Chapter 72: The Wandering Korean (2)

  "Ladies and gentlemen, the plane will land at Incheon Airport, the final destination of this flight, in five minutes..." As the Korean flight attendant announced in Korean, relatively stiff English and Chinese that the plane was about to land, I realized that my trip to Korea was officially beginning. So I woke up Qin Ke Yi, who was sleeping next to me, helped her fasten her seatbelt, and let us experience together the physiological shock and excitement brought by the moment of landing.

  When I was in the country, I was also often instilled with the view that Korea has many beautiful women, but judging from the appearance of flight attendants on international flights, too many people have been ruthlessly deceived. Seeing women who are supposed to showcase their national spirit and feminine charm to international friends through this profession being just so-so, I couldn't help but feel a sense of loss in my heart. And finally realized that Zhao Lijia's boast about foreigners shining green lights when they see her eyes wasn't entirely unreasonable.

  As I was dragging my luggage with Qin Ke, we hadn't even exited the passageway when I saw Jin Yina waving at us from a distance. She's my high school classmate, an ethnic Korean, and since Korea started diplomatic relations with China, many ethnic Koreans chose to venture into economically developed Korea. Jin Yina's parents also joined this trend and achieved some success, operating a small resort on Jeju Island that wasn't very large. After the college entrance exam, she chose to study in a not-very-famous school in Korea. Before coming to Korea, I suddenly thought of her and contacted her on QQ, hoping she could be our free tour guide for the entire trip. Traveling with a tourist group is inconvenient and restrictive, but I just wanted to enjoy a free world in Korea with Qin Ke. Based on our brief friendship as desk mates for two semesters in high school, Jin Yina readily agreed to my request and expressed her excitement about my arrival, welcoming me and Qin Ke on behalf of the Korean people.

  "It's been a long time! You've become so stylish! It seems the Korean people have treated you well! Can you still speak Chinese?" I said with a smile as Qin Ke and I walked up to her with our luggage. The fashionable young woman in front of me was almost unrecognizable from the bookworm I remembered, who always wore glasses and had two small braids, burying her head in books.

  "You're still the same as before! Still so poor! Is this your girlfriend? She's really beautiful! I thought you were just bragging to me! Hi, my name is Jinyi Na!" Jinyi Na smiled and asked me, and took the initiative to shake hands with Qin Ke, it seems that in these few years, she has changed not only her appearance but also her personality.

  "Hello! My name is Qin Keyi! Thank you for picking us up!"

  "No need to thank me! I didn't come here for my health! Mainly, I wanted to see the legendary beauty! It was worth it! Let's go!" So I said goodbye to the tour guide and took back our documents. Before leaving China, my middle school classmate had already informed him, so the tour guide readily agreed to my request. After agreeing on a meeting place and time 7 days later, he gave me a phone number, saying that if anything came up in the next few days, I could call him at this number.

  After saying goodbye to the tour guide, Jina led us to exchange some Korean won. Since our travel agency had assisted with short-term exit visas, before departure, each of us had exchanged 2000 US dollars for foreign currency at a Chinese bank. Although we had been informed in advance that the value of the Korean won was very small, when we actually arrived at Incheon Airport in Korea and started exchanging currencies, I was still shocked - my 300 US dollars were exchanged for 382,500 Korean won! The exchange rate on that day was 1 USD = 1274.98 KRW, and 1 RMB = 139.79 KRW. Moreover, the English name of the Korean won is "won", which sounds similar to "ten thousand". I never thought that my long-held dream of becoming a millionaire would be achieved unintentionally in a foreign land.

  The taxi ride from Incheon Airport to the city center of Hanoi took about an hour, during which I chatted with Kim Yina while looking at the scenery outside the window. Qin Kei, on the other hand, was very calm and not as excited as I had imagined. Perhaps it's because I've been in Harbin for too long, but my first impression of Hanoi city center is that it's clean - the asphalt roads are spotless, the trees and flowers have clean leaves, all the rivers flowing through the city are free of pollution, and there's no litter on the sidewalks. Thinking about Harbin's urban environment, I find it hard to understand how those tourism departments can promote Harbin as a tourist city with a clear conscience.

  It took almost an hour's drive to arrive at the hotel booked by Jina, Hotel New Rasung in Ansan, a satellite city of Seoul. It was a small but cozy hotel, not far from Jina's school. After sending us to our room, Jina told us she would head back to school first and come over later to take us on a tour of Seoul's night scene.

  After a comfortable bath, the fatigue accumulated during the trip suddenly disappeared by half. After coming out of the bathroom, I found Qin Ke Yi standing by the window, quietly looking outside, so I walked over and hugged her from behind.

