chapter moodboard made by me exclusively for this story *:.✧｡* pls don't steal

A Korean girl with amber-colored hair had just walked into the shared living room with that week's reading assignment before being bombarded by an uncouth assumption from her roommate.

"Not trying to play into any Asian stereotypes, but..."

Kwon Min Jung could only brace herself for what her American roommate, Megyn, would say this time but she knew the other girl only meant well. She is, after all, the sweetest roommate Min Jung's had. But then again, being the only Asian - let alone the only Korean girl - in a summer journalism program at UCLA made her susceptible to trivial yet insolent assumptions, like the fact that she listened to K-pop. However, she has got to give Megyn some kudos for making sure the person in question is at least Korean before asking her. Not all Asians were the same.

"I'm pretty sure they're Korean, and knowing you're Korean, especially after thinking you were Japanese that one time - "

"Just get on with it Megyn."

Megyn turned her laptop screen towards Min Jung, whom she only knows by her Western name, Naomi Kwon. The browser was displaying some Google Image search result for the query 'V K-pop BTS'. Great.

"Do you know this guy?" She asked her, pulling up a photo of a scrawny looking Asian boy with unnaturally light-colored hair. 

Min Jung wanted to roll her eyes at her. "I don't think I do," Min Jung answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh." The American girl pouted for a brief second and turned her laptop back to herself. "My friend says they're supposed to be really famous and stuff."

Min Jung plopped down on the couch next to her. "I'm sure they are. But I don't really listen to Korean pop music too much to know a lot of the artists."

Megyn scrolled through more image results of this "V Kpop BTS". While many of the images do have that Korean pop, flower boy vibe, Min Jung had to admit that "BTS's V" is a bit attractive - as far as Korean pop artists go. He doesn't look quite like the guys that she's dated back home, but he definitely isn't unattractive. 

"Wow, he looks a bit..."

"Feminine?" Min Jung finished for Megyn. Min Jung chuckled. "Yeah, that's Korean pop music for you. It's all about the eye candy."

"Jesus," Megyn muttered. She's looking at a photo of BTS' V with what seemed to be the rest of members of his musical group. "Do all the guys in Korea look like this?"

Min Jung couldn't let out an uproarious laugh. Megyn looked at her like she's suddenly become a cat, but that doesn't stop her from laughing. When she does calm down, Min Jung finally answered her.

"No, no of course not," Min Jung said, wiping tears from her eyes. "Korean pop artists are usually at the mercy of the entertainment company that produces them. So, all of that -" she gestured to the photo of BTS' V and his band members in their outrageous garb - "are just costumes. The 'normal' Korean boys I know, dress nothing like that at all."

The two girls went through more pictures of him until Min Jung asks again, "So, why are you looking pictures of this Korean popstar?"

"My friend, Ian, works at this dance studio in North Hollywood and he told me that they're having this Korean boy band come in and learn some choreography for their music," she explains, closing the browser. They both have had enough of odd contemporary Korean fashion. "They came in a week ago and they finally found some downtime to go out tonight."

"Oh, neat," is all Min Jung managed to say. At this point, she didn't really care. She turned back to the scholarly article she was perusing when she walked into the living room.

"And not to be play up on the stereotypes or anything..."

Here she goes again.

"But I was wondering if you wanted to tag along with us and this V guy. He was the only one down to hang out."

Min Jung narrowed her eyes. "Where to?"

"Well, Ian and his friends were planning to take V and his entourage out tonight. So bar-hopping and such."

Min Jung crossed her ankles on top of the coffee table in front of them. It was a Friday night and after a long week of reading literary journalism and analyzing the importance in the craft, she felt like a night out with a couple of drinks wouldn't hurt.

"Fine," she breathed out. "But I'm not going to be anyone's translator, if that's what you were thinking."

Megyn laughed. "Trust me. We'll be too drunk to even interact with this kid."

