Prakriti Gurung
In South Korea. Kim Soo-ji was a 15 year old highschooler. Sooji was not pop- ular, she was an introvert and didn’t really have any friends, despite this she was still popular around her school because she came from a rich family, her father was a successful plastic surgeon and therefore had a very good repu- tation. Soo-ji’s mother had passed away when she was 8. Soo-ji never had a good reputation with her father because he was always working and never had time for her, she didn’t mind that but her father always complained that Soo-ji was not pretty enough and was an embarrassment. Soo-ji’s fa- ther had always complained about her “not being pretty enough”. Soo-ji would always get hurt by her father’s words and had always been insecure, not knowing that lots of people find her beautiful.
Soo-ji had never got any kind of validation from her father after her moth- er’s death, therefore she was alone for most of her childhood and therefore grew up to be an introvert, she barely talked to her father or anyone else at school.Except for her one and only friend Geum-Rok-Hee, Rok-hee was Soo- ji’s only friend and despite them being very close, Rok-hee was very different from Soo-ji, she was an extroverted, bright, fun and loving girl, for Soo-ji, she never found anyone more beautiful than Rok-hee, she had jet black short hair and was a tomboy. Rok-hee was the only person that Soo-ji could rely on and she was Soo-ji’s whole world.
Soo-ji was a very beautiful girl inside and out, even though she was an intro- verted person, she was very popular as she was the daughter of a wealthy and successful man but she was very mysterious and secretive. The only person Soo-ji seemed to genuinely talk to was Rok-hee therefore Rok-hee gained popularity at school since everyone was curious to know what Soo-ji was like. Sometimes Rok-hee was offered absurd favors in exchange for in-formation about Soo-ji. But Rok-hee never gave in, she always gave vague answers and never revealed anything about Soo-ji.
One day after school, Soo-ji was eating dinner when her father suddenly joined her, she was startled since her father never eats dinner with her until he started talking
“Soo-ji,your 16th birthday is coming soon, I’m thinking of giving you a bit of plastic surgery to fix your face a little,”her father said. Soo-ji looked at her father, shocked and said,
“I’m still a minor, I do not want plastic surgery at such a young age !” “Well then do whatever you want but don’t bother talking to me or even calling me your father, you’re an embarrassment!”
Saying this, her father stormed off and slammed the door. Soo-ji felt heartbroken and threw her plate against the wall, smashing it to pieces, she then stormed to her room slamming every door she went through, in a moment of rage a teary eyed Soo-ji started throwing her be- longings, breaking everything she saw.
“What if I did get plastic surgery though?” Soo-ji thought to herself but quickly brushed off her feelings, although she still felt heavy about it in her heart.
The next day Soo-ji talked about it to Rok-hee , Rok-hee comforted her, Soo-ji was about to thank Rok-hee when suddenly, Jae-yi interrupted them Jae-Yi has had a crush on Soo-ji since middle school but Soo-ji never liked him. Jae-Yi was the son of a political leader, he was very wealthy and well known. Jae-Yi was about to start talking when the bell rang, Rok-Hee and Soo-ji got up and walked to class with Jae-Yi following them.
“Have you guys heard?” he said, raising his eyebrows. “About wh-” Soo-ji said before getting cut off by Jae-Yi. “Look over there!” Jae-Yi screamed pointing at the stairway. There stood a person who nobody had seen before,but was wearing their school’s uniform, however, this did not spark the interest of Rok-Hee and Soo- Ji.
The three entered their class and sat down on their seats. Everything was going normal until their teacher announced that a new student was arriv- ing. Ro-bin as the new student entered the class, Soo-ji realized that the new student was the same person Jae-Yi had pointed out in the hallway. She didn’t have any interest talking to him, he was seated far away from her too. In the next few days Soo-ji watched as Ro-bin went from being the new kid to a very popular person. Ro-bin became popular the same way that she did, it’s just that he managed to get more popularity. One day however, the teacher decided to change seats for everyone in class. Soo-ji got seated next to Ro-bin. During the class Ro-bin borrowed a pen from Soo-ji, he for- got to return it, so during lunch break he found her.
“Hey, Soo-ji here’s your pen, thanks for lending,” he said while handing her the pen. Soo-ji, startled and said, “It’s no problem!”
Rok-hee invited Ro-bin to sit with them on the table and so he did. From then on they started talking more often and soon became close friends. The three of them would go out to picnics, parks, eat food and make plenty of memories.
Soo-ji was doing good at school, amazing in fact, she had two close friends she could rely on, she had good grades, and she was popular but her life at home was still a mess. Her dad, now barely talked to her and was very distant. Every child deserves a parent who loves and cares for their child. Soo-ji had always longed for her father’s validation ever since her mother had passed but she never seemed to achieve it. One morning before school, Soo-ji saw her father after a few days, she greeted him good morning but he didn’t reply, instead he said,
“Soo-ji, I’m giving you an ultimatum to either go to boarding school or get plastic surgery. Choose within this week” “What?! Father, I told you already I’m not getting plastic surgery!!” Soo-ji said, visibly upset. “I know, that’s why I will send you to a boarding school, I can’t stand looking at that ugly face of yours,”her father screamed.He proceeded to storm out of the house slamming the front door. Soo-ji felt angry and annoyed, so she sent a text to Rok-Hee and Ro-bin to meet up at a cafe as she had to get some things off her mind.
When the trio met up, Soo-ji explained everything and how she was having a difficult time at home, while breaking down in tears. After she was done, Rok- Hee and Ro-bin looked at her, in shock. The table was silent, only the sound of them breathing could be heard in the private room in the restaurant they were in. Suddenly, Rok-hee broke the silence saying, “Soo-ji, you’re so strong for everything, you need a break, let’s all go out somewhere today to have fun.”
Ro-bin followed along saying, “True! Let’s go do some karaoke!” Following that, the three went out to do some karaoke. They had the time of their lives as Soo-ji forgets about all her sorrows and worries, but reality hits her as she had to get home. While going back home with her friends, she sees a beautiful woman walk past her, at first she gets reminded of her mother but then thinks to herself, “why can’t I be beautiful like her?”
Ever since, Soo-ji struggled to like the way she looked, she always thought of herself as ‘ugly’ after listening to her father’s words. Six days had passed since the night and she made her decision to her father’s ultimatum. She went to her father and said, “Father, for your request to make a decision on plastic surgery or boarding school, I choose plastic surgery.”
Soo-ji then started talking about all of her problems on the way she looked and explained everything she wanted to change about her appearance. Her father, overjoyed, smiled for the first time in years. He planned the surgery and canceled all other upcoming appointments for Soo-ji’s surgery. Soo-ji did not inform her friends about her decision fearing that they would feel disappointed. She didn’t answer any calls, texts, and didn’t show up to school until the day of her surgery. On the day of Soo-ji’s surgery, she took one last look at herself in the mirror and did the surgery. It was a difficult procedure, taking 7 hours. When the surgery was done and healed, she looked at herself in the mirror, her first words were. “Who am I?”
