Light tapping on the windowpane woke the delicate person sleeping snuggly in the middle of the cramped room, blankets wrapped completely around the body. The sun had barely risen. The person took note of that, since the alarm had not blasted throughout the room yet. The tapping continued, slowly getting on the nerves of the person. The Shanghai roll, which sprawled out messily, slowly became a big lump of blanket ball in the middle of the bed. It stirred for a while, struggling to break loose from the restraints of the large cloth. A head poked out from the lump of blanket and groggily searched for the source of the bothersome tapping. The person blinked both eyes, letting all sense of sight adjust from the sudden interruption from slumber. Directing its look towards the window, the person saw that the culprit for the untimely awakening was just sparrows, silently chirping and pecking from the crumbs that fell from somewhere else. The person was annoyed beyond perception and decided to drive the innocent birds away from their breakfast. The birds flew away swiftly, but leaving the mess of fallen crumbs near gone.

Just when the decision of returning to sleep was about to be accomplished by the person, the alarm began resounding loudly throughout the room. Annoyance was an understatement to describe what the person was feeling. Two hours of unstable sleep with tons of papers to work on, the person gave in to the urge to let out a frustrated scream, completely disrupting the quiet atmosphere of the neighborhood.

Nam Ri Na, senior student from International Arts Institution Seoul branch, treasurer of the University Division Council, secretary of the Supreme Council of IAI’s Student Body. She’s an only child of a single mother working as a freelance writer and an agent from a housing company, a full scholar of IAI and taking a major in Music Management and a minor in Voice.

She stepped out from the comfort of her blankets after her little encounter with the harmless flying beasts. Her long hair swayed lightly as she lazily fixed the disheveled bed covers, continuously grumbling about her disturbed sleep. She was amidst tidying up her study table when her phone rang. 2NE1’s Come Back Home played for a couple of seconds. She checked the caller’s ID and answered.

“I hope this is important.” Ri Na spat grouchily.

“Did I wake you up?” the person let out a high-pitched laugh. Ri Na rolled her eyes, knowing the other cannot see her. She stuffed her things back to her binder. The girl always carried a large set of binders, compressed in a rather larger shoulder bag. Without having anything to carry on her shoulders, she always felt bare and . That unsettling feeling bubbled up within her several times when she complied to run long-time errands outside the school. She was on her way back to her class after excusing herself to the comfort room when the dean asked her to retrieve the solicitation letters they sent to the mayor’s office. The dean told her that not a single faculty and staff were available during those moments, and he pointed that as a council member she had to care for the students and the school’s businesses.

“Do not roll your eyes on me, little miss. I can sense your –“

“Jongdae, I am not cut out for an early morning trolling, especially, if my only hope for a very much needed sleep was rudely disturbed by creatures that are unaware of this burden. Now, spill it.” She ranted, placing her books on her bookshelf.

“That’s too bad. Okay, I will not bother you any longer. I just wanted to inform you that exchange students from Japan are coming later. The school heads wanted us to make urgent preparations and accommodate the students.” The boy said.

“What? Why us? We just came back! What about our resident council? That is just too much! They could have at least informed us yesterday. My goodness! I already told you before; they are trying to kill us.” She grumbled out, not caring for the venom gushing from her words. Then she scoffed, “Bring it on! Let us show them the council’s capabilities. We’ll drag the council here. We had done this before. Right? No biggie. How many are coming?”

“That’s more like it. I think just two this time. So? See you here. Can you make it as soon as you can?” Jongdae asked, obviously happy with Ri Na’s response.

Kim Jongdae, the second son of the pioneers of Kim Engineering Firm, vice president of the Supreme Council, a member and a main vocal in the Music Department’s representative group, EXO, and taking up a major in Voice and a minor in Dance. He became an instant friend when elected also for the Council. They were the only Korean representatives in the council, considering that the Supreme Council consisted of students from the seven international branches of IAI. They managed to take two out of the six major positions of the council.

“I’ll be there in thirty minutes. My room is a mess, had no enough sleep, and cramming to clean these mess. However, you? You never fail to amaze me with how you can be so punctual whenever you want to. For me, it just won’t work even if I desire it like I desire a tub of ice cream cake.” The girl reasoned, chuckling at her own childish tardiness. Jongdae was laughing on the other line. Ri Na had to shut the boy up with a scolding tone and excused herself for a bath. She slipped off her clothes, exposing her creamy white skin. She turned the shower on and let the warm water flow all over her body. She took the moment to summarize her activities for the day in her mind, massaging her scalp gently. Satisfied with her bath, Ri Na finished, dried herself with her towels and dug in her closet for a simple and comfortable clothing. She held her black skinny jeans, a white tank top and a tailored blazer to match.

