I came to Seoul soon after I completed my military service with only one goal in mind, get a decent job to support myself and to feed my family back home in Miryang. I was only 22, the oldest and only boy between 5 siblings. I enlisted as soon as I finished high school with nothing impressive written in my resume. So, to get a job at the end of my first week in Seoul was a huge accomplishment to a humble countryman like me. Even the job was nothing fancy. But it was the start to my current job, the job which gave me the privillege to witness things thousands of people would kill to see.

My first job in Seoul was guarding a small factory just a little outside the city before a former factory guard-colleague offered me a job to guard one office building in the elite Gangnam district after almost 3 years as a night shifter in the factory. The second job lasted for almost 15 years, before I decided to take the offer made by the building owner’s son as the head night guards on the exclusive resident in the heart of Gangnam, just a few minutes walk from the previous building I guarded. The resident of the so called rich and famous kind live, under the radar and prying eyes, where some of them, the young and reckless celebrity couples could enjoy themselves being young and normal. Hugging and kissing freely in the lobby area as nobody could come inside the building without valid IDs and prior notification to from the tenants to us, the guards.

“Ock Samchon, Annyeonghaseyo!”

A girly-sounded voice greeted me and even before looking up I knew who the sweet voice belonged to. I smiled, stood up from my seat, bowed in respect and softly greeted back to the lovely lady known world wide as the youngest member of the most famous girl group in the country. She was again, wearing a very big guy-shirt I suspected belongs to the young man beside her since I saw him wearing it once or twice. But well, since she was born pretty, the shirt look just great in her slender tall manequin-like body. Not to mention, the young man seemed to be happy and proud that she wore his shirt around. Maybe he was the one telling the girl to wear that shirt as a cute way to marked his territory over the sweet young lady and and showed to her fanboys that the girl was simply taken. Knowing him and his dangerous level of possesiveness, that might be the reason behind the girl’s going around wearing his shirts. It clearly shown from his body language, from the was his cheek bursted, and the loving way he given her.

“Annyenghaseyo, Ock Samchon! How have you been?”

I smiled and nodded to answered the young man’s question. And he soon asked me about the progress my son was making with the guitar he presented for his 15th birthday. Just like the girl, the young man was simply kind and humble, very polite and amazingly down to earth. He was the one introducing my boy to his first guitar cords and taught him how to mastering it for hours after his tight and tiring schedules in one corner of the lobby. He event took my son to his dorm to his unit and arranged his younger brother, the one with dimple, to show my son tricks in mastering guitar faster.

“You look skinnier, Samchon! You should rest more and eat well!”

You’re right. The young lady was simply Goddess. She treated people well in the most respectable manner. Her concern to people was honest and sincere. The type every parents dreamed to have as a daughter in law.

“Here we go again. My girlfriend is nagging over other man’s health in front of me, completely ignorant with my feeling!”

I could only smile and his remark soon triggered a quarrel before he gave up and appologized to the girl. She would immediatelly forgive him and they would excuse themselves and walked to the elevator hand in hand, exchanging loving gaze to each other before he pulled her by her waist dropping kisses to her head while waiting for the elevator to bring them both to their level.

Yes. They live in the same level yet in two different units. This exclusive mansions provided personal helpers for our tenants. These trusted people paid really high just to make sure everything clean and comfortable in every units so they did not need to open their mouth to get extra money by selling pictures or videos to those dirty tabloids, which practically living from other people’s misery. Ruining these young people’s live by creating and selling scandals to the public for their own profits.

Anyway, like I said the polite young couple live side by side in the fifth level. Yes again. This was a five storrey building instead of four. The guy was first moved in to this bulding and the girl following a few months after, after the ‘trouble maker’ couple decided to move out from this building after their ugly fight two months earlier. After they moved out, many famous names bidded on the unit but the girl won the battle with the help from non other than her boyfriend who coincidentally live in the unit right next door. Well, the young man could be really persuasive and charming. No wonder he could helped the girl to actually be on the top of waiting list.

