Walking down her new dormitory’s corridor, Bodeum glanced sideways at the room numbers before stopping right in front of Room 808. She wet her lips and took a deep breath before softly knocking on the door twice.

It was already late in the afternoon when Bodeum arrived at Magnolia Hall of the University of Ulsan for check-in. The earlier parts of her day had been spent celebrating her nineteenth birthday with her parents and beloved younger twin brothers before her family dropped her off at the university’s dormitories. Pulling out her phone from her back pocket, Bodeum pouted deeply as she gazed at the blank screen staring back at her.

It was already close to seventeen hours into her birthday and her boyfriend had yet to send her a birthday message. Scrunching up her nose, she tried her best to shake away all of the negative thoughts gnawing at her as she tried to convince herself that the message would come sooner or later. Perhaps Sungho wanted to be the last one to wish her on this special day.

While she was still deep in thought, the room door flung open and two girls popped up, happily shouting their welcome greetings at her. Bodeum jumped slightly out of surprise and quickly shoved her phone back into her back pocket, putting an awkward smile on her face.

“You must be our last roommate!” the black-haired girl clad in an oversized sweater and mom jeans piped with a wide gummy smile. “I’m Jang Mi. Nice to meet you!”

“Hello, I’m Bodeum, Cho Bodeum. Nice to meet you too!” the orange-haired girl greeted back with a small smile.

“Ya, let her in first before we talk,” the other girl in a preppy outfit, sporting a myriad of ear accessories, chided lightly as she pulled Jang Mi aside, making way for Bodeum to enter.

“Oh, oops.” Jang Mi stuck out her tongue sheepishly and quickly helped to bring one of Bodeum’s suitcases into the room.

Bodeum gratefully smiled as she scanned the vicinity of the room. The dormitory room that the school provided was spacious enough for four girls to live in. There were four upper deck beds with study tables installed beneath them and three of them were already occupied, leaving the one on her nearest right empty.

“You can place your things here. I hope you don’t mind that we already chose our beds.” The girl in the preppy outfit gestured to the empty desk in front of her. “I’m Seo Jiyeon, by the way, and that’s Han Areum,” Jiyeon introduced and pointed at the short-haired girl who was sitting at her desk, which was adjacent to Bodeum’s desk, and typing furiously on her laptop.

Areum merely looked up from her laptop and flashed her a quick smile before turning her attention back to her laptop.

“Don’t mind her. She’s busy planning what modules to take for the entire course,” Jang Mi helpfully added. “We’re going to have a straight-A student in our dorm,” she said, lowering her volume. But it was still loud enough for Areum to hear.

The short-haired girl simply rolled her eyes at their exchange and went back to browsing the module catalogue that was available on her faculty’s website.

Bodeum bit her bottom lip in thought. Her new roommate seemed to be really capable, having thought through her entire university life when she herself was still figuring out what she should major in.

As if on cue, Jang Mi curiously asked, “Bodeum-ssi, what major are you? I’m studying Management, Jiyeon unni is doing Chemistry, and Areum is from Biomed Engineering.”

Bodeum paused for a second before she meekly said, “I’m undeclared as of now, so I'll be taking mostly General Ed modules the coming semester.”

Her words seemed to have grabbed the attention of Areum, who peered curiously at the small orange-haired girl without a sound.

“Ah, that’s alright,” Jiyeon supplied encouragingly. “They all say that university is all about figuring yourself out. I can’t wait to start this new chapter of my life!”

Bodeum grinned in agreement as she quickly pulled out three nicely decorated cupcakes from her tote bag.

“It’s my birthday today and I made this with my mum,” she spoke softly. “I thought it would be nice to share with my new roommates. Please take care of me!”

“It’s your birthday today?” Jang Mi gasped. “Damn, you should have told us earlier! We need to have a celebration!”

“Yes, yes, definitely! We can have our first roomies bonding session over dinner.” Jiyeon bobbed her head profusely. “But where shall we go for dinner?”

“There’s a bar-style restaurant called Sticky Fingers that’s near our dorm. They serve pretty affordable food and drinks,” Areum supplied from the side.

“Wow, you know the school so well.” Jiyeon looked impressed.

“Of course, I did my research before coming here,” Areum said proudly.

“Then what are we waiting for? Leggo, please lead the way, Areum,” Jang Mi cheered and clapped her hands in glee.

Sticky Fingers was crowded when the quartet entered the restaurant. Soft, bar music was playing from the radio as a chic waitress around their age led them to an empty table at the corner of the restaurant.

Around them, university students filled the restaurant with noisy laughter and banter as they chit-chatted among themselves.

