The destination was Fug Mi River.
“Wait, what’s the name?”
Fug…Mi…Fug Mi…Fuck Me…haha. Get it?
“Fug that’s funny,” Byung-hoon snickered. Then, a second later, he became serious again.
“So…where do we go?”
“I think we go this way,” Junho said, looking at the map. He pointed off somewhere in the distance, but there was nothing there. Just an endless clearing of grass.
“Are you sure?”
“Let’s try it at least.”
“Alright. Let’s go.”
Without a second thought, Byung-hoon led the way and we all followed. We had no idea if it was the right way or not. We were just going.
“What if we get lost?” Miyeon said, clinging herself next to me, as always. At first, I rather liked it. But after a while, things started to get smelly. That is, Miyeon’s body was starting to smell. Particularly in the underarm area. It was bad.
“Ugh.”
It’s not like I could say anything either. Initially, the smell didn’t particularly bother me, but you know how it is. After a while, it was starting to become more…how should I put it…out there. The smell was getting to me.
“Can we go washing in the river?” I asked.
“As long as there are no alligators,” Byung-hoon answered. Oh, yeah. Alligators. They’re native to Africa. It seems like every river in Africa has some. I wish I could just catch them and eat them all. Then again, the demand for alligators is growing in China, so maybe there will be less here in Africa.
“There’s the Giant Blue,” Junho said.
“Oh, the one that looks like the Mini Blues?”
Isn’t that why they were called Mini Blues? Because they looked just like the Giant Blue? The Mini Blue fish tasted really good, so that must mean the Giant Blue one does as well.
“Yes. That one.”
“How big is it?”
“They say it’s the size of a human’s thigh.”
“Wow.”
That’s bigger than I thought it would be.
“But the Giant Blue is apparently very aggressive,” Lobster Head interjected. “The locals say it even attacks humans if it’s in a bad mood.”
“Really?”
The fact that it was a jerk made me want to eat it more.
“Can we catch it?”
“It’ll be hard to,” Lobster Head said with a smile, with a hint of teasing smirk. Anyways, he continued.
“It isn’t easily lured by bait. It’s a clever fish.”
“Really?”
Well then. I’ll just have to go in and catch the fish myself.
And that’s when we saw it. Off in the distance, we saw a pack of lions eying a buffalo. The buffalo was eating grass, none the wiser.
“Get that on camera,” Lobster Head said. The film crew already had the camera out and was getting every shot. We began to approach the scene cautiously.
“Oh my god!” Miyeon said, jumping into my arms. Sheesh, the lions hadn’t even moved yet.
“Are you scared?”
“Yeah.”
Miyeon clung onto me and I couldn’t help but smile. It’s amazing how having a pretty girl in your arms can change your entire mood. I also saw Minwoo eyeing us, looking jealous. The visual of Shy Boy now just looked like an average peasant with that glare on his face. Suddenly, he began to walk towards us.
“Fuck off,” I snapped without thinking, and he left just as quietly. Ever since I caught that lion, he’d been very quiet around me.
Anyways, I turned back to watch the lions. Soon, the pack began their attack. The buffalo picked up its hind legs and kicked them. Wow, it was strong. Two lions were already down and bleeding.
“Go, Buffalo!” Miyeon cheered. Everyone soon followed. That’s generally how humans are. We like to support the underdog. Unfortunately, our cheers weren’t enough and one of the lions got a bite into the buffalo’s leg, taking it down immediately. The lions pounced on the buffalo. Our mood then saddened.
“I wish I could help.”
I really did. I wanted to go over there and help the poor buffalo, but I couldn’t stop nature from taking its course. This was how the world works. But just then, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was three people, and they were watching the lions quietly. Judging by the look on their faces, I say they were concentrating very hard on something. After a while, the lions had completely overtaken the buffalo and that’s when the three began to move. They began to approach the pack, and the lions stared back. But surprisingly, the lions didn’t attack the humans. It was 5 to 3, in favor of the lions, which made the situation all the more surprising.
“Weird.”
I wasn’t the only one watching. By this time, our entire group was watching. I asked if we should tell the local guards about this, but the staff said no. This was a common practice of the locals. They wait for the lions to catch a prey and then take the meat from the lions. The men began to approach the dead buffalo as the lions continued to stare. It got tense. But after about 30 seconds, the lions suddenly turned and ran away.
“Whoa.”
That was impressive. The men didn’t look that menacing to me, but they managed to shoo the lions off with their gazes alone.
