Chapter 4

Starting Off Easy

or

They Can See Your From Space!

Over the next few days, Byulyi began to settle into a routine. Her regular classes were straightforward enough, and other than having dragons for teachers and her daily struggle with Hyperion the gryphon, nothing else was out of the ordinary. As much of a pain Hyperion was every morning, she suspected that he liked her enough to wait for her at the Gryphon Shuttle Station. On Wednesdays, she could easily have walked the fifteen minutes to her business classes, but she was, in truth, beginning to enjoy spending those fifteen minutes wrestling with Hyperion instead. Sometimes, she’d even call him Asbi just to get a rise out of him, and would laugh whenever he kicked back and flapped his wings in annoyance. She’d often stop laughing, however, when he shoves her to the ground with a gust of wind or a good old headbutt.

As for her Arc classes, she unfortunately only had the one class will Seulgi. Thanks to her new best friend’s charisma and guidance, she was even able to eventually initiate casual conversation Hani, Hyojin, and the rest of their pack. Hyojin even volunteered to help her with an assignment on the broad implications of werewolf culture.

Even more unfortunate was perhaps the fact that she was saddled with ice queen Hyejin for two of her other Arc classes, one of which they took with Wheein. Who knew they’d dedicate an entire course on tail theory?

Hyejin avoided speaking to her as much as possible, but she could not help but notice that she always stood beside her whenever Wheein wasn’t around, which inevitably led to many brief partnerships during in-class activities. Byulyi didn’t mind—she liked having a familiar face in her class—but she could not help seeing the parallel between Hyejin and Hyperion.

Just as Hyperion liked to shove her to the ground with his fat, speckled head, Hyejin loved pretending she hated Byulyi. As much as she would probably deny it, her edges softened when they were alone. Byulyi certainly didn’t mind Hyejin’s strong presence—she had a lot to learn from the younger girl—so she didn’t say anything, just in case talking about this situation would scare her away. And maybe, like Hyperion, Hyejin secretly enjoyed her company too. Eventually, Byulyi even learned to take comfort in the silence between them. Maybe because they were almost, dare she say, friends?

Inexplicably, a friendship with Seulgi immediately drew a number of other people into her life. Seungwan and Joohyun turned out to be less of Seulgi’s childhood friends, and more her two moms—two moms who insisted they could raise a child together platonically despite whatever tension brewed between them. Unlike the cold and serious Joohyun, Seungwan was an unfailing ball of sunshine who always had a cookie to share. She may have been constant worrying and occasionally a nag, but spending time with Seungwan never failed to brighten Byulyi up, and it was obvious to see that Seulgi felt the same.

It was as Seulgi once said, “Joohyun-unnie is hard on everyone around her, because she’s the hardest on herself. Seungwan balances her out, even if all she does is give you a brownie and a hug. That’s all you need sometimes.” Then she laughed, and concluded, “I have good parents.”

In addition to all of the baked goods and warm hugs from Seungwan, her friendship with Seulgi and Seungwan also invited Wheein—and by extension Hyejin—into their lives.

Wheein, shy at first, was very sweet and easy to talk to. She had a lot of passion and enthusiasm for just about everything, and Byulyi could probably listen for hours. If not for Hyejin’s constant intimidation. From the few times they spoke, it seemed that they had a lot in common. Music, dance, art, literature—Wheein was well-versed in all of it. Byulyi even briefly entertained the idea of inviting her out for a cup of coffee and good conversation, but the thought of fighting Hyejin made her stomach turn. As close as she was to becoming Hyejin’s friend, she wasn’t about to put her life on the line.

She was thankful enough to be sharing a friend group everyone. It was still an almost impossible notion to think about, but—then again—everything on ArcIsland seemed impossible to begin with. Still, she felt like a different person from the girl who set foot on this island only two weeks ago. Having Seulgi around calmed her anxieties, and with practice, she even learned to function without exploding into a thousand nervous pieces. Now she even had friends. Friends! Byulyi had Seulgi to thank for that.

Beyond these budding new relationships, Seulgi’s friendship quickly led to a reluctant acquaintance with Joohyun, which, of course, meant an acquaintance with none other than Kim Yongsun.

Oh, where could Byulyi start when it came to Kim Yongsun?

The girl was like a ghost, constantly haunting her thoughts, yet never doing more than float in and out of her life, their lives never quite touching. Yongsun stayed out late and woke up late. The only time they would met was through serendipity.

Once, Byulyi and Seulgi were out for a walk along the shore, sandwiches in hand, when they ran into Joohyun and Yongsun as they were leaving class. Byulyi tried her best not to gawk while Seulgi talked to Joohyun, but her sneaking glances soon quite became obvious when Yongsun stepped back behind Joohyun’s wings to dodge her eyes.

