It’s mid-January and life is feeling different. Every time we fill out a form, we forget that it’s 2022 now and not 2021. Some people get a new form and fill it out from the start. Some cancel the mistake with a scratch from a pen and write next to it while others erases over the word and write over it. Rose is the kind to forcibly adjust one word to another. She extends the head and tail of the number 1 to look like an ugly 2 on the ledger date for 2022. It’s been a long day and it feels wrong to end it on such a note. She holds the book over her head and sighs at the ugly miswritten number. Well, it’ll do.


            The rest of her colleagues are closing up the hair salon while sweeping up the scattered hair all over the floor. Rose is kicked out since she had been working double shifts and they didn’t want her to do any more work. On her way home to the bus stop, she starts dreaming about the upcoming Jeju trip. At the same time, she is anxious about meeting strangers. Sure, she knows Lisa, Jennie, Irene and Wendy but everyone else seems to be in a clique that she is not a part of. Rose begins to stalk the people in the group chat to get a glimpse of her hopefully future friends. Lisa has her big goofy smile selfie and Wendy has a picture of the evening sky as usual. Irene has changed her profile picture from a bunny to a selfie of herself in a… parking lot? Jennie has changed from her side profile to an icon of a brown circle with a capitalised J in the middle.

 

Rose taps on the next profile of a person named Park Sooyoung and it shows the frontal of a girl with sweet smile under the summer sun. Goddamn, she thought. Seulgi has a normal selfie that shows a cool, tough looking girl with fierce eyes looking back. Oh goddamn, she thought. The next profile is the source of all chaos in the group chat, the Yoona who rarely chats but when she does, the group goes into ‘Wendy-protection mode’. Yoona has her side profile as her display picture and she’s dressed elegantly in a foreign, maybe sort of European country. Godfreakingdamn, she thought. Is everyone in this group a super model, idol or what. Why the hell is everyone (her friends included) all incredibly good looking. The next is the profile of a person named Jichu. Rose wonders if that’s a nickname but the profile picture reveals nothing except a picture of Snowball from the movie, ‘The secret life of pets’. The final profile is a girl named Yerim with a picture of ‘Squirtle’ from Pokemon. The 2d turtle has an outstretched arm and the biggest smile looking back at her. Rose tries to enlarge the picture but before she does, her profile vibrates and someone is calling her and that someone is ‘Yerim’. Rose hesitates to answer and wonders if this Yerim has some sort of telepathy or psychic powers that lets her know that Rose was going through the group chat profile pictures. The cell rings for another three times before Rose braces herself for the call.


YERIM
Hello.

ROSE
Hi.

YERIM
Is this Rose?

ROSE
You reached me.

YERIM
This is Yeri from the Jeju island trip group chat.

ROSE
Nice to meet you, Yeri-nim. (Miss Yeri)

YERIM
I know it’s nice to meet me.

ROSE
Okay…? How may I help you?

YERIM
You wanna hang out?

ROSE
Just like that? We don’t know each other.

YERIM
That’s why I asked if you wanna hang, dummy. That’s like asking why a fat guy is in a gym. It’s exactly that he’s fat that he tries to gym.

ROSE
What?

YERIM
We don’t know each other well so let’s get familiar!

 

Rose feels a small irritation from the exchange. They never even met and this little punk just called her a dummy out of nowhere.


ROSE
Sorry. I just finished a double shift and I’m tired. You go ahead and have fun… Ms. Yeri.

YERI
Miss? You can just call me Yeri.

ROSE
Thanks but no thanks, I’m good.

YERI
Why are you so polite? We’re gonna be roomates for 7 days soon, you know.

ROSE
I’m rooming with Lisa.

YERI
We’ll see about that.

ROSE
What?

YERI
So the address is at Dokseodan-

ROSE
I said I’m not coming. Goodnight, Miss Yeri.

YERI
Where are you? I can come to you.

ROSE
You have a good night, Miss Yeri.

 

Rose hangs up and she feels like throwing her phone against the wall. This punk is way too rude and pushy. She sees her bus coming and she prepares her transportation card but her phone rings again.


YERI
Is this Rose?

ROSE
…

YERI
Is this Rose?

ROSE
You know this is my number, Miss Yeri.

YERI
What are you doing now?

ROSE
Getting on the bus.

YERI
WAIT!

ROSE
?

YERI
Don’t get on. Please. I need your help.

ROSE
What? What is it?

