“Why” Haneul cried when Minah shook her awake. The two girls had decided to stay over at Haneul's apartment and leave together since it was very late at night yet. The simple sleepover had turned into a full plan with noodles the night before while watching Super Junior shows and laughing their hearts out.

“I don't want to wake up” Haneul told her with tears in her eyes. Minah sighed remembering that Haneul did not like being woken up at 3:00 in the morning with little to no sleep the night before. There were full blown tears, wriggling in bed as Minah attempted to wake her up and general kicking and whining.

 “There there” Minah consoled her as she finally got out of bed. “You really need to get ready quickly though” she added. Haneul nodded and got out of bed all while cursing the idea of an early morning trip. Minah laughed trying not to remind her that it was her idea all along.

Minah packed her stuff up while Haneul got ready. Her phone buzzed when Hongbin texted her saying that Hakyeon and him were below their apartment and were ready to go. “They’re here” Minah told Haneul who almost messed up her eyeliner in a rush.

 “Tell them we'll be down in a minute” Haneul said stuffing her things into her bag. “Should have organised everything last night. I'm an idiot” she said, shaking her head.

“If you could have taken your eyes off Henry, then sure” Minah teased.

“I was not staring!” Haneul protested stuffing her jacket into her bag along with her earphones. “Okay let's go” she said grabbing her phone and keys. She walked out of the door and closed the door on Minah before running downstairs. Minah stifled a laugh as Haneul came back up and unlocked the door. “I'm clearly not a morning person” she said, before letting Minah stepping out and then locking the door behind them.

“What took you both so long?” Hakyeon complained.

“Haneul was crying about being woken up I bet” Hongbin said.

 “Happy birthday Hakyeon” Haneul said, forcefully ignoring the laughter. She hugged Hakyeon who smiled and hugged her back.

“Happy birthday!” Minah greeted and promptly got hugged by Hakyeon too. Minah awkwardly patted his back and Hongbin pulled him away, claiming anti-harassment of people.

“We should walk towards the bus stop. Hopefully we'll get to the station in time for the 4:00 train” Hongbin said.

“The next bus should be here. We'll reach by 3:45 hopefully” Haneul told them. She often took the bus round the city and knew most of the schedules by heart.

“You are unusually energetic for someone who is not a morning person” Hongbin noted.

 “I am fueled by the amazing coffee Minah makes” Haneul told them.

“Which is probably why Taekwoon loves her” Hongbin teased.

“I can hear you both you know” Minah deadpanned.

“Me too. And I agree” Hakyeon put in causing Minah to scowl.

“I was going to offer some to you guys but now I am reconsidering the decision” Minah said crossly.

The bantering continued till the group got onto the bus. Everyone took a moment to rest knowing there was a lot of activity ahead. And the madness started when the group entered the subway only to be greeted by an enthusiastic Jaehwan and a very sleepy Wonshik. The two had decided to stay over at Taekwoon’s place because they were hopeless at getting up early themselves.

“Happy birthday Hakyeon!” Jaehwan yelled, making everyone turn towards him. A sizeable group of people were present at the station. Haneul could recognise a good chunk of their employees. People started wishing Hakyeon as well, making him feel a little embarrassed.

“Where is BossCat?” Minah asked Wonshik who was rubbing his eyes.

 “He went looking for coffee” he told Minah.

 “Where? Everything was closed outside” Minah said, blinking.

“Uh oh. That means a very grumpy BossCat” Wonshik frowned.

“I guess” Minah said, knowing how bad it could be. “Where's Sanghyuk?” Minah asked, looking around for the lanky weirdness.

“He's talking to the travel agency. There was some confusion but the guides should meet us at Sanseong station at 4.30” Hongbin told her. Minah noted that he had a camera out.

“Are you recording the trip?” she asked him.

 “Yes. Minah you should be my co MC!” he suggested.

 “I'll pass. I don't think I am camera ready at all. Take Jaehwan along before Haneul murders him” Minah laughed. Over to the left, Haneul had Jaehwan at an arm’s length as he was protesting about something and Haneul was clearly frustrated by the entire affair.

 “And to think there was a time I had to rescue Monster” Hongbin chuckled before going towards them. Minah wondered why everyone called Haneul Monster.

Speaking of scary creatures, Taekwoon was trudging down the steps with black glasses on and earphones and his hand in his pockets. The absence of coffee was probably the reason he was stomping around. She grinned at the cuteness before digging a thermos out of her bag. “Coffee?” she asked when he came to stand next to her. Taekwoon took his glasses off and blinked at her, wondering if he had heard her right.

