Ji-chun kept shouting, but in the end, we continued filming. None of us were greatly affected physically or mentally. Hye-jeong and I were especially eager to keep going, so that’s what was decided in the end.
“Junho, really good job. You saved Hye-jeong,” Byung-hoon said, giving Junho an affectionate pat on the butt. Unfortunately, Junho looked far from happy. Byung-hoon then continued.
“But how were you able to remain standing in that current? I couldn’t do it, even Sung-hwan couldn’t withstand it. I’m really seeing you in a new light, Junho.”
“Um…Byung-hoon, the thing is…”
“Yeah?”
“It wasn’t me…” Junho answered, glancing over at me. As soon as our eyes met, I gave him a wink. Junho seemed surprised and turned back to Byung-hoon. I continued to eavesdrop.
“What are you talking about? If it weren’t for you, Hye-jeong and Sian would’ve drowned for sure.”
“Well…” Junho shook his head. “It wasn’t me. It was Sian. I was holding onto Sian’s shoulder the whole time.”
“What?” Byung-hoon said. He gave Junho a look of great disbelief. Junho gave him a look that said he was dead serious.
“How is that possible?”
“I can’t believe it myself. She wasn’t struggling at all…even the strongest man alive wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
Still looking shocked, Junho glanced over at me. I gave him another wink. Junho turned his head back to Byung-hoon immediately.
“Quit lying, Junho. I know you did it. No need to be modest,” Byung-hoon said, giving Junho another pat on the butt. But why does he keep doing that? Just seeing it made me angry.
“I’m not lying.”
“Then did you ask her how she did it?”
“She keeps saying she didn’t.”
“Then she really didn’t. Look at her. She’s so skinny. How could someone like that fight against the current? Quit lying or I’m really going to get mad at you.”
“Sigh…” In the end, Junho just sighed in defeat. With a frustrated expression, he looked at me. And once more, I gave him a wink. At that, Junho finally turned his whole body away from me, and this time, he didn’t look back.
***
We arrived at the beach just as the sun was reaching the middle of the sky.
“Wow!!”
The sky was a clear blue, and that sun! It was beating down on the water, making it sparkle like a thousand jewels. Who knew something like that could be so beautiful? Then again, we had to be careful. The moment we let our guard down, there could be another rainfall. Who knows what could happen by then?
“It was a good idea to come here,” Byung-hoon exclaimed. The rest of us agreed wholeheartedly and we began to run towards the water.
“Wow.”
I looked down at the sand under my feet. It was so soft. How could sand be this soft? I could almost eat it.
“It’s so beautiful,” Hye-jeong said, looking at the water. Who knew the girl had the heart to be touched by this sort of thing? She really was showing me a new side of herself.
“What a relief…” I heard lobster head producer sighing behind me.
I turned around and approached him.
“Oy, you! The ground will get dark with a face like that,” I said, trying to keep my voice casual.
“Oh. Hello, Sian.”
“What are you sighing for?”
“I’m just relieved. That incident could’ve ended really badly….I’m just so glad to see everyone so happy.”
“Really?”
Crack.
At that sound, lobster head producer looked down at his feet in shock. Then, he let out a surprised shout.
“What the!”
“That’s huge.”
The cracking sound was me stepping me on a crab. I picked it up. It was ginormous. It’s just about the size of my arm.
“Did you…break that with your foot…?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
I had failed to control my strength again. I felt bad for the crab…hopefully, he’ll be born as a much stronger one in its next life.
“What kind of crab is this?”
“Oh, that? It’s known as the Giant Crab.”
“Giant Crab?”
“Yeah. They’re native here at the beach. It’s a local favorite. They say it’s really good.”
“Wow.”
I was already excited.
“But they usually hide underground, so they’re hard to find. It’s a surprise you already found one.”
“Guess this one was unlucky,” I said, swinging the crab by its leg. I turned around and walked in the other direction.
“See you later, lobster head!”
“Okay.”
I approached the other cast members and showed them the crab. Everyone’s eyes widened at the sight of it.
“Wow…I’ve never seen a crab this big before…” Byung-hoon said, turning the crab this way and that way.
“I hope you know how to prepare it.”
“Of course!”
Byung-hoon gave a firm nod with his reply. He’s actually pretty good with food. There’s really nothing he can’t do.
“Now that we have a land animal, let’s go and catch a water creature,” he said.
He pulled out a harpoon. Where did he get that? In fact, he had six. One for each of us. The staff handed us wetsuits and flippers.
“Are we all going in?” I asked. Byung-hoon nodded.
“Let’s all go in together. Oh, is there anyone here who doesn’t like the water?” Byung-hoon asked. Though judging by the tone of his voice, it would be really funny if anyone answered in an affirmative manner. Luckily, no one answered and we all put on our wetsuits.
“I can’t believe we’re going hunting already. We just got here,” Ji-chun grumbled.
“Do you not like the water?” I asked with a smile. What? With the way he was grumbling, it seemed like he wasn’t a fan.
“Yep. I hate it.”
“Then why didn’t you say so?”
