Min Jae
Min Jae followed Rachel out to the rented car and couldn’t help but smile. Who would have thought he would have ran into this girl again in Chicago of all places! When he ran away from the matseon, the date his parents had arranged for him with a suitable young lady worthy enough to be a part of their family, he didn’t plan on meeting up with anyone. Maybe fate had something more planned for him. From the very beginning of Hydra she’d been showing up. She was at their very first fan meet and then he saw her at every single fan meet they had in the USA, clear up until their military enlistment. But even this did not stop him from seeing her. He wouldn’t admit it, but the place he had seen her the most often and most recently was in his dreams.
He was so busy in his own thoughts as he followed her to the rental parking area that he nearly bumped into her when she suddenly stopped in front of a Kia Soul. She pulled up her phone and punched in her code. He couldn’t help but see a picture of him on the lock screen. He also couldn’t help noticing what her unlock pattern was either.
“What is the matter?” he asked as she verified some information and frowned.
Rachel sighed in slight disgust. “I asked for a smaller SUV, not a car with high hopes. But the roads shouldn’t be too rough, so I suppose this is okay.”
Min Jae watched his rescuer pop the trunk and put her one large suitcase and laptop bag in the trunk space and carry her larger purse to the driver’s side.
“Well, come on. Get in! I’m not going to open your door for you,” she said, rolling her eyes. “My services don’t run that far.”
She spoke rather abrasively in spite of using formal speech. He couldn’t blame her, after a long flight and all he was putting her through. She may be a fan, but he knew he could be rather taxing sometimes.
Still, it was not how he thought the nice girl who stepped out of the front of the line would be after all this time. He’d been fascinated by her actions, and for the last ten years he wondered what it would be like if he ever met her for real and not at some hurried fan meeting. Something must have happened to her to make her be all business and closed off. I wonder if it’s the same thing that was making her cry when I ran into her before, he mused as he walked around to the passenger side and got in.
He wasn’t sure how far the hotel was from the airport, but he watched as the buildings grew in size as they headed into the city proper. They hadn’t been on the road for five minutes before Min Jae started asking her questions.
“So, why did you choose to go to Korea? Did you like K-Pop that much?”
“I do like the music, but that wasn’t the reason I started learning Korean or went there. I went there because I wanted to learn more, and my harabeoji didn’t have the time to teach me much. So instead, he paid for me to travel abroad.”
“Why would your grandfather be the one to teach you Korean?”
“Because he’s half Korean and spent the first ten years of his life there. And he has some business dealings out there too, so he’s the best one for the job here at home.” Her maternal Grandfather had been excited when one of his grandchildren showed interest in his birthplace and made sure she had every opportunity to pursue the interest as long as she wanted. She had never wanted to stop.
“I got to meet some of his cousins while I was there, and I lived with a host family who had a daughter my age who liked K-pop. That was how I got hooked.” She looked sideways at him. Did she remember first meeting him? Probably.
“How long ago was that?” he asked. If she wasn’t going to bring up Hydra, then maybe he shouldn’t either.
“About ten years. I haven’t stopped studying Korean since then,” she said with a smile and a far-off look.
“Well, you are really good at it. And that explains how you are able to work in Seoul,” he said.
“So why did you come to Chicago without any of your entourage and only a backpack?” Rachel asked. She sounded like she was trying to keep the attention off her and on him.
“My parents were trying to set me up on a matseon. I didn’t like the girl and didn’t want them to find me for a while.” Min Jae was 27. He was at the age parents started wanting to have their kids get married, so they could have grandchildren in the near future. Since he didn’t get out much it made sense for his parents to try to set him up on a matseon, but he wanted to have a say in who he dated, so that caused some problems.
“Was the girl that bad?” Rachel asked with a bit of a nervous laugh.
“Image is the most important thing to her. Both in looking like the perfect power couple and having the guy pay for all the accessories because he ‘loves’ her that much.” He rolled his eyes. “She nearly bankrupted the last guy she dated.”
“She sounds like Kim Ah Reum,” Rachel said with a shudder.
“You know of her?” Min Jae asked in surprise. Kim Ah Reum was the daughter of the president of an electronics company which focused on concert speakers and systems for the performers to use. And her Dad would do anything for his baby girl.
