“Are we there yet?”

“Nope.”

“....are we there yet now?”

“No, Yerim. We’re not there yet.”

“...now?”

“Yerim, we started the hike half an hour ago..”

“Fine..”

The K2 trekked in a single line up the steep hill with Taeyeon leading and Yoona playing the role of the sweeper at the back of the line, making sure that nobody was left behind. Wheein had shouted ‘OHANA!’ immediately after Taeyeon explained Yoona’s role as a sweeper and the watch chanted the quote from the popular animated film, much to Taeyeon’s delight. The members were showing a lot of team spirit and was getting along with one another very well.

The hike continued in relative silence, save the occasional groaning as they haul themselves over fallen trees and branches. In front of Yoona were Seulgi and Byul, who were in-charge of carrying the gallon bottles on the hike, passing them to whoever who needed a drink. The hike was calm and peaceful until Taeyeon spotted a trail of ants and told them to stay clear of it.

“Did you know if you the ant’s , it’s sweet.” Seulgi said all of a sudden. The entire watch came to a stop and stared at her. “What?” She asked innocently.

“What was said?” Joy asked incredulously.

“Seulgi, are you alright?” Irene, who was in front of her, lifted her hand to feel Seulgi’s forehead for a fever.

“I’m alright.” Seulgi almost swatted Irene’s hand away in surprise and took a step backwards.

Meanwhile at the front and back of the line, Taeyeon and Yoona were throwing their heads back laughing at how innocent Seulgi was.

“I can’t believe she fell for that, Taeyeon-ah.”

“Who told you that, Seulgi?”

“Sooyoung did, when I was in Everest.”

It was apparently a joke that the instructors told their younger participants during camps because they were still young and gullible. Yoona reached over and patted a pouting Seulgi’s back as they continued their hike.

“Cute..” Irene remarked offhandedly at Seulgi and giggled. Irene turned around and saw that Seungwan was busy looking at some mushrooms along the trail. She patted her bum and Seungwan turned around, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Time to go, Seungwan-ah.” Irene smiled innocently and Seungwan simply nodded and off they went again.

“Psst..Seulgi” Byul tapped her shoulder and whispered. “Your ears are bright red now and we both know it’s not because they laughed at you.” Byul saw Seulgi’s shoulders tensed and snickered.

A shriek pierced the quiet jungle during midday when Yerim discovered several parasites on her foot while they were having lunch in a glade after they had descended their first hill. Seulgi quickly took a look at her foot and saw that it was just a few leeches that had attached themselves to Yerim’s ankle as they hiked. Taeyeon came to examine too and told them that it was nothing to worry about, it was just like a blood donation. The leeches would fall off once they had had their fill.

The look on Yerim’s face told Seulgi that she wanted them gone right there and then so she fished out a can of mosquito repellant from her backpack. Giving it a good shake, Seulgi aimed the nozzle at Yerim’s ankle. The rest of the watch observed in amazement as the parasites curled and released their grip on their friend’s ankle, leaving bruise marks on where they were feeding from. Curiousity got the better of them as they abandoned their lunches one by one and took off their shoes to check. Seulgi’s mosquito repellant was passed around the watch as the girls wanted nothing to do with the parasite.

While the rest of the watch were busy inspecting their feet, Seulgi was about to sit back down to finish her lunch when she heard a whiny hum from behind her, its pitch and volume increasing by the second. She turned around to see Irene holding her shoe in one hand and head turned the other way with her eyes screwed shut. Seulgi craned her neck and saw that there was a spot of red on Irene’s shoe, a telltale sign that she, too, had fallen prey to the tiny parasites.

“Irene?”

“It got me, didn’t it? There’s blood on my shoe.”

Seulgi set her lunch down and went over to check on Irene’s exposed foot to confirm the said girl’s suspicions. “They’re stuck on you, on your leg, yeah.”

“They?! There’s more than one??”

“Only two. No worries, we’ll get them off. Joy, pass the bug spray.”

While the teenagers fuss over their feet and the parasites, Taeyeon and Yoona were shaking their heads, watching them with much amusement.

***

“Alright, guys. We’re here.” Taeyeon announced and the K2 tiredly cheered as they set their things down and plopped unceremoniously onto the nearest surface. “You guys rest for a bit then we have to start pitching our tents and start a fire to cook dinner before it gets dark.”

Seulgi undid her shoelaces to finally check her own feet for any signs of leeches and was not surprised to see multiple red spots on her socks. She was about to reach for her backpack to get a fresh pair when somebody sat behind her and leaned fully on her.

“I’m soooo tired, Seulgiii.” Joy whined and sighed.

Seulgi awkwardly lifted her arm in an attempt to pat Joy’s head without moving. She gave up after a few attempts because Seungwan commented that she looked like a monkey from the back as she blindly patted the air behind her, missing Joy’s head every single time.

They rested for a few minutes before Taeyeon divided them into two teams, one in charge of pitching tents and the other in charged of the fire. Yoona led the tent team while Taeyeon led the other. Among the other watches that had arrived at the site was Mont Blanc.

“Yah! Kim Taeyeon, did you cheat with your route? How did you guys reach first?”

“Because I am the ultimate instructor slash genius. Am I right, guys?” Taeyeon asked her watch, determined to brag about making it to the campsite in record time despite having taken the longest route.

“Right!” The K2 chorused as they went about their assigned tasks. Taeyeon turned to face Jessica with the most smug expression and the latter rolled her eyes.

“Well then, genius..” Jessica made a face before continuing, “have fun sleeping alone in the hammock tonight. I’m going to pitch my tent and you not welcomed.” She stuck her tongue out at Taeyeon and walked away, knowing very well that the latter was already regretting that she bragged.

