This is a new chapter.

When Byul entered her first day of College, it felt like she was reborn.

As if she just passed a hard level in a game and now entering a new level.

And maybe now with a new Moon Byulyi as well.

Her friend, Hyejin, told her that this is a new chance for her to start over, drawing all over again from a blank canvas after her messy romance with she-whom-shall-not-be-named. She joked to Hyejin and Wheein on time that her leave was like a part where Byul would break away from the toxic chain and that it was meant to happen the way it was because Byul has no regret whatsoever.

She has come to terms with everything that happened.

Hyejin told her to forget and Byul obliged to her request, she knows Hyejin meant well but Byul knew herself better. After the nth time she tried to forget, she gave up because life logic works in an odd way. It’s like when you lost something and you try to look for it but you couldn’t find it; yet the moment you accept that something was gone for good, you end up finding it in the most obvious place. So, Byul decided to stop trying to forget and let it go with time.

A year has passed now.

And to say the least, Byul is now fine.

She got into Seoul National University (SNU) with her full-scholarship that even covers her dormitory expenses. Byul would still require to maintain her good grades though but it was never a hassle for someone like Byul. She easily made friends on the first day of Campus Orientation. Her first friend was a cute girl with an eyesmile and somehow reminds her of a bear, her name is Kang Seulgi. Another one was actually a friend of Seulgi and she’s already in her second semester, the girl was tall and very pretty, alluring, her name is Lee Sunmi.

Sadly, Hyejin and Wheein didn’t attend the same university with Byul. Wheein got herself accepted into one of the prestigious Art University and Hyejin ended up applying to the same university only because Wheein attend there. Byul couldn’t argue with Hyejin’s decision because she and Wheein had been together since Middle School, surely a separation isn’t something they wish to have.

Everything was going well, Byul maintains her grades well and her circle of friends grew bigger, thanks to Sunmi.

Sunmi is an outgoing type of person, she likes to go out and party but nothing too crazy. Whenever Sunmi asked her and Seulgi to go out and ‘loosen up’, Byul would end up getting new faces and names to add on her list of acquaintances. Sunmi sometimes would end up making out with a random pretty stranger, be it a girl or a guy (she goes for both teams), and every single time Sunmi would forget that she’s bringing Byul and Seulgi along. Byul will get slightly pissed and Seulgi would always be the kind-hearted bear and will instead try to distract Byul’s negative mood to something else. The two of them, however, never really end up with anyone even though clearly there are people trying their lucks at both Seulgi and Byul.

Sunmi once asked the two girls about why they never even try to hook up with any human being.

Seulgi’s answer was simple. She said it was simply because she has someone, she’s been crushing so hard on.

Meanwhile Byul…

There was definitely something deeper about her reasons and Byul wasn’t sure if she wants to let either Seulgi or Sunmi know about it yet. She ended up saying, “They’s distract my study.” – if it were Hyejin and Wheein, they won’t buy that lame excuse because simply they know Byul better and had been there to witness what happened to Byul’s past. But Sunmi and Seulgi aren’t really that close to her, at least not yet, thus they bought her reason knowing how Byul was also holding on to her scholarship in the university.

Between Sunmi and Seulgi, Byul was closer to Seulgi because they shared a dorm together.

They both have quite a few similarities that made them clicked as friends. Everything between them was platonic though, mainly because Seulgi has someone she likes a lot.

They were close but not close enough.

Seulgi never actually told Byul any details about her crush and Byul respected that so she didn’t ask anything about it. But of course, Byul notices a few things about Seulgi that kind of nags her at times—often times.

Seulgi likes playing games. It was one of their shared-interests. She and Byul are game buddies, they usually play games on mobile phones though since their dorm room wasn’t exactly an extravagant room—it only has two small bedrooms, one tiny living room that connects with the tiny kitchen and a single bathroom. They may not major the same thing but they’re each other’s partners in a shooting game, ‘PUBG’ – they play together a lot and by a lot, that means almost every day. But Byul knew there is actually another game Seulgi plays literally every chance she gets, nearly every hour of the day. It tickles Byul’s curiosity, so she dared to ask Seulgi about it.

Seulgi was willing to tell her everything about that other game.

It was an MMORPG game.

Truthfully speaking, Byul wasn’t really a huge fan of that genre but because she was currently on a long summer break and her part-time job will only start in the afternoon which only means Byul has so much time to kill, she decided to take her small interest in the game up a notch.

Long story short, Seulgi taught her how to play and how everything in the game works. Level wise, Byul was way below Seulgi but she would always ask Byul to play together in a room, along with this one other player. Byul assumed whoever that is must be a girl. The name gives it away, really.

GoddessBunny.

Byul told Seulgi that the player’s name was cute.

Seulgi answered, “So is the person behind it.”

