“Have you had a good time so far?” Sungmin motioned for me to sit in front of his desk.

“Yeah, so far. All I did was unpack and walk around a bit, but it’s been fun.” I sat down and smoothed out my long, plaid dress.

“Good!” Sungmin sat behind his desk and skimmed through some papers. He asked me questions about my banking history, wrote down some things, and filed the papers into one of his drawers. While he was busy, I looked around the small room and stopped on a sunken-in glass case in the wall to my left. Behind the glass was a beautiful, golden-rimmed crown.

“Wow, that’s beautiful.” I said.

Sungmin looked up and to the side where I was looking. “Oh! That’s the most expensive item in Hill Valley.”

“Did it belong to royalty?”

“No one knows for sure, but it wouldn’t be surprising. It’s an antique, so it’s extremely valuable. Unfortunately, we almost had it stolen recently, so I had to encase it in bulletproof glass and keep it in sight in my office. So immature some people are these days..” Sungmin shook his head and smiled pleasantly. “Anyway, you’re all entered into our system! Do you have any other questions?”

I said no and we shook hands.

“Thank you for residing in our town, Miss Jill.” He smiled and bowed.

“You can just call me Jill.” I smiled back and shook his head.

I exited the city bank and looked around. Evening was starting to settle into the sky as the sun began its descend into the horizon. City lamp posts were manually lit so the roads could be walked on safely. The most light came from inside the saloon in front of me along with sounds of excitement and general merriment. I figured I’d go hang out in there since that’s where most of the townspeople were anyway.

I took several steps toward the saloon entrance. A quiet but hearable sound came from my left and I looked toward the barber shop. I could see the barber standing in the candlelight coming from the closest lamppost. His back was to me and it looked like he was dusting off the barber chair.

I watched him for a moment, then quietly cleared my throat. “Hello.”

The barber turned his head in the direction of my voice and we met eyes.

I suddenly didn’t know what to say. “U-um.. I just moved in here today and… I’m just saying hello.” I looked down embarrassed. I don’t know why I even said “hello” in the first place. I usually wasn’t that outgoing.

“Oh, hi.” The barber nodded politely and turned around. “Everyone’s at the saloon right now, so they’ll probably welcome you properly.”

“Um, are you working?” I moved my head to the side, trying to see what he was dusting off.

“My work day ends at 5 pm, but I still have to clean up.”

I looked at the clock hanging on the side of the barbershop door. “It’s almost 6:30.”

“I have a lot to clean up.”

I blinked and stood still, watching him dust. “Aren’t you going to go home soon?”

“I will.”

Once I realized he wasn’t going to carry on a useful conversation, I turned back toward the saloon doors and opened them.

It was packed. Everyone was drinking alcohol and talking loudly with each other. I looked up and saw even more people standing on the balcony level of the saloon, talking with each other and laughing.

“Hey Jill!”

My eyes moved to my front. Heechul was waving me over. Some other people I saw earlier in the day were near him and they all looked at me as I walked over. Eunhyuk, the bleach-blonde bullfighter, was sitting with his back to the bar. Donghae, the unselfish bounty hunter was sitting next to him in the same position. And sitting to the right of Heechul in front of the bar was the sheriff.

“Hello.” I nodded politely and blushed a little. All of them were grinning at me.

“We figured we’d help you celebrate your first night in Hill Valley. It’s even better you’re still here.” Heechul chuckled and pulled out a bottle of liquor from under the bar.

I quickly waved my hand. “Oh no thank you. I don’t drink.”

Siwon, Eunhyuk, and Donghae stared at me.

“Oh yeah, I forgot. My bad.” Heechul put the bottle on the bar and pulled out three small shot glasses.

“How old are you?” Eunhyuk asked.

“I’m 22.” I answered.

“Why don’t you drink?” Donghae asked.

“I just choose not to.”

Siwon looked conflicted. “What to do…I admire your maturity, but even I take drinks once in a while.”

“I’m sorry.” I said quietly and tucked some hair behind my ear.

“Don’t apologize! We won’t hate you!” Eunhyuk laughed and patted my shoulder.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” Heechul poured clear soju into the small, shot glasses.

“Here’s to our newest resident of Hill Valley!” Siwon held up his shot glass and the other two held up theirs as well.