Of secret dates and online games

“Alright lovelies, it’s like 3am here in Seoul and I may have a flight at 2pm to Tokyo” Jihyo looks at her screen as she sees rapid replies from her fans, asking on how long would she be gone and others are wishing her a safe flight. She hums as she drums her fingers on the table as her eyes did not bat away from the screen of her pc “I’ll be staying in Tokyo for at least a year for my exchange study”.

She gives a few words to her fans before switching off her video before exiting her game in PUBG. Feeling ecstatic would be an understatement for the young Korean but instead feeling pumped up would be the closest thing that one could describe her. Yes, she may have travelled to other countries but travelling to Japan is different since she would be meeting her childhood friend, Yoo Jeongyeon with whom she hasn’t met for at least 6 years.

Jeongyeon has been telling her about her experience in Japan and Jihyo could not even wait. Hearing those stories from Jeongyeon made Jihyo think that Japan really is a lovely country to be in.

Park Jihyo, a 3rd year Architecture student to which she has a burning passion for online gaming. Most people may have known Jihyo as an all-rounder, not only she excels in her studies but also, she may have participated in some Architectural competition within her major. But what other people don’t know is that, she is pretty popular in the online gaming community especially PUBG and Overwatch. She would go on Twitch after she has done her work that night and would play at least 2-3 hours or sometimes 4 if she gets carried away. If one could ask on how did Park Jihyo survived her 3 hours of sleep most of the night, she would proudly say that her coffee had played an important role in her life.

So, when her tutor offered her to join the exchange student program right before summer, Jihyo did not think twice but to work hard. With the constant shift that her manager that had offered to her and with the help of the funds of her fans, she may have saved heaps of money in order to survive in Japan. She had also informed her parents back in her hometown in Gwangju that she would be going to Japan in less than a month. Her parents immediately offered help but Jihyo turned them down since she had explained that she had enough money.

Okay maybe sleeping at 3 in the morning is a bad idea. Jihyo mumbles under her breath on how stupid she was while she slowy pushes herself out from the comforts of her bed. It definitely is a bad idea. She checks her phone and 7:21 was blaring back at her. Yup, it is going to be a long day for Jihyo today.

She walks out from her room and saw that her roommate was also awake. Oh, that’s right- Mina was also chosen to participate in the whole exchange student thing where Jihyo had to convince her. Sleepy smiles were exchange as Mina gestures the older girl to join her for breakfast. Jihyo lazily pushes the chair out before settling right in front of her roommate.

“Went livestream last night?” Mina asks as she takes a bite off her toast.

Jihyo hums as she stirs her coffee.

Having a long day is an understatement for Jihyo. It was a bad day for her, apparently, she almost forgot her passport in her drawers and her documents but thank heavens that Mina was there to remind her.

“I really owe you a dinner in Japan” Jihyo mumbles under her breath as she reaches her roommate to whom she was waiting for her outside the University’s bus.

Boarding the plane was not too bad as what Jihyo had imagined but it was cut short when her seat was right in front of a family of 4. 2 children where the youngest started crying the moment the plane took off while the other child would occasionally kick Jihyo’s seat. Right there and then, Jihyo may want to bite her fist in preventing her from snapping to both of the children. If it wasn’t for her roommate whom had offered her other Switch controller, she may be a crying mess on how annoying the children were.

Approximately after 2 hours and 20 minutes of excruciating pain, they have finally landed in Japan. The assigned Professor gathered the whole team outside after they have retrieved their luggage. He had explained that they would be going to their assigned University dorms and after a few hours they would gather once again for supper before the Professor could leave them.

This time Jihyo wasn’t in luck to be with Mina. Where Jihyo would be attending University of Tokyo while Mina would be attending Waseda University. It wouldn’t be that bad- or that is what Mina had been telling Jihyo. The latter had promised that they would hang out at least a day in their weekend when they are not too busy with their work.

The first few days in Tokyo was not too bad. They would still have at least a month to spare right before their University would start. With this opportunity, Jihyo would hang out with Mina where the younger would introduce the former some of the best dishes in Japan. Other than that, Jeongyeon had promised Jihyo to take her out during the weekend since she was too busy with her current job. Jihyo wanted to ask her childhood friend about her job but the former seemed to be in a hurry. She took note to ask Jeongyeon about it when they finally meet.

“Jihyo, I just found out that Love Line would be having their fanmeeting this Friday” Mina walks beside Jihyo as she scrolls her phone to read out some information.

Jihyo quickly snaps her neck in looking at Mina with her eyes that sparkles “Are you for real?”

Mina nods and showed Jihyo that she had purchased the pass in going to the fanmeeting. Maybe showing the pass to Jihyo was a bad thing since her roommate tackled her into a hug as she attempts to give kisses on Mina’s cheeks.

Love Line, the first group in Japan where it consists of different nationalities. There’s Minatozaki Sana and Hirai Momo for Japan’s representative, Im Nayeon for Korea’s representative, and Chou Tzuyu for Taiwan. Love Line’s career skyrocketed when they have released their second mini album and from there, they have traveled to various countries. They have been a 5-year-old group and is still Japan’s pride.

After hearing the group that Mina was constantly talking about, Jihyo decided to check them out. The initial plan was that, Jihyo would just listen to a handful of their songs to satisfy her roommate but no, instead she was caught in the trap. There is no denying that Love Line’s songs were amazing from joyful and playful songs to melody songs, it really had caught Jihyo’s attention. Recently, Love Line had a comeback but this time this was no other normal comeback, but their genre had changed. It was dark and y. Jihyo hates to admit that whenever she checks out their music video, she may have swallowed a couple of big lumps while watching their video. It was that comeback of the century.

As Friday rolls in quickly, both roommates found themselves already lining up at least 2 hours before the fanmeeting would start. They had made friends to a couple of fans, they were Hitomi Honda, Yabuki Nako, and Miyawaki Sakura. Jihyo observes Mina and their newfound friends who were talking in Japanese animatedly while Mina translates it into Korean occasionally since Jihyo could take a grasp on what they were talking about. Perks of having a Japanese roommate could come in handy at some point.

The whole fanmeeting was rather a mess but in a good way. Where Love Line treats the fansign as their playground where they get comfortable around their fans. It was a sight to see for Jihyo. By the time where the individuals whom have purchased the pass where they could interact with the idols and could give them gifts, Jihyo had a gay panick attack.

She just realised that she bought the members almost the same gift which was a stuffed toy that resembled them except for Nayeon. Yes, she also got Nayeon a stuffed toy bunny except she will also hand a bouquet of baby breath to her. As she got up on the stage, she hands her gifts one by one has she gives them a simple encouragement while the idols were signing her album. There came to Nayeon, Jihyo hands the stuffed toy and the bouquet where she remained quiet.

“Are you going to keep quiet there while I’m signing your album?” Nayeon teases her lightly while turning the pages of Jihyo’s album.

“I-” Jihyo looks up meeting the stares of Nayeon to which she feels her cheeks burning “Y-you did really well for your comeback”.

Nayeon glances at her with a slight smirk.

“A-and you’re really p-pretty up close” Jihyo continuously stutters and never in her life that she wanted to slam her head on the table for embarrassing herself.

“Cute” Nayeon says quietly as she gives Jihyo a wide smile.

As Jihyo thanks Nayeon in a shy voice, the latter held down Jihyo’s album causing the former to tilt her head.

“Message me, maybe?” Nayeon says before lifting up her hand from the album.

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