Chapter 188: Seo ji woo in United States

The showcase venue was in LA.

The flight time from Incheon to LA was approximately 11 hours.

“Haaa…”

Hayoon sighed, gazing at the blue sky outside the airplane window.

It was exhausting.

The advertiser had booked them business class seats, but even so, an 11-hour flight was too long.

“Nnhek, heue…”

Seo Ji-woo, who had barely been able to keep her eyes open even before takeoff, was drooling in her sleep.

Her sleeping face was so peaceful that Hayoon didn’t even consider waking her.

“I’m bored, what should I do…”

Hayoon pondered whether to fight off the encroaching drowsiness or succumb to it and sleep.

Ideally, she would only take a nap on the plane and sleep properly after arriving at the LA hotel.

Since it was a 6:30 AM departure, they would arrive at LAX and meet their guide around 6 PM. They’d reach the hotel by 7 PM.

It would be perfect to have dinner, sleep, and start their schedule the next day.

But if she slept too much on the plane, she wouldn’t be able to sleep even if she wanted to.

Especially Hayoon, who was somewhat well-known and needed to act as an influencer and film videos this time, unlike Seo Ji-woo who was more like Hayoon’s accessory.

She hadn’t signed a separate contract with the advertiser, but she had been encouraged to upload photos or videos of the Z Tab showcase if possible.

Even though it was a non-legally binding pure suggestion, since the other party was a large corporation, Hayoon wanted to make a good impression. If she was lucky, she might get additional advertisements.

“Should I just draw to pass the time?”

After a moment of thought, Hayoon took out her iPad from the backpack she had carried on, instead of stowing it in the overhead compartment.

If she messed up her sleep pattern and was still tired on the day of the showcase, the videos wouldn’t turn out well.

It was Hayoon’s own way of managing her condition.

Click.

She took a picture of Seo Ji-woo’s sleeping profile and set it as her reference image.

She planned to draw Seo Ji-woo sleeping, but as her avatar, Lucy.

Utaite Lucy with blue hair.

That Lucy, drooling while sleeping in a business class seat on an airplane.

That was the image she intended to draw.

“This feels pretty good.”

Hayoon sketched quickly, a satisfied smile on her face.

This seemed like a good way to pass the time and have some fun.

She was already looking forward to showing it to Seo Ji-woo when she woke up, her lips twitching in anticipation.

Had it been about 6 hours since takeoff?

– Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. The flight attendants will now be serving in-flight meals…

The announcement for in-flight meal service was made in various languages.

Today’s menu was bibimbap.

It was one of the standard dishes on Korean airlines, and the flight Hayoon and Seo Ji-woo were on was also serving bibimbap.

“Ji-woo, let’s eat and then sleep again. Ji-woo.”

“Huk? Heok?”

Seo Ji-woo, who had been sound asleep, woke up with a start, flailing.

You know how sometimes in school, you’re엎드리고 (face down on the desk) and then suddenly wake up with a jolt?

Seo Ji-woo was exactly like that right now.

“Ah, ah…”

Realizing that all eyes were suddenly on her, Seo Ji-woo, despite her drowsiness, covered her face with both hands.

“So embarrassing…”

Although it seemed there were more foreigners than Koreans in business class, it was still embarrassing, even if they didn’t speak the language.

Seo Ji-woo buried her face in her hands and whined.

“Would you like an in-flight meal?”

“Yes, two for me, please.”

“Ah, understood.”

Hayoon received two bibimbap meals from the flight attendant and started mixing the rice for Seo Ji-woo, who was still whining.

“Are you fully awake now? I think that incident just now would have woken you up completely.”

“I’m awake…”

Seo Ji-woo pouted, looking dejected.

It was her first time on a plane, and perhaps because she had also slept poorly, she looked like she wanted to die of embarrassment.

“Stop being embarrassed and let’s eat, Ji-woo. Huh? It’s not like you always get to eat in-flight meals when you fly. You can’t even get this when you go to Jeju Island or Japan, even if you want to. This.”

“Really…?”

“Of course. Those people don’t even care that you got startled awake. So, let’s just enjoy our meal.”

“Should we…?”

However, as Hayoon diligently took care of her, Seo Ji-woo’s expression brightened as if nothing had happened. This was why Hayoon liked Seo Ji-woo.

Her reactions were intense in many ways, but was it that Hayoon could also control those intense reactions as she wished? How should one put it, the satisfaction? The sense of conquest? That came from being able to manipulate someone?

Hayoon really liked that.

That’s why it felt even more strongly that Seo Ji-woo had become Hayoon’s comfort doll, and even now, they were going to America together.

Since Hayoon usually provided her with an editor and had set up her YouTube channel to run smoothly with automated processes, the advertiser had readily chosen Seo Ji-woo as the CM song advertising model.

Anyway…

“Here, ah.”

