After spending more time in Africa, I eventually returned to Korea. It was crazy at the airport. I’ve never had such a huge welcoming before. My fandom seems to have grown again. And it wasn’t just my fans who were there. Reporters were flashing their cameras at me as well. My eyes hurt.

“Wow.”

I got goosebumps. Even when I took down the Magistrate’s Heavenly Wall, I don’t think I had gotten this much of a cheer.

“Stop! Stop! Hey, watch it!”

That was not the security guard. Of course, I had one, but so was Jinwoo. I don’t think an agency president has ever been so invested in his idol’s safety before. It’s enough to make anyone cry.

Except me.

“Mr. Park, can you move?” I said. A fan stuck her hand out to shake my hand. I didn’t have the heart to turn her away.

“Huh? O-oh…okay.”

Jinwoo seemed a little saddened by that, but it couldn’t be helped. I have to think of my fans as well. I would do anything for my fans. Anyways, I hugged the fan and even kissed her on the cheek. She was about six years old and she seemed to like me.

“Sian! I’m going to marry you!”

“….”

I was speechless. There was no way this little girl was a lesbian. No way. It’s not like she’s gained enough experience to know.

“Sure. Find me when you’re older. I’ll marry you,” I said with a smile. I gave her another kiss on the cheek. The kid was so little and cute. Suddenly, someone shouted.

“Sian, you should have a daughter like that!”

Who the hell spewed that crap? Still, as that person was also my fan, I smiled at them.

“Well then.”

I handed the kid over to her mother. Or at least, I tried to except the kid wouldn’t budge.

“No! I’m going to live with Sian!”

“….”

Well, that was unexpected.

“Aw, sweetheart. I’m sorry. I’m an adult and you’re a child. We can’t be together.”

“No! No!”

“If you don’t want to go home, then get married,” I said, finally passing her over to her mouth. The kid started to bawl, but there was nothing else I can do. I waved goodbye to the kid and continued through the airport. But where were we going?

“Where are we going?” I asked Jinwoo, who was still struggling to get me through the fans.

“We’re going to have an interview.”

“An interview?”

“Yeah. I hear you played a big role in stopping the terrorists. Your popularity is through the roof right now!”

“….”

I’m supposed to be a girl group member, right? Not an activist. So why do I keep showing up on social news, rather than entertainment?

Anyways, we arrived at the venue of the interview.

At least twenty reporters stuck their microphones in my face and they all shouted questions at me. I cherry-picked ones to answer.

“They say you stopped the terrorists by yourself! Is that true?”

“No.”

It’s not. I mean, I may have gotten most of them, but the special agents who came in helped as well.

“They say you managed to steal the bomb trigger away from the men! How did you do it?”

“I just saw it and swiped it.”

“Oh!”

The reporter seemed disappointed by my answer, but I just shrugged. It’s true. I saw the button so I swiped it.

“We heard you and Miyeon were able to leave the department store in the beginning. How?”

“I recited the national anthem.”

“Really?”

Everyone seemed shocked by my answer.

“And the heungminjeongeu.”

“Oh!”

Cue more looks of shock. But because of what I said, I doubted that other hostages would be able to get away with it next time.

“So, why did you go back in?” another reporter asked.

“I wanted to save the hostages.”

“Wow…” Everyone gasped.

“Sian for President!” some fan shouted. Everyone began to cheer with her.

Sian for President! Sian for President! Whoooo!

This was getting big. This won’t reach the government, will it? I’ll make sure it doesn’t.

Anyways, the reporters shouted more and more questions at me and I continued to cherry-pick the questions that I liked.

***

After that, I finally got back to the dorms. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by a group of puppies wagging their tails. By that, I mean my adorable fellow members.

“Sian!”

“You’re back!”

Everyone ran toward me and engulfed me in a huge hug. Of course, I was more than happy to return it. These cuties. They must have been worried sick about me.

“We heard you got shot! Are you okay?” Jia asked, looking extremely concerned for me. I nodded with a big smile.

“Absolutely.”

“We were so worried about you!” Jia added, wrapping me in another hug. I mentally cursed again. This hurt worse than when I got shot.

“Yeah, I figured.”

Judging by the tears in Jia’s eyes, I could guess by how much too.

“We’re sleeping together tonight!”

“We always sleep together.”

Yeah, Jia is my roommate after all.

“No, no! I’m going to sleep right next to you.”

“….”

I mean, I guess it won’t matter. She’s done that before, but if she does plan to cling that much to me…

“Me, too!” Hainan said, pressing herself against my back.

“Ugh.”

I was in for a long night.

