I’m Kim Taeyeon, an effortful 23 years old South Korean publicitor. My parents are the masterheads of our family’s business empire, the ‘Kimchae Cosmethics Company’ and I’m appointed to be its main heir. For that have I graduated in one of the most prestigious universities in Seoul, and at this very moment, I’m working as the marketing manager of our company.

Leaving my professional life a little bit aside, because not everything in my life revolves around business… I’m very fond of my six best friends forever. Yuri, Sunny, Sooyoung, Hyoyeon, Seohyun and Yoona. The two latter are still in the university, while all the others are already part of the labor market employees’ society. We’ve known each other since middle school, so you can presume that we know (or at least we are supposed to know) every single thing about one another’s personalities. Despite being quite a “big” group compared to the usual trios or quartets of best friends you see out there, we try to do everything together. As far as we can do it, we will do it. Besides I have to admit that nowadays, our plans of throwing ‘Girls Night Out’ at our houses are getting more and more scarcer. The guilty is our jobs. Being an adult is pretty much harder than it seems, I’m the living proof of that.

I live in my parents’ house together with my little sister Hayeon, who is 12. My older brother Jiwoong is absent because of his army services, and by the time he returns after a year, he’ll be heading to his own apartment in Myungdong. I miss having my brother around, as I’m very connected to my siblings. I consider myself as a very caring unnie, and Hayeon agrees. We love spending time together. In the beginning, when Hayeon was younger, we spent time together mostly because of need rather than joy. Our parents have always been very busy, with much work to do and many places to travel to. Then, I was the one who played the major role in Hayeon’s education. And I’m very proud of that.

Well, I think that’s all about me… Or, no… wait! There’s still the boyfriend thing that I always forget. Yes, I have a boyfriend, Park Jaemin. And what I can tell about him is that his family owns the most famous esthetics clinic in the country, the ‘Samdong Jinryoso’. Yes, I’m dating a chaebol guy. But it doesn’t matter that much to me, as long as I’m a “chaebol” too, right? Well, I guess so. Jaemin is two years older than me and we started our relationship in my first year of high school. It was more like a business treatment than a relationship itself, but it ended up evolving as something kind of… serious. I met him in a dinner organized by his family and mine. In the same night he told me his name, he asked me on a date. I don’t even have to say that my parents loved it. They were the ones who gave the strongest support to all this. I wasn’t even that excited about a guy wanting to kiss me, hold my hands, or whatever we were expected to do on a date. After a long conversation with my mom, I decided to give him a chance. After five dates, he wanted me to be his girlfriend. Having a boyfriend is everything the girls in my age ever wanted, so I decided do give him another chance. And here we are, still together. If you ask me if I was crazy in love about him or anything I wouldn’t know how to answer. If being crazy in love means that I enjoy his company, and I consider him as one of the most gentle and kind guys I’ve ever met, then you can tell that I’m in love. We’ve been together for many years along, haven’t we?

Apart of my boyfriend and family issues, what has been putting my life on fire in the last weeks is this one trip that my BFFs are planning. A trip to the USA. A trip for friends, a trip exclusively for the girls. A trip that counts with the financial help from our parents. No, not a vacation trip to Hawaii. A ‘business’ trip to New York City. Six girls that never sleep in the city that never sleeps, for six months… Or is it a year.. I don’t know exactly for how long. Sunny is the one who’s deciding most of it. I’m not even that eager to take part in this adventure, but the girls are so excited about it that they can’t speak of anything else. They’re putting so much effort in this trip that I feel that sooner or later I’ll have to release the rope. All of the girls are going. All six of them, including the maknaes, who will be graduating from university next week, and are willing to do post graduation in the States.

I really admire this commitment my girls have with our friendship. They always try to turn each season of our lives into an adventure. Sunny is right here right know in my house, trying to convince me to board this trip, which initially was an idea of hers and Sooyoung. The maknaes were the first ones to say ‘yes’ to them, and it didn’t take a long time, neither was it hard for them do persuade a drunk Hyoyeon and a even more drunk Yuri to agree with them.

You have to get my point that this trip will be one of the most risky things to ever happen on earth, because when you put all the six of us together (and despite them being my besties and me loving them so much I have to say it clearly) it results in craziness; confusion; despair. Although there’s a whole army including our parents, god, the angels and even the pope and also the president Obama giving their best for this trip to occur successfully, the odds around six young, wild and free best friends alone in the city that never sleeps tend to be not ever in their favor.