The early Sunday morning at SM Institution felt like the only time Sooyoung could find peace throughout her day.  At 6 AM, only a handful of students roamed around campus, returning from an early run. Sooyoung cherished this quiet time, allowing herself plenty of moments to prepare for the day ahead. Mentally going through her checklist, she warmed up the espresso machine, prepped the whipped cream, checked the syrup bottles, and filled the ice bin—her routine almost like clockwork.

A bit over 30 minutes later, she was nearly ready to open her store to the soon-to-be-crowding students. . Despite all the complaining she used to do when she was younger, Sooyoung found solace in taking her time to meticulously mop the floor of her store. It has been over four months since the grand opening of the "Power Up!" coffee shop, and the place still looked like it opened yesterday.

As Sooyoung finished mopping the last corner of her store, a rustling sound caught her attention from behind. Turning around, she let out a shriek in the direction of the disturbance.

"Kim Yerim!" Sooyoung yelled at the younger girl, trying to recover from her initial shock, her peace now thoroughly interrupted. "The sign says it's still closed, you know?"

"You can't expect me to read this early," Yeri simply retorted while nonchalantly strolling around the counter, displaying her trademark casual attitude.

"And stop coming in through the back; it's for employees only!" Sooyoung complained, although her excitement at seeing her best friend so early in the morning was evident. Yeri's classes started at 7 AM, and being perpetually late, the two friends rarely had a chance to chat until closing time.

"That is my backup plan, so don't be too quick to say," Yeri quipped, taking a seat on a stool and dropping her backpack on the counter. Sooyoung walked behind it to prepare the younger girl's order. "You'll miss me when I can't come in to bother you anymore. I heard old Lee Sooman finally decided to rent out the lot next to this place after Starbucks packed up. I heard it was some sort of bakery"

No one could deny Sooyoung made the best coffee in a 10-mile radius, even driving the campus Starbucks out of business.

"No way! I was already planning to sell SM coasters when I heard the campus merch store was going to replace it," Sooyoung said, placing a glass in front of Yeri and pouring her usual lemon yogurt smoothie. "Still, I'm surprised; not everyone can get past Sooman's campus regulations. Must be a solid business plan."

"You hadn't heard about it?" Yeri asked, taking a sip of her drink. They both turned their heads after hearing a small bell from the door, indicating someone's entrance. A woman with short blonde hair covered with a baseball cap stepped in, and the whole room lit up a bit more.

“Good morning Joy~a Yerima~” the girl greeted, taking a seat on the stool next to Yeri. "Joy, I just need your list for next week's supply."

"Right! I'll get that right now," Sooyoung responded, pulling out a folder from one of her cabinets. Despite her prowess in organizing orders and utensils, she seemed to lose track of her paperwork.

"Wendy, when are the jiggly cheesecakes back in stock?" Sooyoung asked as she rummaged through various papers. "Mina keeps asking me; you know that was a big hit with the exchange students."

"Might be sooner than you think, kiddo," Wendy said. "I had a call yesterday from the woman who's moving next door."

"How has everyone heard of this new woman but me?" Sooyoung asked, now mildly irked by the topic.

"If you attended the weekly meeting, you'd have known," Wendy mentioned. Joy loathes those meetings; to her, it's a wasted hour every week to endure Sooman's extensive ramblings. "She ordered a bunch of bakery goods; display cases, cake stands, mixing bowls, trays. I might need to find a new supplier."

“Another café?” Sooyoung asks, now intrigued.

"Can't say I know anything more than you guys do," Wendy said, trying to recall her earlier phone conversation. "She's definitely from Daegu, very straightforward. You can't miss the accent."

"Unnie, you better get on her good side," Yeri jokingly remarked.

"I just hope Soo-man finally lowers the rent since we're going to be sharing the space now," Sooyoung said, now resorting to finding her list on her laptop.

Just then, their heads turned after hearing the sound of a bell to see a woman rushing in through the door.

"Sorry, I'm late, Joy! There was this short woman lost in the campus, and I was giving her directions," Seulgi said hurriedly, jogging behind the bar while greeting Wendy and Yeri. Seulgi, a dance major at SM Institute, worked part-time at the café, covering morning hours and leaving for her classes after lunchtime.

"Seulgi, you're just in time. Could you print this week's list for Wendy again?" Sooyoung asks hopelessly as she makes her way to her more comfortable mop. "I'm almost done cleaning so we can open."

"You got it boss!" Seulgi happily takes over the task.

"Unnie, how are you gonna compete if you don't know how to use a printer?" Yeri nudges.

"No one is a threat to Park Sooyoung!" she exclaims as she goes to open the doors of her café.

-

Two weeks passed, and Sooyoung was stressed. There was a slow decline in her business, and the culprit was right next door. Her usual customers kept walking past her café. While some still grabbed a coffee as usual, they preferred to get their bakery goods from the neighboring store, taking away a significant portion of Sooyoung’s profits.

Lately, she found herself adrift, brainstorming marketing tactics and trying to gather any information she could about her opponent. Most of her intel came from Seulgi, Wendy, and Yeri, who were already buddies with her business rival.

