Shine Seoul City Lights~ A BTS Encounter

Uh... Oppa?

    I started to review the lyrics that Namjoon had given me.  I looked up the song.  If You, by BigBang.  Ah, I knew BigBang!  They were an older Kpop group, right?  I listened to the song a couple of times, trying to get a feel for the mood and beat.  The lyrics were a whole other matter.  I had to keep looking at my alphabet key to remember the letters.  

    "Saesan... Saesaggi...?  No..."

    I ended up just humming the tune, and singing the intro with the lyrics, because that was the most I'd had the patience to read through.  It was almost amazing how slowly I had to go to be able to read a single Korean word.  It was annoying as heck, but I would have to live through it.  I got up to go to the bathroom, and that was when I noticed someone had taped a note to my door.  Half of it was in Korean, but underneath the korean were handwritten English translations.

    "Hello, Emma!  Welcome to Big Hit Headquarters.  We are setting up a schedule for you so that your experience will be closer to that of a trainee, and so Bangtang members can have a more consistent schedule as well.  We will have an envelope to your room by tomorrow with your plan for the next month and a briefing of usual life here at Big Hit Headquarters.  Have fun and good luck!  -Manager Hobeom"

    I grinned, getting excited again.  This was so amazing!  I was going to be trained like a trainee!  I had heard all sorts of stories on how hard it would be to train under a famous label in Korea.  The agencies pushed their trainees to their limits, and sometimes until they snapped.  It was a dangerous thing, but if the trainee could do it, they would become extremely successful.  I wanted to see what my full limits were.  I wanted to see what I could really become; what my potential was.  And here I could do it.  And after a month, I would be back home, and my purpose in life would be fulfilled, because I would know where I could be.  

    Forgetting the bathroom, I headed back in, and tried to keep reading the If You lyrics, newly inspired.  After a while, I got through the pre chorus and chorus.  Most of the remaining song was the same.  After, I looked up what the lyrics meant in English.  It was actually a very sad song, but the tune was beautiful, and hopefully I could eventually sing it without sounding entirely like a stupid American trying to speak Korean.

    I glanced at the clock.  Five?!  Already?  Time had passed a lot faster than I thought.  I got my soft denim jacket, the same one I had worn at the gym, and tied my hair up in front of the mirror near my door.  In a ponytail, it came almost to my elbows.  I grabbed my phone and headed to the dance studio.  Inside, I saw Jimin dancing.

    It was amazing.  He looked so relaxed and fluid.  Every one of his movements was effortless and perfect.  His steps were precise, as he moved around the room, twisting his feet back and forth, and bending in half.  It was almost supernatural to me.

    I walked in quietly and tried to sit down without him noticing.  Unfortunately for stupid little me, there were... hello... mirrors on three walls of the room.  Who would have thought that in a dance studio...?  I sighed a little as Jimin stopped dancing, flushing a little and turning off the music.  

    "No, no,"  I told him, crossing my legs on the floor.  "Keep dancing, you're amazing!"

    He shook his head a little, and I noticed that he was wearing the same clothes he had worn in the gym.  Had he not showered and come straight here?  For what, two hours?  Three?  Over two hours of dance practice this morning, an hour at the gym, and then three hours more in the dance studio.  This guy was seriously dedicated.  The music that he had been dancing to had been powerful, moving.  I wanted to watch him again.  I wanted to be a part of something like that.  Too bad I wasn't good enough.

    He gestured towards the floor.  "Show me your dance?"

    I nodded a little, reluctantly, and turned on Boy in Luv.  Jimin's eyes widened as the music started playing, and he covered his face with his hands.

    "Ah, no, no, no, ani, ani!"  He said loudly, slipping into Korean as I began dancing.

    I tried my best to remember the moves, but my memory slipped a few times.  Thankfully, I managed to find the beat after a few seconds.  After the first and second choruses ended, I turned off the music and looked up at a grinning Jimin.

    "Ah, good!  Chael-haeso!"  He said.  "You will get better."

    "Kamsahamnida."  I said, turning red.

    Honestly, they couldn't compliment me and expect me to believe it.  My movements were a little jerky and unsure.  Nothing like Jimin, who was completely confident and immersed in the music.  Oh well.  

    "Chael-haeso, Emma-ya!"  I turned around and saw Taehyung, who had walked into the room.

    It was my first time seeing him without a hat.  At practice this morning, he had worn a black BTS hat backwards, and at the airport yesterday, he had worn a rounder hat.  I stifled a yawn.  It had to be at least eleven back at home.  Even though it was almost five ten here.  Wow, I was going to have to get used to the time difference.  

    "Annyeong-haseyo, Taehyung-ssi."  I told him.  "Kamsamnida."

    "-O."  He said.

    "Call me Taehyung."  He said brokenly.

    "Okay, Taehyung."

    Taehyung tried to say something, then turned, frustrated, to Jimin.  Jimin listened and then spoke to me.

    "Taehyung say you have voice... uh, uh... lesson with him and... Jin."  He said slowly.

    "Okay.  Kamsamnida, Jimin-ssi."  Jimin looked at me, and then at Taehyung, an amused expression on his face.

    "You call me oppa, okay?"

    I could feel the flush creeping up in my cheeks, and I could only imagine how red I was turning.  "Oppa?"

    Taehyung pouted.  "Then she call me oppa too."  he said.

    "Uh..."

    Jimin laughed, looking at me and then Taehyung.  He was saying something to Taehyung when Namjoon came into the room, and surveyed the scene.  Namjoon let out a loud bark of laughter, causing me to jump.  I turned to him in surprise, begging him with my eyes to explain to me what was going on.  

    "Jimin just said that he already saw your abs, so there's no use in complaining."

    I felt light-headed with embarrassment as Jimin glared at Namjoon, then grinned sheepishly at me.  I remembered the white shirt I had been wearing.  It must have gone up a bit when I was doing pull-ups at the gym or jumping around when I beat Jackson in the mile run.

    "Uh..."  I said again, my mouth opening and closing like a fish.

    "It's fine, Emma."  Namjoon said to me.  "Oppa isn't like calling someone your boyfriend or anything.  It's just what you call someone when they're closer to you, like a close friend, you know?"

    "Oh," I said, still embarrassed.  "Um okay."

    I grabbed my phone off the floor quickly and tried to wipe off the sweat that had been forming on my palms.  I tried to compose myself; look less flustered.

"Annyeong-hi-gyeseyo, Jimin oppa."  I said to Jimin.

    Then, with extreme grace and dignity, I sprinted out of the room like a fleeing hippopotamus.