The Baggage You Carry • Jung Hoseok

Part 1 • Y/n

Friday, March 20
Hannam Train Station, Seoul
7:14am
Y/n

Seoul is an extremely confusing city.

Probably not for someone who has lived there for their entire life, but for a foreigner (such as yourself), it was almost impossible.

If it wasn't for the (multiple) Seoul Subway System apps that you downloaded prior to moving here, you were certain you would've ended up in Busan already. How anyone could maneuver through these train lines without the help of technology was beyond you.

You had made the decision to move to Seoul last year. It was a decision that was spurred on by a night involving too much wine with your best friend after finding out your fiancé was cheating on you for the majority of your engagement. Not a fun time at all.

Your best friend was pouring you another glass of wine (you didn't know what number you were on, but you and her had polished off two bottles at least) and she told you about her cousin who moved to Tokyo to teach English to kindergarten kids.

"Oh my god Y/n!" She exclaimed, and in her excitement, she almost knocked over your wine glass with the neck of the wine bottle. "You should do that!"

"Do what?" You slurred and reached for your glass (almost knocking it over yourself because your depth perception was way off). "Go and live abroad and teach English? I barely speak English well." You sipped at your wine and could feel it starting to sit heavy in your stomach. Perhaps you should start taking it easy.

"Well, my cousin said all you need is a University degree, and hello! You have that!" She took a generous sip from her glass and was waving it around. Honestly, if you were more sober, you probably would be more concerned about your upholstery, but frankly at this moment, you could care less.

"Yeah, in Biology." You had graciously (and a bit spitefully) pointed out to her. A Biology degree seemed like a good idea, considering how interested you were in the ecosystem - especially marine life. However, you came to realize (after you dumped thousands of dollars and 4 years into this stupid education path) that if you ever actually wanted to specialize in Marine Biology, you'd have to pursue a Masters degree at least and move to a place closer to the ocean..

You (and your bank account) barely survived the first four years of school, you couldn't even imagine more school on top of relocating to a city that would be expensive by itself. So now, instead of pursuing your dreams....

....you became a tour guide at the local aquarium.

It wasn't bad (at least that's what you constantly tried to tell yourself) but the pay wasn't good and this wasn't how you expected your career after university to play out. What a disappointment.

"I don't think it matters!" Your friend exclaimed excitedly. You swear, she was more intrigued about this prospect than you.

"If you're so interested in it, why don't you go?" You started fidgeting with your wine glass. She gave you a very unimpressed look.

"I just got a promotion and bought a condo! I can't just up and leave. But you!" She pointed at you (quite forcefully in your opinion). "You have the most incredible opportunity for change! Think about it, you're working a job you hate." She paused in order to take a sip of her wine.

"I don't hate my job..." You whispered, and it was a feeble attempt at best to convince her - but mostly yourself that your job didn't actually blow. Based on the pointed look on her face however, you don't think she bought it.

"Uh huh, whatever you say honey." She looked at you briefly before continuing. "Anyways, you're working a job you hate, just got out of a relationship with a mega dick, and you don't have any mortgages to worry about. I don't understand why you're so hesitant."

The truth is, you didn't know why you were skeptical either. You'd be lying if you said that you weren't the least bit intrigued about the prospect of moving to a completely new country and starting over. Regardless, the thought of leaving the only place you've ever really known terrified you, and you didn't know if you would ever actually have the balls to go through with it (even though you might really want to).

Life was comfortable for you here and you didn't feel the need to completely pack up and leave the country.

That is, until you ran into your ex-fiancé and the lovely (please note the heavily implied sarcasm) lady he decided to cheat on you with. They looked (decently) happy for a pair of homewreckers, and it made you sick.

So, you did what every sane person did. You called your best friend.

"Hello?" She said as she answered your call.

"Where do I apply for that English teaching position?"

Turns out, the process was really easy.

You applied and got accepted and you could even pick the country you wanted to teach in based on openings available. Not being one for making a decision you could regret (except when choosing romantic partners, apparently - but in your defence, researching potential partners could be considered "stalking" and is "morally wrong"), you applied all your spare time into researching all the places they had positions available in.

After countless hours of pouring yourself into research, you finally decided upon Seoul. South Korea has always intrigued you - with its intricate history, amazing food and unbelievable culture. It seemed like the perfect place for you to start fresh. After deciding on Seoul, you applied for your work Visa and immediately enrolled in Korean lessons.

In January, you arrived in Seoul and no amount of research that you completed truly prepared you for what it was actually like. It was a beautiful city (there was no doubt about that) and considering how big of a city it was, it was surprisingly quiet and clean.

However, even after being in the city for about 3 months, you still had no idea how to get around. Korean lessons taught you enough Korean to be able to have an (albeit, broken) conversation with the locals and the subway apps helped immensely, but it was still a struggle.

Which is why you were standing in front of what was supposed to be your train, too absorbed into the Subway app to realize that you should probably get on.

There was a gentleman beside you with his hood up and some headphones in his ears, and he appeared to not want to be bothered in the slightest, otherwise you would've asked for help. You were starting to feel anxious until you heard the intercom mention a last call to board, and you realized that 'oh shit, you could miss your train.'

Your bag had been sitting on the ground beside you while you tried to gather your bearings (you learned fairly quickly that people in Seoul were very considerate of others' belongings), so you grabbed it and hauled ass onto the train.

You had just made it on when the doors closed and you breathed a sigh of relief as you realized that you had made it, and you would be at the elementary school soon. So far, the worst part about Seoul so far was the morning and evening commute.

You grabbed a tether above your head when you noticed something - the guy who was standing beside you before was walking away with your bag. You knew, because you could see the little enamel shark pin that you always carried (it was a gift from your parents once you graduated University) on your bag that was on the stranger's shoulder. You looked down at the bag you were carrying and realized in your haste to get on your train, you must've grabbed the random guy's bag which happens to look exactly like yours.

God fucking dammit.