#but it’s way funnier to say he’s sushi-less

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

he is like a bug to me

[sleepless-translation]

Phantom Troupe Drama CD English Translation-Track 13

CD : HUNTER×HUNTER～Next Episode Scene 3 幻影旅団 (Link)

Track 13 さらわれた団長 "The kidnapped Leader" starts at 47.15.

Disclaimer:

This is a fun bonus content from the 1999 anime that I decided to translate because I want others to enjoy it too (´꒳`)♡ Do note that some of the characters might act in an unusual comedic manner.

Summary:

This scene takes place at the Beitacle hotel after Chrollo got kidnapped by Kurapika. The troupe members decided to talk about their boss's bad habit. Killua and Gon are supposed to be listening to the whole thing too (which makes it funnier).

[Nobunaga] Boss…!

[Machi] This is because you’re..dense.

[Shizuku] That’s right. Boss is unexpectedly dense.

[Pakunoda] Yeah. If I don't bring it to him, he'll definitely miss out on his meals.

[Kortopi] He’s also greedy.

[Machi] Rather than greedy, he’s kind of possessive, isn’t he? That time I accidentally ate his pudding. After that, for two or three days, every time he saw me he said "pudding… my pudding…"

[Shizuku] Ah! The same thing happened to me too.

[Machi] Such a mild stalker, that guy.

[Pakunoda] But that part of him is cute.

[Nobunaga] That’s because you coddle him all the time, Paku. He’s always gonna be like that.

[Kortopi] Discipline is important.

[Pakunoda] Discipline..? He’s not a dog.

[Machi] If he were a dog, he would just come back on his own.

[Shizuku] Way better than boss, huh.

[Pakunoda] No way… Boss doesn’t need to be taken out for walks, nor does he wet himself.

[Nobunaga] Paku, you’re not making him look any better.

[Kortopi] More like dragging him through the mud.

[Shizuku] Ah! They’re here!

[Phinks] Explain the situation.

[Shizuku] In my case, it was almond jelly.

[Phinks] Huh?

[Feitan] What talk about?

[Machi] We’re talking about Paku coddling the boss too much, which makes him become more like a possessive stalker.

[Shalnark] I'm having trouble following all this.

[Nobunaga] In short, it's about how Boss sulks when Machi accidentally ate his pudding, and when Shizuku accidentally ate his almond jelly.

[Feitan] Straight up.

[Phinks] I get what you guys are saying. Back then, I had eaten his Azuki bar, then he stood by my bedside for three days and three nights.

[Machi] You too, Phinks?!

[Shizuku] I see that you have also been victimized by his unexpected side!

[Phinks] Why is the LEADER of the Phantom Troupe that upset over an ice cream in the first place? While he has us at his beck and call at all times.

[Shalnark] Well, that can’t be helped since we're his subordinates, but over an ice cream..? That’s kinda petty.

[Phinks] I know right?

[Pakunoda] Well, Boss is a person who likes ice cream!

[Kortopi] Pudding and Jelly-

[Pakunoda] Those too.

[Machi] That’s why I call him spoiled.

[Nobunaga] He cherry-picks the good stuff after al.

[Feitan] That, I understand. Boss the type to order from the secret menu at a sushi restaurant.

[Shalnark] Now that you mention it, he never eats the crust of a bread, right?

[Machi] That time, he ate only about five centimeters of the middle of a watermelon that had been split in half.

[Kortopi] Who only eats the strawberries on a shortcake?

[Shizuku] Ah. One time he snatched my food that I left out to eat last.

[Pakunoda] That also happened to me…

[Phinks] Not to mention he only ate the burnt rice of a stone-grilled bibimbap.

[Machi] Jeez. Our Boss is really hopeless, huh.

...

[Chrollo] I have no value as a hostage.

════════ End of track ════════

TL Notes & Commentary:

I've seen some people say "Chrollo eats pudding like a pig" which is half true. Kortopi called him 意地汚い, meaning "greedy, gluttonous, and piggy-like." More on how he hogs his food, less on how he eats it.

The almond jelly is 杏仁豆腐. A jellied dessert made of apricot kernel milk, agar, and sugar.

Machi actually says 粘着質ストーカ. 粘着 literally means “sticky”, so he’s really clingy and persistent. I think Machi is so done with danchou, hence the choice of words.

Azuki Bar

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

So Nathan and Nora did a live session in response to the week long dunking on Liam - and you can listen to it here.

