It amused me, but at the same time freaked me out that our teachers were as committed to the game as we were. Was there a prize for them too? I had to ask Ian about that later I suppose. The warning bell had rung about a minute ago at exactly 10am, and the first round would last until 1pm. We had until then to work on our strategy, or rather, execute said strategy, whatever it was. I had to admit, I felt a surge of pride when Ian acknowledged me as his best scout, he didn't really have to add the 'from the whole year' part, him thinking so would already have me doing any of his biddings. After all, he did personally choose me to be a part of his team. Was that why none of my table-mates were here? I'm sure he knew Seulong and I were closer than most, but I gave Ian the benefit of the doubt.

Our base was located a few meters away from the tree where we first had out briefing. Out flag was stationed in a trench behind a few large boulders that served as our cover from the enemy groups. It was hard to find and seemingly easy to defend, but we were also at a slight disadvantage because of the numerous blind spots in the ridges. Ian and Seunghyun were our attack team, while the rest remained as defense and negotiations. It was base commander and our main strategist, this may be the only time I would acknowledge her presence, because even if I hated her, I had to admit, she had a very good strategy up her sleeve. The pressure now was on Seulong and me as the whole plan hung on the balance depending on what information we bring back for them.

Seulong and I trekked the woods behind the mountain lodge. It was free territory until the boundary lines, and the other seven teams plus the teachers' team could be anywhere. The terrain was your usual low montane foliage, leaves were littered across the forest floor, and the top canopy had wide spaces to let sun in. Stealth was not going to be easy.

“This would have been easier if we just played the game by class. Imagine how epic this could get.”

“Seulong, that kinda betrays the point of interclass relations.”

“Why are you even so up for it- oh right. You're just happy Ian-hyung picked you to be in his team.”

I slapped Seulong in the arm and rolled my eyes. “You call Ian, hyung?”

“Not to his face. Besides, you call him just Ian, not even oppa. You're not one to talk.”

Touche.

Seulong had caught me offguard that I was at a loss for words for the rest of the trek. I hadn't realized Seulong had noticed, and I had to admit, it was very careless of me. I just hoped Seulong thought my calling Ian by his given name was under the same umbrella reason the class had difficulty referring to him as our teacher: he was our friend first.

“So what's with you and Jay?”

Once again I was frozen in my tracks. I didn't even know what to say to that. Denial would lead Seulong to think that there really was a thing with Jay, and there was no way I was going to affirm Seulong's suspicions. It hit me by then that perhaps Minji was thinking the exact same thing. Why was everyone insinuating that Jay and I even had a thing when obviously there was nothing there at all! It was preposterous!

“That is just absurd Seulong.” I finally managed to let that statement out, but Seulong only looked at me, completely amused with my reaction.

“Is it now?” he teased and I ignored him. I didn't want to talk about Jay, not with Seulong, not with Minji, not ever. “Oh come on, Jay's been hanging around you since the first day of classes, what's up with you two? And last night on the bus too, very sweet.”

I gave Seulong a punch to the arm, but he just laughed and swatted my hand away. “Nothing,” I stressed through gritted teeth. I did not need Seulong's persistence when it came to my personal life. I needed damage control over the Jay situation, it looked like more people than I would ever like knew about this morning- Taec. Oh dear. Taec, Minji, Seulong, Junho, even Ian. Did I owe them all an explanation? Granted, I had nothing to do with it as I was just a victim of Jay's overbearing ego, but was that enough? How much trouble would Jay get into? Did I even care?

Well, to be honest, then yes. Yes I did care if Jay got into trouble, but not for the reasons Seulong thinks.

“You think we can capture the rest of class B and turn them into our team?”

“Seulong, I don’t exactly like our team either, and that’s actually a good idea. Do you think it’ll work?” Was it even plausible? First we needed to find everyone’s base, but that didn’t mean our classmates would even be there, and not everyone from class B was going to be useful. Actually, it didn’t matter if they were useful, I was pretty sure Seulong would find something to do with all the other members.

We continued up a hill, and I had to pull Seulong down low just so he doesn’t stick out too much because of his height. We crawled towards the top, trying to make the least amount of noise as possible, Ian didn’t say anything about the use of phones, and Seulong was thinking the same thing. He was already taking pictures of the base right across the hill.

“We need codenames,” Seulong stated. “Team 1 is the leader team, Mr. Jungmo and Ms. Jiyeon are a scary team-up, plus they have a good mix of brains and brawn. I’m surprised Mr. Jungmo didn’t get more As in his team, but this makes more sense.”

“Or he’s scared of Ms. Jiyeon. It’s C-dominated, I almost feel sorry for Changmin and Sunye- maybe not so much Sunye.”

Seulong laughed. “Well, Team Leader is stationed next to the creek. Typical.”

The Team Leader flag was situated in a circle in the creek. Yes, in the water. It was about a meter or so wide, and Boram, Seungho, and Mr. Jungmo were guarding it. “What were the rules about capturing an enemy?”

“Get a flag, then you decide whether they become teammates or get disqualified, same goes for a single member. Either absorb or jail.”

“Let’s go get Changmin, I don’t care much for Sunye.”

“Evil aren’t you. Let’s get all the Bs, the Dance Crew is a good team too, good coordination, we need more of those. We’re like the loser team. Hyung probably got to pick last.” I agreed with Seulong, there really wasn’t anything special in our team other than mine and Seulong’s stalking skills.

