"How will everyone else know that Jaehyo's out?" You asked as you jogged after P.O. He was actually slower than you thought. But it did make sense. He was all brawn, so even if he did get caught, he could just beat the person senseless.

"We can feel it." He explained to you. He saw the look of confusion on your face and decided to explain further, “Sorry, it’s hard to explain. Right now though, I can feel one person being chased. Two others are together south from here. And this next one isn’t something I feel, but something I just know. There’s no doubt in my mind that Zico and Kyung are together.”

You didn’t ask him how he knew. You didn’t want to know. What was important now was focusing on the current situation. If Zico and Kyung were together, you were sure to not have very good chances for surviving much longer. You could put up a fight but you were much weaker than any of the hunters. But now, you had P.O with you. If you could somehow regroup with the rest of your team, you could increase your chances of survival. “We need to regroup.” You voiced out your thoughts to P.O.

He smirked as he continued at his pace through the forest, “Where do you think we’re going right now?”

You held back your thoughts as you followed P.O through the forest at a fast-walking pace, something he apparently considered as fast. You were more than surprised that you actually had to hold yourself back from just sprinting ahead of him. Then another thought popped into your head. Zico may have been telling the truth when he said he couldn’t catch you. Before your thoughts could continue on, P.O suddenly stopped.

When your eyes adjusted to the light around you, you realized the forest around you looked the same as where you were just before. There were endless trees in every direction. Light shone down from the tops of the trees. There was nothing particularly special about this part of the forest. Same dirt, same grass, same trees. “Here?” You questioned P.O as you observed the surroundings one more time. Still, nothing caught your eye.

“We’re here. Come on out.” He spoke out loud to no one in particular. You looked ahead of him, trying to hear any kind of movement. Suddenly, something fell down right next to you. You quickly flinched and almost fell onto the ground. As you got over your surprise, you realized that nothing fell down from the tree. On the contrary, something jumped down from the tree.

“U-Kwon.” You breathed easily as you realized that it was he who had jumped down.

He cracked a smile at your facial expression as he dusted himself off. P.O was the first to ask the question you were both wondering now, “Where is Taeil?”

U-Kwon’s smile turned into a frown. His expression became serious. “We were together until a moment ago. B-Bomb showed up.”

“So the two of you split up?” P.O guessed with a grim look on his face.

U-Kwon nodded in acknowledgement, “Thing is, B-Bomb disappeared. Taeil told me to go see if I could scout the area. Next thing I knew, the two of them were sprinting off in another direction; too far for me to catch up. B-Bomb went after Taeil, not me. And well, that’s when I felt the presence of three people. One running through the forest like a torpedo and two others following behind.” He looked at you and P.O, thinking over his observations again. He suddenly pointed to you, “I assume you were the one being chased?”

You nodded slowly. U-Kwon got a smile on his face as though he was satisfied by your skill. Yes, running away was definitely your strong suit if it even made the quick footed U-Kwon proud.

“And you were following behind?” He gestured toward P.O who also nodded in confirmation, “Then someone really did get out? Who was it?”

“Jaehyo.” You answered, a chill down your spine as you remembered the encounter with Jaehyo from just before. You knew it wasn’t a real knife but you still felt like it was. Your life still seemed to flash before your eyes as it threatened to penetrate your skin. You had felt such a strong feeling of fear your body trembled then, and even now.

Both U-kwon and P.O noticed your feelings. You were easy to read. However, they also knew that you weren’t comfortable around them yet. You may have said you were, but they could tell you were not fully behind them. Thus, they didn’t say anything. P.O held himself back despite wanting to say something to you. U-Kwon wanted you to open up about how you feel on your own but he wouldn’t pry where he wasn’t needed.

U-Kwon tsked and bit his bottom lip, “Not that I’m not happy. Jaehyo being out so early definitely saved us a lot of trouble. If only it could have been one of Zikyung, then I would really be celebrating.” You were confused about who he was talking about. He saw your look and laughed, “The inseparable Zico and Kyung couple. They’re at their best when they’re together.”

“Which means they’re more dangerous.” P.O noted. He moved his long sleeve up to see the watch on his wrist. “It’s been two hours since we started.”

“Seriously?” U-Kwon feigned being tired all of a sudden, “No wonder I’m so hungry.”

“I have an energy bar.” You started to dig into your bag for the nutrition bar you had stuffed in there a few hours ago. As soon as you pulled it out of your bag, he grabbed it hungrily and started to basically rip the package open. You couldn’t help but laugh. You immediately stopped upon realizing what you were doing.

U-Kwon was the one who broke the silence. He got a large smile on his face as he lightly pushed your shoulder, “That’s more like it.” P.O pushed your other shoulder with a grin.

U-Kwon started to discuss with him about the number of energy bars he’s eaten. You gulped down and relaxed your facial muscles. After all that talk to yourself about keeping your guard up, it easily crumbled at the hands of U-Kwon’s antics. Stronger. You had to become stronger. Not just to remain unattached to the hunters. Not that. You had to prepare yourself for what was to come. Now that you were in the middle of it, you couldn’t run away anymore.  Definitely not because of something like fear as you had earlier from Jaehyo. Your mind had to work faster. Your moves had to become faster. There was no more going along with the flow. That’s when you remembered Tiffany’s words to you. She told you she thought you could do something about everything that was going on. You wouldn’t let her words become untrue.

You focused back on U-Kwon and P.O, who were now trading snacks with each other. Even though it had been two hours since the training started, you were confident in the thought that all four of your team was still in it. As long as you kept those odds, who knows, you might actually be able to win this with them. Your thoughts left you as you realized that the two hunters beside you went dead silent, their light-hearted conversation from earlier completely gone with the wind.

Suddenly their expressions went dark. U-Kwon spoke first, “Not good.”

Before you could even question what was not good, P.O answered it for you. “Someone else just got out.”

There could be only four possibilities. Of course though, it looked like your partners had a pretty good idea of who was now out of the game.

“There goes the plan to look for Taeil.” U-Kwon grumpily unwrapped another energy bar and took a large bite.