YERI
I’m scared.

ROSE
Are you in trouble? Where are you, Miss Yeri.

YERI
I’m so scared.

 

The bus drives away just when Rose is contemplating whether to get on or not.


YERI
Do I hear the bus driving away?

ROSE
Yeah, where are you now? Is someone following you? Should I call the police?

YERI
Thanks but no thanks, I’m good.

 

Yeri imitates Rose’s tone when she said the same sentence just before and Rose feels her hand clenching tightly. This stupid little punk.


ROSE
Miss Yeri. I’m a very busy person. Stop pulling prank calls on me.

YERI
It’s not a prank though?

ROSE
Goodnight.

YERI
WAIT! There’s this weird foreigner following me!

ROSE
Are you for real?

YERI
Please come fetch me!

ROSE
It’s Seoul. You’ll be fine. Walk in the bright alleys, Miss Yeri.

YERI
No, this person just fainted. I don’t know what to do. Please come and help me.

ROSE
Call the ambulance.

YERI
Skkkeeesh skeesh. Oh no. My phone is dying.

ROSE
What? That doesn’t sound right…?

YERI
This person is dying. Please come to Dokseondang-ro 86 or this person’s death is on you.

ROSE
You can borrow a phone from the convenience store clerk, Miss Yeri.

UNKNOWN PERSON
*cough*cough* Heeelppp meee~

ROSE
, is it real?

 

The call disconnects and Rose frantically calls back but Yeri’s phone is turned off. She flags a cab immediately and make her way to Yeri’s location. On arrival, she sees a 7-11 convenience store at the ground floor of a small brick building. Nothing apocalyptical seems to be going on and Rose wonders if Yeri received help from someone else. Suddenly, a small hand taps on her shoulder and she turns around to see a short girl with long black hair covered on top by a beanie. Compared to Rose who is dressed professionally with a dress shirt and long pants, the girl is dressed casually with a gray hoodie with matching sweat pants.  A cheeky smile greets her and Rose knows that she’s been pranked and this was the prankster on the phone.


YERI
Are you Rose?

ROSE
That’s me.

YERI
I’m Yeri.

ROSE
I gathered that much.

YERI
C’mon, lets get supper.

ROSE
Miss Yeri, I’m a very busy person and I have to work tomorrow.

YERI
Have you eaten?

ROSE
No.

YERI
You’ll have to eat anyway. Might as well be here, with us.

ROSE
Us?

 

A familiar face pops up from behind and Rose feels like strangling these two brats like Homer did to Bart in Simpsons.


LISA
Hey, Rose!

ROSE
Let me guess, you were the one who did the fainting noises.

YERI
And you fell for it. Are you actually dumb?

ROSE
…

LISA
Let’s get some cup noodles!

YERI
We can eat on the stools outside!

ROSE
Why? There must be some restaurant open around here. It’s so cold to sit out here and why should we meetup to eat convenient store food?

LISA
I told you. She’s like an ajusshi (old mister).

YERI
Actually an ajusshi.

ROSE
Alright, you two have fun. I’m leaving.

YERI
Wait! I’ll pay for your meal. You can pick anything.

ROSE
Well… if that’s the case…

LISA
I told you. She’s like a cheap old ajusshi.

YERI
Actually a cheap old ajusshi.


            Rose turns to leave and the two girls pull both her arms back. Rose begrudgingly picks out a tuna gimbap, sausages, spicy cup ramen and banana milk. Lisa gets roughly the same with the addition of chips and chocobiscuits. Yeri on the other hand is concocting some weird dry instant ramen with chilli pepper, chilli paste, vinegar and the seasoning powder. Rose is thinking that there’s no way that can taste good. Yeri paid for the food and then some with fruit soju. All of them sit themselves outside the 7-11 store, fidgeting uncomfortably with the stools, trying to fit all of their food on the small table. Both Lisa and Yeri take a bite out of their piping hot ramen and sighs contently.


LISA
This is life!

YERI
This is youth!

ROSE
Why am I eating instant noodles out in the cold weather, at the start of the year.

YERI
Don’t question youth, Chaeyoung.

 

Rose glares at the culprit who revealed her real name but Lisa avoids her gaze. She sighs and takes a shot of soju before resigning to her unfortunate evening.


ROSE
How did you guys know each other?

LISA
The same way you know her. Yerimie called me to hang just before she called you.

ROSE
And you just accepted?

