Myoui Mina switched on her laptop. It was finally Friday night and honestly, she couldn’t be ever more thankful that it is a Friday. The week had been stressful with assignments due almost every day. It was as if the lecturers had decided to make a pact and ensure that there were at least one, if not two, assignments due each day of the week. To make things worse, she still had a psychology exam next Wednesday and she has yet to study for it. Well, technically if you were to include reading up unfinished notes as studying, maybe Mina is a quarter prepared for it.

However, for tonight, she would put all those misery away. Tonight, she will rule the kingdom of Elsword. Tonight, she will be a warrior.

*

“Unni!” Mina noticed the chat box in the corner had a new message but she was busy trying to fight this beast. The person could wait.

“Unni!!” There it was again. Mina ignored it as she was really close to defeating the beast.

“MYOUI MINA UNNI! NOTICE ME! SENPAI!! NOTICE MEEEEEEEE!!!” The messages in the chat box kept pouring in and Mina was starting to lose her focus on the game. She ignored it and squinted her eyes (as though that would help). It took her awhile but she got her focus back and minutes later she won against the terrifying beast.

Mina heaved a sigh of relief and leaned against her chair.

‘That was exhausting.’ She thought to herself. She then cracked her knuckles and was about to continue playing when she noticed the unanswered messages in the chat box. With a small smile on her face, she replied the person who had been trying to get her attention.

PenguinEmpress: Hey cutie

SimbaHeart: Oh look. Someone finally decided to reply.

PenguinEmpress: I was busy

SimbaHeart: Considering you’re online, I’m sure you were busy fighting the hideous monsters.

PenguinEmpress: Genius

SimbaHeart: Should I get my camera?

PenguinEmpress: ?

SimbaHeart: Myoui Mina took time off playing her game to reply me. It’s a historical moment

PenguinEmpress: Wtf. Why are we friends??

And their conversation continued till Mina had to stop in order to continue playing her game.

PenguinEmpress: I need to get back to my game

SimbaHeart: Fine, go ahead. I’ll annoy you on KakaoTalk.

True to her words, Chaeyoung did annoy Mina on the messaging app.

*

Myoui Mina and Son Chaeyoung have been online friends for the past six months. How had they met? League of Legends. Yes, a game. Mina is a pro gamer who lives in Japan whereas Chaeyoung is a casual gamer from Korea. Mina had decent knowledge of the Korean language after living and studying there for two years when her father had to transfer to the HQ in Korea.

However, even with language barrier being out of the way, they still had an awkward start at first. It was only when they realized that they share quite a number of common interests, i.e. their undying love for Girls’ Generation, did they truly became close. They became mutuals on Twitter and would constantly fangirl over their 9 goddesses. They would also constantly throw flirty words at one another causing some of their followers ship them, naming their ship MiChaeng. Although it was uncomfortable at first, they could not deny that they sort of enjoyed it.

Sadly, even with the advanced technology, they have never seen each other neither have they heard each other’s voices.  

*

Mina was scrolling through her timeline on Twitter when a tweet caught her attention. It was from one of her mutuals that was also a MiChaeng shipper.

“It’s SONEselcaday. When will we be able to see MiChaeng’s selcas?”

Both Chaeyoung and Mina were aware of this SONEselcaday event that occurs every month. However, neither of them had participated in it. The pair would deliberately “disappear” for the entire day and only make an appearance the following day. When asked about it, they would quickly brush it off with, “I’ll do it next month.”

However, the tweet got Mina thinking. Despite the advanced technology, Mina has never seen Chaeyoung or even heard the latter’s voice. She wondered if Chaeyoung would sound calm and collected or would she have a loud voice like her old classmate, Jihyo.

Mina suddenly gasped. Oh no! What if Chaeyoung was actually a guy? Mina should have known better what with the rise in online scam reports. She shuddered imagining Chaeyoung as a guy in his mid-30s, smoking a stick of cigarette with empty cans of soda drinks lying next to him as he tries to defeat the monsters.

The teenager quickly grabbed her phone and sent a message to Chaeyoung.

Minaring: ARE YOU A GUY???

Chaengie: ???

Minaring: ANSWER ME! ARE YOU A GUY???

Chaengie: Uhhh no?

Minaring: Oh. Well that’s good to know.

Chaengie: Is there something I need to know?

Minaring: How can I be sure that you’re not a guy?

Chaengie: Add me up on Skype, cubchaeng

Mina did not waste a second. She logged into her Skype account and started looking for the username, when she found it, she quickly added her online friend. Waiting for Chaeyoung to accept her friend request felt like an eternity. As soon as it was accepted, she quickly clicked on the voice call button. It took a few seconds before Chaeyoung answered the call.

“Hello?” Chaeyoung said; her tone was shaky as though she was nervous too.

‘Hey. I’m here.’ Mina typed in the chat box.

“Why are you not talking? That’s unfair.” Mina could hear Chaeyoung whine and she almost squealed thinking it was the most adorable thing she had heard today.

‘My mic is spoilt.’

“Bull.”

‘I’m serious.’

She heard the other girl snicker. “Yeah sure. So why the sudden question?”  

