Ha Neul Stuart went to Seoul on a whim after her father died, wanting a break from her university and all those she knew. So, she booked a ticket to Seoul as soon as she began getting insurance payments. Ha Neul knew she should have thought this over a bit more than booking a flight on Orbitz and applying for a handful of assorted jobs. But, at the time this seemed very romantic a la Under the Tuscan Sun. She planned on penning her adventures in a travel/self-discovery novella called Beneath the Seoul-filled Sky. A working title, of course, though Ha Neul thoroughly enjoyed her pun.

She figured it’d be an instant bestseller no matter how uninteresting her adventures would be. Ha Neul was bi-racial and traveling to one of her homelands, which was sure to garner some interest for the public loved motherland reunion stories or so she assumed, for she herself had read many a book about Americanized adults returning to their roots or mulatto children trying to find where they fit in life.

Granted, she couldn’t be a mulatto, but she was a blasian. Her mother’s pure Korean genes had fused with her light-skinned father’s to create one Korean child, a Black child and a racially ambiguous one. Her oldest brother leaned more towards Korean features, his skin the whitest, making him appear nearly pure with his almond eyes, but there was something off about the way his hair curled tightly or the way his skin darkened in the sun. Ha Neul’s sister veered towards her father’s side with coarse, curly hair and the darker skin tone with Western eyes and ample curves.

Ha Neul herself was caught firmly between both races, appearing neither more similar one than the other. People constantly asked what she was. Was she Hispanic? Was she Arab? What on earth could she be? Ha Neul would just smile, thinking her given name made it obvious, but not apparently so.

While both her siblings inherited her father’s height, she unfortunately remained at a stately 5’2”, which was not so short, but not the height she desired for herself. Her hair looked black to most people, but it was not the shiny pure black that most Asians had; instead, it was a dark brown, not even black at all. She luckily had manageable curls, but usually straightened them after every shower because she preferred it that way. Her eyes were wide and a light brown with a slight tilt to them, but they were often hidden behind glasses, a result of her genes since both of her parents has poor vision. Ha Neul had olive skin, which had caused a few especially porcelain-skinned girls in Seoul to eye her distastefully and whisper in Korean. She would just roll her eyes and continue on her merry old way.

Sometimes, Ha Neul vaguely made comments in Korean back about seeing far too many 2x4s for her liking. These girls may have nothing to shake, but they certainly acted as if they were well endowed. Ha Neul probably had enough to share with the entire country, maybe even North Korea. Well, she considered, North Korea would be stretching it. And yet…the brunette looked down at her very well-covered bosom and then at a girl chatting on her cell phone on the street corner. Yes, she had some to share even with North Korea.

Ha Neul had more important matters to figure out before her plan to enhance anyone’s s or even her multi-million dollar book that had yet to be written. For one, she had not the forethought to look at apartments, but she had rented a hotel room for a week. Surely that would provide enough time for her, right? And she could attend these job interviews at places she had blindly applied to.

There were a few teaching positions as well as a job she applied for in the entertainment business. Ha Neul was not sure doing what since it was very vague. Six girls of non-Korean ethnicity were needed. Technically she was half-Korean, which wasn’t full-blooded. In any case, Ha Neul had to go to this audition/interview tomorrow morning at ten, which was going to be difficult. Trans-atlantic flights can do wonders on a girl’s sleep schedule. She was sure that it was a day earlier back with her mom, but she was not too sure. In any case, Ha Neul needed food and lots of sleep.

At that point in her musings, she passed a café. It looked like a good place to eat, Ha Neul considered. The inhabitants were all around her age and seemed to be enjoying themselves. She pushed the door open and dragged in her luggage with her. Her entrance, somewhat loud and her luggage caught on the step and she yanked it muttering to herself, startled a few of the customers. Ha Neul smiled widely at them, unnerving them even more.

The door swung shut behind her and she found a lone table near the back of the café. It was situated near another table of a few males wearing hats, glasses and what looked like wigs. She slumped into her seat and a waitress immediately came to the table. She handed Ha Neul a menu and bowed before retreating. Ha Neul barely had time to acknowledge her presence.

She flipped the menu open and stared at it. Her Korean reading and listening skills were way better than her speaking skills. Though she was fluent at all three, thanks to dear old mom, she found speaking to be difficult at times.  Her mind would go blank with trying to translate whatever the person was saying.

Ha Neul decided on mandu and some tea, since she just wanted to eat and then leave. She needed, wanted and craved sleep right now. Ha Neul’s pocket started vibrating and soon she heard her generic ringtone on her Korean phone. She pulled the phone out of her pocket, not surprised to see it was her mother.

“Yoboseyo? Ah, umma, annyong! Ne, eotteohke jinaeseyo? Ahhh, hold on a second…” Ha Neul beamed up at the waitress. “I’ll have an order of mandu and then…” She tilted her head staring at the drink menu. “OH! You have mini-coke? I’ll have one of those!” She handed the girl the menu and smiled warmly at her.

She was a pretty in the Korean way with a small face and big eyes and long, black hair that she kept tied in a low ponytail with a bright green bow. Ha Neul glanced at her name tag, which read Min Jee.

“Kamsahamnida, Min Jee-sshi.”

“Are you American?” she inquired, eyes wide. Ha Neul nodded and said a quick good bye to her mother.

“Yes, I just left the airport,” replied the girl with a nod. “My name Is Ha Neul.” Min Jee’s jaw dropped open and she scratched her head.

“That’s a Korean name,” she pointed out, to which Ha Neul laughed.

“My mother’s Korean.”

“No way!” Min Jee hit her forehead with the menu and giggled. She was about to say more, but her boss angrily called her name from the back. She bowed and hurried off to turn in Ha Neul’s order.

“Hyung’s going to kill us if we don’t hurry up,” whined a male’s voice. It sounded vaguely familiar to Ha Neul, but she had no clue from where. The only people she knew in Korea were the idols she watched on television. Then again, she really didn’t know them at all.

“Aish, just hold on, bro.” The voice that responded was deeper and gruff, more of a man’s voice than the first one. Ha Neul turned her head slightly. She strained her vision to peek at them. And it was to no avail. For even though it was late May, the boys were hats and glasses and…did she see a scarf?

The girl decided that was too bizarre even if it could be an interesting interlude in her book. And yet…she sighed. She was too jet-lagged for any fun side stories. After she devoured these dumplings, she would head straight to her hotel. Judging from the directions, it should be down the street from here.  Ha Neul yawned tiredly and rested her head on the table. Surely it would not be bad to just rest her head here until her food came, right?