Happy New 2013! Back from vacation.
Since Lauren was the only one to meet my challenge for suggestions, she gets the prize: Dear Lauren, I'm using one of your ideas (sort of), hope you will enjoy it. The challenge is still on, I'm willing to listen to feedback any time. Thanks for sticking around to see this story through.
Eun Soo was sitting in a small medical office, which she borrowed from a sunbae at the hospital for a very important and private meeting. It was not a small fit to convince Choi Young to meet with his mysterious nonexistent uncle. As a scientist she believed that gathering information and evaluating facts was a necessary precursor to formulating a reasonable hypothesis and making any conclusions. The facts from Choi Young's perspective were simple – nobody knows about him going through the Hwata's gate, besides the assassin (or so he believes); a man shows up at a hospital, posing as his uncle, so he must be the assassin; if he is the assassin, then he is dangerous and should be eliminated. His logic was simple and straightforward. This quality of his arguments was always disarming, and she failed to develop a rebuttal that would match that simplicity and strength in one blow. So she tried something she did not do before, to actually use the scientific argument – we need more information to make any conclusions. And she explained to him why she thought so. Still there are too many unknown variables: Hwata's gate – why did it close on him and stays shut, why was it open before? The assassin – is he really the only one who knows? What if he has been through the gate before and this is not his first time? Maybe others from Choi Young's time have been, too? Why would the assassin instead of patiently waiting by the gate to snatch Choi Young would go through the trouble of going to the hospital and paying his bills (meaning he has cash from the current time)? And these were just a few things she could think of from the top of her head. "I can help you get information." By now, Eun Soo already came to expect him to chose the most direct and practical approach, so she bet on the fact that what she presented would appeal to this site of him. He listened, he thought, and then agreed. "You look at all the little details, I look at what's in front of me immediately and act. We come from different perspectives, but our views are complimentary. Let's do it like that then." And they came up with a plan, which satisfied them both. "We are a pretty good team!" concluded Eun Soo, while Choi Young proved the point by kissing her with a small dose of KI for an extra kick, making her moan in pleasure and having other passengers on the bus turn. "Sorry", she apologized, and rubbed her head "I hit my head, sorry." Choi Young could barely contain the laughter, while she scolded him, threatening to prohibit any display of affection in public.
"Then for every kiss I don't get to have in public, do I get extra in private?"
"You don't like to lose, do you?"
"With you, win or lose, it's all the same. I still get my lessons in affection." He said flirtatiously. Who did she turn him into?
She called "the uncle" and asked what he wanted. "I wanted to meet with you, doctor. The sooner the better, I have information that might be helpful to your friend. Should we meet at the hospital? I presume you would be more comfortable there." She did not even have to say anything and he already proposed. So here she was, shaking her leg nervously and her fingers drumming on the table from anxiety and anticipation. She was supposed to be scared of this man, but when he came into the room, she did not feel threatened. He certainly did not look like any assassin (she's never seen one, of course, but in the movies they all were portrayed differently).
"How should I address you?"
"You can simply call me Mr. Kim, doctor."
"Why did you want to meet?"
"I'm not going to play games with you, Doctor Yoo. It is actually quite simple. I know who Choi Young is. I know that he is staying with you. I mean him no harm. On the contrary, I want to help. I want to help you both. It appears that you care for his wellbeing. So do I. Nothing would make me happier, than to see him healthy and happy. And you doctor, hold the key to both. All I ask for is for you to consider one thing and one thing only – his safety. If he goes back, it can not be guaranteed. If he stays here with you, then… What do you say?"
"I'm not sure what you mean or what you are implying…"
"Like I said, I know who he is and who he can be. He does not know it himself yet. I have information that he would want. I will repeat again, I do not wish any harm to you or to him. Choi Young is a very important person, and I wish to be of assistance to him. Please arrange for us to meet, that's all."
He left his card on the table. It was the most generic, impersonal card she's ever seen. It was white cardstock, no decorations, no frills, no special font, just Mr. Kim and his phone number, not even a title or a position. It was almost as if he wanted to be just Mr. Kim along with millions of other Korean men out there. The only difference is that they wanted to be noticed and distinguished themselves from each other, he seemed to care less for that.
Eun Soo's first instinct was to call Choi Young and let him know about the meeting, but she realized he did not have a phone. What is he doing at home while waiting for her?
They agreed that she needed to return to work, and that he would continue going to the gate daily, although they did not talk about what would happen if the gate opened. Neither of them would broach this touchy topic. When they were on the bus, going back to Seoul, Choi Young said in his honest and direct way, "Imja, thank you for letting me meet your parents. They are wonderful. For a day, I felt like a part of a family and I had fun. If things were different, I would..." and he decided not to say "ask you to marry me" because that would be too hurtful for both of them, instead he revealed "I would stay with you forever." He looked outside the window, swallowing a lump in his throat, "But for now all I can promise is to do everything in my power to be with you as long as possible."
She knew, he did not have to tell her. Fully aware of the consequences, Eun Soo decided that night when they became as one - she would love him minute by minute, day by day, for as long as they were given. She decided not be greedy and hope for extra time, because having met him and loving him was a lot more than she ever bargained for.
Choi Young waited for Eun Soo at home, having planned to go to the Hwata's gate during the same time as Eun Soo had the meeting with the "uncle", he wanted to check his theory that they were the same person. Eun Soo showed him on the clock when he had to be there and explained to the general how much time it would take him by taxi to the park. She also gave him cash, which began to bother him, since he never had others, especially a woman pay for him. He got dressed into the only outfit he had, a suit, and came out of the room. He wanted to arrive at the Hwata's gate earlier; to keep the time he stuffed an alarm clock in the coat pocket and hiding the sword underneath, put the coat on.
He heard "Oppa, Oppa" coming from the kitchen. Im Ha Na (Eun Soo's roommate) was constantly clinging to her boyfriend, not having anything better to do, while he was preparing food. "Hey, dude, where is Noona?" the man called from the kitchen. Choi Young at first did not realize he was being addressed. He only understood the word "where", but the rest did not make much sense to him.
The guy came to the door carrying a pot and a spoon. "Can you taste it, tell me if it needs anything," and offered a spoonfull to Choi Young. He was not sure how to respond. Usually, if somebody offered an unknown food to him, there was a high chance of it being poisoned. But in this world, everything was different, and this man, whose clothes he wore for a few days, seemed friendly and harmless. The liquid he tried was flavorful and delicious. "I like it, what is it?"
"Soup dude, for my girl. She likes it when I cook for her."
"You cook food for your woman?"
"Of course, it's all the rage now. Don't you cook for Noona?"
It seemed that he was referring to Eun Soo by the word "Noona". Choi Young made a mental note to ask her what that meant, hoping it was not something that he would have to kill Moon Hee Jun for: this man, although had no manners, was the only other male he currently knew in this world; furthermore, this guy understood what women liked, judging by how much his girlfriend appreciated him all the time.
"Are you suggesting I need to cook for Eun Soo?"
"Yeh, man, girls dig it. You will get some after that for sure!"
Still not clear about anything the man had said, besides a few words that sounded like Korean, yet when put together did not make sense, Choi Young decided that he would have to figure out how to communicate with him. After all, it can't be harder than Chinese or Mongolian languages he spoke.
"I have to be somewhere," and he pulled out an alarm clock out of his pocket pointing to the time on the large round clock face.
The man was not phased at all. "No problem, you still have, like, 4 hours."