She's going to die she's going to die she's going to die.

It's 3am and Jooyoung is one step from smashing the coffee cup on her table, but she uses her last ounce of self-control to stop herself from doing so. (Because smashing the cup would mean spilling the contents onto her laptop and that means she's going to die more. And she can't have that.)

In six hours, she is going to have to present to her professor an entire report on the psychological benefits of sleeping early — funny how Jooyoung herself is going crazy pulling another late night to finish the report. Technically, she is about done with it. She'd completed writing the 22-page document yesterday, but no way is she going to hand in substandard work. If she has time, she needs to improve on her work as much as she can. And now she's found so many missing points in her report she's going to stab the screen with her ballpoint pen from frustration. Why had she procrastinated writing and checking through her report so much?

Jooyoung needs a High Distinction. Not just a HD, but the HD. Her professor is notorious for giving only one student from all his classes combined a HD, and she needs to be the one who gets the grade. Not for her parents. Not to show off to her friends. But instead, for herself more than anything, because there is no way she's going to accept a mere Distinction (or lower) in her life. It would be absolute disaster. It would be her perfect straight-HD student reputation tarnished for good. Plus she has to graduate with first class honours.

The funny thing about Jooyoung is that she is the biggest procrastinator ever, but somehow, right before she's about to run out of time, she always gets hit by an entire truckload of guilt and urgency and stress to get things done, and properly. She will never accept anything lower than HD. But for some reason she never finds the motivation not to procrastinate either.

Which technically makes this whole staying up thing her fault. And many other late nights as well.

But oh gosh, thinking about it this way makes her feel like she is dying with an even greater intensity. Jolting up straight, she cracks her knuckles and opens her browser. Now, if she works fast, she could squeeze in another review of some study, or maybe she could find more data to back up her points... She needs that HD. And another cup of coffee.

Closing her eyes for a moment, she lets her head fall directly on the table. She would just take a short nap. 15 minutes, tops. Maybe it is okay to leave her assignment this way... No she can't... But she's so tired —

And suddenly the silence of the room is interrupted by laughter erupting in the corridor. Not just laughter — loud, noisy, annoying bursts of them. Growling softly, Jooyoung grips the pen tight in her hand. Doing work in the dorms is so impossible sometimes. (But where is she to get the money for an apartment?) She's reluctant to stand up but she still does, and after momentarily losing her balance she manages to grab her pillow from her bed and slip on a pair of slippers.

Kicking open the door with her slippers, she materialises at the corridor with her pillow as her weapon. She is aware her hair is in a big mess of a bun, and her sleepwear nothing short of embarrassing, but she knows she has to sacrifice some ego to survive at the dorms.

She narrows her eyes and advances forward, her pillow clutched tightly in her hand. Jooyoung plans to attack the first person she sees.

The boisterous laughter seems to come from behind her now. Whipping backwards, Jooyoung comes face-to-face with a small group of boys, and without further ado, she lifts her pillow high… and whacks the boy right in front of her. Thrice. It's probably the coffee, but her hits are hard today, and she knows it from the way the boy is shouting. Something falls onto the floor, and the laughter immediately stops.

And then she goes back to her room and locks the door, satisfied. The boy had groaned and his friends backed away in shock, but she can't care less. That's what they get for making a ruckus in the corridors at 3am in the morning. The physical exercise seems to give her a bit more energy too. Dusting her pillow, she flings it back onto her bed and sits back at her desk, intaking another sip of coffee before continuing on her report.

It's nice and quiet now. Good.

Jooyoung continues with her report for what seems like 10 more minutes (but actually is an hour-and-forty-minutes) and heads to the printing room at four plus in the morning to finally get it printed. She's feeling more awake than she should be, but she knows this energy would go away once the sun rises.

On her way back to her room she passes a vending machine, and is about to grab herself a drink when she catches sight of a group of boys crowding around another boy leaning on the vending machine itself. The boy leaning is shorter than the rest of them, and if she didn't crane her neck to see what the boys are crowding around, Jooyoung probably wouldn't have even noticed he's there.

"Dude, are you seriously not going to find out who she is? But why?" One boy sputters, and her curiosity is piqued as to who they are talking about.

"No," the short boy states, then waves the two bowls of instant rice in his hand. He looks heaps more calm and jovial than those crowding around him. "It's really okay to me. I exchanged a hit for two free bowls of instant rice from you all. It's a good deal."

"But she hit you so hard with that pillow! And it wasn't just one hit, it was three. And then you had to clean up the rice you spilled on the floor because of her." The other boy looks exasperated by now, and she knows who they're talking about (her, obviously), so she stops to listen. Anyway, she's curious about what happened after she had hit the boy. But she isn't guilty, because it isn't her fault — those boys really shouldn't be making such a din in the middle of the night in a common area.

The short boy merely laughs, and Jooyoung is intrigued. "Revenge is stressful and unnecessary, I'd rather spend my time elsewhere," he says.

