Split Decision: Prologue - Chapter 2
Prologue
“Ugh! It’s 4:30 am already?” I complained as my alarm clock blared in my ear. I slowly got up and got ready for my first day of work. I had finally gotten my dream-job as a magazine journalist. I was really nervous, I had never done any actual stories before... I delicately fingered my nametag on my dress suit. 'Cheem, KoSan' it stated in clear, black letters. I felt a surge of pride as I looked at it.
“If only my parents could be here to see what I’ve made of myself.” I thought aloud. They had died just two years before in a car crash. I had big problems back then; I had no money, no job, and no relatives in Korea. This was tough for me, being a senior in college. I barely managed to scrape by, working two part-time jobs and attending my classes. It all worked out though, and I graduated with honors. Now, I was going to go to my first-ever professional job. I hoped that it would turn out okay, and that I would be able to make it a life-long career.
*~*~*
I nervously got out of my dumpy-looking car two hours later. I walked up to my new place of work – a large, executive office building. I put a mask of confidence on my face and walked into the building. It was extremely crowded inside. I made my way through the throngs of people towards the elevator. I squeezed into it, accidentally knocking one man’s briefcase over, scattering his papers all over the elevator floor.
“Watch it, lady! There are important documents in here! Be careful.” The man said, glaring at me.
“Mi an hae...” I replied, quickly bending over to pick up the papers. “Here.” I said handing them back to him, trying to hide my embarrassment. I looked at the man closely. He was attractive, but his frown made him look really intimidating. He was a little taller than me, and I could tell he had a muscular build through his suit. All of a sudden he looked at me, and I noticed that I had been staring. I quickly turned my head, and pretended to busy myself with my purse.
I had to wait in the elevator for awhile, since I had to go all the way up to the top floor. The man was still on, too. When the finally elevator stopped at my floor, I quickly got off, hoping to avoid all the curious faces looking at me. I guessed that I must have been the only stranger there. Everyone else probably already knew each other.
*~*~*
I waited in a small office for my boss. She finally came in, wearing a huge smile.
“I’m so happy to have you working for us, Ms. Cheem.” She said, shaking my hand vigorously.
“Um, well I’m happy to work here, too.” I stuttered. I was really nervous.
“So, let’s get started. For this week, we are going to start you off with a celebrity interview...”
“What!?” I interrupted. “A CELEBRITY interview?”
“Yes, you and your partner will be interviewing the music group Shinhwa.”
“OMG!!! Shinhwa?” I was flustered. I had expected my first assignment to be filing papers or something like that...
“Yes, that’s what I said. Oh, I almost forgot, I have to introduce you to your partner.” She quickly left the office. She came back what seemed like hours later with the mean man from the elevator behind her.
“Ms. Cheem, this is Mr. Lee. Mr. Lee, this is Ms. Cheem. You two will be working on the Shinhwa story together.” My boss said.
“Oh, great.” I heard Mr. Lee mutter. “I get to work with the ditz from the elevator.”
~*~*~*~
Chapter 1
“Here.” My boss said, dropping a large folder full of information on Shinhwa. “This should help you with your story. If you have any questions, please ask Mr. Lee.”
I watched my boss leave with a look of horror on my face. I had to do all of that work! And, I had to it all with Mr. Lee! I could already tell this wasn’t going to be fun...
“What’s wrong with you?” asked Mr. Lee. “You look like you just saw a ghost or something. Oh, I know... this is your first job as a journalist huh? Feel like ya can’t handle it?”
“Of course I can handle it! What are you talking about?” I stood up, looking at him straight in the eye.
“Well, just to warn you: most people don’t last here very long. I hope you know how much work and pressure it takes to get the job done..."
“Look.” I said with a dead serious tone. “I can handle it. Now, I don’t know why you have this certain type of hatred towards me already. You don’t even know who I am or where I’ve come from. The things that I’ve been through before make this a breeze. Just because I’m new here doesn’t give you the right to disrespect me like that. Don’t think I didn’t hear you call me a ditz before. I think that if we work together, we should both respect each other. Understand?” I was steamed. I didn’t usually act like this towards anyone, but this guy just hit my last nerve.
