why people always make a big deal of their friends being single. Especially when they themselves are ALSO single."

"You know how busy I am... Any relationship I get into is sure to fall apart right away."

"So why do I need to date?? What if I'm busy too? Do you just wanna live vicariously through me? You know how selfish that is?"

She couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Fiiine, I get it, don't worry about it."

I gave a warning glance before leaning back in my chair with my arms folded.

"...Soonaeee. If it can bring you some happiness, it's worth a try. I just want you to be happy, okay?" She gave a sympathetic pout.

After a couple seconds of thought, I let out a sigh and softened my gaze. "We'll see what happens."

Hyejin smiled and cutely clapped her hands in front of her chin, almost inaudibly.

Because of the change of atmosphere, the conversation about her possibly existent dreams would have to wait a while longer. I noted this as I took a sip of my now diluted lemonade.

 

---

 

"Oh, you're here," another staff member greeted.

"I'm home!" PDogg responded with a chuckle as he passed by.

"Aigu, did you work hard? Your eyes have stories to tell; they should start calling you PPanda."

"Aniyaaa, there's no hip-hop in that."

Their banter naturally faded into a comfortable conclusion as PDogg continued towards his studio. As he entered the general music production area, he noticed someone leaning against the wall across from his door; a girl, fairly young. She had her earphones in and was doing something on her phone.

"Annyeonghaseyo?" He greeted, bending slightly to enter her field of vision as he got close enough to her.

She turned to him, a bit surprised, then quickly took out the earphones. "Annyeonghaseyo~" She replied with a slight bow. "Could you be... PDogg-nim?"

"That's me. Are you my new student?"

She nodded shyly. "Kang Soonae."

PDogg repeated the name and paused for a second as though he was committing it to memory. "Nice to meet you!"

They shook hands.

"You can come in. We have a couple things to discuss first, right?"

"Ne."

"I must admit, you're not what I expected," PDogg said as they walked into the studio. "Of course, I don't mean that in a bad way."

Soonae smiled and took a seat where he gestured. "What were you expecting, PD-nim?"

Thankfully, she didn't seem offended and was genuinely curious.

"Well, now that the question is being posed, I actually don't know myself." He chuckled as he took a seat in his revolving chair. Turning it to face Soonae, he gave a thoughtful hum. "I guess it's just interesting that you're the student."

Soonae gave a confused pout. "Is it something about me?"

"It's just...somehow, you look like someone who would be out there. An idol. A model. Someone famous and loved by the world." He smiled as she raised a sceptical eyebrow. "I suppose amazing flowers really do bloom in unexpected places."

"Anieyo..." She looked down shyly.

After allowing a couple of seconds to float by, PDogg sat up straight. "In any case. It's great to have a flower who wants to learn more about music. I'll try my best to be a good mentor."

"Ne. I'll pay keen attention."

"Good!"

She was quiet, but seemed easy to get along with. Hopefully that would help make things proceed comfortably in their student-mentor relationship.

"It's my first time being an official mentor to anyone, so please bear with me." He bowed, to which Soonae responded with a giggle and words of reassurance.

"Uri fighting~" She said, clenching both fists before her.

PDogg repeated the gesture. "So. Tell me more about this young producer that Bang PD-nim approved of."