Seulgi stood quiet.

She was confused. Very confused. Did Wendy just say they were going to catch Pokémon?

“What are you talking about? Sun and Moon doesn’t come out until November and you don’t even have a 3DS anymore.”

“No not like that. I mean we’re going to venture outside and catch Pokémon in the wild!”

Seulgi was still confused. And she was a bit concerned that Wendy may have hit her head a little too hard on something while hiding in the closet. Or maybe Seulgi hit Wendy too many times and scrambled up her brain.

Although Seulgi thought it would be awesome if they really lived in a Pokémon world, the reality was that Pokémon weren’t real. Sure, some had some real-life equivalents, but that didn’t mean they were actually Pokémon.

Was Wendy finally losing it?

“We’re not going outside and capturing wild animals, Wendy. That is way too crazy and dangerous, even for you,” Seulgi responded matter of factly, talking like a mother would to her stubborn child, “I’m pretty sure doing that without having a permit is illegal anyways. We can’t go to jail, Wendy! Do you know what happens to pretty girls like us in jail!?”  

“What the hell are you talking about? I mean the new Pokémon game! You know the one you can play on your phone?” Wendy explained as she pulled out her own phone from one of the pockets in her shorts and waved it around, “You’re so dumb sometimes I swear.”

“Pokémon Go came out today!? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME!?” Seulgi complained as she unlocked her phone and opened the app store so she could hurry up and download the game.

“Why do you think I kept on texting you? But nooooo you’d rather play that stupid bird game that’s like a million years old in internet years instead of catching Pokémon with your best friend,” she huffed. “And you call yourself a Pokémon fan. Honestly. You should be ashamed of yourself. The creator of Pokémon is probably rolling in his grave right now.”

“Hey I was busy and forgot all about it!” Seulgi retorted as she quickly entered her password so the app could start downloading on her phone. “And FYI, Satoshi Tajiri is still alive.”

“Yeah you were busy ing on Kpop idols. Soooo important. Now hurry up and download it so we can play together. I already caught a Squirtle, a bunch of those purple rat things, and some Pidgeys.”

“How did you get a Squirtle?”

“By being awesome. Get on my level son!”

“Shut up,” Seulgi countered as she anxiously looked at the status of her download. It looked like it’d take a bit of time for the whole game to download. Her parents paid good money to have top notch internet, but even then, the waiting game felt like an eternity. She stared at her phone intensely, hoping that doing so would somehow magically make the game download faster, but it was useless.   

Hurry up internet! I want to play it now!

Suddenly Seulgi heard her friend giggle and looked up to see what was so funny. Wendy, who was smiling widely at this point, held her phone outwards towards Seulgi’s general direction and was tapping her screen.

She noticed that the phone case Wendy had was cute. It had a single, baby blue frosted smiling cupcake wearing an enormous black mustache that sat against a pastel pink background with the words “You know you want me” written underneath the cupcake in black print.

Seulgi made a mental note to ask Wendy later where she got that case.

“Hey I’m downloading the app as fast as I can! Don’t laugh at me.”

“No not that. There’s a Geodude on your face, dummy,” Wendy chuckled while moving her phone to the side a bit, probably trying getting a better view of the Pokémon on Seulgi’s face.

“Really?? I wanna see— “

“Don’t move! You’re going to scare it off!” Wendy chastised as she did whatever she had to do to catch the Geodude. Seulgi couldn’t see what Wendy was doing because she was trying her best not to move a muscle. She even stopped blinking just to be on the safe side.

Wendy better be grateful that I’m doing this for her because I’m an awesome friend.

After a few moments of becoming a statue passed, the girl’s eyes started to water. She couldn’t hang on for much longer. Why is it taking so long for Wendy to catch that Geodude? is what she thought to herself until she heard Wendy snickering while tapping on her phone screen a few times.

“Did you catch it yet?” Seulgi stiffly asked through gritted teeth, trying not to move her lips at all and fighting against the tears forming in her eyes. The struggle was definitely real.

