Chapter 5 - Introductions

There's something indescribably embarrassing about introducing yourself to a group of new people. If there's a tier list of groups of people most embarrassing to introduce yourself to, it would go like this:

5. Classmates at the beginning of the school year

4. Coworkers on your first day of work

3. Any type of new club or teammates

2. Classmates after transferring to a new school in the middle of a year

1. A group of people who are all close to each other and you only kind of know 1 person.

I'll add a caveat for an S-tier event there: introducing yourself to a famous K-Pop idol you truly have no right to interact with for any reason at all.

"Ilse, why don't you introduce yourself?" Jun-ho said to me as we sat down.

Why don't I? I could think of several reasons why I wouldn't. Rather, I should be asking Jun-ho why, in Korea especially, there is any reason to ask a woman with no credentials to teach any form or function of Taekwondo to a group of K-Pop idols who could probably afford to hire the entire Korean national team to tutor them individually. But, I digress.

My face burning so hot like it could erupt into flames, I awkwardly began, "Hi! My name is Ilse and I'm Seo-yeon's teacher and nanny. I think Jun-ho is hoping I can be of help to you all somehow to learn a little about Taekwo..."

"You gotta see this!" Yun-jae interrupted excitedly, whipping out his phone. "Someone from the production team sent me a video they took today of Ilse almost kicking off Min-ji's security guard's head!"

As everyone at the table attentively watched the video on Yun-jae's phone, I felt my soul exit my body in response to the sheer amount of beauty in front of me. Is it possible for your body to overheat like a computer and just stop working? At that point, I transcended to a higher plane of existence by virtue of being near such perfect beings. Jun-ho was paying, I was in an absolutely ridiculous situation, and I was going to get drunk.

Laughing and cheering awoke me from my stupor and all eyes turned toward me.

"That was so cool!" "How did you not kick him in the head?!" "What rank are you?"

Those were only some of the questions I was able to make out from the din of voices.

"Alright, alright, boys. Settle down and introduce yourselves," Jun-ho said.

"I'm Yoo Min-chul! I'm OTE's chief rapper. Both Sun Su-bin and I are from Vancouver, Canada, actually. We went to high school together. Are you from the States or Canada? I can detect a little bit of an accent, but I can't place from where." Yoo Min-chul finished eagerly.

"Damn, calm down, Min-cihul. You're overwhelming the poor woman. I'm Sun Su-bin. Unfortunately, I did go to high school with that fool." Sun Su-bin said, motioning toward an unfazed Yoo Min-chul.

"I'm Hong Ji-hu. My English is not good. I look forward to working with you," a stoic Hong Ji-hu said with a slight bow at the end.

"Oy!" Sun Su-bin barked, "Pay attention, Seok. You're the last to go."

"Ah. I'm Sa Seok," a bored-sounding Sa Seok said before looking back down at his phone.

"Here ya go!" Yun-jae said, placing a beer in my hands. "Don't worry, they'll warm up to you. Sa Seok is just a little shy around women and once Hong Ji-hu gets you alone, he won't stop trying to practice his English with you. I hope that doesn't happen though." Yun-jae finished, mumbling the last part under his breath.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch the last part." I said

"Don't worry about it. Drink up! It's on Jun-ho," Yun-jae said, smiling.

Jun-ho seemed to have taken on the role of chief griller, and Yun-jae the role of my personal chef, wrapping up a seemingly endless supply of different combos of meat and banchan in lettuce for me with each one exclaiming, "You have to try it this way!"

"I love you Jun-ho Hyung," Min-chul said, tearing up. "You buy us the nicest meat and cook it so well!"

Su-bin rolled his eyes at Min-chul's outburst but echoed his sentiment saying, "You did really go all out Hyung."

"It's not for you though! It's a bribe for Ms. Ilse," Jun-ho said, smiling and folding his hands in front of him. "Ilse, can you tell us more about the gym you go to here? Learning some Taekwondo would really help with the whole concept of their upcoming releases."