This building had two doors with maximum security to made sure our tenants got the privacy they highly paid to the building management. This was a secret hide away for those young hearts in the heart of Seoul, within walking distance from buildings where their activities centered.  Very ordinary looking compared to the other exclusive residents nearby, including the four storrey building which becoming a tourist object in the past 2-3 years since one TV revealed one ‘suspected’ lovers lived there. Since then, the fouth storrey bulding listed in a ‘must visited’ to a certain fandom members on their trip to Seoul. Well suspected couple lived there, and I have to say they never moved out. But do you know they owned several other places to stay.  They had every right to rent other places for a change of their hectic situations right? It’s their own money they used and spending anyway.

I met with the polite couple again the next morning when I did my routine check around the building and parking lot before ended my shift for the day and go home. The girl pressed herself closed to the guy, looking very much like a normal clingy girlfriend, mumbling orders for him to follow, forever nagging over his health and his overly consumed coffee. She was threatening him to make his mother disown him if he refused to listened and take more than one cup of coffee in a day. He promised to listen but I always saw him with a tall cup iced americano in hand when he came back after his schedule whenever she was having her overseas schedules, and begged me not to tell as he needed the caffeine to finished his almost done song for his band next album. But aside of the coffee issue, the guy was a good and dedicated boyfriend to his girl. He came home at 3 in the morning but I saw him walking toward the parking lot where his black colored sport’s car was parked to pick up his loving girlfriend at the airport. He never used his jeep. At least that famous jeep never parked in this building parking lot. And the girl, she had a different car from what people’s been talking outside. Her car was a local brand. The most expensive one but it’s local. But even the car was here, I never saw her driving even once. He always be the one behind the driving wheel using either cars. Hers or his. No wonder her driving skill was rusty and never improved. Her manager and boyfriend did the job for her.

Anyway, I had stop as my shift is ended. So I left the building like the other night shifter at 7 am. My work place was 30 minutes away from my house with Subway. So I needed to pass through the famous four storrey resident and saw a few people standing with their sophisticated cameras in hand, ready to snap and hope for some pictures with a certain couple on them. I could only laughed and felt pity for them for the couple their eyeing were probably sleeping in each other arms, in either units they rented, dreaming about future they wished to have without people wagged around them and made their personal lives public comsumption.

Well, good luck people. You could wait as long as you want. But if I were you I would think outside the box and see  other probabilities, instead of thinking the same famous people still living at the same building for more than 2 years. You have to open your eyes wider for some little details they actually shown to you from time to time. Seeing their pictures spread to internet I knew they giving you all clues. You just need to see it more carefully.

“Appa! The noona did it again!” my son exclaimed.

“Did what?”

I prepared myself for another night shift after having my dinner with my family. My son showed me his phone and I saw the sweet girl on her decent airport fashion. Red checkered shirt and simple black pants. I think I saw her on that before.

“It’s Yong hyeong’s gift! He gave it to her when I was in his unit learning electric guitar from Jong hyeong. Hyeong said, she would be a rocker wife someday, so she needs to look like one at least once in awhile. I know its the same shirt as the noona asked me to help her with the box!”

I smiled and ruffled my son’s hair. Softly bidded my goodbye and wished him sweet dreams. Well people should see if the couple were on their unit since my wife wanted me to gave them her home made kimchi jigae as a thank you gift after girl sent her a lot of vitamins for her joints problem. And guess what who opened the door of her unit. its HIM.

***************

Hello, almost month after my last update. Work is becoming really really hectic and time to write is getting really difficult to find. Anyway, glad to finally finished it. I decided not to complete the story....it’s going to be an open story forever...wkwkwkwkw. This may not meet your expectation but I hope its entertaining enough for you. As always its unedited please bear with it and your comment will highly appreciated . Enjoy. - Dee