Star University

My heart pounded in my chest. I was only 10 at the time, but he was the first boy who had been nice to me other than my brother, but he was JiYongs best friend. No. I definitely could shake this off. Oh but his eyes sparkled like crazy, and his body was to die for. No. Hwang JiEun, get yourself together.

I tried counting sheep until I fell asleep but the sheep would eventually shift into his body, I eventually played some music, SuperJunior could always take my mind off things. Oh Heechul and Siwon, they could make everything better.

I eventually woke up the next morning, I took a quick shower and put on something that I could go out in. Maybe explore the mansion a little I’d always loved this house, but my type is an old hanok, with secret rooms like in Personal Taste with Lee Minho in. He used to attend Seoul University and School of the Arts, not sure if he still does or not, or if he’s still busy working on his new drama. Why is it that I get thrown in the deep end into a school full of celebrities and soon to be celebrities.

What was I supposed to do? Practice my English? Become a translator for their interviews? I couldn’t sing or act. I was getting so frustrated. I was sure it was to do with the fact my best friends and brother all attended that school but they were talented I was not.

I pulled my hair into another messy bun, it was comfortable and elegant I threw in a pink bow and hair band, and walked downstairs.

In the kitchen I poured myself a tall glass of water and drank it in one go, I heard it is meant to help metabolism or something. I needed that right now, it was only 2 weeks until school and I had no idea what it would be like. It could turn out to be Kirin art school from Dream High or Shinhwa High from Boys over Flowers but hey if that’s the case, hot boys galore.

I walked round the corner when YoungBae appeared. I began to turn and walk away “Ya, JiEun,” he called I quickly turned to face him and bowed. “I’m sorry about last night, you didn’t see anything did you?” I shook my head, I was speechless, I tried to speak but nothing but air flowed from my mouth. I could feel myself going red, he grabbed my wrist, “that’s good then,” he patted my head and walked off smiling. I had never seen anyone naked like that before, what was I supposed to do?

“Weirdo,” I said in English I huffed off following him into the dining room. MinJi and EunJi were waiting for us, JiYong still wasn’t around but YoungBae was, and he sat opposite me. Appa came in, followed by JiYong, he was awake.

My sisters seemed so comfortable with the change. I thought they would have at least took a week to get used to it, but they were calling YoungBae and JiYong oppa even they only met three days ago. I was still uncomfortable about calling them both oppa even though it had been 18 years. Junsoo had adjusted well too, he had applied for a job at a restaurant that did foreign food in CheongDam, we didn’t get to see him much but we would occasionally eat together when we had the chance, he was always out trying to get to know the place a bit more.

The one thing I really couldn’t understand was why appa was so nice, normally the male chaebol is so wealthy and selfish he didn’t want to share any of that with his family and normally hid a giant secret from his children. My appa was not like that at all, he was kind and caring he had everything sorted for when we arrived he instructed the chefs to make food that wouldn’t cause us allergies or illnesses, he seemed too nice sometimes. He also seemed very well known around Korea, I only thought he was a teacher. Who was he really?

It was Sunday and I would start work tomorrow. So today I decided to relax around and talk to appa and maybe visit the studio, but first I wanted a closer look at some of the clothes that my appa had ordered for me. I left MinJi and EunJi to play together and talk to JiYong, I wanted a little time on my own.

I walked happily into my bedroom it was still so beautiful, I wasn’t used to having such a large room or ensuite bathroom. Back in England we had a small cottage with one bathroom for four girls. That was a nightmare. I liked having my own space. I pushed the open button and the door to my wardrobe slid to the left and I walked in. It was so pretty, even malls didn’t have this type of clothes. Especially not in England.

I looked through the elegant dresses, they were all so pretty but one particularly stood out, it was black lace and had a silver broach on, and there were at least another 40 dresses, some elegant, some summer dresses, some long winter style dresses. They all had matching shoes, all in my exact size. Which was 225 in Korea size or a 3 in UK size. I didn’t think I would start growing anymore either so I’m stuck at 163cm with size 225 feet.

All the other clothes were so beautiful too, so many casual t-shirts, and smart shirts and blouses in every style I could think of. The skirts and shorts and jeans and other trousers came in every colour imaginable and I had so many shoes and trainers. I opened another door and I saw my uniform and school shoes, as well as a gym kit, with personalised shoes and jacket. There was another gym kit further along, I decided to put it on and change my hair into a ponytail and go and dance in the studio. I had danced in England for a few years, I started in Korea dancing at the age of four in Kindergarten, and I continued until two years ago, when I studied a lot more than I danced. I finished getting changed and continued to look at all my clothes, there wasn’t much left now, I opened the rest of the doors, sunglasses, bags, belts, hats, jewellery and other accessories.

