"Yeah...I...I'm better now," he shyly stared at her.

"If you're uncomfortable, then don't look down, just look at me instead."

Her reaction was too abrupt for him to deal with. In addition, this was also the first time Yu Jin had been this close to a girl. His face was blushing because of his shyness. 

"Hey, your face really looks like a tomato now, Yu Jin," she giggled when she saw his face turning crimson, "Did I make you embarrassed or what?"

"No...you didn't. By the way I would rather look at the city, I feel awkward staring at a girl."

"Seriously?" She scoffed, "It's funny that after such a long time living together, you still find it awkward looking at me."

"But the city is gorgeous, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's gorgeous!"

They sat side by side, looking down at the city landscape together. Below the wheel, the Han River glistened like a ribbon of liquid obsidian, adorned by the sparkles mirroring the luminous celestial display above. Along the horizon, the skyscrapers stood upright just like the giant guardians of the city. They could also see the colourful World Cup Bridge spanning the river with its main arch piercing up into the sky. With thousands of LED lights tracing along its cables and supports, it was indeed a beacon of illumination in the midst of the night, creating a captivating play of light and shadow. 

Never before had Yu Jin perceived that Seoul had such a charming beauty. His fear soon disappeared without him noticing it. He wondered which came to his mind first, the vanishing of his fear or the amazement created by the stunning scenery. Was it the realisation of Seoul view's attractiveness that dissipated his phobia, or was it the ease of having Eun Chae sitting next to him that extinguished his fear and enabled him to fully enjoy the spectacular vantage? If the latter was right, then this city was beautiful because that girl was there.

******

After a week, Yu Jin was invited to a neuroscience conference by one of his father's friends, who was a neurology professor. Despite his hectic schedule, Yu Jin still took the offer as he saw it as a great chance to showcase his talent and make more new connections to the people in the field of biological science.

"Hey, you're going to the neuroscience conference at Yulje Hospital next Friday, aren't you?" Eun Chae asked.

"Yeah, but how do you know?" Yu Jin replied to her with his eyes still staring at the laptop screen. He must be doing something important.

"My best friend is also invited, she had the invitee list. She told me to come there and listen to her speech and I said yes."

"Interesting! I didn't expect that you will have a friend who studies neuroscience. She must have been a very good student in your school right?"

"Yeah, she was my class monitor. Her leadership was excellent and she was damn good at studying too. I am pretty sure she will be very frustrated when she gets an A- for maths or science."

"That sounds as cool as me, I guess," he playfully snickered

"Stop flexing, I know that you're also a top student in your school."

"Nah, I'm not. I mean...I usually topped the level for bio and maths. But my humanities literally suck," he made an emotionless face, puffed his cheeks out and shrugged his shoulders.

"Humanities are not that important for doctors, right? By the way, if you don't know, that girl was the friend who gave us the two vouchers, remember?"

"I see, that's nice of her."

"She has a lot of things in common with you, to be honest, but she has a boyfriend already so...unlucky for you," she jocularly said and laughed naughtily.

"Sorry, but I'm too busy for romantic stuff," he pouted.

The D-day came sooner than Yu Jin could realise, and he was so eager to give his presentation about effective studying methods that he came to the venue about an hour in advance.

"Hey Han Yu Jin, it's been a long time," a Busan-accent voice sprang to his ear. That was his father's friend.

"Oh, Professor Bang, it's nice to see you here."

"You're a really troublesome child, you know," the professor laughed and patted his shoulder, "Your father has been calling me and complaining so many times about you moving to Seoul for university. He worries for you really much. So how's med school right now, is it tough for you?"

"Uhm...actually I'm not in uni yet, I didn't get the scholarship in the spring so I'm applying again this fall semester," he shyly smiled and scratched his head.

"Oh, then good luck to you. I'm looking forward to your speech, so don't let me down. Perform well and win something. You can put this into your CV later on if you want."

"Sure, professor," he looked at the professor with his determination-filled eyes.

"Hi professor," he suddenly heard a girl's voice from afar.