 “Thank you” he said softly when she repeated the offer. He took the coffee gratefully, drinking some and saving the rest for her.

“Tell me who thought such an early morning was a brilliant time to give Lee Jaehwan sugar and make him hyper” Haneul said darkly as she appeared on the side. Minah almost jumped in fright from the dark aura.

“He's hyper with and without sugar” Taekwoon told her. “Also I remember you calling that cute once upon a time” he said with a smirk.

 “I was drunk and it was one time” she protested.

“She called Jaehwan cute?” Minah asked in surprise.

 “I was drunk and it was one time!” she protested before walking away. Clearly no one was on her side today.

Sanghyuk returned to join the group. Apparently one of the guides had been told that the group would be at the Sanseong station or assumed the same which was not particularly smart on their part since Wonshik had specifically told them that they would be at the station that they were now standing in, freezing in the early morning cold. He watched Minah pull her jacket closer to herself and Haneul fending an over excited Jaehwan away while Wonshik sleepily rested on Hakyeon’s shoulder. Hongbin was busy milling around and taking pictures of the crowd of people from the office, Hyuk was certain they were all willingly posing for the photos to see Hongbin’s smile and internally die.

“Okay everyone!” he called out, causing everyone to wearily turn towards him. “We’re going to have to board the train at 4:00 and the guides will join us in half an hour. We’ll reach our destination at 5:00 and then figure things out from there!”

The train arrived a lot earlier than they expected (10 minutes to be precise, Minah had kept track) and the whole group boarded it with a very excitable Jaehwan screaming that they do dumb charades. Minah found her seat across Haneul by the window and quickly settled down there, shifting herself into a comfortable position as she planned on dozing off till they reached the location. Except she found Haneul smirking at her and turned around to spot Taekwoon taking the seat beside her. She shot Haneul a look only to see Wonshik settling down next to Haneul which made her chuckle as he automatically placed his head on Haneul’s shoulder and shut his eyes. Sanghyuk’s head was visible over Haneul’s seat and his arms extended over it to stretch making the whole image quite hilarious for Minah’s sleep addled brain. Hongbin briefly came over next to Sanghyuk but disappeared along with Jaehwan who was running up and down the compartment they had gotten into.

While there was loud laughter from the other side and lots of squealing and yelling answers, Minah leaned her head against the window and shut her eyes. But with all the noise coming from the other end of the compartment, there was no way she was going to get any sleep. She eyed Wonshik, admiring his ability to sleep through the ruckus while Haneul sat stalk still, trying not to move and disturb the sleeping man.

“MINAH!” Jaehwan came hurtling towards her seat and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to her feet. Taekwoon shifted uncomfortably and glared at Jaehwan who chose to ignore him. “Let's go go!” Jaehwan exclaimed, tugging her along as she stumbled behind him only to have the crowd yell.

“Duckling!”

“Or is it lady biker! What movie has a lady biker?”

“Jaehwan! You can’t use people for dumb charades!” someone called out and Jaehwan chuckled, pointing at Minah and then making a gruesome face and pointing at himself before pointing back at Minah and raising two finger to indicate that she was the second word.

“Beauty and the Beast?” someone said as Jaehwan shook his head and repeated the action.

“Ugly Duckling?” someone called out as Jaehwan cheered causing everyone else to burst out into cheers themselves. If anything, Jaehwan’s enthusiasm was infectious and soon everyone was trying to act out a movie. Soon enough Hakyeon, Hongbin and Sanghyuk had joined them leaving Taekwoon to his own devices and Wonshik fast asleep on a sleeping Haneul’s shoulder.

Taekwoon cringed when the terrible singing began. He knew Jaehwan had a beautiful voice, but when in a crowd he had to entertain, Jaehwan brayed, going completely off key. What made it worse was the rest of the employees joining him in the madness. The train halted and then there was silence. Taekwoon peeked at the aisle from his seat to see two new entrants into the crowd which was causing the silence.

“Taekwoonie! The guides are here.” Hakyeon called when he noticed Taekwoon taking a peek at the sudden lack of noise. He nodded to the two new fellows and spotted Minah resting against Sanghyuk and wiping tears of laughter from her eyes as he leaned against a seat, also laughing. The guides soon caused silence to prevail over the group of people and everyone returned to their seats. Taekwoon noticed a figure joining Minah as she made her way back to the seat beside her.