“That’s the face of Pre-Medicine, Na Jihwan sunbae,” Jiyeon said in a hushed whisper, pointing to a table where a group of sophomores were happily engaged in drinking games. “His dad is the Head of Neurosurgery at Ulsan University Hospital and his mother is an adjunct professor of General Surgery. I also heard he has a younger sister who’s also in Pre-Medicine, but she’s taking a year off because she’s going to represent South Korea in the upcoming Rio Olympics. By the time she returns, I think she’ll be in the same batch as us. How cool would it be to share a class or two with an Olympic athlete?”

Bodeum and Jang Mi’s eyes widened as they listened in, whereas Areum looked impassive.

“How do you know all of that?” Areum questioned with a raised brow as she sipped the glass of water that was brought over by the same female waiter.

“I have my ways.” Jiyeon mysteriously giggled and continued, “Beside him is Elina Kim sunbae. She’s my age and her parents are also high-profile doctors at Ulsan University Hospital. Her dad is Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery and her mum is Deputy Head of General Surgery. Her siblings are resident doctors there too.”

For a moment, Bodeum looked confused.

“Jiyeon unni was born in 1996. She took a gap year before entering university. She was a former K-Pop trainee, by the way,” Jang Mi helpfully explained before turning back to Jiyeon with a glint in her eye. “So are they dating?”

Areum shook her head at the sudden switch of topic and Jang Mi’s excitement, while Bodeum tried her hardest to follow the conversation.

Jiyeon furrowed her brows. “Not that I know of. I only heard that they’re friends since their parents are colleagues.”

Throughout the entire evening, the table was filled with merriment as the four new roommates, mainly Jiyeon and Jang Mi, talked about everything under the sun.

Bodeum smiled warmly at the new friends. Feeling extremely thankful that her roommates were quite nice and welcoming, Bodeum settled back into the conversation, momentarily forgetting that Sungho had yet to wish her a happy birthday.

It was only the first day of the Management Membership Training and Jang Mi was already enjoying herself to the fullest. The Management and Global Management majors were having their combined membership training programme together. In the span of just a few hours, Jang Mi had already managed to talk to every freshman in her orientation group. Even though she was still having trouble putting faces to names, Jang Mi could already tell that she was going to be great friends with all of these wonderful people.

Not to mention, people were already addressing her by her name instead of asking her to repeat it for them, like they were with most others in her group. Jang Mi wasn’t exactly sure what she had done, but whatever it was had definitely helped her make a solid impression on her fellow cohort mates.

Currently, her orientation group was embarking on a treasure hunt to find all of the hidden flags around their cabin, after their orientation leader, a fashionista junior called Han Hyerin, briefed them on their mission.

This is what university life will be like in a big city, Jang Mi thought to herself with a huge grin. Even though it was only a few days into this new chapter of her life, she was definitely having no regrets leaving Jeollanam-do for Ulsan.

“What are you smiling about?” her new-found friend, Kwon Soomi, asked from her side, her voice laced with a heavy Busan accent.

“Oh, nothing,” Jang Mi joyously answered with a silly beam on her face. “I just feel happy to be here and extremely excited for the semester to start.”

Soomi bobbed her head vigorously. “Yeah, everything’s so new and exciting. That’s how I felt when I was on the train to Ulsan too.”

“Right?” Jang Mi dragged out the syllable and yapped away, “Because I was coming here, my mum actually bought me a new laptop for school.”

The two of them fell into a comfortable conversation with each of them talking about their lives in their hometowns. They had somehow managed to click perfectly, thanks to Jang Mi taking the initiative to strike up a conversation with the Busan girl when the students were first split into their respective orientation groups, just because the girl had sat next to her. They were both outgoing people with the same sense of humour, so they fell into a friendship very quickly. It was only the first afternoon of the MT and Jang Mi already felt like she could talk to Soomi about anything under the sun.

“And I think the people here are so cool,” Jang Mi continued with a bright smile. “Just take Hyerin sunbae, for example. She’s so charismatic, smart, and dresses so well. She must be really popular in school too! She’s gonna be my idol!”

“Yeah, I agree. If only you had ten percent of her fashion sense,” Soomi airily joked as she gave Jang Mi’s outfit of the day a quick once-over.

Jang Mi rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue, lightly smacking the other girl’s arm. “Comfort is the new fashion, sis! Plus, I can’t imagine myself wearing heels like Hyerin sunbae. I’ll just fall flat on my face and kill myself!”

Soomi burst into giggles at Jang Mi’s statement.

“Anyway, my roommates are pretty awesome too!” Jang Mi proclaimed, speedily switching the conversation. “Can you believe I’m rooming with a former K-Pop trainee? How cool is that!”

Suddenly, Soomi let out an enthusiastic shriek, effectively breaking Jang Mi’s spiel. “There’s a flag there!” she exclaimed, pointing to the hidden flag hidden amidst a few branches on a tree. Soomi immediately pulled Jang Mi in that direction once the other girl noticed the flag. But right before they could jump up to grab the flag, it was easily snatched