"Oh, hi Hae Rin. It's a coincidence that you're both here."

"You both? You mean me and this boy?"

The girl had a pretty simple and sporty fashion style. She wore a white hoodie, a pair of black-and-white sport shoes, a pair of white-side-striped black long pants and carried a black backpack on her left shoulder. The whole set of her attire, literally from head to toe, were from Adidas. They were not just the ordinary stocks that could easily be found in the stores, but the latest releases of everything which must be pre-ordered in advance and with a high price. This girl must come from a privileged family.

"Yeah, you two are the only undergrads who got invited here. For your information, he is also the same age as you."

If they were the two only undergraduates invited to this event, then Hae Rin must definitely be the friend that Eun Chae had previously mentioned. Unlike her friend who had a kidult appearance, she had a lustre, oblong face with keen and sharp eyes as well as a perfectly straight-edged nose. The features on her face made her seem to be way more mature and astute than her age.

"Oh, cool! Nice to see you, I'm Kang Hae Rin, from KU Psychology,'' she extended her hand to have a handshake with him.

"Hi, I'm Han Yu Jin. I'm applying for SNU Medicine. You must be the friend that Eun Chae spoke to me about, am I right?" 

"Oh, you know Hong Eun Chae? Yes, I am her friend."

"OK kids, I gotta go talk with the MR now so bye."

"Goodbye professor," Yu Jin and Hae Rin said in unison.

The professor left, leaving only Hae Rin and Yu Jin together. Technically, they were supposed to be talking together. However, because both of them were quite introverted, they did not really communicate that much. They just sat next to one another at the bench and scrolled the phone while waiting for the conference to start.

"You know what time is Eun Chae coming?" Hae Rin inquired.

"I'm not sure, but she's gonna be a bit late, she has lecture today."

Both Yu Jin and Hae Rin's presentations were very close to the end of the conference, so even if Eun Chae came a bit late, it would not be a big deal as she would still be able to listen to both of her friends.

However, nearly one hour passed and it was just a few minutes before Yu Jin's presentation, but Eun Chae had not arrived yet. A shred of nervousness started to arise in his mind. He wondered if anything unwanted happened to her. He picked up his phone to call her, but no response was heard. Ten minutes passed, and Yu Jin had to step up on the stage for his speech. But he doubted whether he would be able to convey it well, as his mind was swirling in a vortex of anxiety.

Standing on the stage, Yu Jin spent his first few seconds looking around the hall to find his friend. To his relief, he saw Eun Chae hastily running into the venue. She looked at him with her smiley eyes, gave him a motivating grin and waved her hands high in the air to tell Yu Jin that she was finally there. Being reassured, Yu Jin softly smiled and displayed his first presentation slide. Having finished his speech, he swiftly scurried to Eun Chae's seat.

"Hey, why didn't you answer my call? I really thought that something bad happened, you know?" He asked her with a mix of anxiety, zeal and relief on his face.

"I'm sorry, I had some problem with catching the bus and my phone ran out of battery," she stared at him with her sparkling and adorable eyes.

"It's fine, you're here so it's good now. By the way, it's your friend's speech now, let's see what she's doing."

The conference soon finished all its presentations and proceeded to the part where everyone could vote for their favourite speech. It was a huge surprise that Kang Hae Rin's presentation about the science of sleep dominated the chart right from the first seconds and she continued to outplay the other ones for the majority of the voting time. However, Yu Jin had an abrupt and impressive rise from the middle area straight to the second position. And in the last ten seconds before the voting portal was closed, he claimed three more votes, just enough to exceed Hae Rin and finish at the top of the leaderboard.

"So the winner of the event today is Han Yu Jin with his presentation 'A biological approach to effective studying', shall we give him a round of applause please!" The emcee came to the stage and gleefully announced the winner.

Yu Jin blissfully strode to the stage to receive his certification of award with a jubilant grin on his face. Looking down at the crowd enthusiastically clapping their hands to show their respect for him made him become way more confident. The atmosphere heated up as everyone cheered for him, melting away the doubt which had always been wandering in his mind ever since the day he was rejected by SNU.

