CHAPTER 7: UNLUCKY TRIP

It was already the end of October. The weather had gotten a bit cooler, and the days had gotten a little bit darker. And according to our homeroom teacher, Mr. Song, it was the perfect time to make a daytrip to the mountains. Hiking, having a picnic and bonding. He thought that it seemed like a good idea amidts all the hard studying. And so we found ourselves in a bus, singing cheerful songs and having fun. I sat with Eunwoo and actually managed to get him join in the fun things – usually he’d just sit by himself and roll his eyes at others having fun.

“Alright then!” we suddenly heard Mr. Song talk through the bus’s microphone. “Although we’re going to have fun, we should learn something as well, so I’ll give each of you a mission, something you’re in charge of.”

Everybody let out frustrated sounds, as we had been prepared to just relax and have fun today. I ended up being in charge of the campfire later when we’d make food and even though Youngmi chuckled behind me and wished me luck, it was just fine for me – like I hadn’t lighted any fires while living in Jeju. We used to go camping with my friends all the time… Before I became an outcast.

“Hey, Minji”, Youngmi said from behind me and Eunwoo. “My parents are not home for a few days; would you like to stay the night at my place today?”

I shook my head at her. “Sorry, I’m going to eat dinner at Minhyuk’s place today.”

It had been a couple of weeks since I got to taste my younger friend’s delicious cooking – and after that I had been visiting him and his dad very often, trying not to make it obvious that I was obsessed with his food. I had agreed to eat together today after I got back from the trip. Minhyuk had been a bit sad knowing that we were going to the mountains to have fun while he had to study, but wished us luck and hoped that none of us would get hurt.

“Again?” Youngmi burst out.

“Tell me about it”, Eunwoo sighed. “My mom is going to get upset her niece is never eating at home…”

I laughed. “Don’t exaggerate!”

Speaking of Minhyuk, I suddenly got a text from him. I unlocked my phone to read the text and I heard Youngmi making weird sounds behind me. “That’s almost scary! Like you have a connection of some sort!”

“Are you sure you guys aren’t destined to be together?” Eunwoo smirked at me.

“Oh come on, stop that”, I said. “We’re just friends.”

I proceeded to read the text I had received, and like I had expected, it was just a confirmation message – was I going to be at Minhyuk’s place at 7pm? The answer was short; yes!

After about an another hour passed, we reached our destination and hopped off the bus. I could notice the air in here was instantly more fresh than in the centre of Seoul. I sniffed the fresh, post-rain air and felt a little smile rise on my lips. Once a country girl, always a country girl.

“Alright”, I heard Mr. Song raise his voice. “We’ll take the shortest route to the mountain, and up there is a guesthouse that will provide us some lunch!”

I heard cheerful chatting and saw happy faces – finally I could see that my class wasn’t full of just bad students who were obsessed with going up on the school’s ranking. They were just normal teenagers who liked to have fun and relax. The only people with a straight face seemed to be Bin, who was back to his usual frowning and Mikyung, whose face was clearly made of stone.

“Let’s go”, Eunwoo said as our group started moving. “We don’t want to be the last ones.”

The route to the mountain was pretty easy, clearly made for city people who hadn’t been hiking in real, challenging nature – there were stairs and clean paths. I had no difficulties going up, and from what I saw, no one else had either, but I still could hear Mikyung huff and hissing at people, calling them slow or clumsy. I turned my head to glance at her walk a few meters behind me. I shook my head and turned my face forwards again. The journey went by quickly as I chatted with Youngmi and Eunwoo.

Just as the peak of the mountain was looming ahead us and I was about to sigh from relief that we could sit down and eat, I accidentally stepped astray the wooden stairs and I lost my balance for a short moment. I was about to fall backwards but luckily Youngmi grabbed my wrist and pulled me back up before I fell down.

“Hey!” I heard Bin’s voice saying behind me. “Can’t you even walk properly?”

I glanced at him with a stale expression and then turned back to Youngmi. I let out an amused chuckle and thanked my friend from saving me.

We finally reached our destination. The peak was mostly covered with the guesthouse’s beautiful garden and a viewpoint with huge binoculars that we could use to watch down from the mountain. People started separating and spreading around, some sitting down to rest, some rushing to the restrooms, some going to the binoculars.

I looked around. The guesthouse seemed completely abandoned so I doubted whether we’d get our lunch or not. Other than the almost creepy, traditional and seemingly deserted guesthouse, the place was very beautiful. So green and silent – well, excluding the sounds of cheerful high school students.

“Is your foot alright? It seemed like your ankle got a little bit twisted back there”, Eunwoo asked as we sat down near the campfire place and I started gathering the firewood.

“I’m completely alright”, I stated, although I did feel a faint ache throbbing in my ankle. “I’ll forget about the whole thing after getting food!”