It perked Byul’s attention, she wondered if this player is actually Seulgi’s friend or if Seulgi is close enough with this player that this player shared her photo to Seulgi.

“Do you have a pic?”

“She has twitter.”

Twitter.

Somehow the name of that app triggers the tiny braincells that holds the bittersweet memories of her but Byul refused to give in. She shakes her head to get rid of the sudden time-travel moment when Seulgi gave her the player’s twitter account (of course, after asking for GoddessBunny’s permission).

Byul typed down the username and visit the profile.

Apparently, GoddessBunny is a huge fan of a girl band, ‘Red Velvet’ and this twitter account of hers wasn’t exactly a personal account, it’s more like a stan account. Yet it was even put on private! Even if Byul drop a ‘follow’ request, she doubt she’ll even see the girl’s selca because obviously, stan account don’t usually post up their actual real-life photos online.

Yeah, ever heard of fakers? Those are people who uses other people’s photos to identify themselves.

Feeling skeptical, Byul came to Seulgi—more like whining.

“Seul, it was on private~ She wasn’t even using her own profile picture. I’m skeptical. What if she’s lying to you? What if she used someone else’s photo because—”

What made Byul stop was how Seulgi laughs at her paranoia.

“Stop laughing. Why are you laughing? This is serious!”

“No, you’re over-exaggerating it. Chill, unnie… I haven’t met her but I’ve talked to her, I can assure you she’s one hundred percent real human, not some bot or worse, a faker.”

But Byul was still feeling skeptical.

It didn’t help when Seulgi showed Byul a photo of GoddessBunny and she turned out to be a super pretty girl. Byul’s heart actually skipped a beat at the sight of that particular selca.

With an excuse of wanting to make sure of GoddessBunny’s authenticity, she ends up trying to talk to her.

And what started as revealing GoddessBunny’s true identity, ended up as a never-ending chatting session. Byul found out that her name is Bae Joohyun, she’s on her last semester of Law School located in Daegu and fortunately, she was born in the same year as she-whom-shall-not-be-named. When Byul first found out about her full name, she last name a bit at first but Joohyun was already immune to it, she said she got that a lot. She told Byul to be more creative if she wants to get Joohyun’s attention. Byul was intrigued to drop some more flirtings and teasings and of course, grease, for Joohyun.

Not long after that, they got closer.

Byul knew a sign when she sees one, and with Joohyun, it was crystal clear.

She was surprised at how easy she conversed and got close with Joohyun. It was almost everything comes naturally. Joohyun responds to Byul’s flirting really well and she was really bold too because at certain times she would have a comeback that able to make Byul flustered like a teenage girl. They become closer, fonder of each other’s company though it was only through texting. Soon enough, they do morning greetings to each other, reminding each other to not overwork themselves, they always end the day with a ‘goodnight’ text. Sometimes they even do phone calls now.

Byul remembered the first time she called Joohyun. Her voice was so soft and Byul nearly melted that time. Also, Joohyun’s satori accent only makes everything cuter than it already was.

Byul was simply attracted to her, very attracted to her to the point that she might confess soon enough. She didn’t tell anyone that she’s been developing feelings towards a girl she met on a mobile game, but she did admit to Hyejin and Wheein that a certain someone has been catching Byul’s attention a lot. She refused to give in more details about it, leaving her two best friends dying wit curiosity.

She didn’t tell Seulgi either. All Seulgi knows was that Byul ahs been chatting with Joohyun a lot. Seulgi wasn’t suspicious at all, sometimes they even talk about Joohyun together.

And then Byul had an idea.

She was ready to confess; she was sure of her feelings. It wasn’t as serious as ‘love’ but Byul was sure she wanted to try and make whatever she has with Joohyun, official. She thought confessing through text message or phone call make her feel as if she’s being a coward, so she suggested a meeting (date) with Joohyun.

Byul doesn’t want to seem as if she didn’t think through her plan and to make sure Joohyun have a clear schedule, she asked her thirty days prior to the date—meeting. Aside from those reasons, Byul also need to prepare everything because this meeting requires her to visit Joohyun in Daegu. It wasn’t an official date, yet none of them call it a date. It was all because Byul used an excuse of ‘wanting to have a small vacay in Daegu’.

Their conversation went a little like this:

[ you’re in daegu, right? ]

[ mmhm why? Wanna come visit me? Haha jk ]

[ well, I’ve been thinking of doing that actually. Wdyt? ]

[ oh you were serious? ]

[ yea, been wanting to pick a place for a vacay these days ]
[ I mean if I can also visit you, it would be great, right? ]
[ I prefer going with u than alone ;) ]
[ do you mind tho? ]

[ aw that’s so sweet~ ofc not! :D I’ll be your tour guide! ]

And so, the plan was made and within a few days, Joohyun bombarded her with places Byul would like to visit. It makes Byul smile seeing how Joohyun was