“I’m sure you’ll find the temples interesting. They’re so full of history! We need more history enthusiasts like you.” the guide was saying as Minah nodded to him. Sanghyuk lumbered in behind them and crashed into his seat, looking exhausted. The guide was about as tall as Hakyeon, had sharp features and was already talking shop with Minah. Once they reached her seat he looked at Taekwoon with an “Oh, I see you have a seat-mate. Hello, I’m Kim Jiwon, I’m one of the guides for today.” he said, holding his hand out to Taekwoon who hesitantly shook it.

“Jung Taekwoon. CEO, VIXX consultancies.”

“Oh! Minah is friends with the boss” Jiwon shot Minah a smile which she returned awkwardly “I will meet you once we get to to Mangwolsa Temple, or earlier if that is possible.”

“Right, sure.” Minah replied, smiling back awkwardly as Jiwon made his way back to his seat as she settled back down in hers. Her arm was now sharing the armrest with Taekwoon’s and by the feel of it, Taekwoon emanated a warmth against her cold jacket covered arm. She sighed comfortably, leaning her forehead against the window and closing her eyes.

She was gently woken up by Taekwoon when they reached as he handed her her bag and went over to help Haneul wake Wonshik up. Apparently that was a task even more difficult than waking Haneul up because Wonshik wouldn’t wake up, unlike Haneul.

“He looks like Sleeping Beauty” Sanghyuk said, poking Wonshik.

 “Maybe you should kiss him and wake him up” he told Haneul.

 “You can kiss him if you are so damn excited about him being kissed” Haneul growled as Hongbin and Minah chuckled at her plight and cheered “kiss kiss kiss!”. But after much prodding and poking and calling, Wonshik was awake and now standing on the platform, teeth chattering in the morning cold.

“Okay everyone! We’ll introduce ourselves! I’m Kim Jiwon and this is Park Yongbae! We’re your guides for today so if you guys can split up into your departments, we’ll lead you up to the temple. It’s an hour long hike and we’ll make it just in time for sunrise!” Jiwon called out over the crowd.

There was a hustle and bustle as everyone regrouped and Minah stood gaping and wondering which department to join as she was officially not a part of any. Haneul walked over to her and placed her hand on her shoulder.

“You were in tech first, so I'll stake claim.”

“She's in my department now so I'm staking claim!” Hakyeon declared squeezing himself between the two of them as they glared daggers at each other. Haneul’s grip tightened on Minah’s shoulder as she glared at Hakyeon.

“She’s my biker sunbae.”

“What…” Minah mumbled as Hakyeon’s brows furrowed.

“She’s my child! That’s far more important than sunbae!”

The group around was starting to get a little antsy with the argument and a lot of shuffling and grumbling could be heard.

“I think I'll let the birthday boy have me on his team.” Minah said weakly making Hakyeon cheer and Haneul pout.

“You win birthday boy, but only because it’s your birthday.” she grumbled before turning to Hongbin and poking at him while he tried to swat her away. Minah sighed and went over to join the finance team only to have Kim Jiwon hurry towards them and grin at her.

“Hello again” he greeted her with a smile.

“Hi” Hakyeon cut in, sensing Minah’s awkwardness. “You must be our guide for now” he said with a forced smile.

 “Yes. In fact if we could all gather together and get started off that will be great because the trail will take an hour and it's almost five.” Jiwon told them. He waited as Hakyeon and Hongbin gathered their teams together. The Finance group was relatively small compared to the Marketing group and hence had been clubbed together. On the other side, Tech, Admin and Creative team had been clubbed together as well. Their size was only a little more than this team. Minah saw Sanghyuk walk over and realised HR must be in their group as well.

“Guess who I brought along” Hakyeon said proudly. He was holding Taekwoon by the collar and it did not look like the “bringing along” had been voluntary. Taekwoon looked emotionless and Minah couldn't decide if he was feeling murderous or internally screaming for help.

“Doesn't it look like a mom cat dragging a baby cat by the neck?” Sanghyuk asked Minah who fought the urge to laugh. It had indeed looked that way despite the height difference. Hakyeon was now fussing over Taekwoon who looked like he just wanted to die rather than be subjected to this treatment.

“Isn't this the point where Taekwoon normally tries to murder Hakyeon?” Minah asked. Sanghyuk shook his head.

 “It's his birthday. If anything he will silently suffer through anything Hakyeon does today” Sanghyuk told her. He laughed at her surprised face. “They aren't as obviously affectionate as Jaehwan and Wonshik but Taekwoon and Hakyeon have been friends the longest out of all of us. They get up to all sorts of silliness” he said with a proud smile. Minah nodded, mentally noting that even the intimidating BossCat was privately a good friend.