“Yeah and now I’m taking pictures of you because you look ridiculous.”

“Screw you,” Seulgi huffed while rolling her eyes at Wendy’s antics. She was thankful she could blink again.

“You wish you could screw me.”

“You wish that I wished I could screw you.”

“You wish that I wished that—oh shut up. Hurry up and register your account so we can play already," Wendy groaned as she hit Seulgi’s bed, causing the mattress to move a bit.

“Don’t hit my bed!”

“That’s the most action this bed has ever had in its life. You should be thanking me.”

“You don’t know that!”

Wendy dismissively waved her hand at what Seulgi said and mumbled “Whatever.”

Seulgi hmphed as she looked down at her phone. After an eternity, the game finished downloading. She opened it, entered her email and password, but encountered a problem that many people encounter when they first sign up for games, or for anything new in general.

She didn’t know what screen name she should give herself.

“You’re taking a million years just to come up with a screen name. How do you make everyday life decisions!?”

"Calm down! A username sticks with you for life. A lot of thought must be put into it! Besides I doubt the game will allow people to change their names later on anyways so I need to be careful."

Seulgi thought that if she got up off of her bed and walked around a bit, she’d think of a good name. And she did just that, but nothing immediately came to her mind. She scratched her head as she continued contemplating what her screen name should be.

Pokémon Master? No too corny.

Pikachu? Nope. The name was already taken. Great.

Choaisbae? No. What if she became interested in another Kpop idol later on down the road? Seulgi wasn't ready to make that kind of commitment in her life yet.

Seulgi couldn't think of anything else and was out of options. Hearing Wendy complain about her taking too long finding a screen name wasn't helping either.

“Just put ‘gaygaygay’ and be done with it already!”

Seulgi ignored Wendy and continued to ponder what her name should be. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, looked deep within her heart, and asked herself: who are you?

“Don’t you dare fall asleep on me, Kang Seulgi!”

Yet again, Seulgi blocked out Wendy’s nonsense and continued her quest of self-discovery.

Then it hit her. Yes. This was the name she was meant to have. This was the name that came from the deepest depths of her heart. This was the name that will live on for centuries on gaming forums all over the internet.

She quickly typed in the name that appeared in her head and confidently pressed "confirm."

In the world of Pokémon Go, she was now known as Seulgichu.

"Are you done yet?!" Wendy asked impatiently.

"Yeah," replied Seulgi as she was greeted by the image of a middle-aged man who looked a bit like Professor Oak except Professor Oak looked more cartoony in comparison. This man looked a bit more realistic and stylish with his black rimmed glasses and green and white lab coat. She was expecting him to casually ask her if she was a boy or a girl, but surprisingly he didn’t.

"Okay let's go catch some Pokémon!"

"I don't even know how I'm supposed to do that!"

"Let me show you, young grasshopper. Skip everything Professor Willow says. It's not important."

"Tutorials are important Wendy. They teach you how to, you know, play the game correctly?"

"Oh my god just hurry up so I can show you how to play."

Seulgi rolled her eyes at Wendy’s impatience as she tapped on her screen a few times to skip what Professor Willow had to say. Thankfully she could read pretty fast so she didn't really miss out on what was said.

All of a sudden, Seulgi saw her avatar standing in a miniature 3D version of her neighborhood. The ground was green and there was even a blue sky with cute little fluffy clouds floating around. Squares of various shapes and sizes were around her avatar that represented the houses around her neighborhood, including her own. The game even showed the streets that lead in and out Seulgi’s neighborhood as well as all the streets around her.

This is so cool!

Suddenly four Pokémon appeared: a Pikachu, Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur.

"Oh my god Wendy look what popped up!" exclaimed Seulgi excitedly as she showed Wendy her phone. She was a little too excited and almost dropped her phone, but managed to save it in the nick of time. Nobody had time for a phone with a cracked screen.

