University life is just what Seungwan had expected, at least at first.

She had been preparing herself to study abroad, from the moment she took that pamphlet at her school’s annual University Fair. Most of them were local Universities in Canada, occasionally she would stumble upon a small American School promising her an experience of a life time. She was about to call it quits for the day

out of the corner of her eyes she spotted a small stand, blue in color and barely decorated. “Newscape University” The guy said as Seungwan approached him. It only took Seungwan 2 minutes to decide Newscape is where she wanted to go.

Flash-forward 2 years, she had just successfully finished her 1st week as a foreign University Student. Her parents had rented her a small apartment near her campus, the school offered dorms but Seungwan rather live outside of the school. Fortunately, she had found a two-bedroom apartment at a reasonable price, the landlord rented her one of the bedrooms. At first she was scared of not knowing who would occupy the other room. Luck seemed to be on her side, her roommate was not a serial killer or a total slob which were Seungwan’s biggest fears.

Park Sooyoung a 1st year communication student was the one who ended up being her roommate. Sooyoung was great company, she was clean and respected her privacy. The only con of living with her, was that Sooyoung was really talkative hence her studying to be a Journalist. It didn’t really bother Seungwan since she wasn’t really around that much. Instead she spent most of her days at the Engineering laboratories.

Despite it being the first week of school her teachers had made them start getting familiarized with the equipment. Which meant Seungwan didn’t leave the labs till it was closing time. The whole protocol of using the lab equipment was efficient, all she needed was her school I.D and she could use whatever she pleased. She was getting well acquainted with the Lab supervisor, they tended to be students who had a scholarship, he was a 3rd year Software Engineering student. Whenever Seungwan didn’t know how to use something, he would offer his assistance.

On Friday she heard some Biomedical Engineering students gossip about the return of some popular 4th year student. Apparently she was like a goddess to them.

“We need to buy her some treats! Unnie must have missed eating rice cakes”

“I don’t think Sunbaenim wants to eat something that light after an 8-hour flight, maybe we could make a welcome back lunch with all her favorite food”

Since it wasn’t related to Electronics Engineering she really didn’t care about whoever this person was. Honestly it was kind of distracting having these girls yap about their idol while trying to get her homework done. Just like the previous days, Seungwan was the last one to leave the Labs. Something about being alone and having the lab room all to herself made Seungwan even more productive. “See you on Monday Seungwan!” The third year student said as he waved goodbye making sure all the lab rooms were closed before heading out. Seungwan waved back as she made her way back to her apartment. That night she slept like a baby, knowing everything was going perfectly in her life.

She should have known life wasn’t that easy.

Mondays were not busy days for her, in fact she barely had any classes related to her major. Most of them were obligatory complementary courses, apparently the school wanted them to be well rounded individuals not just experts in one thing. It also didn’t help that Newscape was predominately an art/design school and like to focus on encouraging your creativity. Only after finishing her school day could she go to the labs to finish some of her pending work.

Like clockwork Seungwan entered the storage room where all the equipment was located, she grabbed a piece of paper and wrote the materials she would be needing for the day. She was too busy trying to write everything down to notice the slender figure that was standing in front of her.

“You forgot your signature” A female voice greeted her instead of the usual chirpy male one. Seungwan looked up to see who was the owner of that monotonous voice. To her surprise it belonged to a beautiful girl about the same height as her.

“Huh?” Seungwan was a little confused as to what the other girl meant by signature. Apparently it was an obvious answer because it earned her a full on eye roll from the other girl. The piece of paper was snatched from her, the other girl pointed at the small line almost toward the end of the paper.

“It’s here for a reason, you have to sign in order to ask for materials”

Seungwan nodded quickly signing the paper once the other girl gave it back. “Sorry I didn’t know, the guy in charge never said anything” Seungwan sheepishly tried to explain, for being the same height the other girl intimidated her. “I’ll let this one slide seeing as you’re a 1st year” Seungwan thanked her and was quick to grab all the equipment just so she wasn’t under the menacing glare of the other girl. Whoever she was Seungwan hoped she would not see her around again.

As always she was she last one to leave, the lab room usually closed at 11 p.m but out of courtesy Seungwan was sure she returned the equipment by 10.50 p.m at the latest. She was almost done packing her things when the lights suddenly went out, leaving her only illuminated by the hall lights.

