Glow

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

Dinner was a rushed affair, everyone want to get back to their work and studies.

Hoseok was no exception, but his bee-line to the schedule was noticed. A few notes on it and he was off, rushing back to his studio to continue his homework and music production.

Taehyung, finishing cleaning the dishes with me, went over and checked out the changes made by his fellow member.

Since he decided to see what Hoseok added to the schedule, I followed and looked over his shoulder.

'Orientation? At HYBE?' I ask quietly, trying to figure out what was written.

'No. At lawyers. Not orientation, information meeting. I think final contract details.' Taehyung says, looking at the rest of the schedule.

'So they figured it out at the eleventh hour?' I murmur. His confused look when I said this made me shake my head. 'Just means last minute finishing of a project, just before the deadline. Kinda like saying you got homework earlier, but you wait until almost midnight to actually do it.' His nod didn't feel confident, but then, it's is a colloquialism, I'm not sure if it translates that well.

'Looks like if everyone didn't have work to do we'd be having another family meeting.' He replies, drying off his hands. 'I've still got some work to do myself. Did you get everyone on the hyung list today?'

'Everyone but Namjoon. He's been difficult to pin down today.' I reply, eyeing the door to Rkive.

Nudging me as he passes to head down the hall to his room he grins. 'Bet he'd like some company then!'

****

'Hey y/n, how's your Korean coming?' Namjoon asks as he shuts the door to his studio.

I settle down on the couch, my tummy feeling almost too full from dinner. 'It's probably never going to be as good as your's, but then I'm coming into the language as an adult. You started English as a kid if I remember correctly.'

'Yeah, true.' He chuckles. 'How about, for practice, we hold as many conversations in Korean in this studio as possible. You can use English words to ask for the correct word in Korean, but you need to finish your talking in Korean. Do you want to try that?' Settling into the swivel office chair in front of his desk he spins and faces me to focus on my reply.

'That's not a bad idea. I'll probably be using more English than Korean, at least at the outset, but hopefully it'll help.' I agree.

'Now try saying all that in Korean.' He grins, settling back in his chair.

****

'Do you think I'll ever feel comfortable speaking in Korean?' I stumble a bit over the words, but I am able to keep the whole question in Korean this time. It's actually the first whole sentence I succeeded in completing unhelped since I walked into Namjoon's office this evening.

'It'll take a bit. You'll keep getting better with phrases for a bit. Scripted responses for social etiquette will be the first things you'll get a hang of, like a kid does. Actual spontaneous conversations is likely still over a year away. I'd be happy with you understanding the local paper, and being able to read it out loud by the end of the year.' He pauses, thinking to himself, brow furrowed and tapping his thigh. 'If you can keep your understanding of Korean under wraps until the end of the finalization of the contract dispute then it might come in handy as a negotiation tactic.' I look at him puzzled.

'All contracts are written in Hangul. It's likely they won't even think to have a copy in English, and even if they did, it's possible someone will try to give you an inaccurate one, not having all the information that the one in Hangul has, or some of the wording is nebulous enough to allow for interpretation.' I frown at the possibility, but even I know that these tactics are possible.