by YR Choi
“That’s brilliant news, Krystal!”
“But…”
“But? But what?”
“There’s something I want to talk to you about,” said Krystal.
“Yes, of course. What’s wrong darling?”
Krystal stared down at the coffee table for a couple of seconds before continuing.
“Manager Oh said I need to… what did he say exactly? – that’s right, he said I need to make some adjustments.”
“What a weird thing to say. Whatever does he mean?” said Rebecca, tilting her head to one side.
“First off, he said I need to go see a surgeon because my jaw is too round!”
“You mean he wants you to get the V-line jaw surgery?”
“So you know about it?!” said Krystal, visibly shocked.
“Yeah, it’s very fashionable to have a V-shape jaw these days; loads of people are having it done. I heard that Cindy from school is getting it done this weekend, in fact.”
Krystal leaned forward in her seat, her mouth wide open.
“I can’t believe it! She’s only 17.”
“I know! But this is Korea!” said Rebecca.
“Oh, my gosh… right well anyways… so he wanted that done, then he also said he wants me to get my nose done as it’s a bit stumpy! I also need to get noon couples according to him. Then I need to lose weight and stop wearing glasses – get corrective surgery or start wearing contacts. I can’t afford to get contacts!”
“Never mind contacts, they’re affordable compared to the surgery. You’re talking about $30,000 dollars’ worth of cosmetic work. How are you going to afford to pay for all that?” said Rebecca.
“How on earth do you know how much all that costs?!” said Krystal, laughing.
“I’ve been watching a lot of those reality TV shows. In my estimation, a nose job is around $5,000; the jaw surgery is $20,000; and the eyelid surgery is around $5,000,” said Rebecca, putting on her best professor’s voice.
“I just don’t know what I should do. I think I look fine as I am and I don’t want to look like another one of those samey kpop singers. What’s going to happen to their faces when they get older?”
“I agree, I think you’re beeeeautiful just the way you are. But you’ve seen most of those girl groups out there now. They all have the same nose and whatever shape face is in fashion.”
“But that doesn’t mean I have to look like that does it?!”
“No, of course not! I’d say don’t do it if you don’t want to, but signing with OMG would be a great way to launch your career; you’d get so much exposure. On a slightly different note, I saw one of the Bear & the Band music videos the other day – Manager Oh was pretty sexy back then wasn’t he?!”
“He’s actually quite repulsive and a lot shorter in the flesh,” said Krystal, adopting a very serious tone.
Rebecca giggled.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of other opportunities if you don’t sign with OMG, right?”
“That’s the thing, Becs – I’ve been sending audition tapes to all the record companies since I was 16 and no one has seemed interested.”
“Yes, but now we’re just about to finish school you’ll be able to focus on it properly. I bet the record companies get so many audition tapes that they don’t even listen to them all.”
“Maybe you’re right,” said Krystal, smiling again.
“Don’t worry about it too much, hun. We’ve just finished our final exams, we’ve got a couple more weeks of school to go to and then you can concentrate on singing full time!”
“Yeah, thanks Becs. I still need to talk to my dad about it all but…”
“He’ll be fine with it you dummy!” said Rebecca.
“I hope so,” said Krystal, biting her lip.
“Anyways, what did Manager Oh say to you when you left?”
“He basically told me to think about it and that he’d get in contact to arrange another meeting. I really don’t know what to do, Becs - I don’t want any of the surgery. Manager Oh kept talking about how you have to do things you don’t want to do to get ahead in the business; maybe that’s just the ways things are and I need to accept it?”
Just then, Krystal’s phone began to ring; she took a deep breath and picked up.
“Krystal, this is Manager Oh. Listen, I’m having a little celebration in a club on Thursday night and I’d like you to come and discuss our next steps. How does that work for you?”
“Yes, great thank you,” said Krystal, now on autopilot.
“Excellent, make sure you wear something nice. I’ll text you in a minute with the details. See you later.”
