Behind The Scene

"Damn, that flight lasted forever."

As she stretches her numb arms, Meri takes a look at her watch; exactly nine hours and thirty minutes have passed since they took off from Helsinki, and we are already on August 11th.

If someone had told her six months ago that she would now be at the Incheon National Airport, she would have looked at that person up and down in disgust, and she would have been wrong for it because they would have been right. Point is that her dream came true, and she is as excited as a four-year-old in front of their Christmas present.

It all started on a Thursday afternoon as she was going back to her apartment from her university, where she was a second-year student in Fashion Design.

You are starting to see a pattern, right? So, as you might have understood, an email from the Seoul National University was waiting for her on that day and changed her life much more than she can imagine even now.

Let's not waste time telling you what you already know and go back to the present, where Meri is still waiting for her suitcase. That luggage gave her quite a hard time and almost made her miss her flight when it ended up being three kilograms above the limited weight. It was with tears in her eyes that she had to remove the two boxes of korvapuusti from her suitcase before handing them to her cousin, who promised to bring them when she visits.

Thinking back about her missing treasure, she finally grabs the reason for her sadness from the conveyor belt and heads out of the huge airport, trying not to get lost.

In all of her dreams about her first official step onto South Korea's territory, she never imagined the scene that is playing in front of her eyes. A person around her age was fighting with the security man, screaming and trying to bite him.

"I fucking stepped on your foot, and now mine is dirty, you freak."

When the brown-haired realizes Meri is staring at them, they calm down and give an awkward smile before fleeing with their suitcase, the security guard behind them.

"And then people wonder why Korea doesn't like foreigners" probably is what Meri is thinking, seeing the young person disappear behind the wall. She shakes her head to concentrate again on what she is supposed to do: finding the taxi the university sent to bring the exchange students to their residence. The messages she got the day before specifically said to wait in front of Gate 2. Looking around, she finally sees the sign pointing to where she was supposed to be, around 200 meters from her actual position. Without wasting a second, she grabs her luggage, adjusts the bag on her back, and walks toward the big billboard. Arriving near the entrance, she sees a quite large cardboard box with the logo of the Seoul National University drawn on it. Making use of the two years she spent somehow learning Korean, she makes her way to the man holding the sign before asking him if he is the one in charge of gathering the international students. He answers her with a nod before pointing to the van parked behind him.

"Wow, it looks just like the one idols take!"

A high-pitched voice coming from behind startles Meri, who immediately turns her head toward the person who let out that almost scream. At the sight of the person running toward them, the ginger head lets out a sigh and whisper for herself

"Please tell me this is a joke"

Panting after their race against themselves, the loud newcomer breaks into a warm smile, stretching their arms in a movement to shake Meri's.

"Hello, I'm your pretty boy, Kai!"

After a few seconds of hesitation, the blue-eyed girl answers the newly introduced Kai's lonely hand with a smile, trying to convince herself that she shouldn't be grumpy on her first day in Seoul

"Nice to meet you, my name is Meri"

After smiling back, the brown-haired guy takes a look at the van he went crazy over a minute ago, questioning with a broken konglish the man who hasn't moved throughout this whole encounter :

"Is it NCT's van? Tell me it is"

Failing at the "try not to smile challenge" he may have set for himself, the man with the sign finally answers, apologizing for disappointing them. Indeed, this was just a regular black car, just like thousands of other people might own them.

Looking disappointed, Kai pouts, turning back to Meri, who doesn't know if she should run away while she can.

"I think I will just act as if it is NCT's... But anyway, I believe that if you are here, it is because you are an exchange student too. Am I right? What do you major in? I mean, where are you from? I mean, how old are you?"

The ginger, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, simply stares back at the short-haired, who quickly realizes that this is neither the place nor the time for extravagant introductions.

Led by the driver, they decide to take places in the car while waiting for the three other students who were supposed to join them.

Not even bothered by Kai's loud music right next to her, Meri ends up in Morphea's arms, the entire journey from Finland winning over her will to stay awake.

Deep in her dreams, she doesn't even flinch when the three other people step into the van, saying hello. Neither does she move as they take off for the place where the five of them will stay for the following ten months.

The van begins to slow down after about two hours, which seemed like an eternity to those who were still awake, indicating that they were getting close to their destination. A sudden speed bump, run over a little bit too fast, wakes up Meri in a rather brutal way. Wondering for a second where she was, our favorite Finn suddenly remembers the whole "SNU thingy" and finally gets aware of those who were with her in the van and that she doesn't remember meeting (except for Kai, who, by the way, was looking at her with big eyes, as if he had just seen Bang Chan).

Quite surprisingly, the latter doesn't make a fuss about Meri being awake and just goes back to his phone with a faint smile, allowing the ginger to properly come to her senses.

After less than five minutes, the car stops completely, and the driver announces with a proud voice that they just made it to what he happily calls their home.

"The person in charge of the residence should be waiting for you at the gate so let's not make her wait"

In a single movement, the five of them move out, not even taking the time to introduce themselves to the one they haven't talked to yet. In a hurry to take the five big suitcases but already cluttered with their backpacks, the pretty black girl, whose name Meri doesn't know, gets a papercut from her luggage's tag.

"Ailen ! Are you hurt?"

Kai's voice seems genuinely worried as he runs towards the woman named Ailen. She smiles softly, telling him not to worry before taking back her suitcase and inviting him to do so too.

As the five of them gather at the entrance, a small woman with a warm smile approaches them.

"Hello and welcome to the Gwanak Global Student Residence Hall! My name is Kang Eun-Gyeong, and I will be explaining everything to you today. Don't worry; I will be as fast as possible so that you can rest right after. I believe the trip here might have been quite tiring."

At Ms. Kang's request, our five students finally introduced themselves to one another. The curly-haired girl, who appears to be a Latina, takes a step forward before facing her soon-to-be roommates.

"- My name is Nai, I am 20 and from Columbia where I study Fashion Design

- I am 19 years old and study fashion design too! screams the short-haired guy. My name is Kai, and I'm from Hawaii. Nice to meet you!

- Nice to meet you too; my name is Arya, from Canada. Also a 19 years old Fashion Designer student, replies a long-haired Indian-looking girl"

Meri and the girl she now knows as Ailen don't know what to do but look at each other, wondering who was supposed to talk first. Finally, the black-haired takes a deep breath :

" - My name is Ailen, and I am from Davenport, Iowa, USA. I study Fashion Design as well and am 19.

- Meri, 20 years old from Finland, where I study Fashion Design just like you guys."

Smiling at each other, realizing they have more in common than they thought, they turn their attention back to Ms. Kang, who is already explaining the functioning of the entrance gate.

Making their first step into the hall, the five of them finally realize that their adventure is officially starting, and they couldn't be more stressed and excited.

Hello everyone and welcome back to "Behind the Scene" where finally our five main characters have met each other !

I believe you are curious about where this will go from here, and I promise we will get there soon. Don't forget that we need some setup and some backstory before diving into the core of the story.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed ! Feel free to give a star and to leave a comment and see you next time ~