Suyeon is perched on her bed, the advertisement sitting right next to her. She resists the urge to poke holes into the boys’ eyes and draw red horns on their heads; Suyeon must preserve this for Mirae to see. Then they can destroy it together.

Speaking of Mirae, where is she? Why isn’t she picking up? Suyeon has called and texted her about a billion times. Maybe Mirae forgot her phone again.

Suddenly, Suyeon’s phone buzzes. Incoming call from Mirae, her screen reads.

“Mirae!” Suyeon exclaims, hastily picking up. “Dude, are you okay? What happened? I called you a ton?”

“I... I’m sorry,” Mirae replies. Suyeon’s eyes widen. Her friend’s voice sounds drained, exhausted. “I had to... go somewhere.”

“That’s no problem,” Suyeon says slowly. “But look, Mirae, seriously: are you doing fine? You sound really tired. You know what, let me come over and bring you some snacks. I just bought a ton of them today. And I can show you what I found, too.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Mirae protests weakly, but Suyeon is already heading downstairs.

“You burned the cake!” Mr. Lee shouts at his wife, fanning the oven with a mitt-clad hand.

“I burned the cake?” Mrs. Lee hisses. “I’m not the one who set the timer for 45 minutes!”

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Suyeon asks Jaemi, who is propped up on an elbow. She is staring at her parents with mild interest.

“Oh, I gave up on trying to watch My Love from the Star,” Jaemi informs her sister matter-of-factly. “This drama’s more interesting, anyway.”

“Yo, get to bed. You’re in, like, the 7th grade. You’re too young to be listening to this kind of stuff,” Suyeon tells her sister. She twists past her parents and grabs a grocery bag full of snacks from the pantry. “Well, see ya.”   

“Hi, Suyeon,” Mrs. Hwang says, opening the door. “What’s up?”

“Hi Mrs. Hwang. Can I see Mirae?”

Mrs. Hwang’s face drops. “Er.... well, now might not be the best time-,”

“Hey, Suyeon!” a voice greets from behind Mrs. Hwang. Mirae is standing in her plushy pajamas, holding a bottle of water. Suyeon notes that despite her friend’s cheerful expression, she looks a little ill. Before Mrs. Hwang can say anything to her daughter, Mirae adds, “Let’s go up to my room.”

“Mirae, I found it,” Suyeon announces once they are inside her room. “I found the cause of our decreasing business!”

“What is it? Show me!” Mirae says eagerly. Suyeon slaps down the Sunset Tutoring Group advertisement onto Mirae’s bed. Mirae narrows his eyes at the paper and scoffs.

“Sunset Tutoring Group? What kind of a cheesy name is that?” Mirae jeers. “But those pictures are even cheesier. Are they advertising their tutoring services or their faces?”

“Do you get it?” Suyeon shouts. “All of our customers are hiring these two dipwads because they’re cute! Who the heck are these people, anyway?”

“Oh Sehun and Kim Jongin,” Mirae reads on the advertisement. She scrunches her eyebrows. “They don’t go to our school. I’ve never heard of them.”

“Are they even good at teaching?” Suyeon scowls. “They look like empty-headed little pretty boys.”

Mirae groans, throwing her face down in her pillow. “Suyeon, this is bad! These idiots are making us lose cake- I mean, college money! Oh my god, what if we end up becoming workers at Chicken Express, flipping chicken and only eating chicken? And then we’ll turn into chickens-,”

“Whoa, tap the brakes,” Suyeon cuts, putting both hands up. “But you bring up a good point. We need that money. You know what this means?”

“What?”

“WAR!” Suyeon screams, jumping up. “We will work twice as hard as the Sunset Tutoring Group! We will offer more discounts and promotions! Cheaper prices! Gain more customer loyalty!”

“Yeah!” Mirae echoes, ing her fist in the air. “We’ll start tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, we’ll head straight to Caffe Benne again and pick up more customers. What’s wrong?” she asks after Suyeon’s face falls.