Understandably, the dorm supervisors had a lot of extra duties and responsibilities, but Byulyi couldn’t help but think that Yongsun was avoiding her as well. Byulyi was the first to admit that she was a little strange in her awkward ways, but based on what she heard from the other students, Yongsun simply did not seem the type to ignore someone based on their social ineptitude. Byulyi once saw her laughing with a were-dog who had sniffed her after a rather vocal declaration of love. Surely, she wasn’t that bad.

Many students admired the regal air about Yongsun. Some even called her the princess of Archangel Island. She was smiling, warm, and approachable—to everyone else, at least. With Byulyi, their interactions were strained at best, filled with polite monosyllabic exchanges, darting eyes, and long, awkward silences.

Byulyi sighed. Good thing she was no stranger to admiring from afar.

“Unnie, you should really talk to her.” Seulgi sidled up to her as she followed her gaze.

On this particular day, Yongsun was standing by a Gryphon Station, grinning broadly as she smoothed back a docile grey gryphon’s feathers. Seulgi glanced over to Byulyi, who stood frozen as she watched the light of the mid-afternoon sun play on her red hair.

The books in her arms slipped, and clattered to the floor, bringing her attention back to the present. “Oh, hi Seulgi,” she said with an uneasy smile, and she bent down to clean up her mess of books and papers. She adjusted her grip on her things as she stood, jostling her books around until they felt securely wrapped in her arms. “Didn’t see you there.”

“You wouldn’t see a giant pink bear standing in front of you when Yongsun-unnie is around. It could step on you and you could die, and you wouldn’t even know,” Seulgi said matter-of-factly. She wrapped a gloved hand around Byulyi’s arm. “You should talk to her.”

With a heavy sigh, Byulyi peeled Seulgi’s hand off her arm, grumbling away as she held it in her own, a habit they’d developed as an inevitable outcome of Seulgi’s touchy nature. But when she looked up to see a pair of red eyes staring back steadily, she dropped Seulgi’s hand like it was on fire.

Seulgi touched the small of her back. “She’s watching, unnie! Go, go, go!”

“Aish, stop touching me, Seul! She’ll think we’re—”

“What?”

“Seulgi!” Her eyes dropped down to Seulgi’s tightly intertwined fingers for emphasis.  

“Oh. Oh!” Seulgi leapt back and surrendered her arms in the air. “Sorry! I didn’t realize…”

“It’s okay,” Byulyi mumbled, straightening out her sleeve. She looked up in time to watch her throw her hair back and climb aboard the waiting gryphon. “Ah, she’s leaving.”

Yongsun sent one last piercing glance in Byulyi’s direction and took off, swiftly and silently. As soon as her silhouette disappeared above the trees, Byulyi grabbed Seulgi by both shoulders and shook her. “Did you see that? That look! What did that mean?” she cried. “What does anything mean?”

Seulgi blinked. “I don’t know,” she said, voice shuddering with the force of Byulyi’s hysteria. “I’m probably not the best person to ask.”

“Seulgi-i-i-i-i-i,” Byulyi whined, “you had, what? Four love confessions in the past week? Won’t you help your unnie?”

“Ahhh, I didn’t ask for tho-o-o-ose! I can’t help yo-o-o-o-ou.” Byulyi stopped shaking, and opt for a soul-wrenching, ear-flattening sigh instead. “But,” Seulgi added carefully, “I might know who can.”

That was how Byulyi ended up at the very back of the first floor library, one hand deep in her pocket as the other idly ran over the old spines. Seulgi had asked her to meet here, and here she was, even if she didn’t understand why on earth Seulgi was being so secretive—that girl was dangerously easy to trust with her crescent eyes and earnest, if sometimes misguided, intentions. It was late, and most of the students were gone. Surely, there was no need for this kind of tryst.

Unless...what if—

Byulyi stopped, her heart leapt out of her chest at the thought. No, no. Seulgi wouldn’t throw her into the fire like that. Right?

But what if…she was setting her up to meet Kim Yongsun. Right here. Right now.

Her fingers clenched around the dusty spine of a leather-bound book. Could she face Yongsun right then and there? Her frantic mind began to panic as her restless hands repeatedly pulled the book in and out of its spot on the ancient shelf.

Oh, Kim Yongsun...what could she possibly say?

