Chapter 4 - A Call From Home

"Hello, Ms. Lee and Ms. Takaaki. What brought you here?", Jisoo said.

"Hi, Ms. Kim. Since we've finished some of the procedures of producing our comic's animation adaptation, I took a day off. So, I decided to visit this cafe. Moreover, we're here to take more inspiration for our new work! What about you?", HyeJin said.

"Today is my lucky day! Mr. Kim gave me a day off after working for days and nights for the last few weeks. He has been working on a very big project lately.", Jisoo said happily.

"Good to hear, I hope you enjoy your day off!", Haruna said.

"Thank you, Ms. Takaaki.", Jisoo said.

"By the way, please call me by name if we're outside work. I'm fine with that~", Haruna said while smiling brightly.

"Okay, Ha-Haruna. You can call me by name too. What about you, Ms. Lee?", Jisoo said.

"You can call me by name too. By the way, you really have a good sense of fashion, Jisoo!", HyeJin said.

"Hahaha, it's really nothing. I'm inspired by the fashion trends I saw in magazines lately. They are so cool! Especially the ones used by the female idol groups!", Jisoo said.

"You like girl groups too? Which idol group do you like most?", Haruna said excitedly.

"I like idol group S most! What about you?", Jisoo said.

"I like idol group S too!! Who's your bias?", Haruna said.

"Oh I like Jung Minsoo! She's very talented and a fashionista!", Jisoo said.

"ME TOO!! You really have a nice taste, Jisoo!", Haruna said excitedly.

"Oh right, HyeJin, do you like any idol groups?", Jisoo said.

"No, I'm too busy to be a fan of any idol groups lately.", HyeJin said.

"You should try to listen to them while working! It really helps me when I need inspiration when helping the creative team!", Jisoo said.

"You help the creative team too? Did Mr. Kim overwork you by forcing you to work on other things which aren't supposed to be your work?", HyeJin said with annoyance.

"Noo! I voluntarily help everyone who needs help. I often follow Mr. Kim to inspect each team's work performance, I secretly help them to revise their works to avoid them getting mocked by Mr. Kim.", Jisoo explained.

"You have a kind heart! Moreover, you're very talented. I envy you, Jisoo!", HyeJin said.

"Noo~ I still have many things to improve too! Moreover, you are able to express your thoughts and creativity through your comic! I think that you are a better artist than me.", Jisoo said.

"I'm nothing if Haru isn't around, to be honest! She helps me every time I need help no matter what happens.", HyeJin said happily.

The girls talked happily until the evening, and started to take photos before leaving.

"Jisoo, you look gorgeous! I really love your vibe!", Haruna said.

"Haha, you're also pretty, Haruna!", Jisoo replied shyly.

After taking pictures, the girls started to part away. They stopped by a red sports car parking near the shop.

"I'll get going~! Thank you for today! See you guys soon!", Jisoo said while entering the car.

"T-this is your car?", HyeJin asked. HyeJin never expected Jisoo to drive a sports car herself because she is still in her early 20s.

"Yeah! You wanna join in? We could have more fun together!!", Jisoo said excitedly.

"Sure!!", Haruna said.

"She must be working tomorrow, let's not be a burden to her", HyeJin whispered to Haruna.

"No thank you, we can do that next time. See you soon, Jisoo!", HyeJin said while dragging Haruna.

"Aww.. It would be fun if we could hang out more!!", Haruna nagged.

"No. We should let her rest! Don't you remember that she works as Kim Minho's secretary?", HyeJin said.

Suddenly, someone cleared his throat, "What do you mean by that?"

His voice sounded very familiar, as if HyeJin had met him before. HyeJin turned back and noticed that it's Kim Minho. He showed up out of nowhere, walking with a bodyguard next to him.

"What I'm saying is-", HyeJin said griefly.

"Stt, chill, HyeJin.", Haruna cutted HyeJin's sentence while nudging HyeJin's arm with her elbow.

"Oh~! Hello, Mr. Kim. What brought you here?", Haruna said while smiling brightly.

"Don't change the topic, what did you just say, Miss Lee?", Minho said.

"I meant that -.", HyeJin said bravely.

"OH RIGHT! HYEJIN WE HAVE AN URGENT MATTER, LETS GO!", Haruna said while dragging HyeJin away.

"HEY!! I HAVEN'T FINISHED MY SENTENCE!!", HyeJin shouted in anger.

Minho seemed annoyed while staring at HyeJin. However, when she left, he smirked and walked away.

Haruna stopped in an alley, and lectured HyeJin, "HyeJin! Come out with your senses! It's Kim Minho! What if our contract gets cutted off because of you?! What if we get blacklisted?! You can't act recklessly everytime!"

"But I'm speaking up facts! Moreover, I should make him realize that he is overworking his employees!", HyeJin said.

