"It's only Wednesday and I'm already sleep-deprived." Minjeong sighed as she placed her head on the table.
"What do you mean, Jeong? You're always sleep-deprived," Jimin laughed.
"No, I'm not," Minjeong lifted her head, just enough to look at her friend.
"Sure you aren't. How much did you sleep last night?" Jimin eyed the girl making her huff.
"Three hours, give or take," she replied.
"See? You have to sleep more. You shouldn't have to stay up that late just so you can study, you always do good in exams anyway," the girl placed her head between her hands so she could look into Minjeong's eyes.
"I'm fine. There's just a lot on my mind." Minjeong sighed.
"Talk to me, I know your mind works overtime. Plus, we have an hour before the movie starts." Jimin encouraged her friend.
"It's nothing in particular. Like, one second I'm thinking about my assignments, and the next I'm thinking about the time difference between me and Doyoung. It's frustrating, the only thing keeping me awake is my brain giving me all these thoughts at once." Minjeong said, letting all her thoughts out.
"You should lower your dosage of caffeine. It's affecting your sleep schedule more than it should." Jimin shook her head.
"I know, but I can't help it. It's the only thing that keeps me awake during exam season." Minjeong replied.
"So, anything interesting in your life other than that non-existent sleeping schedule?" Jimin asked.
"Not really. My physics partner is surprisingly easy to talk to. I should introduce him to you, I think you two would get along well." Minjeong smiled at the thought of her newfound friend.
"Why would we get along?" Jimin asked curiously.
"I don't know, you're both very kind and easygoing, even though your majors are totally different," she replied.
"Yeah, right. You know how hard it is for me to open up. I mean, it took me more than four months to trust you." Jimin stated.
"I know, but you could use some human interaction." Minjeong shook her head.
The two just made little talk as time passed, and finally, the film they'd both been wanting to see started playing, making them shut up, all their attention diverting to the big screen in front of them.
"The movie was amazing," Minjeong exclaimed as she stretched her arms.
"Two hours well wasted, don't you think?" Jimin asked as they exited the cinema.
"Definitely," Minjeong replied, linking arms with her friend.
The pair didn't even make it out of the shopping mall when Minjeong started feeling uncomfortable.
"Hey, let's round here, I know a shortcut home," Minjeong said as she dragged Jimin towards one of the alleyways outside of the center.
"What's wrong?" Jimin asked as she caught up with the other.
"There are some men following us, and I think I have an idea of who they're working for," she replied.
"What do you mean by that?" Jimin questioned.
"Long story short, I'm joining the Dragons, and I raced against this sexist motherfucker and won, he wanted me as his one-night stand or something, and well you know how I react when someone enters my personal space if I'm not comfortable." Minjeong briefly explained as they quickened their pace, only to bump into one of the men who were chasing them.
Minjeong quickly kicked the man out of their way and signaled Jimin to run out of the alley. She did as instructed, breaking out into a sprint as soon as she turned around.
Minjeong ran right after the girl, gaining on the girl just enough to protect her from any men who were trying to take her.
"Why does life hate me?" the girl groaned as she kicked another man with her combat boot.
The man she raced against last time brought enough men to take out one girl. But they didn't think that the girl in question would fight back. And they surely didn't think that the other would join in the fistfight instead of running away.
So, five men on two girls would usually be a big deal, but because Minjeong was experienced in combat fighting, they didn't stand a chance against the two.
Minjeong and Jimin didn't even get broken noses as the men who were assigned to kidnap one of them lay on the concrete, unconscious.
"You're not injured, right?" Minjeong asked as the two continued walking down the main street as if nothing happened.
"Nope, just a few scratches, but it'll heal in no time. I'm a medical student after all. How about you? You took on more of them than me." Jimin replied as she looked at the girl's arms, trying to identify any injury.
"I'm fine. My hands are a little sore from punching, but other than that, I'm good for another round." Minjeong stated proudly making the other burst out laughing.
"You can't take anything seriously, can you?" Jimin asked in between laughs.
"I mean, I'm serious in uni. People run away because I intimidate them with my 5'5 self. Humans are confusing, don't you think?" Minjeong asked.
"Well, I'm fine with them, but since I know human interactions are tiring to you, I can only imagine how confused you get when all you do is glare daggers at them when they walk by and then they scatter away," Jimin answered.
"Right, because you didn't just call me out." Minjeong rolled her eyes at her friend.
The two eventually parted ways, since Jimin insisted on treating her wounds and giving Minjeong detailed instructions on how to treat her own.
Even though Minjeong sucked in medicine and healing anything in general, Jimin was determined to teach the girl at least enough so she could get to the nearest ER in time if she ever needed to.
