--

Eighteen

--

Surprisingly, the person who did the best with memorizing your survival guide was Sungjong. Aside from Hoya, of course, and Woohyun when he cheated. It was easy to tell when he cheated though, because everyone caught onto him quickly and started feeding him false information.

“Huh. Looks like I was wrong,” Myungsoo said with a smirk as Woohyun hunched over a bush, throwing up profusely. Today, you were identifying mushrooms that were safe to eat in the forest behind Hoya’s house.

“Myungsoo, that was mean.” You walked over to Woohyun and rubbed his back.

“Well, he has to learn somehow, doesn’t he? I bet you he hasn’t even touched your survival manual. You wrote these by hand, right?” Myungsoo reached into his bag and pulled out your manual.

“Did you?” Hoya asked, turning towards you. You laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of your neck. You worked on those manuals in your spare time. And since you were pulled out of classes to concentrate on training, you suddenly had free time that was usually spent doing homework.

“Sungyeol and I were comparing ours, and I noticed some handwriting discrepancies. I thought you typed this at first.”

“Well, I made a rough draft with all my notes and everything.” You pulled out your copy, and it was full of notes and scribbles that didn’t look legible to anyone but you.

“I figured you guys would appreciate a clean copy.” Woohyun finished with the bush and wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I... think I should probably read that thing.”

--

As the weather warmed up and graduation approached, your days were full of three things: training, eating, and sleeping. The SS seemed to push everyone harder, making everyone much more tired, and much more snippy with each other.

The only person who didn’t seem affected was Dongwoo, who still smiled and laughed like it was the end of the world.

“Oh my god. I’m so tired. I hate life,” you said as you burst through the door of your house and fell on the couch facedown.

“Here, honey. I made...” Your mom’s voice trailed off as the rest of your team came in and fell on top of each other one by one, burying you at the bottom of the pile. And despite the fact that your oxygen supply was cut off, you were too tired to do anything about it.

“I guess I need to make more tea.” Everyone mumbled and rolled off of each other to sit around your living room. Sunggyu wiggled his way under you and let you rest your head on his lap. Hoya sat on the other end and let your feet rest on his legs.

“Graduation is coming up,” your mom said from the kitchen, trying to make small talk. There was a smattering of tired cheers from the living room, making her laugh to herself.

“They’re really overworking you kids. Maybe I’ll have a talk with some of the Admins up there and see if I can get you a break. Training like this won’t do you any good if you’re too tired to use it.”

--

You didn’t know if your mom was magical or not (you still called her your mother, because aside from that one memory, she was the one you could remember taking care of you), but she managed to get everyone, all of the teams, a two week break before a few days of review training, then it would be out to the island.

She also got everyone a week off before the survival course. The SS said to use it as the teams pleased, knowing that everyone would be spending it training anyway. Well, every team except for your team.

The weather was hot now, and everyone preferred to lounge outside your house in the grass underneath the shade of the one tree in your yard. For the week off, you guys didn’t have a care in the world. You went shopping together, went out to eat together, hung out together. To anyone on the outside, you looked like a group of really good friends just enjoying time together.

“So guys, survival course this weekend. How do you think we’ll do?” Woohyun asked, making a gagging face as you and Sunggyu swung your laced hands back and forth.

“I think we’ll do fine,” you said, “unless everyone suddenly manages to forget everything we learned, or goes through a sudden power demotion.” Power demotions were rare, where your power got weaker and reverted back to the way it was in the beginning, before advancement. They were more common in people that rarely ever used their powers in the first place.

You felt Sunggyu give your hand a reassuring squeeze and smiled at him. Sungjong ran up to your and grabbed your other arm, leaning his head on your shoulder.

“We’ll protect you. It’s our job as men.”

“Men?” Hoya stopped in his tracks when Sungjong turned around to glare at him. You knew he probably had a girl joke about Sungjong on the tip of his tongue, but the murderous look on his face made him reconsider his words.