‘It’s SONEselcaday and it just hit me that I have never seen your face let alone hear your voice.’

“Still doesn’t answer why you asked me if I’m a guy.”

‘I just thought maybe you were one of those scammers.’

“We’ve been talking for months and you’re only thinking of this now. Bravo.” Chaeyoung sarcastically said and funny enough, Mina had once imagined Chaeyoung using that tone on Mina while they were texting.

‘Oh shut it.’

“Ok, I’ll end the call now.”

‘DON’T YOU DARE!!’

“So tell me, are you a guy?”

‘No’

“Prove it.” The younger one challenged.

‘No webcam’

“That is obviously a lie but if you say so. How about a selca?”

‘You’ll be shocked.’

Chaeyoung let out a chuckle. “Why? Because you’re too pretty or because you’re a guy?”

Hearing Chaeyoung’s doubt, Mina quickly grabbed her phone and looked for a recent selca that she had taken while in the changing room. She smirked when she found it. It was a photo of her wearing this figure-hugging dress and she was sure that Chaeyoung would like it.

Wait. Why did it even matter if Chaeyoung would like it or not?

Without any second thoughts, Mina hurriedly sent the photo to Chaeyoung. Then she sent a message on Skype to Chaeyoung to ask her to check her phone.

“Hold up.” Chaeyoung said before a loud gasp was heard. Mina figured that Chaeyoung had viewed the photo.

‘Are you shocked because I’m too pretty?’ Mina sent a teasing message.

The younger girl was cussing non-stop that Mina had to remove her earphones for a bit.

‘I removed my earphones. Let me know when you have stopped cussing.’ Mina sent the message and it took Chaeyoung a minute to reply, ‘I’m done.’

*

After their first Skype call, the two girls made a promise to Skype each other at least once a week. However, they found themselves having a Skype session almost everyday and as time passed, the duration of their Skype sessions became longer. Once, Mina even accompanied Chaeyoung the entire night because the younger girl had an essay due the next day and she had only started on it two days before the submission date. Mina had the urge to nag Chaeyoung that night but it wasn’t like she was any better. Most of the time during their Skype session, Mina was either doing her homework or memorizing notes.

Despite the fact that Mina has never spoken and both girls have never used the video call function, they were still happy with the arrangement they had. Well, that was until Chaeyoung had been thinking a little too much before going to bed. Their Skype arrangement had been on-going for the past month and Chaeyoung was starting to crave for something more besides Mina’s typed out replies. She wanted to see Mina.

The older girl did not send anymore pictures of herself after the proof shot Chaeyoung had requested. And Chaeyoung found this frustrating. Over time, she had badly wanted to see Mina. It wasn’t an obsession or anything but it frustrates her when she only has one photo of Mina to look at. She needed more. For science, of course.

Chaeyoung wanted to see how Mina laughs when she shares a joke. Chaeyoung wanted to see how Mina would cringe when she shares the horrible and cheesy pickup lines her male classmates have shared with her. Chaeyoung wanted to see Mina’s look of disapproval when the younger one mentions that she has procrastinated and has no other choice but to burn the midnight oil.

The list was endless but one thing’s for sure is that the curiosity in Chaeyoung is starting to slowly kill her and she had to do something about it. Chaeyoung needs to see Mina and she’ll complete that mission.

*

Of course Chaeyoung was smart enough to not randomly ask Mina for a videocall on Skype. She had remembered that Mina once said that she did not have a webcam which was obviously a lie. This was a proven fact when Mina had once slipped out that her mother needed to use her laptop to video call her brother who is studying in a different state. Besides, she can always ask Mina to install Skype on her mobile phone whereby both the camera and mic function would work perfectly fine.

To execute her plan, Chaeyoung started things slowly, a little too slow according to her older sister, Nayeon. But heck, Nayeon knows nothing about Myoui Mina. Well, not that Chaeyoung knows the Japanese girl that well but nevertheless, she was confident that she was doing the right thing. Their usual Skype arrangement had continued for another two weeks after Chaeyoung’s initial plan. Today Chaeyoung realized she can’t wait any longer and she has to start the first step of her plan.

Step 1: Drop a hint

The two had agreed to have their usual Skype call after Mina was done studying for her Social Psychology test. This meant that their Skype call would probably be at 9 pm. Chaeyoung had written down an entire list of questions to ask that was meant to so-called “drop the hint” that she wanted to move on from having this one sided voice call. She had logged in on Skype at 8 pm but changed her status to “Offline” just to make it seem like she wasn’t that eager to talk to Mina. Seeing as she still has half an hour to kill, she practiced some lines to drop a hint.

“So um, I was wondering,” Chaeyoung was practicing her lines when her older sister, Nayeon barged into the room with her childhood friend/current girlfriend, Jeongyeon.

Chaeyoung’s eyes almost bulged out when she realized the two girls must have mistaken her room for Nayeon’s when they were busy eating each other’s faces out making out. The youngest did the only thing a sane person would do in this situation. She grabbed her phone and started recording the scene.

‘High quality blackmail proof hehehe’ Chaeyoung thought to herself while smirking. She can obviously use this as blackmail when either Nayeon or Jeongyeon refuses to listen to her. Seeing that she has at least half a minute of footage recorded, she grabbed a cushion and threw it in the direction of the couple, hitting both of them.