LISA
Yeah, why not?

YERI
We’re pretty much good friends now.

LISA
Practically sisters.

ROSE
What? You just met her.

LISA
Yeah! We all have so much common. Like I like hiphop.

YERI
I like music.

LISA
I like truffle fries.

YERI
I like braised potatoes.

LISA
I like biking.

YERI
I like pilates.

ROSE
None of those examples are even remotely the same!

YERI
Literally the same. Enough about us, how did you two meet?


            It was the summer of 2016. Rose was still a student and part-time apprentice hairstylist. Lisa was a fashion designer major in the same faculty. Every year, the university they studied in have an end of the year runway show. Students from each major would help each other for extra credit and have a chance to display their work. Fashion design department design the clothes, Merchandising would make them, Communications would market the event so on and so forth. Rose in Cosmetology would help the runway models with hair styling. Due to student budget, apparel designers often have to model in their own clothes. Lisa was then paired up with Rose in the show that year. Normally, Rose’s work is exceptional but Lisa was a freshman from Thailand and she spoke little Korean. During the hairstyling session, Lisa tried to give instructions for their overall design and kept saying ‘Khyay’ (expand) to make the hair volume fuller. Rose didn’t understand so Lisa said ‘Boom, big boom!’. Rose smiled understandingly and Lisa was relieved that her assigned partner knew what she was getting at so she went to sleep while Rose worked on her hairstyle. The runway show proceeded as normal with the theme of ‘Period-based’, some students went with Victorian and others with Eastern. Lisa went with the theme of ‘Traditional Korean’ so when it was her turn, she had with walk out the runway with her designer’s Hanbok (traditional Korean dress) and a really, really… big afro.


YERI
Oh my god, seriously? Hahahahaha.

LISA
It was the most humiliating experience of my life.

ROSE
What am I supposed to do?! You kept saying big boom, big boom!

LISA
Who the hell wears an afro with Hanbok? I was obviously saying make the hair fuller!

ROSE
How do you think I feel? Other departments stopped requesting me for hairstyling for months!

LISA
You deserve it. Some of my old classmates still call me Afro-sa.

YERI
How are you guys still friends?

ROSE
Because of that incident, no one wanted to work with me and no one wanted to touch Lisa’s ‘avant-garde’ afro-hanbok designs at that time.

LISA
We’re forced to pair up for rest of the school term. We did come in first for the second year runway project though!


            Rose and Lisa high fives each other and start complimenting each other over and over again. Yeri notices that Rose is much more relaxed after a few drinks and she recalls Lisa mentioning that a drunk Rose is the real Rose. The normal Rose tries too hard to be mature and serious all the time, that’s part of the reason why Lisa agreed to Yeri’s ruse to trick her out here tonight. Every once in a while, a tightly wound string needs to relax a little and rest their feet.


ROSE
How about you, Yeri? How did you meet rest of the gang?

YERI
Is it Yeri now, Chaeyoung? Aren’t you going to call me Miss Yeri?

ROSE
Wait, how old are you?

YERI
How old ARE you?

LISA
I’m 24!

ROSE
She was asking me, doofus. I’m 25.

YERI
I’m 23.

ROSE
Then why am I using honorifics? You should be calling me Miss Rose instead, you brat!

LISA
Uh-oh, it’s starting.

YERI
Drunk Rose?

LISA
Drunk Rose.

ROSE
I’m not drunk, you punks. I’m the unnie of the group so answer my question, how did you meet rest of your friends?

YERI
In the Jeju groupchat? There’s so many of them though.

ROSE
Tell me an interesting one.


            It was Autumn in 2015 and it was Yeri’s sweet seventeenth. The normal 17 year old would be preparing for exams but studies are for nerds. Yeri is different. Yeri is cool, too cool. She goes to a club in a leather jacket getup, there to hit up every club and every bar. When September had ended, all of Yongsan district had known Yeri by her mad DJ skillz and rapping moniker, Y.R-


ROSE
Stop bullting, you little punk.

YERI
What? How can you tell?

LISA (shifty eyes)
Y-yeah, I could totally tell you were bullting too.

YERI
Okay, the leather getup is fake but the DJ skills are mad realz.

ROSE
Where did you DJ at?

YERI
…
Okay fine, I was preparing for exams just like every other 17 year old, happy?

