Sooyoung won’t admit it, but she’s always been grateful for her Spookytown partner-in-crime.

Chaewon often sends her pictures of Jiwoo, gratuitously but always welcomed, and Sooyoung never hesitates to save them every time. Chaewon's full of surprises like that.

Before the clock strikes the most important hour, let’s take a peek at Sooyoung’s camera roll.

The whole point of saving pictures of things and people is to see them again and again even if they’re not there.

Sooyoung’s camera roll is typically filled with memes and memories. Mostly pretty sunsets and stunning views, delicious meals, and the occasional photo that wouldn’t make sense to anyone else, but the inside story attached to it makes Sooyoung laugh.

Sooyoung does not usually save pictures of girls, no. Other than blackmail content against her friends (she has two folders – one for birthdays and another for if they screw her over; sometimes, photos overlap), there aren’t really any other girls.

She hasn’t had a serious relationship in over a year and every girl since then has only ever been a page in the book (read: fanfiction) of Sooyoung’s Life. Not enough to fill up an entire chapter, no girl worth a whole folder to herself in her camera roll. Why look at photos of pretty girls when I can just look in the mirror? 

So when Sooyoung lies on her bed, scrolling through her gallery, she’s amused to find more Jiwoo content than pictures of sunsets, food, that British girl who's actually from Kansas, or Spongebob screenshots.

Jiwoo laughing, Jiwoo smiling for her camera, candid Jiwoo, Jiwoo’s profile, Jiwoo at the piano… Even things that remind her of Jiwoo or want to show her later: baby penguin plushies, strawberry shortcakes, pretty blouses, and funny-looking animals… Otherwise very un-Sooyoung-like photos.

It’s then she comes to admit a realization that is long, long overdue. One that everyone saw coming the second they opened up this fanfiction book of Sooyoung’s Life:

“Goddamnit,” she muses out loud as she stares at a photo of Jiwoo sleeping (snapped generously by Chaewon), “...I have a crush on Jiwoo...”

She laughs to herself, covering her face with a pillow when she feels her cheeks burn up. No one’s made her feel this way in a long time.

Their kiss lingers in her mind like a dream and on her lips like a sweet aftertaste.

‘Not for the fainthearted’, the sign at the entrance greets in dripping red lettering on a black background.

The bell that rings every time someone opens the door deceives customers into momentarily thinking that they’re entering a cute little ice cream parlour.

But then they’re greeted by a machete-wielding Jason surrounded by stacks of fake hay and a scarecrow that looks harmless enough until its head pops off its neck like some horrifying jack-in-the-box jump scare.

The whole set-up might induce nightmares for unprepared, first-time visitors, but for Sooyoung, who had grown accustomed to hearing surprised shrieks following the innocent bell ring when she worked here, the display no longer fazes her. Normally, she’d be terrified, but she doesn’t even bat an eye at ear-piercing squawks anymore. She thinks she could even sleep through a murder scene happening in front of her at this point. (Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Discuss.)

(Is Spookytown an unhealthy work environment? Discuss.)

Jiwoo’s shrill screech nearly blows out her eardrums, though. The younger girl collapses dramatically to the floor, clutching her chest as her eyes go crazy wide.

“Welcome to Spookytown! Home of all things fine-thrilling and spine-chilling. Population: dead!” Chaewon greets the two with a cheery voice, unfazed by Jiwoo’s blood-curdling scream. Her bedazzled unicorn horn headband sparkles as she leans over the counter to wave at them, lips stretched into the brightest grin.

Sooyoung helps Jiwoo to her feet and uses it as an opportunity to hold her hand as they make their way over to Chaewon.

“Do you have to greet all customers like that now?” Jiwoo asks, fixing her hair.

Chaewon nods. “New manager’s idea.”

“New manager?” Sooyoung raises an eyebrow, “where’s Lee?”

Chaewon leans in to whisper even though they’re the only people in the store. “Apparently Mr. Lee went missing. Like, off the face of the earth. Last I heard, he changed his identity and fled to China.”

“…What the ?”

Sooyoung’s skeptical but Chaewon just nods her head like a middle-aged woman gossiping with her fellow stay-at-home housewives.

Jiwoo seems convinced, though. And utterly intrigued, judging by her tightening grip around Sooyoung’s hand. “Why would he do that?”

Sooyoung’s just happy she hasn’t let go yet.

“Dunno,” Chaewon shrugs before her fearful eyes dart to the CCTV cameras, “I have an itching feeling that he was a North Korean spy all along.”

Oh no, not again. Sooyoung groans. “For god’s sake, Chae, you’re still going on with that North Korean stuff? He probably got evicted by his landlord so he left to find a better paying job.”

“I’ve already debunked that landlord theory! God, Sooyoung, do you not read my blog?”

“What blog?”

The unicorn horned girl gasps. “I’ve never told you about my blog?”

“She discusses conspiracy theories on it with Heejin,” Jiwoo answers after Sooyoung turns to her with skeptical eyes.

“Like…aliens and ?”

“Huh? No!” Chaewon interjects sharply, “aliens do exist, that’s not even a conspiracy… Our blog is cultured and illuminating.”