“Uh, okay. I totally agree.” Mr. Lee said, gawking at me. “Mi an hae, but we always do this to the new people. It’s sort of a test, to see what the new person is like.” He said, looking a little embarrassed.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just stop with the bull and let’s start working. Looks like we’re gonna be here for awhile.” I sighed, pointing to the humongous folder.
We both sat down and began sorting through the papers in the folder. There were tons about each member, songs, and even pictures of them.
“Okay.” Mr. Lee said suddenly. “I think that we should each interview three members. That way, we could get through all of these papers faster and we could get the interview over with quicker.”
“Get the interview over with? Mr. Lee, you make it sound like you’re dreading it or something.” I joked, hoping to lighten up the mood. Getting into an argument wasn’t exactly the best way to start off my new job.
“Well, I’m just saying that it would be quicker that way.” He pointed out. “And by the way, you don’t have to call me Mr. Lee. I don’t like being all formal and junk. Just call me ChiNam.” He smiled at me.
“Okay, then I guess you can call me KoSam.” I smiled back. He wasn’t really all that bad…
“So, anyways. I was thinking you could interview Shin HyeSung, Kim DongWan, and Lee MinWoo. I’ll interview Jun Jin, Andy Lee, and Eric Mun.”
“Fine with me.” I agreed. “Hey, isn’t it weird that you have the same last name as MinWoo and Andy? You aren’t secretly related to any of them, are you?” I joked.
“No, no, no.” ChiNam shuddered, with a strange look in his eye. “I wouldn’t even want to be related to any of them.”
~*~*~
ChiNam and I spent the rest of that day sorting through all of the papers. We finally finished at nine p.m.
“Oh, my back!” I sighed, getting up to stretch.
“Hey, at least you’re already getting paid overtime.” ChiNam pointed out. “When were you supposed to get off of work?”
“Six.”
“Well, why didn’t you leave then?”
“I didn’t want to leave you with all of this paperwork. You might have not been able to handle the pressure.” I joked.
“Yeah, I don’t know what I would have done without you!” he played along. “I think I’ll go to the coffee shop around the corner. Do you want to come with me?”
“Yeah, sure! I could really go for some coffee right now. I’ll meet you there. I still have to do something real quick.”
“Okay, see ya!” he said, leaving the office.
“Finally! I thought I was going to burst!” I exclaimed, dashing out of the office and running towards the bathroom.
~*~*~
I walked into the café, looking for ChiNam. It was almost totally empty, since it was a late weekday night. I spotted him sitting at a little table in the corner.
“Annyoung!” I said, sitting across from him.
“Hey! Did you find the bathroom?” ChiNam asked, grinning.
“How did you know?” I asked, surprised.
“Oh, years of experience. That’s all. Well, that and the fact that you had a really funny expression on your face for the last ten minutes we were there.”
I laughed. “Oh, your years of experience have guided you well, wise one.” I said with an imitation of an old man’s voice. We both started cracking up.
“Excuse me. Can I take your order?” a waitress said, looking at us strangely.
“I’ll have a cappuccino with extra cream please.” ChiNam said.
“Me too. That’s my favorite!”
“Two cappuccinos with extra cream. Thank you. I’ll be right back.” The waitress left.
“So, tell me about yourself.” I began.
“Well, I work as a journalist, but you already know that. I’m a single twenty-two-year-old. I live in a little apartment in the heart of the city. And, well, that’s about it.” He said. It seemed like he was trying to change the subject. “What about you?”
So, I told him about how my parents died in a car accident and how I had to scrape by the last couple years. It was really easy for me to talk to him. ChiNam seemed to hang onto my every word.
We talked late into the night. About one cappuccino and two bagels each later, we decided to go home.
“Well, it was fun.” I said outside my car.
“Ne. So, I’ll see you at work tomorrow? Or will you buckle under the pressure and give up?” He asked with a twinkle in his eye.
