United World University for Space, United Korea Branch

Seoul, South Korea, United Earth Alliance

[Time Frame: ‘97 line has 1 year of field experience, Vivi has 2 years of field experience, Hyejoo and Yeojin are now in year 2 at UWUS]

/

Sophomore year was another story. A little more chaotic. Scratch that, a lot more chaotic.

Hyejoo and Yeojin breezed through their classes. Somehow along the way, they earned the title of ‘The Wolf Pack Duo’. Seeing as how they kept topping flight scores, the Alliance kept their eyes on their potential.

Coincidently, it was during one of their flight simulation class that they met two very unique individuals.

Park Chaewon and Choi Yerim.

/

“Hey…uh...you think they’re ok?”

“Hmm?”

Hyejoo unwrapped the rest of her chocolate bar and took a bite before looking at what Yeojin was talking about.

The flight simulator machine was ringing with alarm sirens while shaking and jerking all over the place. An indicator that the simulation was not going well. Hyejoo didn’t even know that the simulator pod could even do that.

“...no.”

Screaming and panicked shouts could be heard even from outside the simulator pod. The class instructor was on standby, looking on in disbelief.

After a few more minutes, the instructor had enough and hit the stop button. The pod jerked before slowly shutting down.

Hyejoo and Yeojin watched as two girls stumbled out of the simulator pod. The instructor helped them up. After making sure they were alright, he began dismissing the rest of class.

The two of them were still sitting on the ground. Flight simulation was their last class of the day, so they were just lazing around. Usually, they stayed afterwards to either practice some more or watch the ships coming in and out of the bay. It was the latter for today.

“Who were they?”

Hyejoo asked out loud, interrupting their ship watching.

“Park Chaewon, Sophomore, Flight Rank #49. Choi Yerim, Sophomore, Flight Rank #50.”

Yeojin answered. “They’re not amazing... but they’re not that bad either.”

Hyejoo hummed in acknowledgement. She never knew where or when or how Yeojin got her information, but she decided it was better off not knowing.

“Honestly, I just think flying isn’t their strong suit.”

Hyejoo raised an eyebrow at that. “Whaddya mean.” Her words came out slightly slurred, a wave of sleepiness washing over her. The lazy afternoon sky wasn’t helping in keeping her awake. Plus, it was getting near the end of the day. 

“Chaewon’s more suited for scouting and hands-on field work. My guess is that she’ll excel as a recon or intel field agent. Girl’s got a way with words too.”

“Huh. Didn’t expect that.”

The two watched as a native bird land near them. Yeojin threw some chips at it. (It squawked before feeding. Hyejoo had to distract Yeojin before the girl ended up starting a squawking contest against the poor bird.)

“What about the other girl?”

“Yerim? Ooo, get this! Girlie may at flying but she’s an ace on the ground. Handles all-terrain vehicles like no other. Plus, she’s ranked first in our field medic classes.”

Hyejoo nodded at the information flowing from Yeojin. The two basked in the silence before Hyejoo broke it again.

“C’mon, let’s go. I need a nap. And Tabi’s probably hungry again.”

/

Sure, Hyejoo and Yeojin met Chaewon and Yerim. But they didn’t really become acquainted until… the infamous ‘Dye Incident’ . Hyejoo had laughed at Yeojin’s dramatic naming of the story.

Basically, the two were in the midst of a prank war. Yeojin started it when she woke Hyejoo up by shoving her into a bathtub full of ice water. Hyejoo retaliated by shoving her into the school’s pool and it only escalated from there. A series of pranks took place and often involved the University’s students or staff, in an attempt to humiliate each other further.

(Hyejoo didn’t know how they didn’t get kicked out during all of it.)

The last prank was suppose to be the end-all, go-out-with-a-bang type of prank. It didn’t work out so well.

Hyejoo had gotten the bright idea of putting hair dye into Yeojin’s shampoo. They would always use the dorm showers after their combat classes. That would be a perfect time to strike.

And her color of choice? Blonde .

Either by coincidence or fate, Yeojin managed to come up with the same idea. Only her choice was purple instead.

(Perhaps they shared the same brain cells after dorming for a year.)

