Grace
I survived middle school.
I could survive some rich kid calling me ugly, it wasn't like I was on the Korean Bachelorette, right? I mean, I'd take a rose from any one of them based on looks alone, but personality?
Pass.
Besides, as long as we all did our jobs, shared the work, and didn't kill each other, all would be well!
Suddenly feeling better about my internal pep talk, I turned to Siu and asked," So are we all in the internship program for the next few months?"
Solia looked ready to strangle me from where I stood; her expressions were getting more and more hostile the more I spoke.
You would think I'd just asked if we were going to hurry up and get naked, then rub our bodies down with mayonnaise while watching Game of Thrones.
Siu shot me a warm smile instead of an answer. Weird. "Normally, I would go over all the details with you on your first day, but we've had a bit of an emergency with VIXX, meaning I need to put out several fires all at once without losing sponsorships and contracts for the upcoming Showcase."
He was speaking English, and I was still completely, hopelessly lost. I settled for, "Right, okay." And almost gave him a thumbs up. I've never been more aware of my awkward Americanness than that moment. All I needed was to shout "get 'er done!" and I'd be solidified, written down in history, maybe they'd give me a trophy? Ugh. Where was a flag and a fanny pack when I needed one? I knew I should have grabbed mom's!
"So…" He eyed Solia. "Until then, Assistant Solia will be in charge of not only training you but making sure you have everything you need. Normally things aren't this chaotic, but again, it's an emergency. We've had a lot of issues over the past few weeks and, well, you're family—I trust you, and right now I need people I can trust more than anything, people that won't," he shared a look with Solia, "leak things to the press, specifically."
His face paled as he clenched his hands into fists at his sides.
With the dorm I was standing in? The label?
VIXX?
Wouldn't someone from the label handle that? Not a brand new intern?
I kept my mouth shut and nodded again.
He breathed a sigh of what appeared to be relief. "You'll do fine. I'll be back to check in on you as soon as I can. You have my cell phone number—use it only in emergencies —and it's so wonderful to see you, Grace. Your father mentioned you had a hard time in the States getting your foot in the door. I hope this is mutually beneficial."
I beamed. "It already has been; thank you again; I'm really excited to be a help."
I wasn't sure if I was supposed to shake his hand again, but he made the decision for me as he stepped forward, did a little bow, and whispered, "Only a short bow is needed when you meet people who you're familiar with. Besides, we're family. Say thank you, hello… you'll get used to it. People will forgive a lot since you're American. Respect the culture, and you'll be just fine."
I nodded as my emotions got the best of me, my eyes filling with tears. "I'm going to work really hard. I promise I'll try."
"I know." I could see the stress in his posture. I wanted to diffuse the situation, but I had no clue what the situation even was and was semi afraid to ask.
He turned away from me and barked out in Korean, "Josu Solia," then switched to English. "This falls on your shoulders. I trust we won't have any more situations in the next week before the Showcase?"
Solia gave him a confident smile. "VIXX is in good hands as always."
He exhaled and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. "Let's hope so."
He looked ready to walk away when she took a step in front of him and whispered something in Korean.
My body felt hot as all the guys stared me down with knowing smirks like she was saying something horrific about me. I probably looked like an absolute train wreck. Then again, why did I care? As long as I did my job well, right?
My body still felt hot as their stares penetrated to my very soul. It would be easier if they were unattractive, but calling them ugly would be a bald-faced lie.
My skin was sweaty and probably smelled like plane pretzels.
Theirs?
Flawless. I'd never seen a guy with such perfect skin, let alone five of them.
"I see." Siu took a step back and eyed me up and down quickly. "Grace, did you happen to bring any more work-appropriate clothes?" He cleared his throat like he was embarrassed to even be asking me.
Heat flooded my face. "Um, I have a dress."
"A dress?" he repeated in astonishment.
"I'll go shopping," I offered quickly, trying to smooth things over. "I assumed I'd be running a lot of errands and grabbing coffee, so I went for more work casual, but whatever I need to do, I can do." There, that sounded good.
