Bae Joo-hyun, Oh Bae Joo-hyun

With his passport, visa, and all other necessary documents for going abroad secured, Xu Junyan had no more unfinished business in China.

Since that was the case, Xu Junyan was straightforward. He booked a flight for 7 AM the next day, and early the following morning, he left the private room in the internet cafe where he had been staying for nearly two months.

As he left the internet cafe, the young female attendant was reluctant to see him go. Her pouting lips could have hung a soy sauce bottle.

Amusingly, just as Xu Junyan stepped out of the internet cafe, he heard the attendant crying on the phone behind him, resigning from her job. This made him chuckle in amusement.

He took a taxi to Shanghai International Airport, handled all the necessary procedures in the departure hall, and boarded at 6:30 AM.

Xu Junyan chose a window seat. Although he had woken up very early, he wasn't sleepy at all. His eyes looked out through the small airplane window, watching shuttle buses come and go, sending off batches of arriving guests.

"Who knows when I'll be back. At least half a year, right? After the MSI?"

Xu Junyan muttered to himself, and then he thought of the video call he had with his parents last night.

When they learned he was planning to develop his career abroad, his parents were very understanding and supportive. Especially his mother, who winked at him with a smile, saying that the Korean girls next door were beautiful. Since he was going abroad, he should bring back a daughter-in-law, which made Xu Junyan unsure whether to laugh or cry.

His father was an ordinary university professor, and his mother was a housewife. Both parents shared a very open-minded trait: they never restrained him in whatever he did, only supported him.

Xu Junyan didn't know if his parents knew about the recent events. Perhaps they didn't, or perhaps they did and were pretending not to, fearing that mentioning it might upset him.

"I might not be able to bring back a daughter-in-law, but I should bring back more local specialties to show my filial piety to my parents. However..."

Xu Junyan mused, then suddenly remembered a frustrating reality: South Korea was a complete culinary desert! There were no local specialties at all. His trip there meant he would have to carefully consider his 'eating' from now on. Of course, the good news was that he could cook, so if he really couldn't adapt, he could cook for himself in his spare time.

As he thought about these things, time slipped away. Xu Junyan suddenly felt his arm being poked.

He was in a multi-seat row, and at first, he thought it was just his neighbor accidentally bumping into him, so he didn't pay it any mind and continued to let his thoughts wander. But his arm was poked a few more times. It didn't hurt, and the force was light, clearly meant to get his attention.

Xu Junyan raised an eyebrow slightly, turned his head, and met the gaze of a girl with a bun hairstyle, who was hunched over towards him, wearing large sunglasses on her nose.

Seeing Xu Junyan finally turn his head, the girl with the bun smiled beautifully and requested, "Seat, change, can? I pay! Extra!"

She spoke Chinese, but her sentence structure was full of inversions and her pronunciation had a Korean accent, making it instantly recognizable that this girl was from the neighboring country of Korea.

As she spoke, the girl with the bun lowered her head and fumbled in her pocket, pulling out a 100 yuan bill.

Xu Junyan was speechless. He didn't mind much. If she wanted to switch, so be it. He had finished his thoughts anyway and it was time for a nap.

However, just as he was about to get up, he felt something strange. The girl in front of him, who wasn't very tall, hunched over, wearing a black T-shirt and blue jeans with a bun...

"Yaa~!!"

"It's you?"

Before Xu Junyan could recall, the hunched-over girl with the bun exclaimed first. Due to her shock, the awkward Korean-accented Chinese was replaced by pure Korean.

"Shh!"

Xu Junyan put his index finger to his lips and shushed her.

The girl with the bun's fair and delicate face instantly flushed. She quickly bowed apologetically to the passengers in front who had turned to look, and then hunched over again.

Beneath her large sunglasses, her beautiful eyes widened, and with disbelief, she lowered her voice and asked, "How could it be you?"

She was speaking Korean. Xu Junyan tried to understand with some effort but gave up; he couldn't understand the complete sentences!

"Sit down,"

Xu Junyan said in Chinese, unbuckled his seatbelt, and gestured for the girl with the bun to switch seats.

"Oh, thank you."

The girl with the bun nodded subconsciously, squeezed past Xu Junyan, and finally settled into the comfortable corner window seat.

She was still speaking Korean.

Xu Junyan understood this sentence and replied with a smile, "You're welcome."

Sitting in the third seat from the left, now Xu Junyan's neighbor, a middle-aged bald uncle looked at Xu Junyan with shock, then at the girl with the bun sitting on the innermost seat, completely bewildered.

Wait, didn't they sound like they were speaking different languages? How were they able to communicate so easily and fluently in two different languages?

Incredible!

The middle-aged bald uncle's mouth twitched. Seeing Xu Junyan look at him, he quickly closed his eyes and stopped looking around randomly.

Xu Junyan let out a soft breath, fastened his seatbelt, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes, also preparing to rest. But his arm was gently poked twice again.

Xu Junyan turned his head and opened his eyes, his gaze carrying a hint of interrogation.

The girl with the bun had already taken off the large sunglasses from her nose and replaced them with a pair of round-framed non-prescription glasses.

With the sunglasses gone, her almost perfect, delicate, and pretty face was fully exposed. She was fair and exquisite, like the finest uncarved jade in the world. Her beauty was comparable to any artist, or rather, she was even more beautiful than any female artist Xu Junyan had ever seen on television.

Unfortunately, Xu Junyan had no intention of having a deep conversation with her. The language barrier was a significant hurdle. His current Korean proficiency was only enough to understand a few words.

"You, you really don't recognize me?"

The girl with the bun seemed to be confirming something again. She pointed to her nose with her slender index finger, her clear eyes mixed with surprise, joy... and a tiny bit of what was probably frustration?

Xu Junyan looked at her extremely beautiful face and remained silent.

"Pfft!"

The girl with the bun suddenly burst out laughing. She took out her phone from her pocket, opened a translation app, typed a line of text, and then showed it to Xu Junyan.

[Bae Joo-hyun, oh Bae Joo-hyun, my name is Bae Joo-hyun. Remember this name. You left yesterday after knocking me down without even helping me up. What a heartless man!]

Xu Junyan finally understood that she was here to confront him. If he didn't handle this well, would this woman extort money from him? After a moment's thought, he took out his phone and typed a translation for her.

[Who are you?]

Bae Joo-hyun's small mouth parted in surprise. She tilted her head, looking at Xu Junyan, who was frowning, with confusion.

Xu Junyan got his phone back, looking bewildered, not like he was acting.

He continued typing.

[Have we met before?]

[You must have mistaken me for someone else.]

[If you're trying to hit on me, this method is far too low-class. I need to rest, sorry.]

Bae Joo-hyun's head was instantly filled with a string of question marks and a string of black exclamation marks!