“Accusing a Spookytown manager of being a North Korean spy is not cultured nor illuminating…”

Chaewon rolls her eyes. “Whatever, Sooyoung, you don’t get it. We only write for intellects anyway, right Jiwoo?”

Jiwoo nods her head vigorously. “Of course. Your latest update on ‘Giant Crabs Ate the KAL007 Passengers’ was super enlightening.”

When Chaewon juts her chin out smugly, the lights of the store hit her bedazzled unicorn headband just right, twinkling and sparkling atop her head. “See, Sooyoung? Jiwoo, lend your girlfriend some braincells,” she says pointedly.

At that, Sooyoung scoffs. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She wishes she was feigning offence, but Chaewon, of all people, saying she has no braincells? Maybe Sooyoung is just a little bit offended. “What’s next, are you going to tell me you write personalised horoscopes too?”

Chaewon’s eyes suddenly light up in interest.  

Oh no, I’ve given her an idea… Sooyoung shuts her eyes, an exasperated groan escaping from her lips.

“Hey, that might actually be kind of fun,” Jiwoo says with a small giggle.

Sooyoung’s eyes shoot open to give her an incredulous look. “You believe in that stuff?”

“You don’t?”

Sooyoung thinks for a moment. “No,” she answers, lips curling up to a smirk, “unless it told me that you and I were compatible, then yeah, maybe I would believe in it.”

Jiwoo’s smile turns bashful and she rolls her eyes, though Sooyoung suspects from her sudden shyness that she’s feeling more than she lets on.

“Not to sound like Hyunjin, but ew, gag,” Chaewon chirps, faking a retch, “anyway Jiwoo, show her my blog before she offends me anymore.”

“Yes, for sure, shame on her. I’ll go show her some posts now while we explore the store!” Jiwoo says, hurriedly stepping away from the counter.

“Make her read the Avril Lavigne lookalike one! And the Mattress Firm post!” Chaewon shouts after them as they disappear into an aisle, Jiwoo pulling Sooyoung, “and no making out in the store!”

They pass by a y Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtle costume when Sooyoung pops the question she’s been hesitant to find out the answer to:

“…Do you seriously read Chaewon’s blog?”

She braces herself for Jiwoo’s answer.

“I do,” Jiwoo answers and oh no have I involved myself with a crazy person?! Is Jiwoo a flat-earther?! Can I love a conspiracist?! Sooyoung momentarily panics, “but I don’t believe any of it.”

And the train stops just short of derailing. Thank goodness.

“Oh. Really?” Sooyoung lets out an obvious sigh of relief.  

“Yeah. Hyunjin doesn’t either and Heejin just thinks writing for the blog is fun. We’re just humouring Chae and her questionable life choices. Same reason why we listen to her mixtapes where she just reads things and calls it rapping.”

Sooyoung scoffs, highly amused. “That’s hilarious. But don’t you think you should stop before she gets too…crazy?”

“Chae’s already crazy,” Jiwoo replies with a grin and Sooyoung can’t help the chuckle that escapes from her. “I’m just kidding. It’s harmless, trust me. But if she ever starts preaching about the earth being flat, we’ll put a stop to it, I promise.”

Sooyoung grins. “Good.”

Maybe she’s slightly envious of their peculiar friendship, maybe she’s just fascinated. Not that Sooyoung’s lacking friends of her own, but she has yet to meet another person like Chaewon. The girl isn’t Sooyoung’s crowd at all and yet somehow, they became friends. It still puzzles her to this day, but in some ways, her and Chaewon suit each other more than her usual crop of cronies. That might say something more about Sooyoung than Chaewon. 

Jiwoo’s mouth morphs into a deep frown as her eyes scan the costumes on the shelves. “Why are all these costumes so revealing? Why do women always have to be ualised!?” she huffs.

“Yes, totally, I agree with you…” Sooyoung hums absentmindedly before reaching above Jiwoo’s head and plucking out a costume, “do you think I’d look good in this?”

She holds up a generic, y police outfit. The usual; leather bodysuit, handcuffs and all. Not at all practical as an actual police uniform, obviously, nor is it made for trick-or-treating on a biting late October evening. It’s more fitting for a night out at an Itaewon club with blood red alcoholic punch and awful electronic remixes of Halloween songs.

Jiwoo lets out a scandalized gasp, eyes about to pop out of her head as she snatches the costume from Sooyoung’s hand and puts it back on the shelf.

Sooyoung tilts her head. “Was that a yes or a no?”

“It was a no.”

“Aw, how would you know? You’ve never seen me try it on,” Sooyoung says with a pout, “unless you pictured me in it.”

A bright red hue flushes over Jiwoo’s face as she shakes her head vigorously, bangs shifting left and right. “I didn’t!” she exclaims defensively, turning around so she didn’t have to look at Sooyoung, “oh my god, Sooyoung, why do you always do that?”

“Do what?”

“That!”

Sooyoung’s genuinely stumped. “What?”

The younger girl faces her again with fists clenched cutely at her side. She’s like a cartoon character sometimes. Sooyoung thinks she can’t possibly be real, but here she is, in the flesh.

“You know what… You did it earlier too when we were talking about astrology,” Jiwoo huffs.

Sooyoung thinks for a moment, looking at the flustered girl in front of her.