Her breath hitched when a pair of footsteps began making its way toward her. Her nose picked up a vaguely familiar scent, though she could not pinpoint the identity of its source. She relaxed a little knowing it wasn’t Yongsun, whose fragrance she could recognize anywhere. After all, it was hard to forget something that was constantly trying to the air out of her lungs whenever it was near.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Byulyi’s heart dropped at the familiar voice. She turned slowly, sliding the book back into its place, and came face to face with none other than Ahn Hyejin. A very annoyed Ahn Hyejin. The woman was all faux fur and heavy make-up, and, as usual, looking about two seconds away from tearing out her liver. She took a breath and reassured herself that gumiho have no need for livers—the Database had told her so. Byulyi briefly considered the possibility that it would be much easier to face the subject of her worries head-on, especially with the way Hyejin’s blue tails were twitching in obvious agitation. Then again—her memories of the first day rolled forward—maybe not.

Byulyi took another deep breath. She and Hyejin...they were friends now, right? Sometimes they stood next to each other without speaking—surely, that was some kind of friendship. So maybe...this would be alright.

“Seulgi told me to meet her here,” Byulyi explained. She gave herself a mental high five for articulating each word.

“Yeah, I figured,” Hyejin said, quirking a brow. “I’ve got a pile of to do. The hell do you want?”

How was it possibly that the typically grumpy Hyejin—unless she was with Wheein—could be even grumpier?

“Uh, well, I don’t know why Seulgi d-dragged you out here,” she mumbled. “I...I asked her, um, for help. With...with...with…”

Hyejin rolled her eyes. “Just spit it out.”

“Girls.”

“What? I could’ve sworn you just said girls.”

Byulyi’s face was beet red. “I-I did. I need help with girls. I didn’t know who to turn to.”

“Your best friend is a succubus,” Hyejin deadpanned. “Why are you asking me?”

Byulyi bit her lip. “Seulgi...doesn’t know,” she said carefully. “And I guess it’s because you’re...um, with Wheein? So maybe she thought…”

Hyejin nodded sagely. “Wheein is quite the catch,” she said, relaxing visibly as she her chin. “I suppose that does make me quite successful, yes.” And just like that, even her nine tails seemed calmer as they flickered—almost playfully. Wheein truly had a way of turning Hyejin into a whole new person. “So you want to know how to catch a girl as perfect as Wheein? Sorry, to tell you, but—”

“Ah, no!”

Hyejin’s eyes narrowed and suddenly began to glow blue. “You’re in love with Wheein,” she said, whipping out an accusing finger.

“No! Definitely not!” She drew an X with her arms, and shook her head in vigorous refusal, just in case Hyejin was still unsure. She did not want to fight.

The blue in her eyes disappeared as suddenly as it came, but Hyejin looked no less offended as she pressed a carefully manicured hand to her chest with a gasp. “Excuse me, what is wrong with you?” she demanded. “What do you find so wrong about my perfect, adorable, angel?”

There was no winning with this girl, Byulyi decided with no small amount of exasperation.

“Look, it has nothing to do with Wheein, I’m just...I just want to know how to talk...to girls.”

Hyejin frowned. “The am I?”

Byulyi flinched. “Sorry, that’s not what I meant. I mean I... want to talk to...one...specific…. girl.” Her ears began to burn. “I think she’s avoiding me. I...I just want to be friends. I don’t know. It’s just been...bothering me a lot,” she admitted, collapsing down to clutch her knees.

“Oh...oh! Oh.” Hyejin clapped her hands together as an epiphany hit her. “You’re into that chick! The vampire. What’s her name? Oh, oh! Kim Yongsun!” Much to Byulyi’s surprise and annoyance, she burst into laughter. “Of course! Oh man, it makes perfect sense. Honestly, I don’t know how I didn’t catch that. I bet they can see your for that girl from space!”

Byulyi flushes a fierce shade of red. “Wha—”

Hyejin held up a hand. “I’ll help,” she said, “You’re okay, Moon Byulyi.” She grinned a mischievously boyish smile that made her look far younger than she often tried to appear. Hyejin was a cute kid, Byulyi decided, once it was clear that she was not a threat.

“So what do you want to know?” Hyejin asked. “Here, have some Pepero. I didn’t know how long this would take so I brought some snacks.”

Byulyi took a cookie from the box with a grateful smile, and pondered the question. “I don’t know,” she confessed. “I just...don’t know how to talk to her.”

Hyejin smirked as she settled down on the floor beside Byulyi. “Not to be rude, but you don’t seem particularly good at talking. Period.”

Byulyi scoffed. “Can’t argue with that. How did...how did you start talking to Wheein? Did you get nervous?”

“Of course, have you seen how cute she is? We met in middle school—a lot of people liked her. I had a lot of competition.”