“Several reports on her have made it to the fan circles. Not all of them were written by angry fans either. I might have pitied the girl for being abandoned, but since it was her, I don’t blame you for running away. It was a good dodge.”
“Thanks. I figured since I’m on vacation, and I didn’t want to go on that date, I should use my time to write some music and chase a dream.” Min Jae sighed. He pulled out a phone from his backpack and tried to turn it on. It flickered and died again. “I broke my phone before I came, so I’ll have to get a new phone and call my parents and apologize. I should probably let them know where I’m at before too long.”
“Speaking of which, we’re here,” Rachel said as they pulled into the parking lot and through the covered arch near the hotel entrance.
Without looking Min Jae grabbed his bag from between his legs and opened his door. He was going to turn around and thank her once he got out, but as soon as he stepped out a gaggle of people with cameras rushed out of the lobby. Before they could get too close Min Jae felt himself being pulled back into the car.
“Close the door! Please! Hurry!” Rachel said. As soon as he slammed the door closed, she screeched out of the driveway and back onto the street. “Someone must have overheard you say you would be staying at the hotel. That is the only reason they would have a mob like that there.”
“So, what am I supposed to do now?” he asked.
“I’m taking you home with me,” she said matter-of-factly.
Min Jae looked at her sharply. “Excuse me?”
“If the president or my grandfather knew you were here and that I just left you to deal with that circus back there, they’d have my hide. So instead of leaving you here to deal with it yourself, I’m taking you with me where I know it is safe.” She wasn’t kidding when she said she was in crisis management mode. She was making decisions for him without even asking him.
“Will it be close to here?” Min Jae asked. “Or is this just the closest airport with international flights?”
“Most people fly out of here if they are going to be in northern Illinois. I grew up in Lake Forest, about forty miles north of here, so this is my home airport.”
“It sounds nice, and fairly close that should be okay then.”
“It is a nice community, but that’s not where we’re going. I have a cabin about two hours away that will be remote enough even your fame won’t have an effect on your vacation.”
“So why are you taking me there instead of Lake Forest?” Min Jae asked. He sounded surprised.
“Because I never planned to go to Lake Forest to begin with. And taking you out there is all I can think to do right now with my jet lagged brain. I should probably call my Harabeoji to know the best thing to do, but I don’t have a sim card for the US either. So for tonight, and until I can talk to him, I’ll have to keep you with me.” She sighed and looked around a bit nervously as she shifted lanes.
“I think you can relax,” he said, watching her look around more than normal. “I don’t think anyone is following us and I doubt the paparazzi got a shot of your face.”
“It’s not that,” Rachel said, her hands white from gripping the steering wheel. “I just haven’t driven in three years, and Chicago drivers scare me.”
“What?” Min Jae practically shrieked. He hadn’t thought about her abilities as a driver when he got in the car.
“I haven’t had to. I live close enough to commute to work. I don’t even own a car anymore. I sold it before I moved. I’m just glad my driver’s license is still current.”
“Yeah, me too,” he said, wide eyed.
For the next few minutes, he watched as she ignored him and drove. It was amazing she could do that when she had him sitting next to her. As one of the visuals for Hydra, there weren't many times when he didn't have some girl fawning over him even when he wore a face mask. He couldn't think of the last time he hadn't even caught a grandmother's eye. With that being his reality, and the sidelong glances he caught from her as she drove, he thought he might be distracting her a bit too. As the buildings and cars thinned out, her grip lessened.
“Sorry about that, I didn’t think I would be that nervous,” she said, signaling she felt ready to talk again.
“I didn’t think I could be either,” Min Jae joked, and Rachel smirked. "But you did a good job,” Min Jae agreed. “How old are you?" he asked after a few moments of silence. She seemed so focused on driving she wasn't talking a lot.
"I'm 26 as of my last birthday, so 27 in Korean years."
"So not too much younger than me," he mused. Up to this point she had been using polite but formal speech, ending things with “yo” whenever she spoke to him. Much as he liked the respect, two weeks of it would get a little annoying. "Since we're going to be together for some time, it would be okay if you used informal speech with me."