Her brain’s doing gymnastics trying to figure out Jiwoo’s expressions – the pursed lips, a hint of suspicion in her eyes, the space between her eyebrows slightly crinkled. And then it clicks. Jiwoo’s furious blushing is probably the most telling.

Sooyoung’s lips quirk into a smirk. So...she gets flustered when I flirt with her so obv-

“Do you do that with every girl you meet? You probably do. You shouldn’t, by the way, because it can send off the wrong signals,” Jiwoo says pointedly, crossing her arms high over her chest.

She fails at getting her disappointment across, though, because the blush has spread to the tips of her ears. Sooyoung just laughs.

Was Kim Jiwoo getting jealous? Jealous?!

Oh, Sooyoung is going to eat this right up.

“I absolutely do not…” Sooyoung counters, “my charm has a limited quota so I can only use it on girls worth my time. I've been giving it all to you, though,” she sighs, “selfish, much? Leave some space for other girls, will you?”

"Nevermind..." Jiwoo shakes her head as she glances suspiciously at the older girl. “…Why are you smiling like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re teasing me.”

“I’m not doing anything. Your face says everything.” Sooyoung chuckles.

For a moment, Jiwoo wavers. “I- what are you talking about? My face isn’t saying anything,” she stammers, pausing for a second in hesitation. “Uh, if you think I’m getting…jealous or whatever…I am not jealous, for the record…”

Sooyoung looks at her innocently. “I didn’t say that.”

“You’re thinking it!”

“Oh, you can read minds now?”

Jiwoo's lips flatten, filling her cheeks with air. “I’m just saying, it’s not jealousy! Why would I be jealous… I’m absolutely not jealous… I’m just– you know, suspicious!”

“Mhm. Well, you’re getting suspiciously worked up over the prospect of me flirting with other girls.”

Jiwoo hesitates, face rapidly shuffling through three different expressions before finally settling on the classic: pursed lips and tightly knitted eyebrows. “I…well…”  

“Relax, Jiwoo,” Sooyoung says with a cool, small smile, “I’m all yours. Nothing to worry about.”

Jiwoo’s faux disappointment face falters as her puffed out cheeks paint with a flushed red and Sooyoung knows she's got her. But despite all this, she holds her ground, even when Sooyoung takes a step closer.

Jiwoo’s being extra stubborn today, both with her words and her actions. It spurs Sooyoung to lean in even closer, noses nearly touching. And really, all it takes is one last surge and they could kiss right there.

She can’t really read Jiwoo’s face, but maybe she’s waiting for Sooyoung to go for it - if the bobbing of , up and down when she swallows, means anything. The tension turns palpable and the settling atmosphere practically begs for it...

..but instead, Sooyoung just smirks and reaches up to ruffle Jiwoo’s bangs.

Talk about an anticlimax.  

Jiwoo blinks in surprise, scrunching her nose shyly and swatting Sooyoung’s hand away before turning to a mirror to fix her bangs. “H-hey…”

“Chaewon said no making out in the store,” Sooyoung chirps cheekily.

And she doesn’t miss the sight of Jiwoo’s ears only going redder before the younger girl turns away from her, hiding behind a curtain of dark auburn hair.

“I am not going in there.”

“Don’t be such a wuss, Jiwoo!”

But the girl just gives them a vigorous shake of her head as she struggles against Chaewon’s death grip on her blouse.

Everyone, what is a Halloween store without a haunted house? That’s right, a bad one.

So of course, Spookytown, as a leading Halloween retailer, proudly sports its own. It’s quite a polished set-up at the back of the store, with manufactured fog seeping from behind the black curtain and a muffled, ominous creaking sound coming out of the windows.

Very creepy, surprisingly.

Sooyoung finds the sight of Jiwoo and Chaewon practically wrestling in front of the set-up highly amusing.

“Sooyoung!! Help- ack- help me!” comes Jiwoo’s desperate cry.

Sooyoung acts immediately, stepping in between the two girls to pry Chaewon off her precious Jiwoo.

Jiwoo staggers backwards. “Thank you,” she huffs, straightening out her clothes.

“You know, it’s not even that scary inside.” Sooyoung doesn’t know why she just said, but she did.

Jiwoo pauses to glare at her, nostrils flared in betrayal. “No, not you too!” she whines, “I’m not going in there! Not alone, at least.”

With something akin to an evil -eating grin on her face, Chaewon skips up to the entrance and gingerly lifts the curtain. “Well, sadly, I’m not allowed to leave the counter unattended, so you two go right on in.”

Looking into the darkness of the house, the amused grin on Sooyoung’s face falters at the slightest.

. Chaewon is such a menace.

Jiwoo turns to her with a raised eyebrow. “I-I’ll go in if you go with me,” she murmurs.

Everything inside Sooyoung is screaming at her, ‘don’t go in unless you want to die today’.

So naturally, with Jiwoo looking at her so expectantly in those wide doe eyes of hers, Sooyoung’s answer is obvious: “Okay.”

Because how can she say no to Jiwoo?

This was a grave mistake this was a grave mistake this was a grave mistake

…is the only thing going through Sooyoung’s head and it hasn’t even been a full minute after Chaewon shoved the two of them inside the haunted house.

