Bagan, Myanmar

Thursday, July 17th, 2025

Jiheon walked towards the guardrail where Yujin was still busy with her camera. The girl was taking pictures of the hot air balloons that were flying over the pagoda with the dusk sky as the background that would spoil any eyes. Not too far from Yujin, several young tourists were watching her with big smiles. They waved their hands to get Yujin’s attention, which Yujin greeted them back with a nod and shy smile. The simple acts made the tourists squealed in delight.

Jiheon snorted at that.

“Enjoying your fame, Ms. Popular YouTuber?”

Yujin turned her head, a big grin was on her face. “Not my fault. They’re the one who greeted me first. It would be rude to not greet them back.” She proceeded to wave her hand and making a pose to the tourists as they taking a picture of her.

Jiheon snorted again, but she let her friend be. As Yujin back to taking pictures of the scenery around them, she noticed Yujin looked different today. The usual boyish-look Yujin used to show along with casual clothes, especially with big t-shirt and jeans, was replaced with seriousness and enthusiasm. Sometimes, she would look so serious with a frown her forehead, but on the other times, her smile would appear so wide her dimple even came to the surface, and Jiheon had to stop herself from pinching those adorable cheeks. This side of Yujin is always so attractive for Jiheon. Seeing how Yujin looks so excited, it’s obvious that Bagan made her happy.

At first, comes to Bagan wasn’t on their plan. The plan was supposed to have fun with water sports, trying every special and unique street food they found, and partying at the bar until dawn in Pattaya for days. And then Yujin surprised them with her idea of visiting Bagan, Myanmar for their last destination.

“Listen, Bagan is a part of the UNESCO Heritage Site, an artistic and exotic ancient city with a mysterious vibe. I’m so curious about the architecture of the building and the scenery they have. Come on! It’s for the last day of our vacation. You will get historical experience and not only playing around as we did here. I promise it will be a pleasant trip.”

That’s what Yujin said to them a few weeks ago and those excited, sparkling, round eyes are enough for them to agree and followed Yujin. Pattaya was great and thankfully, they enjoyed Bagan too. Even though the weather was quite hot and shiny, Bagan has its charm at dusk.

But praising Yujin for her vacation plan wasn’t on Jiheon’s mind for now. The new semester will begin in September and they are preparing the final project of their last year. They are a good team, fit with each other so well. Jiheon wasn’t worried about her team, only about Yujin. Specifically, Yujin and her crazy ideas.

Just last night Jiheon read the project proposal Yujin gave her and the title had already given her the shock of her life. Yujin giving her headache wasn’t something new, but it doesn’t mean she was fine with it.

“Listen, I don’t like the concept of the project you were suggesting, Yujin-ah.”

Yujin immediately turned at her.

“Did you just read it? Yah! I gave you the proposal like three weeks ago, and you never said anything, I thought you were agreed with me!”

“I was busy with the preparation for the graduation ceremony, okay? And no thanks to you who didn’t want to help me with the student council stuff,” Jiheon rolled eyes. “So, yes, just last night I finally had time to check it and as I said, I don’t like it.”

“But why? It’s a great idea. An extraordinary and unusual project that I’m sure it will be awesome,” Yujin was looking at her with her superb-annoying confidence attitude. She walked past Jiheon and sat between Gahyeon and Doah who were busy with their laptop, probably taking care of the graduation ceremony which will be held next week. Along with Jiheon, the three of them are part of the student council and although they are currently on vacation, they are still in control of the preparation.

“So? Explain to me, Jiheon-ah.”

“It’s dangerous.”

She got a scoff as a reply. “Have you really studied the whole proposal? We are not going to do an investigation or do a dangerous role-play. We only have to go there, take pictures and videos, and interview some people. That’s all.”

“Yeah, doing a documentary film in a war zone is simple and not dangerous at all,” and Jiheon lost it. “Have you lost your mind?! Are you trying to repeat what happened two years ago?!”

