My Sassy Girl Chapter 21

My Sassy Girl by Kim Ho-sik [English CH.21]

CHAPTER 22


We're at Her house...
Her and I are sitting on a couch, and her mother and uncle are sitting on a couch opposite of us. They're looking straight at us... And her father sat on the sofa next to ours... the kind that the head of the family sits on.

I was so nervous, my body began to twitch and shiver a little...

I've met her uncle before... in jail... But this is the first time I've met her parents... I've talked with them before briefly on the phone, but to see them face to face... I could feel my body go rigid..

Even if the circumstances was a joyful event where I was formally visiting her family, they would still wonder if I'm the kind of a guy that's worthy to be with their precious only daughter... so how would they feel when they see a guy who's still glowing from the warmth of a ... police station?

It would've helped if I was dressed up a bit... but I was just in a fistfight with a bunch of gangsters in a muddy street... I was a mess...

The silent couple of minutes passed like two or three hours...

Her mom brought me a cup of juice... I was getting thirsty from my nervousness.. so I drank it in one gulp... her father began to speak...

"You... why don't you clean yourself first? Honey, could you get him a set of clothes?"

So I unexpectedly got to shower in a stranger's house... in a girl's house, no less...

I went to Her room. She had her own small bathroom attached to the bedroom... I guess she's the only one using it... ^^

I became the first guy to take a shower in her bathroom ^^

Wow! The bathroom scent is great! You know how a girl's room smells much nicer? There's the smell of her cosmetics but... the undefinable scent of a mature woman... ^^;;

That scent was in the bathroom as well...

The bathroom at my house is shared by all five members of our family... the funny thing is, everyone has their own toothbrushes... oh, wait, no, I meant we all have our own soaps... -_-;; Toothbrushes are meant to be for one person... Hm... Anyway, if someone accidentally uses someone else's soap while they're still sleepy, then our family goes into a "Soap War" mode...

Everyone intensely guards their own soaps...

I once accidentally used my little brother's soap, and the next day, I saw him taking a bath while completely dissolving my soap in the bathwater...

For your information, this isn't some mental problem that we have... it's more like a hobby... -_-;

So the bathroom is very dirty... Soaps are everywhere... and there are my sister's yellow hair, my brother's brown hair, my black hair, my mom's curly hair, and my dad's hair all harmoniously... blocking the sink...

In any case, I've never seen such a clean and pleasant smelling bathroom in my life... the towels are all dried up nicely on the racks... and there were many bath products that I've never even seen or heard before...

I took my clothes off and turned on the shower... warm water began to come out... all the nervousness in my body dissolved out... there is a bath towel in here (T/N: The kind you scrub yourself with in the shower, not to dry)... haha! This must be the one she uses... Yes!

I used the towel that she uses everyday and... (T/N: Anyone else seriously creeped out at the moment? :-D)

There's a bath soap here as well... is it a body cleanser? I put the soaps... or shampoo-like lotion on her pleasant-smelling towel and scrubbed away... I felt really clean afterwards...

She said outside...

"I have your change of clothes outside on the bed."

I went out of the showers... There is a neatly folded clothes on the bed..

There's an underwear there as well... -_-;;

They must be new, since they didn't take it out of a box... and it must've been her dad's... I wore it in any case... ^^;

The pants... oh boy... this is her jean... There's no way this will fit me... I'm not exactly fat or anything, but how can a thin girl's jean fit a guy like me? I opened the door a little and got my head poked out.

At once, her parents and uncle turned to stare at me... As I completely got their attention... I said...

"Um, the pants is a bit too small for me.."

How embarrassing... what is this, really? In front of her parents, no less... So, she lent me her overalls... I went back into the bathroom while she was getting it, of course...

I wore the overalls... it fit me quite well... but the pants ended way above my ankle... a Michael Jackson style, if you will ^^;;

And I picked up the shirts... It... has laces on it... -_-;; In the middle there's a very pretty lace... Grrrrr....

This must be her idea of a prank... How can she pull a prank in a situation like this, when I'm dying of nervousness? ... What can I do??

I poked my head outside the room again and called for her... and... I went back into the bathroom... with the bathroom door between us, we talked to each other...

Me: Hey! Are you kidding me?! Get me a proper shirts for crying out loud! Laces...