We’re going to die we’re going to die we’re going to die

She’s doing her best to appear as chill as possible to Jiwoo, but her iron grip on the younger girl’s hand must say otherwise. Luckily for her, Jiwoo doesn’t seem to notice how utterly terrified she is because she’s busy freaking out on her own.

I’m going to meet my end in a ing Spookytown, of all places in the world, I’m going to die surrounded by overpriced, over-ualised costumes and questionably ‘non-toxic’ face paint

Sooyoung’s only been in this hell hole once in her life and that was after losing a bet to Chaewon, so it wasn’t even voluntary. Believe it or not, even self-proclaimed hotshot Ha Sooyoung, despite being immune to ear-piercing shrieks, is scared of the Spookytown haunted house.

Why did I say yes why did I say it wasn’t scary in here it’s so terrifying and dark and I want to cry

“Oh hell no, hell no, hell no, there’s a weird growling noise over there– I feel like something is going to pop out from the side, Jiwoo, there’s a chill oh my god there's a chill coming from above, don’t you feel it? Because I feel i-“

Something drops from the ceiling and Sooyoung doesn’t know what it is because she abruptly stops her nonsensical rambling and collapses to the ground with a high-pitched screech, pulling Jiwoo down with her.

They never do get to see the end of it. Sooyoung’s memory is blurry and all she remembers is scurrying out of the dark house on all fours until she was outside under the bright fluorescent lights of the store again.

The nightmare is over, but another begins.

Sooyoung finally calms down enough to process the sight of Chaewon laughing her off, clutching her stomach as she leans on a shelf for support.

What’s a thousand times more embarrassing, though, is Jiwoo kneeling in front of her, the corners of her lips struggling not to quirk up in amusement. Other than that, she looks completely put-together.

Great, Sooyoung just made a fool out of herself in front of Jiwoo, of all people. She scrambles to her feet as she feels the blush spread up her neck in an uncomfortable surge of warmth. God, this is so uncool…

“Oh my god- oh- god,” Chaewon’s sputtering out words and gibberish over her laughter, “she didn’t…she didn’t make it through last time either…”

If she wasn’t so flustered and feeling completely humiliated, Sooyoung would tackle Chaewon. But her feet feel like concrete blocks and her eyes are glued to the floor and she can’t bring herself to look at the girl in front of her.

A hand holds on to her arm and a face suddenly appears in her line of vision.

“Are you okay?” Jiwoo asks.

And maybe she looks genuinely concerned, who knows, not that it matters, because all Sooyoung wants is for the ground to open up and swallow her whole.

“I’m fine,” she murmurs, “umm…don’t look at me.”

She turns away from Jiwoo, but the younger girl just side-steps around her, putting her hands on Sooyoung’s shoulder and locking her in place. It leaves her with no choice but to return Jiwoo’s gaze.

Oh, she dreams about this every night, gazing deep into Jiwoo’s eyes. But not under this circumstance. Not when she’s feeling at her most uncool.

“Sooyoungie,” Jiwoo coos and Sooyoung’s chest swells in an instant at the nickname, “you sure you’re good?”

Nodding sheepishly, Sooyoung swallows. “I hope you understand how embarrassed I feel right now...”

She’s nearly blinded by the brilliant, gummy grin that Jiwoo flashes her. “Oh, I know.”

Sooyoung groans and tries to duck out of her hold, but Jiwoo goes to cup her face, positively rooting Sooyoung on the spot. No doubt, the red on her cheeks only intensify.

“You’re blushing like crazy,” Jiwoo giggles. “For what it’s worth, it was really cool of you to drag me out of there with a death grip instead of leaving me to die on my own, like some sacrificial lamb.”

Sooyoung rolls her eyes as a small smile creeps onto her lips. “Of course, haha, how could I leave you alone in there?”

Oh god, what a last-ditch effort to save face; it’s almost like a really tiny person squeaking out ‘I’m the tallest person in the world!’. As if Sooyoung was totally thinking of protecting Jiwoo and not ‘this was a grave mistake we’re going to die I want to cry’.

Unsurprisingly, Jiwoo remains unconvinced, but she lets out another cute giggle anyway. “Oh, did you know your Busan dialect comes out when you’re scared?”

Sooyoung blinks, completely unaware that she had let her satoori slip while she was nervously running with nonsense inside the haunted house.

“It was cute...”

And next thing she knows, she feels a peck on her face; Sooyoung wishes she knew what urged Jiwoo to lean in and give her a kiss on the tip of her nose.

Such a small, simple act, but it felt so heart-stopping that Sooyoung swears Chaewon’s boisterous cackles behind them suddenly becomes muffled in irrelevance.

“You’re cute,” Jiwoo suddenly says to her with that radiant, toothy grin of hers. Sooyoung's kryptonite.

Even long after Jiwoo pulls her hands away from her face to scold Chaewon, Sooyoung’s heart stays beating irregularly.

Are employees allowed to play around with the security camera footage? Maybe not. Chaewon doesn’t seem to care as she rewinds and replays the CCTV footage of Sooyoung crawling out of the haunted house.

