The sky outside the administrative building had turned a deep violet, streaked with fading gold. Evening wrapped the campus in its gentleness, the wind carrying the smell of wet grass and the faint sweetness of distant jasmine.
Sera stepped out of the building slowly, holding the door as if it weighed more than it should. She took one long breath — the kind that fills you once, deeply, and empties you quietly.
Chairman Park's words echoed softly inside her:
"Go be Sera Kim… one last time."
The words felt final.
Not cruel.
Not heavy.
Just… true.
She walked down the steps onto the path she had taken a thousand times over the last four years. Today, each step felt strangely clearer, as if the world sharpened around her edges for this one last look.
The trees leaned over the walkway like soft guardians.
The lamplights glowed, warm and patient.
The campus hummed with the sound of distant laughter.
She wanted to memorize every piece of it.
She headed toward the courtyard automatically — her feet knew the path even if her heart wasn't ready to follow.
As soon as she turned the corner, she saw them.
Haerin. Minji. Eunwoo.
Her friends.
Her family of four years.
Her witnesses to every tiny transformation she never realized she was making.
Haerin spotted her first.
"Sera!" she called, waving her arm aggressively. "Where were you? We kept texting!"
Minji squinted. "Why do you look like you came from a meeting with God?"
Eunwoo snorted. "She always looks like that. It's called elegance."
Sera smiled — softly, genuinely — the kind of smile that grew warm in her eyes before it touched her lips.
She walked toward them, letting their noise pull her out of her thoughts.
"I'm here," she said quietly. "Sorry. I had… something to handle."
Minji looped her arm through Sera's instantly.
"Oh, you're coming with us. We're doing a night walk. No excuses."
Haerin nodded.
"We're getting hot chocolate, too."
Eunwoo held up a bag.
"And I bought snacks. Real snacks. Not your 'I'm not hungry' snacks."
Sera laughed, the sound light and familiar.
"Okay," she said. "Take me with you."
They didn't know it, but they were giving her exactly what she needed.
⸻
They walked along the central garden path, the lamps glowing like soft stars along the ground. Minji was ranting about a classmate, Haerin was calmly destroying Minji's points, and Eunwoo kept adding unnecessary dramatic commentary.
It was chaos.
Warm, comforting chaos.
Sera listened quietly, letting their voices fill the hollow spaces inside her chest.
Minji suddenly pointed at her.
"You're too quiet today. I don't like it."
Haerin narrowed her eyes.
"You're thinking again, aren't you?"
Eunwoo elbowed her lightly.
"You… okay?"
Sera exhaled slowly, the air forming a small cloud in the cool night.
"I'm fine," she said softly. "I'm just… grateful."
Her friends blinked.
"Grateful?" Minji repeated. "For what? Us? Obviously."
Haerin smirked. "We're a blessing."
Eunwoo nodded solemnly. "A divine one."
Sera laughed again — a small, delicate sound that made her eyes shine.
"Yes," she whispered.
"For you. All of you."
Haerin's expression softened.
Minji leaned her head on Sera's shoulder.
Eunwoo looked away, pretending like he wasn't smiling.
They kept walking.
⸻
After hot chocolate and snacks on their favorite bench, the group slowly dispersed. Eunwoo had a project, Minji was sleepy, and Haerin had to finish notes.
Sera watched them leave one by one, her heart aching gently — not stabbing, not breaking — just aching the way a beautiful thing aches when it realizes it's ending.
Haerin squeezed her hand before leaving.
"See you tomorrow, Sera."
Sera nodded.
"Yes. Tomorrow."
Minji hugged her dramatically.
"Don't disappear. I'll drag you back by your hair."
"I won't," Sera whispered.
Eunwoo gave her a small salute.
"Night, Kim."
"Night," she whispered.
When they were gone, Sera stood alone under the tree — the one that had witnessed her first day here, her laughter, her tears, her quiet afternoons.
She leaned against it and let the night breathe around her.
And then she pulled out her phone.
The same number was calling again.
This time, she answered.
"…I'm ready."
Her voice was steady.
Calm.
Finally decided.
A pause on the other end.
Then a respectful, polite voice said:
"Understood, Miss Seraphina. We will prepare everything for tomorrow."
Tomorrow.
The word settled deep in her chest.
She hung up slowly and looked up at the sky.
The stars were faint, scattered across the deep navy.
She smiled — brutal and beautiful — the smile of a girl accepting the death of one version of herself and the rebirth of another.
She closed her eyes.
And for the first time in weeks…
she felt calm.
Not peace.
Not joy.
Not relief.
Just calm.
The kind that comes when a decision has been carved so deeply into your bones that your body finally stops trembling.
⸻
She returned to her dorm quietly.
The hallway was silent.
Her room dim and familiar.
She closed the door gently, rested her back against it, and whispered to the empty space:
"Time to go home."
Then she turned on the light.
Her suitcase sat by the desk — half-packed from the night before.
She opened it fully.
And she began packing.
Not rushing.
Not crying.
Not breaking.
Just choosing.
Every item she picked up held a memory.
Her blue scarf — Haerin's gift.
The sketchbook Minji forced her to keep.
The coffee mug Eunwoo stole from the café for her.
The notes from her favorite classes.
The polaroids stuck behind her mirror.
She touched each one gently, whispering goodbye with her fingertips.
Erasing all the traces of Sera Kim…
while still carrying her inside.
When she packed her notebooks, she paused.
Four years of growing.
Four years of healing.
Four years of learning how to live again.
Her chest tightened.
She wasn't mourning Julian.
She was mourning herself.
The girl she had been allowed to become — free, young, flawed, curious, hopeful.
The girl who had loved quietly.
Laughed loudly.
Lived wholeheartedly.
She placed her last notebook in the suitcase and zipped it closed.
Then she sat on her bed, surrounded by the last remnants of a life that had shaped her.
Her voice trembled only once:
"Goodbye, Sera."
Not her name.
But the version of her born here.
She lay down slowly.
Today...
she would be Sera Kim one last time.
A girl with friends.
A girl who lived.
A girl who dared to love.
A girl who belonged to this campus.
Today was her farewell to them.
Her farewell to Julian.
Her farewell to herself.
Then she closed her eyes.
And the night wrapped around her gently…
as if protecting her for the last time.