            It was Autumn in 2015 and it was Yeri’s sweet seventeenth. The normal 17 year old would be preparing for exams. Yeri is normal like everyone else. Yeri is studious, too studious. But in spite of all her efforts, Yeri was still not doing well so her parents hired a private tutor for her. They told her the private tutor studied overseas, is fluent in English and scored straight A-s across the board. Yeri assumed that someone like that must be a bespectacled nerdy student but the person who turned up was Wendy. Wendy was always dressed neatly with collared shirts and freshly pressed pants with a ponytail hairstyle. Thanks to the private tutoring lessons, Yeri started to catch up with her studies (Of course, having a hot teacher also helps). When Yeri passed her exams, Wendy dropped by Yeri’s school to congratulate her and all her classmates started pestering her about the super-hot sunbae who came by.


            It started off with a small lie. Yeri wanted to brag about how much of a playa she is so she told her classmates that the girl who dropped by was her girlfriend. One thing led to another and the lie started snowballing. Some of the students started a shipping fanclub of the mysterious sunbae and Yeri online while others spread the story of how an alumni student courted Yeri. On graduation day, Wendy surprised Yeri by showing up again and everyone in Yeri’s class started squealing and screaming. Literally everyone on campus thought Wendy was Yeri’s girlfriend and they were staring with hungry eyes. Back into a corner, Yeri had no choice.


ROSE
What did you do then?

LISA
What happened next?

YERI
You know what? Forget it. I’m not going to tell the story.

LISA
What?!

ROSE
I’ll buy the next round if you finish your story.

YERI
HMMmmmm…

ROSE
Next two rounds!


Yeri continues her story. Wendy was watching Yeri with the audience when the principal was still handing out the certificates. All of Yeri’s classmates were going wild backstage because of the rumours of ‘how Wendy desperately chased after Yeri’, ‘Wendy is Yeri’s millionaire sugar mummy’ and so on. The shipping fanclub members were waiting to talk to Yeri’s ‘girlfriend’ and all excited to take a selfie with the celebrated couple. There’s no hiding anymore and she was going to be exposed so Yeri did the only thing Yeri could do. Yeri went up to the stage, received her certification and walked towards Wendy. Wendy was expecting a hug but Yeri just kisses her on the lips, then calmly pick up her things, walked out of school grounds and never looked back.


LISA
Oh my god. How did Wendy react?

YERI
I don’t know. I didn’t look back.

ROSE
That has got to be the cringiest story ever!

LISA
What happened next?

YERI
We didn’t talk until I ran into her a few months later. I explained the whole story and apologized. Wendy said it was alright and everyone did embarrassing things in high school.

ROSE
Okay but nothing can be THAT embarrassing. If that happened to me, I would kill myself.

YERI
Okay, Little Miss Perfect. At least I didn’t get my hair done by you. What’s your next project? Mohawk with Middle Eastern influence?

ROSE
It’s cute that you’re trying but the conversation is over. There’s no coming back from pretending your tutor is your girlfriend and randomly kissing her.

YERI
Alright, fine. I know its super cringe. My parents still make fun of me and I don’t even dare to show my face during alumnis now.

LISA
Did you like it?

YERI
Like what?

LISA
Kissing Wendy.

YERI
Well… it was just a light peck so it didn’t feel like much. I would have to try it again to know.


            Rose and Lisa starts squealing like kids and they start making fun of Yeri and making up lyrics of Yeri kissing her tutor.


YERI
Anyway, we got close after that so we can laugh about it now. Later on, Wendy introduced me to Seulgi and I introduced Irene to them.

ROSE
Your turn now, Lisa.

LISA
What? Do I have to tell a story too?

YERI
And make it an embarrassing one.


            It was the start of 2021. Lisa had just received her first commission work and started earning some money. She can finally move out of student dormitories, so she started looking for apartments. The thing is, Lisa was making an average amount of money so she couldn’t afford an entire apartment by herself. She had also heard that foreigners find it hard to get a lease in Korea so there was a lot of pressure. One day, she found a listing with a person looking to share rent. The location is amazing, the rent is reasonable, and the interior is tastefully decorated. The only conditions were to keep the house clean, be quiet at night and not to bring strangers home. Many people were interested in the apartment, so the landlord told Lisa to come for an interview like rest of the potential tenants.


