For the last few hours, Jungwon had been pestering Jun-seo about how it was to see Minji in real life and if the persona that she put on for social media was a fake one, or if she was a genuinely soft-spoken lady that she showed in her videos.

In the end, Jun-seo gave up on ignoring his friend's questions because he was getting ready to head to his part-time job. He sighed softly and raised his head, looking up at Jungwon, "well, I wouldn't say she was as soft-spoken as she was in the videos that you showed me, but yeah, she was polite and kind while speaking to me," he explained while putting his shoes on.

"Man, I envy you," sighed Jungwon, leaning against the wall. "I mean, you get to see one of my favorite creators in TikTok. If it was me who met her, I would've freaked out," he added with a shrug.

Jun-seo chuckled and got up with a grunt, turning around to look at Jungwon. "Come to the convenience store, then. Who knows, you might see her," he told him. The two stared at each other for a few seconds before laughing together. "Well then, I'm off to work," said Jun-seo, tapping Jungwon's shoulder a few times before turning toward the door.

Jungwon nodded, "alright, take care!" he said, waving at him as he watched Jun-seo leave the house.

—

Jun-seo was two hours into his shift. The store was unusually quiet today with only a few customers coming to buy things, and the number of customers who came could be counted with one hand. Jun-seo was sitting on a stool while humming a tune before seeing his coworker, Yi-zhuo. "It sure is quiet today, isn't it?" Yi-zhuo pointed out, approaching the counter.

"Yeah, it is," nodded Jun-seo in agreement. He let out a heavy sigh and rested his head on his hand, staring at the empty street while swinging his legs lazily. "I wonder where the customers went," he added.

With a heavy sigh, Jun-seo planted his face on the counter and groaned, "dear customers, where are you guys? Please come so my pay will increase," he prayed playfully, earning a chuckle from Yi-zhuo.

The red-haired girl patted Jun-seo's head and crossed her arms afterward while looking outside the store. "What do you expect? It is Chuseok in two days, so people are probably on their way to their hometown," she exclaimed.

"It is?" asked Jun-seo, raising his head to look at Yi-zhuo. He was so busy with work that he didn't even realize that such an important date was approaching. "Huh, I wonder why my mom hasn't called me yet," he muttered, looking at the calendar behind him.

A mischievous smile formed on Yi-zhuo's lips as she heard Jun-seo, and her eyes shifted from the aisles. "Oh, Jun-seo, I don't want to be the one to tell you this, but I think it was because Yujin is your mother's favorite child," she teased. Her words made Jun-seo look at her wide-eyed. The reaction she elicited from him was amusing, so she kept going, "I mean, I can't blame your mother. After all, daughters are usually better than the sons," she added with her arms crossed.

Jun-seo rolled his eyes, "oh, shut up," he retorted. "Just so you know, I am way better than my sister, okay?" he huffed before spinning around on the stool, "the only thing she has going for her is her height. If she's shorter, no one would even look at her," he added.

Just then, someone emerged from between the aisles; a tall girl with dark brown hair tied to a ponytail with some hair strands on each side. She was wearing a blue striped shirt, tucked underneath a pair of black pants. It didn't take Jun-seo long to recognize Yujin, and when he did, his eyes widened.

"What did you say about me, brother?" asked Yujin while smiling creepily, the way she would when she wanted to scare Jun-seo. "My height is the only thing going for me?" she repeated while slowly walking toward the counter.

Jun-seo raised his hands in defense, "hey, I was just joking, okay?" he said, smiling nervously before shooting Yi-zhuo a glare, mouthing 'this is your fault' to her before looking at Yujin again.

A gasp escaped from Jun-seo's mouth, flinching as Yujin placed the frozen fries on the counter rather strongly. "You are going to break the glass if you hit it that hard," sighed Jun-seo as he looked at his sister, and then at the rest of the items she put on the counter.

While she was placing them on the counter, Jun-seo tilted his head slightly and looked at her. "When did you enter the store? I didn't even notice you just now," he wondered.

Yujin shrugged and crossed her arms while Jun-seo scanned the items. "Fifteen minutes ago, I think... you were daydreaming, so I guess that's why you didn't notice me," she told him before taking her card out of her purse to pay for the items she bought.

"Why are you here, anyway?" asked Jun-seo, extending the card reader for Yujin.

"Can't I be?"

Jun-seo shook his head, "I... no, that's not what I mean," he said.

