Exam weeks are the most stressful in the life of a student. Late night and early mornings, excess sugar, excess water and excess longing of dramas. The only excitement that pushed them was the idea of vacation and the long awaited picnic. 

After finishing their last exam, all students and teachers gathered in the assembly ground. Sarang grimaced when she saw Mr. Grounchy's face. Not seeing his face for two weeks had made her life a paradise (eventhough the other week was exam week). 

The murmurs stopped the moment their principal took the stage. 

"I hope you all know why you are gathered here-" they all did; it was because of the picnic. "-It was so that we can tell you about the picnic. Ever since the announcement we have been receiving calls from your parents expressing their worries over this matter. They don't want to send their children too far-"

The whole student crowd groaned. They had been so excited for this picnic. Some students had even made a playlist to listen in their bus.

"-shush and listen to me." Students complied begrudgingly. "As i was saying, we have been receiving calls and they are right. They are your parents and parents only think good of their children. Moreover, we don't have the power and authority to defy their wishes."

Clap clap people. It looks like we will be having pocnic in the school. 

"That's why me and your teachers, we decided to combine our picnic with the revival program that the ministry of education has introduced."

It caught everyone's attention. Dos this mean they have a chance to go somewhere?

"As you all know," their principal continued. "Many teachers went to attend a seminar in Seoul last week before your exams. In that seminar they introduced a revival program where students are taught about agriculture and farming. It is to encourage agriculture as a career and therefore, the ministry made it compulsory for every school to implement it."

"I hope he isn't going to throw us in a deserted village and tell us to grow vegetables," Ahreum said as her face scrunched in disgust at the thought.

"As long as you guys are there, i don't have a problem," Sarang muttered to which Bori nodded. 

"I think he is going to do just that." 

All three of them jerked their heads back towards Jieun who said that. 

"Making us farm i mean," Jieun smiled. 

The three friends looked at each other and then to Jieun before chuckling. 

"I agree."

"So what happened after we left? How long did you stay in the library?" 

Ahreum and Bori gave her questioning looks.

"You went to a library?" Ahreum asked in shock.

Sarang tutted.

"Well, haha, let's just listen to the principal."

"Wait,-" 

It was a round of groans that startled all of them. 

"What did he say?" Bori asked.

They shrugged before paying their attention back to the principal.

"It is a joint decision. We have mailed all your parents and i hope you will cooperate. Teacher will also be there to take attendance so dont even think of skipping. You may leave now."

As everyone started leaving while complaining, Bori asked again. "What exactly did we miss?" 

 

 

 

 

 

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Goodluck ploughing fields!" Doorim laughed. 

Their principal had mailed every guardian about the "revival program" and told them what it was. Apparently, it meant that every student had to go to nearby villages and learn a bit of their culture. It also meant learning about farming and agriculture. 

In their district there were three villages and the school decided to send three batches (first, second and third year) to these three villages. Parents were elated to know that their children would be doing something valuable AND will be safe. 

The village that their year were assigned to was located on a hill. They had to travel by bus for ten minutes before reaching the starting point from where it was one hour walk uphill. Upon reaching the village, each three classes will have a farmhouse in which they would stay.

"Stop being so condescending," Sarang said, throwing her shirt at her sister. 

"I am not being being condescending," Doorim replied, wiping an invisible tear. "I have a huge respect for farmers. It's you punks I am laughing at. Can you kids even handle the heat of it?"

"You talk like you have been doing this for ages."

"Not for ages, but for a month."

Doorim's face told Sarang enough that it wasn't a wonderful memory. 

"Don't you have a shift to go to?"

"My shift starts from 10 pm. I exchaged with a friend."

"What happened to your determination to not take night shifts?"

"She looked desperate! She said something about kids from orphanage. What was the name-Oh! It was Nam orphanage."

Sarang stopped midway folding her dress.

"Nam orphanage? Why? Is something wrong with the kids there?"

Doorim shrugged. "I don't remember the reason why. Might be some hygiene issues. You can never trust places like orphanages anyway. They may be hoarding all the money for all we know."

 

 

 

 

"Kill me now," Bori said seriously. 

"Let's die together," Sarang sighed.

"I don't want to be here either," Ahreum replied. 

The bus had dropped them off in front of a track path leading up the mountain. The first visible path up the mountain looked steep and it made Sarang want to go back to her bed and sleep. It was a sad, sad day for them...

"Don't you girls love tracking?" 

...except for Jieun, of course. 

With the brightest smile Sarang had ever seen on her, Jieun cluthched her bag straps tighter. 

"You sure seem excited," Bori deadpanned. "What's the secret of your energy?"

"Well, you see, this morning i had my favorite rice cake and-" 

"Jieun," Sarang put her hand on top of the girl's. "She is being sarcastic."

