InstaIdol *

 

One * Who Needs A Five Year Plan?

"Ya! Choi Yeonji!"

The girl being summoned by her extremely angry father flinched, but still managed to twitch her thumb, taking a horrible, blurry selca with her iPhone. She looked at the image and groaned at how poorly it turned out. She wanted to curse her father for messing up her photo, but she was in trouble enough and knew it was best to keep her opinion to herself.

Her father stormed into the room, the tell-tale signs of rage on his face. His eyes were squinted, thick eyebrows furrowed together and a vein threating to pop out of the left side of his forehead at any moment.

"Daddy," Yeonji said in her cutest tone. She was a daddy's girl. Nine times out of ten he couldn't resist her aegyo and she knew it.

"You skipped work again!" Mr. Choi shouted. "This is the second time this week. Do you want to get fired from the family store? Your uncle is very upset with you! I'm upset with you! What have you even been doing all day?"

Yeonji shrugged. "That online shopping store I told you about - Peach Banana? They sent some tops and I needed to post photos of my modeling them on my Instagram. I couldn't wear them to work. They would just get messy."

It wasn't the strongest reason in the world, but to Yeonji her reply made perfect sense. She wasn't Instagram famous by any stretch of the imagination, but she was enough of an influencer to warrant stores sending her their clothes to show off for advertisement. She was also keen on fashion and style. Sadly, standing at a mere 164cm, she wasn't tall enough for a real modeling career. School also wasn't really her thing. She had to find her foot in the fashion world in some other way and thankfully, she was alive and thriving in the world of social media. It didn't take a college degree to become an influencer and that's why she and her father constantly heads about her hobby - no, her lifestyle.

"Yeonji! What am I supposed to do with you?" Her father side. He began to rub his temples with his hands, his typical habit whenever he was trying to de-escalate himself so he wouldn't bring harm to his children when they made him mad. "If you refuse to go to college, you have to work. For money. Not for free clothes. That was the deal."

"Daddy, it's just one day," Yeonji tried to reason. "I'm going to work at Uncle's grocery store tomorrow. I swear."

"You're twenty years old now, Yeonji," said Mr. Choi, his voice much softer than when he first barged into her room. "You're not going to be young forever. Instagram will get phased out by whatever the next big social media platform is. You can't expect to make it far in life taking selcas. Why can't you be like your brother?"

Yeonji tilted her head down, hair falling in her face because she didn't want her father to see her rolling her eyes, lest she ignite further argument. But she was annoyed with getting compared to her successful accountant of a brother. Choi Yeonsung was the buttoned-down, academic nerd she always loathed. It was odd to her how they came from the same gene pool, but she supposed they made up two halves a whole. She loved her brother. She was just over being in his shadow, even though she was technically the popular one.

"Dad... I don't want to talk about this right now," Yeonji sighed. "I'll go to Uncle's tomorrow. I'm sorry I skipped today. I'll call him and apologize myself. Please."

Mr. Choi let out his own sigh of frustration. "Fine. But tonight at dinner, we're going to talk. We're going to sit down a make a five year plan. We've got to get you out of this house and started on a career. So we'll discuss steps that we can take then."

Yeonji raised her head and bit her lip. "Raincheck on that five year planning session Dad. Jiah is coming home today. So I already promised her and the girls that we'd get together for dinner..."

Mr. Choi shooked his head in disbelief. He raised his hands in defeat. "Fine. Tomorrow. No exceptions, got it?"

"Thank you Daddy!" Yeonji chirped, her mood drastically improved. "Tomorrow, I promise! You're the best!"

And with that, the confrontation was over. Mr. Choi left his daughters room, mumbling to himself. With her privacy restored, Yeonji raised her phone and snapped one more picture. She looked over it and grinned.

"It doesn't even need a filter," she said as she posted the photo to account.

She looked at the time on her phone and gasped. Arguing with her father left her running a little behind schedule. She hopped off her bed and ran out of the house, almost forgetting to put on her shoes in the process. While she may have hated school and tests, she was the first person in her class to sit for her driver's test and get her license. When her brother secured his first well-paying job he gifted her his old car. It may have been a decade old, but it was certainly well-maintained. She hopped in and jetted off to her dinner date with her best friends.

 

Hello Kitty, you're so pretty ~~

 

Sung Kyungah tripped on the welcome mat of the samgyeopsal restaurant her friends had chosen to eat that evening. The ahjumma who ran the restaurant simply shook her head at her. She knew the group of girls well and wasn't the least bit surprised by Kyungah's clumsiness. However, she was always relieved that the girl had never injured herself at the restaurant because she didn't want to be responsible for calling emergency services and cleaning up the mess.

"Sorry I'm late!" Kyungah shouted. She realized how loud she was and looked around the restaurant. She gave a sigh of relief when she realized that there wasn't anyone else there and she hadn't embarassed herself.

"I thought I was gonna be the late one," Yeonji chuckled. She gave Kyungah a hug as she slid into the booth next to her.