“That’s one team down, seven more to go.” I heaved myself off the ground and slowly skidded downwards.

We needed to find all seven flags then decide which ones were enemy and which ones were possible teammates. At any given point, we could be under attack from at least two teams, and even from all seven other teams. What kind of game was this? Unless this was the main objective? Which I still don’t completely understand.

All Seulong seemed to think about was gathering the whole of Class B. “Hey,” he said, walking past me. “You think we can sacrifice the other team members from A and C, and keep the free cut for B?”

Tempting, and very unfair. Did we really want to be at the receiving end of A and C’s wrath? Well, at least I know they would never team up against us. Never, as in, they would never get along. “Well, I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Won’t the others catch on to that?”

Seulong shrugged. “Yeah so? It’s not like we’re all buddy-buddy with any of them.”

Oh how much he sounded like Minji just then. Speaking of Minji, “How do you think Minji’s fairing? I mean...you know how she is.”

“Well, she has Junho with her so she should be fine. He’s the only one she listens to anyway, besides Junsu, but not so much Junsu.”

“Yeah, she has Junho there with her.”

“You don’t sound too happy.”

I hated the teasing lilt in Im Seulong’s voice. “What now.”

“Aren’t you one hot issue. Make up your mind, why don’t you.”

What? What was he even talking about now? I sent him a sidelong glance, but he only continued smiling. I really didn’t want to think about it any further as I suppose, you can say, the priority was the game. You could say it was a matter of how much we wanted the prize, but really, it wasn’t about the prize. Ian would say the same thing. It wasn’t about the prize.

“Hey, wait a minute.”

Seulong and I stopped immediately as we heard rustling noises from our right. Seulong’s head darted left and right as he located the source of the sound, he put a finger to his lips and crouched low. I followed him down as we took a cautionary step forward, making sure we muffled the sound the leaves crunching under our feet.

“What were the rules of engagement again?” Seulong whispered.

I shook my head vigorously, “I have no idea.” I mouthed. Ian didn’t exactly explain the rules coherently and extensively. All he said, was that if we get caught, we run back to base as fast as we could. He took Seulong aside for a moment after our meeting while Renn and the others were setting up. I had yet to ask Seulong what Ian had said to him, but I didn’t think now was a good time to ask him about that, was it?

Because there were eight teams, it was not possible to divide the whole perimeter into eight territories thus eliminating the capture rule under enemy territory. And just as Seulong had said, Ian instructed us all to just run back to base as fast as we could if ever we were intercepted. We should have been running by now, but both Seulong and I were still crouched low behind a tree waiting for whoever it was to come by us. I didn’t know about Ong, but I wanted to know who was passing by because that meant another base camp could be nearby.

We could only assume that the footsteps were getting closer as the crunching noises became louder. We were sure that the people. or whatever it was, were going to appear from our right, so Seulong and I kept our eyes peeled, anticipating.

“No, I don’t think that was a very smart idea, putting all the couples together.”

“Yeah, but we’ll see. Mr. Jung and Ms. Cruz picked them out right? I think they just want to prove a point.”

“And what’s that?”

“The only real couple there is Junsu and Fei, and according to the other Bs, they’re on and off, so who knows. Maybe they want to see who lasts and who doesn’t? Even though Byunghee and Qri aren’t even dating, neither are pretty boy and Barbie #whatever, and those two Heirs.”

“I still don’t get it.”

One thing was for sure, and Seulong and I both knew it. These two girls were both from class C, and we had about a three seconds to decide if we were running or not. Only, it was already too late; both Bom and Injung noticed us, and the four of us were pretty much at a standstill staring each other down waiting for the other to make the next move.

“Run!”

Seulong was the first to take off and chase the girls to make them prisoners as we agreed non-Bs to be. I followed after him as both Bom and Injung ran back to their base as well. There was, however, one issue. Bom and Injung both separated and Seulong was a very fast sprinter. He ran after Bom, and in a matter of seconds, I already lost all three of them. Lost, and out of breath, I sat down on a large boulder to regain my strength. I didn’t think I was lost, not really. It wasn’t that large and thick of a forest, but it wasn’t exactly advisable to go through it alone. I pulled out my phone to call Ian, but voices from behind me had stashing the phone back into my pocket.

I peeked through the top of the pile of rocks, and down the trail, was another enemy flag, Bom and Injung’s, Ms. Eunhye and Hyunjoong-oppa’s. Sungmin, Donghae, and Ryeowook were the camp guards; it didn’t look too hard to infiltrate, the flag was simply positioned in the middle of a flat ground. It was easy to spot, but it wasn’t easy to capture, not if the guards could as easily see you as well.

Now, if only I remembered the direction I had been running.

It was already half past eleven, and Seulong and I promised Ian to meet back at base at noon. Given the situation, my not knowing where I was exactly and all, it didn’t look as good as I had hoped. I checked my pockets for my phone, but like all bad TV episodes, I should have realized sooner that it had ran out of battery. I sighed into the large rock behind me. What now?

[A/N]: Woot. Okay so status report. This is now my priority fic and what I shall be working on full-time from now on. Because its the last three weeks of the semester for me I will be busy, and therefore updates will be slower, but as soon as summer starts, this is going to get done within a few weeks. wehehehehe. Everything is all planned, I just need to get it written, and to do that I need time. Which...I have this summer. So yes. I'll see you all then. Woot <3