“I didn’t expect Chanyeol to pick Heejin after everything,” Hyun Mi commented.

“I thought he had given up on her too,” Xiumin added, with a bit of a pout.

“We could just have them go into the truth booth and get it over with?” Yerin suggested.

“I wonder what kind of date they will have,” Jaelyn wondered out loud. “So far the dates have been pretty tame as well... ”

“As long as they have fun, and possibly find a perfect match, who cares?” Dia commented with a shrug.

---

The three couples had gathered at the foot of a large mountain, looking around a bit nervously. What would their date be like?

“It’s so large! What if we have to climb it?” Hee-Jin wondered out loud.

“That sounds more like a challenge than a reward,” Elea retorted.

“It could be fun to have an active date, though,” JB mumbled, though after the night they had all had, he wasn’t really up for that either.

“Welcome, lovely couples, to the fifth date of this series. It seems like its timing might be a bit off, but today, you’ll be hiking up this lovely mountain. You’ll be sure to see many beautiful sights along the way, and get closer on the more difficult paths.”

The contestants just groaned. After their party and the challenge, they were not up for activity.

“Maybe it’s fun? I’m sure the view is pretty?” Hee-Jin suggested. She hadn’t actually drunk that much, so she didn’t have a hangover, but the mountain was very intimidating to her. It was so huge.

“The view is definitely worth it,” Junmyeon assured them. “We have three different routes planned out for you, so you will still have all the privacy you’ll need.”

---

Chanyeol and Hee-Jin took the middle path. It seemed to be the most level, and not climbing seemed like the best way to go.

Heejin felt rather nervous, being alone with him. After all, he had been quite forceful at first and she didn’t like that at all. It made her feel awkward. Yet, today, he didn’t seem like that. In fact, he was rather quiet.

“Are you okay?”

Her words made him look at her, and Chanyeol smiled.

“Yeah, I’m fine. A bit tired, why?”

“You seem quiet today. I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen you quiet.”

“I was just thinking.”

“About what? The mountain climbing? Do you think it will get much harder from here?” She leaned forward as if that would make her see the path better. It didn’t help, because their path was basically going through a forest. Chanyeol chuckled at her reaction.

“Not the climbing, no. The game. I’m starting to feel like maybe we can never win.”

“Is that why you picked me for this game?” she asked and he shook his head.

“That was just because I really wanted to go on a date with you at least once. Even if we’re not a perfect match.”

“Picking someone when you know they’re not your perfect match doesn’t sound very smart,” Hee-Jin remarked.

“Or maybe it is smart. Since all the people who thought they were a match were not.”

“Good point.”

---

“Why did you have to pick the steepest path?” Elea complained, as she struggled to keep up with Hoya. He didn’t seem bothered by the path climbing higher and higher, but to her it was quite tiring. And more than that, the path was also very rocky, so she had to take extra care when stepping onto the loose stones.

“It seemed the most fun,” Hoya commented with a smile. “The more challenging the path, the better the reward, right?”

“It better be,” Elea muttered and slightly distracted by their conversation, she ended up stepping on a rock and almost tripping right there, had Hoya not caught her.

“Be careful, alright?” he muttered and held her hand as they continued on walking.

“It’s your fault for picking this path.”

“I’ll just have to make sure you won’t fall, then.”

---

JB and Seong Yeon were walking along their trail. It was a sandy path, and they were surrounded by trees and bushes, though not enough to actually call it a forest. The path was gradually going up the mountain, though occasionally they came across parts that were steeper.

“Whoever thought this was a good date idea?” Seong Yeon commented.

“At least we have some quiet time now? You always seem to like that.”

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t expect it to mean I’d have to climb a freaking mountain.”

“Well, we also got peace and quiet on our previous date, at the park, if you remember.”

Seong Yeon did remember, blushing slightly as she thought about how close they had been in the swan boats.

“How do they expect us to get closer walking along this trail?” she instant shifted the topic.

“Talking, I guess?”

---

Back at the villa, most people were taking it easy. Again, people were watching movies, reading books and lazing around. It did not seem like there would be any material worth of being on television.