Two girls sat on the other side, laughing at Kyungah. They were their other friends, Hong Sooin and Lee Hari.

"Unnie, you've gotta work on your entrances," Hari said once her giggles had subsided. The cute girl with jetblack hair reached over the table and patted Kyungah lightly on her arm.

"One of these days you're actually gonna hit the floor and I'm not picking you up," Sooin added, with a grin.

Kyungah shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah yeah, whatever." She waved off her friends. "So, where's Jiah? And what's everyone been up to? We haven't hung out in like two days!"

"Jiah's on her way," Sooin replied. "Her cousin just picked her up and they should be here in a few minutes."

"Two days isn't a long time anyway," Yeonji added. "It's just been the same. Dad yelled at me again saying that I needed to come up with a five year plan for my future." She shuddered at the thought while her friends chuckled.

"I can't deal with a five year plan," Hari groaned. "University exams are in six months and I'm drowning in test prep."

Yeonji shrugged. "Can't relate. Next took the test."

"You're such a rebel," Sooin chided. "My parents would have killed me if I skipped the test. And when I took it I had the flu! And that's probably why my scores weren't good enough to get into any of the SKY schools... jerks."

"You know how I feel about overachievers," Yeonji warned her friend.

"But you still like Jiah," Kyungah pointed out. "I mean, she just did a semester abroad at Princeton and now she's coming home and hanging out until she starts at Korea University. She's the definition of an overachiever."

The crashing sound of metal against wood interrupted their conversation. The girls were almost too distracted by the food being placed on their table that they almost didn't realize that it wasn't the ahjumma who put it there.

"Ahem, did someone say overachiever?"

The girls finally looked up from the thick slabs of pork belly and all of the side dishes situated on silver plates and noticed that their guest of honor had arrived.

"Jiah!" the four girls at the table screamed, jumping up to deliver crushing hugs to the fifth and final member of their friend group.

Jiah screamed and did her best to playfully swat the four girls away from her. Though she liked to play tough most days, she really did love her friends and missed them while she spent the last five months in America. It was the longest she had been away from and, most importantly, away from her best friends.

The girls had all met growing up in the same apartment building. They had since moved from that building to various parts of Seoul and attended different schools, but that never stopped them from hanging out as much as possible. Even if they couldn't be together in person, they still kept a constant group text going on and video chatted whenever they were apart.

"Get off me so I can eat!" Jiah screeched. "I missed ahjumma's samgyeopsal so much!"

"Well gee, glad you missed us too," Sooin muttered, sarcastically.

Jiah stuck her tongue out before turning the grill on so it could warm up and they could begin cooking the meat. She gently shoved Hari over and sat next to her, quickly grabbing her chopsticks and stuffing a generous amount of kimchi in .

"What's everyone been up to?" Jiah asked as best she could with full.

"Well you have to tell us all about America!" Kyungah said, watching her friend like a proud mom while her friend ate. "But, we were just discussing poor Yeonji and how her dad isn't happy with the direction her life is heading in."

Jiah rolled her eyes, swallowing a second mouthful of kimchi. "Let me guess. He asked why you can't be more like Yeonsung. Is that why you never let me have a full conversation with your dad? Are you worried he'll start asking why you can't be more like me?"

"Don't flatter yourself," Yeonji scoffed.

"I mean he has a point though," Jiah continued. "What are you going to do for the rest of your life without ambition, without an education?"

"I kind of like her 'no education' mantra," Hari chimed in. "I really just don't want to take this test. Can I be like you too, Yeonji unnie?"

"No, Hari, you're going to school," Sooin quickly interjected. The youngest girl looked down at the table, disappointed.

"Going to school doesn't mean you know what you want to do," Yeonji shrugged. "You went to school on the other side of the world, but still haven't picked a major."

"Shots fired," Kyungah whispered to Sooin, who's jaw dropped.

"At least I narrowed it down!" Jiah snapped.

"Come on you guys!" Sooin held her hands up in a 't' formation to signal that it was time for them to quit. "It's our reunion. Don't spoil it by fighting. Let's just eat."

"I agree!" Kyungah churped, holding a perfectly grilled piece of pork. She and Hari weren't much for conflict and had busied themselves with throwing their food on the grill.

"You're right, I'm sorry," said Jiah. She was normally the first one to apologize in almost any situation, even if she didn't mean it. She liked to keep peace.

"It's ok," Yeonji sighed. "Look my dad may think I need a five year plan for school and my career, but anything can happen. I like not knowing what's next. I like taking chances as the come. The only thing I see for myself in five years is the fact that we'll all still be best friends. Ok?"

"Oh, that was beautiful," said Sooin, clapping her hands loudly and dramatically. "Unnie you have such a way with words."

"They're not just words, I meant it!" Yeonji laughed. She picked up her phone from the table and held up. "Everyone gather around. We have to commemorate our reunion!"

The girls all squeezed in together and put on their best smiles.

"Five years on three," said Yeonji. "1... 2... 3!"

"FIVE YEARS!" The girls cheered.

 

The group's all together and ready to take over the world ~!!