Manager Oh hung up and a text message followed immediately after.
Club H, 10pm, Gangnam Subway Station, Exit 3
“So what did he say?!” said Rebecca, bouncing up and down with excitement.
“He wants me to meet him in a club on Thursday to discuss things.”
Krystal paused to mull things over whilst Rebecca waited patiently. After a couple of minutes, Krystal’s eyes suddenly lit up.
“I have to go, I just have to go! You know this is all I’ve ever wanted, Becs?”
“It’s all you ever talk about,” said Rebecca.
“Even if I don’t go through with it, I need to go and see how I feel. Who knows? He may not even offer me a contract.”
“What if you sign something and then change your mind later though?” said Rebecca, doing her best to be the voice of reason.
“I won’t sign anything and even if I do agree to anything, I’m still going to need to convince Dad to give me his blessing, and that’s as good a safety net as anything.”
“This is true,” said Rebecca with a cheeky grin.
The girls spent the rest of the afternoon running through what might happen at the meeting at Club H and didn’t leave the café until 6pm.
Krystal arrived home to find her dad cooking something that smelt divine.
“Where’ve you been darling?” said her dad, turning to look at her whilst continuing to stir some stew.
“I went to meet Rebecca, Dad.”
“Oh yeah? And what did you get up to yesterday that made you so tired? I came home and you were fast asleep. I hope you’re getting enough sleep and studying hard?”
“Yes, Dad. You know I’ve already finished my exams? I was just a little tired with, you know – girl stuff.”
“Oh right,” said her dad sheepishly. “Right, well go and wash your hands, dinner will be ready in 5 minutes.”
“Yes, boss!” said Krystal, before scurrying up to her bedroom.
3
Hyerim onnie
Krystal slept through her alarm on Monday morning but still managed to make it to the main gate of Korea International School Seoul (KISS) with 5 minutes to spare. She loved her school; it had state of the art facilities and was a real melting pot of cultures, with students from all over the world.
The only downside of going to KISS was the constant reminder of how little money she had; almost all of her classmates wore designer clothes, were chauffeured everywhere and generally never thought twice about spending money. Krystal on the other hand, bought most of her clothes in local markets, took the bus everywhere and worked a part-time job in a coffee shop.
Some of the other girls occasionally teased Krystal about her clothes, but she’d tell herself there was nothing wrong with them; they kept her warm, were nice colours and at the end of the day, who cared if they weren’t designer labels? Krystal was raised to think it was silly to spend a fortune on anything unless it was a classic piece; like a Burberry coat or a Rolex watch. Even then, she’d only buy classic pieces if she could afford them, which she couldn’t and that was fine.
Krystal’s general attitude to fashion meant that she was never part of the so-called popular crowd. She wasn’t unpopular, she just didn’t socialise with the main group of girls, which actually suited her just fine. Instead, she had a barrel of laughs milling ab
out with a handful of good friends, like Rebecca.
Krystal’s dad denied himself many things to send Krystal to KISS and this sometimes made her feel guilty for not wanting to pursue a more traditional career, like law or medicine. Her dad assured her that this was fine; he’d support her decision to do anything as long she studied hard before she left school. Now that exams were done and Krystal had kept her side of the bargain, all she had to do was enjoy the final weeks of class.
First period was Maths, next it was Biology and then Krystal would have to check her planner as she couldn’t remember. One thing she did know was that it was music class after lunch and today they’d be given the chance to compose their own piece using percussion instruments only - she couldn’t wait.
Krystal made her way into the main building, powerwalked to her classroom and took a seat next to Rebecca.
“How are you feeling today?” said Rebecca.
“I’m alright thank you, Becs - just a little apprehensive about my meeting with Manager Oh but otherwise fine. How are you?”
“I’m right as rain, hun.” said Rebecca.