The group made it all the way back to your house and pushed their way in. Your house was probably the smallest out of all of theirs, but for some strange reason, they liked to hang out at yours.

“I have snacks in the kitchen!” Maybe it was because you always had food.

“Food! Yes!” It was definitely the food.

--

On the day of the survival course, your team stood at the edge of the forest as the SS went down the line, giving each team some minimal supplies. You were squatting on the ground in Hoya’s shadow, squinting your eyes against the sun as you stared off into the distance.

The weather went from freezing to ridiculously hot, almost without any transition in between. You wiggled uncomfortably as you felt the sweat building up between your plates and your skin. Sunggyu glanced down at you and started to fan you with a manual. You sighed and pulled a paper fan from your plates and started to fan yourself faster.

“Hot?” Doojoon asked as the SS made their way towards your team. He had a clipboard in his hands and was checking things off as the other SS handed your team a hiking backpack. Hoya and Sunggyu dug into it, looking through the given supplies.

“Just a little bit. I mean, it’s not like I’m wearing armor or something in dead heat. You know,” you said with mild sarcasm. Doojoon laughed and patted you on the head.

“I wondered why you and Junhyung were friends. Now, I know.”

--

“There’s less teams than I remember,” you said. You finally gave in and pulled an ice pack. You stuck it behind your back plate and sighed as your body started to cool down.

“Yeah. Some of the teams didn’t make the cut or quit. I’m thinking everyone here now is probably who we’ll see going to the Games in the summer,” Sunggyu said, looking around. He looked even more tired than usual.

“Are you okay? Are you sure you can do this? You look really tired,” you said as Hoya swung the backpack onto his back, almost knocking you over. You turned to scowl at him for a second before bringing your attention back to Sunggyu.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just been a little bit tired lately, that’s all.”

“Everyone have their supplies?” A murmur swept through the teams. Doojoon assumed it was a yes.

“Then what are you waiting for? And for the record, we won’t be going easy on you.” He cackled for a bit until all of the SS disappeared.

“What do we have in the bag?” you asked, staring at how bulky it seemed.

“Some food, fresh water, rope, a compass, a grappling hook, among other things.”

“A grappling hook? What? Are we climbing mountains, or sneaking in castles, or something?” Hoya’s eyebrows raised for a second at Woohyun’s words before he reached into the backpack and pulled out a folded map and a clue written in code. with a smaller piece of paper.

Everyone gathered around as Hoya unfolded it and placed it onto the ground.

“What is all of this?” There were triangles and folds everywhere, and none of the pictures on the smaller piece of paper made sense. The map didn’t make any sense either.

“What does the clue say?”

“Guys, we’re the only team still here,” Sungyeol said, looking around at the empty ground.

“Well, we have no idea where to go, so there’s no point in wandering aimlessly,” Sunggyu said, concentrating on the clue and map.

“Yeah, but we’re just sitting ducks out here, so let’s move, okay?” You nodded at Sungyeol’s words and picked up the pieces of paper before walking into the forest.

“What the hell kind of font is this anyway?” Woohyun said over your shoulder as you made your way down a path. You stopped and squinted at it when you saw some words appear in your vision.

“All... roads... lead... to Rome?” You blinked your eyes rapidly and stared at the text some more until you started to be able to differentiate the letters from each other.

“All roads lead to Rome? So what? Are we just supposed to walk aimlessly until we get to where we’re supposed to be?”

“Well, back when the Romans ruled half of the world, they built a road system that all lead to Rome somehow. So it makes sense that’s what it would mean.”

“But why give us a map then?” Dongwoo asked, rotating the map in his hands. You looked at the map and saw some lines that ended in a circle with a dot in the middle.

“Road signs. That’s it. All roads lead to Rome! Where’s that small piece? Give me the map!” You took the map back from Dongwoo and started to fold along the lines, starting from the circle with the dot.