"What?"

"Jieun!" 

"Sehun!" 

"Oie! Where are you going? Oie! Sarang! Wait!"

Ahreum and Bori turned towards each other after seeing their friend run away like a maniac.

"What's wrong with her?" Ahreum murmures.

"As if i know. She won't even tell about the library thing."

"Maybe Ji-“

"Ahreum!"

"Look, Jimin is-" Bori faced an empty space. Where Ahreum once stood was now air. 

"Jieun," Sehun ran next to the said girl with Luhan tagging along behind him. Sehun had this goofy smile and googly eyes watching Jieun.

Jimin, whose pace had now decreased to a walk, stalled near Bori as he looked disappointedly at the direction Ahreum had left. Luhan seemed to be in the same state as Jimin except that he was looking rather confused. He had noticed how Sarang ran away as soon as she saw him and he didn't know why.

Bori looked from them to the steep path ahead from where her two friends disappeared. She scoffed. 

Is she going to witness a live love and war drama?

Ahreum+Jimin

Sarang+Luhan

 

 

 

A last desperate breath before Bori collapsed on the ground. 

"Bori, we have reached," Jieun encoraged. "One last time and we will reach the farm house."

Sehun nodded as he held Bori's right arm to help her up. 

"You don't walk a lot, do you?" Luhan asked, watching her. 

Jimin snickered. "You have slowed us down, best friend. We were supposed to reach an hour early. Look-" he showed her his watch, "it's 10:30 am."

"Did i tell you to wait for me?" Bori shouted in between her heavy breaths. "You could have gone with your classmates!"

"With your poor sight i think you didn't notice that the students around us were neither from your or my class." 

"Save your energy," Luhan interupted before it erupted into a fight. Taking Bori's other arm, he helped her get up with Sehun's help. "Your farmhouse is in the other direction."

Jimin was startled. He wasn't sure if Luhan was blatantly telling him to go or was just trying to help. His tone was as unreadable as his expression.

 "T-thank you." He said it anyway before going the the other way. 

"Jieun," Bori mumbled audibly enough for the girl to hear. 

"Yes? You need water?"

"No. But i need Sarang and Ahreum to cry tears of blood for running away!"

On hearing Sarang's name Luhan perked up. He wondered if he had imagined the loud ba-dum that passed through his chest for a second. 

Jieun laughed at her statement. "Sure. We have a whole week for that."

That day, Sarang and Ahreum ended up having an earful from Bori until she grew tired and ran whining towards Jieun. Jieun, like a mother, cooed at the girl to calm her down. It made both Sarang and Ahreum gag. 

 

 

 

 

Sarang groaned when she heard ear shattering whistles from outside. At first it was dim and tolerable, but it became increasing ear splitting when the whistles came upstairs.

Sarang grabbed her pillow and placed it over her head to block her ears. The attempt to muffle the sound turned out to be futile when the whistles entered their room.

"Sarang!" She felt someone shaking her from beside. "Wake up."

"You should be saying that after you wake up yourself, Ahreum." 

It was when the whistles continued without stop that everyone woke up. 

 

 

Their class was by far the luckiest. Section A had Mr.Grouchy as their teacher while Section C had Mr. Nam. Mr. Grouchy is too grouchy while Mr. Nam is known for being lazy. Their class, Section B, was assigned to Mrs. Song. Not only is she pretty, she has a frank atttitude which makes it easier to communicate with her. 

They were gathered in a field five minutes away from the farmhouse. Girls were wearing green boots and gloves over their farm cloths where as boys had orange boots and gloves. The field was fenced all around.

"So students, do you see the land we are on? It is 10 by 10 meters and we are going to grow these vegetables." She pulled out three packets of vegetable seed from her side bag. "But before i give you these, i need to group you in five so that we cant divide this field equally."

Sarang nearly went mental when she heard the word "group". She had enough of groups and pairings. For some reason she always ended up with Luhan.

"When i call your names come forth," Mrs. Song said. "Byun Baekhyun, Kim Sarang, Oh Sehun, Im Ahreum and Lee Chaekyung."

Surprise! Sarang had to ask her friends for confirmation; whether or not she had heard wrong. But it was only after Luhan had been assigned to other group did she really believe it. 

Hmm. What do you know? For the first time, she wasn't in the same group as luhan. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But she had thought too soon.

"Luhan hyung!" Sehun called.

Mrs. Song had finished grouping them and was currently giving the group leaders the vegetable seeds. 

Luhan simply glanced as his answer. 

"Want to change? I want to be with Jieun."

"No."

"Hyung, please?"

"No."

"Hyung, please! I promise i will cook dinner for a week back at home."

It took a minute of thinking for Luhan to respond back. "How about a month?"

Sehun did a fist pump before yelling, "Done deal!"