The Retreat | Enha multi ship

[Chapter 15]

The sectioned off area was way bigger than anyone was expecting. From where their starting point was, they couldn't see or hear the rival team, which meant that the area had to be big. A couple of staff members stood at the starting point, explaining the game further, and making sure everyone was ready to start. However, they couldn't have been given a team with any less enthusiasm. 

Jungwon stared out at the open forest with a face like thunder. He didn't want to be out in the cold, he didn't want to run around the woods, and he definitely didn't want to work with Yujin. He might have actually preferred sleeping in a cabin with wasps, especially when he felt his tail snatched away before the game even started.

Angrily, he spins around to see Yujin holding his tail in her hand. "What the fuck are you playing at?"

The girl smirks. "Looks like you're out already, too bad." She says with zero guilt.

Just as Jungwon was about to bite back, Junhyuck's voice cuts through the tension. "You can't steal your teammates tails. Now put it back, the games gonna start in a minute."

Yujin's smug expression drops into a look of annoyance. "Jay not enough for you now? Found a little simp who's obsessed with you huh?"

"You know what Yujin? Just fuck off." Jungwon snaps, taking his tail back, and quickly tucking it into his trousers. He tried to show some self restraint, and not stoop to Yujin's level, but it was really hard. She was being so mean today. "You tried to get in between me and Jay, but you failed. If you hate me, just don't talk to me, it's that simple."

Yujin scoffs. "Paint me as the villain again if it makes you feel better, we both know how this whole rivalry started." 

 "Are you seriously bringing that up-"

"Yes! Since you like to pretend it never happened!"

In this moment, Jake wondered if it was less stressful to go to war. The game was about to start, but his team was in shambles. Asking Yujin and Jungwon to stop arguing would be a death wish, so he took himself away from the pair, and tried to get into some sort of competitive mindset. He was going to have to play the game whether his team was fucked up or not.

Suddenly he feels a tap on his shoulder. "Here." Jiwon pushes their bright yellow flag into his hand. Walking around the back of him, she places her hands on his shoulders, spinning him in the direction of his other teammates.  "I'd hide it well if I were you, or else you'll have them to answer to."

Now facing the wrath of either of them would be scary, but facing the wrath of both of them? He wouldn't survive that. Thanks to Jiwon, Jake's nerves sky rocketed, and all he could think about was what would happen if he didn't hide the flag good enough. Unfortunately for him, he didn't get any chance to calm himself down, as the speakers blared again, announcing the game had begun.

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As the wait grew longer, teams began to disperse. Everyone went off to entertain themselves, until it was their time to play.

With absolutely nothing else to do, Jay made the hard decision of actually starting his school work. He sat on his bed staring down at the notebook, pen and sociology book he had been given, having no idea where to start. 3000 words on the complexities of relationships- what a broad topic. He really regretted not paying attention in class now.

"What's that?" A voice floats from the door way.

Instantly, Jay lifts his head up and waves Heeseung into the room. If he could spend some time talking to Heeseung, then he could put off doing the essay for a few minutes, so he felt relived that the boy had shown up. "I need to write the sociology essay for Miss Chou or I'm gonna get benched."

"Well it's not even that hard." Heeseung comments, taking a seat on the bed across from him.

"3000 words is hard for me." Jay replies. He picks up the sociology book, and haphazardly flips through it. "Like come on, where do I even start?"

"Just write about your own personal relationships, that's what I did. You'll need to link it back to some sort of sciencey explanation, but you can honestly fill the majority up with real life examples." 

That made it sound a lot easier. Jay could actually now envision a plan on how to write this essay. He'll hand pick a few real life experiences where relationships got complicated, then break them down, and look into why they ended up like that. At the end, he'll include some sort of general analysis of relationships, and an overall conclusion. Then boom, the essay will be done, and hopefully he'll pass.

"You're a life saver Heeseung."

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Who knew hiding a flag in a forest would be so difficult? Jake surely didn't. Maybe it was just his nerves making everything seem harder than it was, but he just couldn't find a good place to hide his flag. He had no idea how long it would be until the other team would show up, so he quickly shoved the flag into the end of a hollow log, and slumped down beside it. His plan was that if anyone did show up, he could just crawl into a little ball, and throw some leaves over himself. 

"Jake!"

Shoot that was quick, he thinks, knowing he had no time to perform his plan. At that very moment, Choi Minjun was running over to him. The boy wasn't known to be strong or aggressive, but Jake possessed neither of those traits either, so he wasn't feeling confident about this battle. 

"I surrender!" 

"I need to tell you something!" 

They utter at the same time.

Jake's eyes widen in surprise. "Wait, you're not gonna steal my tail?" He questions meekly.

"What?! No! I need to talk to you, you're the only one who'll listen!" Minjun says frantically, kneeling down next to Jake.

The boy was still on edge, so he awkwardly shuffles away, keeping his tail tucked beneath him.

"You don't trust me?" Minjun sounded slightly offended. 

"I don't have the luxury, If I lose my tail my team will kill me." 

"Okay whatever." Minjun throws the pointless conversation aside, getting onto the real topic of discussion. "This is not just a game, I think they're testing us."

"Why would they be testing us?" Jake had fallen one to many times for Minjun's conspiracy theories; he knew better than to believe in Minjun's speculative rambles. 

"Think about this- they want to identify the fastest, the strongest, the smartest of us, without us actually knowing what they're doing. Then at the end of this week, they'll take the best students to a lab, and build some sort of super human." 

That couldn't be true, could it? No, Jake wouldn't let himself believe that crazy conspiracy. This was just a normal retreat, where you take part in meaningless challenges and games...Though, Minjun did make a pretty good case. If they were planning to build a super human, they could go about it in this way....He needed more information, not because he believed it, he just wanted to hear Minjun out...

"Tell me more!"

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Favorite Enhypen Song? Mine changes all the time, but it's probably between Drunk-Dazed and Paradoxxx invasion atm.