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An Electric Night with Wendy


dububrah

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An Electric Night with Wendy

 

a onehallyu exclusive story

by dububrah


EMQGFLb.jpg

 

The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this fanfic are fictitious. No identification with actual persons, places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

 

Part 1

 

Elly stepped down the runway ramp and into the terminal.  Incheon International Airport loomed large and grey around her, yet it struck a familiar feeling; perhaps from its setting as a backdrop for so many tistory albums Elly had scrolled through. The blonde haired girl looked around her, as if hoping to spot an idol group or two headed for their overseas schedules.  "Focus", thought Elly - "this exchange is not about being a koreaboo..." and yet in her heart she wondered whether she was lying to herself... the food, the language, the beautiful culture, she had told her friends, were the reasons for choosing Korea for a year of college abroad - nothing so fanciful as pop music, or pretty girls on her computer screen.

 

As Elly made her way to the AREX platform, she caught sight of a particular billboard ad on the station wall: "2 YEARS WITH RED VELVET~ LOVE FROM SEULGIKANG.KR" read the advertisement, paid by a fansite for their idol's anniversary.  "Red Velvetttt...." thought Elly happily, as the electronic board changed to a cosmetics ad, an actress Elly didn't know holding up a foundation stick adoringly.  The train whirred impressively to the platform, its doors sliding open as if to welcome Elly to her new adventure as a student in the Land of Morning Calm.

 

…

 

The first week of life at Korea University passed Elly in a flash.  From setting up her phone and banking, to fitting out her room at International House with living essentials, to madly registering for classes with 800 other international students, the Swedish girl had scarcely a moment to take in the surroundings.  Elly found her home for the year, a small room with a cramped little desk and a tiny balcony overlooking the Seoul skyline, small but comfy.  With her limited Korean, coming mostly from watching dramas, Elly chose two introductory Korean classes, a class in music and another in drama to fill her schedule. 

 

As Monday of her second week in Korea arrived, the study term commenced.  Elly woke early on Monday morning and dressed in her best clothes, hoping to make a good impression in fashion-conscious Korea.  She grabbed some ramen as the clock passed 8.30, and headed down the stairs and along the path from the dorms to the lecture halls.  Sweat formed on her forehead in the cool late summer morning as she shuffled along the increasingly crowded walkway.  Fragments of conversation in Korean were replaced by English and several other languages as International students converged on the large lecture hall that was Elly's destination.

           

As Elly found a seat inside the sterile grey lecture hall, a stout grey haired professor paced the front of the room and the projector displayed "Korean for Speaking 1" on the big screen.  Elly placed her spiral notepad on the foldable desk and took out her pen as a tanned Asian girl sat down next to her.

“Hey,†started the girl, “first day?†asked the girl in a clear west coast American accent.

“Sure is,†replied Elly.

“I’m Thanh, from California… let me guess, you’re from… Norway?â€

“Sweden,†she said, “I’m Elly, nice to meet youâ€

“Wow, you’re really pretty, Scandinavian girls are –so- beautiful,†said Thanh.

Elly studied her features; she was dark skinned, not ugly but not pretty either, with a protruding chin and small dark eyes. 

“Are you staying at International House too?†asked Elly

“Oh wow, I am, we can be dorm mates! Hey did you know there’s like five celebrities going to this school?†asked Thanh enthusiastically

“Celebrities… are you into kpop too?†asked Elly in reply

“OH my godddd, I love kpop, and dramas, who do you like?â€

The commencement of the class interrupted Thanh’s listing off of her favorite kpop groups.  Professor Kim, the teacher began to speak, introducing the lesson on consonants and sentence formation.  The class passed uneventfully, save for Thanh whispering at Elly to point out some cute guys she had spotted in the room, though these were of scarce interest to the Swedish girl.

 

Elly said goodbye to Thanh and headed off to her first drama lecture, promising to meet up again soon.  She hoped the next class, which seemed easy enough from the description, would be mostly practical and not too taxing on her Korean skills.  As she approached the lecture theatre, much smaller than the one for her previous class, Elly checked her campus map – was this the right place?  A small crowd of perhaps fifty to a hundred people had spontaneously formed near the entrance to the theatre, more than she had expected to be in the class.  The crowd parted in the centre as a lone figure entered the hall, then dispersed just as quickly as it had appeared.  Elly took a seat in the theatre, this time filling up with all native Korean students, save for herself. 

 

The class totalled around 28, and the teacher was a small but kindly looking lady in what Elly guessed to be her fifties.  A number of the students studied Elly, her long blonde hair and Nordic features standing out in the room.  The teacher, Mrs. Park, introduced herself and the class at hand.  Elly listened intensely, gathering as many words as possible.  It sounded, as best she could tell, as though the teacher was asking them to begin their first activity.  As Elly picked up words that might have been ‘introduction’, ‘yourself’, ‘acting’, ‘character’ and ‘pairs’, her heart raced.  It seemed to be what every shy student dreads on a first day. 

 

As the teacher finished speaking, the students stood up and shuffled about the room, speaking loudly. Confused, Elly looked around as the students formed pairs, ignoring her as she sat frozen in her chair.  As all but a few of the students settled into the task, Elly looked around hopefully, beginning to panic… didn’t anyone want to save the poor foreign student?  Just then, a small slender figure approached, brushing off the attention of the male students,

“Hey,†spoke the girl in a distinctly American accent, “we can work together if you want…â€

 

to be continued

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