The Bodyguard

Job Opening

It had been a little over 5 months since I arrived in Seoul. Having just finished all my examinations, my first semester was drawing to a close.

I turned my head as I heard a knock on my door. Groaning, I pushed myself off the couch and went to open the door. It was Erin, a production co-ordinator that I used to work with at Lucasfilm, before she moved back to Seoul. 

We were never close back when we were working together, but had formed a close friendship since I moved over. I guess it helps that she lived in the unit above mine. She helped me find my way around the city and secured the one-room apartment I was currently living in in Ilsan.

"Hey Reg! Since you've finished your exams, why not look for some part-time work?" She held up a piece of paper, smirking at me.

"Get your lazy ass off the couch! I have found a job you'd like. It's on a part time basis, so you can even continue it when you re-start school." Erin said while throwing the paper at me, before settling down on the couch, patting Troubles. The cat purred and closed her eyes.

Taking up the paper, I skimmed through it. My eyes narrowing. "Miss Kim! This is written in Korean and you expect me to read this? How exactly?" I asked sarcastically.

Erin rolled her eyes. "I thought the reason why you came to Korea was to learn Korean? Tsk... You're hopeless."

I argued. "Well I learnt basic Korean, this is way too difficult for me. Translate it for me please." I said, tossing the advertisement back at her.

Erin skimmed through the job ad, describing the job requirements. "So basically they are starting a new show and are looking for a female bodyguard to protect the sole female cast member. As they are only filming once a week, it should be easy to move your time table about to fit it. All they require is a background in martial arts! It pays well too."

I grinned. This was right up my alley. I wasn't looking for a deskbound job, I wanted something I could move around and not be seated for hours on end. And I certainly didn't want to do any waitressing. I decided I would try out for it.

I squinted at the written address, trying to match it to the building's directory. Yup this was the place. Brushing my unruly bangs out of my face, I knocked on the door.

I hadn't had a haircut in almost half a year. Mainly because I wasn't good with Korean and I was afraid my inadequacies in the language would lead to a communication breakdown and a Korean perm.

I heard a deep male voice asking me to enter, so I did. The room was dank and smelt of stale sweat. A couple of fit tough looking guys were trying out some basic jujitsu moves in the corner.

Turning to the guy who had asked me to come in, I said. "I'm here to apply for the female bodyguard role." He asked for my ID and I gave him my alien registration card.

In Korea, upon registration with the city office, foreigners (except those affiliated with the U.S. military) receive an alien registration number, which serves as a substitute to the identity card.

He raised his eyebrows. "You are not Korean?" I shook my head. "Can you speak Korean?" 

Scratching the back of my head sheepishly, I replied. "I'm here to study and learn Korean, but I'm not very good at it." I said honestly.

Holding up the job ad, I added. "But your job ad only specifies that the applicant need only to have martial arts background and be female."

He nodded, before asking. "So you have a martial arts background?" 

I told him that yes I did, that I've got a black belt in Taekwondo and did some Brazilian Jujitsu back in Singapore. He asked me to demonstrate some self-defense moves and I showed him some basic BJJ arm locks.

Next he took out a couple of hand targets and motioned to me. We did a minute of shadow sparring with the hand targets. I was enjoying myself. It had been too long, far too long since I last had a chance to spar.

I threw some jabs and punches with my hands before moving on to my feet. My feet flying as I kicked at the targets, demonstrating the array of skills I had at my disposal.

I started off with a front kick with my right leg, following up with a spinning back kick with my left. As I landed, I chased the targets with a series of turning kicks, before finally jumping in the air and ending it with a 360 degree spinning back hook, the force of the kick knocking the target clean out of his hands.

As my feet touched the ground, I grinned devilishly at my interviewer. He returned the grin. "Well, seeing that it's the end of the day and we haven't gotten any other female applicants. Can you start next Monday?" I nodded my assent.