“Would you like to join me?”

There’s an awkward silence. Long enough to make Seungyoon start to feel like his feet are into the ground. He gulps. Summer breeze blows the leaves of the trees above them, causing the only sound between them besides the sound of birds chirping from afar.

“Um… No…” Lee Seunghoon hesitantly breaks the silence, a small grin soon follows after he answers.

Seungyoon nods as he wasn’t expecting ‘yes’ as the answer anyway, so he is not surprised. “Alright.”

“Yeah, sorry…” Seunghoon adds as he awkwardly scratches his jawline and lets out a crooked laugh. “We just know each other, so…”

“Yeah, yeah, sure. Understandable.” Seungyoon’s smile thickens as he hopes he can escape this uncomfortable situation sooner. “Enjoy your camping!” He politely waves his hand and turns his body to walk back to his tent. But, today is not a lucky day for Seungyoon, he trips on a rock slightly beside his foot when he takes a step forward and falls helplessly on his knees.

“Oh-no!” Lee Seunghoon steps closer trying to catch Seungyoon, but of course, it is too late. He leans over to help Seungyoon get up.

Seungyoon tries so hard to hide his face that is reddened by embarrassment, but he doesn’t have anything to cover his face, so he just looks down hoping Lee Seunghoon doesn’t pay attention. “I’m okay, I’m okay.” He says, wiping the dirt off his pants while trying to get up, ignoring Lee Seunghoon’s hand that offers him help.

“Are you sure?” Lee Seunghoon says with a concerned look on his face. “The fall didn’t look good.” He gently grabs Seungyoon’s wrist to help him just a little at least.

Seungyoon manages to stand up and lets out a weak laugh. “Yeah, pretty sure I’ll be alright.” He says, “Don’t mind me, sorry I took your time. Enjoy your camping, again.” and walks away carefully.

“Thanks,” Seunghoon replies hesitantly and leaves the site shortly after that.

Seungyoon walks back to his tent as he hears the sound of Lee Seunghoon’s car engine slowly heading away. He sighs and checks the time on his phone, it is nearly an hour since Minho left and he still has no idea what he should do. Nothing he can do except try his best to stay alive until he gets news from Minho. That can be as soon as possible, or, worst-case scenario, he has to stay there by himself all night.

“Should I pack these things?” He talks to himself. “Nah, I’ll be in trouble if I pack everything back but then it turns out I have to stay here.” He looks at the several containers that are still unpacked by the time Minho had to leave earlier. One of them looks like a coolbox. “Great,” His lips form a thin smile with the sight of beers inside the coolbox. “At least I have these.” He takes out one can of beer from the coolbox.

Seungyoon sits on the folded chair and takes a sip of the beer. He groans as he tastes the refreshing carbonated cold liquid passing through his throat that slowly turns warm inside his stomach. He slowly rests his back against the chair and takes a look at the view of the lake and the mountain behind it. Maybe he just needs to rest, enjoy the view, and calm down a bit. He takes a deep breath and slowly closes his eyes, trying to relax and feel the wind blowing against his face. In less than a minute, he lets himself absorbed into the comfort and falls asleep.

***

“Yes!” Seunghoon mutters to himself right after he checks out the time on his phone. “That was faster than before.” He refers to the time he takes to set up his tent and all the things he needs for his camping. He finishes everything, excluding lighting the fire, in one and a half hours. The last time he went camping, it took almost two hours to set up everything alone.

This is certainly not the first time he goes camping, and only the third time he goes alone. He has experienced enough. He is the essential camping type of guy, only brings the necessary things and prefers to improvise if anything unpredictable happens during the time he spends in the woods. For him, camping is not just a hobby or relaxing, but also to train his survival skills. As long as he has his tent, sleeping bag, first-aid kit, water, and food supplies, he will be fine. Everything else can be improvised.

“Woah, look at the view.” Seunghoon glances at the view behind him and proceeds to take photos of the lake, mountain, and the blue sky with a few thin clouds above using his phone.

When he moves his camera slightly to the sides of the lake, he spots the other camping site that is not too far from his site with a similar-looking tent. Then he remembers the guy who randomly asked him to camp with him. He chuckles. “I hope he’s doing fine.” He mumbles.

Seunghoon puts his phone back in his pocket and starts arranging a pile of dry firewood that he brought on the firepit, then he continues to set the fire using the torch. He just needs a few minutes to make the fire and is ready to cook his late lunch.

Without wasting more time, Seunghoon starts to prepare his lunch. He pours a small amount of olive oil onto the pan and opens the medium-sized food container with the pre-seasoned dakgalbi inside, then he transfers it onto the pan. The sizzling sound comes out immediately when the meat meets the hot pan. He smiles proudly at the dakgalbi he prepared in advance from home. This is one of the things he learned by camping from time to time: it is always better to plan your meal before you go on camping. Whether it is instant or fresh foods, make sure you have made up your mind on what are you going to eat and prepare them in advance. It will save more time and be less complicated.

Seunghoon moves to the other food container and takes the fresh vegetables out of it. He puts the veggies in a metal bowl, then he pours some water and gently rinses them. He drains the remaining water and begins to cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. He takes a smaller bowl and pours two tablespoons of olive oil, grabs a lemon, and grates the skin, then squeezes the lemon to get the juice. He adds vinegar, garlic powder, and dried dill into the bowl before mixing them. Just that, and he finishes making the dressing for his salad.

Seunghoon checks back on the dakgalbi and stirs it a few more times before taking a small piece to taste if it is ready to eat. He decides to let it be cooked for another five minutes and then transfers it to the metal plate.

Seunghoon puts the plate of dakgalbi on the table along with the bowl of salad and its dressing beside it. He grabs one can of coke from the coolbox and puts it on the table too. He takes a photo of his late lunch and begins eating.

“Hmm, I should’ve added more gochujang.” Seunghoon comments on his own recipes. “It’s not as spicy as I thought yesterday.”

After about half an hour, Seunghoon starts to feel full. He finishes his salad, but he looks at the remaining dakgalbi on the plate. He frowns. “I think I made too much. There’s no way I can finish it now.” He mumbles to himself. He transfers the remaining dakgalbi back into the food container and starts putting the dirty plates and bowls together in a large basket, ready to bring them to the restroom at the common area of the camping ground to wash them.

On his way to the restroom, he remembers again about the guy earlier. Kang Seungyoon. Why does he risk it by asking a stranger to be his camping partner? Why does he go camping by himself if in the end he still needs a partner? More and more questions randomly pop up in Seunghoon’s mind. “He’s strange.” He whispers. The more he questions and thinks about it, the more he believes that this Kang Seungyoon guy is not a professional camper. Then he starts to worry and feels guilty that he turned down the request earlier.

Seunghoon quickly finishes washing the dishes and is planning to bring some of his food to Kang Seungyoon, just as an excuse so he can visit him and see if he is doing okay before the day gets late.

By the time Seunghoon arrives at the A-41 camping site where Kang Seungyoon is staying, he tries to ho