Her uncontrollable giggling is grating to Sooyoung’s ears, but too cute to be angry about. 

“This is hilarious. As long as I have this, I’ll never be bored on shifts.”

“So honoured to be your source of entertainment,” Sooyoung deadpans. She’s leaning over the counter, head rested on a fist as she helplessly watches Chaewon laugh at the display screen.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Chaewon apologizes and maybe she does have a heart, “I thought you would’ve gotten braver since last time. Jiwoo seemed so much more scared, I thought it would’ve been a good opportunity for her to cling on to you in there.”

“Well, it ended up humiliating me, but it’s okay, she kissed me on the nose.” Sooyoung shrugs.

It seems like Chaewon was too busy laughing at her earlier to notice them because she suddenly gasps in surprise.

“She did?! That is so cute,” she says, clasping her hands dreamily. “Speaking of kissing, I saw you two each other’s faces the other day in the practice room when I came to pick Jiwoo up for our sleepover.”

Sooyoung’s eyes go wide as she suddenly straightens her back. “…You saw us?”

“Uh huh. Though the window. I obviously didn’t want to interrupt, so I wandered around the building for twenty minutes. Did you know they leave all the practice room doors unlocked? Is that okay, is that safe?” Chaewon rambles, “thankfully, you two were done by the time I came back. I did not want to do another lap. You’re welcome, by the way. I could’ve very much prematurely ended your little seven minutes in heav-”

Sooyoung slaps her on the arm.

Hearing this from Chaewon is unexpectedly embarrassing. On that evening, it felt like earth had stopped spinning and it was only her and Jiwoo left in the world – their own private and secluded moment, not a beating heart around except theirs.

Knowing Chaewon was there, even for just a millisecond behind a window, unceremoniously pops the bubble.

Chaewon doesn’t miss the disappointment expressed by Sooyoung’s pursed lips. She frowns. “Oh. I’m sorry. Maybe I should’ve kept that to myself.”

Sooyoung shakes her head. “It’s okay…just don’t tell Jiwoo. She gets embarrassed kissing in front of her friends.”

“Oh, that must be why she didn’t tell us about it.”

“Did you guys talk about me during your little sleepover?” Sooyoung asks, half joking, half genuinely curious.

“Nope!” Chaewon cheerily says, “we talked about boys and had pillow fights and did each other’s hair and painted our nails.” She giggles seeing Sooyoung roll her eyes. “Sorry, our sleepover ongoings are confidential to anyone who wasn’t there. But she did seem weirdly quiet on the bus ride home.”

Sooyoung her head, now overcome with curiosity. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“I don’t know. For someone who looks very clearly happy when she’s happy and very clearly sad when she’s sad, Jiwoo’s kind of cryptic sometimes. It was like a flustered quiet though. Shy, but not embarrassed…?”

The explanation doesn’t do much to quell her curiosity, but Sooyoung appreciates it nevertheless. She can tell Chaewon doesn’t want to change her perception of what happened that night, not wanting to dampen her hopes nor raise them.

Chaewon must’ve noticed her spirits diminish a little because she does something about it. “Hey, if she kissed back, does that mean she likes you?” she asks encouragingly.

God, I hope so. “Maybe…? You think so?” The thought of it makes Sooyoung smile. She sighs softly. “I like her, Chae. Like, a lot.”

The unicorn headband almost falls off Chaewon's head when shelets out a dramatic gasp, excitedly hopping up and down and clapping her hands like a well-trained seal. “You do! You admit it!” 

“Admit what?”

Jiwoo’s voice comes from behind, back from a trip to the restroom.

“Uh, that I’m scared of the haunted house,” Sooyoung cuts in.

Good save, very casual, super normal. No, Jiwoo, we totally weren’t talking about my feelings for you or anything…

“Oh,” Jiwoo says with a chuckle, “well, not everyone can be invincible. Even you.”

And again, Sooyoung is treated to one of Jiwoo’s signature toothy smiles and she thinks she’ll probably never get tired of seeing it.

But it disappears just as quickly when Jiwoo looks like she suddenly remembers something.

“The bathroom door,” Jiwoo starts, frowning, “it said ‘Sooyoung ’.”

Sooyoung’s eyes go wide. “What? It’s still there?! Chaewon!!”

“I tried scrubbing it!! But those boys used permanent marker from god knows where!” Chaewon exclaims defensively, “hey, you know someone wrote a…male reproductive organ…underneath it... At least I was able to remove that.”

Sooyoung groans. Jiwoo really didn't need to hear that, nor see what was written on that bathroom door. Great, if things couldn’t get any worse, they somehow take a more humiliating turn. Today must be cursed if the nightmares of her past keep coming back to haunt her.

Why, oh why, did she take Jiwoo to Spookytown today? They could’ve just had a normal date at Hangang, walk beneath the shade of the trees hand-in-hand or ride those tandem bicycles that straight couples love so much.

But no, today, they thought it might be fun to visit Chaewon at work. Oh, did things take a turn. 

“Those ing kids, I swear,” Sooyoung says through gritted teeth, eyes tightly shut and nose bridge pinched, “I should’ve thrown them into the haunted house. Teenage boys seriously don’t deserve rights. I can't believe no one did anything about that vandalism!”

