SYNOPSIS: when one of your best friends mentions a specific k-pop group in the gc, your once disinterest toward the industry slowly softens as a certain idol catches your eye. but what happens when your simple celebrity crush turns into reality as you unexpectedly meet eye to eye with him at a university festival?
PAIRING: idol kim ryul x uni student/influencer fem reader
CONTAINS: written parts, swearing, lwk down bad reader and ryul, multiple parts + smau, use of yn ln, lee gawon fc, REALLY slow burn, lowk slow plot in general...
A/N: guys SO sorry for the late updates, i've lowkey been so out of it but i WILL be getting back into my grind trust 🤞 the ss count for this chap is short js because of how long it took me to edit all these photos 😭 hopefully they look realistic and u enjoy this update! next one will come soonnn (this is lwk barely proofread but im js gna pray it's still readable lol)
ss count: 15, word count: 1395
after the festival, you hand your broken phone over to leesol for repair.
"i can probably get it back to you in two days," she says, warmly smiling.
"sounds good, thank you solll."
"are you all heading back now?" stella asks, one hand fanning her face from the evening heat.
"mhm, i'm totally exhausted," moka answers.
"okay, perfect! it's honestly a blessing that we all live so close together," stella remarks as you all begin to walk to your dorms.
ella turns to face the rest of the group, her bag swinging back and forth from the motion, "AND that it's in the same direction from main campus," she adds, "i swear we're actually interlinked."
the five of you all laugh at ella's comment.
fifteen minutes later, you all arrive.
"see you guys tomorrow!" moka exclaims, waving to the rest of you guys with a smile.
waving back at her, you turn to the three others girls, "'kay i'm gonna go too. see youuu!"
finally getting back to your dorm, you quickly change into your pajamas, tossing your festival clothes on the ground, and launch yourself onto your bed -- that was still unmade from the night before, but right now, you honestly couldn't care less.
as you lay on your soft duvet and stare at the blank, textured ceiling, your mind can't help but wander back to the events at the festival.
more specifically, whatever happened with ryul during lngshot's set.
despite how hard you tried to fight the urge to check for any updates online -- i mean, this was supposed to be your "offline time" now that your phone wasn't with you -- your thoughts eventually overtake you. as you head to your desk where your laptop is, you mindlessly start anticipating for what you'll see.
right as you're about to close your laptop and go to sleep, a ding suddenly chimes in your ears.
you quickly check your screen, not noticing anything important, until your eyes land on the tiny "1" next to your chats.
your head slightly tilts as you click on the bubble icon.
almost like fate, it's none other than ryul messaging you.
you roll your eyes, a small smile tugging at your lips, as you open the chat.
you weren't actually going to sleep.
in fact, you instead searched "kim ryul" on twitter, and scrolled for a whole 15 minutes through the many photos and videos of him.
you noticed so many stupidly attractive details about him: the way he joked with his fans, or how he'd occasionally smirk in between his verses. it all only made the fact that you had just texted him so much more unreal.
amidst your "indirect stalking" your mind couldn't help but ask: could this really become a thing?
but nonetheless, he's still a k-pop idol, and you're an up-and-coming influencer on twitter -- if you could even call it that.
of course, you didn't want to overthink it.
but if all this wasn't leading to anything, where could it possibly be going?
you didn't want to put all your eggs in one basket -- that's how the saying actually went, but whenever you two talked, it was almost like you could feel sparks forming with every text.
it even felt weird thinking it.
to be honest, you knew you were getting too ahead of yourself. so, in an attempt to get your mind off of it all, you open a new tab and pull up the email inbox for your twitter account.
it was still hilarious how some people actually reached out to you about the ryul incident -- not even the man himself did.
you choose to ignore it all. especially that random hate email in your inbox. what was the point in opening it anyway?
you refresh your inbox, not thinking something new would actually show up.
an email from GENTLE MONSTER titled: "Gentle Monster Global Campaign Inquiry".
as you scan the title a few more times, you can feel your stomach drop and yours eye widen. hastily, you move your trackpad to open the email. your other hand goes to cover your mouth, which has practically locked itself open.
