Unexpectedly Regular | Kim Namjoon

4

Nara put her headphones down and assembled her books and placed the gathered papers she had just finished revising in front of Angie's computer, who was attentively watching a dorama. Although she claimed she did it mostly for language practicing purposes than for fun, Nara could see her roommate was really involved with the story, she loved the actors and talked about the plot and its twists frequently. The romantic storylines were probably the fuel to Angie's expectations towards everybody's relationships. She noticed Nara was not the only colleague she would cheer for whenever the interaction between two people was mentioned. Despite her interest, Angie pressed pause and started reading her new friend's assignment.

As Angie proof-read Nara's work, she checked her mobile phone. No texts. At least, no texts she expected to receive, so she sent her mum an audio talking about her first days and asking how things were back at home. By the time Angie finished reading, Nara was changing clothes so instead of giving her roommate a proper feedback, the German girl simply wrote one word on the top of the first page and left. Otherwise, she would get late for her appointment with Gabi, who texted the night before asking for help in one of their advanced Korean assignments for the week.

"Flawless!", Nara read, smiling at the star drawn next to the word. Cool and gentle, as a friend's review would be, and although Nara was pretty satisfied with her first writing, she still apprehensively looked forward to the opinion of the specialist that was about to read it.

Professor Moon had delivered an input lesson on writing techniques and the task consisted of including synesthesia to describe a character's new experience, so Nara wrote the story of a Brazilian traveler first arriving in Korea. The inspiration was clearly her own experience, so she included her visit to the café, the taste of the red bean candy bar and also the music she listened to while she walked the calm streets around the campus. The current lesson was the one in which the students would have to read their texts to classmates first, and then to the Mrs Moon herself, who would provide individual feedback on their writings. While they passed papers to read everybody's assignments, the students also waited for their turns to talk to the professor. The texts had different views and angles about quite ordinary experiences, not only because how each person perceived the senses could be different, but also because as the nationality of the students was pretty varied. When it was Nara's turn to receive feedback, the grey-haired woman glanced at her student from behind her round glasses, only to return to the text with a kind smile and attentive eyes. With a pen on her hand, the professor read the text quickly first, circling and underlining some parts of it. Then, she scanned through some points again. When she finally finished her second reading, she took off her own glasses and smiled warmly to Nara.

-That's good, Miss Silva. Your synesthetic description were so precise I didn't need to read the part where you said your characters were Brazilian to know their nationality. Normally, my Brazilian students tend to focus on tactile experiences and you were not different. Even so, your writing outshines ordinary writers.

Nara smiled, modestly agreeing with the words she received as compliments. The professor took some notes in a notebook where she kept a profile of each of her students on that selected group. After flicking through some pages of it, the woman removed her glasses and looked directly at Nara, being direct in her words too.

-You already write well, my dear. You mentioned in your profile essay that your aim is to to write longer pieces, something like a novel or a romance, am I right?

-Exactly!

-You also said you have an idea to write a book in English about the story of native brazilians, like your mother's ancestors. You want the world to know about them, and that's why you chose to come here, isn't it? – Nara just agreed quietly – That's ambitious.

Nara looked at her own hands, a bit shy, but she had no time to feel guilty for her ambition, as the professor went on.

-I like it. And I also think your motivations can keep you focused on finishing your work, as they seem to be genuinely well-intentioned.

-Someone needs to do this, professor. – Nara was modest but bold – Before our story dies with us.

-I couldn't agree more! People die, but their stories don't, but a tale only survives if someone raises their voice to tell them.

-Do you have a draft of the plot?

-Not exactly.

-Can you work on it over the week? If you want to, our work here can consist of lapidating that raw stone you have to turn it into a bright jewel.

Nara intertwined the fingers of both her hands in contained excitement over the proposal, but she was also worried she could not deliver something satisfactory in such a short time.

-Bring your draft after the weekend.

-I'm afraid it's too raw...

-Don't worry. Let's work to make a clear frame for the plot and you can even start writing it after that.

Nara didn't feel very confident but the old woman was kind enough to notice and encourage her student.

-Bring whatever you have tomorrow just so that we look at it. During the weekend you can develop it better.

Most of the other students had already left class, as their own texts had already been double-checked by professor Moon. The ones who were waiting for their turn gave Nara an intimidating gaze that made her thank the woman and leave too.

Even more intimidating than the pressure of people who wanted some private time for a feedback on their works was the idea of bringing something she truly wanted to write by tomorrow. Could it be good enough? Would she have the strength to finish writing it after having the help from an admirable writer? She was scared of letting it all go to waste. But the girl swiped it away from her mind. She hadn't travelled all her way from Brazil to be intimidated by a silly fear of failure.

Nara passed by the kitchen before heading to the dorm and prepared herself a snack and some tea. She decided to spend the whole evening preparing her draft of the plot, so she'd better not interrupt her flow of ideas just because she was hungry. Feeling prepared for the efforts she would have to face with developing her plot, she marched towards her room, already full of ideas.

As soon as she sat on her desk and turned on her computer screen, her mobile vibrated on her back pocket. It wasn't a good time for distractions, otherwise the plot ideas would get too confused, as they were many and distinct from each other. So, she promised she would only allow herself to check the message when she had a raw draft at least started.