He gave me a curt nod while Solia just shook her head like I was hopeless and offered in a smooth yet calculated voice, "I made a list of things she'll need. I'll go over it after curfew."
Interns had a curfew?
Was that a cultural thing?
Weren't these guys the same age? And why did I suddenly feel like I was back in high school?
"Good." Siu checked his watch and looked back up at me. "Tonight, Solia will have you start with elevator duty. Again, she'll go over the requirements and studying materials once I leave."
"Okay…" I gulped. "I may need help if I'm going to be guiding people to their floors. It's a big building."
"Oh!" Siu let out a chuckle. "You won't be helping people to their floors—you'll be guarding it."
"So people can't get in, gotcha." Was I at least going to get a taser?
"No." He sighed in exhaustion, rubbing his eyes. "So they can't get out."
All five interns grinned at me; each of them had smiles that told me I wasn't going to be taking a nap anytime soon and would most likely hate my job within the first hour.
Why was I protecting fellow interns? Was it dangerous here? Oh God, why hadn't I thought this through? We had to guard the door to the elevator? Seriously? Why hadn't the internet helped me with this?
Siu gave me a half nod. "I need to go. Assistant Solia will give you each of the idols' preferences and profiles. Memorize them well."
"Idols," I said dumbly as my eyes searched the rest of the interns for any hint of information. "I think I may be confused." Wasn't that what they called musicians in Korea? Panicked, I glanced at Solia.
I could feel her frustration with me as she let out an irritated sigh and muttered, "So American, thinking everything's about you. Don't worry, Sajangnim, I'll make sure to brief her on what she needs to know about…" She eyed me with irritation. "…idols."
"Thank you." Siu walked toward the door and called over his shoulder. "Assistant Solia, don't forget about the camera crew. They'll be arriving around four a.m. to wake them up for their morning choreography."
"Four a.m.?" I mouthed. Ouch. I really hoped they were talking about the talent and not the interns. Then again, if I was bringing coffee to the talent, I'd most likely have to be up at four a.m. too.
Don't panic.
Do. Not. Panic.
I looked up and caught one of the guys staring at me. He had dark hair with bits of it dyed pink. An earring dangled out of his right ear, and the leather jacket that clung lovingly to his body was one I could have sworn I'd just seen in Vogue. His lips were full and shiny, his skin flawless, and his eyes? Well, let's just say he could give me tips on how to make my eyeliner look more natural.
He didn't look away from me.
Progress?
I offered a small smile, causing him to instantly look away about the same time another one of the guys shoved him—it was the one with blond hair, the one who'd made a nasty comment about me being ugly.
Siu barked out something in Korean just before slamming the door behind him, causing each of the guys to straighten up a bit.
I opened my mouth to ask Solia something. She was no longer in the room. When had she left?
My Nike duffel backpack and plain black suitcase still sat next to me; I'd never felt more ordinary and plain in my entire life.
And I couldn't escape the embarrassment that washed over me as the guys slowly approached like I was a creature from the wilds of Peru, a deranged jungle cat who'd lived in the wild too long and had no sense of normalcy.
They looked like they were studying me.
I quickly tucked pieces of my fallen hair behind my ears. Where was Solia?!
The mean one with the red hair leaned in until I could feel his breath on my neck. "Mok yee mal la yo."
Shit. I was murdering my dad.
What was the term?
Patricide?
Happening.
Tears welled in my eyes.
I wanted nothing more than to pull out my iPhone and attempt to type what he'd just said into the app, though I'd most likely spell it all wrong and come up with something like, please serve me fire ants while balancing a machete on your chin.
You can do this Grace. You can do this.
"Ji," he repeated tersely. "Mok yee mal la yo."
I gulped.
He just shook his head and made an imaginary motion of tilting his head back and drinking something.
"Thirsty!" I blurted. "You're thirsty?" I repeated the motion.
Wait, why would I be getting an intern water?
Maybe he was the talent, and the other four were the interns?
I wasn't here to make friends, but I really didn't need to make any enemies either.
His nod somehow managed to look arrogant, maybe just for my benefit?