I really enjoyed it so I'm going to write my thoughts, as I've taken to do about the podcasts I find most interesting about 1D members.

It has been weird for me, who listened to the whole of Liam's interview and mostly found it boring, to see the endless backlash of dunking against him. It didn't seem like a big deal. I could barely care, and I actually watched the whole thing. The inter-band conflict was wildly blown out of proportion for what he actually said, and the 'boasting' was all things that were true at one point, but hadn't remained true.

That they were doing an emergency live chat suggested that Nathan and Nora saw things differently from me. But in general Nathan was quite chill and had a sense of proportion about what was said - he also made what I think is a key point, which is that Liam knows Zayn better than we do. I also think he did a good job of naming the actual dynamic going on for a lot of people, which is, 'dunking is fun' - and doesn't actually have any content to it beyond that.

Nora was the one catastrophising, but what I thought was fascinating was that she saw that interview as the opposite of responsible Liam, rather than an example of exactly the same dynamics that had created responsible Liam. That actually 16 year olds who seem responsible are in fact trying to please, and it's no surprise that anyone who was that eager to please those in power when they're 18, will then try and please douche bag podcast hosts a decade later.

There was some discussion of the damage of being a child star, and what you expect from 1D members. At one point Nora says 'it would be amazing if 3.5 members of 1D were OK', and I was trying to figure out which 3.5 she would be imagining are OK.

I thought their discussion of Harry's vulnerability was sort of really interesting, but the way they were having the conversation was super distressing to me. The inability of either of them to name consent as the key issue when it came to sex, and instead run together, having lots of sex, cheating of people, and sexual violence as the same sort of messy ground. There are far too many reminders that any gains we've made around the politics of sex are really fucking fragile at the moment.

On a less depressing, and more 1D note, I found it interesting that Nathan really does believe that Harry has slept with lots of women. (I also thought their discussion of the subtext of sushi restaurant was even funnier in the context of the sushi discourse within 1D).

They talked about other things as well: Taylor (with interesting thoughts about the dynamics of the re-release and some funny discussion of Joe's career) and Game of Thrones (although not a lot of substance there).

And then at the end Nathan came in with his 'I used to be CEO of Ticketmaster and think capitalism is good actually' hat. He was obviously letting ticketmaster way off the hook for the current awfulness of the ticket buying experience. He said that you don't want to turn it into Elizabethan theatre, with the rich people up the front and the plebs up the back. Which suggests he understands neither Elizabethan theatre, or the current price of seats at the back of Harry Styles shows.

Anyway - I found the discourse interesting - I'm really into them talking more about 1D, even - or especially - when I disagree with them.

[battlemaiden13]

another 2 questions for bros from UT, US, HT, UF, SFR, Gastertale, MT, UL, and StoryShift Papyrus - 1. What games, board-games, video games, or card games might these skeletons play? 2. What is their favorite foods, or the foods they eat the most?

13: this turned out to be a bit longer than I thought it’d be, whoops. I’ve included a brief description of the games I figured most people wouldn’t of heard about to so you should be able to understand most of them. 

SansPulling pranks and being a pain aren’t really games you can tell people you enjoy although if they were that’s what he’d say. Instead he tells you his favourite game is questions only. It’s an improvisation game played between two people were they are only allowed to talk in questions. If someone manages to say something that isn’t a question than they’re out and the other person wins the round. He likes this game because he doesn’t necessarily need to stand up to play and there’s no set up. Of course he’s favourite food is obviously ketchup especially if he can have fries with them.

PapyrusWhy stop at a simple game? Being out of the underground Papyrus has discovered the wonders of escape rooms. Not only are they rooms filled with multiple puzzles but most are intended for more than one player making them the perfect bonding opportunity. Escape rooms are by fair his first choice of games if he could pick but he’s basically willing to try any puzzle based game from the digital game portal to just literal puzzles. Of course his favourite food is spaghetti.

RedReally likes RPG video games, his favourite though is the Persona series. They are a mix of RPG, logical thinking, fighting and strategy.  He enjoys other RPG’s to but this series is the one he keeps coming back to over and over again. He particularly enjoys the aesthetic of 5. Red’s favourite food to go along with his mustard is greasy cheeseburgers.

EdgeLikes games of subtle manipulation and control, his favourite of which is the board game series Munchkin. It’s a game where you have to work together in order to move forward but if you help out the others to much they will pull ahead and win the whole game. You have to figure out what alliances to keep and when to break them in order to best benefit yourself. Edge enjoys Lasagna, there are so many different ways to make it that he finds the whole thing very enjoyable.

