Several days had passed and Phoebe was heading off to her first day at work. Sitting on the bus she looked through the few text messages she had sent the mysterious man she had met on her first night in Seoul. They hadn’t really texted much. Just “good mornings” and “good nights” and some small talk about how they were that day. If she was being honest with herself it was nice to basically have a human journal that would respond and not judge. She liked the fact that he didn’t need to know her past or anything too detailed. No names just making sure the other was having a nice day. 

           Nerves began to build up in her stomach as the bus arrived at her stop. She saw the building just a few blocks down from the stop and headed towards it when her phone went off. 

           Him: Good luck on your first day. Don’t forget to eat lunch! 

           She smiled at the kind-hearted text. The truth was that she would forget to eat lunch. Phoebe took a deep sigh standing in front of the Booksburry sign before walking in. The first floor was the bookstore and the familiar smell of books comforted her some. Her floor was three floors up in the translation department. With a tight grip on her purse, she got into the elevator with two other people. One was a girl in all grey with headphones on. The other was a guy who seemed intimidating as he stood there staring at the reflective surface in front of him. All three of them got off on the same floor but parted once they were off of the elevator. 

           The floor was mostly open with four sets of desk groups paired off into their respective departments and workgroups that had bookshelves lining the back wall. It was quiet with the exception of sounds of typing and page-turning. 

“Mrs. Lee?” Phoebe quietly asked as she approached an older woman’s desk. The woman looked up with a kind smile.

“You must be Phoebe.”
“Yes mam.” She gave a slight bow at her superior. 

           “I hope you’ve adjusted some. I know that timezone difference can be hard to adjust to.” Her voice was kind but stern. Phoebe could already tell she didn’t raise her voice much. 

           “It took me a couple of days but I am now able to function somewhat normally.” The two giggled for a second before Mrs. Lee looked over to a cluster of desks with an empty desk. 

           “Let’s get you seated with your workgroup.” Phoebe followed her over to the group of desks. The girl from the elevator was sitting at the desk next to Phoebe’s. She noticed the two standing near her and took out her headphones. 

           “Hey! You must be the new girl. I’m Kim Paenji. I’ll be your editor on translation projects.” 

           “This is Phoebe. Paenji is fluent in English as well so if you get stuck on a translation she can help. The other four are not here yet. But you’ll meet them soon I’m sure.” 

           “Oh, Chan is somewhere. I saw him. He was the stern-looking guy on the elevator.” Paenji’s upbeat voice was calming for Phoebe. 

           “Ah, gotcha,” Phoebe giggled. 

           “Well, I’ll let you settle in. Paenji can be your guide around the building. You’ll need to go down a floor before lunch to get the last of your paperwork done in the HR office.” 

           “Thank you, Mrs. Lee.” Phoebe turned back to Paenji and smiled as she put down her purse and laptop bag. 

           “Sorry I didn’t say anything on the elevator. Chan can be an in the mornings and I didn’t want to set him off.” 

           “Oh, no worries. I probably would have done something awkward anyways. I’m a little nervous.” 

           “No one is going to chastise you for being nervous and as for being awkward I am too.” Paenji had a small face with deep black hair that was worn up in a tight ponytail. She didn’t wear much makeup other than light pink gloss. 

           “Well, I always say that two awkward people make great friends,” Phoebe said with a smile. The two chatted as Phoebe was getting her desk setup. Paenji had already received their first project and had already roughly translated the first few chapters. She was just about to show Phoebe when Chan and the other three finally showed up. 

“Great you guys are finally here. Meet Phoebe. Phoebe meet Chan,” She said as she gestured to the stern-looking man from the elevator, “This is Sang-hee Chan’s editor.” Sang-hee gave her a pleasant smile. Sang-hee was much shorter than Chan and had dark red hair. 

“Then over here we have Ji-hoon and his editor Han-gyeol.” The pair took a slight bow at the same time. 

“Nice to meet you Phoebe,” Ji-hoon said with a bright smile. 

“It’s nice to meet all of you.” Phoebe and Paenji sat back down to get to work on their first project. Phoebe was actually impressed with Paenji’s translation into English. Some of the sentence structures were off but she didn’t blame her. That’s what she struggled with the most when she was learning Korean. She could tell that having Chan around changed the atmosphere. He was stern and not exactly the most fun-loving person. She didn’t let that keep her from cracking the occasional joke with Paenji.

Just before lunch, Paenji took Phoebe to HR to finish up paperwork but after that, the two went out to eat at a noodle place that wasn’t too far from work. 

“So did you leave any family behind?” Paenji asked. 

“Not really my parents passed before I moved here and I don’t really talk to my brother.” 

Paenji had a look of sadness on her face. “Oh, I didn’t know about that. I’m sorry. So you came here all on your own knowing no one?” 

“Yup,” Phoebe answered. 

“Have you met anyone here yet? I’m sure you didn’t just stay in the house for the last three days.” 

“I really just explored my area. But I did meet someone on my first night here. It was quite an odd experience…” Phoebe went on to tell her about the convenience store boy and how they were getting to know each other with vague details. 

“Yeah, that’s kind of odd. He didn’t follow you or anything?” 

“Nope. It’s been kinda nice though to have someone checking in on me. Oh god, I hope he’s not in a cult.” Phoebe started laughing with Paenji. 

“I doubt it. They don’t usually act like that unless it’s some new tactic. But you have no idea who he is.” 

“Nope. He wanted it that way.” She ate more noodles as her work partner thought about the situation. 

“What if he is an Idol in incognito mode?” 

“I thought that too. He says he writes music for idols.” 

“Definitely an idol undercover.” 

“You think?” Phoebe thought as she finished her bowl. If that was the case who was he? The pair was headed back to work when she received a text from her mysterious guy. 

        Him: Did you eat lunch? 

        Her: I did. Just some udon noodles. You?

He sent her a picture of a burger and fries but where he was eating it caught her attention. It looked like he was eating it on the floor. 

        Her: Why are you eating on the floor of all places. 

Hoseok got a little panicky. He was at dance rehearsal on lunch break when he sent the pictures but she was observant. He quickly came up with an excuse. 

        Him: Hanging out with some friends for lunch.

        Her: Ah, ok. 

           “That was close. I need to be more careful.” Hoseok looked to Yoongi who was shaking his head. 

           “Dude she will figure out at least your occupation faster than you may want!” 

           “I know I know,” Hoseok sighed. The group had a concert coming up and a world tour starting in two weeks. He wanted to get to the point of revealing who he was to her before then. He just needed her to open up a little more. Grant it that would mean he would have to do the same.