The Illusion of Graduation 1

By the time the ceremony ended, the sun had begun its descent, casting golden hues across the university courtyard.

Mina grabbed her arm, practically bouncing with excitement. "Let's go celebrate! We're graduates now!"

Yujin hesitated. What was there to celebrate?

Still, she let Mina drag her along, their small group of friends heading to a nearby restaurant.

The table filled quickly with food and drinks, laughter and chatter blending into the background.

Yujin picked at her plate, pushing her rice around with her chopsticks as she listened.

"She already signed with a company two months ago."

"Really? That's amazing!"

"Yeah, her salary is insane. I heard she even got a signing bonus."

Another friend. Another success story. Another invisible slap.

Yujin took a sip of her drink, letting the taste sit on her tongue longer than necessary. Around the café table, everyone looked like they had their lives lined up in perfect Instagram filters.

"So what's she doing again?" Mina asked, brows raised.

"Marketing," the girl across from her said. "Digital branding, I think. She's working with a startup in Gangnam. Super trendy."

"Wow." Mina's eyes sparkled, just slightly. "I'd love to work in a space like that. Open ceilings, plants everywhere… not like my architecture firm. We still use fax machines."

Laughter rippled around the table.

Mina had always wanted to design art museums. Instead, she was stuck redrawing office floor plans for men named Park who thought beige was a mood than color.

"I'm hoping to switch to interior concept design next year," Mina added, sipping her matcha. "My senior says her friend at N-design might be hiring."

"That's so cool," one of the girls said. "You've always had an eye for aesthetics."

"I just wanna get into fashion production," another chimed in. "You know, like behind the scenes. I don't need to be famous. I just wanna build something."

Nods, murmurs of agreement, shared dreams floating between bites of dessert and sips of overpriced tea.

Then, as if on cue, Mina turned to Yujin.

"Yujin," she nudged her, pulling her out of the fog of her own thoughts. "What about you? Any job offers yet?"

A beat.

A fake smile.

"Oh, you know… still deciding," she said, swirling her drink like it held the answer at the bottom.

Mina frowned. "You've been job hunting, right?"

"Yes," Yujin lied. "Something will work out."

She said it like she believed it. Like it wasn't tearing her apart inside. Like her inbox wasn't a graveyard of rejection emails and her resume wasn't starting to feel like a comedy script.

The table moved on.

But in her mind, Yujin sat alone—trapped between the person she thought she'd be by now… and the girl with a convenience store badge on her LinkedIn.

The door chimed as it swung open, and a fresh burst of energy entered the restaurant. Yujin and her friends all turned to see the latest spectacle.

There she was: So-yeon, radiant as ever, beaming like she was the sun and the world was simply her orbit. She sauntered in with her boyfriend, who was wearing an expensive-looking designer jacket and a smile that seemed to come with all her bills are covered kinda vibes. Her friends—equally well-dressed, equally glossy—flanked her, laughter rippling through the air like the sound of champagne popping.

She was celebrating something, of course. It was only natural for So-yeon to celebrate.

They weren't just any group; they were the rich kids, the ones who didn't know what it meant to feel uncertain about the future. Yujin watched, almost detached, as they arranged a custom-made cake—an extravagant one, the kind you saw only in Instagram stories of the ultra-wealthy. So-yeon's boyfriend had apparently commissioned the cake as a paid request from the café, and now the whole store was singing for her, the employees all in sync, and customers filming it on their phones, capturing the perfect, sponsored moment.

It felt almost like a performance, one that they'd rehearsed many times before. So-yeon looked like she was already living her dream, surrounded by a sea of smiling, affluent faces.

Mina leaned closer to Yujin, a knowing smirk on her lips as she watched the scene unfold. "Do you know what she studied?" Mina asked, her voice just a little too casual.

Yujin blinked, her eyes shifting briefly from So-yeon's celebration to her friend's face. She knew the question was coming. The question that was as much about status as it was about academic background.

"Business Administration," Yujin said, keeping her tone neutral, despite the knot tightening in her stomach. "Just like me."

There it was—the typical event and then feeling. The accidental comparison. The one that always seemed to come up when someone from the same course as you reached the milestone you hadn't. And the whole table knew what that meant—So-yeon's success, her family, and everything else that made her seem like she was always going to win.

"So-yeon's dad is the CEO of that big finance company, right?" Mina added, still eyeing the group, her voice dipping slightly with admiration, maybe even envy. "Her family's loaded."

Yujin couldn't stop staring at the cake—the cake, for God's sake, with the over-the-top decorations, the perfect frosting, the golden accents. It looked like it could have been an award more than a dessert.

And as Yujin stared, she realized she wasn't just admiring it. She was wishing it was hers. Wishing that the attention, the ease, that came with So-yeon's life could somehow transfer into her own. She didn't even realize she was lost in thought until one of So-yeon's friends caught her gaze. Their eyes met for a split second, and Yujin felt her face flush, as though caught in the act of something terrible.

She quickly pulled her gaze away and pretended to focus on her drink, her fake smile slipping back into place like armor.

But then, as if the universe wanted to make sure no one could escape the discomfort, So-yeon herself approached, cake in hand. She smiled, bright and almost too wide, holding the cake out to the group, offering it like it was an invitation, but there was something in her eyes—something subtle, but unmistakable—that made Yujin feel as if it was more of an assertion than an offering.

"So, guys, I thought you should try it," So-yeon said, her voice dripping with that kind of effortless sweetness that only people with too much confidence could pull off. "Hope you enjoy your best lives too." She smiled as if she were the queen handing down crumbs to her subjects, but not without that tiny undertone that made it clear: you wish you have everything I have, and it shows.

The others in her group nodded politely, mirroring her smile as if it was just another normal thing to do. And for a moment, Yujin felt the difference between herself and So-yeon so sharply, it hurt. So-yeon didn't have to worry about the future, and didn't have to fight for everything. In the end her family would help her. She already owned everything. It was all just a show —a show she wasn't even aware was making everyone else uncomfortable.

But the show wasn't done.

The cake was placed on the table with the smallest bit of flair—like a trophy being awarded, but in the most modest way possible. So-yeon stayed standing for a moment longer than necessary, casting a glance over the group, clearly waiting for some sort of reaction. And when she didn't get it immediately, she smiled once more, this time with an added layer.

"We should take a group photo," So-yeon said brightly, already reaching for her phone.

The others scrambled to pose, eager to capture this moment of "perfection." And Yujin? She pretended to smile, but her heart wasn't in it. It wasn't in the cake, the photo, or the fake niceties. She just wanted the moment to pass—but it wouldn't.

Not yet.