Min Jung scrolled her phone, checking her social feed and reading comments. She had posted lots of pictures of her last morning at home, her last day at school, and even the last time she would exercise by the Han River for awhile. Of course, she would miss her dad, and her friends from high school - but the picture of her on the plane had gotten the most comments by far. 'Be safe!' 'We'll come visit!'. The kind words of her friends were almost enough to move her to tears, but she wouldn't cry. This was something she had wanted to do for a long time.<br/><br/><div align="center">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/f/f5/Morningdlalswjd.png)(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/1/11/Daddlanswjd.png)(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/e/e8/Planedlalswjd.png)(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/c/cc/Schooldlalswjd.png)(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/8/88/Colddlalswjd.png)<br/>(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/1/1f/Graddlalswjd.png)<br/></div><br/><div align="center"><em>“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to New York. The current time is..” “손님여러분 저희 비행기는 뉴욕에 도착했습니다. 지금 이곳은..” <br/></em></div>The landing announcement was automatically translated and relayed to everyone’s peripheral of choice, but there was one person on board who was not interested in the slightest. Min Jung’s brows furrowed, her tinted designer sunglasses the only thing shielding her piercing glare from view. She squished herself further into the row, twisting her petite frame like a contortionist to make space for the hulking man seated next to her, his mass unknowingly intruding into her space while he was immersed in the in flight VR. She sighed and muttered some Korean under her breath, pushing the man’s shoulder with about as much effect as a mouse trying to move an elephant.<br/><br/>Ten more seconds… the plane’s communications systems relayed the exact landing time to her sunglasses. The plane’s thrusters gradually powered down letting the jet drop gracefully onto its assigned landing pad, right as the timer hit 0.0. Immediately, the safety harnesses released, and the aisles lit up with bright green arrows, guiding passengers to any of the plane’s multiple exits. As she stood up, Min Jung’s phone updated the time and location, sending the information straight to her glasses; her peripheral of choice for today. Others preferred lenses or even the latest implants, but glasses had the advantage of being easily removable - nice for a quick break. Plus, they were Chanel.<br/><br/>Min Jung scoffed as the man started unloading luggage, taking up even more of her time. Who brought so much stuff nowadays? All of her things had been automatically delivered by drone hours before. Was this guy living in the thirties or something? She scowled at his tacky VR goggles as he winked. She made sure to head to an exit in the opposite direction,  despite her HUD nagging her that the left-wing exit was 10 meters closer. She was helped off the plane by a steward bot, who hovered her down to ground level. She glanced at a corner of her glasses; it had taken her an entire 5 minutes to disembark. What an atrocity; the last time a plane was delayed for that long, the airline had to issue an apology - with all immigration pre-authenticated via blockengine and flights directed by the Oracle Network, there was no human element involved in transport, and so no excuses for delays.<br/><br/>A carpool bot ushered her over to a transport vehicle and without much thinking, Min Jung got inside. She sighed and slumped into her seat, starting to iron out some wrinkles in her shirt. The bot had received all the passenger itineraries of course, and grouped people together in the most efficient way based on their schedules and destinations, all directed by the Oracle Network, of course. Since the Automated Driving Act of 2025 which banned the operation of vehicles by humans or other non-automated means, traffic became history. Cars, all supervised by the Oracle traffic network, whizzed by at insane speeds towards their destinations, their every move precisely calculated. The accident rate had fallen to an effective 0%, save for the occasional vehicle failure.<br/><br/>Claire extended her hand, which prompted her phone to send out a communication blast with her basic information. Min Jung glanced to the side of her vision to read the little identity card with whatever details Claire had chosen to fill out - the young Korean would never choose to turn auto-greet on, it was such a risky feature. The older woman must have left it on by default.<br/><br/>‘클레어입니다. 만나서 반갑습니다,’ the message displayed, automatically translating English to Korean.<br/><br/>She put out her hand and gave Claire an awkward little shake before settling back into her seat, reading the alerts and news she had missed while on the plane. A new translation scrolling across the screen made her look up at the man speaking to her. Almost immediately, her ScumScanner app on her phone sent an alert to her HUD, drawing a line from the man’s eyes to her ample chest, with a probability of 76% that he was staring at her breasts. Min Jung scoffed and queued the app up for delete. Her dad must have installed it without her knowing. She smiled politely at the man before enabling DND, which sent anybody who tried to speak with her an automated message: “DND Mode Enabled. I am unable to interact at the moment.”<br/><br/>She closed her eyes and waited until she arrived at her destination. 5 minutes and 43.67 seconds to go, according to Oracle.