Everyone scattered. Well…everyone except me…and one more person. That was Junho, but he was hiding behind me.
“Go, Sian!”
Seriously? That’s it? Ugh. Anyways, the giant rat was running at me with incredible speed. In response, I sent my foot flying towards its face.
Pow!
Squeak~!
Crash.
Thud.
The giant rat went down. Guess it wasn’t so tough after all.
“Well, that was easy.”
“I knew you could do it!” Junho cheered, still standing behind me.
I walked up to the rat and looked down at it. It was still alive while its body was twitching as it continued to cry out.
“Squeak squeak…squeak squeak squeak…squeak…squeak…”
I actually understood. As I’ve said before, my best friend was one of the most skilled masters of my time. He could understand dogs and he taught me how to understand them as well. And with that came the ability to understand other animals. What the rat was saying was:
You fucking piece of trash! You’re worse than cats!
But surprisingly, it wasn’t finished.
“Squeak…squeak…squeak squeak squeak…squeak squeak…”
Which translated to:
I should’ve cut your dick off when I had the chance…
Seems like the poor guy can’t tell genders apart. As a woman, I don’t have a dick. Anyways, considering all the rude stuff I just heard, I had no desire to save its life. So, I sent a kick flying towards its head. It flew back some ways before landing on the ground again. He was dead before it did.
Everyone else who ran began approaching it slowly.
“Are you guys okay?” Byung-hoon asked me and Junho. He looked worried as if he’d forgotten that he was the first one to ditch us earlier.
“Wow! Who caught it?” he continued, looking down at the rat. I pointed at Junho, whose eyes widened in shock.
“You caught it!” he hissed at me.
“Just say it’s you,” I whispered back. Junho finally nodded though he looked rather guilty.
“Yes, it was me.”
“Good for you, Junho!” Byung-hoon said, looking at the man proudly. Like he was a teacher looking at a fine student.
“How did you catch it?” he asked, staring at the rat again.
“I kicked it,” Junho answered. Byung-hoon then nodded.
“Looks like it. The head is all crushed on one side. How hard did you kick it?”
“Hahaha…”
Junho glanced at me. I shrugged.
“Well, looks like we have lunch! Great job, Junho!” Byung-hoon exclaimed. Everyone else cheered soon after.
Then, we went back to finding shelter.
“Hey, Sian,” Junho said, standing next to me again.
“What now?”
This was annoying. I wanted to talk to Miyeon, but I couldn’t thanks to this guy.
“Why are you letting people think I caught it….”
“It’s easier that way. Besides, I have my image to think about. Male fans won’t like it if I act too tough.”
To be honest, there was no point in trying to save my image now. My current image was stuck as far as the public was concerned. I can’t say for sure that all the male fans have left me, but there were definitely a few. Not too much, but compared to the female fans, the men were almost nonexistent because I had so many female fans. Not that I mind though…
“Well, I guess I can’t argue with that.”
“Yep.”
“Do you plan to catch a lion as well?”
“What?”
How in the world did he know that?
“So you do.”
“How did you know?”
“Wait, seriously?”
“Yes,” I admitted.
“Then…take me with you.”
“What?”
He was sounding crazier by the minute.
“I want to go lion hunting too.”
Roar!
And just then, we heard a lion’s roar in the distance as everyone went rigid in shock.
“Whoa.”
“Wasn’t that a lion?”
“Is it close?”
Everyone stared to talk, looking worried.
“There’s no need to worry,” the interpreter translated, but no one believed him.
“Hey, Junho,” I said to him.
“Yes, Sian?”
“Are you making fun of me right now?” I asked, sincerely curious. It was rather funny to think that he’d actually believe me when I say I’m going to catch a lion. If he is making fun of me, I planned to make him pay for it.
“No, I’m not. I’m dead serious,” Junho said sincerely. He added, “I believe you when you say you’ll catch a lion. Plus, I really want to go with you.”
“….”
What’s up with him?
“Fine, then. I’ll let you know when I go to catch one, but don’t go changing your mind on me.”
“I won’t.”
‘Weirdo,’ I thought to myself.
***
“This looks like a nice area,” Junho said, looking around. The area had big trees that casted shadows over a big clearing. A good place for a shelter.
“You guys okay with that?”
“Yes,” we all answered. If it was good enough for Byung-hoon, then it was good enough for the rest of us.
“Let’s build our shelter here then. But there aren’t any warthogs around here, right?” Byung-hoon asked teasingly.
Oink oink…snort snort…oink…
In the distance, we could hear the sounds of a warthog. We all looked in that direction and to our surprise, we saw a warthog waddling out.
“Whoa.”
“Um…”
“….”
We all stared in shock.
The first thing we decided to build after that was a fence.
“Will this keep the warthog out?”
“I’m not sure,” Byung-hoon said, looking concerned. He built it himself, but even he didn’t seem too sure about it. Just then, Lobster Head came over to us.
“As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the warthogs around here don’t attack people. Your fence is more than enough to keep it out.”