After I had managed to make a decent fire, I noticed an elderly lady walk out of the guesthouse, and for everybody’s pleasant surprises, she had meat and sweet potatoes with her. Everybody had a moment of joy right there and we thanked the lady, bowing as much as we could. The lady seemed a little bit overwhelmed and shy because of all the attention she got and she rushed back to the house quickly after making sure we got all of the food she offered.

Soon after I saw something I had never thought I’d see – all 23 students of my class, sitting side by side, completely silent, enjoying their lunch. The only sounds I could hear were the sound of eating and occasional moans let out because of the good taste.

“Mr. Song”, Eunwoo asked at one point. “Is that guesthouse still open for visitors? It seems so quiet.”

“It’s temporary closed because of renovation”, our teacher replied. “But the owners live in the house so naturally they’re still here.”

Eunwoo nodded and continued eating, taking a bite of the sweet potato and let out a small hum, expressing his satisfaction with the taste.

“Mr. Song!” I heard some students yelling. “It says there’s a paintball arena nearby. Could we go and play?”

For a moment, I noticed our teacher thinking very hard, and then his expression softened. He smiled widely. “Well, why not?”

After a while I found myself dressing up in a big mask and a vest to prevent any injuries. I had never played paintball before but I had heard it was very fun, so I felt excited. I almost wished Mikyung and I would get into different teams so that I could shoot her as much as I wanted. She had been annoying me so much for the last two months I wanted to pay it back somehow, without getting in trouble about it.

“Okay guys, line up here!” Mr. Song ordered us and motioned us to come closer. After we did that, he just decided to divide us in two from the middle. I looked around and noticed many familiar faces, including Eunwoo and Mikyung, in my team. I sighed. No revenge for me, at least not today.

Shortly we could start the game, and I instantly tried to find a place where I’d have some cover but I’d still be able to shoot without any distractions. After a while I found it wiser to keep on moving instead, as I almost got surrounded by the other team’s people. I looked around and run behind a huge, fallen tree, preparing to shoot at Youngmi whom I saw walking into the other direction without noticing me. I shot without hesitation and smirked as I saw her getting surprised from the sudden hit.

I got up to change my location again, but instead fell down on my stomach as Mikyung ran past me and pushed me while doing so. I got my lungs cleared of air for a moment before I got up, coughing. I glared after Mikyung, who just continued running like she didn’t even notice. How childish could she be?

I got startled as I heard a bang and a red patch appeared on the tree behind me. I turned around and saw Bin aiming at me. I quickly started running and jumped over the fallen tree, soon finding myself hiding in a deep sand pit. I managed to shoot another one of the opposite team’s members and then went back to hiding. This was way more fun that I had thought! I got up and aimed the gun at another enemy, this time missing him, and as he turned around to shoot at me, got my feet moving, running away again.

Suddenly I felt the pain in my ankle become stronger and with a yelp I fell down on my knees, the sandy ground under my body started to drain downwards. I found myself rolling down a short but steep hill and the tree branches scratching my arms even through the long sleeves. When my speed started to get slower, I felt the lock of my security vest unlock and slide off my body. I managed to stop the rolling by grabbing a small, scrubby tree and just sat there for a short fleeting moment, feeling the pain pulsing in my ankle and looked at the vest next to me. Right then a paintball hit against the tree I was holding on to, some of the red paint spilling onto my hand. I got so startled I tried to get on my feet, just to make the pain worse and falling down again. I started waving at the person who tried to shoot me, motioning at the vest that had slid off me and my foot.

When the person got closer to me, I realized it was Bin. He seemed to notice that I had injured myself and rushed towards me. When he was close enough to reach his hand out and help me up, he suddenly froze and seemed to stare behind me. Then he jumped over me, who was still lying down on the sandy ground, and let out a silent grunt as he took a big, red splash of paint on his chest.

I stared at him with enlarged eyes. He just got shot by someone from his own team because he was protecting me? Like, it seemed so dramatic I couldn't help but to laugh. I didn’t have my vest on, but I didn’t think the paintball would hurt that much. The protective vests weren’t even mandatory from what I had heard.

“She’s injured!” Bin informed his team mate as he got up and removed his mask. He turned to look at me. “What happened?”

I blinked a few times before snapping out of it and realized he was staring at me. Without noticing I had proceeded to wrap my hands around my left ankle and even though I didn’t realize it myself, I probably had a quite painful expression on my face.

“I hurt my ankle earlier today”, I said quietly, a bit embarrassed. “And it got worse.”

Bin sighed. “Why did you play in the first place then?”

Because it didn’t hurt that much before, I thought in my head but didn’t want to start arguing so I just stayed silent. Bin stepped closer to me and offered his hand at me. I grabbed it and he helped me to get up. I yelped as I let too much weight on my left foot. Embarrassed, I glanced at Bin. He let out another sigh and squatted down, his back facing me. I tilted my head and stared at him before realizing he was actually offering to carry me on his back. Carefully I wrapped my hands around his neck and in no time, we were moving.

“Sorry”, I managed to say quietly. “It seems like you’re always the one to take care of my mistakes.”

