I looked around. I was in some sort of alleyway, a fairly typical one in the sense of tall buildings and fire escapes. The oddest part of the place was not the scenery, but the smell. It wasn't a bad smell, but a weird one with unusual spices and vegetables. I sniffed it again, remembering that even if the food smelled different, I hadn't had anything to eat since lunch that day, maybe four hours ago. I could totally go for some Korean food.

Of course, I looked down at my loose clothes and realized that I was the weirdest thing about the place. Koreans are all about dressing right in public - no going around in pajama pants - so too-large men's clothes was definitely out. While I'm somewhat lacking in the level of dignity of the normal human, this isn't exactly my idea of a good time.

Turning around, I saw the electric light-cloud that signified the Protoss recall. As expected, it was Cheonha, teleported this time without the sofa chair and blanket. Poor Cheonha clutched her skinny arms, standing there shuddering as if it were colder than it was. Her clothes were outdated North Korean stuff, and that was definitely not good Seoul streetwear either. Fortunately for both of us, Cheonha had the suitcase of won with her. Huh, did Aldaris give that to her, or did the boys realize it was more useful to her than the rest of us?

Cheonha didn't like the look I was apparently giving her (pity, I guess) and said something that was probably nasty. I'm not really sure what, because I haven't learned korean swears yet. Wasn't planning on it, to be honest.

Cheonha got over it pretty fast. "Chigum odee-ehyo?"

"Morugessawyo," I answered, peeping out from the alleyway. "Wait a minute...yeah! I know this place!"

I came out of the alleyway, to find myself in a place that didn't look too dissimilar. But this street I'd seen before. It was a quieter road (for Seoul) that ran between two busier streets. To the left, I knew it went over to the youth hostel I'd stayed at some years ago. To the right, if you went down far enough, you could run across a Dunkin Donuts and a Paris Baguette. Even further that way, if I remembered right, was the Bang Bang clothing store, a trendy place with posters and catalogs full of bad english. I love bad english.

Turning around, I saw the little convenience shop that confirmed everything. It was the same little place, with a register on a tiny counter, huge bags of Korean instant coffee I could see through the front window, and there right in front of the door a metal, heated display that showed some white buns full of pork or something. I'd meant to try them my first trip to Korea, but I never got the chance.

"I know where this is!" I exclaimed. "Namdaemun shijang-iehyo! Seoul-iehyo!"

Cheonha choked. "...Seoul?"

Cheonha had already joined me on the street and she could see the loaded convenience store for herself. She could see the pork buns in their stand, peacefully displaying themselves in public, without the shopkeeper worrying about starving children stealing them. Cheonha wandered a few steps, where she could see the end of the quiet road, where five cars drove by. That kind of traffic in ten seconds was about as much as Pyongyang saw in a whole day, and I didn't even know if Cheonha had even been to North Korea's capital.

The North Korean could see, and smell, for herself. Only then did I remember the real trouble: Cheonha had been lied to all her life. In the North, they were told that everyone else in the world was more poor than North Korea (just imagine a world where that's true...), and now...well, no matter how much she'd believed that lie before, it was utterly shattered now. She shuddered only once, refusing to look at me - or at anything. Cheonha lowered herself slowly to the ground, leaning against the brick wall of a multiplex. She tried to sob, but she was already so tired all she could do was let her head drop unto her knees. Then she was still.

I stood there a minute, waiting for Cheonha to do something. When she didn't, I went to the brick wall and slowly settled myself next to her.

"Cheonha-shee..." that was as far as I go before remembering precisely how limited my korean was. I sighed and just kept going in english, for some reason. "Colleen...I sort of know what you've been into up in North Korea. Sort of. You've got a lot of false images about how the world is. Just...just don't hold onto them too tight. The people of the world are nothing like what you were told about them. This place, Seoul, is like what the North should have been, except not separate from the rest of Korea. This is what happens when people accept competition, capitalism, and just freedom in general. Oh, what am I saying? We're going to get you some clothes, some dinner, and then we're going to go to the cops, and then everything is going to be fine. Okay?"

