All of a sudden, her ballphone vibrated violently, rudely disrupting the melody they were losing themselves in. "Ah~ incoming call," Yoona noted. Seeing the alert, she accepted the connection, causing a three-dimensional hologram to shoot straight out of the ball's camera lens. A man dressed in a sharp black suit materialized, seated in an executive office chair.
"Hey there, Yoona," he greeted.
"Hello, Mr. P! Is there an emergency?"
"We actually have an urgent task that needs extra hands. Regarding the product line we're currently packaging, we're severely shorthanded over here, so I'm looking for volunteers. I'm truly sorry for interrupting your date night, by the way. You don't have to accept this assignment if you can't; I'm not that strict about it."
"Oh, well then~" The young woman hesitated, a conflicted, worried expression crossing her face, anxious that her boyfriend might feel neglected.
However, So-hyung simply offered Yoona a reassuring smile. "Go get 'em, intern. Putting bread on the table always comes first. I'll be right here waiting."
Hearing his blessing, Yoona turned back to the projection to accept the invitation. "Alright, sir, count me in."
"Heh, heh. It looks like you had to secure a relationship visa from your BF first, huh?" the boss teased, prompting a synchronized chuckle from the couple.
The young woman pouted playfully at the jab. "No, Boss~ it's not even like that!"
"Haha, I'm just kidding. By the way, you still have our jetpack suit, right? I'd like you to run a quick diagnostic test on it for me."
"You got it. I'll fly straight out to Incheon right away."
"No, no! We can just discuss the details right here over the feed. There's no need to exhaust yourself, I--" Before her employer could even finish his sentence, the young woman had already bolted up from the bench.
"See you later, babe! Yeong-won-hi saranghaeyo! I love you forever!" she chirped, planting a parting kiss on her boyfriend's cheek.
She boarded a wheelless transit bus, gliding smoothly through a metropolis that shimmered with the pristine brilliance of transparent glass. Towering above the skyscrapers, colossal glass aquariums shaped like giant fish bowls could be seen, each filled to the brim with lush, living forests.
"Isn't this place absolutely miraculous?" Yoona turned away from the window to look at you, resting both arms on the ledge. She then leaned outward, her eyes catching a massive holographic billboard. The screen displayed eight exceptionally handsome men, each proudly holding up a gleaming gold ballphone.
D\8/ BallPhone V8 - Starting at 2,974,500 Won
Yoona pulled out her own ballphone, spinning it idly in her palm until her fingers brushed against a thoroughly tattered, peeling cartoon sticker.
"If only I had a little more cash... but hey, it's not like using a V6 makes me completely obsolete or anything. Goddamn, global inflation!" The young woman ripped the ruined sticker off and tossed it aside.
The transit vehicle swept past the park's perimeter, entering the grand gates of her campus. A deep blue flag emblazoned with a Mugunghwa rose fluttered proudly atop the apex of a massive, circular architectural structure at the absolute heart of the university. In the center of the concrete plaza, a spectacular fountain installation propelled vibrant, rainbow-colored streams high above the surrounding canopy.
"This is my university, Se-Hanyang. I'm graduating next month, actually. All that's left is just waiting out the six months until the official commencement ceremony. Right now, I'm heading back to the female dormitories to pick up a few essential items. Let me tell you, I've got millions of people who absolutely adore me, though the haters easily number in the hundreds of thousands. Why do so many people despise me, you ask? Well, it's because I used to date a K-pop idol. And let me make it clear, he wasn't just any ordinary K-pop artist either."
The young woman pointed her finger toward a towering skyscraper. The commercial display unveiled a tall, strikingly handsome man, whose alluring silhouette seemed to project right out of the screen via three-dimensional holography. He possessed a perfectly sculpted oval face, with long bangs draped over his left eye, and three distinct black beauty marks dotting his right cheekbone.
"Gong Min-jun... better known as 'Ji.' Yes, that absolute jerk! Even though he's a senior four years ahead of me. He's a bit of a flirt, to be honest... but that wasn't the reason we called it quits. We broke up entirely because of his chaotic lifestyle as an artist. Have you ever felt that the closer you get to someone highly famous, the more fundamentally unsafe your own life becomes? Just a few months ago, a horrific accident occurred, claiming the life of a massive celebrity. It was an incredibly tragic period, but life must move forward, right?"
