Chapter 5 - ITS YOU?!

From the last chapter: 

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.

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"What? You don't like it?", Minho asked.

"You guys know each other? It's better if you guys know each other.", Hyejin's dad said.

"N-no I'm fine with it.", HyeJin replied. "Um.. you can say that we know each other.", HyeJin continued.

"B-b-but I was informed that we will have a special guest from the US, why is he here??"Hyejin whispered to her dad.

"Don't you know that I can hear that?", Minho said. "I am here for business purposes. Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be sitting in your studio working on your animation?"Minho continued with an intimidating tone. 

"Well, I am here to introduce the culture and the theater to you and your colleagues.", Hyejin said. 

"Wait, are you guys co-workers?", Hyejin's dad asked.

"Well, you can say that. She recently proposed a proposal to make an adaptation of her comic. It's not satisfying enough, so I decided to send her back to her studio to work on her animation. And well, look who's here, Lee Hyejin from Studio W.", Minho said.

"I am here to help YOU. If you don't need my help to translate, then I'm coming back to Seoul anyway. I have no guts to help you.", Hyejin said.

"Hey! Hyejin! Stop arguing here! We have no time to argue. We should start introducing them to our theater so that we can bring them around to our village's museum on time.", Hyejin's dad said, "I'm sorry about my daughter's action towards you."

"Dad–!", Hyejin nagged.

"Say sorry to him and lead him the way!", Hyejin's dad said.

"He's right. Show me the way.", Minho ordered.

"Fine..", Hyejin said while being annoyed.

Hyejin and her father introduced Minho and his co-worker about the history and the culture around her village while walking to the theater. However, in the middle of the way, "Hey, Lee Hyejin, translate the phrases told by your father properly!", Minho said in Korean purposely so that Hyejin's dad understands. 

"So you've not been translating properly since the beginning?", Hyejin's dad asked. 

"What do you mean by not translating properly?! I've been translating every single thing which came out of dad's mouth!", Hyejin said. 

"Do you think that I don't understand Korean? You basically summarized everything from what he said!", Minho said while smirking. 

"What do you mean by summarizing everything? I've been explaining everything clearly. Isn't it right, Mr. Yang?", HyeJin asked the VIP guest in English on purpose.

"Yeah. you have been explaining it very well! I'm very satisfied with your explanation.", Mr. Yang said happily.

"See? I've been translating it very well.", HyeJin said to Minho in Korean in an annoyed tone.

"He's just being kind to you.", Kim Minho said.

"Well, if you don't want me to translate, please translate what my dad said yourself.", Hyejin said.

"Well, I'm here as a guest. You should treat me like one then. I'm not supposed to translate here.", Minho said.

Hyejin was annoyed, but had no other choice than keep going in order to promote their village's culture and to keep her father's business running well.

As they arrived at the village's theater, Hyejin enthusiastically explained the history and the preparation process of creating a theater show. She explained how the theater was built, and also the story behind it. The foreign VIP guests seem to be very satisfied with the results. Everything was running well until Minho asked a critical question which Hyejin hardly translated to English since she is a self-taught English learner.

"Shit, this guy knows that I'm not fluent in English, why the hell is he questioning this s***?!", Hyejin said deep inside her heart. 

She tried her best to describe the word with basic English. Luckily, the foreign VIP guest understands it well. And they are very satisfied with her guide in her village. "I really love this village! We would love to invite your theater's crew to come to Seoul for the Korean cultural exhibition. The show will be open for everyone from all around the world!", The guest said to them. Hyejin immediately translated it to the other villagers and everyone seemed to be happy about the news. Then, Hyejin spotted Minho smirking while seeing the reactions of everyone. 

"They seem to be someone who never came out of their city..", Minho said to himself. 

"Yeah everyone here never went out of the city, unlike you who's a silver spoon child who could go anywhere you go.", Hyejin said annoyingly. 

"So are you jealous about my position as a successful CEO?", Minho asked.

"No, Why should-", Hyejin said.

"Hyejin, don't argue with Mr. Kim. Come over.", Hyejin's dad said, cutting off their conversation.

"But-", Hyejin said.

"No but's, we're going to have a feast.", Hyejin's dad said.

Minho smirked and walked away. "Cih, this guy was born to be so annoying like this.", Hyejin said while coming to the crowd.

