“Dae-Han-Min-Gook! Clap-clap, clap-clap-clap. Dae-Han-Min-Gook! Clap-clap, clap… Beep.”

Finally, Taeho answered his cellular phone as the man sitting next to him looked on with a critical glare having heard Taeho’s unusual ringtone. “Yubeoseyo?” Taeho asked the caller, and after finally recognizing the voice on the other end of the line, he began to speak more calmly.

Sitting alone at a small table with a cup in one hand and a magazine beneath the other, a young woman feigned a quizzical expression as the phone had begun to ring, but upon the familiar "hello" uttered by the stranger, her expression soon shifted into a bright smile. She lowered her drink and looked to her right to where she heard the voice originate. She then decided that she would make contact.

After a few words uttered into the receiver of the mobile phone, Taeho finished his call and put his phone down next to his drink. Turning back to his glass, he again fixed his eyes upon the television screen situated above the countertop, apparently televising a Japanese news broadcat of the FIFA World Cup. As quickly as he had shifted his position in his stool, there came a soft greeting from his left ear.

"Annyoung?" she said to try and get his attention. The young woman from the table had stood up and walked towards Taeho and was now leaning against the counter braced by her left elbow.

"Ne?" Taeho replied, surprised by the bold gesture.

"Oh, so you are Korean!" exclaimed the young woman. "I've felt so lost here, but now that there's finally a friendly face around, I feel much better."

"I'm sorry," Taeho interrupted. "Do I know you?" In Taeho's mind however, the answer was a negative. After all, he had only been in a Tokyo for a day and has not exactly met that many new friends.

"Annyoung hashimnika, Park Jooyeon-imnida," the young woman introduced herself. "We haven't met before, but I'm so glad I found a local."

"The name's Taeho, I guess. Nice to meet you."

Jooyeon continued, "I've been here all day and you're the first Korean I've seen. Do you mind If I keep you company?"

Taeho then said, "No, not at all". And, with this welcome, Jooyeon went on with her story. She had gone to Tokyo to watch a show with a friend of hers who had yet to show up, so she had ended up finding the Sky Lounge on a whim. She just arrived from Seoul, seven hours ago and had been lost since with only a little understanding of the Japanese language. Taeho was as good a welcome as she could have ever hoped for.

---

After a few minutes and a healthy conversation, the two became silent. Upon realizing this, Jooyeon seized Taeho's phone that he had placed atop the counter. After a second examining it, she said, "Cool phone". At the same moment, she grabbed the strap that had been connected to it and offered it the same compliment.

All that Taeho could do was to thank her and sit back as Jooyeon slid the phone open to take her own picture with the phone at arms length away. She posed for a moment as the phone processed the photograph, then immediately tinkered with the phone's settings. Taeho looked on with enjoyment as she handled the palm-sized electronic device. He examined her up and down then focused on her face that had been lit by the track lighting above her and the glow of the television screen to her left. He adjusted his black-rimmed glasses and gave her a smile with a little snicker. There was not way that this was actually happening to him, he had thought, but he thought again and resolved that it had indeed been happening.

With a twist of her wrist, Jooyeon offered the mobile device back to Taeho, who took it slowly from her soft hands, only slightly feeling her warm touch with the tips of his fingers. "Here", Jooyeon said, "Now, you have a souvenir".

"Hmm?" Taeho murmured under his breath. He opened his phone to find a picture of Jooyeon set as his background. Then from behind his phone, he saw Jooyeon offer her right hand to him.

"It was nice talking to you, Taeho," she said to him. "I hope I can see you again some time."

"Leaving already?" Taeho asked her, somewhat disappointed that his night was about to end.

She nodded and pointed towards the door. "My friend's finally here," she explained. "You're free to come along...."

"I can't," replied Taeho as he soon regretted the words that had just escaped from his mouth. He did not want the moment to go away, but he realized his friend, Ji-woo had already been waiting for him for over half an hour back at the hotel.

Grabbing her small purse and tightening the belt around her light coat, Jooyeong prepared to leave. She raised her hand and tilted her head with a smile as she said, "Bye-bye. Come find me if you get the chance." Then just as soon as she had appeared beside him thirty minutes before that, she had disappeared, only having left him, her photography without a number to call.

Immediately, the room seemed to fill with noise again. The television began to fill Taeho's head with information, competing with the music blasting from the stereo system that been set up with speakers at ever corner of the large lounge, overlooking Tokyo's busy streets. Taeho was left speechless for quite some time. He headed to his hotel after that, where Ji-woo, his partner in crime, had already finished packing for the return journey to Seoul the next day.