Woohyun had taken Hyun Mi to the attic. With Seong Yeon being out on her date, he was sure no one else would be there, and Hyun Mi had said she was curious about the attic.

“Are you sure these stairs are safe?” the girl muttered, looking at the very shabby stairs.

“They held me up last time. And if they fail, I’ll catch you, so don’t worry,” he reassured her.

When she reached the attic and looked around, she noted that there was nothing there but a bed. Wasn’t this where Woohyun had said he had been with Seong Yeon? She felt a pang of jealousy. What could they have been doing here, by themselves, alone? In the bed?

“So what do you think? Surprising, isn’t it?” Woohyun asked her once he had joined her.

“Very.”

He frowned at her curt reply.

“What’s wrong?”

“Why were you here with Seong Yeon?”

Now, Woohyun smiled.

“Are you jealous? She just happened to be here when I found this place.”

“So you didn’t do anything?”

“We talked. But nothing with that,” he pointedly looked at the bed.

“I’d only do that with you.”

---

In the living room, Xiumin, Mark, Kimmi and Sungyeol were playing a board game. While they had started off amicably, slowly they were getting more and more into the game and none of them wanted to lose all their money.

“That’s my hotel, pay up!” Sungyeol exclaimed excitedly, while Kimmi groaned. Her money disappeared like snow in July, leaving her only very little left.

She never noticed Mark slipping her a few of his notes when it was Xiumin’s turn.

“Chance. Aww… I have to go to jail.”

“Yes! That means you can’t get money even if we reach your squares, right?” Mark exclaimed.

“What kind of stupid rule is that?” Xiumin argued. “I still get my money.”

“I don’t think so,” Sungyeol retorted but Kimmi agreed with Xiumin and not long after, they were all looking for the rules.

“See, I was right,” Xiumin said triumphantly once they finally had found the rules.

“We always played it differently,” Mark commented shortly, and as luck would have it, he rolled just the amount needed to get on Xiumin’s most expensive hotel.

“So not fair...”

“It is fair, it’s the rules,” Kimmi retorted, holding up the rulebook again.

“Whatever, whatever, let’s just continue? It’s taking forever to finish this game.”

---

Seulyi wasn’t sure how it had happened, but now she and Myungsoo were watching a movie together in her room. It was a good movie, though quite scary and the perfect excuse to get closer to him.

She’d clutch onto him with every jump scare, and he didn’t seem to mind.

Was it my imagination he seemed closer with Dia these days?

“Are you sure you’re okay watching a movie this scary?” he asked with a soft chuckle when she clung to him once more.

“I really wanted to see it, but I wouldn’t have been able to watch it by myself,” she admitted.

“It’s a good thing I wanted to see it too, then.”

“Definitely. At least now we’ll both be scared tonight.”

---

“While I do think your cocktail party was a good idea, I feel like the timing could have been better,” Baekhyun commented. Jaelyn could only nod in agreement.

“I’ll try and pick a better timing for my next good idea.”

“You already have something?” Sunggyu asked.

“If only. This is the most boring reality show I have ever seen. There is no drama at all. Everyone here is either way too nice, or just way too naive,” Jaelyn commented.

“I don’t see how that’s a bad thing,” Sunggyu remarked.

“I think she’s right, though. As long as everyone is acting nice, we’re never going to figure this game out. Being nice all the time, that’s not something people can do. At least not most of them. If we don’t show our true selves, we can never get this, can we?” Baekhyun reasoned.

“That does make sense...” the elder had to admit.

“So that’s why we need to find more things to liven things up. Get arguments and fights and drama. It would actually help us a lot,”  Jaelyn added.

“Maybe I should just try your strategy and ‘try’ all the girls,” Baekhyun commented with a smirk.

“Go for it! The more the better, I say. Could get us some nice drama.”

“Too bad none of them seem that into you,” Sunggyu remarked softly. More than anything, he figured that was a good thing. While what they said made sense in a way, he’d still rather have everyone get along.

---

Three girls had gathered outside near the pool in the shade. It was nice to have some rest, they all agreed.

“So are you and Myungsoo an item now?” Yerin asked, and Dia turned a bright red.

“You don’t even have to answer anymore, your face gave it away,” Hye laughed.