“Good good. I was going to ask you - Manager Oh said to come looking nice on Thursday so I’ve been racking my brain trying to decide what to wear. I just don’t think I have anything suitable - any ideas?”
Rebecca pursed her lips as she began to think.
“Hmmmm… I wonder what you could wear - I tell you what, why don’t we go shopping today after school? We don’t have any homework so we can have a casual evening looking around,” said Rebecca.
“You know how much I like our little shopping sessions, Becs, but I just can’t afford anything at the moment. I haven’t worked for the last month with exams and everything.”
“I’ve still got my birthday money from last month; why don’t we use that and you can pay me back later?”
“I can’t let you do that - you should spend that money on yourself,” said Krystal.
“I’m not taking no for an answer,” said Rebecca, jokingly giving Krystal the evil eye.
Krystal sniggered but before she could reply, their teacher called for attention.
“Right class, please turn to page 23.”
Krystal sat at her desk smiling to herself; how lucky she was to have a friend like Rebecca.
The lesson passed quickly and the girls had a nice lunch before going to their music class, in which they composed a funky piece involving nothing more than drums and a xylophone. The school bell rang at 3pm and the girls packed up their bags, walked to the main road and jumped into a cab.
The taxi driver hardly flinched when they got in and only asked them where they wanted to go after a couple of minutes, when the trot song he was listening to had finished.
“Please take us to Edae,” said Rebecca.
“Edae?” asked Krystal, “What are you thinking?”
“I have a plan - our budget for your outfit is around 100,000 won plus 10,000 won for us to have a coffee.”
“That’s far too much, Becs.” said Krystal.
“Nonsense, I have an older sister - not my real sister obviously, but my onnie – Hyerim onnie. She has a clothes shop in Edae and should be able to help us.”
“Cool beans, cool pat bing soo,” said Krystal, smiling at Rebecca.
Rebecca shook her head in disapproval but returned the smile.
The taxi driver sped through the city and the girls arrived in Edae in no time. The streets were packed full of students from Ewha University enjoying all that the area had to offer - cosmetics shops, coffee shops, smoothie bars, and stalls selling jewellery and other accessories. The humid summer air was laced with the smell of fried dumplings and kpop music blared out from all directions. Krystal felt alive.
The girls walked through the main stretch before turning down a side street that was packed with clothes stores. A man on a motorbike delivering Chinese food zig zagged through the crowd and zoomed past them, almost knocking Krystal over. After a number of similar near misses and having dodged a small army of people, they finally arrived at Hyerim onnie’s store.
Rebecca went in first and ran over to a pretty lady in her late 20s.
“Onnie, how are you?!”
Krystal put on her politest smile and stood patiently with her hands together, waiting for Rebecca to introduce her.
“Rebecca! How are you? It’s been too long. You’re getting prettier by the day,” said Hyerim Onnie.
“Thank you, Onnie!” said Rebecca, delighted with the compliment.
“So who’s your friend?” said Hyerim Onnie, smiling warmly at Krystal.
“Onnie, this is Krystal my best friend from school – she’s going to be a big kpop star soon!”
Krystal blushed.
“Is that so? Well, I better get your autograph now,” said Hyerim Onnie, pretending to reach for a pen.
“Nice to meet you onnie,” said Krystal, performing a mini bow.
“Lovely to meet you too, Krystal. Any friend of Rebecca’s is a friend of mine. So Rebecca, I haven’t seen you in ages and then all of a sudden you show up out of the blue. I’m going to take a wild guess here - you need some wardrobe assistance?”
Rebecca made the cutest facial expression she could.
“Actually onnie, this isn’t for me. Krystal has a big meeting about a record contract on Thursday and needs something nice to wear.”
“I see, I see. Where’s the meeting?” said Hyerim Onnie, chuckling.
“It’s in a nightclub in Gangnam, onnie.”
“That’s a bit of a strange place to have a meeting, isn’t it?”