“You know management wouldn't bother fixing it unless the door was hanging off its hinges.”

Sooyoung cracks her knuckles. “That’s it, I’m breaking that door down-“

“I already painted over it.”

Sooyoung and Chaewon’s heads simultaneously turn to Jiwoo, who fishes her pockets for something.

“I scoured the aisles for paint. As long as you don’t scrub it away, you can’t see it. Sorry I used a product without buying it first, but here you go,” Jiwoo says with a huff, slapping some bills on the counter and sliding it towards the startled Spookytown cashier. Chaewon just stares at her in awe.

“Wait,” Sooyoung says, “you did?”

All she can do is blink at Jiwoo because Sooyoung isn’t really sure whether she should laugh or swoon or do both.

The miracle of a human being beside her gives her a resolute nod. Sooyoung doesn’t even think twice before pouncing on Jiwoo, who stumbles backwards. She’s enveloped in a bear hug and Sooyoung squeezes her so tight that Jiwoo breaks into a loud laugh, slapping her arm and squirming under her hold.

Sooyoung doesn’t know what she has done to deserve someone like Jiwoo.

“What did I do to deserve you?”

She’s staring dreamily ahead of her, ready to drive – hands on the steering wheel, seatbelt buckled – but the car engine is still off. She’s still apparently too distracted to drive, so they sit in the (empty, like always) Spookytown parking lot.

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Jiwoo says as she peels off a spider sticker and tacks it on Sooyoung’s nose.

On her cheek, there’s a googly eye, and on her forehead, a jack-o-lantern. Her hands are riddled with stickers too, courtesy of Chaewon and Jiwoo.

(“As a reward for being the coolest person here, you can have these Halloween stickers for free,” Chaewon had said, handing over a pack to Jiwoo like it was a golden ticket.)

She must look absurd, but Sooyoung can’t even bring herself to care at all the stickers vandalising her arms and face because she’s still too busy imaginarily swooning over Jiwoo’s actions today.

In the past couple of hours, Sooyoung had been punched not once, but twice, in the face with embarrassment: first, crawling out of the haunted house like a speedy monster baby out of immense fear, and second, Jiwoo seeing the Sooyoung slander (Sooyoung what?!) on the bathroom door of a year-round Halloween store.

And both times, Jiwoo managed to ease her nerves and momentarily melt her humiliation away. Since when was Jiwoo this cool?

The nose kiss already makes her stomach flip. Who would’ve thought angrily swiping paint from the shelves to cover up immature graffiti on the door without telling anyone would make Sooyoung weak in the knees?

She’s far too enamoured. Bare Minimum Sooyoung strikes again.

“I was just doing what any decent person would do,” Jiwoo says coolly.

“Does that mean Chaewon’s not a decent person?” Sooyoung says. She turns to look at Jiwoo and giggles at the skull stickers beneath her eyes. “I think you’re the best girlfriend I’ve ever had.”

She braces herself for Jiwoo to go off on that usual ‘it’s fake girlfriend’ tangent of hers, but unexpectedly, Jiwoo doesn’t say anything. Instead of shooting it down, she tacks on two more stickers on Sooyoung’s forearm with a small smile.

And it only adds to the mush of thoughts and feelings overtaking Sooyoung’s brain.

“By the way, can you call me that more often? I liked it.”

“Call you what?” Jiwoo hums.

“Sooyoungie.”

Jiwoo fakes a cringe, shaking her head while sticking a sparkly spider on Sooyoung’s forehead. “You look ridiculous right now,” she says, “…Sooyoungie.”

Sooyoung laughs. It surprises her how overjoyed she feels over the littlest things when it comes to Jiwoo. “Good. You’re shaping up to be a natural.”

“Now you can’t ever tell me I’m bad at this fake dating stuff,” Jiwoo says with a cute huff. “Let’s go to Burger King, I’m starving.”

The name ‘Burger King’ finally snaps Sooyoung out of her loving-Jiwoo-induced daze. Jiwoo must’ve noticed her smile falter because she asks what’s wrong with Burger King.

“Nothing. Burger King is great. I used to work at Burger King. Got fired. We can’t go to the one at the mall, I’m afraid they’ll throw frozen patties at me and those things are like hockey pucks.”

Sooyoung still shivers at the thought of those wicked high school girls who got her sacked from the job.

The mall food court employees are a horde of devil’s associates. They are what adults see when they have sleep paralysis. Mindless teenage stoners don’t deserve rights. Maybe teenagers in general don’t deserve rights. I deserve better!

Jiwoo frowns. “Do you make enemies everywhere you go?”

“Not on purpose.”

Jiwoo just shakes her head as she puts a sticker on the dashboard. It doesn’t last long, though, because Sooyoung leans over to peel it off and sticks it on Jiwoo’s forehead instead.

“Hey-!“

Jiwoo doesn’t finish her complaint because Sooyoung gives her a soft peck on the lips that renders her silent.

Fleeting, sudden, and impulsive. Old habits die hard, they say.   

“I’ve been wanting to do that all day,” Sooyoung says quietly when they part, “but Chaewon was around.”

Their faces are still so close that she can feel the heat emanating from Jiwoo’s cheeks. Sooyoung doesn’t show it, but her heart is pounding like a booming bass drum against her ears.

The younger girl just responds with a shy scrunch of her nose. She tacks a purple, sparkly ‘BOO!’ sticker on Sooyoung’s chin.

“Also,” Sooyoung says, leaning back on her seat, “you can put as many stickers on me, but no stickers on the car.”

So of course, heeding her warning, Jiwoo promptly ignores it and puts another sticker on the dashboard. And another, and another. She sticks her tongue out at Sooyoung before curving her lips into a smile.

Sooyoung doesn’t peel them off this time.

She decides that in her world, Jiwoo can do whatever she pleases, as long as it makes her happy.

Let’s take an appreciative moment to talk about Spookytown employee Park Chaewon:

Chaewon is many things.

She’s a part-time Spookytown employee, and a decent one at that if her fourth consecutive go as Employee of the Month is any testament. (A reward Sooyoung had once been offered before, declined without hesitation because it called for a framed photo - specifically, a self-submitted selfie - behind the counter, right beside lenticular posters of the Mona Lisa that turn demonic from another angle.)

She’s a part-time conspiracy blogger. Sooyoung doesn’t know the details, but she does know that her blog at least gets a few hits per week. Unless Chaewon’s lying about the tales of her fighting trolls in the comments section.

She’s a part-time voodoo practitioner, weekend-regular. It’s a recent interest she picked up after sensationalised, fictional books on witch doctors became part of Spookytown’s stock. Sooyoung doesn’t believe in it, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a tiny bit scared of Chaewon.

She’s a part-time Soundcloud rapper, if one can call putting a beat over a deadpan recording of herself reading WikiHow articles ‘rapping’. (“It’s an experimental genre,” Chaewon had said, “and a commentary on millenials’ entitlement and increasing dependence on external assistance.” Says the girl who still lives with her parents and googles how to do anything and everything.)

Chaewon’s either an expert troll and this is all just a very elaborate act of satire in which Chaewon is the only one who gets it – or she’s just genuinely weird.

Sooyoung isn’t any of those things, but she’s also many things herself.

Full-time student, full-time dance club vice president, full-time narcissist, full-time fake girlfriend, full-time admirer of Jiwoo. It’s clear she throws her whole self into everything she does.

They’re on two completely separate islands and Spookytown, of all places, is the miracle bridge between them. Sooyoung doesn’t know how a friendship blossomed, but it did. And she owes a lot to the younger girl; not only did she save her from a summer of boredom, but best of all, she introduced her to Jiwoo.

Kim Jiwoo; the object of her affections, a persistent presence in her thoughts, and the reason Sooyoung wakes up everyday feeling a little less hateful towards the world. She’s a wonder.

So of course, Chaewon deserves every bit of gratitude Sooyoung feels for her.

Now, what’s the reason for this sudden sentiment? Why is it Chaewon Appreciation Hour?

“Holy , you got us tickets to the fair?!”

Sooyoung is awed at the passes Chaewon coolly hands her.

This year’s SolsticeFest has been rumoured to be the best one yet, though it seems like they rave about it all the same every year.

Nevertheless, Sooyoung’s never actually been and has never bothered to go. Carnivals and fairs aren’t really her thing and rides are definitely not her thing. She once rode the Hurricane at Everland and threw up for four hours afterwards. Not fun. Given that it’s a favourite event amongst the student body, tickets always sell out too quickly anyway.

Not that there’s anything particularly special about it, but it’s one of the few opportunities for students to let loose. Have fun, enjoy themselves under the sun, and then get flat-out smashed when night falls without any lingering worries about exams or assignments. As an end-of-summer treat, it’s their last breath of fresh air before fall semester comes back full swing to slap everyone in the face.

Opting to sit out from the fair, but certainly not from the fun, Sooyoung usually spends SolsticeFest weekend hanging out and getting wasted with her best friends. Since they’re all too-cool-for-the-fair just like her. It's practically a tradition at this point, one they follow pretty dutifully.

Jiwoo, however, has been raving about SolsticeFest all summer, claiming how it’s a must-go and she’ll never feel fully satisfied with her university experience if she never gets a taste of it. Sooyoung often reminds her that she’s still got three more years ahead of her. Jiwoo’s still itching to go and has been sulking because she couldn’t get tickets.

So, of course: Sooyoung, determined to be the best (fake) girlfriend out there and be a dependable source of Jiwoo’s happiness, has been doing her darndest to nab a pair of SolsticeFest tickets.

She even dragged herself to campus at 9AM on a Saturday to catch the pre-sale booth, but they sold out while she was in line. How could pre-sale tickets sell out so quickly, she thought, then found out students reserved tickets in advance (there are pre-sales for pre-sales? Pre-pre-sales?!)

She even tried striking deals she knew she’d regret later with other students, friends, and dance club underclassmen. Anyone who did have a ticket wasn’t willing to give it up. Jeez, was a carnival really that worth it?

Fed up and sorely disappointed, Sooyoung was this close to just buying overpriced tickets from online scalpers.

But once again, Chaewon swoops in like a knight in shining armour, coming in on her winged horse (so like, a pegasus). The life saver. She’s probably a heroic interplanetary detective in another life, saving the world from some Big Bad villain.