“Congrats.”

“Have you told Seulyi yet? She’s not going to like it,” Hye then commented. Dia shook her head.

“I… I don’t know how to.”

“Tell her to get away from your guy? Something like that? I don’t know, but I doubt she’d be really angry with you or anything,” Yerin reasoned.

“Though seeing the two of you fight could be amusing. It would be very weird, since you are both so reasonable,” Hye stated.

“We wouldn’t fight! At least… I don’t think we would.”

---

“Oh my god, it’s a flower garden! It’s so pretty! How are there so many flowers so high up a mountain? Is this even real?” Hee-Jin exclaimed excitedly.

The path they had taken led to a huge flower garden, with flowers in all colours and all sizes. Hee-Jin was already skipping through it excitedly.

“It does look just like a fairy tale garden or something,” Chanyeol had to agree.

“What if there were actually fairies?” the girl exclaimed again. “Ohmygosh, they totally could appear in a garden like this.”

“Actual fairies?”

“Or pictures, or statues, or something magical! It feels magical doesn’t it?”

Just seeing her so excited made the whole trip up the mountain worth it to Chanyeol. It didn’t take them long to spot a picnic basket filled with all kinds of sweets befitting of a garden like this.

“It’s just like a high tea!”

“Why are the sandwiches so small, they barely fit in my hands,” Chanyeol mock complained and Hee-Jin laughed.

“Because they are for fairies, of course.”

---

“Oh no, they can’t be serious,” Seong Yeon said as they reached the destination of their path. It was a zip line off the mountain back to the starting point.

“It looks like it could be fun.” Unlike Seong Yeon, JB didn’t mind the idea at all.

“It does look like fun, but it’s gotta be dangerous being so high up. And we climbed all the way here, just to zip down instantly?”

“It might not quite be a peaceful way to end our date, but I’m sure it will be a fun way,” the boy commented with a smile.

“But zip lining is something you do by yourself right?” the girl softly replied. JB smiled even wider hearing this.

“We can totally do it together. As long as you don’t mind being that close with me.”

“I think I can handle it for a little while.”

She had meant it when she had said it, but now she was being strapped into a safety harness together with JB she realized just how close this meant they would be. The tighter the straps became the redder her cheeks turned. To be fair, JB was also slightly redder than usual.

They jumped down together, searing through the air at quite the speed, making Seong Yeon glad she wasn’t doing this alone after all. The descent itself took them at least 20 minutes, way longer than either of them had expected. Neither of them minded the closeness, though.

---

After a climb that Hoya had to admit wasn’t quite easy, they reached the top of the mountain. From here, they had a beautiful view over the island, the sun sparkling in the sea and the vastness of forests in front of them.

“You did very well on our hike,” he commented with a smile, looking at the girl next to him. She was clearly tired, but hadn’t complained after the first part and had kept up with him all throughout the walk.

“Only because I had you to catch me whenever I slipped,” Elea said and glanced back to their hands, still intertwined. She didn’t mind at all.

“I’m sure next time you won’t even need me.”

“I’m sure there won’t be a next time,” the girl mumbled softly. Sure, the hike hadn’t been horrible, but that had more to do with them being together and talking and laughing than the actual hike.

They sat down together on one of the benches strategically placed on the mountain top and pointed out places they thought they had been before, and where the assumed the villa was.

“I wonder who will have to go into the truth booth this time,” Hoya wondered out loud.

“I hope not us.”

“You don’t think we’ll be a match?” He almost sounded a bit offended.

“I don’t wanna know if we are not.”

---

Back in the villa, everyone was gathered to vote on the truth booth. The votes were very equally split between people claiming that it was already Seongyeon and JB’s second date, so they should go, people claiming that it was better to just get Chanyeol and Hee-Jin confirmed no match so the boy would completely move on, and people saying that Elea and Hoya seemed to be getting along well and were a likely match.

“We really need to find a match this time, getting a no match won’t help us,” Sunggyu reasoned.

“So anyone but Hee-Jin and Chanyeol would be fine,” Dia agreed.

“But people getting along well has only resulted in no match, so maybe Chanyeol and Hee-Jin actually are one,” Hye theorized.