"Okay?" Cheonha lifted her head to look up at me. "...chincha 'okay'?"

Uh...did she understand me or something? Oh well. There was only one way to answer. I nodded.

"Ne."

There really isn't much purpose in me describing what happened next in detail. It was honestly pretty embarrassing. We went to the Bang Bang store, which thankfully was more or less where I remembered it. It was really awkward to go around in our unfashionable threads, and Cheonha had somehow hurt her ankle, but it wasn't that far of a walk. People stared at her, but, awful as this may sound, Cheonha has a really good "cornered badger" glare that can make people look away in about two seconds. It's not all that bad an ability.

As much as I love everything about the Bang Bang shop, with colorful clothes, shiny shoes, and bad english galore, neither me nor Cheonha had all that good of a time. The store clerks were nice enough, but they stared constantly, and she didn't like it when they asked her questions. I'm pretty sure they were just asking things about what Cheonha was looking for, but she didn't like it. I took to distracting them whenever they got too close, and since none of them really knew much english, they backed off a little.

Besides trying to find something for Cheonha, I had to find something for myself. Quite frankly, if you're not an Asian, there's few activities worse than pants-shopping that can make you feel ever so fat. Where I'm from, I'm pretty normal. Thus, I'm not an adorable Korean girl. Thankfully I found a couple of shirts that were large enough for me, but ended up stuck wearing the man's jeans. Yuck. Cheonha found shopping about as fun as I did, so as soon as we found some jeans that fit her, I grabbed a couple more of the same size and let that be it.

Cheonha didn't try on a lot of shirts, but I bought her some anyway, along with two pairs of shoes and a bag to hold her spare stuff. I took the tags off the stuff she was wearing so that I could pay for it without her having to take it off. I'd already taken some of the won out of the suitcase while I was in the dressing room, because it'd probably look really creepy of me to pull some out of a suitcase full of cash in front of people. That would add a whole 'nother point of interest to us weirdos.

It was really odd when Cheonha turned down my offer of getting food from a nearby street vendor, but I didn't know enough of her language to question it. We passed by another alleyway, except this one was full of vendors cooking various foods on the street. Both sides and a "lane" in the middle of the alley were all crammed chock full of little stands of various things, like kimchi stands and old women cooking fresh potato pancakes. Cheonha's eyes practically exploded as she passed by the fruit stands, where not only where there tons of fruit out, but also arranged in shapes like turkeys and roses.

Cheonha followed me as if I knew where I was going, but I didn't. I was looking for a police station or government building, because I don't really know where you're supposed to take smuggled North Koreans. Actually, the more I thought about it, the more apprehensive I got. Thing is, North Koreans typically get interrogated when they come south. Something about preventing the north from sending spies, and also a way to help northerners integrate into society. Whatever their motives, the South Koreans were going to ask questions. I didn't want to lie, but how could I tell them the truth? Would Cheonha know not to? Shouldn't Aldaris have been more reluctant to send us here? Or is this some kind of test on his part to see how we handle things? He did seem like he believed me about Starcraft.

Our random wandering brought us out to a place that looked like a police station. It was a stern, grey building, with a thing that looked like a police badge on the front wall. A couple of people, not cops, exited the building and passed us with a stare, particularly at Cheonha. She tensed and grabbed my arm, but the pedestrians just went by.

"Well, let's go in." I said. "I sure hope someone in there knows english."

"Aniyo. Mot kayo."

That's the thing about korean. You can make a sentence without a subject. "Mot kayo" means "can't go", and can refer to the speaker or someone else depending on the context. To resolve this ambiguity, Cheonha let go of my arm and put her hand on her shoulder. And then she said something. My eyes widened with the blank stare of ignorance. She said it again, slowly this time. I blinked. Cheonha facepalmed. She walked out in front of me, getting between me and the police door. She said a few words, and did a lot of gesturing with her hands. She pointed to herself and said "na-nun" and then pointed to the police station - "kayo". She then pointed to me, and crossed her arms.

