#118
As you can see, Lee Gyo-ha’s graduate school life was not going smoothly.
This was to be expected. The faculty had changed while he was back in Korea, enjoying his time-traveler privileges at BK Entertainment. The content of lectures and assignment structures that Gyo-ha had repeatedly taken countless times had inevitably changed.
Moreover, no one had waited for Gyo-ha’s return. The only ones remaining until his return were poor souls whose graduation had been deferred because they couldn’t pass their thesis defense. Classmates who had been friendly with Gyo-ha or were acquainted with him had escaped from graduate school as quickly as possible.
“Graduate school… I want to escape from graduate school…”
“Calm down.”
“Why do people have to go to graduate school? Do you need a master’s or doctorate to be considered professional? I’m not even in engineering.”
“This is a clear provocation against humanities and business schools.”
“No, I just don’t understand. Even with a master’s or doctorate, except for a few, everyone just becomes talking jellyfish!”
Considering jellyfish can survive without a brain or heart, aren’t they superior to humans? Hwi-kyung briefly pondered the advantages of being a primate. But since Gyo-ha was genuinely upset, he didn’t voice this thought.
Life in America was tougher than expected. Hwi-kyung was busy with work, and Gyo-ha was overwhelmed with writing his thesis. Due to the change in his major professor, Gyo-ha had to rewrite the thesis paper he had recycled more than ten times before.
“I’ve probably attended more lectures than the professor!”
However, attending many lectures and writing a good thesis were separate matters. Gyo-ha searched for ways to graduate early, perhaps by paying to have grass laid on the university grounds, but unfortunately, the new faculty was not susceptible to such bribery.
“Please write my thesis for me…”
“I only have a bachelor’s degree, so I can’t write a doctoral thesis.”
“But you’re smarter than me, Hwi-kyung.”
Hwi-kyung looked kindly at Gyo-ha, who was tearing at his hair, saying he had only managed to write the table of contents. Your thesis is your responsibility… With that affectionate gaze, Gyo-ha sniffled and burrowed into Hwi-kyung’s arms.
They could only get married after Gyo-ha graduated from graduate school. Because of this fact, Gyo-ha was doing his best to graduate early.
Having already graduated from graduate school more than ten times, his early graduation would have been as easy as eating cake lying down—if only the faculty hadn’t changed. However, due to the three years spent at BK Entertainment, Gyo-ha’s graduate school life had fallen into hard mode.
Hwi-kyung gently stroked the back of Gyo-ha’s head as he clung to him, acting childish. Far from being repulsed by such a large adult man clinging to him, he found it quite adorable. Clearly, company life in America had evaporated Hwi-kyung’s rationality.
“Do you really need to graduate early? Just attend diligently.”
“I want to marry you as soon as possible…”
Gyo-ha kneaded Hwi-kyung’s left hand for a while. The custom-made proposal ring had been sealed away for half a year without seeing the light of day.
“Just wait and see. I’ll definitely achieve early graduation.”
Poor graduate student…
While letting Gyo-ha hold his left hand, Hwi-kyung contemplated whether they should hold their wedding in Korea or America.
When Hwi-kyung first came to America, he was somewhat excited. About four out of ten Koreans must have dreamed of escaping Korea at some point. And Hwi-kyung was one of those four out of ten.
I don’t want to work at a Korean company anymore. I’ll go to a foreign company with good benefits. I’m good at English too…
Even a flight of over twelve hours could be enjoyably endured with the thought of leaving Korea. The act of boarding a plane itself felt like an escape or a journey.
However, contrary to the vague expectation that everything would be different once outside Korea, life was similar wherever people lived. The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment, so Hwi-kyung’s illusions about American life disappeared completely in less than a month.
To begin with, this wasn’t Hwi-kyung’s first experience living abroad. Shanghai, China and New York, USA were completely different, but similar in fundamental ways.
“It costs $2.90 just to ride the subway once…”
“That’s about 4,000 won in Korean money.”
“…For something so expensive, there aren’t even screen doors in the subway.”
“Instead, there are lots of rats and homeless people. You need to be careful when going out.”
How many people living in Korea have never dreamed of emigration? Even if not emigration specifically, dream-filled young people often mistakenly believed that many things would change if they went overseas.
In reality, if lucky, life could improve. Hwi-kyung had seen such cases several times in Shanghai. But that was a stroke of luck that happened to only one in a hundred.
How could it be easy to start as a foreigner from a different culture in an environment where communication is difficult? Like the saying “other people’s rice cakes look bigger,” fantasies about overseas employment are false desires that arise simply because Korea seems terrible.
Of course, Hwi-kyung had seriously dreamed of the American Dream at one point. He didn’t have the misconception that America would be better than Korea, but he thought he could at least earn more money since labor costs were higher.