"Chill, girl. They're supposed to pop out of nowhere like that. Remember the games?"

"Yeah each game let you choose a starter Pokémon. I remember," Seulgi responded as she was, yet again, faced with another tough life decision. Which Pokémon should she choose as a starter?

"Hey Wendy which one did you choose?"

"I chose Charmander because it's cute and lovable just like me," she responded while pointing at herself with a smug look.

Gag.

"Plus fire is pretty cool. But don't you dare copy me. Choose another one."

“Why would I copy someone who’s probably a closet pyromanic…” muttered Seulgi under her breath.

“Did you say something?”

“Nope.”

Seulgi looked back at her phone screen. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the yellow Pokémon that was the face of the brand. The Pokémon that everyone around the world knew and recognized, even if they weren't into the Pokémon series.

She tapped on Pikachu and the next moment, Seulgi heard the all too familiar Pokémon battle music that plays when a trainer encounters Pokémon in the wild. The Pikachu appeared on her bed and was looking straight at her with its trademark smile.

She moved her phone to the right and the Pikachu disappeared from her sight. Seulgi slightly panicked when she couldn’t see the cute little Pokémon, but all was well when she moved her phone back to her bed. She saw the iconic red and white Pokéball on the bottom of the screen and tapped on it. The Pokéball unceremoniously fell on the ground with a thud, not even close to the Pikachu at all, and disappeared. The number counter next to the Pokéball decreased by one after that.

So you lose a Pokéball each time you throw one…then what happens if you run out of Pokéballs?

"Wendy how do you play this?"

"Let me show you, noob."

“I’m not a noob-,“ Seulgi was interrupted when Wendy walked up behind Seulgi and leaned on her. She placed her head on Seulgi's right shoulder, wrapped her arms around Seulgi’s, and took control of the phone.

Seulgi froze, surprised at the contact and didn't know what to do. She just stared at her phone (which was currently being held by Wendy). She wasn't used to this kind of contact from anyone. Sure she'd give Wendy hugs and they'd lean on each other sometimes when they'd watch TV, play games, or whatever, but she never received a back hug from her or from any other girl before.

It was…different and dare she say, nice?

"You see where the Pokéball is right? You tap it, hold your finger down, and flick your finger up towards the Pokémon to catch it."

"Uh huh," Seulgi acknowledged, only partially paying attention to what Wendy was saying. The girl was more focused on staying calm and steadying her heartbeat which was beating fast for some reason. Why did she feel so nervous? Wendy was Wendy. Why did she suddenly become hyper aware of what Wendy was doing?

"Do you see the little green circle that's getting smaller in the white circle? You throw the Pokéball when the circle is close to being small," explained Wendy as she not-so-expertly threw the Pokéball at the Pikachu. The Pokéball flew way to the side and wasn’t close to it at all. Wendy grunted in annoyance and leaned into Seulgi more so she could focus on catching that Pikachu. Seulgi felt like she was going to have a heart attack. She could feel the other girl's s pushing against her back and that was not something Seulgi was used to.

But deep down, she secretly liked it. And that confused her. A lot.

This new revelation was unsettling. Wendy was her friend. Her best friend. She shouldn’t have enjoyed the physical contact as much as she did, but her gay was saying otherwise.

"Yeah," Seulgi replied in a machine-like manner. She needed to get out of this position as soon as possible or else she'd die. Whether she’d die of embarrassment or happiness at the current situation she was in wasn’t something she couldn’t, and didn’t, want to think about. Some questions were better left unanswered.

After a few tries, Wendy finally aimed the Pokéball correctly and Pikachu got transported inside of it. The Pokéball fell on the ground and the camera zoomed in. It moved around a few times until it made a "click" noise which signified that Pikachu was successfully captured. "Pikachu was caught" appeared in white letters on the screen.

"And that's how you do it!" beamed Wendy proudly as she handed the phone back to Seulgi and detached herself from the newbie Pokémon trainer.