In my wardrobe he had also constructed a dressing table with mirrors and make up and hairdryers, straighteners and a curling iron. It was really cute, even though I rarely used make-up or hair products. Maybe I would now I have them and have a really posh school to attend and make a good impression at.

I left my room and headed out to the studio, it hadn’t changed since I saw it last. It had got a little bigger and modern but there were still the same paintings and equipment. I decided a quick warm-up to SuperJunior song, Sorry, Sorry. I put my iPod onto the docking station and pressed play, I still remembered the routine fully from two years ago when I danced in England.I missed dancing so much, I was glad I could do it until school started, because after that I would just concentrate on studying. Or maybe I could major in dance? No, dancers have to be able to sing too, unless I could become a trainee dancer who dances with the singers.

I paused my iPod and was about to choose another song when one automatically began playing, I opened the CD player, it was BigBangs unreleased music, I played it, and began to listen. After two listens throughout the full song, I came up with a routine in my head. I danced how I thought it should be danced to. It was slow but I put a bit of SuperJunior into it and made it complex I imagined the five boys of BigBang dancing to it.

After the song had finished I lay on the floor out of breathe. The dim lights got brighter and BigBang walked in.

“Oh shit,” I whisper slightly louder than I anticipated, I completely forgot about the one way window we use when we want to observe someone dancing without them getting distracted and little did I know they were all there.

JiYong, YoungBae, Daesung, Seungri and SeungHyun. Oh no. Please please say you’ve only just got here. I sat up and went to speak but I was still out of breath.

“You dance well Unnie,” SeungHyun said. He was the rapper of the group more commonly known as TOP, I bowed slightly and he offered his hand and pulled me to my feet.

“Thanks oppa,” I had known these guys for years they were all best friends growing up so being the naturally annoying younger sister so did I.

“Unnie, why didn’t you come and say hi?” Seungri asked, “we wanted to see you yesterday, but you didn’t even call us. We missed you.” He hugged me, he was the youngest of the group and he was the friendlier one who wasn’t afraid to express himself.

Daesung, was the quiet one, “You didn’t know we were here did you?” I shook my head. “I know, we saw you dancing to SuperJunior, so when you paused your iPod, we used this,” he held up a remote control for the CD player.

“Do you think you could teach us that routine, we could use it in the MV” JiYong asked and I noticed YoungBae was silent and that he kept staring at me. Was I sweating, or red or something. I agreed to teach them, but not today, picked my gym bag up and walked inside the house.

MinJi called to me and asked to study with them. I agreed, they wanted math tutoring, they were both very intelligent. They let me teach them some basic math that they would need after lunch, so I taught them for more or less three hours having small breaks and using guitars and other instruments and we played about for a while. Junsoo arrived back and checked up on us so I left them to it. Jun loved spending time with them. I, however wanted to find appa.
I knocked on his office and that same frail voice welcomed me in.

“Ah, JiEun, Gwenchanha?” He asked.

“neh, gamsahamnida,” I answered. “I was just wondering a few things.”

“Go ahead and ask, but I think I know what you are wondering.” I nodded for him to go on. “You are wondering why you got into Seoul University and art school aren’t you?” I nodded in agreement to which he continued, “You may not know, but I am a teacher there and I have a high place in a certain entertainment business, as I was able to recommend my daughter there, you got a place with no questioning. Are you unhappy or nervous about it?”

“I’m a little nervous, I’m not very artistic, I can’t sing and I can’t dance, I have never been able to draw or design I’ve never really used a camera properly and I’m not very good at fashion. I really am only going to succeed at academic things such as languages and math, history and other stuff. I even suck at physical education.”

“Ah, don’t worry about that they will let you trial run and choose some subjects to do, but at least one of them has to be an art, and if I’m not mistaken, YoungBae told me he saw you dance earlier and you aren’t as bad as you make yourself out to be. Don’t worry about it JiEun, you’ll be fine and you have your brothers group and me to help out. What was the other things you were worried about?”

Oh I had forgotten one of them, I realised I would have to ask for a lot of help at Seoul University. “Ah, yes appa, why did you buy all those things for us, they are beautiful, but you didn’t have to do it for us.”

“Mmm, I missed 8 birthdays, it was the least I could do.” I agreed and ever since Umma died I was overthinking everything so I guess I was wrong about appa, he wouldn’t be like a monster.
“I just wanted you to be able to fit into society and be able to be comfortable here with everything you need, that is all.” I thanked him on behalf of the things and went to eat in the kitchen, I poured myself some more water and ate at the table with everyone, including BigBang who were already on first name basis with my little sisters. I didn’t wait very long before I went upstairs to shower and sleep.