<br/><br/>“Welcome to NYU,” a message displayed on Min Jung’s HUD. She stepped out of the car and looked up at the gates of the grand entrance, tilting her sunglasses down to look at the view with her own little brown eyes. Her lips couldn’t help but curl at the corners at the sight of NYU, her dream school, finally in front of her. Just inside the gate, however, a crowd of people had formed - they were staring at a nearby scene unfolding. Min Jung stepped forward, and as she entered the school grounds, the NYU network and her phone began to communicate, effortlessly sharing information.<br/><br/><em>‘Exchange Aether ($AET)  to NYU Credits ($NYUC)? The current exchange rate is 1:312.’<br/></em><br/>Min Jung swiped the message away. She would worry about that later. Her eyes were fixed on the security droid and the student, who had turned completely white. His hands shook and his legs trembled, finally buckling as the blood bag turned green. She didn’t know much about what was going on, but you didn’t have to be Elon Musk to realize it was nothing good. The student’s face was automatically censored by the NYPD criminal software, but Min Jung tore her glasses away just fast enough to see him being stuffed into the car. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, his pale lips as white as snow.<br/><br/>At that moment, a drone hovered next to her with her bags in tow. They were quickly scanned and the drone whirred off to her room. Min Jung staggered forward past the gate, the face of the student burned into her eyes. Even the grand sight of NYU couldn’t bring her focus back. A video began to play on her HUD showing a woman greeting her in a robotic voice. After a few seconds, the monotonous tone changed into a professional voiceover in Korean, as the network detected her preferred language setting.<br/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_u"><strong>5:00PM</strong></span></div><br/>Min Jung followed the digital walkways drawn on her HUD to her dorm, only to be greeted by a crowd of people waiting for the elevator. After the plane ride, she was in no mood to fight - instead, she headed for the completely neglected stairwell, again despite the suggestion from her phone to take the elevator: estimated waiting time of 7 minutes and 43 seconds. The new student huffed and puffed up the stairs and turned the corner, finding herself in front of her room at last. By her door, her bags already stacked neatly by the drone; the flying courier had long disappeared to make other deliveries, charging Min Jung’s account directly. The carpool service had done the same. Min Jung examined the door which was surprisingly rustic in aesthetic compared to the high-tech environment. NYU was an arts school, after all. She smiled and hummed a little tune to herself - her phone immediately asked if she wanted to save the recording for future use, to which Min Jung swatted the alert away. She placed her phone on the entry lock and it beeped open, pairing the lock data with her phone. The next time she came home, it would detect her identity and open automatically.<br/><br/>She tiptoed into the apartment, leaving her bags outside. Taking off her sunglasses, her head swiveled right and left, then left and right, taking in the sights of her first college dorm. It was nothing special; a traditional aesthetic but with all the modern comforts, but Min Jung liked it nonetheless. She skipped into the living room with a smile on her face, then stopped in her tracks.<br/><br/>Her face grew hot and she could feel blood rushing to her cheeks at the sight of the half naked man. She quickly slid her glasses back over her face and looked away, taking her phone out. She would just send a message to his peri (peripheral). Min Jung groaned at the error message that displayed on her screen: no nearby devices detected. She sheepishly looked at Randy behind the privacy of her glasses, which had applied a mosaic to his naked body. She whipped around and pretended not to see anything, the sight of the other woman being shy only making her more embarrassed.<br/><br/>…<br/><br/>Min Jung could only shake her head in reply to Randy’s questions, her lips stapled together. She hadn’t spoken English in months; everyone sent messages via Peri anyway, since there was auto-translation. Her eyes darted back and forth before settling on a particularly interesting part of the floor.<br/><br/>‘..what’s your name again?’<br/><br/>Her ears perked up at the question; finally something she could answer. “Min Jung,” she replied with a little more certainty in her voice, like a baby speaking for the first time. There was a definite accent in her voice, but not enough to make her unintelligible.<br/><br/>“What?” came the reply. It should have been obvious, with the foreign name and all.<br/><br/>“You can call me Min,” she added, trying to make it easier for them. After all, they would have to live together for the next year.<br/><br/>Randy’s talk of parties prompted her phone to find the info on the NYU network, immediately displaying various options with details. Min Jung nodded, not wanting to be stuck in this awkward dorm for much longer.<br/><br/>‘My bags are outside,’ she told Randy, before turning and leaving the room.<br/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_u"><strong>5:30PM</strong></span></div>She closed the door behind her with a sigh, slumping against the heavy wood. What a way to start the year. What were those two? Dating or something? Min Jung let her head slam against the door. Just her luck. She couldn’t even get a good look at the room because she had been so embarrassed. Now she had to spend the night out. Her body was already aching from the long journey, and she desperately wanted to bathe and sleep. Still, the thought of what she had just seen was enough to get her walking downstairs to room 207, following directions on her HUD.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>