Chapter Text
the amount of people was ridiculously overwhelming, how was she supposed to learn everyone's names?
besides, she had just arrived from a long flight from hong kong, she had better things to do than introduce herself. she had enough time for that on the even longer trip to the moon. for now, she could sit and revel in what she was about to be a part of.
until someone unusually pretty decided to interrupt her.
"hi! i'm haseul, you?"
kahei turned her head to respond, but instantly flushed due to the girls beauty. she had sparkling brown eyes and hair to match, with a slight wave in it that accentuated her jaw. "oh, um, i'm kahei."
"cool!" the unusually pretty girl named haseul sat next down to her, and kahei's uncomfortableness skyrocketed. she was not planning for this. kahei didn't want to be the one to make it awkward though, so she tried to talk to her.
"uh, where are you from? i mean- i uh i know you're probably from korea, i'm just- nevermind."
well that just made things worse.
"i'm from suncheon-si! how about you?"
"oh, i'm actually from out of the country."
haseul turned eagerly, "really? that's so cool!"
kahei suddenly felt at home, maybe this experiment wouldn't be so bad.
✰ ☾ ✰
yeojin's hand was holding a little too tight onto hers, but there was no use trying to get her sister to let go.
"do you think there will be any other people here that already know each other?"
jiwoo looked at yeojin, "i'm not sure. i know we're the only people who are related that are a part of the experiment, but i don't know any more than that."
"i'm nervous."
"i know, it'll be okay."
yeojin let out a sigh and slowly let go of her sisters hand. "thanks"
and they walked together to the place where the chaos was about to begin.
✰ ☾ ✰
"jungeun! stop running so fast!"
she looked back to see jinsol, struggling to catch up.
"sorry!!" she ran back to jinsol and grabbed her arm.
they raced together, and eventually reached their destination, almost running into a girl with passive cat-like features.
jinsol supported herself on jungeun's shoulder while trying to recover. "first things first, i know you're fast, but i'm not that fast. we've covered this."
jungeun shifted jinsol's arm so she was holding jinsol, and looked at everything around them, before glancing back at the dark-haired head lying on her chest. "yeah, i'm sorry."
jinsol pulled away from her and examined the people around the two of them. "this is so weird."
"it is"
jungeun and jinsol had been chosen together, due to the people in charge thinking it would be better to have a couple people that were already close as a part of the experiment. the two of them have a history of doing things like clubs together in high school, so they tracked down the girls and were delighted to see they were still friends. they were chosen for the experiment, and here they were, 6 months later. at the place where they were going to be sent to the moon.
jungeun scanned the crowd, and her eyes landed on a girl with sharp eyes and dark hair. her mouth was triangular, and her eyebrows were faintly furrowed. she had the type of face that made it difficult to imagine her smiling without seeing her do so. jungeun recognized the girl, but she wasn't sure from where.
"who are you looking at?" apparently jinsol noticed that jungeun was focused on someone, causing her to search for the person that caught her eye.
jinsol's eyes fell on the girl in question, and she looked back at jungeun, trying to asses what was written on her face.
jinsol couldn't figure out what her face was saying, so she resorted to asking her.
"do you know her?"
jungeun shook her head, "no, but i think i recognize her. she doesn't look like the type to go to our school."
jinsol shrugged. "well however you recognize her, you'll probably figure it out. i think we'll be learning each other's names soon"
"yeah, probably."
a person that seemed to be in charge stepped up on some sort of platform.
"thank you everyone for being here! i'm mina, the person in charge of this experiment and it's success."
jungeun heard someone mutter behind her, "already putting pressure on us, fantastic."
"we know this is a big change in your life, with all the new people, new technology, new experiences and new places. we'd like to help with this transition as much as possible, starting with the people."
a blank screen started projecting onto the wall behind the woman.
"this is a quick presentation of the people who are coming on this mission."
the blank screen changed into a collage of professional photos of a bunch of girls.
"because of the conditions of this experiment, we decided to only bring aboard people of the same sex."
the wall flashed again, showing a select four girls from the crowd.