"I know, I know... I was just messing with you," replied Yujin before clearing her throat. "Well, a friend of mine lived around here, so I was just having a sleepover at her place," she explained and helped her brother put the items in the bags.

Once they were done, Jun-seo nodded. "I see, well, don't do anything dangerous... or stupid," he warned Yujin before watching his sister walk out of the store.

Yujin looked over her shoulder and smiled, "don't worry. We won't," she reassured. "I will see you during Chuseok! Bye!"

Jun-seo waved at her while smiling softly. Once she was out of sight, he let out a relieved sigh before looking at Yi-zhuo with a soft glare, "you sure enjoy watching me get in trouble, don't you?"

Yi-zhuo, who was organizing a shelf, looked at Jun-seo with a sheepish smile, "hey, it's not my fault you are an easy target!" he exclaimed teasingly.

"Oh, whatever, just... just get back to what you were doing," huffed Jun-seo before getting up from the stool, walking toward the back.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Yi-zhuo, peeking her head from the shelf.

"The restroom."

—

(Time skip because why not?)

The break was finally over, and it was time for Jun-seo to start the new semester. It was only the first day, and the shared apartment was already in chaos with Jungwon, Jake, and Jun-seo running around the house grabbing things that they were forgetting.

"Dude, I'm borrowing your shoes," said Jake to Jun-seo as he put on a pair of red trainers.

Jun-seo walked to the front door and put his leather shoes on, "yeah, yeah," he replied and unlocked the door. "Hurry up or we will miss the bus," he told them before walking out of their unit. It was 7:56 a.m., and the shuttle bus was arriving at 8.

They already missed the first trip, which was at 7 sharp, all because they thought it was a good idea staying up late on a Sunday night when they knew very well that they had to wake up early the next day.

Jun-seo didn't wait for his friends before he ran to the stairs and used it to get down. It was fortunate that they were living on the third floor, so it wasn't a long journey. Footsteps echoed from above him, followed by his friends' voice telling him to slow down.

"Dude, wait up!" said Jungwon.

"Yeah, man, you are going to hurt yourself if you don't watch your steps!" scolded Jake.

Instead of slowing down, Jun-seo chuckled and continued to run downstairs, followed by his friends, and once they got to the lobby, they ran out of the building and made their way to the bus stop where their shuttle bus was closing its door.

"Wait!" the three shouted in unison as they closed in.

The driver looked at them and quickly stopped the door from closing, pressing the open button instead. Jun-seo, Jungwon, and Jake got on the bus before thanking the driver for waiting. But just when they thought they could relax, they realized that all of the seats were occupied, so they had to stand in the center until they arrived at the campus, which was a twenty minute drive from their apartment.

Twenty minutes later, Wonyoung was in a meeting hall at her faculty with Dr. Kim and a few members of their programme's club. She kept glancing at her watch while chewing on her lower lip, "where are you, Jun-seo?" she muttered while looking at the door.

Dr. Kim approached her, "Wonyoung, where is Jun-seo?" she whispered.

Wonyoung looked at her and shook her head, "I don't know, Dr. Kim. His last text told me that he was on his way," she replied with an equally hushed tone.

"Well," Dr. Kim sighed and looked at the time on her phone, "we would have to proceed with or without him," she told Wonyoung, who nodded in agreement.

Just then, the meeting hall echoed with footsteps from the quiet hallway, and Wonyoung looked at the door, hoping it was Jun-seo. She held her breath as she watched the door handle being pulled down, and Jun-seo showed himself.

"Sorry, the traffic was bad," he explained breathily while looking at Wonyoung and Dr. Kim, bowing apologetically.

Dr. Kim nodded, smiling. "That's fine, Jun-seo. Take a deep breath... you can start once you are..." she scanned Jun-seo from head to toe, "once you regained your breath," she smiled.

Jun-seo nodded, turning around to hide his face from the international students as he took a deep breath and exhaled, repeating the process a few times before opening his eyes. "Okay... you got this," he muttered and turned on his heels with a smile on his face.

"Hi, everyone, I..." he paused as his eyes landed on Minji, who was sitting a few seats away from the front with a smile on her face. Jun-seo returned the smile awkwardly before clearing his throat.

"Sorry, let me do it again—hi, everyone. My name is Ahn Jun-seo, a final year student for our programme, Hotel Management. I will be the head of the international student council for the next two semesters. It's nice to meet you guys."