Byulyi nodded. It wasn’t hard to believe. “How did you get her to like you back then?”

“I didn’t get her to do anything,” Hyejin said, puffing her chest with pride. “I kind of just stood on my desk one day and declared my love. You should’ve seen the look on everyone’s faces. Wheeinie didn’t say anything, and just kind of blushed. She was as shocked as everyone else—it was so cute. After school, she visited me in detention and kissed me on the cheek.”

“Amazing,” Byulyi breathed. “I don’t think I can do that though.”

“Please,” Hyejin said, waving a hand. “You’d fall right off the desk before you get a single word in, and everyone will just be confused. Tip number one: if you want the girl, you gotta make yourself clear.”

“Hyejin-ah, I don’t even think she wants to be my friend at this point…”

Hyejin ignored her. “Tip number 2,” she said, a few decibels too loudly, “you will always be inferior to the woman of your dreams, so don’t think about it.”

“Wha—Hyejin, this isn’t—”

“Tip 2.5, don’t give me that ‘ooh, I just want to be her friend because I’m a poor awkward puppy’ bull. I hate that kind of boring drama.” Byulyi couldn’t help but wince at Hyejin’s impersonation. “Anyone with eyes can see what you really want with our Archangel princess.” Hyejin rolled her eyes. “So shut the up and just admit you want to bang her.”

“Oh my god,” Byulyi groaned, burying her face in her hands. But try as she might—blunt as Hyejin was—she could not deny the way Yongsun made her feel.

“Seriously though, just talk to her.”

“What about,” Byulyi hesitated, but the almost gentle expectancy in Hyejin’s eyes told her she wouldn’t get beaten up for this question—so she hoped. “Um, what about other girls?”

“Other girls?”

“How did you talk to other girls?”

She expected some degree of offence, but Hyejin simply grinned a little wider. “Wheein is my one and only forever and ever. Sure, we have our issues, but I’ve never—will never—love somebody else the same way. And when you have someone like Wheein, the rest of the world are just walking, talking human-shaped blobs. So it’s easy!”

Byulyi leaned her head back and looked up into the darkness of their dimming alcove. Suddenly, a candlelight flickered to life on the other side of their shelf, mixing a comforting orange glow with the ice blue hue of Hyejin’s tails, which were folded neatly into her lap. Byulyi crossed her legs and adjusted her seat on the downy carpet.

“Maybe I should get used to talking to other people first,” Byulyi said, lolling her head to the side to meet Hyejin’s eyes.

Hyejin hummed in response.

“Then again,” Byulyi continued, drawing out her syllables with no small degree of shame. “I’m pretty sure she thinks Seulgi and I are dating.”

Hyejin rolled her eyes. “Of course she does. Look, just talk to her. If you could say two sentences to her without stuttering or falling down or whatever the hell you do, then the rest of it will be pretty easy.”

“I don’t know, I—”

“That will be your homework for the day,” Hyejin announces. She leapt up and dusted off her clothes. “Right now, that’s all I can really tell you. Start off easy.”

“Yeah. Easy.”

“Yep. Easy. Anyway, I have to get back to Wheein. She and Seungwan are doing some baking together,” she finished hesitantly. “Want the rest of my Pepero?”

Byulyi smiled, and accepted the gift like an offering. “Thank you. For everything today.”

“No problem. You’re...not as bad as I thought,” Hyejin said with a smirk.

She turned to go, but there was something else Byulyi wanted to say—something that required the kind of courage Hyejin offered her. She closed her eyes and took a breath and finally: “Wait!” She called.

Hyejin cocked a brow. “Yeah?”

“Um...I...uh…”

“You better not confess to me, or I’ll punch you.”

“No!”

“Just say it then.”

“I...don’t want to overstep my boundaries but…” Byulyi swallowed nervously. “I think you should know that...Wheeinssi really loves you.”

Hyejin smiled sadly. “I know. It’s...complicated. Maybe I’ll even tell you about it someday.”

Her conversation with Hyejin left her reeling. Byulyi thought deeply about her feelings, and the courage it took to be better than the person she was now. It was overwhelming, and the next day, she found herself sleep walking through her classes.

She needed an opportunity, she thought. Just talk to her, she told herself. Say hi. Ask her how her day went. Start easy. She dreamt up a thousand scenarios: running into her after class, staying up late for her, ask someone to deliver a note, write a letter. Anything to start an exchange of something more than awkward silence.

Start easy.

In her haze, she could barely hear the world around her. During marketing, Hani had thrown a paper ball at the back of her head to wake her up, only to have it bounce off into the lap of a confused satyr.

