Chapter 19 – What Is This

“YA, Kim Sungjoon!”

I stood by the ferry pier at Mokpo as the others piled onto the buses, turning my head to the voice that called my name.

“Let’s date.”

Ehhhh???

36 Hours Ago

I sat in breakfast in a daze.
The memories of the previous night still unfolding in my mind.
Did Mina and I….?

A kick hit me in the shins and I nearly spat out my rice.

Jungyeon looked at me curiously. “Hurry and finish up, Slowjoon. Everyone is waiting.”

“Er…yes, yes.”

“What’s with you today, all weird after waking up…” Jimin noted, finishing the milk she was drinking, “Did you have a wet dream?”

I nearly choked on my remaining rice.

The loudspeakers sounded as Jo Kwon seongsaeng ordered all mentors and mentees to head out to the courtyard.
Mina had just returned from the bathroom and gestured me to follow. She seemed cheerier than usual.

My face colored.
This was going to be a long day.

Tzuyu hurried to the bathroom as the loudspeakers sounded.

She noticed the girl named Mina walking past her as she got inside.
At the corner was this other girl with a stunned expression on her face.

“Um…are you ok?” Tzuyu asked the girl.

“I’m fine!” she quickly snapped out of it at Tzuyu’s voice, “I was just…thinking of something.”

The girl hurried out, her cheerleading hoody showing the words “SANA” at the back.

Tzuyu shrugged as she entered a cubicle, “This school is seriously weird.”

“Today, we will be visiting the Hallasan National Park!”
Jo Kwon seongsaeng stated, “It will be a long hike, but it will be worth it! The base camp is beautiful and we will have a night under the stars…”

Jihyo stood beside him on stage, in full hiking gear and holding the loudspeaker in her hand.
“You will be split into groups of 4. Stick with your group and don’t get lost! The trail should be easy enough to follow!”

Yubin seongsaeng walked over with a clipboard in hand.
She browsed over the notes and pointed to me, “Sungjoon, Mina, Sana….”

I looked at the two girls near me. Oh won’t this be great…

“…and Momo.”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mina and I spun around to see the girl with blonde hair waving sheepishly at us.

“Hellooooooo fam~”

Bambam and Natty looked at each other as Jimin and Jackson proceeded in silence.

“I heard you tried breaking into a girls’ dorm…” Jimin began, breaking the silence.

“We were visiting,” corrected Bambam, “Just saying hi…”

“With a ladder,” added Natty, rolling her eyes and trying not to laugh.

Shaking her head, Jimin glanced at Jackson, “You really don’t grow up do you…”

Jackson made a face at her and ran off, “Let’s race guys!”

As the others sighed and followed, Jackson mused to himself,
“What if I don’t want to grow up? What if I don’t want anything to change?”

Jungyeon began to move when Jihyo tapped her on her shoulder.

She smiled at the sight of one of the few hoobaes she liked besides Jimin (and well maybe Tzuyu now).

“Glad to see you are a part of our group!”

“I may or may not have pulled a few strings,” Jihyo grinned, “Thought I should get to know these two visuals over there…” she gestured to Nayeon and Tzuyu.

Nayeon gave Jihyo a look. “We haven’t really properly met. That time at the karaoke was…messy.”

“I’m Park Jihyo, 2^nd year and running for student president,” Jihyo said, offering her hand.

The older girl took it with a firm grip, “Oh, the one Sungjoon is campaigning for. Well, I’m his desk mate. Nayeon, Im Nayeon.”

The two girls stared at each other for a significant period of time, and Jungyeon noticed the tightening of the grip from both girls as they smiled politely.

Suddenly a memory popped up in Jungyeon’s mind.
The night after the karaoke.

After the Karaoke

Jungyeon was heading to the bathroom after downing too many sodas.
Footsteps suddenly followed behind her.

“What is this? I heard there are plenty of erts in such establishments…”

This thought made Jungyeon shiver as she hastened her movements.

“Jungyeon sunbae!”

The nervous girl let out a sigh of relief when she heard the familiar voice. “Jihyo-ah, you scared me!”

“I just need to go to the bathroom too, that’s all,” the big eyed dongsaeng chuckled, “Plus I’m sure you can beat up any stalkers or creeps out there!”

Jungyeon sniggered at the thought of herself taking on strangers like a UFC champion but her imagination was cut short by a question from the other girl.

“By the way, what’s the relation between Nayeon sunbae and Sungjoon sunbae? She kept coming between him and other people tonight…”

Back to the Present

Jungyeon looked at the two girls before her.
“Sungjoon-ah,” she mused to herself.

“Sungjoon ah!”

I turned to see Sana trailing behind the other girls and me as we made our way uphill.

“Aren’t you a cheerleader?” I cried, watching her wipe sweat as she heaved at the workout.

“We don’t do long distance stuff!”

Momo and Mina just judged the situation silently.
While the Peach Attack main dancer had appeared cheerily when the group was announced, even noting that she once thought Hallasan was a fruit (“That’s hallabong,” Sana corrected her), she had grown increasingly quiet once she started hiking in the same pace as Mina, who as per usual, was giving everyone the silent treatment.
Except for me.

“Sunbae, I can help Sana carry some things if she needs,” Mina offered, “We can pick up the pace and get to base camp quicker!”

“Sunbae, would you like some water?”

“Sunbae, are you okay?”

Her sudden kindness to me made be quiver in fear.
Did last night really happen?
Was this a response?
I mean she’s pretty…BUT WHEN DID I CONSENT TO GET INTO THIS?!?!

Momo seemed to notice this and made one or two distasteful facial expressions on the way.

Halfway through the hike, Momo seemed to have had enough of Sana’s speed and Mina’s sudden sweetness to me.
She quickly grabbed Mina’s hand and dragged her quickly ahead.
“I’m done with you slow-pos! Mina, let’s go!”

“Wait, you can’t abandon the group!” I cried, having stopped to wait for Sana.

“I’m hungry so I DON’T CARE!” Momo screamed back.

Suddenly, as if her voice had awoken mountain gods, the ground shook.

“What’s going on?”

Jackson, Jimin, Bambam and Natty were seated at a rest stop as tremors could be felt throughout the mountains.

“A weather alert just came out,” Jimin said, glancing at her phone, “A mild earthquake is happening.”

“Guess we can rest a bit longer,” Bambam noted.

“It can still be dangerous,” Natty glared at the boy who was too busy joking around, “Like what if you are near loose boulders and stuff?!”

A fallen tree and some boulders lay between me and the two runaway Japanese girls.
Sana was sitting beside me, panting and clinging on to the fence of our pathway.

“I guess that’s one less way to make it to base camp…” I noted, as I heard Momo’s voice from across freaking out, “Thanks for abandoning us.”

“Think we can get help?” Sana asked, looking at our blocked pathway in front and behind us.

I looked at my phone. “Seems like we are locked away from any phone service…Momo and Mina?”

“We may have sort of tripped and broke our phones…” Mina responded in probably the loudest version of her voice ever.

WTH was this situation?!
“The best we can do now is for you two to hike towards some people who can get us help….”