"We can't do that, we could report to Mr. Han if you want to speak up. If you speak up recklessly like that, we can ruin his mood! He really has a bad temper.", Haruna said.

"Fine, fine. You're now nagging like my mom.", HyeJin said while leaving her.

They remained quiet until they returned to their houses.

Suddenly, HyeJin received a call from her dad.

"Hello? What happened? Is there anything urgent?", HyeJin said.

"Hello! Ah, it's nothing, dear! Sorry to call you this late, but can you go home tomorrow? We have an important tourist from overseas coming to our village tomorrow, no one here speaks English, so we need you to be a translator.", Her dad said.

"But dad–", HyeJin said.

"No 'but's, I've booked you a train ticket from Seoul to Daegu tomorrow afternoon. I'll be sending you the ticket through the messages, okay? Good Night my dear daughter.", Her dad said.

"But– I'm busy dad-", HyeJin said.

"Leave it to Haruna! She can do it! You should come home tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night!", Her dad said while hanging up the phone.

"Uh.. what should I do? I just had a fight with Haruna..", HyeJin thought while laying back on her bed.

She couldn't admit that Haruna did that for their good so she refused to apologize to Haruna. That night, she kept thinking about other solutions than apologizing to Haruna so that she could return to her hometown smoothly until Haruna apologized to her first.

"Working on some stuff right now, and telling one of the staff to work on the thing I can't cover would be a good idea!", HyeJin thought as she started getting up from her bed.

She pulled all-nighters to work on the work she was supposed to do the next day, instead of asking for help.

The next morning, she overslept and didn't finish most of her work. As a result, she panicked because she needed to return to Busan that morning.

"I'll be bringing these home. I think that I can finish some of these on the train, and continue it tonight at home.", HyeJin said to herself.

HyeJin rushed to the train station, bringing all her luggage except her work luggage. She panicked as she couldn't finish her work, and brought the studio into a larger trouble. Suddenly, she received a call from Haruna.

"HYEJIN!! WHERE ARE YOU?! LOOK AT THE TIME! WE SHOULD FINISH TONS OF WORK BY TODAY! WE HAVE NO MUCH TIME LEFT! COME TO THE STUDIO FAST!!", Haruna shouted.

"Haru, I can't finish those today-", HyeJin said.

"WHY?! BECAUSE YOU ARE ASHAMED THAT YOU CAN'T ADMIT THAT YOU WERE WRONG?", Haruna shouted.

"NOW WHY ARE YOU BRINGING THE TOPIC OUT OF NOWHERE? LISTEN, I can't go to the studio right now. I have an urgent matter, so I can't work for a week.", HyeJin said.

"What do you mean by having an urgent matter?! Aren't you now running away from your own mistake?!", Haruna asked with a high tone.

HyeJin tried to explain, "No, listen. I need to come home to my hometown today. I have a very urgent matter."

"Do you think that our problem isn't that urgent? Why do you choose to come home when we need you most?", Haruna said disappointedly.

"My problem is really urgent. My parents told me to come home all of a sudden due to some problems in my hometown."

"Wait, YOUR HOMETOWN?? WHAT HAPPENED??", Haruna shifts to worrying as she hears the word 'hometown'.

"There's nothing happening, it's just that there is a special guest coming from overseas visiting our village. He is a very important guest that my dad booked my ticket on my behalf without my knowing..", Hyejin said.

"What about our animation??", Haruna asked

"I will try my best to work on it during my trip. Don't worry. I guarantee that I'll finish working on it on time." Hyejin said confidently.

As Hyejin arrived at her hometown, she was greeted with everyone in her hometown since her dad works as the head of village and also the owner of a theater in the village.

"Isn't that Mr. Lee's daughter?", A villager asked to another

"Where?", He replied.

"There! There!", The villager pointed to Hyejin.

"Oh yes! That's Lee Hyejin! WELCOME BACK!!", The other villager exclaimed.

The other villagers start to come over to welcome her home. Soon, the crowd brought her parents' attention, "What's happening here?", Hyejin's dad asked.

Soon, Hyejin made eye contact with her dad. Her dad immediately rushed and hugged her, "Thank god you're here. I really miss you."

"I miss you too, dad.", Hyejin said while hugging her dad.

She started to hug her mom after that and discussed the special guest.

"What about the special guest? When is he coming?", Hyejin asked.

"He will be coming tomorrow morning. He is visiting us to learn more about our theater and culture. I hope that you can introduce it to him well." Hyejin's dad said. "He is someone from the US. So, we decided to call you home", he continued.

"F-from the US??", Hyejin asked surprisedly.

"Yeah. He will be coming here with some of his colleagues too.", Her dad said.

"Okay..", Hyejin said.

The next morning, everyone from the village including Hyejin and her dad welcomed the guests from afar. Unexpectedly, Hyejin met someone she hoped not to see for a long time. "I-ITS YOU AGAIN??", HyeJin asked.