“This circle with the dot is a road sign, meaning that’s where the start is. So if I just fold along the lines...” Your team watched as you finished folding and help up the map.

“It becomes a readable map!”

“But there’s a section missing...” You pointed to the smaller clue and handed the map off to Hoya to look at. You started to fold it up too, but when you finished, it didn’t form any pictures, but revealed another clue.

“Excalibur?” You held up the small page and squinted at the font just to make sure.

“Excalibur. Like, King Arthur’s legendary sword, Excalibur?” Woohyun asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You frowned and looked back and forth between the sheet and the map.

“So... we’re looking for a sword in a stone?” Myungsoo glanced over your shoulder and frowned before his face lit up, putting two and two together.

“No. Look! The folds on the map all point to one place.” He pointed at a lake on the opposite side on the forest.

“Authurian legend states that someone, the Lady of the Lake, was the one to give Authur his magical sword, Excalibur. I’ll bet you we find the next clue at the lake.”

“Myungsoo. Since when do you know about stuff like this?” Sungyeol asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“I’ve always been a history and legends buff. That’s what you get for falling asleep on me every time I get excited about stuff like this.” Sunggyu pulled the compass from Hoya’s backpack and placed it onto the map. Hoya made some quick calculation and looked around at his surroundings before muttering some things to himself and marking where they were on the map.

“This is where we are. If we hurry, we should be able to make it there by nightfall. If not, then we should probably stop here,” he pointed at a clearing a little distance away from the lake, “and set up camp and make for it in the morning.”

“Alright. Let’s head out then. Hoya and I will lead.” Sunggyu continued to give out orders. You were in the middle with Woohyun and Sungjong, while Dongwoo, Myungsoo, and Sungyeol took the back.

“Everyone keep your eyes peeled.”

--

You dove out of the way as another arrow came flying towards you, pinning Woohyun’s sleeve to a tree.

“Woohyun, you’re so bad at this. We’ve only been at this for two hours. Seriously?” Sunggyu grabbed the arrow and pulled it out. And in those two hours, Woohyun managed to get caught in four traps. Two of them were nets where you had to climb up a tree to cut him down, and another one was an invisible cage he managed to walk into. Sunggyu managed to figure out where it was and blow up a bar for him to squeeze through. And this last one, he triggered a bunch of flying arrows.

You picked up an arrow and sniffed at the tip before making a face and pulling it away.

“It’s laced with something. Probably a paralyzer. I don’t think it’s poison.”

“Woohyun, how do you manage to do this while standing in the middle?” Dongwoo asked as Woohyun’s eyes darted around suspiciously. He was getting tired of being caught in traps all the time, especially traps that no one else seemed to trigger.

Sungjong glanced around the surroundings as you walked. Everyone for the most part was walking in unison save for Woohyun’s oddly irregular steps. Then he heard another pair of offbeat footsteps and stepped lighter, listening for where they were coming from.

His eyes caught something shimmering in the air before they widened.

“Everyone duck!” he yelled, sinking to the ground. Everyone fell to the ground as blow darts suddenly embedded themselves into trees. Woohyun searched around with his mind and found an invisible barrier around six people. He gritted his teeth and broke them.

The sounds of shattering glass echoed through the forest as the SS’s shields were broken.

“Run, run! They have more!” Sungjong shouted, pushing at you and Woohyun. You grabbed Woohyun’s hand as he closed his eyes to put up a barrier. It would be temporary, but it would protect everyone in the team long enough for them to escape.

He tried to concentrate as you jerked him around trees and eventually managed to set up a barrier. He opened his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows. The SS poured in from all directions, their faces masked. Sungjong heard the hum of a net gun and looked around for it.

“Woohyun! Net gun!”  The SS fired, sending an electrified net at your team. Woohyun managed to get a hold of it and swung it back in his direction, catching two or three SS in the process.