BlueOne of his favourite games is Double memory! Of course you could also convince him to just play regular memory but double memory is way funnier in his opinion. Double memory is played with two decks of cards laying face down on a table, the joker cards are removed. With two decks you have to match both the number on the card and the suit where as with regular memory you just have to get the number because it’s played with a single deck. If you get a pair on your turn you get to go again, the person with the most matches at the end wins. Blues favourite food is tacos although he isn’t that great at cooking them he likes the different flavours you can get from a single bite from them.

OrangeLikes shooter video games, his favourite of which is borderlands. Not only is it a fast pace shooter but he really enjoys the style in the game and he adores the humour. First time he picked it up he wasn’t expecting it to be funny but it’s got him a few times and he was hooked. Orange has such a big sweet tooth anything to do with desserts he will love, that’s why he drinks honey. If he had to choose one thing though he’d definitely go with donuts.

LordLikes games that let’s him install fear in others usually done with contraptions he’s made himself. One such game he’s created is a game of chicken involving a finger guillotine. Players put their finger in the respective slot and take turns cutting a string. One of these strings will release sharp blade cutting off the players fingers. If you remove your hand you lose although losing a finger might not be the best option for any winner. Lord likes gyro’s and is convinced that they are the superior food.

MuttHe doesn’t really get to play games too often but if he had to pick one it would the card/ board game codenames. The game is played in teams, 12 tiles with different pictures are placed in front of you, the speaker has a card showing the locations of the different agents. The speaker gives the players a number and a word and the players have to try and connect the words to the pictures on the board. The number stated indicates how many agents could be hidden with that word.  The winners are the first team to find all their agents. Mutt likes it because you have to think about what your team or speaker would connect with each word in order to find the agents. Mutt also has a sweet tooth but prefers things a little bit sour. He could eat a ton of sour gummy worms along with the sour cream he always seems to be eating.

AxeHis memory makes it hard to concentrate on most games so it either has to be something he can leave and come back to or something that’s over pretty quickly. He does enjoy backgammon, he knows were his own pieces need to go and he doesn’t really need to concentrate when its the other players turn. He simple needs to role his dice and move his own pieces according to the numbers shown. He finds it easy to pay attention for these short times when it’s his turn and likes the logic and luck behind the game. Also loves ketchup but he will say that his favourite food is fruit. There wasn’t really a chance to get fresh fruit underground so now he really enjoys it.

CrooksLikes classic puzzles. Like puzzles, puzzles, you know the ones with pieces that fit together to show an image. That! The more pieces the better in his opinion and he finds the 3D ones just as fun. Over the years above ground he’s accumulated quite the collection of different puzzles. Like he has a wall in his house with a bookshelf covered in boxes of puzzles.  His favourite food is also spaghetti, he thinks it tastes best if made with rabbit meat or deer.

GGames aren’t really his thing but he has been known to play Tarot Cards of Fate.  The game is played in 3 rounds using a deck of Tarot cards. The cards are placed face-down on a table and the game is played by flipping them up one by one. Cards are assigned a score equal to their number shown on them i.e. The World being XXI is assigned 21 points. This score is awarded only to one of the players. Cards score also depends on their position when flipped up, if they are facing upwards the player is awarded positive points, if they are reversed they award a negative score. The sole exception to this rule is The Fool which serves as the game’s “Joker”. If The Fool is face up it is an instant-win for the score player, if reversed it is an instant loss regardless of any score. Although G does enjoy drinking Hot Sauce his favourite food is curry, the spicier the better.

GreenHe enjoys doing Sudoku puzzles. It’s something he picked up from his Gaster half and with his Papyrus half already enjoying puzzles there really wasn’t much argument about it. He’s filled in so many of those puzzle books that you’re sure it could fill a library. Green doesn’t really have a favourite food but he will indulge himself with different chocolates every now and then.

RouletteChoice poker is his favourite game. Any gambling he enjoys but he finds choices poker really raises the stakes. It has the same rules with common poker, five of a kind being the strongest hand and high card being the weakest hand. You are allowed to exchange your card only once. (You can exchange one to five cards). This game is also played with the joker and it is considered the strongest card instead of the ace. However, having the strongest hand doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll win, the higher bidder of chips in the betting round is given the choice to select whether the stronger or weaker hand will win that round. This means the bets are usually pretty high which makes for an exciting game. His favourite food is potato cakes alongside tomato sauce, he finds the flavour less sweet than normal ketchup although he’ll drink that two if it’s available.

