Maroon text expresses that the characters are speaking in Korean.

The sunlight shone through the small spaces in between the blinds, illuminating the room slightly. An oddly shaped mass shuffled underneath a mess of blankets, a low, almost inaudible snore came from it. On the side table, a pink cell phone lit up and began to vibrate. It made a buzzing sound as it shook on the hardwood surface of the table. The mass underneath the blankets shifted again, this time a pale arm s out from underneath, groping around the table, finally fumbling with the phone. The person retracted their arm back and squinted at the small screen. The words “Unknown Caller” flashed and she scoffed in annoyance. She decided to pick up to tell off the person calling and pressed the answer button.

“Hello?” She mumbled.

“Yes hello? Is this Marissa Flynn?” The voice on the other line sounded very business-like, very official, and definitely someone, Marissa thought, would be difficult to tell off.

“Uh yeah?” She answered lamely.

“Great! I’m calling about your entry to Survivor and I would like to say congratulations – you are now an official contestant. Your celebrity partner will be joining you in about three days time so please plan accordingly. Also, we’ve sent over a start-up package which should arrive tomorrow. That is all, good day to you!” Marissa could only blubber over the now dead line. Survivor? Since when did she apply? Hadn’t the season already started? Why…

And then she thought of something absolutely farfetched, yet it seemed to be the only plausible explanation. She had one person in mind that could have done something like this and he was also the one person that she had expressed any desire to be on Survivor. Suddenly wide awake, Marissa roughly pulled the blankets off of herself, making them fall into a messy pile on the ground. She began ransacking her drawers, clearly in search for something.

“Where the hell did I put it?!” She mumbled angrily, eventually getting on her hands and knees; she pushed away the blankets and leaned down to look underneath her bed. She felt around for a bit before grasping something rather promising. She quickly snatched her hand back and looked at the object she had grabbed.

“Sweet!” She jumped once in excitement with her phone in one hand and a plastic card in the other. She then dropped down on to her bed and turned to her side. She scanned the instructions on the card and began hastily scratching off the grey, rectangular box, revealing a pin code. She began dialling the number and it rang twice before an automated voice answered.

“Hello. If you are using a touch-tone phone, please press one.” Marissa pressed the number one without taking the phone away from her ear. It then guided her through another set of instructions and at last, she was able to dial the phone number that was so clearly embedded into her memory. The tone disappeared for a bit and then it began to beep. She threw the calling card aside and turned to lay on her back. She waited as she could hear voices in the background.

“Hello?” Marissa scoffed a bit as she heard the Korean greeting over the phone – it had been such a long time since she’s heard the language.

“Well hello to you too, miss me?” She replied. Her Korean was understandable and she was considered fluent for a foreigner. Nonetheless, her words were lined with the accent of her native tongue. She heard a small gasp on the other end and she smirked.

“Ma-ree-sha?” Marissa couldn’t suppress her giggle and spoke again.

“Yah, I told you to just call me Mari. Marissa’s too long.”

“Haven’t changed have you Mari – it’s been a while. Why are you calling? You’re normally sleeping at this time.”

“See that’s why I called – my beautiful dream was interrupted by a very peculiar phone call. You curious?”

“Naturally.”

“Well a lady called me telling me that I am now a contestant in Survivor. Do you think you know anything about this?” There was a pause after Marissa had asked and she heard him chuckle.

“Who, me?” He asked innocently and Marissa sighed, rolling her eyes.

“You totally just rolled your eyes didn't you Mari, gosh.”

“Hyunseung! That’s not the point here, I’ve just been told I’m supposed to go on some show that’s supposed to have already started. Care to explain? Or am I going crazy?” She heard Hyunseung clear his throat somewhat nervously. Bingo.

“Okay I’m sorry, I wrote you an application okay. But I have a good reason for this!”

“I’m listening.” Marissa sighed exasperatedly. Hyunseung took a deep breath before going on.

“Yoseob and I were told to go to a filming site the other day by Hong-sansengnim but we weren’t told what it was for. There were other celebrities there and then there was some official there or MC – whatever. And they told us about a new show concept that sounded so much like Survivor and to my surprise, they’re creating one special version for Korea. Honestly, I was a little sceptical about it but then they started explaining the differences between this Survivorand the one you always made me watch…”

“Hey, you liked watching them with me!” Marissa cut him off.

“Yeah yeah okay anyway, we’re supposed to travel to a total of six countries and complete different tasks. It’s like one big scavenger hunt that’s supposed to go on for about 2 months. The thing that makes it special is that we, the celebrities, get to be paired up with different people from those particular countries. When they told us Canada was on the list, I immediately thought of you and well…” Hyunseung’s voice trailed off but Marissa couldn’t help but to feel a little sceptical about the whole thing.

“Jang Hyunseung, do you promise me that you’re not lying about anything.”

“Mari! How the hell am I supposed to come up with all of that on my own?” By the tone of his voice, Marissa was somewhat reassured that he was telling the truth – or at least what he believed was the truth. Marissa still thought that the whole thing was fishy but if the order had come directly from Hong-sansengnim, then there should’ve been some shred of truth in it.

“So does that mean we’re partners?” Marissa asked and Hyunseung cleared his throat again.

“Well, it’s not guaranteed that we’d be partners but I’m sure they’ll put me with you.” He said but Marissa could hear traces of insecurity in his words.

“You are so dead if we’re not partners.” She threatened and he retorted with a smart aleck remark and they went back and forth for a while.

“But what if I don’t like who I’m paired up with?” She confided in him and he sighed a little.

“You’ll be fine, it’s not like you’re antisocial, just be yourself.”

“Yeah but what if he doesn’t like me?”

“Mari, just calm down will you?”

“Easy for you to say Mr. Celebrity – you forget that you’re talking to a nobody who can only speak simple Korean. What do I do if we don’t understand each other?” Hyunseung groaned and she heard the sound of something making contact with bare skin and Marissa guessed that Hyunseung had just slapped his forehead.

“You’re not a nobody and your Korean’s gotten much better since the last time we talked.”

“I can’t tell if you’re just being nice Hyunseung, but –“

“Hyunseung-hyung, a noona just dropped this off for you.” Marissa was cut off by the sound of Dongwoon’s voice. She heard a shuffle of papers and sighed.

“Do you have to go?”

“No, Mari I just got the list of who the partners will be for Survivor!” Hyunseung said excitedly. At the mention of the show, Marissa sat up and her heart started beating fast.

“Well?”

“Oh Mari…you’re going to be with –“ And the line went dead.

EDIT (Jan 14): Sorry it took so long to post up the first chapter! But here it is and to avoid confusion, I did mention that I was only choosing six applicants. That is because I had already drawn up the first character in my head and on paper, but I still haven't figured out the pairings. The cut off is tonight and I will be looking through all the applications. Please expect to see the results by no later than January 16, 2011. Thanks again everyone!