“And maybe they are not,” Xiumin muttered.

“Maybe they are all a match, maybe none of them are a match, we won’t know until we try,” Jaelyn commented.

“But it’s still better to go for the highest probability,” Yerin retorted.

“We don’t know what the basis is for these matches though, so we don’t know the probability either,” Myungsoo pointed out.

The group sighed. This game wasn’t as easy as they had hoped.

---

“Now that our couples have joined the other contestants again after their eventful dates,” Junmyeon started off. The couples frowned slightly. Had anything that eventful actually happened?

“It is time to reveal who is going into the truth booth this week,” he continued. “It was a close call. The votes were split 6, 4, 4. And with that said, Chanyeol, Hee-Jin, you will be going to the truth booth this week.”

“Didn’t we say this was the least likely match?” Dia asked with a sigh.

“But that might be why it’s a match, we don’t know how it is decided,” Yerin retorted.

“And since Chanyeol liked Hee-Jin, it’s better for the game to find out the truth,” Xiumin added softly.

“It’s going to be another no match, isn’t it?” the redhead muttered to Sunggyu, who happened to stand next to her. The elder could only agree.

“Good luck Hee-Jin! I don’t know what you're hoping for, but I hope you’ll get the result you want,” Hyun Mi commented.

“I hope it’s finally a match because if not, this game is getting nowhere,” Hye added.

“Good luck!” Sungyeol also shouted out.

The two couples that weren’t picked seemed rather relieved by this. So far, going into the truth booth had never given the couples anything good, so not having to go in there was probably better. Hee-Jin and Chanyeol seemed rather reluctant to head outside too, but they had no choice.

“I don’t even know what I hope it will be,” Hee-Jin admitted when she and Chanyeol walked outside.

“A match would be best, for the game as well,” he reasoned and she nodded.

“We’re doing bad, so we need a match. But if we’re actually a match, I don’t know what that would mean… Being together just the two of us for the rest of the game is also … uncomfortable? Awkward? I think it would be weird.”

“I wonder if we’d be able to see the progress of the game there.”

“In the honeymoon villa? Isn’t it just… a vacation? Like a resort or something?”

“But they are still playing for our money as well… I’d like to check up on them at times. It would help us too,” Chanyeol said. After all their talking, they had reached the truth booth already.

Hee-Jin in a deep breath, feeling rather nervous all of a sudden. Either way was good right? If they were a match, they were progressing in the game. If they weren’t then maybe she could be a match with Xiumin. No bad results. It would work out somehow.

Chanyeol was also unsure of what he wanted the result to be. Yes, he had really liked Hee-Jin when he first met her. But she clearly hadn’t liked him and by now, he enjoyed talking with several of the other girls too. So did he really want to be in the honeymoon villa with a girl who didn’t actually like-like him?

They entered the booth and without waiting placed their hands on the pads. Better to get it over with quickly. The machine however kept them in suspense for a little while longer, before finally showing the words that brought them both relief: NO MATCH.

“Guess we’re still not progressing in the game,” Hee-Jin commented with a small smile. Chanyeol nodded.

“But maybe it’s better if we’re not a match.”

“I think so too.”

---

In the villa the reaction was not one of relief at all.

“This is why you shouldn’t have voted for them,” Dia complained.

“They couldn’t have known,” Myungsoo tried to calm her and she eyed him suspiciously.

“Who did you vote for?”

“JB and Seong Yeon.”

“We should have discussed it. I voted Elea and Hoya. That’s what happened isn’t it? We didn’t discuss enough and the votes of the people who thought clearly got split and so we lost,” the girl decided with a sigh.

“We have to think about the match up,” Yerin stated. “If not, we’re going to mess up again.”

“But there is no way to figure it out yet, is there?” Hyun Mi asked.

“All we know is that me and Hyun Mi are a perfect match,” Woohyun commented.

“No, we don’t,” Seong Yeon retorted and now it was Hyun Mi’s turn to eye someone suspiciously. Seong Yeon didn’t seem into Woohyun that much, but they had spend time together in the attic, after all.

“I’m kind of glad you weren’t a match with him,” Xiumin told Hee-Jin and the girl smiled widely.