SniperFavourite game is Duel Clash Poker. The game is played with a special deck, two pairs of players against each other. Each player has eight different cards: numbered card from 1 to 7 and one Joker. The player who plays the stronger card wins. However, if two players use the same card, they will cancel each other and the winner will be the person who played the next highest number. For example, when the chosen cards are two 7s, a 4, and a 2, the person who played 4 is considered the winner. The strongest card in the game is the Joker. Jokers can also cancel each other, though. The pair who manages to win four rounds first wins the game. Snipers favourite food is also pasta but he prefers them with white sauces.

LustAlso likes RPG’s his favourite currently being Skyrim because he has install all the horny mods, the same can be seen on his sims saves. He doesn’t play games to often but if and when he does you better believe his favourite things are the sexual mods that other creators have made for them. Lust favourite food is pizza mainly because he can argue it has veggies on it.

CharmPlays dating sims. Not only does he find them fun but he can use them as a training resource or as a way to test his skills. He doesn’t really have a particular favourite title as he’s basically willing to try any title in the genre and he’s actually pretty good at them. Charms favourite food is actually sushi, he finds it more romantic than pasta for some reason.

PoppyHis favourite game is actually Tetris. The other papyrus personalities don’t tend to enjoy video games but Poppy adores this fast paced puzzle game. A game of skill and quick logical thinking what could be better? You don’t think you’ve ever seen him lose unless he was super distracted. Just like the others have a tendency to though Poppy also really likes pasta. He doesn’t have a specific dish he enjoys more but he always seems to enjoy pasta.

[steamishot]

Frustratingly beautiful

Officially back from NY and into work. My trip to NY was an escape into a bustling world. It felt different from my other travels because I went there with the intention of imagining my life living there. I had gone there with my friends in 2014, but as a tourist and we hit up the main attractions. This time, I stayed with Matt in Brooklyn and we did more lowkey nontouristy things. 

The evening of my flight, I talked to Matt on the phone during my drive to downtown to pick up my friend S for hot pot in Alhambra. When I reached downtown (5-10 min before I was supposed to meet my friend), he snapped at me because he felt annoyed at me for answering a question with a question, one of the things I do that he says annoys him. I got pissed off by this because we were on the topic of his personal statement, which I spent hours helping him rewrite and edit and thought, this outburst just cancels out any appreciation you had for my helping you. He apologized but I still wasn’t very happy with him that night. I was “exhausted” by excitement prior to that and couldn’t wait to see him. This incident calmed me down in a way. I thought about what I wanted to discuss with him regarding this argument once I saw him and was still slightly mad by the time I landed.

I took a red eye flight- left LA at 11:25 and arrived at 7:55am. The plane was really cold and uncomfortable, so I only got to sleep maybe 2-3 hours. Once my plane landed, he called me and just stayed on the line with me til I met him at the howard beach station. This required me to take the airtrain out of the airport and meet him at the end/start of the subway station. As I got out of the airtrain, we hung up, and I started getting shy/nervous about seeing him again. I walked over to the subway station where we had to buy tickets to exit. He gave me a metrocard with money loaded in it (from the other side of the turnstile), but we were both kinda awestruck and were idiotic, being that we couldn’t figure out to get the card to work. Turns out I needed $7.50 instead of $5.00 so he went to load more money. But once we did do that, we couldn’t figure out why it still wasn’t letting me through. We just needed to flip the card around. It was funny being so close yet so separated from him at the same time for a few minutes lol. I couldn’t look at him because I was shy, and once I went through, I gave him a side hug lol.

We held hands again and it was kinda a weird feeling. We then walked down to the subway station and he asked for a peck. I gave him a half peck out of shyness. Then I started warming up to him again and gave him a real hug as we were waiting for the train. Once we got on, he motioned for another peck, and I gave him a real one this time- he was like bursting from happiness lol. We were slowly warming up to each other again. When we got back to his place, I went to go use the restroom and he laid in bed waiting for me. We started snuggling and cuddling, and then it led to sex. I thought that it would feel much better given that we hadn’t done it in months, but I think our sex is better when we “train” and do it consistently because we lose our skills without practice lol. It was more like “ahh, so this is what it feels like again” to me. We both napped for like an hour or two before heading out to Manhattan. Our day went like Dian Noodle (his hometown food) -> Chinatown (coincidentally there was also an Italian festival) -> hui tea/boba -> central park for rowboating -> hatsuhana sushi -> murray’s cheese shop -> wine shop -> home.