“Did you not see Byung-hoon’s face earlier? I mean, if you hate the water, then why would you come here? So how could I tell him I do?”
“I guess,” I said with a smile. Look at Ji-chun. He was the oldest out of all of us, but he wouldn’t dare cross Byung-hoon. Byung-hoon wasn’t the type to be easily controlled. He was, after all, already a major celebrity. He’s even famous in China. I approached Byung-hoon.
“It was pouring earlier, but it’s pretty nice here.”
Byung-hoon nodded.
“It only rained in that part of the forest.”
“What?”
“That’s how it is here. You can never guess where it’s going to rain and where.”
“I see.”
Soon, we all finished putting on our wetsuits. We approached the water awkwardly in our flippers.
“Oh!”
Hye-jeong slipped, but I immediately caught her.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m holding your hand a lot on this trip.”
“Do you mind?”
“Did I say that?”
Hye-jeong smiled at my response.
We continued in until the water reached our waist. Suddenly, Ji-chun shouted.
“Hey, Byung-hoon!”
“Yes, Ji-chun?”
“I can’t swim!”
“Huh? Then why did you come into the water?” Byung-hoon replied, looking perplexed. Seriously. Why did Ji-chun come in if he couldn’t swim?
“What was I supposed to say when your face was all condescending like that?”
“My face…?” Byung-hoon said, looking more confused.
“Yeah. Your face. So, I got scared and came in!”
“Oh…um…” Byung-hoon began to contemplate. Just then, Junho spoke up.
“I’ll look after Ji-chun.”
“Okay, then Junho will look after Ji-chun. Sung-hwan, you partner with Sian. I’ll look after Hye-jeong.”
“Okay.”
“Yes, sir!” Everyone answered one by one.
“Sian, the water is really deep,” Sung-hwan said, giving me a smile. I just nodded. For me, the water was already up to my waist. But for him, it only reached his butt. He was really tall.
“Sian, you can swim, right?” Sung-hwan asked patronizingly. I guess he’s a good swimmer.
“I get by.”
By walking on water if I wanted to.
“I see. Then you’ll be fine. You’ve never gone fishing, right?”
“Right.”
Please. I’ve been hunting my meals underwater as far as I could remember. And every time I went underwater, the Dragon King would meet me and invite me to his palace.
“I’ll teach you,” Sung-hwan said, sounding very sure of himself. Typical manly arrogance. So, I asked him.
“Have you ever gone fishing before?”
“No, but it can’t be that hard. For an athlete like me, this is nothing.”
“I see.”
Punk.
“Let’s go in,” Sung-hwan said, holding out his hand. I almost spit on it, but I held back.
“No need. Let’s just dive into it.”
“Oh, okay.”
Sung-hwan pulled back his rejected hand as we walked further into the water. Soon, the water reached my chest. Then my neck. Soon, I was completely engulfed by the water.
“That’s good, Sian. Let’s swim over there. There’s a lot of fish over there.”
“Okay.”
We swam over to the area with a lot of fish. Suddenly, I was really excited, wondering how good the fish will be.
I was about to dive in, when Sung-hwan held me back.
“What?”
“Sian, how are you feeling?” Sung-hwan asked, pointing his head camera at me.
“I’m curious as to what the fish taste like,” I said sincerely.
Sung-hwan began to look nervous.
“Oh…shouldn’t you be more curious about what the fish look like…?”
“That’s up to me.”
“Right,” Sung-hwan said with a nod.
“Then, I’m going in.”
Once again, I prepared to dive in. And of course, Sung-hwan blocked me.
“What now?”
“Sian, you said you’ve never gone fishing before, right? Watch me first.”
“You said you’ve never gone fishing before either.”
“Didn’t I tell you earlier? For me, this is nothing. I’ll try first and then teach you, so just watch me. If you just use the harpoon willy nilly, you could break it.”
‘Ugh…this is bullshit.’
I really wanted to shout at him, but the muscular VJ was nearby, filming everything with his camera.
“Alright then. Go ahead. Let’s see how good you are.”
“Watch carefully, okay, Sian?”
“Okay.”
I was this close to taking my flipper and hitting him on the head with it. With a wink, Sung-hwan dived underwater. I guess being arrogant about any sport comes with being an athlete. He must be really competitive too. Such a tiring guy to be around.
“Oh Sian, aren’t you going in?” the muscular VJ asked me behind the camera.
“Oh yeah. I’m going somewhere else. You should go under and film Sung-hwan.”
“Oh, but I’m supposed to film you.”
“Oh, really? Then let’s go over there.”
“Over there?”
“Yeah. Over there,” I said, pointing at a spot in the distance.
“Oh, okay.”
The VJ nodded. I began to swim towards another spot while the VJ followed me. I dived underwater to watch Sung-hwan. At the moment, he was having trouble aiming the harpoon. After multiple failures, he began to get mad and just speared the water with his harpoon. And…nothing. After watching him fail multiple times, I swam over to a different area.
“There are no sharks here, right?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What do you mean by ‘I don’t think so?’”
