Everyone filed off the bus, pushing and shoving each other. The bus dropped everyone off on the outskirts of a national park, surrounded by miles of pure forests. The only reminders of the modern world being the white streaks in the sky left by passing planes and the gift shop twenty minutes away on foot.

The kids fled off to set their tents up. While most people preferred to share sleeping quarters with their friends, not this loner. She wanted no business at all with anyone close to her while she slept. She needed her own personal space. Which was why she brought a tent big enough for eight people just for her. She had borrowed it from Super Senior Sunggyu, whose class had gone to the beach.

As people trampled around to find the ideal spot to set up their tents, a cloud of dust and dirt trailed behind them. Paranoid about being too close to the lake, due to her horror movie knowledge, she settled with finding a wide open space by other people. That way, if some killer was to find them, she could offer up her more vulnerable colleagues.

She opened the backpack which held the massive beast of a tent. She had all the pieces laid out before her, now to set it up.

How did you set up a tent...?

Him Chan watched from a distance as Wonderbread picked up one of the supporting rods for her huge tent. While she had gone all high-tech in terms of sleeping conditions, Him Chan and Daehyun had a simple blanket and two rods. Their tent was basically a fort which any four year-old could construct. They pounded their fists after they set it up in five seconds and quickly crawled in. The tent was small in both width and height, probably three feet for both. As the two guys struggled into the cramp space, the tent had collapsed on the two. Each getting a metal rod to the face.

“This isn’t going to work...” Daehyun voiced, staring at what used to be their home.

Him Chan didn’t reply to Daehyun, as he tried to stifle his laughter. The Busan boy glanced at him warily, bewildered by his actions. The poor guy still had all of Him Chan’s doodles covering his face, the being the biggest of them all. The blond idiot loved that none of their classmates cared enough to point it out to him.

Daehyun had occasionally rubbed at his skin since it felt uncomfortable, but was still utterly clueless.

“Why don’t we try setting it up again? We can take turns on who gets to sleep inside the tent. I get today, tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday. You can get Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.” Him Chan suggested to the walking art project.

“Wow, I get it Friday, Saturday, and Sunday? How generous of you, Him Chan.” Sarcasm oozed from him, “If I wanted those days, however, I would just sleep in my own bed then. We leave Friday evening.” Daehyun said in his raspy voice that dripped with venom.

“Hey, I was just coming up with an idea.” Him Chan shrugged his shoulders.

“Your ideas always .” Daehyun droned.

“ you.” Him Chan stuck his tongue out, “At least I don’t have a face.”

“Real mature, Him Chan. Name calling?” He lazily rolled his eyes at his friend’s childish behavior. “That doesn’t even make sense.” He added on as he circled around the pile of sticks and blanket.

“Oh, yes it does...” Him Chan muttered underneath his breath as he tried to reassemble the failed tent. He stuck the two rods back into the ground and then proceeded to drape the blanket over the supports. “There. Our tent is up again.” Him Chan smiled, putting his hands confidently on his hips.

“Why did I ever trust you with bringing the tent?” Daehyun asked, lightly kicking it and causing it to fall over again.

“You said it was too much of a hassle for you to bring.” Him Chan reminded him of his words the day they had received the supply lists. “You already thought bringing toothpaste was even pushing it.”

“That’s cause other people would have toothpaste I could use.” Daehyun reasoned.

“Huh...” Him Chan took in Daehyun’s lethargic logic, “Maybe someone else has a tent we could share with?”

Daehyun’s ears perked up at Him Chan’s idea, “Your ideas are getting less stupid now. Congratulations.”

The two looked around their campsite. They saw Myungsoo with his friends, Sungyeol and Sungjong, throwing their things inside their tent.

“Wanna crash their tent?” Him Chan asked.

“No.” Daehyun quickly shot down the thought, “I heard that Myungsoo is a sleep talker and moves around a lot, Sungjong sleeps with a giant teddy bear, and Sungyeol messes with his friends when they sleep. You just picked a tent from hell.”

The two continued looking for potential tent mates, but Daehyun shot down one after the other with a simple shake of his head.

“Come on, Daehyun...” Him Chan whined, “Beggars can’t be choosers.” Him Chan was sitting on the grass, the blades brushing against his hands.

“I choose Wonderbread.” Daehyun ignored Him Chan.

“What?” His friend cried in shock. “Have you gone insane in the membrane? What makes you think that she’ll ever let us into her tent??”

“You said beggars can’t be choosers.” He quoted him exactly, “She doesn’t know how to set up a tent. We exchange your labor to be granted entrance to sleep in there.” Daehyun laid it out simply for Him Chan.

“My labor?” Him Chan focused on Daehyun’s last sentence.

“Mmhm.” Daehyun hummed as he began to stroll to the girl who looked like a lost sheep. Him Chan quickly got up from his spot and chased after his friend.

“Need help?” Daehyun asked the girl, with a blank face.

She looked up at him, staring at his crude face art, before swiftly replying, “What’s the catch?”

“No catch. Him Chan sets up your tent and we get to use your tent for the trip too.” He told her in a smooth voice.

“I’ll pass.” She returned to her task of trying to figure out what to do with one of the hooks that Sunggyu had thrown into the bag for the tent.

Daehyun’s eyes lit up, excited for a challenge, “If that’s how you really feel, then good luck with setting up your tent. I just hope that you’ll be able to have it up before dark. Don’t want you to end up as the first victim in case there’s a mass murderer on the loose.” Him Chan and the girl froze in place, at his words.

Killer?

“But, only stupid girls get killed first...” she tried to deny her impending death at the hands of some psycho in the woods.

“Stupid girls who can’t set their tent up?” Daehyun smirked. Daehyun didn’t speak often, but when he did, everyone listened.

The girl gathered all of the tent’s supplies and pushed them to Him Chan, who was busy playing out scenarios for how he’d die too.

“Set it up. Fast!” She commanded the blond, “There’s only four more hours of day light left.” Daehyun smiled, he was such a convincing liar. He strolled over to a nearby tree and napped. His work here was done.

Him Chan scrambled to set the camp equipment up, he and the girl both freaked out by the idea of a murderer. In under fifteen minutes, the huge tent was set up. The two paranoid kids jumped into the tent and hid.

They were both so alike and naive, Daehyun wondered why they both couldn’t get along. He faintly remembered the story Him Chan told him about them, but he couldn’t quite recall it. Daehyun shrugged and rubbed his cheek. His face felt so uncomfortable, but he couldn’t figure out why. He just concluded it was the forest air that was irritating his skin.

He stretched his limbs and started to head to one of the restrooms, maybe there was something on his face.

‘Dinner’s fast approaching.’ He thought lamely as he entered the bathroom.  

I have so much planned for this trip .____.b