"You got hit because of us," the other boy mutters now, sounding upset. "It wasn't even you making the noise. You were just heading back from the pantry with your rice and happened to cross us."

"Nah, don't feel this way. As I said, you gave me rice for free. All's fine. Don't worry, man." The short guy pats the other guy on the shoulder and smiles. The short guy is so chill that for a moment, she feels guilt strike her, but it floats away rather easily. He isn't mad, and even seems happy about the rice he got from the other boys, so there's nothing she needs to worry about. Right?

Wrong. All of a sudden she feels stress about bashing up an innocent person engulf her, but she can't pluck up her courage to apologise now — not in front of the other boys. So Jooyoung runs away, half afraid and half annoyed at herself for adding stress to her already stressful life.

"Sleep, Han Jooyoung, go to sleep," she tells herself as she reaches her room, packs her freshly-printed report into her bag, then flings herself onto the bed and pulls her duvet over her head.

Two hours later, she's up again, groggier than when she had gone to sleep. She runs her fingers through her uncombed hair as she makes her way out of the dorms and into the administration building where the student government room is located. Her eyes are hardly open and her stomach is grumbling in protest at the fact that she left her room without breakfast.

Jooyoung doesn't like to be late, but she doesn't want to wake up earlier either, so it isn't her fault that on days where the student government has meetings, she looks a hundred times worse than regular twenty year-old college girls. She's fine with that.

When she reaches the room some members of the student government are there already, and she takes her seat near the front of the room. The seat at the head of the table is empty as usual. She sighs. Krystal Jung has never taken her responsibility as President properly. It seems that she, as Vice President, and the rest of the student government, contribute much more than she does. Of course in saying so, Krystal also never turns up for meetings on time. Not once.

The buzz in the room dies down when the door opens and in rushes in a sweaty Krystal, 10 minutes late. Somehow she still manages to look glamorous despite her frazzled self. Jooyoung knows that she's just come from netball practice — the university's team has trainings every alternate morning. Maybe it's the all-pink sports ensemble or her long wavy hair that makes her look so chic. Jooyoung skilfully avoids eye contact with her, pretending to be occupied on her laptop instead.

"I'm so sorry! Am I late?" Krystal exclaims, sounding extremely apologetic. But she always does, and never once did she do anything that showed she's sincere. Jooyoung believes she's just apologising for the sake of it, and is sure other people in the room think so too, but no one dares to say anything, so there are a few awkward nods and grunts of acceptance and that is it.

After all there is a reason why Krystal, with all her irresponsible ways, is the President of the student government in her college — she's a social butterfly. And a hot one, which makes her super popular, even if Jooyoung doesn't want to admit it.

When she next looks up from her laptop, she sees Krystal mouthing something to her, but she doesn't catch what she's trying to say.

"What?" Jooyoung whispers, leaning forward.

"I didn't receive today's meeting agenda," Krystal whispers back, her wavy hair bouncing. Krystal looks at her with earnest eyes and she doesn't have the heart to tell her that Krystal herself was the one supposed to be coming up with the agenda in the first place, but because it stressed her that the night before nothing concrete had been planned out, she had texted the secretary-treasurer, a kitten-eyed boy named Kim Minseok, to come up with it together with her. He's Jooyoung's saviour all the time when she needs help with student government-related things.

"Check your email," she merely whispers back. "It's there." Krystal grins at her and mouths a quick thanks before logging on. Minseok clears his throat, and Jooyoung makes brief eye contact with him (which makes him smile a knowing smile) before turning back to her laptop.

"Should we start?" He asks, glancing at Krystal, and her slender fingers rush across the keyboard and click on a document. Once the document loads and opens, she nods, keeping a grin on her face.

Krystal squints at the screen while reading out the meeting plans, repeating and stumbling over words. Jooyoung hopes the annoyance rising up in her isn't blatantly written on her face.

Firstly, as President, Krystal Jung has full responsibility to know the meeting agenda at least, if nothing else. Secondly, her hair is annoyingly nice and soft despite coming straight from her morning training. Thirdly, if she has to squint to read, can she just get herself a pair of glasses and stop being vain?

She is one step away from offering to speak in place of Krystal but realises Krystal herself has stopped mid-sentence and is now blinking innocently at the long table of student government officers. "Who's going to represent us to craft and send the email to the deans updating them about the implementation of the new event booking policy?"

"Isn't it supposed to be you who's sending the email?" Jooyoung asks, and hopes her voice doesn't come out too aggressive. Minseok, who is taking minutes, stops and looks up as well.

Krystal smiles, and she holds in her annoyance. Krystal looks so innocent but no, just no. "I have commitments tonight," she merely says, then looks over to the rest of the students. "Does anyone want to do it?"