There was a knock on the door. Ri Na squeaked from shock and hurriedly put on her chosen clothes, shouting a loud ‘wait up!’ to the visitor. She rushed to get the door right after she slipped on her casual pair of sandals. Another knock. Ri Na swung the door open. Right in front her face, stacks of pastel-colored boxes were blocking the way. The person behind the boxes jumped into view, shocking Ri Na.

“Bam! Good morning! Omona! You’re so pretty, unni!” a girl slightly shorter than Ri Na beamed and squealed, hugging herself.

“Uhmmmm.” Ri Na dumbly uttered, not really knowing what to say to the stranger.

“Oh sorry! Annyeong haseyo, unni. Suzy imnida. I am a year lower than you so you don’t see me often. And, because you were gone for a long time.” She bowed, beaming a cringingly bright smile. Ri Na nodded slowly.

“Right. So…what business do you have with me and…” Ri Na trailed, gesturing to the boxes.

Suzy smiled widely and took a box. She stepped close and handed it to Ri Na. She bowed before bringing the other boxes with her as she sauntered to the next door. Ri Na tilted her head in confusion. She glanced at her phone and noted the time. She scoffed, remembering the task given to the Korean council members. She scurried out, seeing as she had ten minutes to spare. Her virtue take account of punctuality and utter hate to tardiness, even though she had admitted it to herself in the past that she had frequently given in to procrastination than to punctuality. Fortunately, for her sorry bottom, she was never late. Cramming. That was her weapon before. One could say that she had learned her lessons well.

She stomped her way in to the council office, opening the door without bothering to knock. Jongdae had seated on the far corner of the room with his glasses on. The boy beamed his usual cat-like smile and returned to scribbling on the paper he was working on.

“I’m getting the president and the council in this mess.” Ri Na exclaimed, pressing harshly on the screen of her phone. She had completely forgotten about her little outburst about showing the school’s administration about their capabilities. Jongdae just sighed and shook his head at the silly glob of panicking mess that was pacing back and forth in the middle of the council room.

“Hello? Hyolyn-ssi? Call for an urgent meeting for the University Division Council now. We are going to war.” Ri Na said, gaining her grasp on the determination that she had forgotten she displayed just moments ago.

“Neh? Oh, okay. We will all be there in ten. See you in a bit, sissy!” The bubbly girl on the phone said teasingly. Ri Na lazily rolled her eyes. She felt her anxiety bit her confidence one more time. Stupid slave drivers. She dragged herself to a seat beside Jongdae. The boy looked at her as she place her shoulder boulder-like bag on the table. He eyed the bag and looked at the sitting girl, raising a brow.

“You’ll be a hunchback someday.” He said. Ri Na faced him and openly glared at him. Her eyes sent hidden messages of ‘GET OFF MY BACK!’ and ‘Shut up and deal with it!’ after giving a playful punch to him.

“Technology has a mechanism of curing that already. I do not care much.” Ri Na said matter-of-factly while messaging the details about the exchange students. The two of them laughed and stayed silent. Jongdae returned to scribbling names and words while Ri Na fished for a binder in her bag. She placed her papers in a tidy pile and started scribbling also. Being a music manager can be a tacky and time-consuming job. She barely had enough time to rest and sleep. It’s not a wonder why only a few people was taking up her course. However, it has always been a mystery as to how the students of Music Management never lost their glow and beauty. It had been garnering people to adore the set of students that took up the course.

Not too long enough, the door slammed open, spitting out the council members one by one. A girl with slightly tanned complexion entered first. Her long, brown locks swayed gorgeously in accord with her suggestive hips. Her black dress hugged every curve of her alluring body, which never failed to catch the eye of the people even if she had dressed with rags and draperies. She held fashionably her blue handbag. A bright smile remained plastered on her face as she strutted to the boy and girl sitting patiently on the corner. Two girls followed, thankfully, doing nothing near what the first had done.