I let out a sigh. "Fine, even though you're an intern, I'll go grab you water because I'm going to try to be the bigger person. Maybe this will be a peace offering. Maybe—" I squeezed my eyes shut as his eyebrows shot up to his forehead like he was trying not to judge me—and failing. "Maybe I'll just stop talking to myself and get right on that." I turned on my heel and all but sprinted into the kitchen area and quickly opened the huge stainless steel fridge. Everything in the kitchen was shiny and high tech from the stovetop to the microwave; it was almost baffling how different a simple kitchen felt in Korea.
I quickly grabbed a bottle of water, then grabbed a few more—so that I was extending peace offerings to all five of them, not just one—and made my way back into the living room. The guys had all dispersed in the few seconds that I was gone, though my new red-headed friend was on the far side of the couch.
I hurried over to him and held out a water.
He stared at it.
Not for a few seconds—that would be normal.
It was more like one full minute, with my hand out, nearly shaking from the heaviness of the bottle—well, that and nervousness—just waiting for him to take it.
Freaking take it!
Water. Thirst. Was I missing something?
He yawned and then bit out a slow. "Ah ni ya." His voice was so low, not angry, just… annoyed.
At me.
Perfect.
I didn't need a translator to know that he'd suddenly decided that he wasn't thirsty at all, just irritated by my breathing.
The rest of the bottles were in the process of making my shirt wet as I clutched them against my chest like a newborn.
I made a small turn; nobody was looking at me.
I exhaled slowly and started walking back to the kitchen when the one with the gorgeous blond hair blocked my path.
How had I already messed up so badly?
And why were they all so freaking rude?
Slowly, he held out his hand like I was going to bite him, and then he very carefully grabbed the bottle of water. He nodded his head, twisted the cap, then slowly tilted his head back as he drank a few sips.
A drop of water slid down his chin.
I gaped. Eyes wide. Mouth open.
He was superhuman.
All of them were.
What kind of world had I just walked into?
When he was done, he gave me a lazy stare that had me ready to offer him a dopey smile in return. Maybe they were pumping pheromones through the air conditioning?
He didn't say thank you, but he did wink at me, one solitary wink that had my inner teenager letting out a shrieky squeal. Hot guy noticed us! Yay! Too bad hot guy and all the other hot guys are ridiculously rude. Remember the rudeness, Grace!
I probably looked like the most unintelligent person on the planet. I stared at him like he was an alien from outer space, and then he shook his head, let out a small laugh, and took a step toward me.
There wasn't much space between us. He seemed extremely amused—either that or pleased over the water.
It couldn't be me, could it?
"What are you doing?" Solia suddenly appeared out of nowhere; her voice was hushed like they could actually understand her in English.
What was I doing? Getting pregnant? I mean… I snorted out a small laugh; my sarcasm would be lost on her. Besides, she looked ready to strangle me.
Again.
"Sorry." I cleared my throat as blond-haired wonder sauntered off. "Red hair was thirsty… I think, or maybe he was just telling me I looked thirsty?"
Her eyes widened. "Lucas spoke? To you?"
Red hair, tall? Oh, and rude, yeah definitely too cool of a name for him. "If Lucas has though, it was more of a sign language thing."
She squeezed her eyes shut like looking at me was physically painful or just all-around irritating. "You won't be sleeping tonight, between studying and trying to keep them in. I refuse to cancel my meetings just because you don't know how to babysit."
"Sorry." I gulped. "I just— I'm really out of my element, and I'm still trying to figure out why I need to babysit fellow interns. Can't we get an adult for that?"
It was a joke.
She didn't laugh.
In fact, her skin turned a shade of white I'd never before seen on another human being and probably never would.
She grabbed my free arm, nearly knocking all of the water bottles out of them, and dragged me to the kitchen. I clumsily placed the bottles on the countertop while she braced her hands against the stark white granite. "They aren't interns. You're the intern."
"Right." I nodded, on the verge of stressed-out tears. "Okay, then who are they, and why are they here?"
"Did nobody brief you? On anything? At all?"
"Not really. It happened fast. Siu—"
"No, no, you call him Owner Siu. He's the owner of the record company. Or in Korean, Soyuja Siu. You always address the person with their job title before their name. Otherwise, you're being rude. Did your family never teach you about honorifics? Are you even half Korean?" Each word felt like another blow to my gut.