  "What's wrong?" I gently asked Qin Ke.

  "There's nothing... it just feels so familiar..." Qin Ke said lightly as he gazed out of the window.

  "Maybe it's because you've been to Seoul before! Have you ever been here?"

  "No! But... I also feel so familiar..."

  "Kei, after such a long flight and car ride, why don't you go take a bath and rest for a bit..." Qin Kei let out a sigh as she walked into the bathroom. Watching her back made me feel like her feelings towards Korea were complicated...

  Qin Kai fell asleep quickly in my arms after taking a bath, but I became inexplicably excited and stared blankly at the TV watching programs that made no sense until Jin Yina arrived.

  After changing clothes with Qin Ke Yi, Jin Yina took us out of the hotel, saying she wanted to let us try authentic Korean cuisine. So the three of us walked to a seafood restaurant not far from Jin Yina's school, chatting and laughing along the way. According to Jin Yina, although this was a Korean seafood restaurant, the owner was actually Chinese. There were many Chinese exchange students at Jin Yina's school, so they often patronized this seafood restaurant, and the owner took good care of these exchange students, who all called her "Fang Jie".

  When we walked in, Sister Fang seemed very enthusiastic and started chatting enthusiastically with Jinna. It was clear that they were familiar with each other. When she found out that Qin Kaiyi and I were also Chinese and came here to travel, she became even more enthusiastic and invited us into the house. After a simple glance around, the business was quite good, with many people eating, occasionally hearing a few sentences of Chinese and Beijing dialect, it seemed that there were indeed many overseas students. There were no domestic dining tables and chairs in the house, except for the operating room, the whole house was a large platform, on which several low tables were placed. So we took off our shoes, went up to the platform, found a table in the middle and sat down.

  "What are you eating?" Fang Jie asked me warmly.

  "They're here to eat authentic Korean seafood, let them try the raw fish slices! How is it? The raw fish here is very authentic!" Ji Yina asked me after saying that to Fang Jie.

  "Alright! I'll listen to you! We don't quite understand either, haha!" I said with a bit of embarrassment.

  "Alright! Sashimi! Just a moment!" Fang Jie said enthusiastically before turning around and leaving. Not long after, the waiter brought over a large plate and carefully placed it on our table. Upon closer inspection, I was a bit surprised - this wasn't the sashimi we had ordered at all! Earlier, I had clearly seen the chef scoop out two fish from the tank that looked like salmon, but now the plate was a assorted platter: three pieces of raw fish sushi, four slices of shellfish sashimi, three slices of sea snail sashimi, a small dish of pickled ginger, a piece of dim sum, and in the center, a type of raw fish that looked like a snake! Just as I was puzzling over this, another stack of small plates arrived at our table: four different flavors of dipping sauce, a small plate of chili peppers and garlic, three spring rolls, a dish of creamy corn, a dish of grilled octopus, a plate of fresh lettuce leaves and shiso leaves... the table was now piled high!

  "These are the side dishes, the main course is still behind, let's eat first! Like me!" Jinyi Na explained to me with a smile, and picked up a piece of lettuce leaf, then picked up a piece of shiso leaf and placed it underneath, then took a dollop of seasoning and spread it on top, then picked up a piece of sashimi fish and placed it in the seasoning, rolled it up, and put it in her mouth, demonstrating to me how to eat. So I started clumsily imitating Jinyi Na's actions, while Qin Ke Yi ate with a slightly more practiced air, and as soon as the food entered my mouth, I felt a strange flavor, both salty and spicy accompanied by a slight fishy smell and other indescribable flavors, but after savoring it carefully, I had an urge to continue eating. Just when our stomachs were almost completely full, the real star of the show appeared, a large plate of neatly arranged raw fish! A whole kilogram of raw fish! Seeing this tragic scene, I couldn't help but secretly loosen my belt under the table.

  "Want a drink?" Jianna asked suddenly.

  "What wine is here?"

  "When eating raw fish, you must drink Korean soju, this is the authentic way!"

  "Baijiu? What proof?"

  "Not very strong! Can't compare with the white wine at our home! You're quite a drinker, aren't you? Scared?"

  "Just kidding! I'm scared! After all, I'm still representing the face of Chinese people now! Can't lose face for the Chinese people! Who's afraid of who!" I said with a huff. Before long, the waiter brought over three green glass bottles of liquor that looked like something out of many Korean movies. The three of us chatted enthusiastically as we drank Korean soju and savored the delicious raw fish, reminiscing most about our high school days.

  "Dude! You're from Northeast China, right?" Just as we were chatting, another guy walked over from the next table and asked me...