Seulgi stared blankly at her phone looking at her newly caught Pikachu, but Pokémon was far from her mind at that moment. She was still in shock from being so close to Wendy and must have been in that state for a while because Wendy began waving her hand in Seulgi's face saying "Hello? Earth to Seulgi?"

Seulgi shook her head and came back to reality.

“Huh?”

"I said 'let's go outside and catch Pokémon now' like a million times yet you kept on staring into space. Are you feeling okay?"

Damn I must've zoned out for a while. I have to be more careful, thought Seulgi.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just a bit tired."

"I'm sure if you watch some more MVs you won't feel so tried anymore," the other girl said with a smirk.

"Shut up. I need to change so go downstairs and wait or something," Seulgi ordered as she sat up from her bed and stretched her arms out.

"Please we've been friends for how long? It's not like we've never saw each other in our underwear before," Wendy responded nonchalantly as she mimicked Seulgi’s movement and started stretching herself.

"Wait...I have a question."

Seulgi’s ears perked when she heard Wendy trail off. Alarm bells were ringing in her head, screaming “Stop her!” She could already guess what Wendy was going to ask.

“Have you ever checked me out while I was changing before?” is what the little devil was probably going to ask. 

Oh no. You are so not going to go there, Wendy Son. You’re going down.

"No," Seulgi deadpanned.

"I didn't even ask the question yet!"

"Knowing you it'll probably be something super embarrassing. Now go."

"Fine. You're no fun," Wendy whined as she her heels and stomped towards the door leading outside of Seulgi’s bedroom. Seulgi kept on eye on her to make sure she didn’t do anything weird like hide in the closet again. There was enough of that for one day.

Suddenly Wendy stopped, turned her head and looked back at Seulgi with an unreadable expression.

"Oh and Seulgi?"

"Hm?"

"Don't forget to put a bra on beca—"

Like a flash of lightning, a pillow was thrown at Wendy's face interrupting her before she could even finish her sentence.

"Get out!"

"Make me."

Seulgi stormed towards her hellish best friend, fully intending to give Wendy a piece of her mind but Wendy ran outside the room with a joyful "eek" and disappeared.

She closed the door and made sure it was locked because knowing Wendy she'd probably open the door right when Seulgi was changing and give Seulgi another heart attack. Seulgi had enough excitement for one day.

She walked to her body length mirror that hung on the wall near her bed and looked at herself.

Seulgi was wearing a long, loose white t-shirt that reached a little bit past her knee. While the t-shirt made it seem like Seulgi wasn't wearing anything underneath (she’s surprised that Wendy didn’t make any jokes about it), she was actually wearing short black basketball shorts that stopped just above her knee.

She stood in front of the mirror for a moment longer and shook her head. There was no way she was going outside looking like that. In her mind, the shorts were fine, but the t-shirt needed to go.

Seulgi walked to her closet and, thanks to Wendy, was saved the task of opening it. She was greeted by all of her clothes hanging neatly.

A few days prior, she attempted to categorize everything by color, but gave up because she had too many shirts and didn't want to spend too much time on something stupid like organizing her wardrobe.

"I should wear something Pokémon themed..." she muttered to herself as she looked through the seemingly endless number of shirts she had in her closet. She stopped when one shirt caught her attention. Seulgi took out the shirt from the closet to get a better look at it.

It was a light gray shirt that had a giant red and white Pokéball image on the front center. The word "Pokémon” was written on top of the Pokéball in large bold black font outlined by white lines, curving along with the Pokéball. The word “trainer” was written in the same exact way except it underneath the Pokéball. The shirt was a male’s shirt, as evidenced by the longer sleeves and the fact that the shirt didn’t have a low cut in the neck and chest area, but Seulgi didn’t care. Clothes were clothes. She liked the shirt so she got it.