“Hoya!” Hoya brought his hands up and started to shake the ground, slightly at first, then clenching his fists and ripping a trench on both sides of your team as you ran. You slid down a hill, Woohyun gripping your hand ridiculously tight.

Your team ran off of the path until Woohyun was sure there was no one following you. Sungyeol and Myungsoo slowed down to a jog and laughed.

“This almost seems like a joke, compared to what we’ve been through, right?” Sungyeol asked with a breathless laugh as he reached out to punch you in the shoulder.

“Yeah, I know, right?” You laughed with him and peeled Woohyun’s fingers off of your hand.

“You can let go now.” Woohyun blinked a few times before realizing and letting go of your hand.

“Right. My bad. They weren’t trying to capture us. They were trying to distract us.”

“Distract us? From what?” Sungjong asked, looking around.

“From the path,” Hoya said slowly, looking around. “Where the hell are we?”

You looked around and blinked. Everything looked the same. Forest, trees, and leaves on the ground. There was no visible path on the ground. You and Sungjong kept a lookout while Hoya pulled out the compass again and the map.

“Let’s see... We got to about right here before we were ambushed.” Hoya marked off a general area. He looked around him, muttering something about the direction of the wind and where the sun was in the sky before rolling his eyes up and thinking.

“Which means...” He glanced at the compass and made a few lines before circling the point where they crossed.

“We’re right here.”

“Oh. That’s not so bad.” Sungyeol said, glancing at the map.

“How do you do that so fast? I swear, that’s so ridiculous,” Dongwoo said, shaking his head and blinking his eyes rapidly.

“This was my idea of fun as a kid. I used to live in the woods.”

“Yeah. All those Sasquatch sightings? Who else would it be?” Hoya frowned and shook the ground under Woohyun, making him stumble and fall against a tree.

“Either way, let’s get out of here before something else finds us,” you said.

--

It wasn’t long before your team managed to find another path.

“All roads lead to Rome. So. The lake is Rome?” Sunggyu glanced over to the map where Hoya had jotted down the word ‘Rome?’ in his handwriting.

“What do you think Excalibur is?” Sungjong asked, his eyes still roaming the forest. You fanned yourself and sighed before reaching forward for the backpack on Hoya’s back. He glanced back as you searched for a bottle of water.

“Something to help us find out where to go next? I doubt they have the actual sword.”

“What if it’s just a sword?” Dongwoo asked.

“What if it’s a metaphorical sword? Slicing down your inner demons and stuff.” You turned towards Woohyun and shook your head before handing him your bottle of water.

“We’ll see when we get there. If we jog the rest of the way, we’ll make it there before nightfall. If not, then we should get to the clearing with enough light to make some shelters.”

“All for jogging!”

“Yay!”

“All opposed?”

“Nay.” Everyone stared at Woohyun, making him sigh.

“It was worth a shot.”

--

The more your group jogged, the more it became apparent that you wouldn’t be able to reach the lake before nightfall, especially after the sudden change in terrain. The forest ended and started to go uphill and turn into jagged rocks with a few small trees spaced here and there.

“Hoya, are you sure there’s a clearing around here?” Sungjong asked as you helped him up a particularly steep section of rock.

“Look out, I think there’s something sharp over there.” Sungyeol scaled the rock easily and helped Myungsoo up.

“Yeah. The sun is setting. We should be pretty close to it.” Your group turned a bed and stopped.

“Oh. Well. This is an interesting clearing.” There was a small flat space of rock with a pool of water at the edge, and a small waterfall feeding water into it.

“I have never seen this before. How far away are we from the school? What’s up with this random mountain? Am I hallucinating again?” Woohyun rubbed at his temples and closed his eyes.

“No, this is definitely all real.”

“So. A mountain and a waterfall appear out of nowhere. It’s getting dark. Woohyun and Sungjong can keep a look out while the rest of us build a shelter,” Sunggyu said, glancing towards the setting sun.

“Because this isn’t suspicious at all.”

“You have a better idea?”