“That’s true”, he replied. “I think I should start charging you for this.”

As people started to notice us going towards Mr. Song, they slowly stopped shooting each other and followed. Soon Bin put me down on a bench, and while Mr. Song looked at my ankle, I felt my cheeks get red as everybody gathered around us.

“Minji!” Youngmi called my name. “Are you alright?”

I didn’t get to answer as Mr. Song did it for me. “I think it’s just sprained.”

I could see Eunwoo and Youngmi sighing in relief. It made me feel so embarrassed and helpless like a little child when I was the one hurt, the one everybody was paying attention to. I hated being the centre of everybody’s attention. Eunwoo knew this, so I felt thankful when he started hushing the others away and came to sit down next to me. He looked at my white shirt’s sleeves that had gotten holes and some blood on them.

“What happened?” he asked and gently poked at my arm. I flinched. Great. I must’ve got a ton of little scratches on my arms.

“I hurt my ankle and rolled down a hill.”

“Ouch”, Eunwoo said. “You sure know how to hurt yourself.”

I sighed. “Tell me about it. I think I’ll have to call Minhyuk and tell him to bring the food to me instead. I don’t think I can go to his place with my foot like this.”

Eunwoo rolled his eyes. “I think you’re completely alright since you’re worrying about food.”

After a while everybody had gathered at the place where the bus had left us in the noon, and we were waiting for the bus to come back at for us. Everybody seemed tired after all the hiking and playing. I felt super guilty after Eunwoo had to carry me down the mountain – at first on his back, but later I felt so embarrassed I wanted to walk; still leaning onto him, though. He didn’t seem to mind it, however, just saying that he was the one responsible of me.

As we saw the bus driving towards us, everybody got up and ready to pack in and sleep the whole ride back to Seoul. As Mikyung, who was in charge of all the people being present, started doing a roll call, had called out my name, I saw the chance to run – or limp – to the restroom quickly before the 2-hour-long bus ride. Huffing and hissing at the pain on every step I made, I tried to be quick and not to make everybody wait for me.

But of course the luck wasn’t with me today – as I should’ve known already. The restroom stall’s door didn’t seem to want me to go out; the lock didn’t move at all. How could this be possible? What was with me and getting stuck in places? I groaned in frustration and banged the door, yelling and shouting, hoping for someone to hear my calls for help. And as a cherry on top of the really big cake, I didn’t have my phone with me either – I had left in in the bus on purpose. Right now I really regretted that. I used my healthy foot to kick the door and let out a scream, trying to make enough sounds for people to hear me. Apparently nobody did.

Then I heard the restroom’s door open. The steps didn’t come to the ladies’ side of the restroom, but someone was definitely in the restroom. “Excuse me, I’m stuck here!” I shouted out and felt relieved when the steps came to the ladies’ side.

“For ’s sake”, I heard Bin’s voice. “Minji, you’re really the most pitiful person I’ve ever met.”

He tried to open the door, but after a few short moments he just decided to broke to door instead.

“I recommend you stand on the toilet seat”, he said and as I did what he recommended, I almost got a heart attack as the door flew inside the stall. With large eyes I stared at Bin who stared at me with an expression that showed his mood right now was something between amused and annoyed.

“Let’s go before the bus leaves”, he sighed and motioned towards the door.

As we got out of the restrooms, we could only see the tail lights of the bus as it drove off the parking area. I let out a frustrated groan and squatted down, burying my head into my hands. What was it, Friday the 13^th? Why was today so unlucky for me, and because of me, also for Bin? I glanced at him from between my fingers and saw him just standing there, arms crossed and eyes closed. He was probably cursing in his mind. I slowly put my hands down.

“You…” I started. “You don’t have your phone this time, either… Right?”

“Well you don’t have it either so we’re even”, he sighed. “I guess we’re going back up.”

“What?” I burst out.

“There’s nothing down here expect that restroom. If you don’t want to spend your night in the forest, I recommend you come with me to the mountain and try to find someone who has a phone.”

I stared at the stairs that started further behind his back. I had already come them down with my injured ankle once and it wasn’t exactly an enjoyable experience. But Bin was right. It was already almost 5pm, nobody would come here anymore because it would take hours to drive back. We had no choice but to go back up and search for a phone – either from the paintball arena or the guesthouse. But it was still a long way to go.

“Come on”, Bin said quietly. “We have to get up there before it gets completely dark, you know?”

With hesitation I nodded and started limping towards the stairs. Suddenly Bin grabbed my wrist and turned me around. Startled from the sudden touch, I stared at him with large eyes. He had been giving me a lot of heart attacks lately.

“Get on my back”, he said. “I’m stronger than your cousin.”

I glared at him. “I don’t think now is the time for boasting.”

“But it’s a fact”, he said and shrugged his shoulders before kneeling down. “Hurry up!”

I sighed and wrapped my hands around his neck once again. He got up and started walking up the stairs. I felt a sceptic thought banging in the back of my head – would we be able to get back home today?