The Retreat | Enha multi ship

[Chapter 17]

"Hey blondie!" 

Sunghoon snaps his head in the direction of the voice, eyes widening as he spots Naoi Rei waving his flag at him. He didn't expect the quiet girl to be so cocky. Just as he's about to go after her, he feels a sharp tug at the back of his trousers. Spinning around, his brows furrow, seeing Sunoo holding his tail. 

"Never let your guard down." Sunoo giggles, running over to Rei. The two high five before they join hands and run off into the woods.

Obviously, Sunghoon was shocked. He had been completely blind sided, and it was hard to process what had just happened. However, as he slowly came back to reality, a feeling of anger washed over him. He thought he could trust Sunoo, they were dating after all, but he had betrayed him. What made it all worse was that the attack was clearly planned, given away by the two's reaction. They high fived with zero remorse or care, and Sunoo didn't even look back. 

"Team O has won the game. They have been awarded 1 point."

Was Sunoo really willing to hurt him over a game?

____

There was really nothing to do while you waited for your team to be called. Sure snacks were available in the food hall, and there were a few small activities set up, like tent building, but most people settled on chilling with their friends between games. Jake couldn't find any of his friends, and his team had split up after their loss, so all he could do was wander around aimlessly, which was really boring.

"Jake! Care for an interview?!"

If Jiwon had asked that at any other time, Jake would have ran in the opposite direction. However, he had nothing to do, so at least talking to Jiwon would be more interesting than kicking another pebble. 

"Yeah why not-"

"Amazing!" Jiwon squealed, pulling her phone out from her pocket. "It sucks that Rei isn't here to capture the footage, but we'll just put the recording over some b-roll of you smiling or something." She says while fiddling with her phone. He sees her open the voice memo app. "I'm here with-"  She directs the phone at Jake.

He was a bit startled since she gave no warning about the start of the interview. "Jake Sim."

"And how is your day Jake? Have you been up to much?"

"Good, we've been playing capture the flag."

Jiwon smiles widely, finally able to get that perfect interview she's been after. "Sounds like you're having a lot of fun, is there anything else you want to say?" 

"Actually..." Jake responds, sounding slightly conflicted. He sucks in his lips as he thinks over whether he should continue or not. Though, after a moment of deliberation, he nods his head, confident that he should share what he knows. "This is all a test! They're testing our skills, so that at the end of this week, they can take the strongest of us to a lab to build a super human!" 

Jiwon silently ends the recording, then stands there staring at him for a few seconds. 

"Do you think this is funny?! You have to be joking!" She suddenly screams, harshly shoving the boy. He puts his arms up in defense, while walking backwards, as she menacingly storms towards him. "You do not want to make an enemy of me!"

"I'm s-sorry Jiwon." He mutters meekly.

She grabs him by the collar, dragging him down to her height. "I'd watch your back from now on if I was you." She threatens in a low whisper. Then she carelessly drops her hold of his shirt, and walks away. 

Angering Jiwon was about the worst decision he could have ever made, and it was all Minjun's fault. That boy was way too convincing, and Jake had fallen for it again. Now Jiwon had actually knocked some sense into him, he realized how ridiculous it was for him to believe in that stupid conspiracy theory.

While he was dusting himself off, he noticed someone who could take his mind of his stupidity. "How'd your game go?"

Sunghoon ignores him and keeps walking, which offends Jake slightly. However, the blonde did seem to be deep in thought, so he runs after him, and nudges him to catch his attention. "You alright? You just ignored me a minute ago."

"Sunoo betrayed me." Sunghoon replies, sounding extremely annoyed.

This instantly sends Jake into a panic, with his mind quickly stirring up the most heinous ideas of what could have happened. He grabs Sunghoon's arm to stop him from walking. "What did he do?!"

The blonde turns to him with a deadpan expression, uttering. "He stole my tail."

It's like all of his worry washed away at that answer, and he actually starts to laugh. "Oh I thought it was something serious!"

"It is." Sunghoon rolls his eyes and turns to walk away.

Yet again, Jake has to go running after him. "It's only a game Hoon, It's nothing deep." He says, panting a little as he catches up to him.

"You weren't there though. He planned it all with Rei, and then they laughed in my face. I wouldn't have ever done that to him."

"Come on, you know Sunoo's not malicious like that." Jake's worry starts to return, as Sunghoon's anger wasn't dying down. He hoped he could talk some sense into his friend, before it became a bigger issue than it really was. "I'm sure he'll apologies later, but for now, don't let it ruin your day. Okay?"

Sunghoon simply glances at him, then looks away, leaving Jake stumped on what to try next.

Even though they had been friends for years, Jake never really knew how to deal with Sunghoon when he was angry. Sunoo was easy, because all he needed was a hug to make him feel better. Whereas, Sunghoon mostly needed time, so he could get over it on his own, but Jake still felt inclined to try and cool this tense atmosphere.

"So Jiwon attacked me-"

Jake cuts himself off and comes to a standstill, realizing that Sunghoon had just turned around and walked in the other direction. 

He spins around aswell. "Glad to see you care about my issues too!" He shouts sarcastically, now angry himself. "You're such a good friend!" 

"Team A and Team O- Please report to the game area."

"Great! This day keeps getting better!"