“Yeah me too. The date was fun and all, but still…”

“We have to pull ourselves together and make sure we get it right this time. After all we had two right last time. We have to do better than that,” Sunggyu reasoned.

“It can’t get much worse,” Seulyi muttered. As long as she somehow ended up with Myungsoo, it was going to be fine.

---

After a good night of sleep, Dia finally decided to talk with Seulyi. Hye and Yerin had been right, and she should let her know that she was now officially dating Myungsoo. She was dreading it a lot.

“Seulyi, can we talk?” she found Seulyi in the kitchen chatting with Xiumin. The girl looked surprised but still nodded. It was early in the morning and the garden was a pleasant temperature, not yet that hot.

“What did you want to talk about?” Seulyi asked the redhead.

“Myungsoo.” Well, that didn’t quite go as planned. She had managed to say a single word, but couldn’t think of what to say next.

“You’re going to tell me to stay away from him? It’s not going to happen you know,” the girl commented.

“I wasn’t going to say that. But… We’re a couple now. Me and Myungsoo,” it came out just as awkward as it had sounded in her head.

“You are?” Seulyi didn’t seem impressed. “Since when?”

“The day when you and him read a book together in the library.”

“So you were bothered by that.”

“Of course I was. But I couldn’t very well try and come between you guys, I had no right to.”

“You sound like you would give up way too easily. I won’t give up on him just like that, so you better prepare yourself for a fight.”

“It better not be a physical fight, I’d hate hurting you,” the girl muttered.

“We’ll see who walks away with him. Because I am very sure that he is my perfect match.”

“I hope you’re wrong,” Dia commented softly. “But either way, he’s my boyfriend now. I’m sorry.”

“You’re definitely lying now. There’s no way you would be sorry about dating the guy you like.”

“I’m not sorry about that. But I am sorry that it hurts you. I’m sure we could have been great friends, if we didn’t also like the same guy.”

“I guess that’s just how great Myungsoo is,” Seulyi laughed softly. “Still not going to give him up to you, no matter how nice you’re trying to be.”

---

“Alright contestants, are you ready for this week’s match up? Once again, we’ll find out how much perfect matches you have found and how close you are to the money!” Junmyeon called out.

They were far from ready. The more time passed, the less they knew who could be a perfect match. They had tried everything; from people who liked each other, to people who didn’t seem into each other, but no matter what, they turned out to not be a match.

“It’s impossible,” Kimmi sighed.

“Are we ever going to get more than two?” Elea asked.

"With yet another match confirmed to be wrong, you don't seem to be doing very well. Let's see if today is any better. As always, the boys get to pick in order. Chanyeol, since you became first, you get to pick first. We already know it's not going to be Hee-Jin, so who will it be?" the host asked.

"I'm going to go with Yerin. I think there's a good chance she is my perfect match."

"Yerin, how do you feel about this?"

"I don't mind. We get along well enough, we could be a match," the girl replied.

"You'd be such a good match!" Hee-Jin commented.

"Well, it seems that Hee-Jin didn't really mind not being a match either," Junmyeon commented with a laugh, and the girl turned slightly pink in embarrassment.

"Next up is Hoya. Who will you pick?"

"I guess I'll stick with my first choice... But this date was a lot of fun too... I'll go with Hee-Jin for now and if the result is bad, it can only be Elea. So for today, Hee-Jin."

"So this is why Hee-Jin was so happy she wasn't a match with Chanyeol then? Let's hope it pays off. Next up is JB."

"I'll go with Seong Yeon. Our date was great," the boy said and Seong Yeon smiled as she walked over to them.

So far, none of the choices were very surprising to any of the contestants.

"Xiumin, who will you pick."

The boy was thinking for a while, his first pick being already chosen.

"I'm going to go with Elea." He had been thinking about picking Seulyi as well, as they got along, but in the end, he felt there was more chance of a match with Elea. He was sure Seulyi would agree with him.

"Up next, the boy without any luck with the girls. Who will you pick, Baekhyun?"

"I'm not going to have any luck today either, because I'm going to pick Hyun Mi," the boy declared.

