We arrived at the river bank. Before we crossed it, we took a small break. Everyone put down their bags and lied down on the bank to rest. On the contrary, Byung-hoon, Junho, and Sung-hwan decided to explore the riverbank.
“Aren’t you going?” I asked Ji-chun. I mean, isn’t he a guy too? Why is he sitting around with us girls?
“I’m old.”
“Oh.”
He’s only in his early forties. Oh, but Byung-hoon is in his mid-thirties and Junho and Sunghwan are both in their early thirties.
“But you know, darling…”
“Me?” I asked, pointing at myself.
“Yes, you,” he replied.
“Yes?”
“You’re a girl. How are you so good at this stuff?” Ji-chun asked, sounding somewhat envious.
“I’m young.”
“If that’s it, then how come Hye-jeong can’t do it?” he asked, glancing over at Hye-jeong. At that, Hye-jeong straightened up.
“What about me?”
“Nothing,” Ji-chun said. With a smile, he laid down on the bank.
“Hey, Ji-chun?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Do you really hate girls?” I asked. Seriously, how could a man not like girls?
“It’s not that I hate them. It’s just I don’t feel anything for them. I just don’t feel attracted to women, but I do feel attracted to men.”
“Weird.”
To think – we’re both human and yet we’re so different from one another.
“If you’re curious, you should come over to my world. I have a lot of lesbian friends.”
“I’ll pass,” I said with a polite smile. I’m a girl group member now, so I have to watch what I say and do.
“Hmph. You’d be so popular if you came,” Ji-chun said with a disappointed pout.
“Hey, Ji-chun.”
“What now?”
“If you’re gay, do you cut that thing off?” I glanced down at Ji-chun’s crotch. I just wanted to know.
“Um…honey, I’m still a man. Me liking a guy doesn’t change that. Why would I cut this off? That’s just stupid.”
“….”
Okay, that was stupid. I still had a lot to learn about this generation.
“Watch out for AIDS.”
“Hey!” Ji-chun exclaimed.
Just then, I could hear some whispering off in the distance. I increased my hearing, so that I could eavesdrop. It was Byung-hoon, Junho, and Sung-hwan. They seemed to be having a discussion.
“Hey guys. Let’s do a hidden camera?” Byung-hoon asked secretly.
“What? That’s illegal!” Sung-hwan answered.
“No, no. Not that kind of hidden camera. What I meant was a prank.”
“Oh,” Sung-hwan replied in understanding.
“What kind of prank?” Junho snickered.
“So there’s two roads that will lead us to Luina Beach. This one and that one,” Byung-hoon said, pointing at two roads in the distance. Junho and Sung-hwan nodded.
“You two are going to fight over those two roads,” Byung-hoon said. Junho and Sung-hwan looked at each other and smiled not long after. Those two really are similar. If those two really were to fight, it would definitely not be pretty.
“Sounds like fun,” Junho said. Sung-hwan nodded eagerly.
“Doesn’t it? Sian and Hye-jeong will be so upset. They’re getting way too comfortable. We should at least make this memorable for them.”
“I like it, but which road are we supposed to take?” Sung-hwan asked.
“It doesn’t matter. The beach is just on the other side. We’ll reach it if we just keep going this way,” Byung-hoon said.
“Oh, okay.”
“So you guys know the plan, right? Make it look real, just don’t punch each other.”
“Yes, sir!” Junho and Sung-hwan answered excitedly.
“A prank, huh?” I muttered.
“You want to make me cry? Cute.”
I let out a smirk. Hye-jeong looked at me curiously.
“Sian, the fuck are you whispering to yourself about?”
“Hey. Language, young lady. You need to have a more sophisticated vocabulary. Aren’t you an actress now?”
“Actresses are people too,” Hye-jeong said with a pout. “So, what are you whispering about?”
“Nothing,” I answered, smiling secretly.
Just then, an idea popped into my head. I turned over to Hye-jeong.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“Do you want to play a prank?”
“A prank?” Hye-jeong said curiously.
I began to explain.
“The guys are going to play a prank to try and make us cry. They’re going to pretend to fight.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. So when that happens, just cry okay?”
“And then?” Hye-jeong asked. Her face began to look excited. She was more mischievous than I thought.
“I’m going to be all ‘are you crying again?’ and slap you.”
“….”
Hye-jeong didn’t say anything. So I asked, “What?”
“Why can’t I hit you?” Hye-jeong asked sincerely. I’ve never heard her sound so serious before.
“Alright, no hitting.”
“Okay.”
“Anyways, we should start fighting. Then they’ll feel really bad.”
“Good idea!”
With that, we sealed the deal on our own prank. The other guys returned soon after and Sung-hwan approached us with a smile. A smile that clearly said he had something up his sleeve. A smile that made me want to send a flying kick to where the sun doesn’t shine.
***
“We’re going to cross now. There’s two roads to Luina Beach. This one and that one,” Byung-hoon said, pointing out the two roads. Hye-jeong and I nodded attentively.
“We should go this way,” Junho said, pointing at one of the roads.
“No,” Sung-hwan said, pointing at the other road. “This one is better. If we use the first road, there’s a large hill we have to climb over.”
Large hill, my ass.
“It’s not that bad. If we go down your road, there’s a swamp and that’s dangerous,” Junho said.
Yeah right.
“It’s not that dangerous.”
“A swamp is a swamp. We should still try to avoid it,” Junho said, his voice rising slightly.
So Sung-hwan’s voice did as well.