Careful not to trip she made her way towards the storage room to return the equipment. Waiting for her was an impatient girl who looked like she was about to lecture Seungwan. “You’ve broken the rules yet again”.

“I-” Seungwan’s mouth was agape, she didn’t even know what she was being accused of. “But I didn’t do anything wrong, I cleaned my station and the equipment is in perfect condition”. Seungwan even made her point by putting the equipment in front of the girl to see.

The girl took the equipment and swiftly put it back into its place, leaving Seungwan even more confused as to what she could have done wrong. “Well I’m glad you didn’t go breaking more rules, everything seems fine with the equipment and I will take your word on cleaning your station” She spoke with a soft voice, but as she continued her face broke into a sly smirk. “However you did break a very important rule, and you must face consequences …we do take this offence very seriously.”

Seungwan started to looked visibly panicked, trying to recall every little detail of her day up until now. “The lab closes at 10:30, by that time you must already have returned everything. Technically you have violated code 2 in the Student manual chapter 3, for that reason I can’t give you back your student I.D” The girl grabbed her stuff and proceeded to close the storage room, leaving Seungwan in shock as to what just happened. After a few seconds questions started popping back into her head. “Hey wait! When can I get my I.D back?” Seungwan chased the girl who was already mid-way towards the exit. “I didn’t know about that rule, the other guy never told me”

The girl stopped didn’t even spare her a look “Not my fault you can’t follow the rules” Before opening the exit door she turned around and gave Seungwan a smirk “Read the manual to know when you can get it back, goodnight.”

Just like that Seungwan was left alone in the barely lit hallways. Seungwan internally kicked herself, she always read the Manuals beforehand. Her friends back in Canada always for being too much of a goody two shoes. The only time she didn't read it, was now her first school violation.

"Ughhh" An exasperated Seungwan reluctantly headed back to her apartment feeling like a failure. When she got back to her apartment, she was greeted by the sight of her roommate doing her night routine on the couch

"No offense you look like a car ran you over " Seungwan plopped herself down on the other couch. "I had a horrible day...I need to read the stupid Student Manual"

"No one uses that...just don't drink at school and you're good to go"

Seungwan gave Sooyoung a bewildered look "Apparently not". She proceeded to vent about the situation at the labs and her dislike of the mysterious new girl who apparently hated her guts for no reason.

"She's probably like a loser that has no friends and took her frustrations out on you." Sooyoung proposed a theory as to why the girl was acting that way.

Seungwan did not like to call anyone a loser, she also hated bullying and tried to be friends with everyone. However, it did make Seungwan feel a little better entertaining Sooyoung’s theory. "Maybe...but I still need to read the manual to know when I can get my I.D back"

"Well good luck with that, I’m going to get some Beauty sleep see you tomorrow Roomie"

After reading 20 pages she finally got her answer. "In case of a violation of the student manual you will get your I.D taken away for 24hrs." She read aloud. After finding out the information she needed, her eyelids closed automatically exhaustion finally taking over.

The next day she went about her day as normal as she could. Since she didn’t have her I.D with her she couldn’t finish her lab assignment so she decided to go to the library instead. She was able to get all her work done and eve managed to get some recreational reading in. “8 p.m.” she looked at the wall clock and decided to call it a night and go back to her apartment to eat something and wait until 10.

Her original plan was to make herself a salad, with the fresh ingredients she had bought at the nearby grocery store at the beginning of the week. Somehow she caved into Sooyoung’s plan to buy some pizza and a tub of ice cream for later.

She left her apartment at 9:50 wanting to be there before the Lab’s closed. She still had to wait 30 minutes until she could ask for her I.D back. The labs were mostly empty except for some 4th year Biomedical students.

Seungwan browsed through her social media something she had barely done since her move abroad. She missed her friends and made a mental note to call them more often, despite being far away Seungwan still wanted to be a present friend.

“I guess you read the manual.”

She didn’t even have to look up to know the owner of the voice. “It’s been 24hrs, can I have my I.D please?” Seungwan stood up, she would just take her I.D and make a run for it, she didn’t want to accidentally infringe another law.

The girl nodded and retrieved something from her bag. Seungwan felt relieved to finally see her I.D after what seemed years of punishment. “I promise I won’t cause anymore troubles” Se