“Is that what the guide said?” Byung-hoon asked.
“Yes,” Lobster head said.
“Then, it might attack us.”
Seems like Byung-hoon didn’t believe anything the guide said anymore. So, we worked on strengthening our fence.
“Now for our shelter. But who should go find us some food…”
Byung-hoon looked at each of us before choosing.
“You, you, and you.”
Junho, Minwoo, and me.
“Actually, wait. Minwoo, you stay. Junho and Sian, go get us some food. Fruit, if you can.”
“Yes, Sir,” Junho replied.
“Okay,” I said.
“Will it be safe?” Byung-hoon asked, still clearly thinking of the warthog.
“They’ll have someone go with them, so don’t worry,” Lobster Head cut in. Was he the assistant producer or our guide?
“That’s good. You two, go ahead. Minwoo and Miyeon, you guys will build the shelter with me. Nothing too fancy. Just do as I say, okay?”
“Okay,” Minwoo and Miyeon answered, but I couldn’t help but worry. Since Byung-hoon would also stay, I wasn’t worried too much, but I just knew that Minwoo would try something with Miyeon.
“Let’s go, Sian,” Junho said. I nodded. But before I left, I turned back to stare at Minwoo. The pervert was sneaking glances at Miyeon’s butt…not that I could blame him though.
“Sian?”
“Oh, right.”
I tore my eyes away from Miyeon’s curvaceous hips and followed after Junho. I almost hoped the warthog would appear again. It’d be nice to have some again.
***
We walked for a long time, but we couldn’t find fruit anywhere.
“There’s nothing here.”
“Yeah,” Junho said, looking around.
“Hey Sian, let’s set up some snares.”
“Snares?”
“Yeah. I heard there’s some fire chicken in the area.”
“Fire chicken?”
“Yeah. The locals call them that because they look like little balls of fire.”
“That sounds good.”
The name sure sounded appetizing. So, we set up a few snares here and there. Just then, my eyes fell on a tree covered in thorns.
“What’s this?”
“It’s an acacia tree.”
“Acacia tree?”
“It’s a sneaky little tree. When an animal tries to eat its leaves, it will actually react to make the leaves taste bad. Not only that, it will also warn other acacia trees nearby to warn them. It’s rather clever.”
“Wow.”
To think that a tree could do that.”
“You know a lot.”
“I always do my research. I can’t just let Byung-hoon do all the work,” Junho said with a modest shrug. I’ve always known Junho was a decent guy.
Just then, we heard the sound of water flowing. A river. There was a river nearby.
“I hear a river.”
“Huh? Where?” Junho said, looking around. “I don’t see one.”
“Follow me,” I said. I headed East. I could definitely hear water running. It wasn’t far.
After about ten minutes, we found the river.
“Cool.”
“Wow!” Junho gasped. “How did you know this was here?”
“Got lucky, I guess,” I said with a smile. The river was rather small. I’d say about 5 meters wide. It wasn’t that big. But on the other side, I could see people on the other side. It was actually the other team. Upon seeing us, they waved.
“Hi, guys~”
“Hello,” we waved back. But how did they find this place? Guess they were experts after all.
“You guys found the river!” Areum shouted. Even now, he sounded like he was making fun of us. Was that his thing? I turned to Lobster Head.
“Did you tell him to be like that?”
“No,” Lobster Head replied. And in case you forgot, his name is Yeonmin. Yeonmin Yoo.
“Hey, Junho~” Areum called out.
Junho looked at him, saying, “Yes?”
“Want to have a fishing competition?”
“A fishing competition?”
“Yeah~”
“I don’t have a fishing rod…”
“Then make one~ If you can’t, you don’t have to. I didn’t expect you to anyway. I’ve never seen anyone on the show make one. Goes to show how much better we are,” Areum jeered.
Junho’s face hardened. Lobster Head didn’t look too happy himself.
So, I stepped up.
“Fine,” I said. “Let’s do it.”
“You sure, Sian?” Areum said. “Do you know how to fish?”
“Nope.”
“Well, at least you’re confident,” Areum said with a smirk. I had to give it to him – he knows what the audience is looking for. Shows are always more fun when there’s a bad guy. Anyways, he continued.
“Let’s make a bet.”
“What kind of bet?” I asked.
“Let’s have Mr. Yoo decide,” Areum said, pointing at Lobster Head. Lobster Head nodded.
“Alright, I will. I’ll let you guys know at dinner and you guys can carry it out then.”
“Have you already decided on a bet then?” I asked.
“Yes,” Lobster Head replied.
Areum spoke up again.
“You’re good. Alright. We’ll catch fish for an hour and the ones with the most after that wins. Okay?”
“Fine,” I replied. Surprisingly, Junho didn’t say anything.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Well, the thing is, Sian…I don’t know if I can…”
“What does that matter? You mean you’re just going to take that from him? And not do anything?”
“Well….I….”
“Let’s go fish.”
“Oh, okay…”