“Hyolyn?” Ri Na beamed, almost too brightly. Jongdae looked skeptical, raising his brows after hearing the unusual brightness on her tone. Hyolyn looked at her happily with the same grin from her mini runway walk plastered naturally on her faces. It had Jongdae thinking if the girl even got a hint of sarcasm in Ri Na’s tone. Stupid, indeed. Jongdae thought to himself, nodding in approval of his conclusion.

“Yes, my baby-sissy-poochy love-love?” Hyolyn replied, taunting the other girl. She did not intend to provoke, but that was what kept happening. She was naïve, not innocent. Irritably, Ri Na rolled her eyes.

“Hyolynnie! People makes fun of you because you’re plain dumb and stupid.” Ri Na blurted out, then slapping a hand to cover . The students gasped and froze in place, even those other council members that are yet entering the room. No sound created. No words uttered. Not even the sound of a light breath. Everyone seemed to be waiting for the uproar for war, but none came. Then, there was giggling that resounded audibly throughout the room. Everyone looked at Hyolyn in disbelief. She laughed heartily. The council members stood flabbergasted at her act. Unbelievable. Many of them thought.

“Oh come on, that is just so sweet of you. I know that already, of course. Such a good friend, rubbing it in my face.” Hyolyn swiftly said, walking to Ri Na and hugged her and squished her, adoringly. “Only a true friend can be so cruelly honest!” she added, beamingly posing with her thumbs up. The students’ jaws dropped at her simpleton. Jongdae face palmed. Stupid. Crack headed. Yeah? Still, stupid.

“Arasso, enough with the useless talk about sadistic friendship already. Hyolyn, why don’t you bring your y here up front and do your job? Neh?” the owl-eyed secretary of the University Division Council said. Hyolyn set Ri Na free from the bear cuddle and walked to the mini podium in the center front of the room. She started with their common agendas, shocking the students even more. One moment, she was the stupid and naïve bum-brained girl. Next thing she becomes when standing in front is a powerful leader. She’s a shocker, really.

Hyolyn, University Division Council President, full scholar, first daughter of a branch manager of La Patisserie Haven, which is a multinational bakeshop. Her father had been contributing to the finest collections of the world famous bakery, and spreading the joys of sweet pastries throughout the world. Her mother was there to assist in business technicalities. Hyolyn was taking the same major and minor as Ri Na.

“I was informed about the exchange students coming from Japan. However, no other information about their identity, except for the fact that they would be landing on the school fields in exactly one and a half hour. In a helicopter.” Hyolyn said, leaning a bit on the podium. She swiftly scanned through the faces of the council members and resumed talking, pacing slowly from left to the right, and so on. “We would need the cooperation of everyone, for us to make a good impression to these two students.” Then she twirled on her heels. “What if they’re both hot guys? Oh my GG! That would be really awesome.”

“Shut it. You had better stop going further. I will take it from here.” Owl-eyed boy said. Ri Na stuck her tongue out to Hyolyn, starting a tease fight between the two. Kyungsoo tapped the podium’s side to gain their attention.

Do Kyungsoo, secretary of the University Division Council, second son of a famous couple working on show business. He had faced the false accusation of some local townspeople, lately, about having some sort of relation to an alien that had lived for 400 years. His parents later refuted it when they confirmed that Do Kyungsoo shared no relation of any kind to the fictional character of Do Minjoon from the television drama, My Love from Another Star. His parents forced a bodyguard to stay with him wherever he had to go, after the foolish threat. He protested, but failed anyway. For his last resort, he requested for a bodyguard near his age and admitted him to IAI. With this condition, they sealed their family deal and hired Kim Jongin.

“I would be glad to lend a hand with the preparations for the arrival.” Kyungsoo said. He looked at Jongin and smiled. They had been sharing some unique mind communication ever since Jongin was hired. “Jongin, the council’s Public Relations Officer, together with me, the secretary, will be informing the students, announcing the arrival and reminding them to show a face. First impressions are important. Mark a good one, and then break it when you’re comfortable with each other!” The crazy owl boy mischievously grinned, shouted, “BOOM!” in unison with Jongin, and then laughed. The others laughed with them. Ri Na and Jongdae just sat silently, shaking their heads and smiling to themselves. Damn. We belong to some weird-assed institution.