Everyone suddenly looks busy, either looking down at their documents and laptops or whispering to each other. The slight buzz starts up again, and Jooyoung wants to slam her fist on the table. Of course it's a difficult job because there's so much to write and writing it well is another problem. Of course no one wants to craft and send it because it's not their job in the first place.

So she sighs. "I'll do it," Jooyoung states, her voice loud and clear over the murmurs. Krystal claps her hands, and she can't tell whether it is mock or genuine excitement written on her face.

"Thanks, Vicey," she cheers, and Jooyoung impassively nods in response. Krystal has this annoying habit of calling her Vicey, short for Vice President, and she doesn't like the nickname one bit, but had reached the stage long ago where she stopped trying to ask her to stop.

She makes a mental note to write down in her planner her additional task of crafting and sending the email, but bitterness rises up in her. She isn't supposed to do this in the first place. Why is she wasting time on others' work? But she can't stand seeing urgent things undone either, so it is her own problem to solve.

"I have to go," Jooyoung blurts, packing up her things suddenly. She doesn't know what she's doing all of a sudden, but her heart is beating fast from the adrenaline of leaving the meeting earlier for no good reason. She is sick of the student government, in all honesty. Minseok eyes her and his head curiously, and she smiles back.

"My class is starting. I have a presentation to do," she explains, but it is a lie — she is planning to head out into the streets to get herself breakfast before going to her class. Student government meetings are making her stressed way too early in the morning.

"Oh, okay! Good luck!" Krystal grins at her and waves, and she nods in acknowledgement, offering a small wave before heading out of the room. Jooyoung steps get faster and faster as she strides out of the university, and the minute she's off-campus, she feels like screaming from the relief of it all.

She heads to a café first and orders a double shot espresso, but when she squashes down onto a sofa alone afterward she feels strangely self-conscious not having anyone beside her. So she brings her coffee and goes straight to the convenience store nearest to campus.

She smiles when she sees a familiar face at the cashier.

"Choi Jina," she calls, and the small lady at the cashier immediately straightens up, putting away something she is reading on her lap. Jooyoung laughs and waves. She assumes Jina must be reading an entertainment magazine again.

"Which one now?" She teases, sliding into a chair at a table near to the cashier.

Jina switches on her phone to reveal a guy she doesn't recognise as her lock screen. "Haechan. NCT, you know the group with all the units I told you about? Haechan is the absolute cutest," she gushes.

"Just last week I thought Sanha from Astro was the absolute cutest?" Jooyoung asks, leaning over the counter. Jina jabs her on the arm and laughs. "Shut up. I still love Sanha. Anyway, what brings you here, extra-stressed-extra-busy vice-president? Don't you have a student government meeting now?"

She pulls away from the counter and takes a sip of her espresso. "I left halfway. It ," she says as casually as she can. "And I have to go for my first class in half an hour, anyway, to do a presentation."

Jina wolf-whistles and smacks her on her arm. "I'm so proud of you for leaving! I'll be waiting to hear about your presentation when you come for your shift tomorrow. I'm always so lonely on Thursdays. Yay for you skipping your meeting to see me today."

Jooyoung wrinkles her nose and finishes the last of her espresso. "Anyway, guess what I did at 3am last night." She begins to narrate the story of her hitting the short boy, just to let it out, but she notices Jina stops listening halfway — because a guy with a hoodie has walked into the store, and her eyes are fixed onto him.

The hooded guy walks straight to the cup ramyeon section and picks out the one which is on discount, then heads to the cashier and pays for it, before taking a seat two tables beside Jooyoung's. Jina's eyes don't leave him the entire time.

"That ramyeon is the worst in the world, what is that guy doing?" She mutters. Jina doesn't seem to hear her.

"Is a high school student allowed to be that cute?" Jina fawns instead, her bun bobbing on the top of her head. She sighs in contentment as she places her elbows on the counter and stares at the boy as he eats. He has finished waiting for the ramyeon to cook and is now wolfing it down like no tomorrow.

Jooyoung unconsciously watches him as well. He has big eyes, especially his whites, and his khaki pants seem a little too big for his rather short legs. "I think he's from our university, though?" She says. Somehow the guy looks familiar, but she can't figure out why.

And then it strikes her, and she almost chokes on her own saliva. The guy is the same one she bashed up the night before.

That happens to be the moment he finishes his ramyeon. His head turns toward the counter.

Jooyoung makes eye contact with him.

What should she do? She is seriously dying inside. He doesn't break away from the eye contact, and she's frozen in place. From how the guy is looking at her, she isn't sure if he knows it's her who hit him or not.

Then he raises his eyebrows, almost amusingly, and leaves.

a/n: i wanted to make jooyoung a relatable character so here she is! :'') i mean i do relate to jooyoung on a spiritual level aka i do assignments at 3am as well hahaha

also! i havent actually been to a uni in south korea so i dont exactly know how its like there; ive done my research and all but it still may not be 100% accurate so im sorry in advance if there are any glaring inaccurates with the college system im presenting!