I could tell he became a more serious/burnt out/tired person after starting residency. He was less energetic, and was exhausted from our day of exploring, which he never was when we traveled together in the past. It was always him pushing me to do more and to stay out longer. I planned our NY trip and chose all the restaurants/food/drinks spots (minus one or two). It was rewarding to bring him to dian noodle and eat his hometown food with him. The last time he sat down and ate in a restaurant was 1.5 months prior when his family visited. Otherwise, it had been uber eats/chipotle/grocery market food all day every day. The food we ate at Dian fit his palette exactly and he really enjoyed it. When we got to central park for rowboating, there was a line. He was a little reluctant to go and was for some reason, dreading rowing (I think because he feels tired and doesn’t want to do more work). However, I said to stick it out. We ended up having a lot of fun. HE ended up having a lot of fun rowing although he initially didn’t want to. The cheese shop was great, but we accidentally got sparkling wine instead of regular. We had planned to watch the farewell, but couldn’t find it streaming online, so we watched terrace house. Although it’s not a show he’d normally watch himself, he got pretty into it.

Sunday, I felt much better after having a good night’s rest. Our day was Brooklyn bagels -> minksoff theater for lion king -> matcha -> Italian food for dinner -> hot chocolate -> home. Bagels were interesting- we were expecting the classic lox and bagels, but we got something with avocado instead lol. Lion king was good, but more fitting for children/family I thought. Some parts were slow and the acting wasn’t great- it was just the music and props that stood out. The jokes were also kinda childish. They did a good job at incorporating African heritage into the show, though. Matcha was a relaxing experience although my spot in little Tokyo still wins. While killing time before our reservation, we sat at a park and he called his mom about something. The conversation turned into a 30 min heated back and forth. Italian was probably the best meal we’ve had. We were both quite blown away. Hot chocolate was alright, but ambiance and presentation were nice. They also had a yelp check in for BOGO so I got two hot chocolates for only $6.

By the end of sunday, i felt like he was returning to the old relaxed and fun matt. he was feeding off of my energy. i tend to find funny moments throughout the day to laugh at and dramatize it to make it funnier. one time, he realized right before the subway doors were about to close that we were supposed to get off at that stop. so he ran for the door and pushed a guy with a backpack standing near the exit to the side. i started cracking up because the guy wasn’t even blocking our pathway. i laughed to the point of peeing my pants and kept teasing him about it. 

Monday, he had to go into work for 5-6 hours. After dropping him off at work, I took the opportunity to go to flushing, queens for the first time. It was my way to test my independence and travel by myself. I think it was the first time I explored on my own in an unfamiliar place since Taiwan in 2014. The ride to queens was about an hour, and I had to walk another 25 min to get to this xiaolongbao place I wanted to go to. i was literally eating by myself, as I was the only one in the restaurant for a good 70% of my meal. I had the entire waitstaff catering to me LOL. I ordered crab xiaolongbao and a hot soy milk, which were both bomb. I felt really full afterwards. I also took my time eating because I didn’t really have anywhere to go, and also overstayed my welcome by taking a crap after eating in their restroom lol (had to take advantage of the restroom). I then walked over to a closeby park ~ 15 min away. The park was really quiet. I feel like in LA, if you are in a quiet area you feel obligated to acknowledge or say hi to people you come across (like during hiking). But in NYC, people just exist amongst each other because it’s so commonplace to be around strangers from all walks of life that you become desensitized to it.

I felt more confident that I could be by myself after my trip to queens. Even in LA, I feel like I’ve become a pretty dependent person. I need someone to accompany me to the places I choose to go. Even something as simple as returning something to the mall, I’ll try to make it a hangout with friends or family. 

I met him later that day in Chinatown for hot pot. It was funny to have a text exchange of “let me know when you exit the subway” vs “let me know your ETA” as we used to in LA. He gave me a hug when he saw me and wanted a peck as we sat down at our table. So it was cute that we got to semi experience the whole, seeing your SO after coming home from work type of thing. The hot pot was pretty bad, coming from a spoiled LA native. At least he enjoyed the AYCE portion. We ended up watching the farewell at a nearby theater. I liked that we got to view it in NY because the protagonist also lives in NYC. Their family dynamic was pretty similar to Matt’s and I had fun drawing comparisons. He ended up shedding a tear at the end.

