DATE NO. 26
NAME: Moon Alexander aka Alex
INTERESTS:
National Honors Society, Architecture, Polo
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
3rd Place International Design Competition
ALEX: On a scale of one to ten, one being the least satisfactory and ten being the most satisfactory, how would you rate your experience with Ms. Moon?
Jisu: Uhh. I don’t really know.
ALEX: How many of these have you been on?
Jisu: I lost count, honestly.
ALEX: Really? And none of them stuck so far? What’s like a ballpark figure?
Jisu: Hmm...more than twenty. You might be my twenty-fifth or twenty-sixth date.
ALEX: Interesting. And how were the matches—were they all misses?
Jisu: No, no. Not all. I mean, there were some bad ones who were the complete opposite of what you’d expect from their one-sheet. Others, I just didn’t connect with.
ALEX: And your interactions with Ms. Moon—how are those? Do you give feedback, does she solicit it?
Jisu: You’re asking a lot of questions.
ALEX: Guess I might as well be honest here...
Jisu: Yes, that’s kind of important on a first date.
ALEX: That’s the thing. This isn’t a first date.
Jisu: It’s not?
ALEX: No. Maybe I should’ve led with this. I work for a matchmaking start-up. But instead of the usual dating apps, we’re trying to create a more human matchmaking experience modeled after the old-fashioned services.
Jisu: Like what Ms. Moon is doing.
ALEX: Exactly! So I’m doing some reconnaissance.
Jisu: Wow. Is your name even Alex?
ALEX: Ha, good one. Yes, it is. It’s not like I’m working for the CIA.
Jisu: Are you really in high school, then?
ALEX: Well, I’m eighteen. But I dropped out of high school. It’s no longer that impressive to drop out of college and pursue a career in tech, you know.
Jisu: How did Ms. Moon even take you on if you’re a high school dropout?
ALEX: Well, first I created a super-convincing profile.
Jisu: Yeah, I came here thinking I’d have to have something to say about design and architecture.
ALEX: Those were my actual interests when I was still in high school. I probably would’ve gone down that path and studied all that if I’d gone to college.
Jisu: You probably still could.
ALEX: I know I could. Everyone gives you an average of three to five years tops to make it in the tech world. I’ve been in it for one, so I can still decide to go to college before hitting the legal drinking age and shrug this whole thing off as a “gap year” experience if it goes south.
Jisu: And is that also what you told Ms. Moon?
ALEX: No way.
Jisu: So, what fake identity did you put together to convince her, then?
ALEX: This is going to be slightly embarrassing. But do you remember that Korean movie The Lost Boys that came out when we were kids?
Jisu: Oh, yeah! They called it the updated Korean Goonies, right?
ALEX: Yeah, well. That’s me. I played the lead character.
Jisu: What? That’s not possible! That kid was crazy famous. And then he couldn’t handle the fame, so his family pulled him out of the limelight. He just disappeared after that...
ALEX: Yeah, because he moved to San Francisco with his parents to have a normal childhood.
Jisu: Nooo wayyyy. I loved that movie!
ALEX: Yeah, so did Ms. Moon. So she approached my parents as a fan. We both know I don’t meet her requirements, but I think she’s just happy to claim me as a client.
Jisu: And now you’re using her to get ahead.
ALEX: Hey, that’s how it is. In Hallyu, in tech, even in matchmaking. People are only hiring her to get ahead. Under the guise of romance.
Jisu: Yeah, not even much of a guise either, to be honest.
ALEX: So, what do you think makes a good matchmaking service, then?
Jisu: That’s the tricky part. It’s not really a formula you can discover and use on everyone. Because everyone’s so different. And the frills—the one-sheets, the fancy cafés and restaurants—none of that matters.
ALEX: So what matters?
Jisu: I think, at the end of the day, it just comes down to the two individuals who sit across from each other. Two personalities that spark and click. If anything, that’s the timeless formula, right?