The cause of her headache was named Irene. She didn't have to ask around for her name since her rival had boldly branded her store as "Irene's Bakery." Curiously, Sooyoung still hadn't met this Irene; both of them worked the same hours, so it wasn't unusual that they would miss each other.

Just then a doorbell sounds snapping the girl out of her thoughts.

"Minari~" Sooyoung greeted the Japanese girl walking through the door, already reaching for her whisk to prepare the usual three dalgona coffees. She noticed that the girl entered alone and asked, "Chaeyoung and Tzuyu not with you today?"

"Ah, hello Joy-a. They're in line next door," Mina said quietly with a small smile as she took a seat. Sooyoung's smile dimmed a bit after suddenly being pulled back into her worries. "And you know how Tzuyu is; she's probably getting a piece of every pastry on display."

So people were lining up next door meanwhile Sooyoung couldn't even fill her seats.

This situation was making her unusually upset, and simultaneously, she felt a lot of pressure to perform better at her workplace.

She recalled the day she told her parents about dropping out. They were furious, to say the least. They demanded she take the next flight back to Jeju. Sooyoung contemplated it for a while, mostly because she missed the simplicity of being home. She longed for moments like going to the beach with her sisters and taking her dogs out for a walk.

Seoul was a big place, and she often felt lonely, but the fire within her, the desire to make it in this city, was something she couldn't extinguish. 

Which is how she ended up refunding her ticket back home. Sooyoung had put everything she had into her business; she couldn't let it go down after everything she sacrificed.

These thoughts cloud her mind as she silently preps the girl’s order.

“Mina, is Irene’s cafe better than mine?” Joy asked without any discretion.

“Joy, you make the best coffee ever,” Mina starts. “I can tell it’s what gets you out of bed in the morning, and the same passion Irene puts into her pastries.” Mina takes a second to think of what to say next. “You both actually complement each other, you’d have the makings of a perfect cafe.” 

“What do you m-”

“Joy!” She hears Seulgi call her from the backroom, quickly pushing her apron into her backpack. “I’m sorry, I forgot I had to go to rehearsal early today!”

“Unnie, you did let me know. I already made your latte to go,” Sooyoung smiles as she hands the other girl her drink.

“Sooyoung-ie, you’re the best boss ever!” Seulgi smiles while only managing to half-hug her with all the bags around her arms. “I’ll grab lunch at Irene’s, you know our latte and her croissants go together super well,” she announces before heading out the door.

Mina gives Sooyoung a knowing smile before carrying her drinks to a table.

What would she do now? Rent was due next week, and Sooman didn't have any plans to lower it. It seemed like this Irene was stealing both her business and her friends.

-

After the end of another slow day, Sooyoung was exhausted. The only thing she wanted to do was close her store and lay down on her bed. Unlike in the mornings, Sooyoung really did not want to take her time mopping the floor at night. She finishes up before turning off the lights, grabbing her trash bags, and heading out the back door.

It was a lot later than she had thought; she must’ve dozed off while strategizing her next move. Sooyoung takes out her keys from her back pocket, accessorized with a fluffy yellow chick keychain, and locks her back door.

As she walks down the alley, making her way towards the dumpster, she hears a rustling sound nearby. She stops at a halt and slowly peeks behind her left shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a small figure approaching her. From pure instinct, she throws her keys at the figure and screams, only to hear an even louder scream back at her.

As things calm down after a few seconds, Sooyoung makes out the figure to be a short woman with a purple sweater on. It was hard to completely make out her face since there was only a light-bulb illuminating the back alley.

“You!” The small woman says sharply. Sooyoung is surprised at her tone, and she mentally prepares herself to be yelled at for throwing a keychain at this woman’s face. “Stop mixing your garbage with mine! There is a separation for a reason!”

“Huh?” Sooyoung asks after taking a few seconds to assess her current situation.

“Every day, my part of the dumpster is full of your trash, and Sooman keeps bugging me about it!” the small woman continued.

“I’m sorry, I must’ve missed the memo,” Sooyoung says, more than confused about the sudden confrontation.

“You would have heard about it if you attended the meetings.”

Now Sooyoung was getting irritated. She hadn’t had a particularly good day to start off, and right now, the only thing on her mind was to get home, not start an argument with a stranger.

“Don't get in my business!” Sooyoung says louder than she had intended. “This seems more like a problem between you and Sooman.”

The other girl pauses for a bit. Sooyoung begins to feel a pang of regret, wondering if she may have unintentionally upset her.

“Just don't do it again,” the woman says quietly as she turns around and takes small steps away.

Sooyoung picks up her keychain from the floor and starts walking towards the dumpsters, making sure to put her garbage bag in her side of the container. She starts to come down from her mild irritation and starts pondering over her recent interaction.

Who was that woman?

She was talking about the staff meetings, so she must be a staff member. But why was she complaining about trash? How did she even know which was Sooyoung's side of the dumpster?

She glances over to the other container with a small bag filled with spoiled bread that confirms her suspicion.

Was that Irene?