Are you jealous that I have two lovely women who volunteered to sleep with me? Ha. What’s there to be jealous of? It’s not like I can do anything about it. I mean, I can but I won’t. Do you know how hard it is to suppress your desires like that? Imagine two girls in your head, wearing next to nothing. And they keep whining that they want to be with you. Would you or would you not be able to resist that? I bet there’s a 0.000001% chance that you can resist that, but I have to do so every single day. If I die someday, it will be from this.

“Hey, Sian, let’s take a shower. You can, right?” Jia asked.

“Yeah,” I answered. Jia took my hand and dragged me to the bathroom. Here it goes…Dear Lord in Heaven…please save me…I refrained from cursing this time. I didn’t want to be punished.

***

As we were showering, Jia approached me.

“….”

I refrained from looking at her naked form. I have morals, you know. I’m not one to use my status as a female to take advantage of other women and steal glances at them. At least, I did for a few seconds. After a while, I couldn’t help myself and began to scan her body. There wasn’t much to it, but her slim figure just made you want to hug her. On top of that, it was fair and clear. Anyways, Jia held out her phone to me.

“Sian. They’re saying you’re an alien again. You’re ranked number one on the search engines.”

“….”

An alien. I’d like to know what an alien looks like. Why do people keep thinking I am one? Weirdos.

“But number two is…”

“What’s number two?” I asked, stealing another glance at Jia’s body. Ugh. If only I were a man…shit…

“Sian is Haruto.”

“What’s Haruto?” I asked.

“You know the Japanese fighter that kept making fun of you.”

“Oh…her.”

Yeah. Now I remember. She kept saying all these weird things about me. I just let it go since it was all talk.

“Anyways, what about her?”

“She kept going on about how Dokdo was Japanese and she happened to mention you.”

“Seriously?”

Wow. How disrespectful can you be? She seemed rather desperate. Why does she keep talking about me? How annoying.

“Bring up your SNS,” I said to Jia.

“Okay. But why?”

“I’m going to comment that I want to fight.”

“Okay. But it’ll be under my username…”

“Just logout and sign in using mine.”

That was close. I could’ve challenged Haruto under Jia’s username. Anyways, I found Haruto’s social media account and commented under her latest post.

[Let’s do it.]

There’s no way she would misunderstand what I meant by that, right? Anyways, as soon as I commented, someone replied. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Haruto. It was Yoshiba, the up and coming number one male MMA fighter in Japan. He was known for insulting comfort women and Koreans in general.

He wrote [Look at this Joseon crap trying to start shit.]

So I replied [Fine, you asshole. You and me as well. Let’s go.]

I didn’t press send yet. But I was close. If only Jia hadn’t stopped me.

“Sian, no.”

“Why not?”

“That will make people angry.”

“I don’t care.”

I seriously didn’t. To me, what mattered was making Yoshiba pay, but Jia took the phone away from me.

“No. You represent our group now. There’s no need to pick a fight with a guy like him. Don’t do it.”

“Fine.”

If Jia says no, then I shouldn’t do it. But just then, my eyes fell on her body again and I had gulp to make sure I didn’t drool. I finally shook my head in defeat.

“Hey, Jia. Let’s leave.”

“I still haven’t washed properly yet.”

With that, Jia turned, displaying her backside fully to me. She bent down to pick up the soap that had dropped to the floor, sticking her butt out at me…I didn’t know what to say.

“Hey, Sian. Can you help me wash my back?”

“Oh…uh…okay…”

I sat behind her and began to help her wash her back. Then she handed me an exfoliating towel.

“What’s this for?”

“Can you scrub the dead skin off of me?”

“….”

Alright, I guess we’re going all the way. It’s just the back. I took the towel and began to rub Jia’s back. There was a lot of dead skin that came off. She’s so fair, it was hard to believe that all these flakes of dead skin and dirt were from her body. It was rather impressive actually. Anyways, after I was done, I held my hand again.

“Jia, give me your phone.”

“For what?”

“I want to call Jinwoo.”

“Why?” Jia asked.

“I want to ask him to set up a match with Haruto and Yoshiba.”

“What?!” Jia exclaimed in shock as I dialed Jinwoo’s number.

Jinwoo picked up right away.

[Hey, Sian!]

He sounded happy.

“I have a favor to ask.”

[Sure! What is it? Tell me! Whatever you want!]

Was he still suffering from the shock of hearing about me getting shot? Jinwoo was being incredibly agreeable. Not that he wasn’t before. With his card.

“I want to have a match with Haruto and Yoshiba.”

“What?”

“I said I want to have a match with Haruto and Yoshiba.”

Was he deaf? He never hears me the first time I tell him. Ugh, why does PMS make me so irritated?

“Uh…you mean the MMA fighters who dissed you online?”

“Yeah. The ones who kept going on about how Dokdo is theirs and kept insulting the Korean comfort women.”

“Uh…”