** (( Apgujeong-dong | 1:53pm | Recording . . . )) **
There were 3 different stations set up at the boot camp. The PD-nim had just gotten done going over the script with Koeun and Mark's teams. The PD wanted to change some things around so that ALL of the SMROOKIES looked close and like a family instead of always having it be boys against girls.
The groups that the PD-nim assigned were as follows:
Station 1 - Green Team: This station includes members Jeno, Yeri, Donghyuk, and Herin.
Station 2 - Blue Team: This station includes members Mark, Jeesu, Jaemin, and Lami.
Station 3 - Red Team: This station includes members Koeun, Jisung, Hina, and Winny.
PD-nim: "Station 1 will stay at the cabin area and cook together. You guys will share your favorite meals with one another. Station 2 will help pick up around the area and make this place more lively in a better environment. Station 3 will head into the woods and down to the river where you guys will fish for your dinner and build your own fire." he announced.
Hina: "Unnie, will you be able to tolerate it?" she whispered to Koeun who nodded at her.
Mark: "Jisung-ah, can I switch positions with you?" he whispered to Jisung who willingly agreed since it didn't really matter to him which team he was on. Besides, he was kind of scared of water anyway.
When Jeesu sees Jisung and Mark switch wristband colors, she stops Jisung as he walks over to their side.
Jeesu: "Wait. What are you doing? Why did you and Mark switch color bands?" she asked him sternly.
Jisung: "Oh, Mark-hyung suddenly asked me to switch with him. I guess he wants to go out in the woods instead" he finished stating before going to get ready to leave.
Jeesu: "What the... don't tell me it's that vixen's idea?!" she muttered to herself as she glared at Koeun who was busy packing her fanny bag.
Hina: "Oh, did Jisung switch with you?" she asked as she sees Mark walking towards their station.
Mark: "Eoh? Oh... yeah, he said he was little scared of water so he... asked me to switch with him" he half lied to them. Truth is, he was worried for Koeun and didn't want her to force herself so much. He knew how stubborn she is and that she'd put the others before herself.
Hina: "That little wimp" she teased as she found herself chuckling at his soft side.
As Koeun bent over to grab their fishing tackle box, Mark walks by and grabs it from her. Seeing that he was still a little angry, she wanted to quickly follow him and tell him she's sorry that she's putting him through all of this.
Hina: "Why is he still so angry?" she snuck up behind Koeun who was caught off-guard.
Koeun: "Ha, I really have no idea. I mean, if he wanted to stay behind and clean up with Jeesu and their station- that would be fine with me. It's not like I forced him to come with us" she complained while crossing her arms.
Hina noticed that Koeun was starting to get a little frustrated with Mark so she patted her on the shoulder and then proceeded to walk and follow Mark who was already leading the team into the woods.
** (( Back at camp with Station 2 )) **
Winny: "Unnie!" she tried to surprise Jeesu who was busy complaining about the mosquitoes around her.
Jeesu: "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with your station?!" she asked her.
Winny: "Yeah but then I asked Jaemin to switch with me because I wanted to be on YOUR team" she responded excitedly.
Jeesu: "Are you STUPID?!" she practically yelled. Noticing that a cameraman was shooting on the other side, she pretended to put on a smile as she reached out to fix Winny's collar for her. "Why did you let Mark and Koeun go together?!" she hissed at Winny.
Winny: "I thought maybe you'd be happy to see me on your team though...?" she whispered back.
Feeling like Winny had betrayed her, Jeesu pretended to smile again when the camera turned to her. She thought and thought about what she should do in order to not let Mark and Koeun be together in the woods.
Winny: "Unnie, I'm sorry. Please don't be mad at me. I would go ask Jaemin for the position back but they're probably all the way in the woods right now" she pouted.
Jeesu: "Aha, that's okay, my lovely dongsaeng..." she pretended to sound nice again in front of the camera. Then she whispered, "because you and I are going to sneak into the woods later before they come back to camp. I cannot let those two go unsupervised!!" she hissed again.
** (( 3pm | Back in the woods with Station 3 )) **
Already 30 minutes into the woods, they were finally nearing the river when they all heard a rustle behind them. Hina and Koeun slowly walked closer to Mark while the cameraman, who was also alarmed, stepped back behind Mark.
