Chapter One

The lights in the dorm of the 6th floor, Room 19 were on, even when it was 2AM. Of course, this wasn't an unusual feat for roommates, Moon Cho-ae and Kim Young-mi, with the latter pulling her infamous all-nighters to maintain her ranking.

Lifting the eye cover gently, Cho-ae took a peek at her senior who flipped through her case studies and rubbed at her eyes that were stained of exhaustion. There was a familiar, comfortable silence that lingered in the air while only the uniform ticking of the clock could be heard. Adoration filled Cho-ae's chest when she realized how hard-working the ambitious woman of her roommate was.

"I know you're awake, Cho-ae." Without looking up from her desk, Young-mi spoke, startling the freshman. She let a sigh escape her lips before she sat up on her bed and flung her arms onto her lap.

"When do we get to turn the light off?" She quipped, pointing to her desk lamp. Young-mi replied with a roll of her eyes, putting down her pen and subconsciously shaking her leg. "You can pester me when I'm not flipping through the material for our quiz tomorrow."

It was Cho-ae's turn to roll her eyes; she never needed to study anyway. Young-mi was surely the kind of classmate that would swear she didn't study for anything but would still get a perfect score. "I'll turn it off when I'm done, now go back to sleep instead of staring at me study, you weirdo." The sophomore reached for the cushion behind her back and threw it directly at Cho-ae's head.

"How about I get you a coffee in the vending machine downstairs? Should be open even now." Still glued to her paperwork, Young-mi hummed as a yes, prompting Cho-ae to go out while still in her paired pajamas. The freshman bit back a yawn, the cold evening breeze enveloping her as soon as she went her way out of the dorm room. She was alone, except for a familiar senior that entered the elevator the same time she did.

"Your light is still on over there," the stranger pointed out in the elevator and Cho-ae could only initially nod out of shyness. "It's my roommate."

"Right, Young-mi." Cho-ae ignored the additional comment, unfazed by how well-known Young-mi was in SNU.

"What was your name again?" She took a better look at the stranger this time; her features were soft yet elegant, refined and practically flawless.

"Me? Oh, I'm Moon Cho-ae. You can call me Moonbyul, though." Cho-ae was expecting an introduction in return, but she supposed the woman's easily-recognizable visual was enough of an introduction.

"Bae Seonghyun. Nice meeting you, Moonbyul." As the elevator doors separated to open, they too parted ways.

Cho-ae returned to their dorm room with the lingering thought of Bae Seonghyun, but ignored it until it stayed at the back of her head. She tapped the canned coffee against Young-mi's shoulder who thanked her, holding her hands tightly.

The morning of her classes after, Cho-ae sat beside Jung Hana, one of their best friends and stifled a yawn. "Until what time was she up now?"

Hana, too, was no stranger to Young-mi's infamous all-nighters. They would be more enjoyable spent drinking and singing karaoke but she was the killjoy between the four of them, and could never hold her alcohol. Instead, the three of them returned the favor and made her the assigned babysitter. Though both Hei-ran and Hana could handle themselves (usually), Cho-ae held her pride and would refuse to go even if she could no longer see straight.

Though of course that would mean Cho-ae was indebted a few favors to Young-mi, but she didn't exactly mind. Being her friend, being her roommate was a big privilege enough for anyone in SNU. But more so for Cho-ae, who found herself catching a crush the first few weeks they were roomed together.

"I don't know. I slept after getting her some coffee, and that was at 2AM. Honestly, it's amazing that she can even attend her morning classes still. While not being a zombie fueled by caffeine, at that." She shook her head and tried to regain focus on the lector's discussion for today, but her mind was clearly someplace else.

"C'mon, we all know Kim Young-mi is simply a different breed. Some sort of otherworldly being." Hana chuckled beside her, continuing to doodle on the back of her notebook. "What do you have planned for the freshman concert?"

Cho-ae shook her head and cursed under her breath. "I totally forgot about that. I don't really have any song in mind. I guess I'll just ask Young-mi after classes."

"You're going to ask Young-mi-unnie?" A playful, knowing smile lit up on Hana's face and Cho-ae playfully rolled her eyes.

"She's going to be able to think of something, I won't. That's simply it, Jung Hana. Stop it with your... whatever."

"You know Hei-ran and I were best friends in middle school."

"I know, Hana. I know. The conversation ends here." Cho-ae tried to evade the topic, because Hana has always known, much to her dismay. And the younger girl would never let her forget it. Of course Young-mi would always be the last one to know. She would never know, if it was up to Cho-ae.

In the afternoon, Cho-ae was alone in the dorm room. Left with no choices yet, she pulled out her electric guitar and micro-amp to plug in with her headphones. She stared out the window and mindlessly began to pluck the strings, playing a few chords.

"I don't even like you. Why'd you want to go and make me feel this way?" The lyrics left her lips in a low voice, as though her subconscious was speaking to her. "This should be easy enough for the band." And she knew how to sing and play the entire song, too. The song was an easy way out. Hana forced her to sign up for the freshman concert during their first three months on campus and it was already happening tomorrow.

She plopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. It was another day of being sleep-deprived, but that was the price of being able to study at a SKY university. As well as having a President's Lister roommate who was too smart that she didn't even know the definition of rest. Her eyes felt heavier the more she blinked and then she finally sighed.

It's only been a few months, but she knew. She knew that the rest of her life was depending on these few years.