Her: Hahaha!! But I picked out the prettiest shirts.

Me: -_-;;

She left me another shirt... this one wasn't too bad... though it looked familiar... Oh yeah... this is the t-shirt that she was wearing when I first met her on the subway... how nostalgic...

I put the shirt on and looked at the mirror.

Yellow t-shirts, blue overall that only goes to my ankles... I was reminded of a song...

When Daddy goes to work, Popopo! When Mommy hugs me, Popopo!

That's right... my clothes would remind everyone of Popopo (T/N: This is a very popular kid's show in Korea, similar to Barney or Sesame Street, but meant for a much younger crowd.)

I have to face her parents looking like this... tears are fogging my eyes...

I really wanted to go back into the bathroom and just wear my mud-covered clothes, but I decided to go outside instead.

She begins to laugh as if she went insane.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Her mom begins to laugh... and her dad... and her uncle... I want to cry...

But thanks to this, the atmosphere became a lot lighter... turning disasters into opportunities, I guess... hehe...

So we all sat down on the couches again. They must have heard what happened from her while I was taking a shower..

Her mom thanked me. Her family thinks that I fought those gangsters 3 to 1 and beat them all up in order to protect Her.

The truth is... she kinda saved me from them...

Without her kendo skills, I probably would have become minced meat...

And like all meetings between guys and their girl's parents, they began to ask me all these questions about myself... I sweated nervously.. This was the scariest question:

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Of course, they asked "What are your plans for the future?", but it's the same basic question... I like living an ordinary life... I don't have any outrageous dreams...

I wanted to say "I want to marry into a rich family..." -_-;; but I couldn't say it.

It's time for me to leave now... I said good night to her parents and went to the front gate with her.

Me: Hey, how can I go all the way home looking like this?

Her: What's wrong? You look really cute! Hahahaha!

Me: T.T

It's the subway... I was too embarrassed, so I pretended to sleep the minute I sat down... the kids all looked at me like they know me from somewhere... She then called me...

Me: Hello?

Her: Hey, Gyunwoo... Um... about your clothes...

Me: My clothes? Oh, right.. My clothes are in your bathroom..

Her: Yeah, about that... I'll give it too you later, okay? *snickers*

Me: That's fine... but... what's with the snickering?

Her: Oh it's nothing... get home safely, okay? *snickers*

Me: Okay. Bye.

I hung up the phone and thought for a moment....

Oh no... my underwear... I should've brought it with me in my pockets or something... Damn... I was too distracted by everything else... Today is an unforgettable day...

"Mommy!!!!!"

P.S.

Today's the Korean Language Day. So, unlike my usual style (forget grammar rules, acronyms, writing phonetically), I decided to fix everything. Please forgive me if I still made any mistakes. (T/N: This is true... this translation took 1/3 the time that I normally take because for once, he wrote it more or less conventionally...)

On 9 O'clock News on MBC, there was a report on the netizen's language culture. I guess it was a special report because it's the Korean Language Day.

Yonsei University's Korean Professor said that the netizen's language is also a legitimate development of Korean language, and rated it positively.

And some college student said in the interview that since such writing style is not being used in conversations, but in chatting or in cyberspace, there's really no problem.

And some middle school girls said that you get isolated from everyone else if you don't know the netizen language... -_-; There were also the opinions that a traditional culture was being destroyed, and that such usage was damaging Korean as a language.

I'm not so sure which side is correct... because the medium of conversation in this case are keyboards instead of one's mouth, I think the language is being developed for the sake of convenience. I really think both sides have valid points.

Oh.. and someone sent me an email from Unitel (Korean internet server company)... he basically said that "a nation's language is that nation's order and identity. You're 25, so you're not exactly young, and your writing is being enjoyed by a lot of people. Also, since this is on the internet, Korean-Americans or Koreans oversees would read it as well. So you should write using a more proper style."

Hehe ^^ My Sassy Girl was written from the start with a bit quirky(?) (T/N: That's an understatement of the century...) style of writing, and the atmosphere created from such style has become part of the story... so I'm keeping the style. But if I write anything else online, I'll be sure to take your advice.

Oh, and I'm not the kind of a guy who ignores a nation's identity... Whenever I write personal letters or reports for school, I use proper grammar. ^^;

Translated By: BumFromKorea