"hey siri, facetime 'yonsei baddies'."
"facetiming 'yonsei baddies'," your siri replies back.
you drag the other window over, full-screening it, before typing out your reply.
"okay so.." you say, hands rested on the keyboard, "do i just say hi first? i mean there's not a specific name to like address."
"yeah, just start with hi," leesol replied.
as you're mid typing, you suddenly stop and run your fingers through your hair.
"bro i'm still in shock.. like out of thousands of people, gentle monster.. reaches out to ME??" you point your finger towards your chest.
"dude, you've freaking MADE ITT," stella exclaims. a hearty laugh between her and ian can be faintly heard through the call.
"don't forget us when you hit 1 million!" ella sarcastically remarks.
you laugh at ella's comment, "y'all are TOO much, but oh my god i can't even right now."
after a couple more minutes of typing, you quickly skim through it again before saying to the call, "wait okay i have like my first draft."
you read your reply to your friends, mumbling through a few words.
after fixing up a few sentences here and there -- guided mainly by leesol and mokas' very helpful suggestions -- you finally send out the email.
rolling your chair back and spinning a couple circles, you squeal, "ahhh i still can't believe it!!"
a few seconds of laughs and cheers echo from your laptop, before it suddenly goes quiet.
"wait yn don't freak out but..."
you quickly return back to your desk, dragging the facetime window back into view.
"you just hit 50k on twitter," stella says, her head facing down at her phone. she quickly widens her eye as she looks back at her screen.
“there’s no way," you reply, tugging a piece of hair behind your ear.
"let me check," you open a new tab from the previous window and hurriedly head to your twitter profile.
you scan over your follower count.
fifty thousand followers.
your neck extends forward as you look at the number again.
"oh my fucking god.... HELLOOO??" you practically yell, "i was just at 25k like 4 days ago."
"3 BRO," ella corrected, "in 3 DAYS you gained the amount of followers it took you like 5 months to get."
"damn, that's crazyy. bro yn you're actually famous now," leesol added.
you lean back into your chair, still in complete shock at the achievement.
"wait, like if you think about it..." a few seconds go by before moka continues, "you don't even have a public tiktok or instagram... isn't it harder to get twitter followers, like 100% from tweets alone 'cause it's like... more casual? or like more fast-paced?"
ella replies, "chat.." she smiles, briefly looking up to think, "yeah, no you're right!"
"are you gonna write a thank you post?" stella asked.
"well yeah, i have to!" you create a new twitter post and starting typing out a quick message.
"stop, what if this was because of the ryul incident.. LMAO"
your smile drops for a second as your hands freeze on your keyboard. you roll your eyes at the comment.
"stop it with that! oh my daysss can we leave the past in the past???"
"haha of course," ella chuckles, "it'll never be mentioned again." she teasingly raises her eyebrows as she shakes her head.
"oh my god.. gtfo with your sarcasm."
"awww, does it turn you on?" the girl jokes back.
"bruh you're so annoying."
not even a minute after you click "post" a notification appears on your screen.
"what?" stella responded.
"bro ryul JUST liked my post."
"but like.. and??? is that it?" moka asked.
"no but i like JUST posted it. like it hasn't even been a minute," you put your hand on your cheek as you lean into your desk.
"wait doesn't that mean..." ella says, before pausing, "OHHH MY GOD HE HAS NOTIFS ON FOR YOU"
the entire call bursts into screams and squeals as your eyes stay fixed on the notification. after a few seconds, you cover you mouth, failing to hide how stupidly wide your grin has gotten.
taglist: @h4chi @luvkeiiii @megamatt43 @dearestseraph @hiiiiiiiomomoko @lvrllit @hawarun @missdel @cortisean @ahnneyong @originalwindutopia @cheuerry @emisnotme @etherealid7 @avni-sarai @sanfluwer @woozarts @youngddariana @twasthenight4sho @llostviias
