When she was a child things were different. Simpler. Life and people weren't so complicated, at least she didn't notice it. Maybe it had always been this way. Maybe Ryujin was too sheltered to notice. Then again, she never did have parents to shelter her from the reality she lived in.
So maybe society had changed. People were more open about who they were. What they were. At least to some extent.
Of course, that wasn't always good. No. Sometimes it came at a great cost. The cost of lives lost.
Ryujin must have been ten years old the first time she saw something of the sort on tv. Breaking news, it read. And there sat a man with a mustache telling everyone about some alien attack. Can you believe that? Aliens are real.
Many didn't believe it at first. Well, even now there's probably people that will tell you it's a hoax. Considering some believe the Earth is flat, she doesn't get surprised at human ignorance anymore.
What does surprise her is how weird things can get.
One day you're watching the news revealing the existence of aliens, the next you're seeing videos of men with capes fighting them. It was ridiculous. Even more so when talks of some being actual Gods began.
Ryujin can accept aliens and even powered suits. Those make sense to her. Of course humans wouldn't be alone in the universe, that made no sense. But she's someone who believes and trusts in science. So being told that some Gods are real and so is magic... That's pushing it. But she can't deny what's in front of her eyes.
Well, not really in front of her. She's all the way in Seoul. The most exciting thing they had there was some ordinary criminals. She was far away from the center of the action.
Or so she thought.
______
Ryujin was twelve when she first witnessed a crime. A real one. Right in front of her. Not on television or Youtube.
It wasn't even all that, just some guy running away from cops after stealing a purse. But it had her heart pounding as she observed the chase. Her adrenaline kicking in, wishing she was the one chasing the man.
That was the first time she seriously considered pursuing law enforcement. Before that she hadn't known what she wanted to do. But this, it had caught her attention and she was determined to become a cop one day.
Unfortunately, she was informed by her Aunt and Uncle that her asthma made it impossible for her to ever achieve that dream. So she put it on hold. Trying to find alternatives to it.
Science was great. Maybe she should be a scientist and save people that way. Cure cancer or some other disease. Maybe fix global warming or end world hunger. Dedicate herself to bettering the world.
Then she discovered photography. A hobby that took over her life once her Aunt and Uncle gave her a camera for her birthday. She was thirteen then and as old and expensive as the camera was, she cherished it dearly. Holding on to it until that day.
Ryujin was seventeen and your average high school student. There was nothing remarkable about her. If anything her science knowledge was the only thing to separate her from most of her peers. And it wasn't exactly helping her popularity. Seriously, being known as the science girl is not a good reputation to uphold. Not that she could do much about it.
She had attempted to do something else. But sports weren't an option for someone who could barely run before having to use her inhaler. Band was declared as a nerdy thing to do, despite the fact somehow if you played an instrument outside of school you were considered cool. That didn't make sense to her. There were honestly little to no options left. At first she considered debate but her witty and, according to herself, hilarious remarks were unwelcome. Science related things were out of the question, she didn't need to make her nerd reputation grow. And that's how she settled for the school newspaper.
It wasn't bad. Not at all. She was their main photographer so her role was just to take photos and develop them. That was at least something she enjoyed doing. Plus she could see her. Sometimes. Like whenever they had newspaper meetings or they attended events together. Well, not together together but together adjacent. At the same time, in the same place for the same reason.
Yeji was a writer. A gifted one at that. With a passion for journalism, it seemed. She was always working overtime, making sure every word was perfect. That whatever she wrote captured and entranced the reader and it worked every time. Or maybe it was her massive crush on her that had Ryujin reading everything she wrote. Whatever the reason, she was her favorite writer.
"You have the shot?" a voice woke her up from her trance, her eyes had been glued to the girl with the lighter hair. She had been interviewing students at the baseball game. Their team was on a winning streak so they were going to write about it, something like that. Ryujin couldn't care less about it all but she would take the photos they needed.
Her friend, Yeonjun eyed her curiously, following her gaze and spotting the other girl. "You're not going to get anywhere by staring at her from across the stands like a serial killer."
"I'm not staring at anyone. I was watching the game." she defended, trying to escape the conversation about Yeji.
"Sure, then who's winning?" He asked, crossing his arms and staring at her.
"Oh fuck off." she let out, pushing him jokingly before making her way to another spot so she could take photos from another angle.
