Seungyoon drops his jaw when he sees what’s in front of him. He has never been the ‘adventure’ type when it comes to traveling or weekend vacations. He loves to spend the weekend strolling around the city, hanging out with friends or family at cafes, trying out new restaurants, going to theaters or concerts, shopping, and staycations. But anything related to nature? Not so much. Camping? Never done that before, not even interested.

Completely the opposite of him, his best friend, Minho, camping is his hobby, he’s done it a lot, almost at least once a month. He even succeeded in turning some of their other friends to like camping. Except for Seungyoon. He asked Seungyoon to try to go camping with him a few times, but Seungyoon always resisted.

“I thought you said glamping.” Seungyoon nags as he sees all the camping equipment that Mino has put neatly in the car.

“When did I say that? I said camping from the beginning.” Mino replies nonchalantly as he puts the last box that contains the food supply into the trunk. He’s lying. He didn’t say camping when he asked Seungyoon to hang out with him this weekend. He purposely said ‘glamping’ so Seungyoon would think it’s just a staycation in one of those resorts that offered ‘camping style’ lodging.

“Aish.” Seungyoon hisses, annoyed. “I feel betrayed.”

“Don’t worry. I have everything we need, so you just sit and relax. Camping is fun, you know.” Minho says. He then closes the car’s trunk and heads to the driver’s seat. “Besides, you’ve been so stressed out lately. Try to lose up a little. Trust me, once you learn how to prepare the camping site later, you’ll forget about everything else. You’ll feel better than going on a staycation in hotels where everything is prepared already.”

Seungyoon sighs. “So this is why you didn’t tell me the specific name of our destination, huh?”

Minho grins. “Come on, since you’re already here, let’s just have fun with it. Think about it as a new experience! You always say that you love to try something new.”

Seungyoon rolls his eyes. “Not this kind of something new.” He says before he gets into the car anyway. “If this turns out to not be better than my style of staycation, you owe me big time.”

Mino laughs. “I’m sure I won’t owe you anything.” He says and starts the car.

Although Seungyoon is not really into nature, he still enjoys the sight of the trees, meadows, and rivers that can be seen along their way. The camping site takes place near the mountains, so it is quite chilly even in the summertime like this. The weather is nice, the sun is brightly peeking up behind the thin clouds. The wind blows slowly, swaying the leaves and grass from the trees and meadows on the side of the road. They cross the bridge over the river. Seungyoon smiles when he sees a group of kids walking happily while eating ice cream and watching the ducks swimming in the river.

“See? We haven’t even started the camping yet but you’re smiling already.” Minho teases Seungyoon as he notices the thin smile on his best friend’s previously pouty face.

Seungyoon scoffs. “I’m still mad at you for lying.”

Minho laughs. “We’re almost there.”

***

They arrive at the camping site not long after. Minho parks the car for a few minutes at the entrance, in front of the administrator’s office to check-in, and comes back to the car with a paper bag in his hand.

“The owner of this camping site gave us this. Yay!” Minho says, handing the paper bag to Seungyoon.

Seungyoon takes a look inside the bag and sees a bottle of makgeolli. “Oh, wow.”

“The perks of being a regular.” Minho chuckles. “I camped here a few times and I never get bored camping here. They have a lot of camping spots with various good views.” He explains.

Seungyoon just nods since he doesn’t know what kind of camping site is considered as good or bad, he doesn’t have any reference. But he is starting to believe that his friend is right when they are entering the camping spot Minho chose for them.

The view is magnificent. The green grass stretches out before them and a variety of colorful summer flowers welcome them. They can see the lake behind them, surrounded by high mountains. The vibe is relaxing, it makes everyone want to just sit facing the lake with a good book and a glass of wine. Seungyoon is absorbed by the view and thinking of taking a few pictures of this view with his camera later on.

“Uhm, Seungyoon, I know the view is great, but let’s set everything first,” Minho says and starts unloading their camping equipment from the car.

Seungyoon puts his bag on the bench and starts taking out their stuff. “Why do you bring so much stuff?” He mutters as he tries to lift a heavy metal container.

“These are only the essentials though.” Minho grins.

“So, what now?” Seungyoon asks once all their stuff is unloaded from the car.