Ch.220220. VIP Entering

After the incident at the airport was resolved, we took a car to the Condado Hotel in San Juan.

The ocean stretched out in front of the hotel. This luxury accommodation, where Hwa Nabi and I would be staying during our honeymoon, featured a swimming pool, sun beds, tanning room, and massage facilities.

As we entered through the main entrance after getting out of the car, two yellowish sphinxes greeted us. Well, “glared at us” might be more accurate, but whatever, right?

With these thoughts, I walked under the soft glow of chandeliers. Straight ahead was the front desk with two female employees seated there.

As we approached, the employee sitting on the right stood up with an awkward smile. She was an Asian woman who looked friendly, but her smile suggested some kind of difficulty.

“I’m terribly sorry, but we’re not accepting same-day guests at the moment. I apologize for the inconvenience, but would you mind using another hotel?”

“Another hotel? Why, is there a problem?”

“There’s no problem exactly, but we have a VIP guest staying at the hotel for the next week. So we’re not accepting regular guests.”

“Ah… I see.”

The employee, who spoke fluent English, bowed her head again. After reluctantly accepting her greeting, I glanced at Hwa Nabi.

She seemed equally perplexed, looking at me with a confused expression.

“Siwoo, didn’t we have a reservation for this hotel?”

“Yeah, I think so. My brother told us to go to the Condado Hotel.”

“Really? That’s strange…. Excuse me, is there another hotel with the same name in a different city?”

The employee shook her head at Hwa Nabi’s question. She added that the Condado Hotel was the only one with that name in all of Puerto Rico, including San Juan. So we hadn’t come to the wrong destination.

That made it even stranger. We hadn’t gotten the building name wrong, nor had we come to the wrong place… What was going on?

“Hmm, should I just check with my brother? That might be faster.”

“Yes, that would be better. You have roaming service, right?”

“I set it up before we came. Hold on, I’ll call him now.”

I dialed the phone number I had memorized by now. The recipient was, of course, my brother. After several rings, he finally answered.

[Hello?]

His voice was hoarse. Was he still sleeping at this hour? When I mentioned this, he chuckled incredulously.

[Siwoo. It’s 1 AM in Korea, you know? Could you consider the time difference?]

“Ah, right.”

We’re on the opposite side of the world. There’s about a thirteen-hour time difference between Korea and Puerto Rico, so it was indeed the middle of the night there.

So I’d woken him up with my call. Once I realized this, I apologized, but he said it was fine and asked if we’d arrived safely.

“We arrived fine. Thanks for arranging the car, bro. But hey, can I ask you something?”

[Sure, what is it?]

“About the hotel we reserved, it’s the Condado Vanderbilt Hotel, right?”

[Yes, that’s right. Why, is there a problem?]

“Well… there is a problem.”

I explained the situation briefly to my brother. How we had just arrived at the hotel, and the staff said they weren’t accepting regular guests because a VIP would be using the hotel.

After I summarized everything clearly, he made a thoughtful sound and then chuckled again.

[Siwoo. Did you tell the staff your reservation name?]

“Huh? No, I didn’t. They said they weren’t accepting regular guests, so why would I?”

[Then hang up and go back to tell them. Say you have a reservation under Han Siwoo and ask if they really don’t have any rooms. If they ask for a reservation code, just give them the one I sent you on KakaoTalk.]

“What if they still say there’s no room after I tell them?”

[Just trust me and try it first. And if there really isn’t any room, we can find another place. San Juan has more than just one hotel, right?]

He wasn’t wrong. San Juan is the largest city in Puerto Rico, so there must be plenty of hotels.

Thinking that we could just go somewhere else if rejected gave me confidence. I told my brother I understood and hung up. Then I approached the front desk employee again.

“Excuse me, I have a reservation under the name Siwoo Han. Are you sure there are no rooms available?”

When I mentioned the reservation name as my brother instructed, the employees blinked in surprise and then looked shocked. Their reaction was like they’d seen a ghost, which made me even more confused. The employee who had shown me a kind smile earlier stammered as she asked:

“Do you have a reservation code? I’m sorry, this is part of our verification process…”

The reservation code—she must mean this long, complicated string of numbers my brother sent. I recited the eleven-character combination of letters and numbers, and the employee suddenly stood up and bowed deeply. I was surprised for two reasons.

First, I was surprised to see a Korean-style bow in Puerto Rico, and second, I was shocked by how excessively polite she suddenly became.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! So you’re Mr. Siwoo Han. I apologize for the misunderstanding. Your appearance is quite different from what we were told. We should have asked for your reservation code first…!”

“Ah… yes. But VIP? Us?”

When I questioned this unfamiliar concept, the employee kindly explained. The reservation code I provided and the name Siwoo Han—the person matching those two was the VIP who had rented out the entire hotel, and that was us.