Suyeon scratches her hair sheepishly. “Well... can we start Sunday? I have to go to Hoseok’s basketball game tomorrow-,”

Mirae gasps, nearly startling Suyeon off the bed. “That’s right! You have to go support your boyfriend!”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Suyeon snaps. “He’s... a customer. A customer of the Daegu Tutoring Service who was kind enough to pay for our tickets.”

Mirae does not look convinced. “Sure, Suyeon.”

“It’s not like he could be my boyfriend anyway,” Suyeon mutters, picking at her arms. “He’s one of the most popular guys in the school, he’s on varsity basketball, and he won the ‘Most Spirited’ school award. He’s on a whole different level from me-,”

“Suyeon!” Mirae shrieks, clamping her hands on her friend’s shoulders. Suyeon goes stiff in shock. “Don’t! Say! That! Hello, you’re #3 in the junior class. You run a successful tutoring business, and you have the whole cool, ice queen thing going on. Guys dig that .”

Suyeon slaps Mirae’s hands away, blushing. “Stop,” she moans. “That’s so embarrassing. Anyway, I’m not that excited about the basketball game. It’s some little sports event. Whatever.”

“Oh my god, Mirae, 7 more minutes until the game starts!” Suyeon screeches in Mirae’s ear, clapping excitedly. Mirae has a peeved look on her face. Her best friend’s embarrassing screams are thankfully drowned out by the cheers of the crowd. Apparently, every other boy, girl, parent, coach, teacher, and child here is just as thrilled to be here. Shouts of “Let’s go, team!” and “That’s my seat!” and “Pass the chips, please!” ring through the massive gym.

Suyeon never knew attending a sporting event could be so vibrant and fun. Everyone is especially pumped today; the Daegu Public High Lions are going up against the Daewon Preparatory Peacocks, a renowned private academy for elitist snobs.

Daewon Prep students are known for throwing lavish parties with their inheritances, vacationing to the Alps, and generally acting like s towards normal public school kids.

Suyeon and Mirae can see the Daewon Prep supporters sitting on the other side of them. They look rather disgusted to be sitting on the old, faded blue bleachers of the Daegu gym. Mirae scoffs at their designer bags, expensive clothes, and bulky smartphones. This is a basketball game, not a party.

Suddenly, a loud, booming voice fills the gym. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! We have a great basketball game for you today, between the Daegu Lions and the Daewon Peacocks!” Suyeon and Mirae snort as their hear someone behind them make a selective remark about Daewon’s peacocks.

“Introducing the home team, the Daegu Lions!” The announcer says. “Jeon Jungkook! Kim Taehyung! Kim Seokjin! Min Yoongi! Jung Hoseok-,” Suyeon screams extra loud at this name- “Park Jimin! And the team captain, Kim Namjoon!”

“Go Lions!” Suyeon squeals as Hoseok runs out onto the court, holding two thumbs up. Mirae looks at her friend in appallment. Where is the cool, detached girl who was here a few hours ago go?

“Now for the visiting team, the Daewon Peacocks!” The opposite site of the gym hollers and whoops. “Xi Luhan! Byun Baekhyun! Park Chanyeol! Kim Jongdae! Kim Jongin! Oh Sehun! And team captain, Wu Kris!”

Mirae and Suyeon’s eyes nearly pop out of their head.

“Suyeon...,” Mirae says slowly, turning to her friend. “Is it just me, or do the names ‘Kim Jongin’ and ‘Oh Sehun’ sound really familiar?”

Suyeon and Mirae look onto the court. Two extremely familiar boys are strutting on the sidelines, water jugs in hand. Suyeon slowly shakes her head. I could recognize those smug features anywhere, she thinks. Her mind flashes to the repulsive advertisement from the supermarket.

“They're our competing tutoring group.” Mirae grits her teeth. “The Sunset Tutoring Group.”