A/N: You guys can skip to Part 3 (Hero of the Day) if you want. It's where GD appears. I personally don't like the first two parts. LOL

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     "Pinch me," I ordered Emma, my schoolmate with whom I was going to spend the entire year as a roommate in the magnificent city of Seoul, South Korea.

     To say that I was mesmerized was an understatement. Here I am. Finally.

     The grandeur of the Incheon International Airport at long last greeted me. The snippets of its beauty that I've only heard about before was now radiating before my eyes. But it did not end there. This surreal scenery was just the entrance to the paradise I have always dreamed of. The exit doors we were walking towards let through rays of light that bewitched us, like we weren't already, as if it's the light that means freedom and happiness at the end of the tunnel.

     "I'll do it later. Your face is oily right now," she answered in a murmur, clearly stunned, too.

     Her being outspoken, with which I have yet to familiarize myself, went past me at the moment for this journey to a whole new world that awaits us seemed like the only thing that mattered. And it was. I could not speak for Emma but for me, this was a dream come true. And I earned this. Three long years consisting of sleepless nights and countless emotional breakdowns was what I had to go through to get to where I was now. I had to sacrifice my face in the process but I am hopeful that South Korea's weather will help lighten my pimple marks. Eating late-night snacks to aide my studying and stress-eating were also the culprits to my now-chubby figure. So, to summarize it all, I had to give up my self-esteem just to get to where I was now. But it's not like I would be needing a lot of it for my one year of stay here. Right?

     Emma looked around the neat airport with mouth agape. "It's like a whole new world out here," she breathed out.

     "Touché."

     "Let's take a selca! One. Two."

     "Wait, no!"

     "Kimchi!"

     And just like that, my ugly face was captured in its ugliest state -- open mouth, closed eyes, and furrowed eyebrows, with my hand awkwardly hanging mid air to supposedly stop Emma from taking a picture of us.

     "Just cover my face with an emoji or something when you post it on your SNS accounts," I told her.

     "What are you talking about? It doesn't look that bad," she reassured me.

     "Oh, yeah?"

     She then proceeded to put a filter on it and then showed it to me. "See? We look cute!"

     "I beg to disagree.."

     "Just think of it as a candid shot of you," she suggested. The friendly smile on her face did not help her case at all. No matter which angle you looked at it, a potato still looked better than I did on that photo.

     "Or you can just put an emoji or something," I told her firmly.

     "Alright, alright." She sighed in resignation. "You're no fun."

     In fact, she was right. No contest whatsoever.

     When we were about to depart, almost a dozen of her friends sent her off. While they were hugging and bidding farewells, I stood a few feet away from them, looking like a complete loser. This I earned too. My academics was the only thing I paid attention to. No one, and I mean no one, went past the acquainting stage and I only have myself to blame. But does that even matter? So what if I don't have friends? I was too busy making ends meet; it's not like I'd have time left to spare for #friendshipgoals dinners and escapades. Just having mere acquaintances was already enough, in my opinion.

     "So. You ready?" Emma asked with her eyes glistening with excitement, snapping me out of my trip down memory lane.

     "Hell, yeah."

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