"I haven't worn this in a while...and it's Pokémon related so this'll do," Seulgi mused as she took the shirt off the hanger. She was about to put it on when she remembered what Wendy said.

"Jerk," Seulgi muttered as walked to the medium-sized dresser on the other side of the room. She opened the top drawer, pulled out a simple white bra, and put it on. Knowing Wendy, if she saw the bra Seulgi chose, she’d complain that it was too boring but Seulgi didn’t care. She wasn’t actively trying to impress anyone. The bra got the job done and, most importantly, was on sale and came in a pack of three. Score.

After Seulgi put the shirt on, she grabbed a hairbrush and combed out all the knots in her hair. Then she grabbed a black rubber band, worked her magic, and put her hair up in a simple, yet tight, ponytail. She made sure to get all of her hair back in the ponytail that way her hair wouldn't get in her face while she was catching Pokémon.

She had no time to get distracted by something like that. What if she crossed paths with a Mew? She needed to be prepared.

Okay the chances of her coming across a Mew the first day the game was released were very slim, but it didn’t hurt to be a little optimistic.

Seulgi then grabbed her favorite body spray she recently purchased and sprayed herself a few times, being careful not to spray herself in the face and burn her eyes. Satisfied that she smelled like Japanese cherry blossoms, she made her way to the nightstand next to her bed to grab her wallet and house keys.

Her and Wendy might get hungry on their Pokémon journey and stop by a convenience store or fast food place to get something to eat.

Seulgi also didn’t want to risk being locked out of her house.

Although even if I did end up locked out of my house, Wendy would probably find a way to break in anyways.

Seulgi walked towards her door, made sure she unlocked it because she didn't want to deal with being locked out of her room, and made her way down the stairs.

Wendy was waiting impatiently by the front door, tapping her foot on the ground while looking at her phone.

"Okay let's go," Seulgi declared as she eyed her trusty black sneakers that were on the floor near the front entrance.

"About time! I swear I aged three years while waiting for you."

"That explains the gray hairs then."

"Jerk. Okay hurry up! We need to go out there and catch some Pokémon before they all go away."

"I don't think all the Pokémon will be captured, Wendy. We'll be fine."

"Whatever just hurry up," Wendy complained as she rubbed her forehead, clearly annoyed at how long Seulgi took to get ready to go on their Pokémon adventure.

As Seulgi was tying her shoelaces, she remembered hearing that it would be sunny today. It was July after all, but sometimes the heat became unbearable this time of year.

"Hey should we take some water bottles in case it's hot outside?"

"Yeah. Sure. Fine. Whatever. Less talking. More moving."

Seulgi went into the kitchen and grabbed a few water bottles out of the refrigerator. Each one was cool to the touch and perfect for their outing. Nobody was going to die of dehydration on her watch.

But there was a problem: where would they put the water bottles? Neither of them had a bag or some other sort of container to hold the water bottles. And knowing Wendy, she’d complain about having to hold them because she was a brat like that.

She decided that she’d search for a suitable bag to put the water bottles in since neither her or Wendy would be able to put them in their pockets since both were wearing shorts.

And even if they did have deep enough pockets in their shorts, Seulgi wouldn't have been comfortable walking around with a water bottle in her pocket anyways since it'd create an awkward looking bulge that’d make it seem like she was carrying something extra in her shorts.

She did not want to draw attention to herself for the wrong reasons.

Seulgi started opening random cabinets and moving stuff around, hoping that she’d be able to find something she could use.

"Are you looking for something?" a voice behind Seulgi asked. A lightbulb instantly went off in her head. If there was anyone in this house that would know where something was, it'd be Seulgi's mom.

"Hey mom. Do you know what I could put these water bottles in? Wendy and I are going outside for a bit."

"Oh, I have just the thing," Seulgi's mom answered as she walked into the kitchen and opened a lower cabinet that Seulgi thought she thoroughly inspected, but apparently did not. After a few moments of rummaging through whatever was in the cabinet, the older woman turned around with a recta