When I woke the next day, nobody else other than MinJun was awake. I walked around the house toward the kitchen and then the doorbell rang. I answered it, to find all out stuff had been delivered from England, it had arrived the same day as us, it was just it had to go through customs, I helped bring the stuff in. After they left, I began taking them upstairs being careful not to wake BigBang, who spent most Saturdays and Sundays here. I placed the bags with the rightful owners and helped Junsoo with his. I then went to unpack my things. I was glad I had an empty bookshelf in my room, I put some of my books on there. I then proceeded to fill in my music and movie collection with everything I had. There were a lot of things I had to organise so I decided to do it after breakfast, as I got downstairs the chefs brought the food in. I thanked them and began to eat, appa was awake and eating in his office. After he ate, I explained that our things from England had come and that I was going to work later on that day.

It was ten o clock before I finished putting all my things away, I even wired up my record player, with all my K-Pop vinyl’s. I decided to go to the studio gym and do a bit of working out before lunch and before I went to work, I was a bit nervous about work.

I did two hour work out in my new kit which I washed carefully yesterday, I didn’t want to damage the embroidered name. At one o clock I went in and at lunch and quickly washed my face and got changed.

“Good luck, unnie” MinJi said happily and waved goodbye to me and JiYong, who was coming with me as I wasn’t exactly sure of the way.


“To COEX mall,” I said, “what are you going to do for five hours oppa?” I asked him as he was going to be wondering around SamseongDong on his own.

“I’ve asked BigBang to meet me there,” Oh no I thought, would they all come in the store on my first day, I put the indicator on and turned left into the parking lot for COEX mall.

I got out the car and said goodbye to my oppa and walked into the mall. The bookstore was easy enough to find, it was so big. Zitao was there too.

“Annyeong, Hwang JiEun,” Zitao said very politely.

“Annyeong Haseyo Zitao,” I replied bowing my head a little.

“Aneiyo,” he said, “call me Tao, and you do not have to be polite to me, honest.”

“Arraso,” I agreed and nodded.

Mr.Lee came out with a handful of forms, “Annyeong, Ms.Hwang, Gwenchanha?”

“Neh, gamsahamnida Mr Lee,”

“I just want you to view your contracts and sign a few things so we can take care of you if anything happens.” I agreed and began to sign, it didn’t take too long to sign everything and write my information for my bank so I could receive my pay. “You do know how to use a till don’t you,” I nodded and mimicked taking money off someone opening the till with my code and putting the money in and giving them their change. I only knew this because in London I worked at a small corner shop and was used to all the buttons. Mr. Lee just laughed “if you get stuck ask Tao, or find me.” I bowed and began to work.

I replaced a few books on the shelf and had a wonder around to see what books there was in store I saw all the English children’s books, that I recognised when EunJi and MinJi were reading them. As I began to head back to Tao and the till, a woman stopped me in my tracks.

“Excuse me, do you know any good books for my son, he is starting English at school and he wants to read some books to get better at reading English.”

“Oh, Yeah, of course, I lived in England for the past eight years, want me to recommend a few?” I replied.

“Oh yes please, that would be useful. Thank you.”

I took them to the section I was just at and picked out a few books, “these are all by J K Rowling, they are called Harry Potter. It’s about a wizard who has to save the whole wizarding world and the muggle world.” I gave the tales of Beadle and the Bard. “This one is featured in the Harry Potter books, it’s a collection of short magical stories. It’s very cute. How old are you?” I asked the boy.

“I am eight years old.” He said.

“What’s your name?” I asked

“Kwon MyungSoo, what about you?” he replied.

“My name is Hwang JiEun, do you go to school?”

“Neh, I go to CheongDamDong Primary.”

“My sisters are starting there this year.” I turned to his umma, “These books will be perfect for him, my sisters loved them and so did I. If he ever needs help, please come and see me I will help him.” I took them to the till and they paid, I gave them the change, and turned around to see Tao, looking at me.

"Congratulations! Hwang JiEun, you had your first customer.”

“Gomawo,” I hi-fived Tao and then I noticed BigBang in the doorway smiling weirdly, apart from YoungBae, what has gotten in to him, he will not talk to me, but he’ll talk to everyone about me.

“Annyeong Haeseyo, how can I help you?” I asked look pleased with myself

“Hey, isn’t that BigBang?” Tao whispered to me.

“Yeah, G. Dragon, that one in the silly hat, he is my older brother.” I answered back.

“Really? That means your Hwang JiEun. THE HWANG JIEUN? I didn’t even realise. Jwehsonghamnida.” Tao said and started to act strange I wondered why everyone was saying ‘the Hwang JiEun.’

I turned around but bumped into the cabinet and fell backwards, Tao caught me. Then there was this awkward eye contact and silence before someone interrupted us.

Notes

This chapter didnt really need much editing as it is not part of the whole storyline really!!! Please be patient while I upload the next 20 + chapters, i am having a problem with my computer.