"I don't know," she responded. "I'm going to have to speak to you after this if I run into you at the company. I don't know if I'll be able to return to polite speech after I've been informal."
"I'm okay with that. You saved me. That makes us friends in my book."
"If you're sure about it, then I shall," she agreed.
"I'm sure," he said, surer of this than anything in his life. "So where are we going exactly? I’ll need to know so I can tell my bandmates and my parents when I call them.”
“We’ll be close to a small town called Dixon, Illinois. My cabin is actually between DeKalb and Dixon. We will be staying at a retreat campground up in the hills. It’s a little mountainous, but nothing dangerous. With all the changes Harabeoji made to it, he tried not to do too much to change the landscape. It’s a great place to do almost anything involving the outdoors while providing contact with the outside world if you want. All of the cabins have electricity, plumbing, and free WiFi.”
“You sound like a travel brochure,” he joked.
“I should. I’ve lived and worked there every summer for as long as I can remember. A lot of the winter breaks too.”
“It does sound nice. I haven’t really been able to go to anything like that without my bandmates before.”
“You did sign on with NIK rather young,” she said. She had obviously done her homework on some of the more intimate details of his past. “I’ll show you around if you’re not ordered back right away,” Rachel said. “And even if you are ordered back, you can stall long enough to do a few things.”
“Are you encouraging me to rebel?” He looked at her with mock offense.
“I’d rather say I’m encouraging you to slow down. Maybe take a later flight on the mandatory return,” she hedged.
“Will you be around to do those things with me?” he asked hopefully.
Did I just flirt with her? he thought, slightly shocked. He’d joked with people in the fan meets before but never intentionally flirted. What could it hurt? They were friends now, or at least acquaintances.
“Of course,” she said with a smile. “Most things require a buddy to do them, and since beggars can’t be choosers, I’m all you’ve got at the moment,” she said. He didn’t like how she sounded like she would do it because it was her job.
He also didn’t like how she belittled herself. “I know they say that, but I really feel honored you are willing to do them with me. So please don’t think you’re forcing me to do anything. And I hope you don’t feel too put upon.”
“Why do you say that?” she asked. Was she really that clueless?
“I get to spend the next few days with a pretty girl without any expectations, schedules, or demands,” he said with a smile and a wink, hoping he was doing it right. He still wasn’t sure how to flirt if it wasn’t scripted for a music video.
“I guess I should warn you then. This week is scheduled out for me. I’m not going to be the only member of my family staying at the campground, and there will be planned activities,” Rachel said. She didn’t sound very enthusiastic about this trip. “I came home because Harabeoji arranged for our annual family reunion to be held this weekend. Thursday through Saturday, the campground and all its activities will be overrun with the descendants of Lee Chang Sung and his family.”
Min Jae leaned back in his seat at Rachel’s latest revelation.
“A family reunion?” he asked in shock. That could be good or it could be bad. “Are they as involved with Korea as you are?” he asked. He originally planned on staying holed up in the cabin instead of interacting with her family. He’d brought his music-writing laptop and tablet with him, along with some good headphones when he ran away, so he could stay busy.
He had promised the president he would do some writing during the break, and this place would give him a chance to do that. But Rachel’s enthusiasm about the location they were going, excluding the company, made him actually wanted to see this place. Getting out into nature had been something he enjoyed with his real parents when he was little. and he hadn’t really been able to do that after they died when he was ten.
“My Harabeoji is. He’s got several investments out there, and there will be a few others who work at the company who might. On the whole, though, only one of my brothers joined in the whole K-pop scene with me. The rest of the cousins had their own things they were doing.”
“Do you think it will be safe for me to attend?”
“If you can put up with their fake sincerity and backstabbing.”
“You don’t sound super thrilled about seeing your family.”
“Most of the younger ones are okay, it’s the older ones you have to look out for. They’re the family members who you have to look out for the most when you go to a family reunion. But since you are a guest, you probably won’t have to deal with it.”
This must be something she had experienced a lot. By her tone she probably didn’t want to talk about it much either. He was fine with that.
“I understand how you feel. Not everyone has another person’s best interest in mind, even if they are family. I’ve been hurt a time or two myself. But I’m in a better situation now.”