Eyes turning toward me again, I immediately regretted the massive bite I had just taken.

Sensing the issue, Yun-jae poured me a small glass of what I thought was water.

I realized very quickly it was soju. I glared at Yun-jae, but he just gave me a heart-stopping mischievous grin in response.

"Ah, yes!" I began. "It's run by a family my uncle knows from competing. He was on the German national team and both the son and daughter of the owners were on the Korean national team."

Jun-ho stared at me blankly.

"Your uncle was on the German national team? And you people that were on the Korean national team?" Jun-ho asked.

"Yeah! My parents and family are from Germany. Actually, my uncle met the son of the family at the Olympics. Right now it's the daughter I'm taking classes with. Han Sung!" I said.

"Han Sung? THE Han Sung" Jun-ho asked incredulously.

"Wait, like our national treasure, Han Sung?" Min-Chul added.

"You know Han Sung?" Hong Ji-Hu asked excitedly.

"Yes?" I answered uncomfortably. "Actually, I'm not sure if I should be saying this, but she's my uncle's ex-girlfriend."

"WHAT???" Sa Seok asked, his jaw on the floor, only his second time speaking during the whole evening.

"Yeah it was like a whole Romeo and Juliet forbidden love thing," I responded laughing. "It was in some tabloids but no one believed it really, but I've known her for a long time. I'm sure that she would be happy to have you all at her gym."

"We would be honored," Jun-ho said with utmost seriousness and sincerity, Sa Seok and Hong Ji-hu nodding in agreement.

"I can work out the details with Sung." I said.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur with Jun-ho trying to talk over everyone to work out logistics with me and Min-chul asking me increasingly personal questions Su-bin trying to rein him in. Yun-jae continued to pour me drinks and feed me.

At the end of the evening, Han Ji-hu cornered me and handed me his phone saying, "Number please for English help, yes?" I laughed and nodded. giving him my KakaoTalk info.

As I was waiting for the car, Jun-ho had called for me, I somehow ended up alone with Sa Seok for a moment.

"You're pretty cool!" Sa Seok blurted out.

"What?" I said, taken aback by the sudden declaration

Realizing what he had said, Sa Seok blushed and responded, "Sorry! I meant that you're video was really cool. Can I get your Kakaeo ID? Just for logistics and stuff you know." He added sheepishly.

"Sure," I said startled. I took his phone and punched in my info, glancing up at him once as I was typing, meeting his eyes. He glanced away quickly, nervously rubbing the back of his head.

As I handed Sa Seok back his phone, Yun-jae approached saying, "What's going on here?" With a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I look forward to working with you!" Sa Seok said with an abrupt bow before walking away.

"That was weird," Yun-jae murmured, shaking his head.

"Anyway," he said, clearing his throat, "See! I told you. It looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other." Yun-jae smiled.

"Ugh, yeah. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 6:00 am. Sung is seriously a saint for agreeing to train you all herself and at such an early time." I said, stretching and wondering when the car would get here.

"Are you that disappointed to be seeing me that much?" Yun-jae asked, taking on the appearance of a sad puppy.

"What? No! Of course not." I laughed, reaching up and ruffling his hair before I could stop myself.

My eyes widened, realizing what I had done. I glanced down at my hand, wondering what had possibly possessed it to pet the godlike figure in front of me.

Walking backward toward the van that had come to pick them up, Yun-jae smiled widely and called, "Don't forget you started it!"

What exactly did I start? I wondered to myself as I got into the car.

"Tell me everything!" Lucy shrieked as I walked through my door.

Not even caring how she had ended up in my room, I dissected the day with Lucy.

"Hey," I said as Lucy and I settled down to sleep. "I'm super thankful you're my friend."

"Sentimental bitch," Lucy grumbled sarcastically under her breath before saying, "Loveee youuuuu."