We went to a rice pudding shop after, which had many reviews on yelp but it was just a place (we felt) capitalizing on ethnic dessert lol. Here, he got an email offering him an interview for a categorical position in palm desert. Once you are offered an interview, you must schedule it immediately in case someone else claims a spot and you become waitlisted. He had four options, all were on a Monday. After 20-30 min of deciding which one he wanted, one spot was already claimed. He chose 12/8. He’ll be home for “2 days”. I was happy for him but also became kinda selfish because he started becoming selfish lol.

Once he got this notification, he became spacey and he was just thinking of all he had to do, schedule wise, how to coordinate time off etc. We had planned on going to trader joes after to pick up tea for me, but he led us in the wrong direction. After we realized we walked 15 min the wrong way, he said wanna just go home? It seems like it should have been an insignificant moment, but I think in that moment my resentment surfaced. Yet again, his needs are more important than mine, and his career will always come first. In my mind, I asked for one thing. I told him I wanted to go to TJ to get tea and go home, but he suggested we go to a dessert shop first. Then at the end, we didn’t even accomplish what I wanted in the first place. As one person commented online, being a partner to a resident means you are third priority. Career = first priority, resident himself = second priority, you = third priority. After me throwing a tantrum, we stopped by a different TJ on our way back home and got my tea lol. We were both babies that night.

I didn’t feel well emotionally or physically that night, and had diarrhea. As we were lying in bed on our last night together, I ended up crying out my frustrations to him. I am supposed to get my period in 6 days, so I wondered if it was PMS talking, but he said I sounded rational and just kept apologizing. The next morning, we talked more in bed. I think this is the life I’d have to accept as a resident’s partner. If he could barely tend to his own needs, why would I expect him to tend to mine? 

Our goodbye wasn’t emotional, as I was still frustrated with him and I know I would see him again in a few weeks. I went by myself to the airport and made it exactly on time as my plane was boarding. My parents picked me up at union station- I felt like a little girl again at home. Last night, I toyed with the idea of living in NYC and pushing myself to do what I’ve always wanted- live in a new city. Why am I holding myself back? Once I make friends in NYC, I’m sure it will be a lot of fun. LA wins in weather (maybe) and certain cuisines, but NYC is wild and the place to be at when you’re young. If I had the option to choose whether matt comes back to the westside or stays in NYC, I think I’d prefer him to stay in NYC after this trip. Then it’d give me a reason to go/move there.

[summer-eclipse]