"Um...na-nun..." I strained my memory for the right words. "an kayo?"

"Ne!" Cheonha almost laughed with relief. She took my hands and bowed her head slightly. "Kamsa-hamnidah. Anyongikahsehyo."

"Chon man-ehyo." I answered. "Anyongikehseyho."

She let go of my hand and went into the police station. Well, I was bumfuzzled. She didn't want me to go with her when she turned herself in. What exactly was she going to tell the cops? It took me a second, but I got it. Just because Cheonha has a disadvantaged background doesn't mean she isn't smart; clearly she must have known that one person speaking korean and another english would be bound to come up with two different stories that the cops could compare and find flaws in. She trusted me enough to follow me when I wandered around Seoul, so I guess I can trust her to handle getting help from the South Korean government. I just wish I could have explained to her what was going on. Well, the little of that that I do know.

I suddenly grimaced, making a face so awkward that a Korean couple passing by began walking a little faster. Cheonha knew about Protoss! Korea's such a Starcraft-obsessed country, they'll think she's nuts if she starts talking about Aldaris. I turned back toward the police station and winced, wondering if I should go in. To Cheonha, all of Seoul is crazy simply for existing. She doesn't have the background to realize aliens are weirder than South Korea. ...Does she?

But I didn't go in. I was just going to have to trust her. However she intends to explain how she got here, she is a genuine North Korean, and possibly knows the stories of others who escaped the north. Besides, I wanted some ttoekbokki anyway.

With a sigh, I turn away from the door and start walking. Seoul's a pretty crowded place, with lots of tall buildings and crowded streets everywhere, and I'm not an urban person. As much as I wanted to go to that one familiar part of Namdaemun, I was now so dang turned around from the wandering that I had no clue where I was. It didn't matter too much. If Aldaris wanted to find me again, he probably could just scan or something. Maybe his teleporter put a psychic marker on me. I don't know.

There wasn't much to do at that point but make my stomach shut up. The time change between Korea and America was so weird. Back home, it was early afternoon. Here, early morning was wasting away, and I really wanted a nap. But there was a street vendor nearby, and in one of the metal bins on his heated cart there was a familiar food: little cylinders of rice cake covered in a brilliant red hot sauce - ttoekbokki. As I dug into my pocket for some won, I walked up to the stand and hoped that the brown stuff in the next bin over was some kind of beef.

For the next hour, not too much happened. I got some food and ate it on one of the little plastic seats around the vendor. And then nothing. Aldaris didn't call me. I started to wonder if maybe Al only could recall me from this distance using the little breathing ring I used with the sevengills, but eventually figured that if Al could recall Toby in New York without one, then he could recall me now. What was going on in that ship?

It got to the point where I had to assume that Aldaris wasn't going to come and get me. The vendor was starting to look at me weird, so I got up and walked around as I thought about things. Even though it felt like forever, I'd really only been away from Fayetteville for maybe three or four hours. Since it takes about eighteen hours - not counting layovers - to fly from here to home, I was going to have a lot of explaining to do when I got to the American embassy. Yeah, it was the only place I could think of to go. As much as I rant on about Korea, I don't actually have any friends here. Maybe I should get one. It's not like they monitor email here like they do in China. Seriously, don't bring your personal technology to China unless you don't mind the Chinese government copying your hard drive.

So walking. Yeah. Nothing remarkable happened, so I'll just skip to half an hour later, when I'm completely lost and pondering on how many Korean shirts and toys for my nephews I can get with the money in the suitcase. I'd all but given up on Aldaris picking me up again when suddenly the now familiar sound of electric warping appeared around me. I'd been hiding in a corner while I peeked at the won, so I guess Aldaris didn't feel the need to warn me I was being recalled.