The transit bus came to a halt directly in front of the women's dormitory. The young woman rode the elevator up, scanning her smartwatch to unlock the door to Room 342. She walked over to the wardrobe situated right next to the single bed near the entrance. As the afternoon sunlight filtered through the soft pink curtains, Yoona threw open the wardrobe to retrieve her gear.
"Time to suit up." Yoona scanned the interior, pulling out a variety of outfits to select the right one, until her hand brushed against a piece of clothing far more peculiar than the rest.
Lined with glowing, luminous spheres along its closures, the garment resembled a sleek, white crop top. Yoona nodded in approval, swiftly shedding her outer shirt until she was down to her brassiere, before slipping the top on just like a piece of casual everyday wear.
"Hmm! It looks a little plain like this, but I can make it work." She nodded to her reflection in the wardrobe mirror, tapping a glowing node right against her left hip.
Whoosh!
Instantly, sleek black compression bands surged outward, wrapping securely around her waist to completely conceal her exposed midriff. Concurrently, the luminous spheres liquefied, flowing down her legs like droplets of water before solidifying right above her wrists. In the blink of an eye, the casual attire transformed into a highly sophisticated, modest bodysuit.
"What do you guys think? Is this outfit gorgeous or what?" she turned around to ask you. "If you dare say it looks bad, I am systematically burning your books, fi-hehe~ This gear is forged from a specialized, ultra-stretch M-fiber. It was a parting gift from an ex-boyfriend three years ago. Cost nearly half a million won."
Concluding her explanation, Yoona slapped a glowing button on her left wrist. "Yikes! Wrong button!"
The sphere node triggered an emergency deployment sequence, causing the bodysuit to instantly inflate like a massive balloon. Her eyes went completely wide in shock. "It has a built-in anti-drowning protocol... hic... now I look like a massive, round beach ball! Ugh~~~" The young woman threw herself against the wall, slamming her arms against the concrete to forcibly vent the excess air from the chassis.
Once the suit reverted to its baseline parameters, she reached over to press a neighboring button, commanding the suit's interface to weave additional micro-fibers from the upper torso down to her ankles. The material extended upward, taking the structural form of sleek, black high-heeled boots. Next, she bent down beneath the wardrobe, pulling out a dusty piece of hardware and brushing it off. It resembled a high-tech helmet, outfitted with small antennae protruding from the crown, styled like butterfly wings engineered to capture solar energy.
She pulled the helmet securely over her head, snapping the visor shut. A crimson holographic text immediately flashed across the display:
"PINK BUTTERFLY IS ME"[1]
The moment the text faded, the holographic interface reconfigured into a brilliant, wide-winged pink butterfly crest.
"You think this is cool? You haven't seen all of 'em yet!"
The young woman hoisted a bizarrely shaped, aerodynamic backpack onto her shoulders. She marched up to the rooftop of her dormitory building, taking a deep, centering breath. "Butterflies undergo a metamorphosis from something many girls absolutely detest, a caterpillar. But what I possess is the intellect to engineer that caterpillar into a breathtaking butterfly."
She stepped up, planting her boots firmly onto the ledge of the balcony.
"Right now, I am merely a pale grey caterpillar." The young woman cast her gaze upward toward the gleaming, silver-glass ARCI skyscraper before shifting her eyes back to you. "But if I execute this sequence... if I become..."
Her foot stepped forward into the empty air. Gravity instantly took hold, dragging her form down toward the hard ground below.
"Fancy Wings, ENGAGE~!"
A thunderous roar shattered the sky as her body suddenly reversed direction, rocketing upward at an extreme velocity. Sleek metallic wings unfurled from the backpack, propelled by twin thrusters mounted to her spine. The helmet's visor began rapidly calculating her climbing velocity:
VELOCITY METRIC: 120 KM/HR +
Yoona soared into the stratosphere, executing a flawless barrel roll that left a pristine white vapor trail cutting across the clouds of Seoul. As she streaked past the narrow gaps of the glass skyscrapers housing the giant fish bowls, she let out a euphoric, ecstatic scream.
"Woo-hoo~! Ha~! This is absolutely legendary!"
The thrusters unleashed a massive burst of thermal energy, propelling her out of the city limits at a blistering speed that easily rivaled the high-end flying vehicles cruising the upper airways.
"To Be Continued~!~!~ Woo-hoo~~!"
BOOM! The wings cleaved through the cloud deck, vanishing into the blue.
[1] Series 8 My Heart, My Idol - Easter egg