However, even without the system window’s interference, leaving the country was difficult. Hwi-kyung had military service obligations, and after discharge, he couldn’t go abroad because Ok-ja was sick.
Though one of his sixteen iterations was spent in China, he was so busy working that he didn’t have time to experience anything new.
America, reached after all kinds of hardships, was no different. New York had even less leisure than Seoul.
People in this neighborhood were masters at firing someone with a friendly face on the same day. Additionally, although they pretended to be close regarding work-related matters, they wouldn’t even acknowledge you in private settings.
The emptiness felt by a Korean who casually throws around phrases like “let’s have a meal sometime” as empty greetings, among emotionless Westerners…
In this respect, Hwi-kyung felt that staying in America was harder than in China. With high hourly wages, high prices were inevitable, but unlike China, the security level varied by region, and one had to hear gunshots at least once a week.
“New York is a bit like that, right? But LA is almost exactly like Korea. Like Korea from about 10 years ago…”
“I think New York isn’t that different from Seoul either.”
“In the sense that everyone is busy and the streets are crowded during commuting hours, yes.”
Still, exploring another country was a good experience. Getting a new SIM card, opening a new overseas account for receiving salary… Time flew by quickly as he proceeded step by step with Gyo-ha to settle in America.
New York’s weather was as bad as Seoul’s, and occasionally roads would be paralyzed due to heavy rain or snowfall. Compared to Korea where everything flows quickly, the pace was similar, but the administrative processing speed was terribly slow.
Moreover, unlike Korea where delivery had become commonplace due to limited land, in America, shipping costs increased each time a parcel crossed state lines. Instead of lounging around on weekends, one had to chase after warehouse-style marts to stock up on groceries and necessities.
Everywhere had more bad points than good. Hwi-kyung finally understood the joke that only successful people talk about immigration. Immigration seemed good only because those who succeeded in America gained the right to speak.
Ideals and reality always played separately. If Hwi-kyung had come to America when he had just turned twenty, he would have been greatly disappointed. This wasn’t the “America” he had imagined.
But Hwi-kyung, who had gone through enough time loops, adapted relatively quickly to American life despite it being different from his expectations.
Anyway, in the house where he lived with Gyo-ha, he wore home slippers instead of outdoor shoes and could substitute dinner with Korean food. Looking at the big picture, not much had changed from living in Korea.
Adaptation was easy once a new life routine was established. With Gyo-ha by his side, almost like a local, even life in a foreign land was bearable.
[Hikyang.]
In the end, the most overwhelming thing was not the country but the company…
The pronunciation is now quite close to “Hwi-kyung.” Josh circled around Hwi-kyung with an expectant look, hoping for praise.
These days, everyone in the studio knew that Josh was annoying Hwi-kyung. According to Liu, another Asian like Hwi-kyung, Josh was a racist with yellow fever.
Apparently, he looked down on Asians while also considering them as romantic prospects. Hwi-kyung gave up on logical understanding of Josh. Such people typically never did just one thing.
[Have you heard that Alisha is having a potluck party this weekend? Are you going?]
[I’m just dispatched staff, so…]
[Our studio doesn’t care about that sort of thing. Alisha said she’d really like you to come. It’s okay if you weren’t invited. Usually, people bring friends or partners.]
[…]
[You can come with me?]
Why would he go with Josh? His life was too precious to die from stress-induced illness.
Besides, Hwi-kyung had received the potluck party invitation before Josh. Although Alisha wasn’t close to Hwi-kyung, even she thought Josh was an eyesore.
But rejecting someone who openly acts friendly is difficult in any country.
Hwi-kyung didn’t want to waste his golden weekend attending a party, but he awkwardly smiled to drive Josh away immediately.
[I’m sorry, but I already have someone else to go with.]
[Who? Don’t tell me it’s Liu? Or are you going with John? Oh, Alisha has a bad relationship with those two.]
As if you’re any better… At this point, Hwi-kyung even felt sorry for Alisha. How many avoidances must she have employed before giving Josh an invitation? Clearly, Josh had penetrated through Alisha’s numerous avoidances to finally secure a party invitation.
[I’m going with my partner.]
[What?]
[Of course, I really appreciate your offer to go together. I would really like to go with you, but…]
The textbook response continued. Hwi-kyung was spouting words that could appear in a TOEIC listening problem.
Originally, he had planned to make an excuse two days before the party, saying something came up and he couldn’t attend. But seeing the surrounding employees suddenly going quiet at his mention of a “partner,” it now seemed impossible to back out.
If he backed out now, not only would Josh’s pestering continue, but he would persistently receive unwanted attention from workplace colleagues.
In that case, better to just close my eyes and go once. Hwi-kyung ignored Josh, who was grabbing him and shaking him, asking since when he had a partner.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
