" Again today, in an empty room I hear the lonely clock hands Another meaningless day is passing. "

Seulgi was unpleasantly awaken from her precious sleep (which she valued so greatly since she rarely got the chance to get a few decent hours of it since the sudden boom in business) by the delicate keying of the piano and the voices which blended into one beautiful sound that she had set as her ringtone. She poked an eye open to peer directly at the blinds that seemed to show no sign of daylight. Who the hell is calling in the middle of the fucking night? She released a guttural noise in annoyance as she reached for her phone which continued to buzz, as it seemed, endlessly and eyed the caller ID and picture that appeared along with it. "Couldn't wait until the morning, could you," she muttered under her breath before sitting up, her covers draping off of her shoulders.

"Hello," she deadpanned as she rubbed her eyes to clear up her blurred vision. The other line was silent for a few moments. Seulgi heaved a sigh in utter impatience. The quicker this call went, the faster she could get back to sleep. Drawing out her words a bit more clearly, she raised the volume in her voice. "Hello. Earth to Jongin?" She could hear a bit of rustling on the other line before the male spoke up. His statement was almost completely incoherent and she didn't miss the heavy slur in his words. It was as if she could smell the alcohol in his breath as he spoke through the phone.

"Would you quit that?" Seulgi swatted his hand away. Though she isn't a short tempered person, she could admit she was beginning to lose her patience. Obviously, the male was intentionally trying to mess her up. But not today. Seulgi had been waiting for this moment for so long -- if she were to screw up now, she'd mess up her reputation completely. Eyes focused on the screen, she inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly as the cutscene was about to come to it's end. The battle to end all battles -- this was it. The final boss fight in order to finish the game. She needed to win the first time, and she had come too far to let anyone stop her now.

The final battle theme began to play and she watched her opponent's movements carefully. Thumbs moving skillfully, she successfully took down a quarter of her opponent's life in less than five minutes. She was about to finish off her ultimate combo move when--

It suddenly became dark, and she struggled to get out from under the covers which had been draped over her just a few moments ago and covered her completely. Keeping a keen ear to the sound effects, she could hear the warning sound which alerted her that her HP level was extremely low. When she finally escaped from under her blankets, her opponent took his final hit and a large text written in cursive appeared on the screen: "Game over. Start again?"

This all began with a harmless little question. After having a good listen to the other go on and on about these little events called bot fights, it piqued her interest quite a bit until she found herself asking, "Could I, maybe, go with you to one of those bot fight things?" She was left rather puzzled as her friend instructed her to meet in the exact area they were at in the current moment the next night, and to make sure she kept her mouth shut. As oblivious as she was, she agreed to the female's terms, meeting her there the following evening dressed in her most casual attire.

She allowed herself to be tugged into one of the most hidden alleys down the street. She felt a rush of adrenaline as she listened to the echoes of people cheering and hollering, hoping these bot fights were really as exhilarating as she described. The area was dim lighted, the sound of metal clanging against metal reverberating against the walls. Lined up against the walls were big, bulky men who were presumably people one didn't want to mess with, a lady pacing around the center with a tray that held a few rolls of dollar bills. A crowd was gathered around in a somewhat circular formation. Seulgi stood on her tiptoes watching the fight over strangers' shoulders, eyes gleaming as she watched the two bots challenge each other.

“Cliche? Maybe, but I never seem to get sick of them.” She beamed at the glorious hazy pink sky as the sun began to come into view to begin another day. She didn’t mind waking up early – in fact, she did this quite often: waking up at 5 AM just to groggily drag her self out, still in her pajamas of course. To her, it seemed worth it. Even if sunrises are as cliche as most deem them to be. She exhaled softly, head turning to look up at her friend. The reason he was at her apartment at such a time was quite unclear. Not that she really minded, she was just a bit concerned as to why he spared his own time to come visit so early in the morning. 

Seulgi hadn’t been feeling it lately. With the recent release of the lead designer’s latest fashion line, she had practically been running back and forth all week buying materials and expressing the design department’s ideas to affiliates. The attitude of some people who couldn’t even thank her for how much she had been doing and instead continued to snap at her for the tiniest errors – it pissed her off. She wasn’t sure how she did it; doing all that work made her feel like some super woman. Because of her hectic schedule, she rarely found the chance to see others or even text friends. Thankfully, today was her day off.

She knocked out as soon as she had gotten home the night before, overjoyed that she could finally be able to get some real sleep. She had planned to continue resting until early afternoon, but those plans had to be postponed for another day as her phone vibrated and lit up. Grumbling as she shifted beneath her covers, her hand blindly searched under her pillow for her phone. She stared at the text message groggily beneath her half-lidded eyelids, eyes suddenly widening as she shoots up from under her blanket.