Office Diaries

"Whoa, so this place is like this," Tohru James murmured as he glanced around.

He and Yanee stepped to the side to let motorcycles delivering items pass. But as they waited for the road to be big enough for them to walk again, they let their eyes wander around.

"What were you expecting it to be boss?"Yanee asked in amus.e.m.e.nt.

Tohru was really like a little boy in his excursion. "Well, you said it's an ancient market place, so I was expecting it to be… well, ancient."

There was a hint of disappointment in his voice as he looked at the bright and modern signs. He must have been imagining something totally old looking like the market places shown on historical TV dramas and Yanee couldn't help but laugh at her boss silently.

"That can't be. This place was just established in 1414, but it's been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times. It can't stay looking old," she told him.

She wanted to be a proper guide so she reviewed her knowledge of the place beforehand. The place was destroyed during the Korean War and succ.u.mbed to a fire in 1954. Although people tried to rebuild the market into its former glory after that, two more fires destroyed it, one in 1968, and another in 1975.

It was seriously unfortunate, really. But at least, serious renovation and reconstruction efforts started again in 2007 and it's been well since. This was only a market place, but one would be surprised to know that half a million people actually came to visit daily. It was a lot. No wonder this place was already packed in the morning.

"Is that so?"Tohru murmured noncommittally, as they continued to walk ahead while looking around.

The streets were lined up of several different shops and stores and stalls were sprawled endlessly all over the streets. But the items they sold were not limited to food. He was surprised to see shops and streets stalls sold inexpensive clothing, housewares, fabrics, jewelry, accessories, toys, food, flowers, stationery and funnily, cheap appliances that he wondered if they ever worked.

"Do those even work?" he couldn't help but ask, making Yanee look at him in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Of course, they do, boss," she answered. "Even if they're not the high-end brands you're used to, these cheap small brands also sell good products."

Tohru pouted. "Hey, I'm not being a snob, okay? I just wanted to know if they work considering the price is too low."

Yanee, of course, was aware that he only asked that because it's his first time seeing cheap appliances and nothing else. Still, it was fun poking fun at his boss after his "protect my chastity" statement earlier.

Revenge!

But because Yanee was looking at the potato, she hadn't realized there was a hand-drawn cart with tons of boxes just ahead. The market was seriously crowded even in the morning, so they were already prepared to be bumped around. However, colliding with a cart was not on Yanee's agenda.

It was a good thing Tohru was also looking at her direction and was able to pull her in time away from the cart's way. There was no speed so the impact wouldn't be as bad as being hit by a car, but the wheels could still crush an unsuspecting toe.

"Look out!"

He grabbed her arm and pulled her against his c.h.e.s.t just in time before the cart rolled on the spot she just vacated.

 "That was close," Tohru James commented as he checked Yanee out for injuries. "Are you alright?"

"Miss, I'm so sorry," the old vendor who was pulling the cart apologized when he realized he nearly ran over the woman's foot. The boxes piled up so high that the man couldn't really see well.

"It's fine. I'm alright. I'm not injured."

Yanee still hadn't had her ingrown nails fixed so she thanked heavens for her boss' good reflexes, and vowed to be nice to him the whole day today.

"Are you sure?"Tohru asked again.

Yanee smiled at the man and at her boss. "Yes, yes, I'm seriously fine," she assured.

The old man who was pulling the cart apologized again before going on ahead with his task. Yanee waved at him before turning her attention back to her boss who looked at her.

"You saved my toe boss. Because of that, today's street food adventure is my treat!"

Tohru's eyes grew big in surprise but then rippled in amus.e.m.e.nt before he flashed her another one of his blinding smiles.

"Are you sure?" he asked her challengingly.

"I'm sure, boss. I pay my dues," Yanee told him with a grin.

In reality, even if the food at the market was cheaper compared to other places, it could still be more expensive than what other people were used to since it was a very popular tourist place. But it didn't matter. It's not like Yanee was poor, and it's really cheap for her.

Tohru looked thoughtful for a while before he nodded his head. "As long as you won't complain later…"

"I won't. I won't complain, okay?" Yanee assured him. Even if he ate a lot, she wouldn't complain.

"Then, I won't be polite," he said as they continued to walk.

At first, they wanted to go around and check out what each stall had to offer, but around late morning, they started to feel a bit hungry. By now, they had already passed several food stalls with their aromas inviting them, making their stomach react in anticipation.

The place was totally awesome for someone who felt peckish and would like to eat while strolling around. Yanee and Tohru checked out the stall nearby and saw the sign the read "mandu gook" and "bindae duk" and got curious.

"I read Korean, but I can't really understand. What are those?" Tohru pointed at them.

Yanee searched her brain for an explanation. "Mandu gook is a simple and savory dumpling soup, and that," she said as she pointed at the bindae duk. "- is a skillet-fried mung-bean pancake."

"Oh, a pancake?" Tohru looked totally interested as he approached the stall without warning.

Yanee had no choice but to follow him. Today's a hot day, so they didn't really care about the soup, but the pancake did sound nice. Since his boss looked like he wanted to try it, she bought one each for the both of them. It wasn't that big, but she had no plans of getting them another since they would be trying out more food later. She didn't want them to be full immediately.

"How is it?" she asked curiously.

"Good," Tohru answered in between bites, and she grinned.

The pancake actually had kimchi in it, and so she knew he would like it.

"It's a bit like okonomiyaki but I like this one because of the kimchi," he continued, and the two of them continued to walk.

Of course, their situation didn't really change a lot. The two of them were still followed by many eyes, because of their visuals. But unlike earlier, since she and her boss decided to create the greatest anti-admirer act (pretending to be "romantically together") by walking next to each other, nobody really approached them. Although they were really not holding hands, at least, they were close enough for people to mistake them as lovers.

What they didn't know was that the man was really into his role as the lady's boyfriend, while the girl stood close so that she could use him as a shield in case they'd run into another cart. Yanee grinned. Evil.

"What are we trying next?" he asked.

The pancake already calmed their grumpy stomachs, but they came here to food trip, and so, of course, they had to eat more. But it's not really nice to eat and eat without breaks.

Yanee turned to the direction where they came from. They got in the market via the fourth gate. The one that she really wanted to let the potato try was near the second gate. They could walk again and tour around to check more stalls in between before eating again.

"You look like you have something you want me to taste," he commented suddenly, making her turn to him.

"Yeah, I came here with my sister a year ago, and there's a stall selling deep-fried honey and veggie buns."

"If you're recommending that, then it must be yummy," he said.

"Of course! Will I recommend something awful?"Yanee answered smugly, making Tohru squint at her confident smiling face. "It's so yummy that there's even a very long line for that stall all the time."

"Then go ahead and take me there, general," Tohru suddenly told her as he went behind her and pushed her forward. "I'm going to follow you like a loyal slave," he added, making Yanee roll her eyes.

"Boss, you lie again. I'm clearly the slave, no?" she grumbled making him laugh good-naturedly, but walked on ahead to take him to the stall anyway.

"Yes, yes, whatever. Just feed me," he retorted.