Minjoo was nineteen years old when she graduated high school without her five childhood friends by her side. The short walk from her seat to the stage in order to claim her diploma felt longer with the pain she felt at the reminder that yet another promise of graduating together was broken.
She didn't have the privilege of giving a speech as that was reserved for the valedictorian and of course it would be Wonyoung. She never doubted that the younger girl would get it, she was always the smartest person she knew.
But when Minjoo grabbed the diploma from her homeroom teacher's hand and shook the hand of the school principal, just for a second it felt like time stopped. She risked a glance at the crowd and her eyes automatically searched for her old friends, briefly locking eyes with Yujin, Wonyoung, Hitomi, Nako, and finally Yuri, she was once again reminded of the promise they made once upon a time.
"That's decided then, so is everyone promising that in the summer of 2021 before the start of the fall term of college all six of us will meet-up near the edge of Han River with Minjoo-unnie driving us to go to Busan and stay at Wonyoungies vacation house?" Being their official MC, Yujin stated their promise and as always they needed to pinky swear in order to validate the promise made.
"Promise!" All six girls kissed their pinkies and intertwined them with each other to seal their promise.
As time began again and the sound rushed back into her ears, on the way back to her seat Minjoo vowed to keep the promise they made and go to Han River for their final road trip. It doesn't matter if no one else shows up, she always, always, keeps her promise.
After her graduation, she spent her summer fixing up her dad's old van in preparation for their road trip to Busan, a road trip that might not even happen. But still, she hoped, and with that hope, she turned the rusted van into a comfortable vehicle they could use. She also spent her time learning how to drive, and eventually, she got her license just in time.
Yujin was eighteen years old when she suddenly decided to clean up her room after three years of not doing so because she never had visitors anymore anyway. While she was taking out the hundreds of stuff buried underneath her bed she came across a box with "TIME CAPSULE: DO NOT OPEN UNTIL HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION" on it in bright red ink.
On the cover of the box were six badly drawn silhouettes with six names written beneath in varying styles of penmanship. Yujin remembers the day they made this box, it was fifth grade and their finals just finished when Minjoo had the bright idea to create a time capsule to remember their friendship, the older girl said it would be nostalgic if they opened it up again when they were older.
Suddenly being reminded of their promise of meeting up for one last road trip, Yujin decided that she would honor it. She already broke so many of their promises, but she wouldn't break this one. With that she finished cleaning her room and started packing a suitcase, not forgetting to carefully pack their time capsule as well. Now all that's left to do was wait for the day to come, and although she feels like no one else would show up she has fate in her Minjoo-unnie, after all she has never let them down, she wishes she could say the same too...
That, and well she couldn't drive yet and you can't really have a road trip without a driver and a car. She also hopes that Wonyoung would be there, not because she's the one who owns the house they're supposed to be staying at, but because maybe it will serve as a sign that she should finally confess after years of longing for the other girl from afar.
Hitomi was nineteen when she was on her final cheerleading camp experience as a high school student. Sitting on her bed inside the cabin she was packing up her stuff as camp has just ended two weeks before she starts college. While opening up the pockets of the same lucky duffel bag she has used since she was eleven years old when her childhood friends saved up the little allowance they had to buy it for her first birthday in Korea. She suddenly found an old picture of the six of them with a note at the back of it.
