More Of Her In My Veins Than Blood

While In Salzburg

[Author's Note: For everyone who was deeply dissatisfied with the ending like I was. Enjoy!]

Two Years After TV Series Ending-

Baek In-ho's P.O.V. (all In-ho's thoughts are in Korean)-

I was halfway through my music degree at Songwon University when I was offered a scholarship to the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. At first, I didn't know what to think. My English has improved significantly since I started taking lessons at the university again; I was almost fluent. But I didn't know a word of German, and I'd never been outside Korea before. Moving halfway across the world to a new city where I didn't speak the language seemed daunting to me. Plus, I didn't want to leave my sister either.

But, after talking to Professor Noh and Baek In-ha- who has calmed down a lot since she's gotten married- I decided to go for it. It would only be for two years and I could come back in the summers. With that decided, we got to work for everything the next fall. I was going to move with a team of Korean students led by Professor Oh from my new university. We'd arrive in via Munich and go into Salzburg first. After a few days there, we'd then travel to Vienna and move into our dorms for the year. Come September, everything was ready to go.

I'll admit, I was thankful to be going with a bunch of fellow Koreans. Arriving in Europe was definitely a culture shock. For one, Europeans practice social distance on transit a lot more. They are a lot less formal and eat totally different food; I had no idea what I was looking at half the time. Plus it was my first time being a minority- that was...... a different experience. I'd never seen so many Caucasians in my life, though most ignored me; which wasn't unusual because they also ignored each other. I just stuck with my friends and there were no problems. At least, until I got into Austria.

Salzburg was unlike anything I'd ever seen before! The alps were very cool; my first time seeing mountains like that. And Salzburg was tiny for a city- nothing like Seoul or Busan. The streets were narrow and the building all short and connected. Some were painted different colours like yellow or orange. It looked just like that famous movie: The Sound of Music. From the moment I got off the train I was overawed and in love. I can see why such a place would produce Mozart- it was magical.

The first few days were for rest and sightseeing. Because we were a music group, we visited all the famous music-related sites. The house where Mozart was born, St. Peter's Abbey, Hellbrunn Palace, Leopold Mozart's grave; the works. At night, we attended Classical concerts preformed. It was a wonderful yet exhausting couple of days. By the fifth day I was ready to take from everything music-related and everyone in my group. Luckily for me, our last three days were independent, meaning that we were free to do what we wanted so long as we stayed in the country.

Fine by me! Ever since I saw it, I wanted to go explore the Hohensalzburg Fortress. I'd never been inside a medieval fortress before, and I didn't mind that I was the only one going to visit it either. I got dressed up in my favourite black coat and threw on my backpack. Right, time to go see my very first fortress!

I wasn't sure how to actually get up to it right away. There was this weird mechanic lift, which most people took up. But there was also a footpath which had less foot traffic. In the end, the footpath won out and I made my way upwards. The view got better and better the higher I went. Picture lush, vibrant green as far as the eye can see in every direction with the tips of mountains in the distance. Church bells rang on the hour, waking up the whole city. It was honestly like I was in a movie; I never dreamed I'd see anything like this in real life. And I prayed that Vienna would feel at least a little like this right now.

I knew I reached the top once I stopped at this gate. Only, it wasn't exactly a gate per se; it was open with no bars or doors in sight; just a tall stone arch spreading over the road. I glanced up at it, then the booth at the one side of me- I mean this tiny little booth just big enough for a man to sit inside. And what do you know? There was a man inside. He looked at me with what appeared to be permanent distain. Not sure if I was supposed to speak first or not, I smiled and gave a small wave. "Hello," I said in my best English; I still had that ascent I was working on.

The man frowned at me and held out his hand expectantly. "Drei euro," he gurgled in his hoarse voice. I knew that "euro" meant euro- as in the European currency- but had no clue what "drei" meant. I think it was a number but didn't know which. To show him my confusion, I held up my hand in front of me. "I don't understand," I spoke once again in English. Unfortunately for me, he didn't appear to speak English either. "Drie; drie euro," he sounded more annoyed this time.

I sighed and shook my head, gazing out into nowhere for a moment. Well this is a great start to the day. What should I do? Just put some money down onto the counter and see how much he takes? While I was mulling this over, someone came up from the path behind me. She paused for a moment, I think waiting to see what I would do. Meanwhile the man in the booth also shook his head and muttered under his breath. "Verdammte touristen."

I'm guessing this lady was able to put the pieces together because after watching me for a minute or so, she approached the man. "Zwei erwachsene, bitte," she spoke, and I glanced back at her. That's when my heart skipped a beat- several beats. Mad Hair....... She looked like the European version of Mad Hair. Tall but not too tall, slender, pale, and long, curly, red hair. The only different features were that she was white and had blue eyes. I watched gobsmacked as she spoke to the man, grinning over at me from time to time. The man blinked from me to her, sighing and shaking his head again. "Sechs euro." "Vielen dank," she nodded at him politely- they don't bow here- and came over to me. I watched her approach me with two tickets in her hands.

Her hand extended out with one ticket towards me. "Do you speak English?" She sounded like a native English speaker, if that makes any sense; I don't know how I knew that, I could just tell. As if taking on a life of its own, my head nodded on its own accord. Her smile grew as she prompted me to take the ticket from her. "Here, this one's for you." "T-Thanks," not knowing what else to do, I took it from her hand. I watched her wave at me while she continued walking up towards the fortress. My jaw was still hanging open, I was so dumbfounded. Wait, did that woman just buy my ticket for me? My eyes peered down at the ticket, all in German, then back up to the back of her. What struck me was how long her curly hair was from behind; it almost stretched down to her butt. It had more ringlets than Mad Hair's hair, and she didn't have bangs. The longer I stared at it, the more differences I found. But not bad differences- just differences. Giving my hand a little shake, I proceeded to follow suit and go up inside my very first ever fortress.