“Heh.”
With a smirk, I pulled back the string of the slingshot.
Whoosh!
The stone flew at breakneck speed towards the warthog. The animal, somehow sensing the danger, sped up. But it was no use. Using my powers, I began to direct the stone in the air with my finger as it effortlessly followed the warthog. As the warthog turned this way and that, it only became easier for the stone. Finally, I clenched my fist and the stone flew straight toward the warthog’s butthole, lodging itself in.
Whoosh!
Slip!
Surprisingly, the stone flew through the warthog’s entire body and flew out of its mouth. The warthog then fell to the ground. Down in one shot. No one else could’ve done it. I bet the pig didn’t even realize it was dead.
“Why even bother running away?” I said, handing over the slingshot. Byung-hoon and Junho just stared, looking confused.
“W-where…did you hit it?” Byung-hoon asked. Oh yeah, he wouldn’t have been able to see the stone since it was so small.
“I don’t know,” I lied with a shrug. No need to tell him everything. It’s not like they would believe me if I did anyway. Well, Junho might since he has already seen what I can do. Anyways, we approached the dead warthog. It died so quickly that its eyes were open, looking the same as it did when it had been running away.
“Wow…it’s really dead…” Byung-hoon said, looking at the warthog.
“How did it die?” Junho asked, crouching down over it. Byung-hoon simply shook his head. He had no idea how the animal died either.
“There’s no wound…”
“Maybe it had a heart attack since it was running so fast…”
“Warthogs don’t get heart attacks from running…at least, not that I know of,” Byung-hoon said.
That’s true. What kind of wild animals have heart attacks?
“Then how did it die…oh! Hey, look! There’s blood coming out of its butt,” Junho said, pointing at the hole.
“What is that…” Byung-hoon asked, amazed.
“Did you hit its butthole?” Junho asked me.
“How could I do that?” I said with a shrug. Junho nodded.
“That’s true. That’s impossible. And even if you did, it wouldn’t be enough to bring a warthog down. But then how…”
Junho never once considered the idea that the stone cut through the warthog’s body and flew out of its mouth. Then again, why would he?
“Well, at the very least, we caught a warthog!” Byung-hoon cried out. Off in the distance, we could hear Lobster Head cheering, probably thinking that he would get a piece.
***
“When…will we…get there…?” Thud.
Junho panted before falling to the ground. He had the warthog slung on his back. That’s right. He was carrying the thing. How was he able to pick it up? That’s a good question.
“Hey, you okay, Junho?” Byung-hoon said, shoving the warthog off Junho’s back. Junho took a deep breath.
“Wow…that feels so much better…”
“What should we do with this thing? If only we could eat it before we go,” Byung-hoon said, looking at the pig. Carrying it only slowed us down, but it’d be a waste to just leave it.
“Should I carry it?” I said. I mean, a warthog won’t be that heavy. I bet I could carry it with my pinky toe alone…if I use my powers, that is.
“Sian, are you crazy?” Miyeon asked, and it wasn’t just her. Everyone was staring at me like I was insane. Well, everyone except Lobster Head and Junho. They actually seemed rather keen on seeing if I could.
“Maybe I am,” I said with a grin. It probably was a bad idea. If I carried this thing, there would be even more talks about me being an alien.
“Let’s hide the warthog here and go,” Junho said, pointing at a large tree. No one seemed happy with the idea, but everyone agreed. Well, everyone except me.
“No.”
“Why not?” Byung-hoon said, looking at me. I could feel a shadow of annoyance across his face.
“We don’t have that much further to go. We can do it.”
“And if we lose?”
“Don’t worry.”
Really. There’s no need to. We were the faster team. We weren’t even lost. We could even take a nap if we wanted to.
“Hmm…” Byung-hoon began to think. But in the end, he decided to trust me.
“Alright. Let’s do it. Junho. Minwoo. Both of you pick up a leg.”
The three men picked up the warthog and began to walk. These are the times when I’m glad to be a girl.
After a while, we finally arrived at the Fug Mi river.
“We’re the first!” Byung-hoon shouted, pulling out the flag that had been planted on the ground. Everyone cheered.
“Since we won, what’s our prize?” I asked Lobster Head. Hey, winners get prizes, right?
“There…is no prize…”
“What? Are you fucking kidding me?” I spat out. This was the first time I had cursed so openly at Lobster Head. That’s how mad I was.
