┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁۪ 。˚ ✧

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁۪ 。˚ ✧

⚠️ this story contains topics as eating disorders, body dysmorphia, low self esteem, negative thinking, perfectionism and obsession. please read at your own risk. ⚠️

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Once lived a happy little Aussie boy named Jake Sim. Growing up in the wonderful continent that is Australia, Jake grew up to be an open-minded, extroverted, happy and giddy young man. But one day he felt a spark in his heart.

A little voice in the back of his head, calling him to a new adventure. Something he had dreamt about for a while. Something he wanted to experience; because Jake wasn't just a happy little Aussie boy—Jake was a Korean-Australian, growing up in the wild and (sometimes) really dangerous Australia.

Jake wanted to learn more about his Korean heritage. About the country his parents grew up in and the culture his parents tried to teach him and his brother. So when Jake graduated high school, he sat down with his parents and told them, "I'm moving to Korea."

At first his parents were shocked. Jake had universities waiting for him, he was smart, he could study Physics—what he loved so much. But the extroverted young man wanted to try something new.

After persuading his parents into letting him move to Korea, everything happened real quick. All of a sudden Jake was living in a one-room apartment in Itaewon—without a job and without the credits to go to a Korean university.

But then Jake stumbled upon an advertisement of Seoul Zoo and his life changed.

He quickly applied for an apprenticeship. And while he waited for Seoul Zoo to reach out to him, he worked various part-time jobs. He met his best friends, Park Sunghoon and Lee Heeseung, through various jobs and got closer to his dream.

And then, one day in April, the still-nineteen year old boy got his acceptance letter for Seoul Zoo, saying he would start his practical training in June. After two months of theoretical training at school, Jake was ready to take his new job by the balls and rock it.

And today had been his first day.

Jake had arrived at the Zoo way too early. He stood by the entrance and awkwardly showed the clerk by the cash register his acceptance and asked how to get to the managers office. The woman behind the register acted, as if his Korean was so bad, that she didn't understand him.

She motioned him—with her hands—how to get to the managers office. So Jake started walking through the Zoo. He hadn't been here since coming to Korea, but the Zoo looked great. They had various animals and seemed like a good place to work at.

Jake walked through the African area of the zoo and stopped by the lion enclosure, smiling at the wild cats before looking at his wrist watch. He still had a few minutes before his meeting with the manager. He continued to stroll through the zoo, when he stumbled through the Antarctica area.

The seals were happily playing with each other and Jakes eyes were drawn to a rather small, still white and fluffy, baby seal. He cooed. "She reminds me of Layla" he told himself and turned around.

Opposite of the seal enclosure was the penguin enclosure. A young woman was standing in between the Emperor Penguins, a bucket in her hand and talking to the animals. Jake smiled. That must be one of his co-workers. The girl in the enclosure didn't seen to notice him.

Jake quickly shook his head and made his way over to the managers office. He knocked on the door and a man in a suit opened the door. "May I help you?", he asked the young man and Jake bowed politely.

"Jake Sim" he introduced himself, "I'm the new apprentice." The man in the suit nodded. "You spoke directly with CEO Kwon, right?", the man asked and Jake cocked his eyebrows. "I'm not completely sure" he answered and awkwardly scratched his nape. "I did talk to a Mr Kwon though" he mumbled and the suit-man nodded.

"Yes, that's CEO Kwon. I'm Mr Nam, your supervisor" he said and motioned Jake to come inside. "Please" he said and pointed at a chair. Jake sat down. "CEO Kwon already told me that you're having your first day today, Mr Sim" Mr Nam said and pushed his black rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose. Jake nodded.

"I'm sure CEO Kwon also told you that you're going to be in charge of the seals. Do you have any experience with seals or wild animals?" Mr Nam asked and Jake chuckled. "No, sir. I don't. But during my two month theoretical course I already learned a lot. And I have a dog, so I know how to take care of animals."

Jake smiled proudly. Thinking about his pet, Layla, always made him smile. He was completely smitten for the dog. Mr Nam nodded. "I'm sure taking care of a dog is different than taking care of seals." He looked through a file. "CEO Kwon picked a mentor for you, to support you during your first weeks as the zookeeper of the seals." He scoffed. "Mr Sim, please be aware that every single zookeeper of the seals had quit after a while. There's something about the animals that shoo every single person away. I hope you're aware of that."