“Off we go” she said, when Jiwon gestured to everyone to start. Since they had been standing the closest to each other, they ended up walking in the same group. Jiwon explained the trek to his group as they walked up the trail. Minah felt completely awake as opposed to earlier in the night (day?) when they had just started off from Haneul’s apartment.

“Do you trek a lot?” Jiwon asked Minah.

“A fair bit when I was young. Not much during college sadly” she told him. Jiwon opened his mouth to continue their conversation only to hear a loud scream as the group turned to see Wonshik running away and into Jaehwan’s arms. Jaehwan looked up and grinned at everyone “it's just a bug you guys! Don't worry!” He said as he patted a panicking Wonshik in the back as the two groups proceeded and split when the path diverged. Youngbae didn't particularly seem very bright Haneul deduced when she first met him but she really didn't expect this.

“If you look to the left, you will see trees. And now if you look to the right, you will see rocks and trees.” Youngbae droned as Wonshik and Jaehwan tried to hold back their laughter and hushed their giggling departments. Jaehwan was Wonshik’s human shield at this point though and Haneul found it absolutely hilarious that the manly man of the group was terrified of bugs and cried at the presence of his sister.  Jaehwan on the other hand linked his arm with Haneul and merrily went on the trail as Wonshik hid behind them, hoping to god no new bugs would turn up.

Except they did, and all he could do was scream and hyperventilate till Jaehwan picked it off him.

On the other hand Jiwon was trying the same stuff with Minah, much to Hakyeon’s annoyance. Except every time Jiwon would point out a bug on her shoulder or hair and expect her to panic and run into his arms, she would simply nod and brush it off and keep walking, turning to converse with Sanghyuk or Hongbin who was running around with his camera. Hakyeon felt Taekwoon shift beside him as Jiwon tried to join in on Sanghyuk and Minah's conversation and gripped at his wrist. He knew Taekwoon would probably grab at Jiwon's collar too, except that would not be the appropriate image for a CEO.

But that didn't really stop Taekwoon from physically placing himself between Jiwon and Minah.

“Could I please have some more of that coffee?” He asked as Minah nodded and pulled the thermos out and handed it to him.

“Oh, I see you make great coffee! We should go get some together sometime” Jiwon chuckled as Sanghyuk rolled his eyes and Hakyeon watched a vein pop on Taekwoon's forehead.

“What kind of plant is that Jiwon?” He asked quickly diverting the guide's attention before two of the taller men murdered him. Although Hakyeon himself wanted to shove this fellow of the trail.

“Here you can see tall trees,” Youngbae said, pointing at a particularly tall tree “it has yellow flowers.”

“Who made this fellow a guide?” Haneul mumbled to Wonshik who warily peeked at her from behind Jaehwan.

“What about that one?” Jaehwan asked Youngbae as he pointed at a shrub of sorts with bright pink flowers.

“It's a small tree with red flowers.”

“As creative head, I'm hurt by his inability to identify colours.” Jaehwan whispered, arm still linked with Haneul's as she tried hard not to laugh. Another scream resounded in the woods when Wonshik took the opportunity to tickle Haneul which resulted in the unearthly sound. Jaehwan and Wonshik chuckled as she glared at them.

“Go look at the damn tall trees and short trees and tiny trees.” She hissed, trying to disentangle herself from the two who had now taken both her arms.

“It's an MT, you can look at whatever you like.”

“So we'll look at you!”

Taekwoon froze when he felt something crawl up his arm. He had still be walking beside Minah and Sanghyuk (they had created a barricade to keep Jiwon away) and Jiwon was now focussing on entertaining the birthday boy. The scream that was threatening to leave Taekwoon's throat nearly bubbled past his lips only to halt when Minah very gently dusted the bug that could have destroyed his CEO image away.

Hongbin now stood in front of them, hiking backwards as he took pictures of Sanghyuk who willingly pulled stupid poses causing the crowd of people to crack up. When Hongbin and Sanghyuk teamed up, laughter was guaranteed since the two understood each other well. Although if Jaehwan had been with them, the laughter would have doubled.

“I wonder what they're doing there.” Wonshik wondered out aloud.

“Probably dealing with Hakyeonie being a princess.” Jaehwan said as Haneul shook her head.

“He seemed pretty overwhelmed and touched by this itself, so I doubt it. Although he might be annoying Taekwoon for the kicks of it.”

“Good point.” Wonshik sighed as he squeezed Haneul's hand in his. Jaehwan was gazing far away, the wind blowing  his bangs all over the place and completely off his forehead. Haneul stumbled a little at the sight and Jaehwan quickly grabbed her by the waist and propped her up again.