No wonder things seemed strange. My brother laughing when I asked him seriously, and the hotel saying they weren’t accepting regular guests despite our confirmed reservation.

There were several suspicious points, but I never expected this twist. Both Hwa Nabi and I were surprised by this revelation, but the employees seemed even more shocked. Understandably so—from their perspective, they had almost turned away a VIP guest.

They looked so nervous watching us that I gave them a friendly smile and assured them it was fine. My naturally stern face probably didn’t help much, but what could I do? I couldn’t force myself to look different.

“Um… let me help you check in. It’s the two of you, correct…?”

“Yes, just the two of us. By the way, are you Korean?”

“Oh? Yes, I am Korean. Well, half… How did you know?”

The employee nodded enthusiastically, seemingly surprised by Hwa Nabi’s question. Hwa Nabi took the key card the employee offered and replied casually.

“The way you apologized seemed very Korean. You’re mixed?”

“Yes. My mother is Korean and my father is local. Are you… I mean, is the VIP also of Korean descent?”

“I get that a lot, but both my parents are Korean. Anyway, it’s really nice to meet you. I didn’t expect to find someone with Korean connections working here.”

Hwa Nabi spoke cheerfully and then glanced at me. She looked like she had something to say.

“—Ahem, darling. Don’t you think this is a kind of fate?”

“…Huh?”

I didn’t understand why she was suddenly asking this. When I responded awkwardly, Hwa Nabi moved closer and linked her arm with mine. Then she spoke in a sweet voice:

“People can make mistakes while working. Besides, since she’s our compatriot, wouldn’t it be nice to just forget about this small incident?”

“……”

Anyone watching might think I was nitpicking over nothing. I hadn’t planned to file a complaint anyway. I was about to ask why she was suddenly acting this way when I noticed Hwa Nabi secretly signaling to the employee before looking back at me.

Then I understood. Ah, she’s doing this on purpose. I should play along.

“Hmm… I guess so?”

“Right? We’re from the same homeland, so it wouldn’t be nice to make a fuss about everything. We should help each other out.”

“Okay, I’ll do as you say, Nabi.”

After our pretend conversation ended, I glanced at the employee and saw her expression brighten considerably. She had looked nearly dead moments ago, but now she looked like she’d seen a ray of hope.

“Well then, we’ll be in your care for the week.”

Hwa Nabi winked at the employee and smiled. The employee stared at Hwa Nabi blankly before breaking into a bright smile.

“Yes! We’ll make sure your stay is comfortable and serve you with our utmost dedication!”

*

We arrived at the suite with the overly attentive employee’s guidance. Being on the top floor, the ocean view from the windows was spectacular.

I parked my suitcase in a corner of the living room and said as I unzipped it:

“Nabi. You’re really good with words.”

“Hmm, me?”

“Yeah. The way you handle people is quite impressive.”

After taking out clothes, underwear, and swimwear, I closed my suitcase. Hwa Nabi, who was also rummaging through her suitcase, picked up a piece of underwear and stretched it.

“Oh, that’s not really people skills. I just thought if I said something nice, they might give us extra service, so I was just trying to look good.”

“No, that’s exactly what real-world social skills are.”

Walking that fine line between seeming sincere and not, gaining advantages without making the other person feel bad—I’m not good at that. I’m not particularly articulate, and I find it burdensome.

Thud.

Hwa Nabi closed her suitcase zipper. She was holding what looked like a ziplock bag, apparently for storing underwear. As expected of a woman, she’s more meticulous than me in these matters.

“Siwoo, should we go explore the area now? Or are you tired and want to rest before going out?”

“What about you? Are you feeling okay?”

I can adjust to Hwa Nabi’s energy level, but not the other way around. After all, she’s pregnant, so she gets tired much more easily than I do.

“I feel like I’ve slept enough, but I’m strangely a bit tired. Maybe it’s because of the baby?”

“That could be part of it, and also because we were on the plane for so long.”

Despite everything, sleeping comfortably means lying down properly, so sleeping while leaning on a chair seat is bound to be tiring. I stood up straight and looked at Hwa Nabi.

“So what do you think, should we rest a bit before going out? We have plenty of time anyway.”

“If I rest now, I think I’ll end up sleeping. Don’t you feel the same?”

“Hmm… honestly, yes. If my head touches the bed, I’ll probably fall asleep right away.”

This is all because we haven’t fully adjusted to the time difference. It’s about 1 AM in Korea right now. Since we’re staying for a week, not just a day or two, we should start adjusting to the local time now if we don’t want to live like night owls during our vacation.

“Even if we sleep, we should eat dinner first. If we sleep now, we won’t be able to sleep at night. So shall we go out and have some fun?”

“Sure, where do you want to go? Any place in mind?”

In response to my question, Hwa Nabi pointed somewhere. Her slender index finger was pointing outside the living room window.

The place she was pointing to was:

“Let’s go to the beach!”