“Never! I strive under pressure.” I laughed, getting into my car.
~*~*~
The next day, ChiNam and I discussed what kinds of questions we were going to ask the members of Shinhwa when would interview them. We decided to ask them questions about their personal lives, careers, future plans, and gossip.
The day after that, we actually drove down to meet them. We ended up in a small recording studio, waiting for the group to show up.
“Geeze, they sure do take their time.” ChiNam complained.
“Well, I’m sure they got held up in traffic or something.” All of a sudden we heard a door slam and a lot of voices.
“Annyoung-haseyo!” a loud perky voice said. It was DongWan.
“Mi an hae, we got caught in a traffic jam.” Said another voice, which happened to be Andy’s.
“See, I told you!” I said haughtily to ChiNam.
The six guys and two unfamiliar girls sat down in some chairs in front of us. I noticed that ChiNam had a really disgusted impression on his face.
“So, maybe we should introduce ourselves…” said Eric. “I’m Eric Mun.”
“Andy Lee, here.”
“Kim DongWan, also known as the king of the world. And of course Shina,” he said pointing to the girl next to him, “the queen of the world.” They both tickled each other playfully.
“I’m Jun Jin.”
“I’m Shin HyeSung and this is my girl Mako.” They were both holding hands, Mako sitting in his lap.
“Lee MinWoo.”
“Okay. I’m Cheem KoSan and this is my partner Lee ChiNam.” I heard a few mutters around the room. “Uh, what’s wrong?” I asked, puzzled.
“I’ll just interview my half, and you do yours.” ChiNam said abruptly, motioning for Jin, Andy, and Eric to follow him. They went into a different room.
“Okay, well, let’s get started.” I began. I found out a lot of things about Shinhwa that I had never known before. I also found out about their personal everyday lives.
“So are you and Mako a couple?” I asked HyeSung.
“Yeah, we were planning on getting married in a few months.” They both said at the same time. Then they started giggling.
“So that must mean that Shina and DongWan are too?” I continued.
“Yup.” DongWan answered. “We’re going to have a joint wedding with HyeSung and Mako here.”
“Oh, that’s so cool. And what about you MinWoo? Are you attached at the moment?”
“Um, no..." he began.
“Actually,” Shina interrupted, “he needs a date really bad. He hasn’t had a girlfriend in like forever.” They all started cracking up except for MinWoo.
“Come on you guys, I’m just waiting for the right girl.” He said defensively.
“Well, you never know,” said HyeSung, “she could be sitting right in front of your nose.”
They all looked at me. I began to blush furiously.
“Well, I think that it’s okay to wait for the right person. After all, it’s not that uncommon.” I said, still blushing.
“Thanks.” MinWoo said blushing too. “At least someone understands.”
~*~*~*~
Chapter 2
The rest of the interview was a breeze. I found out a lot of great stuff that we could write in the article.
“Well, thanks guys. This interview was great. I hope that you’ll like it when we print it.” I said gathering my notes.
“Ne, I’m sure we will.” Said Mako and Shina together. “That magazine’s our fave!”
“Here’s my card, in case you have a question or something.” I handed it to MinWoo, since he was the nearest to me. “Well, let me go check on my partner. He should be done by now.” I got up and headed towards the door.
“Hey wait.” Said Shina, her and Mako walking with me outside. “Can we talk?”
“Uh, sure, why not?” I was a little puzzled. We all walked to the parking lot.
“Well,” began Mako, “there’s this formal dance on Friday night. All of the big celebrities are going to be there. And, as you may guess, Shinhwa was invited to go with their dates.”
“Uh huh...” I muttered, wondering what all of this had to do with me.
“One of us doesn’t have a date though.” Shina explained. “If MinWoo went without a date, girls would be all over him. We were wondering if you would go as his date.”
“Well, uh, I’m flattered. But, I don’t think I can do that because of my job and all.”
“Just think about it.” Said Mako. Her and Shina both had pleading looks in their eyes.
“Yea, and call us at this number when you decide what to do.” Shina said, scribbling a phone number on one of my papers of notes.