During her Arc class with Hyejin and Wheein, Hyejin had picked Wheein up by the armpits in her tanuki form, and waved her up and down in front of Byulyi’s face. Wheein complained about being treated like a teddy bear, but even though she was loud enough to garner a quiet chorus of snickers from their surrounding classmates, Byulyi was unfazed.

During break, she’d absentmindedly walked right into Seulgi, who was standing with her arms extended, separating an angry Seungwan and an angrier Joohyun. To anyone else with half a conscious brain, the tension was thick. Seungwan and Joohyun took turns yelling, but she—lost in the labyrinth of her own world—couldn’t hear a thing. She mumbled her apology to Seulgi and walked away.

Naturally, she had all but forgotten the special seminar she was supposed to attend until she bumped into Wheein on her way back to her dorm.

“Byulyi-unnie! Where are you going? Aren’t you going to the seminar with me?” Byulyi looked around for Hyejin. Though she was far more relaxed around her now, it would take some time before she could break the habit of caution. “Hyejin is taking a nap. She knows I’m with you, so it’s okay. You are coming right?”

“What was it called again?”

“Transformation and the Stabilization of Self and Selves or something like that,” Wheein said, transforming into a tanuki. She leapt up onto Byulyi’s shoulder, and up to the top of her head.

“Ack! You’re really heavy! And watch the claws—ah—ow!”

“You complain too much, unnie.” She patted her head with her paw. “Let’s go!”

The seminar took place at the top of the Spire, in one of three modular rooms carved inside the bone-coloured curves of the structure. At the front was a raised platform of pure white, where a splintered old podium made its home.

Wheein ushered Byulyi into a seat beside the already seated Seungwan and Joohyun. As she approached, Seungwan shirked her hand back from between her and Joohyun and waved a little too enthusiastically. Byulyi blinked, but decided not to comment, especially when she caught Joohyun’s glare in her peripheral.

Somehow, getting along with Joohyun was nothing like taming a gryphon or a gumiho.

They sat in a crowd of stark, red folding chairs, beneath a flock of doves roosting in the beams high above. The doves each wore a little incandescent bulb around their necks, casting little, unsteady streaks of light across the room whenever they flew.

Byulyi was still marvelling at the beautiful room when the host introduced the speakers. She watched a dove pick at its lightbulb with its beak, and another shake its feathers. The first speaker was a demi-dragon, a serious man with the horns and whiskers of a Chinese dragon. His Mandarin was way too fast for his translator to keep up, and she quickly lost interest.

Throughout most of the talks, Wheein was enraptured; Byulyi was mostly bored.

Until a familiar scent hit her nostrils. She shot forward in her seat.

“Wow, unnie,” Wheein whispered. “Hyejin wasn’t kidding about how thirsty you are.”

But Byulyi didn’t hear her as she watched Kim Yongsun, campus princess, ascend the steps and cross the stage. Her heart rattled against her chest, blood rushed in her ears. She saw nothing but her red lips forming soundless syllables, heard nothing but the frantic beating of her own heart. At some point, the red-haired beauty turned herself into a bat to demonstrate something, and flew straight into one of surrounding structures. The crowd gasped, but she quickly recovered and perched on the podium, where she nudged her little face into a pair of glasses.

She transformed back, the glasses still on her face, and said something about something else.

Byulyi tried to listen, tried to focus, but her mind was too loud. She practically trembled in her seat as she ran the same three words over and over and over: this is it.

She glanced at Wheein, who was nodding along to whatever Yongsun was saying, and thought of Hyejin. She thought of her her bold declaration of love.

Yongsun began to take questions.

This was her chance.

A few hands shot up.

Someone spoke.

Yongsun answered.

Someone else spoke.

Yongsun answered.

Repeat.

Repeat.  

This was it.

Byulyi’s hand was up before she could second-guess herself.

Yongsun met her gaze straight on, surprise evidently laced on her pretty features.

This was it.

“Yes, the werewolf in the back?” Yongsun said.

Byulyi scrambled to her feet.

“What is she doing?” She heard Joohyun whisper. No one replied.

A kappa ran by and stuffed a microphone into Byulyi’s sweaty hands.

She took a deep breath, shut out the two hundred pairs of eyes on her. It was just her—she breathed again—just her and Yongsun.

Don’t stutter. Don’t stutter. Slowly, now.

“Kim Yongsun!” She shouted into the microphone. “Will you go out with me?”

So much for starting off easy.

Note: I said I wouldn't post every two days, but apparently I had a lot of time on my hands, and this obsession isn't dead yet. Ahhh, but I'm really loving all this friendship, aren't you? If you're loving it so far, please don't forget to vote, subscribe, and/or comment!