❀

Growing up in the heart of Seoul, Kwon Min Jung has had her fair share of run ins with famous Korean popstars. Of course, she doesn't divulge this to her summer fellowship colleagues here in America, but that's only because she doubts they honestly cared if her father was some kind of executive for an entertainment company. The truth of the matter was that, of course she knew V. Except she knew him as Kim Taehyung.

With both parents whose careers are heavily involved in the entertainment business, Min Jung may or may not have gone to high school with Taehyung before.

So sue her.

Seeing Taehyung in the flesh - here in Los Angeles - was definitely weird for. Not because he was some famous popstar whose porcelain face she has seen in advertisements for cosmetic brands, but because him being here in American soil was paradoxical of all sorts.

For the past couple of weeks, Min Jung had been rubbing elbows with the douchiest of douchey guys (i.e. privileged white frat boys) during her journalism courses, that she had almost forgotten what kind of men awaited her back home.

Now, here he was - with his chocolate brown bowl cut hair and silver hooping earring on both of his ears - situated amongst a crowd of boisterous bar-hoppers like Megyn and company. In all of his Korean naivety, Kim Taehyung looked a bit lost.

And a bit adorable.

"Naomi, this is Ian," Megyn told Min Jung as she approached a group of guys sitting at a booth inside one of the bars the roommates frequented. "He's from Chicago, like me."

The guy named Ian reached out a skinny arm and Min Jung shook his hand. She mentally noted that he was a cute guy with a wide smile. 

"Nice to meet you," he said. Min Jung returned the greeting and Ian then looks over at one of the guys he was sitting with. "I hope you don't mind, but I asked my friend Megyn and her roommate to join us tonight."

One of them nodded. It wasn't difficult to discern that that person was Kim Taehyung. His curiously large eyes and sharp jawline gave that away. Min Jung couldn't help but smirk, wondering if he understood anything that this Ian guy was telling him.

But with her curiosity, came the answer: another guy turns to Taehyung and translates the exchange. Min Jung bit her bottom lip so hard because it's difficult not to laugh.

Don't get her wrong. She's not laughing at Taehyung's expense. Her parents traveled to the States all the time and most of the time, she was the designated translator for them.

It's just that - 

- alright, fine. She was laughing at his expense.

"This is Taehyung," Ian gestured to said K-pop star at the end of the booth. He's sitting down, but from Min Jung's perspective he's dressed pretty normal. And by that, she meant, normal for a Korean boy straight out of the peninsula.

Taehyung beamed at Megyn and then at Min Jung, his full lips displaying a nice set of glistening teeth behind them. His hair was shiny and glistened even under the dimness of the bar, and his shirt - a vintage graphic band tee - hung languidly off of his scrawny torso. It may be the lighting - or the fact that Min Jung had a couple of shots of vodka before coming here - but something about his pretty boy face gravitated her towards him.

Min Jung felt a nudge at her side. She must have been staring at Taehyung during her silent reverie. They must have also introduced the rest of the people sitting at that booth, of which she didn't quite catch. 

Taehyung's looks (read: beauty) are quite the distraction.

"Ian and I are going to get drinks for the gang," Megyn told her. Before she could answer, Ian, Megyn, and the one who was translating for Taehyung had left the booth. That left behind - oh god.

"So, how long have you been here?" She asked Taehyung in Korean. Min Jung took the side of the booth that Ian had vacated and slid in. She was now sitting right across this outrageously famous Korean pop star. Not many girls can say that, so Min Jung allowed herself about five seconds to bask in the honor. 

Taehyung's eyes popped widely, quite surprised that she was talking to him in their native tongue. 

It really shouldn't be a surprise, though. She did not look too foreign and her fair skin and dark hair gives off way too much of her Asian ethnicity.

"Y-you're Korean?" He stuttered. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down his long throat as his jaw slackened. Min Jung couldn't help but smile. Cute.

"Yes, I am," she answered. "Can't you tell?"

Taehyung silently shook his head. His eyes remained wide open, as if the girl in front of him were an unexplained extra-terrestrial being that he needs to visually study. 

Min J