“Hey, looks like your partner is already done.” Mako pointed to a car that was already running. ChiNam was sitting in there reading a newspaper with the stereo blaring.
“Well, I guess I’d better go now. I’ll call you two lata!” I ran to the car.
~*~*~
“Where have you been?” ChiNam asked as I flopped down in the passenger’s seat. “I’ve been waiting for like half an hour!”
“Well, if you would’ve told me that you were done, I wouldn’t have waited for you inside!” I challenged, sticking out my tongue.
ChiNam started backing out of the parking lot. “Mi an hae. I just couldn’t stand those guys.”
“Why? They seemed really nice.” I thought about telling him about the dance Mako and Shina invited me to, but I decided not to. ChiNam looked kinda agitated.
“Ne, seemed is right. People like that are all just a bunch of snobs.” We drove on, not talking for a while. The silence was filled with k-pop playing in the background. When Shinhwa’s “Only One” started to play, ChiNam turned off the radio. Did he just hate Shinhwa, or was there something else going on here?
“Do you wanna stop somewhere for lunch? It’s already 12:30 pm.” ChiNam spoke suddenly.
“Ne!” I practically yelled. I was starving. We stopped at a small Americanized fast food restaurant. We both sat down after we finally ordered. I began stuffing fries in my mouth.
“Man,” ChiNam stared at me in amazement, “were you THAT hungry?”
“Ne.” I said, starting on one of my two cheeseburgers. ChiNam kept watching me. “Wha? Hafn’t ya efa feen fomone eating?” I asked, still stuffing the cheeseburger into my mouth.
“Yeah, but you’re like a bottomless pit!” he laughed.
~*~*~
The next day, ChiNam and I were finally starting to write the story. We worked hours on end, trying to get all of the best info in it, but trying not to make it too long. I decided to take a break. I walked outside into the crisp winter air. It was cold outside, but it felt really refreshing after being stuck in the stuffy office.
I heard someone sigh behind me. It was ChiNam.
“Guess what?” he asked with a sullen face. “We don’t have to work tomorrow (Friday) because they’re gonna renovate the office. Now we have to get everything done by this evening.” He grimaced.
“That’s okay, I’m sure we’ll get it done.” I said, trying to cheer him up. It worked; his face brightened instantly.
“Yeah, since I have the best partner in the world. She strives under pressure.” He joked.
“Ha. With no thanks to you oppa. I’m the one doin all the work!”
“Hey, I’ve had more experience than you, KoSam. It’s my place to guide you and help you on your quest to a better future.” We both cracked up at his impression of our boss, who always said junk like that.
“Shouldn’t you two be working on your Shinhwa story?” Uh oh. It was our boss. Hopefully, she didn’t see ChiNam mocking her...
“Um, we were just getting some fresh air.” I said, pulling ChiNam back inside with me.
~*~*~
We continued working furiously on the interview until late that night. At 10:00pm, we finally finished. I drove home, ready to go to bed. Then I remembered something. As soon as I got in the door, I got out my notes. I found the phone number that Shina and Mako gave me and dialed the number.
“Hello?”
“Hi, this is KoSam. Is Shina or Mako there?” I asked.
“Annyoung! This is Mako. Didja decide what you want to do?”
“Ne, I guess I’ll go. I have a couple of questions though.”
“Great!”
“First of all, does MinWoo even know about this?”
“Of course!” she said, a little hint of mischief in her voice.
“Okay, well, what time is it, and how do I get there?”
“It’s at 7:00 pm. We’ll pick you up at your apartment, okay?”
“Do you even know where I live?”
“You gave MinWoo your card, remember?” Mako reminded me.
“Oh, I forgot. Um... where can I get a dress?”
“I know! Me and Shina will come to your house tomorrow afternoon, and we can all go shopping! We’ll pick you up at three in the afternoon, okay?”
“Uh, okay. Fine with me.”
“Cool!” from Mako’s tone, I could tell that she really loved shopping. “See ya!”
Continue
Chapters 3-5