ROPPONGI NIGHTS PART TWO (ROUGH DRAFT) 
Hopefully that text will keep me out of trouble, I thought to myself. Something i always seem to be in because of this business. 
I worked illegally in this country which meant my boss was naturally pretty high ranked in the mafia. It’s great company when you want to party but it’s bad when you have to work under them. 
Just then a sleepy Jiyong moved from my shoulder to lay himself across the backseat and rest his head in my lap, looking up at me. 
"You’re pretty” he said while he continued to stare up at me, making that goofy grin again. 
I scoffed, “I’m no glamorous celebrity but thank you.” I shifted my gaze from his piercing eyes to look out the window of the taxi. It was raining hard now and the droplets running down the window provided me with the calm I needed to stop my heart from bursting out of my chest. He was one of my top celebrity crushes after all. And he had his head in my fucking lap.
“What’s your name?” His voice coming out a little less slurred, but this question came out in Korean. 
“Y/N.” I said. Trying not to look at the man who was laying in my lap. 
“Y/N….. Prettttttttty.”, he said. Then I felt him jerk upwards, his face now very close to mine, “hey! You can speak Korean?”. 
I sighed slightly, I really wanted to keep interaction to a minimum, I don’t want to get myself into anymore trouble than necessary. 
“Not really. I tried to learn once but then I moved to Japan so learning Japanese instead just made more sense.” I shrugged and let my head fall back onto the seat further away from him. 
“Why did you come Japan?” He asked, sounding genuinely interested. 
“I don’t know, I guess i just wanted to try living here.” I paused, he really doesn’t need to know any of this and I’m sure it’s really boring. But one glance in his direction told me he was waiting for more of an explanation, I sighed again, “well, I lived in England for four years and got bored of the familiarity between English speaking countries. So here I am.” 
“Why did you live in England?” His face inching closer but more so out of visable genuine interest than anything else. 
“I was in university studying Astrophysics. I couldn’t afford to finish my bachelors degree let alone my PH.D so I quit and ran away to England. Where my mom was born. Change of scenery, that’s all.” 
He sat up and put his head back on my shoulder, deep in thought. “You must be really smart then, and your life sounds so interesting.” 
I scoffed again in utter disbelief, “This coming from an extremely famous celebrity, adored by millions.” 
Still staring out the window of the taxi his voice came out softer than before, “I just got lucky. Anyone could do what I do. I’m jealous of you.” 
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, a celebrity of his status was jealous of me? Are you kidding? I was working for the mafia, getting paid to be sexually harassed so I could afford to go to language school and stay in this country. I’ve almost been killed, had alcohol poisoning at least once a week, forced to do hard drugs and yet here is this perfect specimen of a man, getting jealous of me. 
“We all want what we don’t have. But trust me, your life is much more interesting Jiyong.” I replied, trying to cut off the conversation again. 
Its not that I didn’t want to talk to him, it’s just I don’t want to grow attached to a guy I’ll never see again. I’d rather he stayed just a fantasy. They always say you should never meet your idols right?
I turned to look at him and he was staring at me wide eyed. 
“What?” I asked, slightly more sharp than I intended. 
“I really like it when you say my name.” He blurted, and then giggled and fell back into his seat. 
Just then the car pulled into the entrance of the hotel, I instructed the driver to pull into valet parking where we could take the hotel elevator directly to his floor without going through the lobby where reporters most likely waited. 
The car came to a halt in front of the valet elevator doors and the taxi door popped open. 
I tapped my PASMO card on the fee pad and pulled Jiyong out of the car. 
As the car pulled away I led the band member towards the clear doors into the valet elevator lobby. 
“Which floor are you on?” I asked, pressing the button to call the elevator. 
“Hmm, 30… maybe.” He said. 
“Maybe?” I spat back, “how do you not know what floor you’re on?” 
Just then the elevator dinged and he jumped into it, grabbing my wrist and dragging me inside with him. He leant forward, pressed button 30 and then prompted the doors to shut. 
“You know, you don’t seem that drunk now I’m sure you can get home by yourself.” I said, feeling a little weird riding the elevator to his floor. I was intending to walk home after dropping him off. 
“What if I get lost?” He asked, looking dead serious as he slumped back into the corner of the elevator. 
I shook my head in disbelief and sighed. What have I gotten myself into. I’m sure he’s just looking to get laid, honestly he was so drunk a while ago I’m sure he’s mistaking me for someone model type beautiful. 
Just then a hand pressed against the small of my back and Jiyong appeared beside me. 
“I’m… I… well…. are you busy?” He asked, voice sounding shaky and nervous. 
“Huh?” I reacted, clearly I’m not busy, it’s like 4am.
“I want to hangout tomorrow because I have the day off, Please?” He blurted out quickly, eyes piercing into mine and a cheeky grin speeding across his face. 
Unbelievable. 
This is definitely one of those situations you put on the list of “Never Going To Happen Scenarios”. 
I nodded slowly, “Um.. sure I guess.” 
There’s no way he will remember this tomorrow, no harm in playing along. 
His face immediately got brighter, “Here, give me your number!” He said, offering his phone out to me.
I stretched my hand out to grab his phone so I could give him my number, feeling slightly surprised when he happily placed it into my palm. 
I quickly tapped my number into the phone and handed it back to him just as the elevator dinged.
“Well, I’m glad you got home saf—,” I was sharply pulled out of the elevator by my wrist and into the long hallway of top level suites, “hey what are you doing!” I asked, completely in shock. 