/

Hyejoo dropped down to the floor in a heap of limbs, trying to catch her breath. Yeojin did the same next to her, massaging her sore legs. They had just finished a mock field exercise. One involving flaming tires and pools of mud. Enough said.

The two were eager to get back to their dorm’s communal showers. For more than one reason.

“That .” Yeojin let out a tired grunt.

“Tell me about it,” Hyejoo huffed, “We need to work on our speed.”

“Ughh… yeah, you’re right. I still don’t know how Hyunjin is so fast. I think she beat her previous time too.”

“Let’s hurry back, I need to wash all this mud off me.”

The two doubled their speed, after finding out that mud dried quickly.

After getting their shower supplies and some extra stuff , they entered the communal bath. It was crowded more than usual, Hyejoo recognized most of them from the mock field exercise.

The two separated to shower, and to prepare their own prank.

Hyejoo tried to place the hair dye discreetly, but it was kinda hard to see with how much steam there was. She figured that the more people were here, the more steam the water generated.

Quickly mixing in the hair dye with the shampoo, Hyejoo left in a hurry. Without bothering to confirm whose shower supplies it belonged to.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, the excess amount of steam and hot water hindered Yeojin’s vision too. She placed the dye in what she thought was Hyejoo’s shampoo and skedaddled.

The number of people dwindled as they finished their showers. Soon there was just four people left, including Hyejoo and Yeojin.

Imagine their surprise when they both walked into the locker area, completely unfazed, and hair unharmed.

“What the—”

“Wait a min—”

Hyejoo and Yeojin were both interrupted by two shocked shouts. Their faces paled when they realized what just happened.

“Run! We gotta. GO .”

Yeojin whisper-shouted and attempted to grab Hyejoo and run. Hyejoo didn’t budge though.

“Are you crazy? The entire school already knows who does the pranking around here. They’ll immediately think of us!”

Yeojin halted in her efforts. She was right.

Footsteps were rapidly approaching the locker area. Yeojin turned around and braced herself. Hyejoo couldn’t help but wince.

The first thing that they saw was bright blonde and then a vibrant purple . On none other than Park Chaewon and Choi Yerim.

Hyejoo and Yeojin shut their eyes and held each other before rapidly spewing out, “OHMYGOD I’M SO SORRY—”

“WE WERE TRYING—”

“PRANKS ON EACH OTHER WE—”

“WASN’T MEANT FOR—”

A chuckle brought them out of their rapid-fire apology spew. Hesitantly, the duo peeked an eye open.

Chaewon didn’t seem angry after their attempted apology. Yerim was giggling a bit too.

Yeojin and Hyejoo looked at each other. “Uhh… so you two… aren’t mad?”

“Well, I was surprised at first!” Yerim cheerfully ran her fingers through her now purple locks. “But I actually like this color!”

Chaewon had a small smile. “I guess, I’m just glad I got a color that suits me.”

“But you two still owe us!” Yerim enthusiastically pointed her finger at Yeojin and Hyejoo.

“Ah… right. Yeah, I suppose that’s the least we could do.” Hyejoo said in a small, guilty voice. She nudged Yeojin.

“Oh! Yeah, right! Uh… what did you have in mind?”

Chaewon and Yerim exchanged glances.

“You two are at the top of the Flight class, right? Can you tutor us?”

Hyejoo stared rather blankly. She just had a flashback to the simulator episode that one afternoon. Apparently Yeojin had the same thoughts as her, seeing as she tried to repress a shudder.

She was about suggest something else when she locked eyes with Chaewon and Yerim.

Puppy dog eyes were being used, full power!

“Ack—!”

“Ohmygod, stop! We’ll do it, we’ll do it! Just stop attacking us!”

/

Tutoring was chaotic, what did they expect. After a lot of failed simulations, erratic screaming, and several instances of loss of hearing, Chaewon and Yerim’s flight scores eventually got better and better.

Between all the study sessions and shared classes, the four actually managed to strike up a real friendship. Chaewon and Yerim found themselves being dragged into Hyejoo and Yeojin’s crazy shenanigans more often than not. They even met Tabi, who grew excited at the additional company.

The Wolf Pack Duo had turned into a Wolf Quartet without them realizing by the end of Sophomore year.

(Chaewon and Yerim also re-dyed their blonde and purple hair whenever it started to fade.)

/