“Aren’t I cool? I’m pretty cool,” Chaewon says, her lips tugged to the side in a complacent smirk.

 “You’re freaking amazing,” Sooyoung raves, “what the hell, Chae, I thought they were sold out!”

“I have a few tricks up my sleeve," she wiggles her eyebrows, "now you and Jiwoo can go to SolsticeFest together. Just don’t tell her I gave you the tickets though.”

Her nose is in the air and her arms are crossed so smugly that Sooyoung is convinced Chaewon isn’t pulling her leg.

“Thank you, god, thank you…why do you always pull though for us like this?” Sooyoung asks curiously.

“I must do everything in my power to make sure the evil is defeated.”

“Damn, do you despise Jungeun that much?”

Chaewon purses her lips. “No! Um, I don’t even know who that is. Who’s Jungeun? The evil is Jiwoo’s sadness,” she counters and Sooyoung chuckles. “I just care about Jiwoo. She deserves to move on. And while I’ve erased Jungeu- I mean, you-know-who from my memory, I’m not saying Jiwoo should do the same. I’m just saying she should be able to look at her differently. They're best friends, after all.”

Sooyoung opens to comment, but Chaewon puts a finger up to shush her. “And before you accuse me living out my ‘revenge story’ or whatever,” Chaewon emphasizes with air quotes, “I want to say that Jiwoo told me herself that she wants to move past this. And I know she can. Character development or whatever, right? We all want her to be happy, she deserves that.”

For someone who raps ‘how to sew a button’ step-by-steps and gets into online arguments about whether former-South-Korean-president Park Geunhye is actually a lizard person or not, Chaewon can have quite the silver tongue sometimes. Needless to say, Sooyoung is 40% impressed, 60% touched.

Sooyoung gives her a soft smile. “You’re right. Jiwoo does deserve to be happy.”

After all, they’re young with their entire lives ahead of them. Jiwoo deserves to move past old relationships and learn from them, like every other functioning adult. It’s how they grow, it’s how Sooyoung has matured and come to understand herself better.

The wise, sage Chaewon isn’t done just yet:

“And you, Ha Sooyoung, are the golden key. The light at the end of the tunnel...the string through the labyrinth…you’re the way out!” she exclaims animatedly, “the Ariadne to Jiwoo’s Theseus. And you-know-who’s Minotaur.”

Sooyoung has only taken one classical studies course in her life and she slept through it, so she doesn’t really understand what Chaewon just said, but it gets to her heart anyway.

“Also, you guys are like really, really cute together,” Chaewon murmurs, almost like an afterthought, “if you can be the one who pulls Jiwoo out of her heartbreak-induced misery, then of course I support you two.”

Sooyoung feels her heartstrings being tugged with impossible force.

“Chaewon…you are like the mother I’ve never had, the sister everybody would want, and the best friend everyone deserves. I don’t know a better person.”

“Did you just quote Oprah?”

Sooyoung only gives her a content sigh. She’s truly glad Jiwoo’s got friends like Chaewon.

The girl in front of her grins. “Hey, I’m doing this for you too. You’re like super cool, you know. Whenever you acknowledge me on campus, my coolness level goes up and I feel awesome for the rest of the day. I’ll never forget that time you talked down the robber who held me at gunpoint in Spookytown,” she says seriously, firmly holding on to Sooyoung’s shoulders, “you saved my life.”

Sooyoung chuckles. “Okay, settle down, that was a fifteen-year-old shoplifter with a water gun. But you’re welcome.”  

“Point is, both you and Jiwoo deserve to be happy and I think you can give each other that happiness,” Chaewon says with a tender smile, “she’s been brighter ever since she met you.”

And maybe Sooyoung feels like bursting into tears on the spot because she doesn’t deserve a friend like Chaewon either, so when her eyes start to water, she pouts to suppress it and throws her arms around the younger girl.

“Chae, listen, I don’t know what you’re going to pursue in life, whether it’s to be on Unpretty Rapstar, or to be a chaebol owning a chain of Spookytowns, or to be a conspiracist, a slam poet, the president, or a PBI agent, or whatever,” Sooyoung mumbles incoherently into her hair, tightening her hug, “but I will have your back 100%. Always. You can tease me all you want and I promise to never get mad.”

It’s a promise that feels so lacking compared to what Chaewon has done for her, but it’s also the most heartfelt thing Sooyoung has ever told her and she doesn’t know how else to express her gratitude.

Chaewon is many things. Her entire being is a list that’s constantly changing and being added to, but there’s one constant at the top that reigns above all the esoteric hobbies and strange quirks: being a loyal friend who’d do anything for the people she cared about.

Chaewon: quite possibly the best wingwoman ever? Maybe it should be Chaewon appreciation hour 24/7.

The younger girl pats her on the back. “What I want to pursue in my life? Well, I want to officiate your future wedding, as long as you’re marrying Jiwoo.”

“Ha ha- wait, what?”

“I’m an ordained online minister.”

Park Chaewon, always full of surprises.

Sooyoung realises that in fact, she wouldn’t hesitate to admit how grateful she is for her one and only, irreplaceable Spookytown partner-in-crime.