Jake nodded. He came to Korea without a thought in his head, and now he had a well-paying job and heard that his "clients" were difficult.

"Your mentor will be here any second to pick you up. His name is Choi Seungcheol and he's usually with the leopards. But for the following weeks he'll help you get used to the seals." Mr Nam smiled and stood up. He got a paper bag. "This is your uniform and your belt. The changing rooms are next to this office. Please get changed and wait for Seungcheol-sshi to pick you up."

Jake nodded and took the paper bag. He walked to the changing rooms and unpacked the bag. After taking off his clothes, Jake slipped into the grey trousers. The went to his knees and Jake figured that this was the summer version of the uniform. His shirt was a dark green polo shirt. It had the zoos logo on the left side of his chest and said Staff on his back.

The last item in the bag was a hip pouch with a lot of compartments for all the necessities he needed during work. Jake looked through the compartments, when a knock came from the door. "Yes?", asked Jake when the door opened and a tall male with broad shoulders and full, plump lips entered the room.

He had black messy hair and smiled at Jake. "You must be Jake Sim-sshi" the man spoke and Jake bowed politely. "Yes, sir" he answered and the man smiled. "Choi Seungcheol" he introduced himself. "I'm here to teach you the basics about our seals" Seungcheol spoke and Jake nodded.

"Great, you're already changed" Seungcheol smiled, "ready to go?" The older male smiled friendly and Jake—who was usually open and extroverted, kept quiet and nodded, following Seungcheol out of the changing rooms.

On the way to the seal enclosure, Seungcheol explained Jake how the zoo worked and what CEO Kwon expected from his employees. "If you ever happen to make a mistake" Seungcheol spoke, as he opened the back door of the seal enclosure, "don't be shy and tell the higher ups. We're only human, so we're bound to make mistakes. As long as you or the animals aren't in danger, the penalties will be small."

Jake widened his eyes and watched Seungcheol step out of his sneakers and into a pair of wellies, that stood by the door. Jake waited for Seungcheol to tell him what to do, when the older male turned around and chuckled. "Grab a pair of wellies. You need them."

Jake nodded and changed his shoes, before following Seungcheol towards the animals.

The first thing Jake realized was how cold it was in the enclosure. But he didn't wonder, since seals lived someplace cold. Seungcheol looked at Jake and waited for the Scorpio to take everything in, before opening his mouth.

"Even though they're cute, try to keep as much distance as possible. They're still wild animals." Seungcheol looked around until he found a baby seal, that was marked with a blue spot on its fur.

"Except this one" Seungcheol pointed to the marked seal. "His name is Maki and he was repudiated from his mother. You need to hand feed him and later teach him how to swim. Try to build a bond to Maki. He needs a friend." Seungcheol smiled and watched Jake move over to the little white ball of fluff, that was sitting by himself.

Maki, realizing Jake moved over to him, barked at him and tilted its little head. "Hey mate" Jake greeted the seal and looked at it. The baby seal honked once more. "You're all by yourself, huh?", Jake asked the seal, who barked and bounced over to Jake.

It looked funny how the seal moved. It's whole body bobbed up and down, while he went o reach Jake.

Maki didn't seem to be afraid of strangers at all. "May I let him smell my hand or will be bite it off?", asked Jake, turning to Seungcheol. "Go ahead. Maki is used to humans touch." Jake carefully stretched his hand to the seal who bounced over to him and smelled his hand.

As soon as Maki smelled it, he rubbed his nose against Jakes hand and Seungcheol chuckled. "That's the first time Maki did this" the older male spoke and looked at Jake. "I think Maki likes you."

Jake looked at Maki. The baby seal had big black eyes that seemed to sparkle with excitement. The seal breathed out and closed her eyes and Jake knew he just had fallen deeply madly truly in love.

― 🐧♥️🦭 ―

The next hours, Seungcheol showed Jake around the seal enclosure and told him what his tasks were. Jake nodded and tried to remember as much as possible. He had just filled a bottle with Maki's milk, when Seungcheol patted his shoulder.