Jimin knew about her street racing, and she knew Minjeong was joining a gang. So, she thought it would be a good idea to teach the girl a trick or two on how to heal injuries faster.
So, when Minjeong came home, she didn't have any other choice than to try and follow all of the tips Jimin told her on their way home.
Using up everything that was stacked in the first aid kit, the girl sighed as she saw her bandaged hand. The only thing she somewhat knew how to do was put on bandaids, and today, inconveniently, she needed one.
She wouldn't tell Jimin about it, but she did get injured. Minjeong didn't have enough time to think about three fights at once, so she just threw punches left and right, and somehow sprained her wrist while she was at it. Thankfully though, it was on her left hand, which meant the girl could take all of her exams properly.
Wasting no time after she fixed her wrist, Minjeong started researching the topic she and Renjun were working on to find anything that was potentially wrong but ended up falling asleep before she could finish.
The ringing of her phone woke her up and as she saw the caller's ID, she didn't have any other choice but to wake up fully and answer the call.
"Hey, Taeyong. What do you need?" Minjeong asked as she got up to make herself a cup of coffee.
"You ready to join the gang?" Taeyong went straight to the point.
"Yeah. I've read all the papers but I haven't signed them yet, I just need to do that and then give them to you. When are you free?" Minjeong asked.
"You can give them to me at your eighth race. I have a job for you." taeyong replied.
"Spill the coffee." Minjeong laughed.
"It's a drug deal. I have the police involved as well. Just go there and either kill them all or help the police put them in handcuffs. They're annoying me, and the police want them gone more than us, you know how hard it is to get the whole gang in prison at once." Taeyong explained.
"So, I need to pack drugs myself, right?" Minjeong asked.
"I trust you enough with that job, so yes." the man replied.
"Okay. Just give me the address and you won't hear from them again," Minjeong replied.
"Just stay safe," Taeyong said.
"Well, I can't die if I still have a debt to pay, can I? Goodnight Taeyong," Minjeong said before ending the call.
Not having enough energy to continue her research, the girl decided to text her brother instead of burying herself in more stress than she was already in.
It was pretty late at night in Neo City, but for Doyoung it was noon. He decided to call her after a bit of texting, making her eyes light up as she saw his name on her phone.
"Hey, Mini. How have you been?" Doyoung wasted no time in asking the younger girl questions, but she didn't mind.
"I'm good, Doyoung. How are you? How's work?" Minjeong asked.
"How'd you know I got accepted?" Doyoung asked surprised.
"You told me two days ago when we were texting, was I supposed to forget?" Minjeong asked sarcastically.
"Right, I forgot," Doyoung replied and she could imagine the man scratching the back of his neck on the other side of the planet.
"You're overworking yourself, aren't you?" Minjeong asked.
"No, I'm not. There's just been a lot of new patients, you know?" Doyoung replied quickly.
"You should move back here. And I'm not saying that because I don't want you to be happy, but you're overworking yourself. You don't have to work in a hospital or anything, work for Taeyong again." Minjeong tried to reason with her brother.
"I'd like to come back, but I didn't finish my studies. I'll move back to Neo as soon as I finish the program, I promise." Doyoung sighed.
"Okay, I trust you enough. Anyway, I'm joining the gang." Minjeong stated casually, knowing her brother was going to have a dramatic reaction.
"What? Really? That's great, I'm sure you'll like it. They're like family." Doyoung replied happily.
"I've also been learning about medicine. My friend is trying to teach me everything I need to know too, as she says and I quote, survive and make it to the nearest ER. She's very funny too, I think Renjun would like her." Minjeong said.
"You know Renjun?" Doyoung asked confusedly.
"Yeah, we're assignment partners. He's easy to talk to, so we're pretty good friends." Minjeong explained.
"Yeah, he's been through a lot. Just make sure not to leave him, okay?" Doyoung replied.
"I'd never leave him, he's too precious. I should go to bed though, I have college tomorrow." Minjeong said as she looked at the time.
"Okay. Good night, Mini." Doyoung said, waiting for the girl to say it back before hanging up.
"I love you, Young," Minjeong said as she ended the phone call.
She wanted to sleep badly, but the mission in two days was occupying her mind. She wasn't the type of person to just go with the flow about those things, so she texted Taeyong asking him to give her all the information he had on the gang.
For all she knew, they didn't have a great number of people in the game, but they were still very dangerous. Taeyong told her about them a few times, but all she knew was their name, IKON.
Minjeong waited for his reply until it was too late in the night for her to wait any longer. She had college early in the morning, so the girl couldn't sleep at night.
So, turning her computer off and placing it on the desk in her bedroom, the girl fell asleep as soon as her head hit the soft pillows.