Haneul wondered why she had such attractive friends.

“If you look here, there is a thin stream of water.” Youngbae said as he led the way further.

“No Sherlock” one of the men behind them said out loud causing people to snicker and Haneul to recover from her thoughts. She looked across to wonder what the other team was doing, they were still visible in the far distance and seemed to be moving slower than their team. Probably because Jongjin was actually stopping to tell them about the artefacts and places along the trail.

“I swear to god Han Sanghyuk if you delay us one more time I will end you” Minah swore under her breathe as the group stopped yet again for a picture.

“Day 573 and we are still on a dark trail leading nowhere” Sanghyuk spoke to the camera.

“We haven't observed any signs of life” Hongbin said, faking despair.

“Hey, why don’t you guys actually take pictures of other things other than the two of you?” Hakyeon asked the pair, appearing in the frame as well. The two of them shook their heads.

“And still, no signs of any intelligent life” Sanghyuk told the camera only to be hit by Hakyeon.

“Hey have you guys seen Wonshik or Jaehwan?” Haneul asked, appearing from nowhere too. “Weren't they with you?” Hongbin asked.

“Till they decided to go off on their own. Or more like Wonshik ran away from yet another bug while dragging Jaehwan along” Haneul complained. “I let them out of my sight for just one second” she grumbled as she walked on.

“Why the hell are we losing people?” Hakyeon asked the gods.

 “Maybe the trail is haunted” Sanghyuk said excitedly.

“No” Hakyeon said, hitting him on his neck.

 “So much violence” Hongbin said, laughing at Sanghyuk’s misery.

“I don't want to say it but I think we are lost” Wonshik told Jaehwan.

 “We aren't lost” Jaehwan assured him.

“I am pretty sure we are. I can't see anyone in front of us or behind us” Wonshik said.

 “That's okay. This is a shortcut I saw in the map. It'll take us up to the temple faster” he told Wonshik.

“Are you sure we are supposed to wander off like this?” Wonshik said unsurely.

“Yup. This is the rocky path. The expert trail. We'll get lesser bugs on the way” Jaehwan assured him. “Trust me Wonshikkie! I won't let anything happen to you” Jaehwan assured him, completely unsure of himself. The two of them continued ahead on the trail. Jaehwan was enthusiastic about it and he was so glad Wonshik had very enthusiastically agreed to the deviation. This would be fun. On the other hand, Wonshik had no idea what had happened. He had been screaming when he had spotted a particularly awful looking bug and the next he was screaming while being dragged away by his friend.

Except now they had no idea as to where they were and with Wonshik clinging onto Jaehwan for dear life, they weren't making too much progress in moving forward either. The woods were starting to get denser and the dark really wasn’t helping.

“Never thought I'd die this young.” Jaehwan mumbled as he trudged forward (or tried to), dragging Wonshik along.

“We're dying?” Wonshik asked wide eyed.

“Isn't that how it goes in the movies? They get lost in the woods and then they get eaten by a wild animal,” Jaehwan nodded wisely, causing even more panic “Wonshikkie, it's time to say goodbye. I love you.” he ended dramatically.

“I love you too Jaehwannie! But I don't wanna die!”

They heard the bushes nearby rustle and Wonshik let out an unearthly scream as Sanghyuk pushed his way through.

“You guys are gross,” Sanghyuk commented “no one is dying and you are coming with me before you cause any more trouble and delay us getting to the site. Taekwoon is hungry.” It was the last line that made them hurry over to Sanghyuk and rejoin the group only to have Haneul pull at their ears along the path as punishment for being idiots. The sky had started to lighten up now and if the groups didn't hurry they would miss the sunrise.

When they finally reached the top, the sun rays were starting to peek through the darkness and Hakyeon's smile was nearly as blinding as the sun. Taekwoon's secret smile at Hakyeon's joy was not missed by Haneul either as she stood between her two idiot friends, basking in the warmth that was now filling the place. Minah swatted Sanghyuk away as he tugged childishly at her fishtail braid which she had painstakingly done.

“Enjoy the sunrise, stop being a pain.” She hissed as Hongbin joined them with his camera asking for everyone to now pose for a group picture. Once that was done. Jiwon clapped his hands for everyone's attention.

“Now we shall have a scavenger hunt for your breakfasts! Everyone please get back into your two groups and we shall start!” He said.

I think we went all out when we declared crack war on each other. So now we've had to divide the entire MT into chapters. Thank you guys for putting up with this craziness, we love you <3