“Yes onnie – it’s a long story – I’ll have to explain it properly to you later. The meeting is with Bear so Krystal is very keen to look good.”
“Bear as in Oh Young Taek from Bear & the Band?”
Rebecca and Krystal nodded in unison.
“Wow, I used to have such a big crush on him when I was in school! You lucky girl, Krystal!
Krystal laughed awkwardly. She half wanted to tell Hyerim onnie what she really thought about Manager Oh but decided to keep it to herself.
“So what kind of look are you going for, Krystal? Something sexy? Something elegant? Something in between? What make-up are you going to be wearing as well?” said Hyerim onnie.
Krystal paused for a couple of seconds.
“I wasn’t planning on wearing any make-up. I guess in terms of the dress, it’d be nice to have something in between.”
“You weren’t going to wear any make-up?” said Hyerim onnie. “With a pretty face like that? Why ever not?”
Krystal didn’t quite know how to answer.
“Uh… I guess I’ve just never learnt how, onnie.”
“Onnie, Krystal’s mum passed away when she was very young so she never had anyone to teach her…” said Rebecca.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” said Hyerim onnie, looking rather embarrassed. “Do you want to learn darling? Because I’ll happily teach you.”
“That’d be really nice,” said Krystal.
“Great! Okay, give me a minute; I think I have some ideas for a dress. You two have a seat over here,” said Hyerim onnie, pulling out two plastic stools. “Let me get you something to drink, how about some peach iced tea to cool you down?”
“Thank you, onnie.” said the girls.
Hyerim onnie fetched the tea, went to the back of the store and then reappeared two minutes later, holding three dresses.
“Okay, these are my three recommendations. I must admit I do have a favourite, one that I think will be perfect, but I want to see what you think first.”
Hyerim onnie held up the first dress; a purple, knee-length number with an open back and sequins.
“This is option one; quite discoey but strangely fashionable at the moment! A lot of these things might be considered a bit gaudy for western tastes but this is very en vogue in Korea right now.”
The girls oohed and aahed over it.
For her second option, Hyerim o
nnie presented a short white dress; the girls were less enthused by this.
“For your final option, I present to you a classic piece,” said Hyerim onnie, holding up a short black cocktail dress.
She twirled the dress around on its hanger so the girls could see it from all angles. Out came the oohs and aahs again.
“Now that you’ve seen them all, what do you think?”
“I mean they’re all lovely, but my favourite by far, is the black one - it’s sexy in an understated way but still very classy.” said Krystal.
“You’ve obviously got great taste, Krystal – that’s exactly what I thought too,” said Hyerim onnie.
The girls giggled.
“Now, come with me,” said Hyerim onnie, grabbing Krystal’s hand and leading her over to a changing room at the back of the store. “Put it on and come out and show us when you’re ready.”
Krystal got changed and walked gingerly out of the dressing room. Rebecca and Hyerim onnie were gobsmacked.
“You look absolutely beautiful,” said Hyerim onnie.
“Just perfect! How do you like it?” said Rebecca.
Krystal turned and looked at herself in the mirror.
“I love it. I feel like a million dollars,” she said, beaming with joy.
“Now, no dress is complete without matching shoes. What’ve you got at home?” said Hyerim onnie.
Before she could answer, Rebecca jumped in, “She doesn’t have anything, onnie. What can we do for her?”
“Wait here,” said Hyerim onnie, magically reappearing within moments with a pair of heels and a simple black clutch handbag. “Try these,” she said, handing them to Krystal.
Krystal shook with excitement. She sat back down on her plastic stool, strapped on the heels, grabbed the handbag and headed straight for the mirror.
“Bravo! That completes the outfit!” said Rebecca.
“I’m a genius,” said Hyerim onnie, chuckling to herself.
Krystal suddenly went quiet.
“Thank you so much for showing me all of this onnie - I love it - I really do but I have a very limited budget and I don’t think...”