So it takes me completely by surprise when I look up and once again I'm on Aldaris' ship. I really hope that all this teleporting doesn't mess up my brainwaves or something. Anyway, I notice right off that the feel of the room was completely different. It got a lot darker. Aldaris refused to look at me, and stared straight at the screen before him.

"Uh...where are the guys?"

"Gone." The way he said it, I was worried for a minute. Thankfully, he clarified. "I have sent them back to Earth."

Aldaris sounded...melodramatic? The way he oppressively and firmly stared at that screen of my planet...well, it was clear he was trying his hardest to be objective. He wanted me off the ship, and he wanted me off now. But he didn't tell me to point out where on Earth I lived.

"Bethany..." he said slowly. "Is it true that at the end of Starcraft, Kerrigan has won?"

Aw crap. He'd been talking to John. Knowing how John acted out in front of me, there was no telling what he'd said to Aldaris. Oh no. I wish he'd waited until I was on the ship before talking to him.

"Just answer my question."

"At the end of Starcraft," I answer slowly. "Kerrigan defeats a combined force of UED, Dominion, and Protoss. She lets Mengsk go because it amuses her, she lets the 'Toss go because...I don't actually know why, maybe she just can't defeat them - and she kills all the UED guys. From what I am able to guess from the Zerg missions, Kerrigan was, to a degree, losing her desire to pursue universal conquest."

I paused a minute. I hadn't really answered his question. "Um, the Protoss are sort of okay, though. Kerrigan doesn't try to kill you guys off. At that point, she'd already got revenge on all the Protoss that had ever pissed her off. The game implies she just got sick of killing people and decided to give everyone a 'respite'. I think it must have been because she pissed off Raynor."

"Raynor?" Aldaris acted surprised. "James Raynor died upon Aiur, allowing many of the Protoss to escape. Or did he manage an escape of his own?"

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't know." I realized. "Um, the game doesn't actually say how he lives, but I'd always assumed Kerrigan saved him. And Fenix too, because he was hanging out with Raynor at that point."

"Raynor is as blunt as a brick," Aldaris said thoughtfully. "And is not thus not easily deceived, or so I may guess from what little I know of him. He is of little use to her if he cannot be tricked into fulfilling whatever twisted plans she had in mind."

"Zeratul didn't tell you they used to work in the Dominion together? Er, Sons of Korhal, rather? Didn't it come up at some point when you talked to him?"

"Neither of us had concerns at that time more pressing than our survival on Shakuras." Aldaris paused a minute, and a disgusted expression grew on his face. "Raynor and Kerrigan were...lovers?"

I couldn't blame Aldaris for being grossed out by that one. He'd never known Kerrigan as a human, and no amount of bad fanfiction would ever convince me that those mental images were anything but scarring.

I shook my head. "No, nothing like that. I don't know if this means anything, but Kerrigan's original voice actor in Starcraft said that they were just good friends. If she's wrong, then it simply never got to that point before Kerri got infested. Raynor just always felt like he was responsible for what happened to her."

"I see." Even though he didn't say anything I could hear, I could tell that he had some choice expletives in mind dedicated to Raynor. This only distracted him momentarily, and soon enough his grim gaze was back on me. "John claims that I die in this game of yours."

"Um...that's what it says. To be fair, we can't really say for sure how accurate it is. It might be that it gets your existence right, but messes up some of the details." I say optimistically. "And besides, here you are. We have no way of knowing what details are real and which are not. Well, besides what you can tell us. If you're up to seeing the game."

"I suppose I should." Aldaris muttered. "I do not wish it."

