♣♧♣ Chapter 3 ♣♧♣ “You have no idea where we are going, do you?” Sungmin asked, walking a little faster to keep up with Youngwoon, but as soon as Killer turned her face to see who was talking, Sungmin dashed backwards and ended up even behind Jongwoon, who was walking around 10 meters behind Youngwoon and Killer.   “She really won’t eat you,” Jongwoon laughed, “and even if she does, I bet she’ll make her move when you are asleep,” he added, merely to make him feel more relieved, but the results were the complete opposite.    “Great, now I can’t sleep at night anymore either,” Sungmin sighed anxious, already not looking forward to the fast emerging night as the sun was setting rapidly.   The three of them –or four, if you count Killer as well- had been traveling together for 3 days in a row. Even though they’d initially planned to travel as a group around the field battle and to split ways right after that, they had eventually ended up searching for town together. Sungmin and Jongwoon had whined and whined, because they simply had no idea where the town could be, and Youngwoon had eventually reluctantly agreed on them joining him to town.   For two days Jongwoon and Sungmin still had trust in Youngwoon knowing where he was going to, but the longer they roamed through forests, over hills and even through swamps, their trust diminished more and more. It had taken them the 3 full days to find out that Youngwoon himself probably had as less knowledge about the area they were traveling in as that they had.   “BREAK TIME!” Youngwoon yelled from up front, and he plopped down on a nearby log; a little harder than planned, but he smiled awkwardly and made sure Jongwoon and Sungmin couldn’t see that he was in pain. He was, after all, a man of pride. A man of pride shows no pain.   Sungmin and Jongwoon soon joined him on the rather large log. They took off their shoes, tucked their feet into the mud and sighed in delight. Youngwoon wrinkled his nose at the sight and grunted, this ritual of them was really disgusting. Why would someone stick their bare feet in dirty mud, of which you have no idea what might be hidden underneath the peaceful surface.    “You should totally try this,” Jongwoon, who sat next to Youngwoon, said, after seeing Youngwoon’s disgusted reaction for the umpteenth time after they treated their feet on a well deserved mud bath.   Youngwoon raised one eyebrow, rolled his eyes and shook his head in response, as if he tried to say that Jongwoon was just being a complete idiot by even suggesting something outrageous like that. He then grabbed his bag from the ground and searched for some food inside.   Youngwoon didn’t have much food supplies left. He figured that maybe he could hold on one extra day on the leftovers, but after that he was completely out of food. And that could only happen if Killer would catch her own food, and Youngwoon could eat her share he was carrying in his backpack.   He munched on some dry bread, when suddenly he noticed that Jongwoon and Sungmin were staring at him –well, more at his piece of bread- with hunger in their eyes. Youngwoon totally understood that they were hungry, as they hadn’t eaten all day, but he didn’t understand why they didn’t just grab some food out of their backpacks. It sure was large enough to contain a lot of food.    “Eat your own food,” Youngwoon mumbled, before turning his back towards them and continuing to eat his suddenly much more delicious tasting dry piece of bread. He gave a small piece to Killer, who seemed to be rather hungry as well, as they hadn’t encountered any bunnies in the last few days –which was obviously Jongwoon and Sungmin’s fault, as they chatted way too loudly-.   But Youngwoon could literally feel four holes being burned in his back by staring eyes, and sighed loudly, “Can you guys stop staring at me?”   “We’re out of food,” Jongwoon mentioned, continuing to stare at Youngwoon who eventually turned around to glare at them.   “That’s not my problem,” Youngwoon sighed annoyed. He just wanted to enjoy his piece of bread without being.. watched.   “But we are hungry..,” Sungmin mumbled sadly, him and Jongwoon giving Youngwoon their best pleading looks with the biggest eyes possible.   “I said, it’s not.. it’s.. it’s not.. … Fine, just take it.”   Youngwoon threw the final piece of his bread, that he had been saving up for the next day, at the two of them in defeat; not soon after they both munched on a part of it with satisfaction readable in their eyes. Youngwoon rolled his eyes and stood up to walk around the place for a little. It was getting dark rapidly, and they needed to look for a place to stay for the night. As they were in a rather dark and dense forest, this might just be the right place for them.   Youngwoon found a rather nice small open spot in the middle of the forest, which was big enough for all of them. There would even be some place for a campfire, and if anything might suddenly happen, they could rush themselves into the forest and into safety. This would probably be their best sleeping place this far. Well, this far if you count them traveling together. Youngwoon would have had much better sleeping places if those 2 morons didn’t walk after him like 2 lost puppies. On your own you can pretty much sleep everywhere and you don’t need a rather large open place to fit everyone in.   Jongwoon and Sungmin eventually joined Youngwoon at the open place, making sure to drag some of the wood they had found in the forest a little earlier with them. Youngwoon, as the hunter that he is, had it burning in no time, and they all gathered around the fire. It was getting cold rather fast, and them being up on a rather high mountain didn’t really make it any less cold either. Even Killer laid down close to the fire, to make sure she wasn’t too cold.   “Do you have much food left?” Sungmin suddenly asked Youngwoon, who stared at him in utter surprise. For the past few days they had been traveling together, there hadn’t been much conversation between the two friends and Youngwoon. Youngwoon was simply their guide, and nothing more.   “I’m out,” Youngwoon replied, turning his bag upside-down to prove that he was telling the truth. Only a few small breadcrumbs fell out of the bag and onto the ground, only to be eaten by Killer.   “We really need to find this town of yours tomorrow, else we are in big trouble,” Jongwoon concluded, Sungmin eagerly nodded and Youngwoon just blankly stared at the two of them. As if he didn’t know they needed to find town, isn’t that what they had been trying to do for the past 3 days?   “Well, excuse me for getting lost, I’m just a traveler you know, I have never been here before, how am I supposed to know the way better than you two do?” Youngwoon replied angrily. For the past 3  days all he heard were questions aimed at him, asking if he knew where they were going, or conversations behind his back about that he absolutely did not know where he was going. And even though it was the truth, it still did hurt Youngwoon’s pride. And even though these two kids annoyed him to the fullest, he still felt like he should get them to town, to prove that he was capable of doing so.   “You have never been here before?” Both Jongwoon and Sungmin asked in unison, astonished.    “Do I look like I’m familiar here?” Youngwoon snarled, he couldn’t believe that he had just admitted that he indeed had no idea where he was heading to.   “Oh my God, you really do not know where we are heading to,” Jongwoon gasped, and Sungmin just blankly looked at Youngwoon, incapable to say another word.     “All I know is that west from the murdered man is supposed to be a town, and we have been going west for days now.”   “And who told you that?”   “Three horse mounted men.”   “The three horse mounted murderers?! And you believed them?!”   Sungmin blinked as Jongwoon and Youngwoon continued their bickering. There was no reason for him to interrupt, Jongwoon was doing fine just on his own.   “They seemed sincere.”   “Sincere murderers?!”   “Well, just travel on your own then!” Youngwoon replied angrily, and he grabbed his bag from the ground before marching away. “Killer, come!”   Killer, however, had no intention to walk away from the warm fire, and didn’t move whatsoever.   “KILLER!” Youngwoon yelled ones again, staring at his dog furiously through the woods. She still didn’t move an inch though. Jongwoon and Sungmin stared at Youngwoon with one eyebrow quirked upwards, and Sungmin tried hard not to laugh. They could basically see Youngwoon getting a deep shade of pu