“How long had it been already,” I muttered under my breath impatiently.

The members were getting restless. Dino and Jeonghan have gotten tired of pacing non-stop along the corridor and resorted to sitting and fidgeting on their carriers. Woozi and Coups finally stopped using their phones and joined the rest of the members to play games to pass the time. Though entertaining them for a while was fun, I got tired of playing and decided to wait it out. But we weren’t the only ones with the problem.

“Hyung, can we go yet?” Dino paused his conversation with Jeonghan to ask our manager.

“U-uh, hold on, I’ll check for you,” he stammered out before whipping out his phone to make another call.

Our plane touched down hours ago and we had been waiting for at least an hour for the walkway after collecting our bags. After coming back from Japan again, to avoid the paparazzi, our manager arranged a with airport staff for a private walkway which was originally accessible by airport staff leading to the carpark. Usually, it would have been reserved and arranged at least a week beforehand but for some reason, the walkway was already reserved and we were currently forced to wait it out in a waiting room provided by the staff.  Hell, we clearly came earlier and could have used the walkway immediately, but here we are, waiting for someone to quickly use the walkway before we can use it. I don’t even think it’s a double booking issue.

“Looks like we’ll have to wait for another while more guys,” one of our managers ultimately grunted out.

Groans filled the packed room.

“Is the air-conditioner even working? It’s fricking hot,” Hoshi complained while dramatically flapping his shirt to create some wind.

“We are 13 guys plus Younghwan-hyung crammed into a small room, you think it’d be cold?” Woozi replied sarcastically.

Hoshi pouted, almost whimpering like a wounded animal.

Before another complaint could squeeze into the already cramped room, the door suddenly tore open with a big slam revealing a panting and very sweaty man who could only bring good news.

“Get up guys, we’re leaving,” another one of our managers, Seokjin said between pants.

Cheers and whistles erupted in the room as the members wasted no time grabbing their carriers. I was no different, considering how I contributed to much of the noise myself as I quickly stretched to wake up my sleeping muscles.

“Just one thing, we’ll be sharing the walkway so be mindful. We’re like 15 guys,” Seokjin said while beginning to usher us out of the room.

With mumbling as our reply, we poured out of the room into the corridor not before I took in a big breath of clean musk-free air, eliciting a laugh from Seungkwan.

As we made our way to the walkway, being led by our managers, I promptly put on my mask and airpods, preparing to take another nap in our van. Just as I was about to play my playlist though, I crashed into the member in front of me, almost toppling the entire row ahead of me over like dominoes. Wondering why our group had come to such an abrupt stop, I peered over our members' heads effortlessly and found some airport staff signalling for us to stop in front of a T-junction.

“Please hold on for a moment, allow us to let these guests pass by first,” a female staff said while bowing her head and gesturing behind her.

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

As if rehearsed, the sound of boots hitting the concrete floor echoed throughout the corridor ahead of us.

Back in the room, while torturously waiting to leave, we did discuss, concluding that whoever was making us wait better be at least as important as the President if not we were going to throw hands. So imagine our surprise when a girl no bigger than the size of Woozi adorning some kind of formal military suit sashayed in front us with three other people who seemed to be her attendants in tow.

Only before she almost left our sight, did she notice the presence of a group of visibly shocked and still sweaty men in the corner of her eye. Immediately, she swivelled around and marched towards the female staff.

“I thought I told you that I don’t mind them walking with us? It’s just a walkway,” she said in perfect Korean which was very uncharacteristic of her appearance.

Her long blonde hair was tied up into a high ponytail tucked underneath her white cap which matched the rest of her pristine white military attire. The medals and badges decorating her left chest almost distracted me from the dazzling blue of her eyes. Basically, she did not really look Korean.

“But Madam, Mr President has instructed us to—”

“He ain’t my president,” the foreign girl announced, her eyes sparkling with defiance.

She glanced all of us over before gesturing at us with her gloved hands to follow her. We hesitantly followed behind, her charisma winning the fervent head shaking of the airport staff.

An awkward silence enveloped the walkway with most of us unsure whether or not to speak in this atmosphere. Except maybe Seungkwan.

“Wow,” he exclaimed before plastering a very unnatural smile on his face, “you speak Korean really well.”

I wanted to facepalm. Before I could physically drag Seungkwan back myself, the two soldiers walking the closest to us turned around and unsheathed their swords causing Seungkwan to collapse back in fear. The sharp blade almost glistened under the stale cold light lighting the corridor, making the threat a tad more menacing.

“Tch,” even from afar I knew it was the foreign girl who clicked her tongue disapprovingly as if trying to control her barking dogs.

Pushing through the two of them, she commanded them in English, before helping by reaching out a hand to Seungkwan. Though his hands were trembling, he still accepted her hand and was hoisted up.

“Sorry about my men,” she apologised, in Korean, “they were taught to be a little... protective?” before tilting her head as if pondering.

She gave us a quick smile before bowing her head slightly and saying, “Since I was coming here, I should at least learn your language. I’m still nowhere as good as a native so I’m flattered by your compliment.”

With blood flooding his cheeks, Seungkwan shook his head and replied hurriedly, “No, it’s really good. You sound like a native.”

She chuckled before pivoting on her heel and sashaying ahead.

Our members took that as a cue to quickly crowd Seungkwan, worrying if he’s fine. He nodded his head, dismissing our worries by shooing us away with a wave of his hand and telling us to move on ahead.

The entire group continued to move in suffocating silence before we finally reached the carpark. As if everyone wanted to escape the uncomfortable situation, we quickly filed into our respective vans. In our hurry, I didn’t manage to see whether or not the foreign girl had left.

As I continue to peer through the door opening to try to search for her, Seokjin announced to the car, “We’re leaving,” and with that, the door was slid shut with a soft hum before the van promptly left.

Coups sighed in relief before whipping out his phone next to me. After tapping and swiping the screen for a moment, he suddenly exclaimed.

“Oh! That girl, apparently she’s from another country.”

“Ya, we could tell too hyung,” Wonwoo replied sarcastically while playfully rolling his eyes.

Coups chuckled in embarrassment before continue scrolling down the news article he was reading.

“Apparently, she’s some Foreign Relations Ambassador,” Coups said as a matter-of-factly.

“Huh, from where?” Hansol asked excitedly as he tried to peek at Coups’ phone over the seat.

“G-gullivia?” Coups replied with uncertainty.

“Where’s that?” I asked.

“Uh, no clue. I’ve never heard of it,” Coups replied.

We both simultaneously turned our heads, expectant of an answer from the smarter ones in the Hip-hop team. Though we were quite disappointed to find that the two of them were as clueless as us so we sighed and proceeded to ask the smartest one in this car, the internet.

“Gullivia is a new country established just 5 years ago by the Newstarche family of Wales. The island-nation was originally a gift from the Queen of England in the late century as a symbol of gratitude for the family’s noble deeds. The island was recently converted into a young monarch-led nation by the current ruler, Joseph Newstarche as blah blah blah,” Coups read out before getting tired to read any further.

“Uh, okay. So what’re they doing here?” Hansol asked.

“Diplomatic relations? That’s what they mentioned in the news article,” Coups replied without even looking up from his phone.

With our curiosities satisfied, Coups started playing some music from his phone and before the verses even started, my eyelids drooped down as I quickly fell asleep.

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pretty short sryyy ;-(( hope yall still like it thoo