“What? No! Sica! Wait!” Taeyeon watched helplessly as Jessica strutted back to her own watch to help with their tents.

“Shouldn’t have bragged man..they don’t like it when people do that.”

Taeyeon turned around to see Yerim and Joy shaking their heads at her while gathering firewood. “I beg your pardon?”

They shrugged and went back to their tasked as if nothing happened.

***

Dinner was a simple affair of burgers and some apples that were transported to the campsite by the truck. Taeyeon and Yoona manned their makeshift kitchen and the fire while the rest of the K2 looked for more wood. Seungwan had volunteered to help with the cooking since she believed that she was the most competent in the kitchen among the lot after seeing how almost everyone, except Irene, had averted their eyes when Taeyeon asked if anybody wanted to help.

“Seungwan..” Taeyeon called as she tossed another patty onto the pan. “Make sure you stay in school, alright? Otherwise you’d be flipping burgers like me.”

Seungwan’s eyes widened as she nodded profusely at Taeyeon’s advice. Yoona, on the other hand, was trying very hard not to laugh because Seungwan’s eyes looked like they could pop out any moment.

“This never gets old!” Taeyeon and Yoona high fived each other and went back to their work.

While dinner was being prepared, those not involved were either gathering firewood, hanging around the campsite of waiting in line to use the showers. The campsite was located by an abandoned mining lake that sat in a valley between limestone hills.

Seulgi saw that the camp had added a new activity to the site, a platform sat atop a small hill across the lake and cables were set, extending from the hill all the way across to their side of the lake. It didn’t take long for Seulgi to figure out what they had installed and she cheered - they were going to go ziplining the next day and she couldn’t wait for it.

Irene made a face and inhaled sharply when Seulgi told her what she had discovered and spent the next few minutes staring at the zipline cable, as though she was mentally preparing herself for the activity the next day.

“You found it real quick.” Jessica came up behind them and Irene jumped when she heard her voice, much to Jessica’s amusement. “Wow, Taengoo’s right. You are jumpy. Don’t worry, you’ll be safe riding that tomorrow.” Jessica patted her back and it somehow calmed Irene a little.

“We’re going to ride that tomorrow for real?” Seulgi’s face lit at the thought.

“Yup. After breakfast, we’re all going to take turns and whichever watch finishes first will push off back to the gym hall.”

“Nice.”

“K TWOOOOOOOOO! Dinner’s ready, come and get it!”

Taeyeon bellowed, catching everyone’s attention in one breath. Seulgi and Irene turned their attention towards their instructor and ran back while Jessica shook her head. As fascinated as they were by the zipline, they were both hungry and tired after the long hike earlier.

“See you later, Jessica!” Seulgi hastily added as they took off.

“No wonder Taengoo gets along so well with them. They’re all the same” she mumbled to no one in particular.

***

The K2 kept themselves entertained that night with camp games and riddles that Yoona had asked them. Seulgi wanted so bad to answer each of the questions but Yoona sent a glare her way and Seulgi immediately kept quiet while the rest whined to their CA about not knowing how to answer them. Yoona all but laughed and asked them a new question instead of revealing the answers.

“I’ll tell you guys at the end of camp if you still remember them. Now, here’s an easy one. Ready?”

“Yes!!”

“If this,” Yoona began and held up her index finger, “is a spear. What is this?” She then moved her hand from side to side.

“This doesn’t even make any sense!”

It should be noted that after the previous riddles that had yet to be solved, their frustration levels were increasing by the riddle. Yerim and Joy had both given up, as did Seungwan. Irene was bugging Seulgi to give her some hints to answer the riddles. The rest were thinking of all possible answers when somebody cried out excitedly.

“Oh! OH! I KNOW!!” Everybody turned towards the voice and it turned out to be Yongsun who was already jumping with excitement to answer the silly riddle. “SHAKESPEARE!”

“You got it!” Yoona reached out and high fived Yongsun.

“WHAT?!!!”

“Hello, police? I’d like to report a terrible pun.” Byul rolled her eyes at how excited Yongsun was.

***

Seulgi was excited. Actually, Seulgi was beyond excited. She was practically bouncing as they stood in line for their turn to go ziplining, the K2 were scheduled to go after Mont Blanc and they were almost done. Each member of their watch had suited up and they were ready for action, or at least some were ready for action. The usual scaredy cats of their watch, Yerim and Irene, were both watching the Mont Blanc members quietly as they waited for their turn.

The watch had somehow agreed for have them go first because that way, they could all be there to provide support and motivation for them to step off the platform. Yerim and Irene weren’t very keen on the idea but went along anyway because it definitely sounded better than the two of them being dead last and all their friends were already across the lake.

“Okay, Yerim. That’s one foot off, now let’s get the other foot and you can go.” Yoona coaxed a trembling Yerim. “You can do it!”

Yerim gulped and finally let go, screaming the entire way until she reached the other end.

“S-seulgi..why don’t you go first?” Irene tried to delay her inevitable zipline ride but Seulgi was not going to give in.

“No, it’s your turn. You can do it!”

Irene sighed as Seulgi gave her two thumbs up and looked behind Seulgi, hoping to find somebody who was willing to swap places with her. But all the girl found was the entire watch giving her thumbs up, too. “A-alright then..Yoona? I’m ready.”

“Atta girl, Irene! Come on up here and let’s set you up.”

Seulgi squinted to see what was happening after Irene’s turn ended. It seemed as though she was high fiving and laughing with Yerim while waving at the rest of them that were still on the platform. Her ears might have deceived her, but Seulgi swore she heard Irene squealling happily as she seemingly discussed the zipline with Yerim.

“Ready to go?” Yoona’s voice snapped Seulgi out of her observation and with a firm nod, Seulgi was off, too.

***

TBC