“Aah…”

Hayoon scooped up a large spoonful of bibimbap and fed it to Seo Ji-woo, then placed the tray on the folding table so she could eat by herself.

“I need to eat too now. After we finish eating, I’ll show you a drawing. I drew something while you were sleeping.”

“Really?”

And so, after eating their in-flight meals, Hayoon and Seo Ji-woo whispered and chatted for the rest of the flight, playing around.

Since the two of them got along well from the start, now that they were awake and full, chatting couldn’t have been more enjoyable.

The long 11-hour flight was over.

Hayoon had shown the remarkable feat of not falling asleep, while Seo Ji-woo had dozed off for a bit in the middle and woken up again due to the vibrations during landing.

And so, Hayoon, proceeding with the immigration process…

“Travel, trip? Yes, yes, travel, travel. Disneyland, yeah, yes, yes.”

She explained to the immigration officer in broken English that she was there for travel.

It was a conversation consisting mostly of short answers, stringing together appropriate words rather than full sentences. However, US immigration officers were the ones who encountered people speaking broken English the most.

They managed to understand what Hayoon was saying and even showed enthusiasm by communicating through gestures.

“Aren’t we here for work? Hayoon? Why are you only talking about traveling?”

“If we say we’re here for work, the immigration process will get unnecessarily long. They say if you just say you’re here for travel and smile, they’ll let you through quickly.”

“Aha?”

She answered Seo Ji-woo’s question about why she didn’t say they were there for business in Korean, with a smile.

She didn’t seem hesitant, and since she wasn’t speaking English, the immigration officer didn’t think much of it.

“Okay, okay. Welcome to America.”

He returned their passports, signaling the end of the immigration process.

“See? We’re through, right?”

And so, Hayoon and Seo Ji-woo entered the United States.

They waved to the airport staff who had processed their entry and wandered around the airport, dragging their suitcases.

Just when they were thinking it was about time for their guide to show up and greet them…

“Hello!”

The guide arrived.

A burly figure, built like a ssireum (Korean wrestling) wrestler, greeted them confidently in Korean.

They could tell just from the atmosphere.

This person was the guide.

“I… this… dan… suitcases, please give meo.”

“…?”

“…?”

And.

The moment they heard the words immediately following “Hello.”

Hayoon and Seo Ji-woo’s faces went blank.

“Hello” had definitely been spoken by a native Korean, but the very next sentence, it had turned into a Korean-American accent.

“Ah, I’m a second-generation Korean-American, so I only know a few types of Korean. What I just said was also memorized.”

“Aha…?”

“I think I kind of get it…”

Their guide for their time in America was named Jonathan Woo.

A second-generation Korean-American, most of the fluent Korean he knew consisted of memorized templates where he had perfectly learned the meaning and pronunciation.

“Jaeseo, hamnida… Bangkeum, meorago hasyeosseoyo? Mal, gilmyeon, mollao…” (Sorry… What did you just say? If it’s long, I don’t know…)

The mountain of a man, despite Seo Ji-woo not having said much, quickly deflated and became dispirited.

It was good that he came as a guide, but it was an ambiguous situation where two-way communication seemed possible but not quite.

Sure, high-level executives or employees in departments with frequent overseas business trips were mostly fluent in English, so a second-generation Korean-American guide like this wouldn’t have been a problem, but…

“This is awkward, Ji-woo. Right?”

“Uh, are we actually communicating right now?”

“Hehe, I don’t know Korean well. Hehe… English please.”

Standing in the middle of the airport with this giant man who was probably over 30, Hayoon felt dizzy.

‘The welfare of large corporations is good, but they had too high expectations for a small company like ours.’

The employees of large corporations would have been able to communicate with Jonathan Woo to some extent, and even if they were embarrassed, they wouldn’t have said that the local inspection was difficult because the guide’s Korean was lacking…

But Hayoon and Seo Ji-woo’s situation was a little different.

The two of them wondered if they could even proceed smoothly with their US schedule like this…

“Suitcases, please. I will carry them.”

“Ah, th-thank you.”

“Th-thank you!”

“Yes! Thank you!”

His competence as a guide was unknown, but he seemed more than capable of protecting two Asian women in America.

Jonathan Woo, carrying a large suitcase in each hand, looked truly imposing.

“And, that…”

“What are you referring to?”

“Backpack, in front. Doggeo, you get. Doggeo.” (Thief, you get. Thief.)

“Thief…?”

“Yes, doggeo.”

And this person, after talking to him for a bit, they realized…

Although it was a makeshift version, thanks to the Korean employees Jonathan Woo had encountered over the years, he had some degree of Korean language patching.

Of course, they were still anxious that this might also be a kind of template…

“Let’s go to the hotel. To the hotel.”

“Okay, let’s go. Hotel.”

It seemed like there wouldn’t be any particular problems until they reached the hotel.