Kim Jongin, Public Relations Officer of the University Division Council, one and only son of the famous prosecutor of Seoul Police Department. He fitted in the role as Kyungsoo’s bodyguard. He spent his entire life being home-schooled and training every day. His parents treated him like a baby for long time’s sake, so he immediately accepted the Do Family’s offer, thinking that he had finally found his freedom from home schooling, the tutor, and the sickeningly burdensome assignments that he had to do all alone.

“Twenty minutes is enough to disseminate the information.” Jongin said, looking closely at his wristwatch. “Considering if we would begin moving our asses off from here, I guess, fifteen minutes would be the time covered.” The others stared at him for a while before clapping their hands like some idiots calling for doves. The tan boy bowed proudly, earning a smack on the head from his partner in crime.

“Quit it, you dimwit. Let’s cover that fifteen minutes so we can go on with our business.” Kyungsoo dragged the whining Jongin out of the council room. Ri Na deadpanned as she took the center floor. She lifted a finger to catch the attention of the other members of the council. She was about to put her finger down when someone decided to be lame-veiled.

“Are you gonna use a magic spell to us? Like, cast one spell. Please? Please? Please? Please?” Luna, another council member, said. She occupied the position of the Manager of External Business Affairs. Seated beside her was the Internal Business Manager, Suzy. They were stepsisters. However, they had develop a healthy relationship, unlike those clichéd dramatic stepsiblings with acceptance issues. Their parents, who remarried each other, worked together to establish the National Sci-Fi Museum of Korea. The obsession of Luna to Fiction came from Suzy’s dad. On the other hand, Suzy got her obsession to Science from Luna’s mom.

“You want me roll my eyes at you or just punch you in the face?” Ri Na threatened intimidatingly. Luna flinched and shut , smiling goofily at her embarrassed sister. Ri Na noticed Suzy and raised her brow.

“Hey. I did not know you were in this council?” Ri Na asked curiously. She noticed her tone and gasped. “Omo! I do not intend to sound rude. I was just curious. Miianhae!” she bowed and covered her flustered face. Suzy squealed and said, “Oh my. You’re so cute. It’s okay, unni. Actually, I was just new in the position. The council just broke the news that the position was left open by Sandeul-oppa because he was expecting a busier load this semester. You were with Jongdae-oppa on a month-long convention that’s why we were not able to inform you immediately.” Suzy explained.

“Considering that we just came back from France, I guess you’re right. Anyway, welcome to the council. And, thank you for that box of presents. I don’t know what was that for, but thanks anyway.” Ri Na said gratefully. Suzy smiled widely and kept her attention to Ri Na as she began talking about the exchange students.

“Okay. This is the summary of this meeting. We have two Japanese students on their way to this place. Now, we need to, at least, have a few banners ready for them and welcome them warmly. The students of IAI going to receive the information from Kyungsoo and Jongin. However, they would not be participating on welcoming them. No suspension of classes. They are to act accordingly to the upbringing of a noble student. We, the council members, are the ones in charge of welcoming them.” Ri Na paused. She looked at Jongdae questioningly, asking for the time. The boy look at his watch and mouthed ‘one hour’ to Ri Na.

”Hyolyn, as the president, will welcome them together with vice president Jongdae and me, Treasurer Ri Na.” she sighed. Belonging to the higher office affected her life even if her local position was entirely different. Foreign matters fell directly to the three of them.

About five minutes before the arrival of the students, Hyolyn faced the other two officers with her. Ri Na and Jongdae were on standing snappily with their feet separated like the military. They cracked up, laughing at their silly deed. It loosened the tension around them. They looked back at the other council members as they scrambled on for the banners they prepared. Not a minute passed, a rumbling sound coming from the distance started resounding throughout the school perimeters. Hyolyn signaled for the staffs to draw the landing mark for the helicopter. Using the soccer team’s field marking machine, a huge ‘X’ seen even from afar was drawn for the pilot to know where they would land.

The helicopter came closer, prepared to land already. It was creating loud disturbing noise. The air was turbulent because of the speedy rotation of the long blades of the helicopter. The color was flashy and out of the ordinary, but the girls surely loved the pink and black combination. Jongdae pretended to gag at the appearance of the helicopter, earning a couple of glares from the president and the treasurer-slash-secretary. He noticed how beautifully Ri Na’s hair swayed with the strong wind. He thanked the wind for being too strong he had a reason to look away as he hid his flustered face.

The helicopter door opened revealing two girls. The three Korean students stood frozen at their places.

Next Chapter: The New Comers

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