After chasing the lions off, the men chopped off a part of the buffalo and hoisted their half onto their shoulders. They then turned around and headed back.
After the men left, the lions returned to feast on the remaining half.
“Wow. That was cool,” I said. I wish the men could teach me what they just did. If it were me, I would’ve had to hit them.
“Alright, let’s go.”
We continued on our way to the Fug Mi River. But after walking just a bit more, we had to take another rest because it was just so hot.
“Where are we? Is this the right way?” Byung-hoon snapped. He turned to look at Lobster Head.
“Is this the right way?”
“We can’t tell you for the sake of the competition,” Lobster Head replied firmly.
“But do you even know yourself?” I asked.
“To be honest, not really. Once the competition is over, we’ll have to call someone on our walkie-talkies to help us.”
“So it’s not like you can help us if you wanted to.”
“Yeah.”
“Then why act like you do? How annoying,” I snapped. Lobster Head bowed his head in sorrow.
“Hey Junho, give me the map,” I said, holding out my hand. Junho handed it to me and I began to look over it.
“Hmm. Hmm… I see. Hmm. Okay. I don’t know.”
I really didn’t. The map was so shabby, I could barely make out anything. But fortunately, I could see a path that might lead us to our destination.
“This one, this one…and this one. Looks like one of these three,” I said. I looked around and saw a huge tree in the distance.
“Maybe if we climb up that tree, we’ll see it,” I said, making my way over.
“Sian, where are you going?” Junho asked.
“I’ll be back,” I said, pointing at the tree in the distance, but I could tell they couldn’t see it. No surprise – no average human can see that far.
“Where?”
“I got it. Just wait here.”
With another smile, I began to walk. But then, Miyeon started to follow me.
“I want to go too!”
“….”
***
“Hmph.”
In the end, Miyeon ended up coming with me. I begged her to go back, but she was stubborn. Did she like me that much? Well, I was incredibly popular with the ladies. I’m the undeniable Girl Crush. Any lesbian would fall in love with me. Miyeon probably doesn’t want to let me out of her sight. Like Christine.
“But Sian, where are we going?”
“Over there,” I said, pointing at the tree, but Miyeon still couldn’t see it.
“Where? I don’t see anything.”
“I figured. It’s kind of far.”
“You must have good eyes.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said. I then began to think. I would have to use some of my powers, but Miyeon was with me. What should I do? Should I just put her on my back and run? But then she will definitely figure out that there was something strange about me. That could backfire. Then again, considering how much she liked me, she might keep it a secret if I asked. Not that anyone would believe her anyways as she had no proof.
“Alright, let’s do it.”
“Huh?” Miyeon asked. I suddenly put my arms around her, making her blush.
“Um, Sian…what are you…hehe…” she giggled, clearly happy about this.
“Miyeon, hold on.”
At those words, Miyeon obediently encircled her arms around my neck.
“I’m going to run really fast now. Don’t ask questions and don’t move, okay?”
Miyeon, having no idea what was in store, just said, “Okay!” Love really does make you blind. Ugh. Anyways, I drew up my powers. This particular one was called Bend the Body. It would allow me to bend my body and make it light as an arrow, allowing me to run at superhuman speed.
Soon, I was running. Quickly. So quickly that the animals in the area all looked up as they felt something brush past me only to look confused when they saw nothing. As for the others, no need to worry about them. We were so far away, they wouldn’t be able to see exactly what I was doing.
As I was running, I could see three cheetahs staring at me, so I stared back. Our eyes met and I gave them a wink. The cheetahs got on their feet and began running with me. We were now racing each other, with me taking the lead.
“Reeow!” one of the cheetahs cried. With a burst of speed, it caught up with me, putting us neck and neck.
“Well, well, look at that,” I said.
“Reeoow!” the cheetah answered. These animals had no intention to lose to any species. Seems like they were not happy that I challenged them. But the thing is, I had no plan to lose either. I summoned another power, this one the power to Ascend. This would give me the ability to fly. My body began to lift in the air and I flew forward. The cheetahs all stared in shock as they all tripped over their claws. After that, they all gave up chasing after me and simply stared at my flying form. I finally arrived at the tree.
“We’re here,” I said, looking down at Miyeon, but Miyeon didn’t say anything.
“Miyeon? Miyeon, are you sleeping? Huh…?”
Upon taking a closer look, I realized she had fainted. What she saw would’ve definitely been shocking, but did she really have to pass out? I don’t know how much she saw but I’ll have to be careful.
