Evenstar

6. Kim Taehyung

Dae Eun sat on her desk by the open window and typed his name into the Google search engine. In the next seconds she was assaulted by volumes and volumes of content about the BTS member that her Auntie Jung wanted her to meet - from articles to videos, from his childhood to what he ate that morning, it was all available online through various SNS. Speed reading everything made her dizzy and she closed her laptop and breathed in more air to clear her head. She echoed her dad's sentiments, what was her Auntie Jung thinking? She grew up in the countryside and was living a very quiet life, and she wanted her to meet this demigod who seemed to be adored by the whole world? He was stunningly handsome - even beautiful in some pictures - but he looked scary to her. His ego must be larger than life. And he was much older too, more than ten years her senior. She had never really thought about it, but if she would have a boyfriend she would prefer someone who could be a good friend too, a soulmate, an equal. She was certain that she wouldn't be his type at all. Her interests were too limited to their farm and rural life.

Dae Eun stood up and paced her spacious room on the second floor of the house.  She had decorated the room herself after she had graduated from university and had settled back home. Her bed was elevated and was right next to large windows by the east wall, so she could catch the sunrise and could see the view of their farm and the forest and hills beyond it from her bed. In the summer she kept those windows open and the scent of the forest would permeate her room. She had a study table by another window and her library of books alongside it. Most of the furniture was made of wood, passed down from long ago, but she softened their texture with her favourite colours - pastels and various shades of green for curtains, pillows and covers. She had her own fireplace for the winters, when she would cozily relax and spend the day reading even if it was snowing heavily outside.

She returned to her desk and decided to call June to ask her advice. She rang her number for a video call and waited. Sometimes it was hard to contact June because she lived in the mountains, literally. She met June at Cornell where they were both taking their degrees in Sustainable Agriculture. June was from the Philippines and was granted a full scholarship. She lived in the mountains of Benguet, in the Cordillera Region where her family ran an organic vegetable farm. Aside from her passion for sustainable farming, June was also very passionate about Bangtan Sonyeondan - although she had never been to any of their concerts or had seen any of the members in person. She was a certified ARMY.

"Hey," June answered from the other end of the line, yawning. She was still in bed. "Long time no hear! How are you, chingu?"

"I'm great! And you? Aren't you supposed to get up early?"

"Don't say it, I can hear my mom complaining from the kitchen. I was up 'til two this morning."

"Doing what?"

"Just surfing, tweeting... Bulletproof is planning a comeback soon. I can feel it in my bones." June looked so excited.

"BTS you mean?"

"Yes, they've transformed to Bulletproof... it's a long story. So, what's up?"

"June, stay calm okay..." Dae Eun wondered how she would take this.

"Why? What happened?"

"I need your advice. My dad wants me to meet this boy. Our elders are playing matchmaker."

"Oh," June sighed in relief. "You got me worried for a second. That's great! It's about time. You need to meet new people and I think this is normal for Koreans,
right? They do it all the time in K-Dramas. Of course, you can't marry just anyone, you're Kwan Dae Eun. I just hope this guy is okay though. Your family knows him? Is he normal, decent looking? I mean, he must be rich but it would be nice if he looked nice too."