The mention of two years ago makes Doah and Gahyeon stopped typing and looking at them. They weren’t there when Jiheon was kidnapped, but as their best friends, they exactly know what happened.

Yujin’s face scrunched up, didn’t like the accusation. “Yah, why are you bringing that up? And what is this, you don’t like it? We happened to destroy the drugs syndicate thanks to our project. We did the right thing, and this project” ─refers to the new project─ “is the right thing, how can you not agree?”

“I will let you do anything you want if your concept is ‘Daily life of Actress Kim Minjoo’ or ‘Daily life of Solo Singer Jo Yuri’─but this??” It’s hard for Jiheon to control her voice volume. “Going to Palestine? This is only for final assignment why do we have to risk ourselves for this?!”

“Why would I make a documentary about Minjoo Unnie or Yuri Unnie? That’s so boring,” Yujin waved her hand. “Even if people interested, nothing is interesting in filming your own cousin or best friend.”

“How about the Sapphire Troika?” Gahyeon decided to chime in before Jiheon strangles Yujin to death. “Like this, ‘The Friendship between the Game Developer, the Architect, and the Music Director of the Sapphire Corp’. They’re kinda famous now thanks to their game, but no one really knows their real life. People would be interested in them, what do you think?”

“Not you too, Cho Gahyeon!!” Yujin groaned. “They’re boring!!”

“There are many easy ways for you to work on this project, but why do you have to choose the most dangerous one?” Jiheon sighed.

To their surprise, Yujin laughed at that. The annoyance from before disappeared from her face.

“I’ll do anything for this project, but not about them. Making documentaries for them is the job of those who work on entertainment news, not us.” She reached out to hold one of Jiheon’s wrist. “Well, what is your idea then? Maybe I’ll consider it.”

Jiheon blinked a few times, too surprise that Yujin looked fine with her rejection. She was expecting Yujin to force her idea to them. Is it always this easy to convince her?

Honestly, Jiheon hasn’t thought anything, not yet, thanks to her responsibility in Student Council and deadline with graduation ceremony next week.

“What about a conductor of an orchestra? Or a painter? It seems interesting,” Doah joined in the conversation. “Making a documentary movie about a street musician I think is great too. Imagine if you found a musician like August Rush in these days and make a documentary for them, I would definitely be your first audience.”

Yujin smiles at the idea. Not bad. Doah always manages to be the mediator when they argue.

“How about that?” Yujin’s gaze turned to Jiheon.

“Even just imagining the process makes me excited,” Jiheon patted Doah’s head, she had a wide smile on her face. She turned to Yujin who has the same smile as hers. “I will try to contact some talented people I know and start thinking about my concept. Think about your concept while on vacation. I don’t want you to return empty-handed. Deal?”

Yujin extended her pinkie and linked it to Jiheon’s. “Deal.”

The three of them noticed the unusual calmness from Yujin. The girl seems so fine with the new idea and didn’t try to resist and although they want to ignore it, they couldn’t help but felt something odd.

“So,” Doah broke the silence between them, “Tomorrow we will return to Seoul, then what are you going to do?”

“Where are you going to continue your vacation?” Gahyeon and Jiheon looked at Yujin.

“Hmmm...” Yujin muttered. “Maybe… Palestine?” She laughed amusedly at the shock faces of her friends. “I’m kidding, you fools!!”

“YAH! AN YUJIN!”

***

Vienna

Friday, July 18th, 2025

Inside a big hexagon-shaped glass tube, a dark blue-haired girl was moving quickly in the air with the help of air pressure. She was wearing VR headset and a control machine on her wrist, excitedly moving and following the maps of Sapphire Clouds, the latest game from Sapphire Crown miniseries and currently being the most popular game. Her body moved from left to right, up and down, rolling in the air as she tried to collect the rewards.

Outside the tube, another girl with shoulder-length and blonde hair was watching her closely.

Aoi, her secretary, came to her side. “Miss, we need to go.”

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter