Most of the occupants of The K2 woke up with a jolt the following morning. The culprit came in the form of a cheeky Yoona who stood in the middle of their dorm armed with an airhorn. Her smile widened when she heard several thuds and groans, suggesting that some of her participants had either hit their head on their bunk beds or had fallen off the bed all together. The groans and complains intensified when she flipped the light switches and all the sleepyheads quickly shielded their eyes, each complaining at a varying degree as they were temporarily blinded at six in the morning.

“This never gets old, huh?”

“Nope!” Yoona turned around and was not surprised to see that Seulgi was already done brushing her teeth. “You’re up early..”

“Set an alarm with my watch!” Seulgi proudly lifted her arm to show the digital watch on her wrist. “You’re not going to get me with that airhorn this time! I woke up five minutes before you got in.”

Yoona scoffed at a very smug Seulgi and turned her attention back to the soon-to-be rowdy bunch of teenagers. “Alright, guys. Gather in front of the gym hall in half an hour. We’re going for a run so dress appropriately.” Yoona finished and made her way out the dorm to meet up with Taeyeon and the other instructors.

“Does she do that every day?” A still-sleepy Byul asked as she trudged her way to the bathroom.

“She does it whenever she feels like it so that we don’t see it coming.”

“We’re asleep! How are we supposed to see it coming?!” Hyejin whined and untangled herself from the blankets and Wheein.

Mornings at camp typically involved some form of physical training and most of the time it meant going for a quick jog. Seulgi loved it, as did most of the participants because where else in the city would they be able to take a jog by the beach while admiring the view and taking in the gentle sea breeze along the way. It was a treat they couldn’t get in the city so most try to savour it while they were there. Few complained about having to wake up early for the run, but that didn’t mean nobody complained at all.

“‘Go to camp’ they said. ‘It’ll be fun’ they said,” Yerim grumble as they went about their morning jog along the coastal beach road. Irene, who was in front of her, turned around quickly to give her a thumbs up and resumed her jog. Along with The K2 members, participants from other watches joined the morning activity as all of them jogged in a single file while occasionally turning towards the sea to take in the view.

“You see that island over there, Yerim?” Yerim heard Seulgi’s voice from behind her.

“Yeah? What about it?”

“Yah! No spoilers, Seulgi!” Seulgi turned around and gulped when she saw that Jessica was glaring at her.

“Welp, you heard the lady. You’ll find out soon.”

***

“One of the most important things you guys need to learn here is how to tie knots. These knots that we’re going to learn today will help us when we head out for our expeditions and for solo camp.”

Taeyeon began as her watch sat on the stoop in front of the gym hall with ropes in hand. Joining The K2 was Mont Blanc. The two watches had been briefly introduced during breakfast when they were seated on neighbouring tables in the mess hall. Joy commented that it felt like they were in the Great Hall in Hogwarts and Yongsun reached over the table to high five her. That led to a discussion among The K2 members on the latest mobile game that was recently released for the franchise.

Yoona and Mont Blanc’s CA, Seohyun, had led their respective watches to their store where all necessary equipment were kept - tent sheets, ropes, harnesses, life jackets, etc - everything one would need for a camping trip. After a quick stock take of everything in the store, Yoona took out just enough ropes for them and told them to head back to the gym hall while she locked up.

“Okay, we’re going to start it off easy with a simple Figure of 8. For those who know how to tie these knots, please help you friends. So here we go!” Taeyeon then demonstrated by simply looping and twisting one end of the rope twice and pulling one end of the rope through the loops. “This is how you tie a y Figure of 8. Now you guys try. Make sure to get those curves right and y!” she finished while eyeing Jessica up and down, wiggling her eyebrows comically. Jessica snorted and gave her a big shove as an attempt to distract their audience from her reddening face.

“Are they a thing?” a girl with short hair from Mont Blanc asked her watchmate who Seulgi recognised as Jessica’s sister, Krystal.

“Unfortunately. They’re so insufferable you have no idea, Am.” Krystal grumbled to her friend.

Seulgi turned her attention back to her watch and was more than happy to help out her friends since it was a refresher course for her. Sitting beside her was Irene and it looked as if she was having trouble with some of the more complicated knots as Taeyeon deemed her handiwork ‘not y at all’.

“Don’t mind her, they use that term every single time I was here. It’s like their thing.”

“Oh okay. Wait, I’m lost. How do you do this again?” Irene showed her tangled up rope to Seulgi, eyebrows furrowed as she tried to remember the steps. Seulgi helped untangled it and held up her own rope, guiding Irene step by step until she got it and for every single knot Taeyeon taught them afterwards.

“Taeyeon, how about this one? Is this y?” Irene showed her handiwork to their instructor expectantly and Seulgi swore that she probably hadn’t seen anything that adorable before, inhaling deeply in an attempt to keep a straight face. Seulgi exhaled with equal force as Irene’s face lit up when Taeyeon finally nodded approvingly at the knot she tied. She excitedly turned towards Seulgi and raised her hand to high five her only to be left hanging because Seulgi had quickly looked down at her rope and tied some random knot. It was only when she felt Irene tap her shoulder did she look back up.

“Y-yes?”

“Taeyeon approved my knot! Thanks for helping me!”

“Happy to help,” Seulgi awkwardly smiled and slowly raised her fist and they shared probably the most awkward fist bump in camp history.

Behind them sat Yerim and Joy who were shaking their heads when they saw the whole thing. They nudged Wheein and Hyejin to look at how the two were in their own little world. The quartet smirked among themselves and nodded - an unspoken agreement was formed and they intended to see it through by the end of camp.

***

The K2 were gathered later in the afternoon outside the gym hall where manila climbing rope lined the wall facing their dorms. Thick, rough, brown ropes were interlaced to form two huge nets were suspended from the roof and it was the camp’s way of introducing its participants to the basics of the belay system and rock climbing.

Pulleys were installed on the roof so that they could thread climbing ropes through it. One end would be hooked on the climber’s harness and the other would be threaded through a belay device on the belayer’s harness. It was up to the belayer to keep the climber safe, Taeyeon told them, because the belayer would serve as the anchor for the climber on the ground as they made their way up the net, it was up to the belayer to pull and secure the rope. With every pull, the rope would tighten and the climber would not be at risk of falling.

Taeyeon had demonstrated by climbing half way and letting go completely while Yoona quickly secured the rope and kept their instructor suspended in the air, being perfectly safe and was at no risk of hitting the ground. The K2 got to work quickly, each excited, and perhaps mildly terrified, to have their first go at rock climbing.

“Remember, guys. If you think the rope is not tight enough, yell ‘tension’. If you think it’s too tight and you’re getting a wedgie, yell ‘slack’.” Taeyeon reminded. “Now everyone pair up. One of you guys can pair up with Yoona.”

Before Seulgi knew it, everybody had already found their partners and Seungwan volunteered to partner with Yoona because she didn’t trust either Joy or Yerim to keep her safe. Her logic was very reasonable, Seulgi thought. She took a look around and saw that there were only Irene and herself left without partners.

“How are you with heights?”

“N-not very good but I’ll try my best.” Irene looked up at the bell they were supposed to ring at the very top and immediately screwed her eyes shut, lips pressed into a thin line.

“It’s okay, we’ll go last and you can see how others do it first. There’s really nothing to it. Off they go!”

Their first climbers, Yongsun and Wheein, took off. They went up and down the net with little problems and switched places with their partners, Byul and Hyejin, who made it look like a walk in the park. Seungwan went next effortlessly and it was soon Yerim’s turn and she was not ready.

“Tension! Tension!! I can feel myself falling!” Yerim shrieked. “Yah! Park Sooyoung, are you listening? Tension!”

“Yah! Kim Yerim, stop being dramatic. You barely started climbing!” Joy complained. She was Yerim’s belayer and was getting impatient for Yerim to finish her turn so that she could have a go.

“You’re not even two feet off the ground. You’re literally not in any danger.” Seungwan tried to reason with a terrified Yerim who was clutching onto the rope for dear life. “We’re gonna leave you here and go get dinner if you don’t hurry up, I’m just saying.”

“NO! Please don’t!” Yerim very slowly turned around to look for Taeyeon. “C-can Joy go first?”

“Sure, you can go when you’re ready. Joy, give her rope some slack and let her down.”

Yerim slowly repelled down that short distant and collapsed dramatically onto the ground, mumbling something along the lines of never forsaking land again. Seungwan and Joy rolled their eyes and helped the terrified girl up while the rest of them tried their best to stifle their laughter.

Seulgi was watching the entire spectacle with glee from the side as she was acting as someone else’s belayer. She wished somebody had recorded the entire thing because it was great blackmailing material for when they got back home. It was amusing to see the usually gungho Kim Yerim so terrified. Unbeknownst to Seulgi, her own partner was shaking like a leaf as she was about to start her climb and Yerim’s shrieks did not help one bit.

“S-Seulgi…”

“Yes, Irene?”

“You won’t let me fall, r-right?”

Sensing the girl’s fears, Seulgi secured the rope firmly against the belay device again and gave Irene a firm nod. “I got you. No worries!”

“O-okay..”

“Fighting!” Seulgi cheered and she swore she heard a reply in a very small voice before Irene turned around to face the net. Glancing up one last time, Irene started her climb and Seulgi worked quickly maintain the rope’s tension so that her partner wouldn’t feel insecure.

The rest of the watch cheered Irene on as she climbed because she had expressed her concerns multiple times as she waited for her turn - constantly asking Taeyeon and/or Yoona questions about potential dangers while completing the activity and asking those who had finished their turns their experience and how to go about it.

Seulgi, on the other hand, was dead focused at her task as Irene’s belayer - eyes never leaving the said girl as she slowly made her way up - making sure that the tension on the rope was just right.

“You’re almost there, Irene. You’re doing great! Just a bit more and you can reach the bell!” Seulgi craned her neck to look up at Irene who was nearly at the top. “You’re there! Now you just need to reach out your hand.”

Irene reached out her arm and rang the bell as loudly as she could, the ground team cheering with each ring.

“Alright. Good job, Irene.” Taeyeon congratulated their worry wart from earlier. “Now let go of the net and Seulgi will help you down.”

Irene suddenly panicked. “L-let go?? A-as in, hands off the net?”

“Yes, that’s what Taeyeon meant.” Yoona confirmed Irene’s fears. “It’s alright. Seulgi will keep you safe.”

“Yeah! I won’t let you fall.”

Irene looked down at Seulgi and nodded. And then, she let go.

***