Because not fitting in had always been a big insecurity until college and now I felt like I was back in middle school with all the blond-haired, blue-eyed girls.
And other than Uncle Siu, who I'd only met briefly when I was younger, I didn't have any family on my dad's side, unless you count super distant relatives. It was like Solia knew every single insecurity I already had and decided to just bang me over the head until I had a breakdown.
Another rough exhale from my favorite person. "I'm Assistant Solia to you, by the way, not just Solia." Did she have to make it sound like I said her name while dealing with a sinus infection on top of everything else? "I help Soyuja Siu manage the band; you're just the…" She shrugged. "You're the person who makes sure that they want for nothing. You're not even really an intern, at least not according to me. Look, we have someone starting from another label in three months, but until then, and because the scandal was leaked to the press, it's…" She hesitated then. "You, that he trusts, probably because you don't even know who they are and don't care. Your job is to be silent, not seen, not heard. Your job is to do what we tell you and do it well."
"Sorry," I whispered yet again, feeling both agitated and embarrassed. What else was I supposed to say? At this point, the entire apartment building had probably heard our conversation, seen my shame.
"You didn't know. Of course, you don't know a lot of anything—this is so typical of Soyuja! He likes helping people. And he was probably so desperate for someone who didn't know the whole situation since the last few interns quit—" Her head shot up. "Don't repeat that, by the way."
"Wouldn't dare." I held up my hands while my brain did the calculations. Every other intern had quit. I was from America; I knew nothing about the record industry in Korea other than it was a booming multi-billion-dollar industry.
K-pop was huge, at least according to the five articles I had read before falling asleep on the plane.
"Your only job as an intern is to make sure the guys are happy, that they don't escape the talent apartments, and that they don't accidentally create another scandal before their comeback."
"So those guys in there?" I was almost afraid to hear her answer but asked it anyway.
She straightened her spine with pride and announced. "One of the biggest K-pop groups in the world, VIXX." She gulped. "Those are the idols."
I… was afraid of that.
"Perfect," I croaked, ready to pass out on the spot. "Good thing we really seemed to hit it off."
She let out a snort. "I expected them to throw you out the window and take bets on how many seconds it would take for you to hit the trees."
"Ah, sarcasm." I crossed my arms.
"I was being serious." She scowled. "You don't make it to this level without hard work. You're lucky because of who you know, but I've been working this job since I was fourteen and became a trainee for an idol group at the same age. I had exactly three hours of sleep every night for four years, still couldn't make the cut. I finally decided to join the other side and work for the groups."
"Trainee?" I repeated. "What's a trainee?"
Again with the death glare. "You need to do yourself a favor and start YouTubing, or even Soyuja isn't going to be able to save you." She looked behind me. "The chef should be here soon to cook dinner for everyone. Let's get you settled in next door, and I'll try to help as much as I can. I don't want to be fired because you're incompetent. Their diet is essential this close to the comeback stage."
Ouch.
"And yes, his name is Lucas, he's one of the main rappers, also second visual according to most of the fans. He's a favorite, but he doesn't speak to people he doesn't know. It's his thing, he's… difficult. Once he gets over that stage, you can most likely call him by his nickname— Actually, save yourself the trouble. Just use their stage names. You'll just butcher their actual names and embarrass yourself, then I'll have to make excuses for you, and it's just not worth it at this point."
And the hits just kept coming.
"What about the guy with the red hair again?" I blurted. She'd said everything so fast that I barely caught visual and rapper before nearly having a nervous breakdown.
She sighed. "Just stay diligent."
What the ever-loving hell did that mean?
She grabbed my suitcase. I had to almost jog to keep up with her as we went back down the entryway and scanned a little card on a door directly to the right of their front door.
She shoved it open with her hip.
It was a small apartment.
One you'd pay two grand a month to live in, back in Seattle.
It had one large window in the sparse living room. Had two leather couches, a fur rug, and a flat-screen TV attached to the wall.