“What the fu-” Nayeon almost cussed when she saw Chaeyoung waving at her.

“OH MY GOD YOO JEONGYEON WE’RE IN CHAEYOUNG’S ROOM!” Nayeon screeched. “I HAVE TAINTED MY SISTER’S SOUL!!”

Chaeyoung was laughing so hard, she fell from her chair. Jeongyeon and Nayeon quickly tidied themselves, rearranging their clothes and wiping the lipstick stains.

“Sup.” Chaeyoung broke the awkward silence, wiping the tears in the corner of her eyes.

“Um, yeah. We’re sorry about that Chaeng.” Jeongyeon apologized. Nayeon was hiding her face in her hands, too embarrassed to even look at her sister.

“No worries. At least I got some awesome blackmail worthy footage.”

Nayeon gasped. “You would never!”

The youngest in the room smirked. “Oh yes I did. Now if you don’t mind, I need to rehearse.”

“Rehearse? What for? Do you have a presentation coming up?” Jeongyeon asked.

“Uhhh. Ummm. No?” Chaeyoung answered causing the two older girls to lift their eyebrows in suspicion.

“Is this about Mina?” Nayeon asked and seeing Chaeyoung’s ears turn slightly red, the older sister knew she was right.

Jeongyeon who was obviously not updated with the news of Mina, asked, “And who is this Mina?”

“Mina is Chaeyoung’s new crush.” Nayeon teased and Chaeyoung couldn’t help but groan.

“She is not my crush!”

“Oh? Is she your girlfriend then?” Nayeon again and Chaeyoung was so close to attacking her older sister.

Ignoring all the teasing, Jeongyeon the sensible one, asked, “So why are you rehearsing for Mina?”

“I’m-” But before the youngest could answer, Nayeon cut her to it. “Chaeyoung wants to see Mina’s face so she’s trying to ask Mina to turn on her webcam!”

Jeongyeon had a thoughtful expression. “How about you just drop a pick up line?”

“I’m not trying to pick her up omg!”

Ignoring the youngest’s whining, Jeongyeon continued. “Maybe ask something like, ‘Hey, you know what would make this Skype call better? Seeing your face.’ Something like that.”

Chaeyoung cringed and Nayeon had smashed Jeongyeon’s face with one of her sister’s pillow. Chaeyoung was about to retort but her phone notified her of a new message. She quickly grabbed it and saw that Mina had texted her saying she’s done with her study session and is free to Skype now.

“GET OUT OF MY ROOM YOU TWO! SHE’S COMING ONLINE! GOODBYE!” Chaeyoung pushed the two out of her room and closed the door, making sure to lock it to prevent the couple from barging in when they were not suppose to.

Her room was finally quiet and peaceful again. With her back leaning against the door, she heaved a sigh of relief. Chaeyoung was about to walk to her chair when there was a knock on the door.

“WHAT IS IT?”

“Remember, ‘You know what would make this Skype call better? Seeing your face.’ Good luck kid!” She could hear Jeongyeon running away from her room.

Chaeyoung huffed before making her way to her chair. There’s no way in hell she’s going to use that line on Mina. She changed her status to online and was immediately greeted with a message from Mina. With a smile on her face, she clicked on the voice call button.

*

Their Skype call had been going as per normal. They talked about their day, Mina ranted about her inconsiderate lecturer, Chaeyoung talked about how her classmate had almost set the class on fire (once again) and now they had stopped talking for a while because Mina had went to put her dog, Ray, to sleep.

Chaeyoung took this chance to rehearse how she should drop a hint on Mina. Of course, she was smart enough to mute herself first. However, Jeongyeon’s “pick up line” kept bothering her. She tried to clear her thoughts but Mina sent a message saying she’s back. Chaeyoung quickly unmute herself.

“Welcome back!” Chaeyoung said. To which Mina replied in the chat box, ‘Glad to be back. :D’

“Hey, you know what would make this Skype call better?” Chaeyoung accidentally blurts out. She quickly covered , realizing her mistake. God damn it. Stupid Jeongyeon unni.

‘Hmm?’ Mina replied.

Chaeyoung was panicking. She made a mistake of blurting out the question when she wasn’t even prepared. However, it was too late to change the topic and it would be kinda awkward if she did. Oh God, here goes nothing.

“Seeing your face.” Chaeyoung had to mute herself right after saying that because she was so embarrassed.

‘HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHA DID YOUR CLASSMATES TAUGHT YOU THAT? HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA’ Mina replied.

Chaeyoung groaned. This wasn’t going to work. She unmuted herself. “No, my classmates didn’t teach me that.”

Mina didn’t need to be an expert in Korean to tell that there was a tinge of disappointment in Chaeyoung’s voice.

‘Alright. Let’s have a video call tomorrow. My mic is still spoilt so I can’t speak but you have to promise that you’ll switch on your camera too!’

Chaeyoung muted herself once again. She grabbed a pillow and squealed into it. She can’t wait for tomorrow!

Step 2: Drop more hints Try not to