“I told you I might get lost, didn’t you hear me?” He said, looking back briefly to flash me a grin. 
He pulled me further down the hallway in the direction of two large double doors, as we reached it he pulled a key card out of his pocket, never letting go of my wrist. 
“I really shouldn’t…” I trailed off as he swung open the door to his room. Being used by someone this famous and good looking would fuck up my life, surely.
“We can order room service and then I’ll get you a taxi home, okay?” He said without looking back, “I promise I won’t touch you Y/N, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he added, a hint of embarrassment in his voice. 
At that moment I made a conscious decision to stop resisting, it seemed as if he was getting genuinely hurt every time I said anything that suggested I wasn’t interested. And he clearly isn’t drunk enough to sleep with me anymore.
He must have sobered up in that taxi ride.
“Wow…” I gasped as I entered the large hotel suite, cutting off my mind babble “this is ridiculous.” 
The main lounge room was ten times bigger than my apartment, and it was only one out of what I could only assume was many rooms in this suite. The walls were a sheet white with gold trimmings, it looked like something out of a fairytale. The furniture an antique rustic feel, with so many side tables with flowers it felt like I was in a corner of Buckingham Palace. 
He chuckled at my innocent reaction and led me towards a large antique sofa in front of a large window, which was positioned beside a side table with a phone. 
I hesitated momentarily before taking a seat, Jiyong plopping down beside me and throwing his feet onto the coffee table in front of him. 
“What kind of food do you like?” He asked, flipping through the menu he just grabbed from the side table drawer. “they have everything here; pizza, Sushi… no not Sushi, that’s not good when you’re drunk… how about pancakes? Wait no… not that either…” he trailed off, continuing to babble but doing so in Korean instead. 
I only giggled at first, but going unnoticed only made this situation funnier, what the hell was even happening right now? 
I burst out laughing then, completely uncontrollably and totally distracted. I’ve either gone and lost my damn mind or I’m actually dreaming. That’s until I felt a smack on my arm. 
I looked up, halting my psychotic meltdown, to see Jiyong giving me half amused half annoyed look. 
“What the hell are you laughing at?” He asked, not understanding why I was manic at this point. 
“Um—” another fit of laughter threatening to escape my lips"—nothing just, this is just such a weird situation for me". After saying it out loud and seeing his face change to a look of just pure amusement, realty hit me hard. I needed a moment to myself here. 
I had already stood up before I realized I was moving and started walking away from the sofa where I had been sat beside Jiyong when I heard a voice from behind me, “Where are you going?” He asked. 
I spun around, “um…. The washroom…. ah, where is it?” I asked borderline flustered. 
“Down the hall to your left and it’s the first door on the right”, he said smiling at me, “I’ll just order one of everything on this menu since I can’t decide.” He finished, reaching for the phone beside him. 
I half stumbled towards the bathroom, feeling an overwhelming sense of desperation to get a grip on reality. I think the alcohol from work had dulled my senses until now. 
I opened the door to the unnecessarily huge bathroom and positioned myself in front of the sink. I ran cold water and let my hands sit beneath it, trying to regain some sense of balance.
I glanced up at myself in the mirror and saw an absolutely horrible sight. My face was a mess; shiny and uneven tones, lipstick almost worn off and eyeliner barely there. I reached into my handbag and pulled out the tools needed to fix the situation at hand. 
5 minutes of repair later and I couldn’t bring myself to look even half as decent as I wanted to be in this moment. Here in Jiyongs hotel suite, looking like trash, what the fuck am I doing. 
I shoved everything back in my bag and burst out of the bathroom before I could change my mind and run towards the front door. 
Turning the corner back to where Jiyong was, I saw him still sitting on the sofa cross legged and scrolling through his phone. 
I padded lightly towards him and sat as gracefully as I could manage onto the far end of the sofa. 
“Thank you for tonight by the way, I didn’t get a chance to say that before” Jiyong said, not looking up from his phone, “most people would make a scene, take pictures and exploit me for money to a tabloid, or something along those lines. But you—” he sighed and smiled up at me"— you took care of me, and you got me out without anyone seeing. I can’t thank you enough.“ He moved down the sofa so that he was knelt beside me and hugged me so tight I literally couldn’t breathe. 
For the next hour we talked and laughed, he told me about how Sengri challenged him to a drinking contest and that’s how he got so drunk, and how he escaped his bodyguards and found his way into the kitchen to get away from them. He just wanted some silence and he guessed that the rest of the alcohol hit him all at once and he just blacked out in there.
The room service came and we talked some more. 
After we finished eating Jiyong flipped the lights off and turned the tv on, connecting his laptop with the hdmi cord. 
"You have to watch this movie,” he said enthusiastically, “I can’t believe you’ve never fully watched a Korean movie!” 
He glanced back at me with a grin, “Trust me it’s really good! I promise!”
With that he pressed play and made his way back, plopping down beside me on the sofa. His arm swung around my shoulders and pulled me into his side, my cheeks flushed a deep red. 
“Is this okay?” He asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice. 
I glanced up to nod quickly and then dropped my head down to rest it on his shoulder. 
Jiyong pulled me in so I was half laying down on his chest and hummed contently as he refocused on the movie starting in front of him. 
I was focused for a good ten minutes, but the comforting circles being drawn on my back had me drifting off to sleep before I could rationally assess the situation I was about to get myself into.