During the feast, Hyejin was questioned by many villagers regarding her relationship with Minho, "You seem to know him so well."

"Yeah, I've known him for a while now.", Hyejin replied

"Are you guys close friends?"Another villager asked.

"You guys seem to have a close relationship. Are you his girlfriend??"Another villager asked.

"Girlfriend?! Never in my wildest dreams!", Hyejin said.

"Why not? Isn't he handsome, smart and rich? He's such a perfect match for you!", Another villager said. 

"Well, he has an extremely bad personality.", Hyejin said.

"Who are you talking about?", Minho said while glaring at her.

"You.", Hyejin said, pissed.

"Hyejin.. I told you not to argue with Mr. Kim, right? Say sorry to him.", Hyejin's dad said. 

Hyejin refused to say sorry and kept staying quiet instead.

"Lee Hyejin.. Say sorry to him."Her dad lectured.

"S-sorry..", Hyejin said.

Hyejin's dad let Minho and the VIP guest stay in their house for a night before everyone returns to Seoul. That night, Minho came out to go to the bathroom. However, he got lost in the big traditional house. 

When he was strolling around the house, Minho saw several pictures of Hyejin's past grandpa directing the theater shows enthusiastically, then saw Hyejin's family pictures. He stood there for a while looking at those pictures. He started to hold his tears as he looked at these pictures, as it reminded him of his parents who passed away in a tragic traffic accident when he was very young.

"Mr. Kim? Is that you?", Hyejin's dad asked.

Minho immediately wiped his tears, hiding his feelings and said, "Oh, I was lost when I wanted to go to the bathroom. Can you guide me there?"He said calmly.

"Oh sure! Follow me, I'll bring you there.", Hyejin's dad said. 

The next morning, Hyejin's mom made some breakfast for them. "It's fine, we can get our breakfast ourselves.", The VIP guest said. 

"No, we made this to thank you for inviting us to show more of our culture to the rest of the world. Please receive our gratitude.", Hyejin said.

The VIP guest kept insisting until Minho agreed to sit down with them and eat. When Minho ate his first sip on his galbitang(a thick soup made of beef ribs and radish), things started to flash through his mind. 

"Minho ya~, the stew's ready~ come and eat!", Minho's mom said.

"Okay~! Wait for me, mom~!", Little Minho said.

He came and ate the stew enthusiastically and said, "Mom, this is the best galbitang I've ever tried! I would love to eat this everyday!"

"Sure~ I can cook for you everyday.". His mom said happily.

"Mr. Kim? Are you alright??", Hyejin's mom asked, "Does it taste bad?"

"Ah- No, it's perfect. I really love it. Thank you for the meal, Mrs. Lee.", Minho said happily. 

"Glad to hear that! You could eat more if you want to. I still have some in the pot.", Hyejin's mom said.

"It's fine, this is more than enough, Mrs. Lee.", Minho said.

"How about you, Mr. Smith? Do you like it? Does it match your tastes?", Hyejin's mom asked, followed by Hyejin translating it for him.

"Yeah! It's pretty good. I really love how it tastes together with the kimchi you made. Thank you for your hospitality.", The VIP guest replied.

Hyejin immediately translated it and her mom replied, "No problem. We welcome you back here anytime you want to visit us."

Later that day, Minho, Hyejin and the VIP guest departed from that village back to Seoul to come back to their daily life. As soon as Hyejin arrived in Seoul, she went back to her studio and met Haruna. 

She hugged Haruna and asked for forgiveness, "Haruna!!! I'm very sorry for what I said to you previously. I'm also sorry for not telling you in advance that I need to return back home for some tourism purposes. I'm really sorry…"

"It's fine, everyone here can cover up your work. Don't worry about it. Come on.. Don't cry any longer, okay? Do you want to get some bubble tea before working again?", Haruna asked.

"O-okay…", Hyejin said while crying.

When they were ordering the bubble tea, they met Jisoo queuing for her order. "Hi~! Jisoo, what brought you here? Are you still on your day off?", Haruna asked.

"Yeah! I've been enjoying my day off recently~ I've been taking some trips to many cities with my sports car recently! It's very fun! You guys should join me some day and we can stay in great hotels!", Jisoo said excitedly.

"Ehh.. Maybe one day in the future!", Hyejin said.

"Why? What happened?", Jisoo asked.