“There is none. But good on you for winning against the other team…”
“What kind of bullshit is this?” I snapped. The moodiness I had during my PMS was still there. I wonder how bad it would be if I got my period again. I guess I’ll find out next month.
“Well, the main producer said…” Lobster Head said, trying to push the blame onto Mr. Lee.
“So where is he?”
“He’s with the other team.”
“I see.”
Even if I was angry, I couldn’t take my anger out on Mr. Lee. He was the main producer. I had to be respectful. At least for the sake of my image.
“Um, hey, Chief,” Junho said to Byung-hoon.
“Yeah?”
“Let’s hide and make them think that they arrived first. As a prank.”
“Oh. That sounds like fun,” Byung-hoon said, giving a mischievous smile. Everyone else agreed.
“Then, Mr. Yoo. You let us know when the other team is almost here so we can hide.”
“Got it,” Lobster head answered with a nod. He then added, “But they’re already almost here.”
“Already?”
“Yep.”
That’s impressive. I did not expect that. I guess experts really are on a different level.
“Here. Let’s hide!” Byung-hoon said, looking around for a hiding spot. His eyes lit up as he found one.
“Over there!”
“Okay.”
We all followed him towards the hiding spot, managing to successfully hide just as the other team showed up. They were all doing a happy dance as they approached the river. No doubt happy because they thought they had won.
“We won! See? I told you we had this one in the bag! That other team can’t do anything by themselves,” Areum said, sounding arrogant. Mr. Lee smirked. He already knew that we were here. It was funny.
“But what’s this?” Areum said, eying the warthog that was on the ground. Mr. Lee also looked confused. He didn’t know we had caught a warthog along the way.
“I don’t know.”
“Well then, let’s just say we caught it! It’ll be our prize for getting here first!”
Areum did another happy dance. Was he that happy about winning? Just then, Byung-hoon spoke up.
“Let’s go, guys.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Then with big smiles on our faces, we climbed out from behind the holder we were hiding behind and approached the other team. They were in the middle of dancing gleefully. When they saw us, for a moment, they looked confused. So, Byung-hoon took out a flag and began to wave it around. And that’s when the other team finally understood.
“What the!?”
“We were tricked!”
“No way!”
Was it that surprising? Areum fell to the ground on the spot, but he was in for another surprise as Byung-hoon pointed at the warthog.
“We caught that.”
“What?!”
***
We won the second mission. Well, not totally. Still, if we had ditched the warthog, we would’ve gotten here faster. Anyways.
“Is there really no prize?” I asked again. This time to the main producer.
“Oh…a prize…”
“Shouldn’t we get one? We did win, after all,” I said. The rest of my team agreed with me.
“At least make us some ramyun,” Byung-hoon said. Mr. Lee began to think. Yeah. Ramyun will do! Ramyun is good for everything!
“Geez, you call this a show! This is no fun. How do you expect us to be motivated to carry out the next mission if there’s no prize for winning them?” Byung-hoon complained. At that, Mr. Lee finally nodded.
“Okay. We’ll give you one.”
“What?” I said. We have five people on our team and we only get one serving? Is he trying to playing a joke on us? My murderous wrath began to grow and upon feeling it, Mr. Lee hesitated.
“Three, then…but we can’t give you more.”
“Then hurry up.”
Three was better than nothing. After a bit, we got our three servings of ramyun. Mr. Lee then spoke up.
“Can you all gather around please?”
“Okay.”
We all gathered around him. Our team was holding our heads up while the other team looked rather defeated. Since they thought for sure that they would win, they were probably incredibly embarrassed right now.
“You guys came pretty early,” I said to Areum. Areum merely scowled.
“But you guys kept going on and on about winning. What exactly did you win?”
“Stop it,” Areum spat out. Well, sorry to say that I had no plans on stopping.
“You seemed really happy earlier when you thought you had won. How did you feel when we showed up?” I asked.
“I said stop.”
“The warthog we caught looks a lot bigger than the one you guys caught. Don’t you think?”
“This little…” Areum began to curse under his breath. If it weren’t for the cameras, his fists would be out by now. Fine by me. It would give me the excuse to punch him in the face, but the chance never came as Mr. Lee started to talk again.
“Alright then. We’ll give you the plans for later today. First, we’ll have lunch. Then, you guys have to build a shelter.”
“Oh, are we staying here then?” Byung-hoon asked.
“Yes, we are. Just for today. It’ll be cooler at night with the river here. Plus, the third mission will be for you to catch the giant blue fish.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
