How It Should Have Ended Part2 (The Continuation)

Chapter 18 (Bonus Chapter): The Trip

Ji Hoo stayed close to Jan Di and never left her sight the whole time. He held her as she floated, and after a while her love of water resurfaced. She beamed ecstatically at him, her confidence in the water restored, knowing that he would rescue her in a heartbeat at the first sign of trouble.

They all walked back to camp exhilarated and giddy, though their clothes were soaking wet. After changing they hung it on a makeshift clothes line – using some rope they found in the pack. None of them seemed remotely upset at the absence of fish once again.

"Wow. Look at us toughing it out." Yi Jung looked around proudly. "We could be on that show, Survivor!"

"You and your shows," Ji Hoo muttered, but he was smiling this time. "Let's survive this show first, okay?"

...

After a very light lunch, Yi Jung called the other two boys aside.

"You boys want to come for a quick walk with me?"

Ji Hoo eyed him suspiciously. "What for?"

"You'll see. It's not too far from here, I swear."

Woo Bin shrugged, and they both turned to wait for Ji Hoo's response.

"I'm not too sure it's a good idea to go wandering off with you two again."

Yi Jung scoffed at him. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"I'm pretty sure I left it back in Seoul with my sense of survival and your common sense."

Yi Jung made a face. "Oh, come on! It's not too far! And it's still day light for half the day!"

He looked at the time. It was still early – the sun would be out for several more hours. "Fine." He had no intention of getting lost again. He grabbed the small pack he had carried when they went hiking that morning – the pack that contained everything he deemed necessary to 'survive' a few hours trekking on the mountain.

They only had to walk a few minutes before Yi Jung stopped and started plucking some flowers from a nearby bush.

"We're here to pick flowers?" Woo Bin asked in disbelief.

Yi Jung grinned. "Ga Eul loves these wild roses," he explained, as he carefully plucked a few different colored ones. "I saw them as we were hiking up, but I figured I'd surprise her with them later."

Ji Hoo exchanged a surprised look with Woo Bin, then both nodded. They started picking some flowers too. There were a lot of them spread out along the side of the path – some red, some yellow, some white.

"Sometimes, you surprise me," Ji Hoo remarked, and Yi Jung just shook his head, but he was smiling.

They had almost gathered enough for a huge bouquet each when Yi Jung froze suddenly, his eyes focused ahead.

Ji Hoo followed his gaze and saw a lone wild chicken staring back at them. He squinted his eyes to see clearly, and he was certain that it was the same one that Yi Jung almost caught the previous night – the brown one with white feathers on its wings.

Yi Jung slowly took out his net and silently walked closer to the chicken. He had also taken out a small piece of bread and sprinkled it onto the ground. Woo Bin and Ji Hoo held their breaths as the chicken came even closer and started pecking on the bread.

"Gotcha!" Yi Jung exclaimed, as the net went over the chicken. The startled bird tried to get out, but Yi Jung had a death grip on the net this time.

The boys couldn't stop grinning at each other.

"Finally!" Woo Bin was grinning from ear to ear. "Meat! Oh, how I missed you!" He licked his lips in sweet anticipation.

Yi Jung took out a Swiss Army knife from his pocket and handed it to Ji Hoo. Ji Hoo's eyes widened as he realized what Yi Jung was asking him to do.

"Why me?"

"Well, you're the one with experience – you go fishing all the time and know how to clean them, don't you?"

Ji Hoo shook his head. "No way! When I go fishing by myself it's usually catch and release. It's only when Grandfather's with me that I actually eat what we catch – and that's because he does the dirty work for me. Besides, fish and chickens are different!" He handed the small knife to Woo Bin. "Woo Bin should have more experience with this kind of thing."

Woo Bin shook his head. "Dude, I don't know what you guys think I do on the side, but it's certainly not butchering animals." He handed the knife back to Yi Jung. "Since this was your idea..."

Yi Jung stared at them in horror, but reluctantly took the knife. Ji Hoo held the bird's legs and body down, while Woo Bin tried to steady the head and neck.

Yi Jung swallowed hard. Think fried chicken, think fried chicken, he chanted out loud. He looked at the chicken, who put up little to no struggle but just looked back at him as he raised the knife. "I'm so sorry..." He whispered, as he brought the knife down.

...

Jan Di was busy braiding Ga Eul's hair when the boys walked back to camp. They were all grinning widely, but their hands were behind their backs.

"What did you guys do this time?" She asked, eyeing them suspiciously.

Each one of them produced a beautiful bouquet of wild flowers that they handed to them. The girls gasped in surprise.

Ga Eul threw her arms around Yi Jung, who beamed with pride.

"Wow, these are beautiful!" Hye Jin complimented, and Woo Bin gave her a boyish grin.

"Is this what you guys have been doing all this time?" She asked Ji Hoo.

"Well, actually, we have some good news for you girls." He put his hands in his pockets as he looked at the other two boys.

All three girls raised their brows curiously.

"You know how we saw some wild chickens last night?" Woo Bin reminded them.

"I thought you guys made that up. I was sure I heard there were no wild chickens in Korea?" Hye Jin inquired, puzzled.

"We really saw some, believe it or not!" Woo Bin sounded certain. "And you'll never guess what happened!"

The girls all stared at them, dumbfounded.

"We caught one today!" Yi Jung excitedly declared.

The girls all gasped. "That's great news!" Ga Eul exclaimed. "We can have roast chicken for dinner!"

The smiles disappeared from the boys' faces. Yi Jung stepped away from them and disappeared briefly behind some trees.

Ga Eul looked from Woo Bin to Ji Hoo and back. "What's going on? Did it escape again?"

"Not really." Ji Hoo bit his lower lip. "We pinned it down and tried to...butcher it."

"And?" Jan Di wasn't sure where he was going with this.

Understanding dawned on Ga Eul's face. "Oh no." She clapped a hand to her mouth. "You guys didn't."

Woo Bin winced. "We did."

Just then, Yi Jung walked in holding a thin string. At the end of the string walked a small brown chicken with white streaks on its wings.

"Girls, we'd like you to meet Colonel Sanders."

...