"Okay, cool." I chattered away merrily. "I've got vanilla and Brood War, and I can get footage of Starcraft 2 from the internet. Um, I doubt your computer can read cds, and even if it could, your computer is probably way too fast. Playing old games on powerful computers is buggy. Hm...if we could hook up my laptop to your viewscreen...hm. Oh wait, yeah! Do you have a flat, blank wall somewhere on this ship? Worst case scenario we can hang up a sheet or something. My dad can get a projector from his work, and I'm pretty sure a USB cable can hook that up. Now all I'll need to do is figure out how I can get a power source for my laptop, and we'll be good to go!"

Aldaris wasn't paying me any attention. He lowered his hand as if to press another button on his computer, but in a moment of irritation, he just buried his face in his hands. Apparently the computer wasn't telling him anything he wanted to know. I bit my lip. Poor guy. So far today had been exciting, but I started to feel a little guilty at that point. Seriously, what's wrong with me?

"Hey um, Aldaris..." I tried not to be too nervous as I spoke. "I'm sorry I'm being so mean."

That got his attention. The confused alien turned around, finding me all sheepish and whatnot.

"I haven't been thinking about this from your perspective." I explain. "I'm all happy because I got to go into space, meet an alien, swim with the sevengills, and go to Korea again. For you it's been nothing but getting zapped to the planet of the weirdo midgets and messing with an unhelpful computer. You haven't been having nearly as much fun as I have, and I'm haven't been sensitive to your feelings."

Aldaris blinked. As he spoke again, his voice was heavy, as if exhausted from the day's events. "...Fun. You could have died any number of ways in these short hours, and you say you have had 'fun'. The chances of my malfunctioning recall unit turning your mind into a slew of organic matter were remarkably high."

"Well, I didn't die, so there's that." I shrugged. "But anyway, I'm sorry for being insensitive. It wasn't very nice."

Aldaris blinked at me for a minute, but didn't bother responding. He simply brought up the picture of Earth back up on the computer, focusing in on the Western hemisphere. I guess he already knew that's where America is, because John would have had to tell Aldaris where he lived to get off of the ship. The Protoss didn't have to say anything for me to know it was my turn. He simply watched me and waited.

"I'm on the eastern side." I pointed. "See right where the land bends right there...wow, looks so different from up here. I live a couple of hours from the coast driving..." Aldaris zoomed in the screen at this point. "Okay, thanks. Hey, I recognise that. That's Fayetteville, I think right over by the coliseum. So if -"

Snap!

Okay, I was really starting to get sick of all the teleporting. To make it worse, even though it turned out that I did know where it was, I didn't have a car with me, and walking would take at least two hours, by my reckoning. And since I'd never walked that far before, I was probably wrong; it was going to be longer. Well, it is what it is.

I suddenly dug in my pocket, and as my fingers met with paper, I sighed, remembering that these were not my pants. Even if I did have a dollar, it would have been in the pants I was wearing this morning, not the ones I was wearing now. All the money there was just won. Getting a ride on the bus wasn't going to happen.

"Huh?"

I looked down at my feet. The suitcase full of won was there. Weird. I guess Aldaris wanted me to have it, though I can't guess what I'm going to do with a suitcase full of foreign money I didn't earn.

He should have kept this. There's no telling when he might need some money. I grin, picking up the suitcase. Hey, I'm an accounting major. Maybe I'll just hold onto this for him. It beats trying to explain this cash to the feds.

\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

- Alright, now we got introductions out of the way. The story should be a little more journal from here. And yeah, that street in Korea is real. And now I really want some ttoekbokki.

New Author's Notes:

- I am currently very sad, as I can't quite visualize this part of Korea like I used to. I still remember the youth hostel and the alley with the bun shop, but I can't quite recall getting to Paris Baguette from there. I remember it's vaguely a straight shot, walking. I haven't been to Namdaemun since the first time I went, and it's making me really sad. Well, I have a better job nowadays, so I guess I can just save up.

- I still love bad english. When I go to Korea again (which, God willing, I will), I'm going to buy bad english shirts and wear them everywhere.