There was a mini-kitchen with a stainless steel fridge and a microwave, which I was thankful for. The sink was next to the bar, which had two metal stools.
And to the far right of the kitchen was one tiny bedroom with a place to hang all my clothes.
The room had one mattress on the floor and a desk.
I wasn't complaining.
"This is where you'll be living for the next three months. We keep most of the interns close to the group, especially this one so that you can be at their every beck and call."
I didn't like the sound of that.
Not one bit.
"But—" I licked my lips and tried not to sound frustrated. "I'll get to see them record too, right? I really want to see that side of things, the writing, the producing, the process of…" My voice trailed off as her eyes widened to a frightening level. "Sorry, you were saying?"
"You're an intern. You're only job is to make sure they're happy, and they stay on good behavior. No scandals. In the US, a scandal makes you famous. Here, it kills your entire career in an instant—here, idols commit suicide from the pressure, a mistaken dating scandal where they're caught holding hands with the wrong person. The comments on Instagram alone are enough to send them into a tailspin of depression." She shuddered. "The production company loses millions, and there is no comeback. That's why you're here. You study their profiles down to their blood type."
Did she just say blood type?
"And you get them what they need before they need it."
"You mean along with guarding the elevator?"
Her gorgeous face fell. "That's not typical, but after today…"
"What happened today?" I asked as she handed me a portfolio folder with an iPad on top. Her hands were busy, but her face was etched with concern as she exhaled and then repeated the process like she wasn't getting enough air.
"Lucas …" Her voice hitched. "…was found with a girl—a fan, kissing. He says it wasn't his fault that she attacked him, but she said that he's been texting her, that they have a relationship. It hit the news last week, blew up this week, and fans went wild as if he cheated on the whole world when he didn't do anything wrong. This afternoon, Soyuja Siu found him… on the roof."
"The roof? Why? To get away from the chaos?"
Her eyes locked on mine as she shoved another portfolio into my hands. "To jump. He was on the roof to jump."
I'd never understood the importance of elevator duty so much.
I felt my knees weaken. "I'll guard the elevator with my life."
"Good, because his may just depend on it."
"Shouldn't he be on suicide watch?" I asked softly, remembering all of the psych classes I was forced to take as an undergrad.
"And make his shame even more public?" She seemed horrified at the thought.
Shame? What did she mean shame? If he was depressed, he needed help! He needed someone to talk to! He didn't need to be babysat by an intern! That wasn't the answer.
"It's about what's best for him, right?" I tried a different angle. Even though I didn't know him, he seemed too young to be dealing with that kind of pressure—they all did.
"No." Her smile was sad. "It's about what's best for the group, their fans, and the company. That's their reality. That's what they signed up for."
I couldn't wrap my head around it. One of the guys in there looked barely old enough to be out of high school. "Forget the group. What about the individual?"
"You don't understand."
I knew she wasn't trying to make me feel stupid, but I still felt stupid for not understanding.
"The day it hit the news stocks fell fifteen percent, the Instagram account for the group lost almost fifty thousand followers, and two fans egged the side of the apartment building, so no, he doesn't get to have a life. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have meetings. You have my cell. Call me if you need anything. They'll be busy eating, so I wouldn't worry too much during dinner. Grab a chair, place it in front of the door, plant yourself in it, and study all the material."
I nodded in stunned disbelief as her words washed over me. In the US entertainment industry, something like this would go viral on YouTube and give fans something to gossip about, so why was it different here? I was trying to wrap my head around it and realized I really didn't have any time to do that—I had a job to do. I just wish there was someone else that could let me ask at least a dozen questions so I didn't do my job wrong, especially if lives hung in the balance. It wasn't what I was expecting and was so different than what I was used to seeing on TMZ with celebrities.
I didn't realize I was chewing my fingernail until I looked up, and Solia was already halfway to the door.
"What about sleeping?" I called after her as she hurried out of the small apartment door.
She looked over her shoulder with a laugh. "Learn to embrace caffeine, your nights of sleeping are over."
"Great," I croaked, and then because I was paranoid and a bit panicked, I followed after her, grabbed one of the metal chairs from the kitchen and set it in front of the door, and got to work.