It was just another regular day, Seulgi tried to remind herself. But the bear-like girl couldn’t sit still at all. For some reason, Irene was nowhere to be found, and she seemed to be replaced by a girl named Seungwan, who directed Moonbyul’s team like Irene would usually do. Although the girl was definitely more vocal about what she wanted than the developer, the barista couldn’t help but feel a bit off about someone else other than Irene or Moonbyul giving orders to the team, even if she wasn’t even a part of it. It wasn’t that Seungwan was a bad or bossy person by any means— heck she was probably the nicest person Seulgi’s met— but the cafe felt a bit empty without a certain bespectacled goddess.

It was as if Irene was just a mirage since no one seemed to question where the developer was.

Except for Seulgi, of course.

The barista watched as Seungwan leaned over to look at Yeri’s screen, briefly commenting and making various gestures to get her point across. As Seulgi wiped the counter, she could faintly hear their conversation.

“So unnie for the level design, I heard we’re changing it?” Yeri asked Seungwan.

“Yup! It’s nothing too drastic though, I just noticed a bit of a loophole players could take advantage of if we kept the old design. I’ve already uploaded the updated documents, so you’d best refer to that now instead of the old one,” The latter answered as she continued to scrutinize Yeri’s work. Seulgi briefly wondered why Seungwan wasn’t burying herself in her laptop unlike the rest of the team.

“Okay, but anyway did Byul unnie tell you about the bugs?” The young artist asked the new girl.

“Oh the one that Gaebal mistakenly overwrote?” Seungwan asked. Gaebal, who was seated opposite her, shrunk in his seat.

“I-it’s all fixed now, though! Moonbyul-ssi’s checked the alpha already,” Gaebal tried to respond despite his slightly flushed state.

“I know. Geez, you should be lucky your senior is so good at what she does,” Seungwan commented as she sipped on her espresso, its strong taste didn’t seem to faze her in the slightest.

“Yeah… Irene-ssi’s really cool,” Gaebal said, his tone dripping with admiration. At that, Seulgi sighed in relief.

Okay, so Irene is definitely real.

It was a ridiculous thought that Irene wasn’t real given all the interactions they’ve had thus far. The bear-like girl could only blame Moonbyul for making her think otherwise.

“Seul, I think the counter might blind us with how hard you’re scrubbing it,” Seulgi jumped a bit at the voice. Turning around, she faced Solar.

“Seulbear, are you alright? You’re spacing out,” The caring woman asked, her eyes twinkling in concern.

“Yeah, I just, uh…” The barista tried to explain herself. She herself couldn’t even fathom why Irene’s absence bothered her so much. For all she knew, she could just be taking a day off after all of her hard work. After all, Irene was always the first and the last to come and go out of all of them so far.

“You’re wondering where Irene went, aren’t you?” Another voice resounded. Seulgi nearly died of a heart attack as she clutched her chest.

“Byul-ah, you almost gave her a heart attack!” Solar said as she pulled the bear-like girl towards herself. “And who gave you the right to use the back entrance?” The woman continued, her brow raised.

“But babe —” Moonbyul tried to reason with her wife. 
 

“Apologize this instant,” Solar didn’t seem to be in the mood to take no for an answer.

“I’m, uh, sorry for scaring you, Seul. And I’m sorry for using the back entrance,” Moonbyul said meekly, scratching the back of her neck. It was a stark contrast to how intimidating the team leader could be when she reminded her team on what they needed to be doing.

“Good,” Solar seemed satisfied with that as she moved to kiss her wife’s cheek. The latter’s face brightened, a huge grin threatening to split her face in half appeared not so long after. The bear-like girl couldn’t help but shake her head at the couple.

“Before you spit out any of your greasy lines, Moonbyul unnie,” A new voice suddenly started, soft footsteps approaching the trio, “Here’s a copy of the design changes I made while I was out,” Seungwan said, smiling.

“Mood ruiner. Just because your greasy lines don’t work as well as mine doesn’t mean you have to interrupt me,” Moonbyul pouted, and Solar couldn’t help but roll her eyes at that.

“But anyway thanks for the heads up, and it’s great to finally have you back Wannie. I’m sure Irene’s gonna be really happy to see you,” The team leader  continued and grinned at the girl. The bear-like girl briefly wondered why Seungwan’s nickname was Wannie.

“Speaking of which, where is she? I assumed you gave her a day off, but she hasn’t been replying to my texts,” Seungwan asked and glanced to the side, her gaze meeting Seulgi’s briefly.

“Yeah, she won’t be replying any time soon. I came in late because earlier Irene and I were out buying better equipment for playtesting. She’s back at the office since we can’t exactly bring it here to assemble since it’s messy and well, yeah. You know the rest,” Moonbyul gestured with her hands. Seungwan seemed to understand her, while Seulgi was perplexed.

“I see. I guess I’ll talk to her later then, God knows nothing can stop Irene when she’s got her hands on PC parts…” Seungwan thought out loud and took a glance in Seulgi’s direction. “By the way, I don’t think we’ve met,” Seungwan said, a gentle smile on her features.

“Ah yeah, Wannie, this is Seulgi,” Moonbyul introduced. Solar was quick to follow up. “She’s our adopted child,” The woman said.

Seulgi wasn’t sure why, but whenever Solar or Moonbyul mentioned that she was their adopted child, it always made her feel warm and happy inside even if they were just joking about it. And since the bear-like girl was incapable of hiding her own emotions, a bright smile decorated her features as she reached a hand out for Seungwan to shake.

“Oh so you’re the ‘child’ they kept talking about! I actually thought Solar unnie was referring to an actual child with the way she talked about you. But anyway, It’s great to finally meet you! Feel free to call me Wannie,”  Seungwan said just as happily, eagerly shaking the bear-like girl’s hand. The barista’s happiness seemed to infect Seungwan as well.

“Wait a minute,” Wannie suddenly said as she crossed her arms, her expression contemplative. “Are you also the same Seulgi Irene talks about?” She asked, and Seulgi’s eyes disappeared due to her sheer happiness.

“She talks about me?” The barista asked, a dopey grin on her face. Moonbyul and Solar couldn’t help but smile at how genuinely happy Seulgi looked.

“She’s the one and only Seulgi around here,” Moonb