"Why would you do that? Everyone knows I'm a match with Woohyun!" the girl commented and Baekhyun laughed.

"I told you she wasn't going to be happy about this. No trust in me whatsoever."

"I see you've taken my advice to shake some things up," Jaerin praised him. At least this way, there was a chance these games would get more interesting.

"But what if we lose because of him? What if we now get eight matches instead?" Hyun Mi retorted.

"You're not a confirmed match with Woohyun, so you might not even be a match," Dia commented.

"We don't know how it will turn out," Sunggyu agreed.

"I think you two are a match, Hyun Mi, don't worry," Hee-Jin called out.

"Shall we continue then? Mark, you're up next," Junmyeon interrupted.

"I'll go with Kimmi," the boy said with a smile, and she happily joined him.

"Another very likely match," Hee-Jin muttered excitedly.

"And we're at Sungyeol now. Who will be your perfect match for today?"

Sungyeol had no idea, looking at the remaining girls. Only Seulyi, Hye, Dia and Jaelyn were left. He hadn't interacted much with any of them. In the end, he went with the girl he had talked with the most.

"Jaelyn."

"Alright, let's see who the final people pick!" the girl in question said excitedly. The fewer girls left, the harder the choices seemed to become, so she was very interested to see who would pick who.

"Our star crossed lover is next, now Hyun Mi is taken, who will Woohyun pick?" Junmyeon asked.

Woohyun just smirked confidently.

"Obviously Seulyi."

The girl rolled her eyes at him. After all, Myungsoo was still left.

"You're such an idiot for picking me."

"Better leave Myungsoo for his girlfriend, right?"

Sunggyu however did not seemed to agree and picked Dia, before Myungsoo had the chance, which made the final couple Hye and Myungsoo.

"It seems like Sunggyu always picks either Hye or Dia, doesn't it?" Yerin asked and the elder boy seemed to consider this.

"I.. I think you might be right. Though it wasn't as if I had many picks here."

"Now you've all locked in your choices for tonight, are you ready for the results?"

"Never ready," Hye commented. She was very sure they wouldn't be getting all perfect matches. At least it would provide some new data.

"I have a good feeling about today's match up," Sungyeol stated.

"Let's see it then," Junmyeon stated and for a second nothing happened.

"Nothing would be good too," Kimmi reminded them, but before she had finished speaking, the first light lit up.

"At least one, then," Baekhyun remarked.

Another light went up.

It took forever for the third light to light up, but when it did, they all cheered. This was now officially one of their best match ups yet. They cheered even louder when a fourth light lit up. The tension heightened. It had never been this good. And there it was, another light. Where they actually going to get it? What if Hyun Mi was right, and they got eight matches after all?

But she hadn’t been right. With five lights lit up, Junmyeon congratulated them on their performance this week.

"We had five perfect matches! We've never done this well!" Elea cheered.

"Going unexpected might really be the key," Jaelyn stated with a smile.

"I wonder who the matches are," Hee-Jin mumbled.

"We will found out soon. At least with me and Woohyun being perfect anyway, this means that two matches are wrong and five out of the remaining eight are right, so we have narrowed down the options well," Hyun Mi stated and Woohyun nodded in agreement.

"We can totally do this!" Mark cheered.

For once, the contestants were all very cheerful after a match up. It had finally gone well. Halfway done, and five matches correct. They were right on schedule.

Author note: It has been forever since this has been updated, and I appologize for that. This fic has some of my favourite ships (though I won't tell you which, because what if it turns out to be spoilers? (It doesn't though, because my favourite ships are NOT all pefect matches and will NOT all become couples in this fic, because I like hurting myself and sinking my own ships...)) Because this fic is so old, some of these ships have died pretty badly. (MarkMi forever?) But I hope you'll still enjoy this fic even if your ship is no longer an actual ship... (Am I just talking to Kimmi now? No, there are more, aren't there? It's my own fault for being slow). And next up: I had forgotten how hard this was to write. Too many characters ><; So, this chapter turned out a bit shorter and some people have less screentime than I wanted, because I really wanted to try hard and get this fic back into gear again... Sorry if your favourite character was underrepresentated this chapter.