AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart
Chapter 39
by LoveCR2
edited by All-About-AAE
"I won't give up my dream just because someone tells me I'm too young, or too naïve, or too unskilled to succeed." -- Jin Sun-Mi
MBS LONDON, MORNING...
Not knowing what to say in response to Chief Kim's challenge, Sun-Mi is caught up in her own thoughts...
... what will she say when she's sent back to Seoul, and has to face the ridicule of having failed, before she'd even started ...
... what will she do when she sees Hyung-Chul with another woman beside him? ...
"Announcer Jin, don't you have anything to say for yourself?" Chief Kim abruptly calls her back to the present.
"Chief Kim, I'd like to say..." she begins, then stops, unable to finish with ... yes, I should go back to Seoul...
"Look at me, Announcer Jin, when you talk," he orders gruffly.
As Sun-Mi slowly looks up, a sparkle of light from her brooch prompts the memory of another severe dressing-down...
..."Don't be so naive and immature.... You've got to see the bigger picture. Why not try harder and become a celebrity yourself? Why focus on things that don't perform well?"...
That challenge was a wakeup call to which she had responded, and succeeded... why can't she succeed this time, too?
By the time her eyes meet Chief Kim's, Sun-Mi knows what she wants to say...
"Chief Kim, you're not the first person to question my ability like this," she tells him. "Of course... skills, knowledge, and experience are important for success, but just as important are dreams that give us hope, and the visions that lead us forward...
"What use are dreams and visions," he scoffs, "when you have to survive in a cruel dog-eat-dog world?"
"You think I don't know what it takes to survive?" she questions his attitude. "I was looked down on for not being as smart, as talented, or as beautiful as someone else. I was criticized by supervisors for the smallest mistakes, and stabbed in the back by colleagues who want to climb over me. As a woman, my ideas are not taken seriously, I'm judged more on my appearance than my skill, and I'm expected to take second place to any man regardless of our respective abilities. And then I'm told I have to put up with all this ... this crap because 'that's how society is'! ...
Sun-Mi's fervor is rising, so she pauses a moment to calm herself, lest Chief Kim add 'overly emotional', to her shortcomings, too...
"But through all this," she continues, "I had a dream to be the best announcer I could be, and a vision to bring encouragement to the people of Korea, to help them keep faith in this -- as you put it -- cruel, dog-eat-dog world. So when I was stepped on and treated like an idiot, I had that dream to give me hope, and when I felt like giving up, that vision was there, leading me on ... to succeed."
Chief Kim's expression is impassive, and Sun-Mi fears she has failed to persuade him, but she soldiers on to her conclusion...
"Now my dream is to be the best news correspondent, and my vision includes reaching out to the entire world. I believe that I can achieve my dream and vision, if not under your direction, in some other way. I won't give up just because someone tells me I'm too young, or too naïve, or too unskilled to succeed."
Looming over Sun-Mi, Chief Kim slowly nods his head...
"We can teach skills to report the news, but we can't put a fire in someone's belly to fight on when the odds are against them," he reflects thoughtfully. "I'm convinced you have that kind of fire, Special Correspondent Jin Sun-Mi," Chief Kim congratulates her.
"What?" Sun-Mi gasps in total disbelief, bewildered by his sudden reversal. "I thought you were... I mean... are... are you serious?" she stammers.
"Doubting yourself already?" he cracks a grin. "Now that you have the job, you want to give it back?
Still in a daze, somehow she finds the sense to bow and respond formally, "Thank you, Chief Kim, for believing in me."
"It's not my belief that counts, but yours," he reminds her, then adds, "Now, there's one more thing..."
"Yes?"
"We've hired a tutor to expedite improving your English skills," he informs her. "He's a Professor at Cambridge University, specializing in 'adult secondary language speech acquisition methodologies' -- or something scholarly like that."
Sun-Mi recalls her experience in England years before. "I hope he's more interesting than the Cambridge Prof I had last time. He was so dull, droning on in his lectures, that the class could hardly stay awake, much less learn anything."
"I doubt you need to worry. It's an intense program, intended to have results within three months," Chief Kim states his expectations.
Sun-Mi is dubious. "Only three months?"
"I have the Professor's guarantee," Chief Kim states confidently. "Apparently he's looking for good research subjects to test his new theories. You'll begin lessons immediately."
"You planned this all along, Chief?" she asks, probing to see if he'd ever seriously considered sending her back to Seoul.
"I like to cover my bases," he grins, refusing to confirm her suspicions.
Sun-Mi smiles gratefully, believing now that Chief Kim had from the beginning intended to build up her resolve, not tear her down.
"Thank you, Chief. When can I meet him?"
"You've already met him," Chief Kim replies. "He's my nephew, Michael Atwater."
Sun-Mi coughs, choking on her surprise... "That jerk!" she mumbles under her breath, then remarks, "He didn't say anything about being a Cambridge Professor, or language research."
"Typical of Min-Cho, being modest about his accomplishments," Chief Kim concludes.
...modest? Min-Cho? ... wait till I give that jerk a piece of my mind! I'll really punish him ... she vows to herself, imitating her father's response on hearing Hyung-Chul had knocked her down with his car ... I'll punish him, big time! ...