In an alleyway in Hongdae, Seoul, the shivering breeze slowly crept through the late night, shaking a few discarded flyers and plastic bags. Yoo Jeongyeon, 21 years old,  wanted to stop and gather up the trash, or whatever kids did these days to save the environment. But it had taken her whole strength just to walk to the bus stop, so she figured being an environmental warrior could wait another day. Work was absolutely hectic today. Her manager just quit, which meant Jeongyeon, the fastest staff, was left with extra responsibility until her boss scrambled to find a replacement. 

Man alive, she did not get paid enough for this. Lucky for her , school wouldn’t start until next week, or else her body would have collapsed under the incredible workload.

Jeongyeon did not know how she got home or when she took off her uniform and put on her pyjamas, but when her face hit the softness of the pillows, she let out a deep groan. There was a nagging feeling that she has forgotten something important, the kind of feeling when you locked the front door then wondered if your wallet was with you. But that could also wait until tomorrow because now, she had to let sleep consume her first. 

Jeongyeon was woken up by the incessant sounds of her doorbell. She wondered what time it was, so she reached out for her phone. It said 9:00 which was too early and there were 10 missed calls from Chaeyoung. CHAEYOUNG! 

Now Jeongyeon finally remembered what the important thing was. Her cousin was supposed to move in today. Somehow Jeongyeon’s phone was on Do Not Disturb mode. She scrambled for her phone and sprinted to the front door. Behind it revealed Chaeyoung in her most Gen Z’s glory and wetness. Hold up, wetness?

‘I had to drag my luggage for 3 blocks in the rain. IN THE POURING RAINS,’ Chaeyoung grumbled and brought her stuff inside, completely disregarded Jeongyeong’s frozen stature. ‘And I was wearing my fur hat today.’

‘Why would you be wearing a fur hat in this weather?’ Jeongyeon spoke through her yawns while helping the shorter girls to carry her guitar to her room.

‘Erm… Have you heard of something called fashion?’ Chaeyoung turned around and snarked back. ‘Anyway, let me get settled first before I laughed at your stupid hair.’

Oh, that’s right. Jeongyeon changed her hair recently, after that phone fight. She had gone to the closest 7/11 and brought enough sojus to sufficiently drown her liver. Then she proceeded to do what drunk people did best, i.e making stupid life choices and she decided to chop her hair off. She did regret it a whole lot, but hey, at least now she hated her face more than she hated her life.

‘About that, maybe you can help me out with your artistic hands.’ Jeongyeon wiggled her eyebrows suggestively while walking to the kitchen counter. She took out two quirky mugs that she got from Typo and poured them coffees. One mug said Life is short. Eat that cheesecake now. and the other said I just took a DNA test. Turns out I’m 100% unmotivated. The other girl just narrowed her eyes at Jeongyeon before reaching out to receive the drink.

Jeongyeon felt immensely happy, caught up with the fact that her cousin was finally here. She had been waiting for Chaeyoung to grow up fast and joined her in Seoul. The younger one apparently shared the same sentiment, though she did not say it out loud. Every time Jeongyeon called or went home for school breaks, she told the wildest stories about college and the big city life. Chaeyoung, being a very ambitious teenager, had harbored a sort of great (and not at all unrealistic) expectation of what her life was going to be in the next 4 years. One word: Awesome.

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With the help of Chaeyoung, several youtube DIY tutorials, and instant hair dye kits with Blackpink members’ faces on the cover, Jeongyeon went to school the next day with hair extra short and extra ash blue. Turns out it really suited her face, not because she had grown some (much-needed) self-confidence, but because the Tokbokki auntie across her university couldn’t stop gushing about it. She badly wanted to gloat, but couldn’t find it in her. She wondered how other people could accept compliments while she could only be blushed and bowed to say thank you. 

When Jeongyeon walked into the lecture hall to find the seats Jihyo had saved for her and another friend, twenty heads were turned to follow her. At first, she turned around to see if there was something behind her, but when she couldn’t find anything, Jeongyeon figured it was something on her face. Therefore, she quickly made her way to Jihyo, whispered as soon as she sat next to the girl, who was also wild-eyed. 

‘Why are people looking at me?’

‘Because you looked too damn good. That’s why.’ Before Jihyo could open to answer, a high voice raised next to them, making the two jump. Sana dropped her Prada bag next to her seat and sipped her frappuccino nonchalantly.  

‘Jesus! How much weight did you lose over the summer break?’ Jihyo directed her big eyes back to Jeongyeon. This lanky person couldn’t be the Jeongyeon she knew. They had not seen each other for 2 months and her best buddy was suddenly a Sailor Moon character? Unreal.

‘But more importantly, where did you go to get your hair done?’ Sana leaned her entire bo