"the 12 of you will be divided into 3 rooms, four per room. we decided to divide you girls based on your economic classes."
there was a grumble behind jungeun, "even in fucking space."
jungeun turned around and saw the black-haired girl from before. she had a bitter look twisted onto her usually-annoyed face. they made eye contact, and jungeun quickly whipped her head back around.
"these are the girls the first room."
the first was a photo with the name heejin written underneath. as if they even needed to name her. this girl was famous for her parents' wealth, causing this first group to be the rich ones out of the 12. heejin's hair was recently dyed to be a light brown, which no one could deny looked good on her, but all the news outlets could say about it was the rebellion she was taking against her parents image. she had a look plastered on her face that said she knew she was the most powerful one here.
the next girl's name was sooyoung, who had shoulder length dark auburn hair that framed her perfectly carved cheekbones. her lips were perfectly lush, while she gave a stare that could discern the flaws of anyone daring to approach her.
the third in line was a girl named chaewon. she had obviously bleached-blonde hair and wide eyes, making her seem unusually excited for the professional photo.
the last girl in the set was jinsol, with her gorgeous dark hair and jawline that could cut someone. jungeun smiled to herself. she knew it was a good idea to convince her to dye her hair back to a dark color.
"we will only be showing the names and photos of these girls, if you'd like to know information about your fellow crew mates it's your job to interact with each other. that's what this whole experiment is about, right?" mina fakes a laugh, along with about half of the crowd. "onto the next group."
the slide switched to a new set of girls, the first being jungeun. jungeun cringed, remembering that this was the official photo that news outlets were using to talk about the experiment. she brushed the thought away and continued looking down the line.
the sharp eyed girl's name was hyeju. her photo had the same slightly furrowed eyebrows and focused expression, except her hair was down and covering the edges of her face. the name didn't stir up any memories for jungeun. the recognition might've been a false alarm.
the next name was haseul, which was accompanied by a photo of a stunning girl who was carrying a slight smile on her lips. the first girl to show a semblance of joy in her photo.
kahei was last in the line, a girl with vibrant pastel orange hair and sharp eyes. not sharp in the way hyeju's are, but in the way that she wanted to say more with them but couldn't. she had a faint smile as well, but it looked uncomfortable.
"and onto our last group of girls!"
the slide switches again and reveals the last 4 girls.
a bright-faced girl with mysterious eyes was first. she had a passive expression, but not in a way that seemed like she was judging you. it added to the mystery in her eyes. jungeun almost forgot to check the girls name, but then saw yerim written under the girls photo.
yeojin was next, and the difference between yeojin's photo and the rest of the girls' was shocking. she had a full beamed smile, and her light brown bangs were almost in her eyes. she had chin length hair, and a certain youth to her expression. it makes sense to have varying personalities on this mission, but it was a shock seeing someone so radiant.
the next was jiwoo, a girl with wispy bangs and glowing eyes. she was similar to yeojin in the way of her youthful expression, although she wasn't smiling.
the last girl was the girl with the cat-like facial features that jungeun almost ran into earlier. her name was hyunjin, and she gave a determined stare into the camera.
"now that you guys all know each other's names, i ask that you guys come in front of my platform. we need to get photos, and then a news crew is coming over to cover what is going to be happening."
mina turned off the slideshow. "now would be a good time to say your goodbyes."
jungeun and jinsol walk to the front to see hyeju, heejin, chaewon and hyunjin already there. the five of them stare forward, not wanting to make eye contact. the only thing in front of the girls was people crying, which might've been even more awkward than actually making eye contact, but it was too late at this point.
everyone eventually lined up, and then the news crew arrived. everything was so loud, but mina still managed to overpower everyone with her voice.
"hello! finally introducing, the new luna experiment!"
she leaned down, as if to only talk to the girls, but was still holding the microphone.
"are you girls ready?"
she got a vague mumble as a response.
"okay, let's go!"
the line of girls followed mina out to a landing pad, and it was time to board.