Among the crowd, Eun Chae was gleefully jumping and screaming Yu Jin's name in the most hysterical ways she could. Meanwhile, Hae Rin was standing dumbfounded beside her friend with her mouth wide open and her eyes locked on the big screen. "This guy is really something," she mumbled to herself.

On the way out of the hall, the three of them talked together about their speeches. Having Eun Chae as a facilitator, Yu Jin and Hae Rin interacted with each other way more than when she was not there.

"You make me surprised, Yu Jin. I'm really pissed off cuz I couldn't win the top prize. But anyway...you really impressed me," Hae Rin snickered.

"Thanks a lot! And I'm sorry if it annoys you," Yu Jin gave her a breezy smile.

"Hey Han Yu Jin, you should really treat us to a proper dinner with the money you got, isn't it?" Eun Chae nudged his arm.

"Come on, I'm not that rich," he grumbled.

"And yeah...Kitty Kang, you can ask Sang Hoon to come together with us too," Eun Chae averted her eyes to look at Hae Rin.

"Stop calling me Kitty Kang, by the way, who's Sang Hoon?" Hae Rin inquired with a visible confusion in her eyes.

"I thought that was your boyfriend's name?" Eun Chae's eyebrows snapped together, her eyes puzzledly stared at her friend.

"That's Sung Hoon. And he's my ex now, so don't mention that asshole in front of me again," Hae Rin grimaced. "Sorry for my words, Han Yu Jin", she twinkled her eyes at him.

"Hey, you broke up with him and you didn't tell me anything? Do you see me as your friend? I'm sad, you know?" Eun Chae puffed her cheeks out.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Hae Rin frowned her face, hugged Eun Chae and pinched her cheek. "It seems that you're the only one who can make me happy," she laughed.

"Of course, then be my girlfriend, will you?" Eun Chae jokingly said.

"OK my babe," Hae Rin pouted.

"Uh...hmmm...girls, I'm not dead yet," Yu Jin said, emphasising on the word "not" to remind the two girls of his existence.

"Oh sorry Han Yu Jin, we forgot that you're here," Eun Chae chortled.

Then they all went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Hae Rin ordered a lot of snacks such as tempura, sushi, onigiri or takoyaki. But she didn't really finish any of them. Meanwhile, Yu Jin had curry ramen, which he had never tried before and he found the mildly spicy, savoury and sweet taste of it pretty good. For Eun Chae, she ordered beef don, her  favourite dish which she had not eaten for so long. However, her stomach felt unwell and she ended up leaving one-thirds of her rice, which Yu Jin ate. Yu Jin insisted on paying the bill, but Hae Rin was a bit faster than him. She gave her black card to the waiter to pay for the meal while her friends were gaping at her in astonishment. "She is using a black card? For a casual meal? How rich could this girl's family be?" Yu Jin thought to himself.

******

It was an end-of-June evening when Yu Jin received the email from SNU. It was the interview result. He was so nervous that he could not even control his breath. His hands were placed just above his keyboard, but there was something stopping him from actually clicking it. He suddenly stood up and left his chair to move around.

"Darn it, I cannot take this, Eun Chae," he continuously gulped while tousling his hair.

That was actually understandable of him as this is his last chance to win a scholarship this year. If he could not make it, then he would have to wait until next year to apply again. Studying medicine itself was already a long and tedious journey, and adding one more year to that would even make it worse. In addition, if he wasted his whole first year in Seoul not being able to get into any university, that would be a perfect reason for his parents to force him to go back home and study law instead. But he was hopeful that things would not go that way.

"Yu Jin, I'm also nervous, you know? Just open your inbox," Eun Chae said while drum-rolling.

"Eun Chae, don't be like that! You are making me worry more," he kept walking around the room and intensely looking down at the floor, trying to calm himself down.

Thank you very much for making it this far! If you enjoy reading my story and are excited to find out what is going to happen next, don't forget to click the star to vote for me as well as recommend my story to your friends. You votes really motivate me a lot^^