"Take your break, Jake. You've been working non-stop" the older male said. "You can feed Maki afterwards" the said and Jake nodded. Seungcheol told Jake the directions to the break room and the Scorpio took off after putting Maki's bottle in the fridge.

Jake wasn't keen on showing how tired he was, so he put on a brave expression while walking through the zoo. He watched the guests look at the animals with adoration in their eyes, while walking over to the break room Seungcheol had told him about.

With a yawn Jake opened the door and stumbled inside. While Jake managed to catch himself, he caught glimpse of a girl siting at one of the tables, looking at him with wide eyes. She must've been scared.

"Holy shit" Jake cursed, straightening his back and looking at the girl. She seemed to be his age, maybe a bit older or even younger—Jake couldn't tell. She had short, plum colored hair and a slim body. She was holding on to a can of Red Bull while she stared at him with eyes big as plates.

"I didn't know you were in here" Jake quickly said and watched the girl nod. Her posture relaxed. Jake quickly glanced through the room until he found a vending machine. Seungcheol had told him about the vending machine. "Mind if I take my break in here as well?", asked Jake while walking over to the vending machine.

He looked at the young woman. She shook her head. Jake smiled brightly. "Great!" He started clicking a button on the vending machine and extracting his sandwich once it fell down to the bottom of it.

A few tables were unoccupied, so Jake went over to sit down at one of them, unpacking his sandwich. He glanced at the girl once more. She took a sip of her Red Bull, looking at something on her phone.

"It's my first day" Jake started speaking after taking a big bite of his sandwich, "it's quite a tough job!" Jake smiled and watched the girl nod. Only then he realized that he didn't even introduced himself yet.

He swallowed down the sandwich and smiled at the yeoman. "Oh dang, how impolite of me! I'm Jake Sim!" He stood up and stretched his hand towards the woman who looked from his hand to his bright smile and back to his hand.

"Kwon J-Jinah" she stuttered and put her dainty hand in his. He quickly shook it with a bright smile on his lips. "Nice to meet you Jinah." She quickly retracted her hand and looked at him. "We don't know each other" she said quietly and Jake blinked.

Oh, right!

Koreans had a special way of being called when they weren't acquainted with each other. Jake tilted his head. "Kwon Jinah-sshi" he repeated and went back to his chair to eat his sandwich. The girl went back to skim through her phone.

"What enclosure do you work at?" Jake had almost finished his sandwich. "Penguins" Kwon Jinah answered and Jake smiled. So she had been the woman that had been swarmed by the Emperor Penguins when he walked past. "Sweet!", he grinned, "I work with the seals. They're a handful! But the baby is so sweet!"

"Maki is a blessing" Jinah confirmed and Jake nodded. He smiled at Jinah, who only went to look back at her phone. She definitely wasn't in the mood for small talk. "I'll be quiet now, so enjoy your break" he said and leaned back in his chair after finishing his sandwich.

Jake took out his phone and looked through his social media, just to actually do something.

Half an hour later, Jinah stood up and bowed to Jake before leaving the break room. Jake nodded and continued to look at his phone. She seemed to be a shy young woman, so Jake didn't want to scare her off with his open mind.

Jake's break ended approximately five minutes after Jinah's.

He cleaned up the mess he made and left the room, walking back to the seal enclosure, when his walkie-talkie hummed. He unclasped it from the belt and lifted it to his hear. "Jake here?", he asked and heard Seungcheol's voice.

"I know your break just ended, but you need to come here asap. Maki doesn't want me to feed him."

Jake chuckled. "I'll be there in a second, Seungcheol-sshi", answered Jake and started to speed up his pace. He couldn't believe it! Did the baby seal already build a bond to him?

While on his way to the enclosure, he zoomed past Kwon Jinah, who was accompanied by a young woman. He quickly turned around and shot a smile in Jinah's direction before running off, still holding his walkie to his ear.

— ❄︎ —

𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠!

𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞.

𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

—𝕤𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕗𝕝𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕞𝕪𝕝𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕠𝕡