“Yujin, Nako, stop running around. You’re making the poor cameraman tired,” Chaeyeon shook her head and sighed exasperatedly.

“Hmm,” the short girl tapped her chin, “how about no?”

The main dancer looked at her incredulously, “I’m your unnie, how could you say that to me?”

“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, Chaeyeon unnie, but Yujin stole my shoe and she’s using her height advantage to keep it out of my reach.”

True to her word; when Chaeyeon finally observed the scene to its full extent, Yujin was sticking her tongue out and holding a shoe with her fully extended arm. Nako stood about an inch shorter with her needing to shift her weight with the lack of her foot apparel. She glanced around once more and noticed that the other girl who accompanied, as well as the food they were supposed to be searching for, was nowhere to be found.

Chaeyeon scratched her head, “Where is Minjoo, and where is the food?”

Yujin answered while jumping out of the way from Nako’s lunge, “She’s over there dragging the food over.”

Minjoo was dragging a whole bunch of bananas in one hand and two sacks of fruits and cassavas in the other. She was emerging from the edge of the forest and was followed by the assistant camera director, who pleaded to let him help her carry some of the weight. Of course, Minjoo being Minjoo, she refused the help with a big grin on her face and went on with her day like an innocent and naive bird.

“And you let her do all the carrying while you guys are messing around?” The older reprimanded the two, “I’m okay with you guys but don’t slack off and leave everything to Minjoo. You know how she is, she’ll do everything we ask without hesitating. And Yujin, you of all people should know that.”

The tall young woman’s stance faltered and she lowered her arm, and Nako took this opportunity to snatch her shoe back. She dusted her foot and slipped on her shoes, “Yeah, Yujin, go help your girlfriend.”

“Ugh,” the puppy groaned. “This… this is why I stole your shoes in the first place!” She stomped off towards Minjoo and grabbed the bunches of bananas from her hands, “Unnie, give it to me.”

“No, it’s okay, you can go play around.”

The younger shook her head and continued to help, “Nako unnie, c’mon and get a bag.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming, you love birds.”

Yujin only rolled her eyes in response even though it didn’t mask the redness on her cheeks. Likewise, Minjoo furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the floor as a failed attempt at hiding her flustered state. Nako grabbed one of the bags while snickering, and before she left she winked at both of them.

The short girl approached Chaeyeon and dropped the bag in front of her, “These are the things we successfully foraged from the dangerous depths of the jungle.”

“What do you mean ‘successfully’? Did something go wrong?”

“Well,” Nako shrugged, “there were several occasions in which we uprooted some small plants as we mistook them for cassava…”

“Oh my God, please don’t deforest the entire island on the first day,” Chaeyeon rubbed her temples. “Also, what happened between the two of them,” she gestured towards a certain frog and puppy, “Why are they so easily flustered all of a sudden?”

“Let’s just say I enacted my genius plan, and that you should watch the show when it airs. I have a feeling what I did will make it in the final cut.”

“Right… In any case, you should head on over to the campsite. Sakura unnie and Hyewon unnie already brought the fish and clams and stuff there. Also, you may wanna tone down the teasing. Wonyoung wouldn’t like it if both of her dearest unnies were constantly at each others’ throats.”

“It’s so in character of her to worry about me–” Nako, who was puffing her chest out, deflated and cocked her head, “Wait, what do you mean ‘both her dearest unnies’? You mean to tell me that Yujin is competing with me for that title?”

Chaeyeon shrugged and began walking to where Minjoo and Yujin were, “I dunno, maybe you should ask Wonyoung.”

“Unnie, answer me!”

“Nope, just get your over there.”

Nako grumbled under her breath as she hoisted the bag up and carried it back to camp. With one more look at Chaeyeon, Minjoo, and Yujin; she went through the strip of trees that separated the beach clearing that they made their camp at. She spotted Sakura and Hyewon approaching the rest of the group while grandly presenting three fish and other shellfish in the sacks; and in the distance, the others began cheering. They were cheering so loud that Nako could hear them from the other side of the lagoon, and it sounded like they were yelling right in her ear. For a moment, she almost felt bad that IZ*ONE was this loud. Almost.

Wanting to get in with the impromptu celebration happening (and to finally speak to Wonyoung after being separated for a while, though she’d never admit it), she quickened her steps and the crunching of the sand beneath her shoes became faster. She tripped a few times due to the uneven ground but still took off without sacrificing much of her speed. Eventually, she made it to the group and the first person to see her was none other than the maknae.

Wonyoung dropped the stick she was working on and ran to the short woman. “Unnie! What’d you get? Did you see any animals?” She practically dragged Nako over to the rest of the group and took the bag of jungle snacks from her to take a peek of the contents inside.

While the members were busy praising the food searchers for their work, Eunbi asked the young Japanese girl about the whereabouts of the rest of the searchers. “Where are Chaeyeon, Minjoo, and Yujin?”

“On the way, they made me go first.” She looked up at the leader and then at the shelter still under construction, “How long ‘till the house is done? It’s ‘Lunchie Time’ as Wonyoung would say.”

Eunbi tapped her chin, “I’d say we’re about halfway done but we’re going to take a break to cook lunch. We’ll get started when Chaeyeon gets here–” She stopped talking as she spots the topic of their conversation arriving with the remaining two girls and staff members following close behind. “Speak of the devil.”

She dismissed Nako to go and hang out with the rest of the girls while she went off to Chaeyeon, to, presumably, talk about what they would have for lunch. The short girl was about to speak with Hitomi and ask what she’d miss before she heard someone’s stomach grumble. Looking to her left, she caught sight of Wonyoung patting her belly with a pout. Nako gave a warm smile at the maknae and motioned for her to follow her. She led her to the sack of food she brought over, unaware that she had amassed a crowd of hungry girls behind her.

When she turned around, she was met with more faces than she had thought–with Yuri and Hitomi invading her personal space.

Yuri showed her a toothy grin with a smudge of ash on her cheeks, evidence of the sweet victory she had over starting a fire, “Are you gonna give us some snacks?”

“Hungry,” Hitomi simply added.

Wonyoung looked over her shorter unnies and gazed at them quizzically before shrugging and waiting patiently for Nako to present the food. It took a while for the short girl, however, to realize that the entire maknae line was there; as she saw that Yujin and Minjoo had joined them at some point in time, both of them sporting an expectant look on their faces.

All she could do was shake her head in mock disappointment with a small smile, “You’re lucky this entire group is chaotic, or else I would’ve made you guys get your own food.” She brought out some Fijian lychees and handed them a few each, “These are really sweet, and Yujin would know because she already ate, like, ten of them.”

“Guilty as charged,” the girl in question said as she happily received the fruit with both hands. “But can you blame me? You said it yourself, these taste good.”

“Seriously, Yujin-ah? I can’t believe you’d want to hoard all of these for yourself,” the main vocalist tutted, “Leave some for the rest of us.”

Everyone just gave sounds of agreement, or something akin to it, and snacked on their lychees.

“So, what are the unnies up to?” Minjoo asked.

Eunbi felt bad.

Not that something horrible happened–in fact, everything was going quite well and good. If one considered members hogging the only fire they had good. Eunbi stood and watched as Sakura and Chaeyeon tried to cook the shellfish into a soup on one side of the flames while Hyewon and Yena tried frying the fish in a pan on the other. She didn’t know whether she should be grateful that they were being efficient or that she should be scolding them for their unsightly behavior. Even Byungman was just standing there with confusion visible in his features.

The two cameramen that were assigned to film the unnie line cook had no idea on who to focus on, and it didn’t help that the other staff members were distracted by the maknae line and their antics. Chaewon was too busy staring at someone–probably Hitomi–in the maknae line and wasn’t even paying attention to the whole ordeal. That left only Eunbi to try and quell the chaotic atmosphere that hovered over the whole entourage.

She approached the girls near the fire, “How about you leave the cooking to Chayeon, Sakura, and I?” Eunbi grabbed Hyewon and Yena’s arms and dragged them over to Chaewon, “And how about you guys group up together again and go ask Byung-nim about the chicken he saw.”

“We’re on chicken duty again?” Yena whined.

While Hyewon said, “Chicken? Where?”

She pushed them towards the show’s main host, “Don’t ask me, ask our dear tribe leader.”

The younger of the 99z duo grumbled under her breath while the older tried her hardest to not drool all over the place. They pulled along a confused Chaewon, who had snapped out of her impromptu staring contest with a certain fluffy cheeked girl, and looked at them with disdain when she realized that she would be stuck with them for an unspecified amount of time.

“I cannot believe I’m stuck with you guys again, and for the same reason as last time too,” was the last thing Eunbi heard from Chaewon as the trio headed to Byungman and asked for the chicken’s whereabouts. When she looked over to check on them, Byungman and the three IZ*ONE members headed into the thickets of the jungle and disappeared within it.

Eunbi nodded, satisfied at the way she handled things. She turned to the remaining members and addressed them, “Now that we have that out of the way, I want Sakura to focus on the shellfish soup and I’ll be in charge of the fish. Chaeyeon, just help out wherever you see fit–be on standby.”

Finally, some semblance of order was established and they could work in relative peace. The process involved with cooking the two dishes went a lot quicker without any distractions; and as it progressed, the savory smell of the fish and the soup wafted through the air. It didn’t take long for the young members of the group to start congregating near them when the scent of food seduced them.

“Yo, I smell food!” the unmistakable voice of Yujin bellowed out.             

Wonyoung spoke next, “Yes! I was getting hungry, these lychees won’t last us long.”

“It’s not ready yet, you hyenas!” Sakura yelled as Yuri poked at one of the fish in the pan. “Get your filthy hands off the food!” the oldest Japanese member swatted at the other girl’s hands.

And just like that, the peace and quiet that Eunbi had carefully constructed was shattered faster than her trust with Mnet (but then again, who ever really trusted Mnet in the first place?). In came seeping through the cracks was the chaos she tried to keep at bay, and now the cameramen were struggling to keep up with everyone once more. Even the directors and producers were panicking at the sheer amount of pressure that the twelve girls were emitting.

Eunbi sighed; she should’ve known that even in the jungle, IZ*ONE was bound to make chaos appear out of thin air without any warning. She looked up at the vibrant blue sky and at the clear waters of the lagoon before her. She just hoped that the beautiful weather would hold up for the duration of their stay. Although judging from the state of the weather now, she doubts that the sky would darken and start crying.

That being said, it was time to feed the hungry children she had the fortune of caring now that the dishes were just about done.

“Come forth, my crazy children. The time for feasting is upon us!”

Well, it looked like Sakura beat her to it, as the second oldest announced dramatically that the food was ready.

The entirety of the maknae line flooded and surrounded the campfire and eyed the food hungrily like a pack of hyenas. And as if they needed more chaos, Yujin threatened the others by saying that she would eat everything; and of course, the response she was met with was a lot of anger.

“I’m going to take all of the food!”

“No! Get away and let us have some first if you’re gonna do that!” an angry Yuri replied, her Busan accent becoming more prominent the more she spoke. “Do you want me to throw you in the water and become a wet dog?”

Yujin backed away from the food, a little fear in her eyes, “Jeez, you don’t have to be so aggressive about it.

“Hmph,” the main vocalist flipped her hair and crossed her arms before sticking her tongue out.

At least with all the things happening, there was someone who was still acting like a normal human; well, as normal as one would describe IZ*ONE. Hitomi, who was the last remaining source of rationality in the maknae line, stood behind them and waited patiently for her turn. And she had the one thing that everyone else lacked.

“I appreciate your eagerness to eat, but you guys don’t even have a plate,” Chaeyeon said as she fought off the younger members with her tongs.

“But we have no plates, unnie,” Minjoo replied while trying to sneakily reach for a piece of the fish.

Eunbi swat the visual’s hand away when she noticed it, “Yah, Kim Minjoo, don’t even think about it.” When the younger pouted at her and brought her hand back, Eunbi continued, “And we do have plates, look at Hii-chan.”

Hitomi had a plate in her hands–just like Eunbi said–and waited patiently for her turn to get food. It was a bit bigger than what was usually found on the dinner table but it worked perfectly for the circumstances they were in.

Yujin, who ran to their backpacks in search of the plates, yelled to them, “There’s not enough plates for all of us.”

“There’s a reason why they’re bigger than most, bring them all over and we’ll share the plates,” Eunbi replied.

The second youngest brought them over and passed them out to everyone. The maknaes drooled and cheered as the fish and shellfish were evenly distributed between all of them. Wonyoung, being the sweetheart that she was, reminded them to save a plate for those who went out to go get the chicken. After everything was said and done, they had a plateful of leftovers that they could save for dinner; but knowing that they had Byungman and some members who were great at finding food, they gave the dish to the staff crew.

Minjoo and Chaeyeon went around and fed the cameramen, camera directors, and anyone who had their hands occupied with a task. They graciously accepted it and thanked them profusely for offering them food despite them saying repeatedly that they brought their own food. While this was happening, the rest of the members set up a semi-flat log as their makeshift table and gathered whatever they could find to be their chairs.

Eventually, they settled into their spots by the log and conversed among themselves while the cameras filmed them. Obviously, most of their conversation would be cut out due to time constraints during post-filming production but they tried to keep the topics general and less about their personal life. They talked about funny quirks that the maknae line had–like Yujin’s tendency to steal people’s food or Yuri dragging everyone into her role-playing antics–which were all entertaining to hear about, especially for those who didn’t live in the same dorm as them.

“By the way, how long do you think Byungman-ssi and the others will take?” Sakura asked after a while.

They all collectively eyed the plate of untouched food that was reserved for the four who headed out to, hopefully, bag themselves a chicken or two.

Wonyoung l