“I told you that it’s not dangerous. The water only comes up to your ankle.”
“How do you know that, idiot?”
Oh boy, here we go. Then again, I feel like this escalated too quickly. They’re really not good at acting. To be honest, it was rather awkward to watch.
“What did you just call me? Idiot?” Sung-hwan said, looking angry. Junho looked angry as well.
Byung-hoon stepped in between them.
“Hey, guys. Come on. There’s no reason to fight.”
“Stay out of this,” Junho said, pushing Byung-hoon out of the way.
Byung-hoon suddenly looked rather mad himself. Only his didn’t look like it was acting. His looked pretty real.
Anyways, Junho continued to act.
“Hey, how old are you?”
“Thirty-one,” Sung-hwan answered defiantly.
“I’m thirty- two, you bastard. I’m older than you!”
“By one year! Big deal! Does that make you big a shot?” Sung-hwan shouted.
That’s when Junho lost it.
“What did you say to me?”
Junho grabbed Sung-hwan by the collar and Sung-hwan grabbed Junho’s back. Byung-hoon and the producer both came forward and acted like they were trying to stop the “fight.” I gave Hye-jeong a nudge. That was her cue to start. Hye-jeong’s eyes immediately began to well up with tears. That was impressive. It’s only been a second, and she was already sobbing. She might not be a good singer, but she was one hell of an actress. Anyways, Hye-jeong started her act.
“Guys…don’t fight…” Hye-jeong approached the men with tears in her eyes.
Junho and Sung-hwan immediately stopped fighting. They both gulped at the sight of Hye-jeong. They’re clearly falling for it. What kind of man can resist a girl who’s crying? Especially when the girl is as pretty as Hye-jeong.
“You guys…this is too much…sniff sniff…don’t fight…sniff…please? Sniff sniff…”
Hye-jeong was now sobbing as she clung to Junho’s arm as Junho’s face flushed with embarrassment. He immediately let go of Sung-hwan’s shirt. Sung-hwan looked rather jealous as he watched Hye-jeong cling onto Junho’s arm.
“You guys…you guys aren’t going to fight anymore…right..?” Hye-jeong said, looking at the men with puppy dog eyes.
Junho and Sung-hwan immediately began to stutter.
“Well…that…it’s just…it’s…”
“H-hye-jeong…you see…that…”
“You guys suck!”
Hye-jeong turned with a cry and began to walk away. The men looked shocked, obviously not expecting Hye-jeong to get that upset. Unfortunately, it’s about to get worse.
I stood in front of Hye-jeong.
“Hey, stop.”
“Move,” Hye-jeong said, trying to push me out of the way.
I grabbed her wrist.
“You can’t just leave like that.”
“Let go of me! I’m not doing this anymore!” Hye-jeong shouted. The men looked shocked. They immediately approached us.
“Um, Hye-jeong…you see, it’s just a misundersta-”
“Are you a child? You’re just going to leave? How are you this stupid?” I said, cutting off Junho’s attempt at an explanation.
“What?” Hye-jeong said, glaring at me.
Wait…was this…acting…? She looked really mad…? It looked so real. I knew it was an act, but it looked so genuine that I began to feel rather uncomfortable.
“I said…how are you this stupid?”
“I hate you too!” Hye-jeong shouted. Then, before I knew it…
Slap!
“….”
Didn’t we agree not to hit each other…I was so shocked that I didn’t say anything. Anyways, if she was going to act to this degree, then I had no choice but to match her. So, I grabbed her by the hair.
“Bitch!”
“Hey! Let go of me!”
Hye-jeong grabbed my hair as well and we began a hair-pulling match. The men tried to stop us.
“Hey, guys! Hey! This…”
“Sian! Stop!”
“Hye-jeong!”
The producer cut the camera and intervened.
“Guys, please! Stop! It’s not a real fight! They weren’t really fighting!”
But neither of us stopped. Okay, but seriously, why was this girl pulling so hard? Was she actually trying to scalp me?
“Sian! Please! It was just a prank!” the producer shouted, pulling the two of us apart. Nonetheless, Hye-jeong and I continued to glare at each other. The guilty party stepped forward, looking immensely guilty.
“Hye-jeong, I’m really sorry. It was just a prank…we’re not really fighting…”
“What?” Hye-jeong snapped, looking appropriately horrified.
“We’re really sorry. It was just a joke…”
“What kind of joke is that? Do we look stupid to you?”
This time, it was me. The men all winced, looking chastised. They all bowed their heads, mumbling apologies. And Hye-jeong delivered the final blow.
“I…sniff…I…sniff sniff…do you know how…sniff…how worried I was…about you guys….? Sniff sniff….I was so scared! Sniff sniff…”
I’ve never seen a girl look this sad as she cried. I had no idea Hye-jeong was this good of an actress. This was just on a whole other level. Anyways, at the sight of Hye-jeong crying, the men immediately ran forward, looking like they’d just killed a puppy. They poured out their apologies.
“We’re really sorry…Hye-jeong…Sian…”
“Well, that’s alright then.” And then, all of a sudden, I smiled.
The men all looked confused.
“You guys are too easy.”
Suddenly, it was Hye-jeong who spoke. Her tears were immediately gone, replaced by a bright smile.
They all stared.
“Let’s cross!” I said, walking to the river.
“Let’s go!” Hye-jeong said. She linked arms with me and together, we crossed the river.
Byung-hoon, Junho, Sung-hwan, and the producer continued to stare at us in shock, unable to move.
