All Jokes Aside (Imperfect Series #3)

Chapter 18

The duration of conversation between Hyunjin Nam and me took a minute than earlier before I cleaned his living area. The deeper our conversation, the longer it was. It's like I knew him for a long time by just talking to him in less than two minutes. The way he talked spent relaxation to me. I did not know him that much but I thought I understood him as a person too.

"I have a question..." he said after he just declared he hired an OC lady. "Why did you choose to work here in Korea? Of all places, why here?"

"Because I like Kpop and I watch a lot of Kdramas that's why I thought it'd be fun working in your country where famous Korean stars lived." I joked.

Hindi ako fan ng kahit anong Kpop stars at maski hindi ako palaging nanunuod ng Kdrama kahit pa man may time akong manuod kapag wala akong trabaho. I just wanted to see his reaction, and he answered a tsk then rolled his eyes.

"Lame. Lot of people choose to have vacation here not to work. They want the vibe, scenery, and all those fucking—I mean Kpop merchandise and some want to wear the traditional clothes of us. Those are the reasons why foreigners like to visit Korea. Not to work." he said as his spit the venom that spread on his tongue.

I bit my cheek to suppress a tiny smile crafting on my lips. "I'm working here because I don't have so many choices to work in other countries, salary is quite huge enough for me to live and I'm scared that before I could go home my feet are aligned and that means I'm dead before I could get my salary—and that's why I chose Korea over the western part of Asia because I got scared, I don't want to die young too."

He tilted his head, raising his brow as he understood what I meant. The corner of his lips lifted a tinted a small muscle which was he found my short story funny.

"I think that idea is quite captivating. You are so certain that would happen to you, but you don't know this country. What if you get killed right now? You can't run away from it."

"If I die today it doesn't matter because I have nothing to lose." I answered right away then I took off the cover of the bottled water, tumalikod ako sa kanya at tinungga ang tubig, pagkatapos kong uminom ay tinakpan ko ulit ang bote at humarap sa bahay.

Hyunjin Nam cleared his throat to readied to talk again but it was disrupted by the phone's ring. "I need to take this call, have a great day Miss Salamara." he uttered as he stood from the bench and walked over to go inside of his house.

Hinayaan ko muna siyang makapasok bago ako pumasok din sa loob ng bahay para kunin ang bag ko. Pagkakuha ko sa bag ay agad din akong pumasok sa trabaho ko sa hotel. Pumasok yata siya sa kwarto niya kaya hindi ko siya nakita pa nang makapasok ako. Pagdating ko sa hotel ay marami akong hearing tungkol sa ibang artista o social media influencers na nagbook sa hotel. Hindi na bago sakin ang ganung usapan kasi isang six star hotel ang trinatrabahuan ko kaya sino ba ang hindi magbobook na may perang tao.

"I think it would be better if I resign in the hotel since I got an offer to work in the Italian restaurant. You know they want to hire someone who can speak English."

Usapan namin ni Shin-Ah ay yung may gustong maghire sa kanya bilang isang bartender sa isang Italian restaurant. It's a bar-restaurant. They want a Korean who can speak English to work for them. Hiring doon kaya nagtanong si Shin-Ah kung pwede daw at may experience din siyang magbartender dahil naging part-timer din siya sa isang bar noong hindi pa siya nagtratrabaho sa hotel.

"What about the salary?"

"They pay well. I think that'd great experience for me too. Maybe I could practice Italian language if I work in that restaurant."

"That's great. So are you want to go to college next school year?" I asked with force happy tone as not to tap a bored conversation between me and Shin-Ah. I didn't really want to talk a lot but if she's the only who'd talk the whole time, she wouldn't be happy.