            Lisa set up a meeting with the landlord the following week and she arrived punctually with a gift basket and wine. No one was home so she texted the landlord and the landlord replied that the key is under a pot plant next to the door and she can wait inside, and so she did. Moments later, someone knocked on the door and Lisa opened the door to find a small girl with cute bunny teeth and long straight hair. That must be the landlord, Lisa thought. Both girls sat down to talk about the terms but before they could, someone else came into the apartment. It was a girl with exquisite features and beautiful doe eyes. That must be the competing tenant coming for an interview too, Lisa thought.

 

Did I mention that it’s not easy to find a good apartment for such cheap rent in Seoul and that foreigners are not often welcomed? So, Lisa did the only thing she could. The bunny teeth girl and Lisa started talking about how clean and quiet they are, and they like to be home alone so no one will ever visit. Both of them then started to nag at the third girl, mentioning that she looks like someone who can be very messy, noisy and very social. The third girl coughs and interrupts them. She said, I’m the landlord.


LISA
The third girl is Irene unnie. The second girl is Jennie unnie. Turns out Jennie thought that I was the landlord because I was in the house when she arrived. I thought Jennie was the landlord cause she arrived first and we both thought Irene unnie was the competing applicant.

YERI
Why didn’t I hear this story before?!

ROSE
And Irene unnie still leased the apartment to the both of you??

LISA
Yeah. We’re thankful for that. We were sure she was gonna kick us out. I think Irene unnie said she liked how animated Jennie was when she was badmouthing her.

YERI
That’s just weird.

ROSE
I would just kick the both of you out immediately.


            The girls shared a few more stories and time flies by quickly. Before they know it, it was 2am. The last thing Yeri got to know about her two new friends is that, Lisa is a sleepy drunk and Rose is a crazy drunk. Yeri herself, is a whiny drunk. They start hiding in the warm 7-11, telling the store clerk to get their moms to fetch them. Rose start singing loudly and eating snacks on the floor. Yeri manages to dial one of her contacts after several shaky tries.


YERI
Hiii, is this mom?

JISOO
It’s not. I’m Jisoo.

YERI
Jisoo mom, can you come fetch us?

JISOO
Are you drunk, Yerimie?

YERI
I’m not drunk. You’re drunk.

 

Yeri hears someone snatching the phone over and she sobers a little when she hears a familiar voice.


WENDY
Kim Yeri, just what do you think you are doing?

YERI
I uh… was just eating friends and meeting dinner.

WENDY
I told you not to drink if you can’t drink so much. Do it in moderation, you stupid kid.

YERI
I’m not! I was jus-

WENDY
You’re lucky you didn’t call Joohyun unnie by mistake.

YERI
Please don’t tell her! Come and fetch us please?

WENDY
Us?

 

After 30 minutes, a familiar blue Mercedes drives up and the grateful store clerk helps Wendy and Jisoo to drag the girls into the car. Wendy grabs Yeri by her neck and chucks her into the car. Jisoo tries to pick up Lisa when suddenly a figure shoulder tackles her. It is Rose with two popsicles, one in each hand.


ROSE
Whuu..who are you? Why are eww kidnapping my friend?

JISOO
Hey, what are you doing? I’m here to pick you up.

ROSE
Don’t lie to me. I knooow Kungfu.

JISOO
Stop it! I’m Yeri’s friend. I’m here to fetch you guys.

 

Rose starts to brandish her popsicles at Jisoo and Jisoo tries to dodge her attacks. Jisoo starts to feel irritated at the annoying blonde. One moment, she was enjoying date night with Wendy and now, she’s suddenly picking up dead drunks and this girl is attacking her with ice cream.


ROSE
Hey, you look familiar…

JISOO
What?

ROSE
Have weee met?

JISOO
No? I don’t know you at all.

 

Rose takes a closer look at Jisoo’s face, trying hard to recall where she has seen the girl before but suddenly, her stomach churns and she vomits all over Jisoo’s shirt. Jisoo’s patience runs out and she explodes on Rose, pushing her away.


JISOO
If you don’t want to go, you can stay. I’m taking your friend home now. Move!

ROSE
You’re the crying girl at the bakery!

 

The familiar scene replays in Rose’s head and she recalls the person pushing her with the same line in the bakery just a few weeks back. After remembering the incident, Rose collapses into Jisoo’s arms from her stupor and Jisoo lets out a huge exasperated grunt. Just before Rose goes to sleep, she notes down Yeri’s cheekiness as the start of her night and  Jisoo’s pretty face as the end of her night. Because some day, someone might ask how they met and she’ll have hell of a story to tell.