My Summer in Seoul

My body still felt hot as their stares penetrated to my very soul. It would be easier if they were unattractive, but calling them ugly would be a bald-faced lie.

My skin was sweaty and probably smelled like plane pretzels.

Theirs?

Flawless. I’d never seen a guy with such perfect skin, let alone five of them.

“I see.” Siu took a step back and eyed me up and down quickly. “Grace, did you happen to bring any more work-appropriate clothes?” He cleared his throat like he was embarrassed to even be asking me.

Heat flooded my face. “Um, I have a dress.”

“A dress?” he repeated in astonishment.

“I’ll go shopping,” I offered quickly, trying to smooth things over. “I assumed I’d be running a lot of errands and grabbing coffee, so I went for more work casual, but whatever I need to do, I can do.” There, that sounded good.

He gave me a curt nod while Solia just shook her head like I was hopeless and offered in a smooth yet calculated voice, “I made a list of things she’ll need. I’ll go over it after curfew.”

Interns had a curfew?

Was that a cultural thing?

Weren’t these guys the same age? And why did I suddenly feel like I was back in high school?

“Good.” Siu checked his watch and looked back up at me. “Tonight, Solia will have you start with elevator duty. Again, she’ll go over the requirements and studying materials once I leave.”

“Okay…” I gulped. “I may need help if I’m going to be guiding people to their floors. It’s a big building.”

“Oh!” Siu let out a chuckle. “You won’t be helping people to their floors—you’ll be guarding it.”

“So people can’t get in, gotcha.” Was I at least going to get a taser?

“No.” He sighed in exhaustion, rubbing his eyes. “So they can’t get out.”

All five interns grinned at me; each of them had smiles that told me I wasn’t going to be taking a nap anytime soon and would most likely hate my job within the first hour.

Why was I protecting fellow interns? Was it dangerous here? Oh God, why hadn’t I thought this through? We had to guard the door to the elevator? Seriously? Why hadn’t the internet helped me with this?

Siu gave me a half nod. “I need to go. Assistant Solia will give you each of the idols’ preferences and profiles. Memorize them well.”

“Idols,” I said dumbly as my eyes searched the rest of the interns for any hint of information. “I think I may be confused.” Wasn’t that what they called musicians in Korea? Panicked, I glanced at Solia.

I could feel her frustration with me as she let out an irritated sigh and muttered, “So American, thinking everything’s about you. Don’t worry, Sajangnim, I’ll make sure to brief her on what she needs to know about…” She eyed me with irritation. “…idols.”

“Thank you.” Siu walked toward the door and called over his shoulder. “Assistant Solia, don’t forget about the camera crew. They’ll be arriving around four a.m. to wake them up for their morning choreography.”

“Four a.m.?” I mouthed. Ouch. I really hoped they were talking about the talent and not the interns. Then again, if I was bringing coffee to the talent, I’d most likely have to be up at four a.m. too.

Don’t panic.

Do. Not. Panic.

I looked up and caught one of the guys staring at me. He had dark hair with bits of it dyed pink. An earring dangled out of his right ear, and the leather jacket that clung lovingly to his body was one I could have sworn I’d just seen in Vogue. His lips were full and shiny, his skin flawless, and his eyes? Well, let’s just say he could give me tips on how to make my eyeliner look more natural.

He didn’t look away from me.

Progress?

I offered a small smile, causing him to instantly look away about the same time another one of the guys shoved him—it was the one with blond hair, the one who’d made a nasty comment about me being ugly.

Siu barked out something in Korean just before slamming the door behind him, causing each of the guys to straighten up a bit.

I opened my mouth to ask Solia something. She was no longer in the room. When had she left?

My Nike duffel backpack and plain black suitcase still sat next to me; I’d never felt more ordinary and plain in my entire life.

And I couldn’t escape the embarrassment that washed over me as the guys slowly approached like I was a creature from the wilds of Peru, a deranged jungle cat who’d lived in the wild too long and had no sense of normalcy.

They looked like they were studying me.

I quickly tucked pieces of my fallen hair behind my ears. Where was Solia?!

The mean one with the red hair leaned in until I could feel his breath on my neck. “Mok yee mal la yo.”