“Are you sure? Your parents tried to set you up with Kim Ah Reum. I say that warrants some suspicion,” Rachel said. It seemed as if she might be trying to go toward a lighter subject.
“True. But you’re the lucky one. You don’t have hovering parents who try to set you up like that. Yours let you decide who you want to go out with and when,” Min Jae said. He didn’t want to tell her about the other two matseon dates his parents tried to set him up on.
One girl was so into her phone he couldn’t even tell what shade her eyes were because they were so aglow with the light of the screen. The other one took the concept of connections to an all-new height; the only thing he could see getting out of it was that he could be added to her list of famous people she’d met.
“I think mine might have tried warning me about some of the guys I dated, but I was dumb and in love and wanted things to be perfect, where with a matseon at least the parents would be a little aware of the faults of their child’s intended.”
They talked of the pros and cons of being set up on dates, and some of the horror stories their friends and acquaintances had shared with them. This led to them talking about their friends, and some of her family members, until they reached DeKalb.
After filling up on a dinner of burgers and frozen custard at a Culver’s, Rachel filled up the gas tank before heading further west. Min Jae wished he could do more to help with the expenses, but when he had broached the subject over dinner she had refused.
“I would have been coming here anyway,” she had argued. “So far, the only thing you’ve cost me was a little gas going into the city and a meal. I can handle that.”
Yeah, she might be able to handle that, but he never liked freeloading off of people. And he was not part of her original plan no matter what excuse she gave. He was going to make it up to her one way or another if he had any say about it.
“So how far away are we now?” Min Jae asked after five minutes.
“Another twenty to thirty minutes and we’ll be there. I wish we could be arriving during the daylight hours; it’s a pretty sight. But sunrise is also nice to see there, too, so you’ll still get to enjoy the beauty of the grounds.”
“You said there were outdoor activities there. What did you mean by that?” He’d been to retreats with the group before. Some activities were the same everywhere while others were different.
“You can swim, canoe, fish on the lake, hike, or shoot on the range, but you have to bring your own gun.”
“Yeah, the only guns I ever used were the ones issued through the military. I was a pretty good shot, but I’m not likely to pick one up again outside of weekend training.”
“I can understand that. Later in the week my brothers and father will be here, and they will bring their rifles with them if you want to shoot some. Or if you don’t feel like it, you can ride horses. Harabeoji also had a rope course with a zip-line and a high swing installed right before I moved to Korea.”
“A rope course?” he verified, “That could be fun.” In spite of his misgivings, he tried to sound enthusiastic. She sounded thrilled about it, so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
“He had those installed for trust-building exercises for various groups, but any of the locals can do any of the activities for a small admittance fee. So as my guest, you are free to do anything you want, so if I’m not there let them know you’re with me and have fun!”
“Really?” He felt like he'd won the lottery. “Usually people drop my name in hopes they can get extras or go somewhere without paying. It’s a bit weird dropping someone else’s name.”
“Well, as long as you are here, I have every intention of letting you have the most normal time you can have. I want you to feel like a regular person, not a star. So, I’ll do my best to keep any fans off of you and let you do what you want.”
Do what he wanted? What did he want to do? What would he be doing if he weren’t a famous person? He hadn’t really thought about it much. He actually liked what he was doing right now. But if he took out the performing side of things he’d still like to be writing music. And he just might be going camping with family or friends over a week off.
“I’ll have to think about what I want to do then,” Min Jae said, and looked out the window.
They had pulled off the main highway and onto some normal town roads. The farther away from the highway they got, the more the trees sprang up around them until Rachel finally pulled off onto a dirt road with two wheel paths leading into the dark. The greenery between the wheel ruts was not impossible to drive over but it still was a little overgrown. Now he understood why she wanted something more than a car.
“It doesn’t look like this path gets used much,” he commented.
“Not as much now that I don’t live here, but my parents usually come out a couple times a month and this is an access road to the cabins and lesser buildings on this side of the retreat,” she explained. “I prefer using this path because I can get to my cabin a little easier this way instead of driving on the main roads.” She pulled off at another small, even less-used path, and stopped thirty seconds later as the headlights illuminated a small cabin. “We’re here,” she said. Then he heard her sigh. Min Jae could have sworn her voice changed slightly with emotion as she quietly added, “We’re home.”