The noise gradually got louder and louder. Mark looked around him for any item to use as defense but stopped when he heard a familiar voice coming from the mysterious noise.
Jaemin: "You guys... walk... too... fast" he forced out of himself as he tried to catch his breath.
Hina: "Why I oughta..." she motioned her hand as if she were going to slap him for scaring them all half to death.
Mark: "Thought you were with the other station?"
Jaemin: "Yeah but I traded with Winny. I don't want to clean up and pick up trash" he complained. "How much further until we get to the river?" he asked.
Mark: "Looks like another two minute walk from this point" he looked at the map.
Koeun: "Let's continue then" she softly spoke.
Hina: "Unnie, can you manage?" she worriedly asked as Koeun responded with a soft nod to reassure her and the others.
Cameraman: "Koeun-ah, if you want- I can take you back to the camp. You don't look so well"
Koeun: "No, I can manage" she insisted as she started walking again.
Mark: "Jaemin-ah, you and Hina walk with Koeun" he instructed as they nodded their heads and then took Koeun by her arm to help her.
As soon as they got to the river side, Mark and Jaemin started to look around for twigs to start a fire. The wind was starting to get stronger but still, the sun was peeking in which only made the atmosphere all the warmer.
Cameraman: "Ah shoot" he expressed as his camera's battery started to get low. "I need to go back to camp to grab a new battery. I might've left it in my other bag"
Mark: "Hyung, you go on and go grab it. We'll wait here for you" he told him. And with that, the cameraman set foot back to camp. Mark looked at his watch and the time. "I didn't realize it was already 4:30pm" he muttered to himself.
Jaemin: "Mark-hyung, I found more twigs around the river bank over there" he pointed behind the big rock.
Mark: "Okay, I'll come help you" he insisted but Hina interrupted.
Hina: "Mark-oppa, I'll go help Jaemin. You continue to start the fire" she told him.
Jaemin: "Are you sure you can carry twigs?"
Hina: "I can carry YOU, can't I?"
Jaemin: "Are you saying I'm a twig?" they started to bicker again as they both made their way to where the twigs were.
Koeun, who felt helpless and like a burden, got up and slowly walked towards Mark. As she stood in front of him with her hand still resting on her back, she asked if he need any help.
Mark: "No, just sit down. I should be able to start the fire soon before our cameraman comes back" he responded without looking at her.
Koeun: "Are you... still angry with me?" and for a minute there, he didn't answer.
Mark: "Why would I be?"
Koeun: "Then why are you acting that way?" she demanded for an answer.
Mark: "Because you never listen. You think that you're always right. You're hurt and you need to rest but no, you're fighting it out by doing what? Being stubborn and only hurting yourself more" he stood up as he responded to her question.
Koeun was shocked to see this side of Mark. He almost never gets mad and she has never seen him this angry before. She couldn't understand why though. It's not like it's HIS back that's in pain.
Koeun:"Why are you so mad? It's not like YOUR back is in pain" she complained as she was fed up with the way Mark was throwing shade to her.
Mark: "If what I just said doesn't make any sense to you... then I don't know what will" he squatted back down again to work on the fire.
Koeun: "Fine!" she pouted as she walked her way back to the tree stump that she sat on earlier.
Mark: "I'm gonna go help them grab some twigs. Be right back" he told her as he ran up the little hill to the other side of the river bank.
Koeun looked at the fire that Mark has been prepping and noticed that he had it all set up. Not satisfied that she was just sitting while everyone was working hard to get things ready, she eyed the fishing rod and decided she would get a head start on fishing for their dinner meal first. She forced herself to get up and walked over to the North side of the river as she remembered hearing the camp leader tell them that the North side had the most fishes.
After a few minutes, Mark along with Jaemin and Hina came back to the fire place with a bunch of twigs- ready to complete the fire. As Hina dropped her pile, she noticed Koeun was no where to be found.
Hina: "Koeun-unnie?" she called out for her.
Jaemin: "Mark-hyung, where did Koeun-noona go?"
Mark: "She was sitting here when I came after you guys..." he dropped his pile of twigs before looking around.
Hina: "I'm gonna go look for her this way" she pointed South of the river.
Jaemin: "I'll go this way" he started walking back up the hill "Who knows, maybe she followed us over there but went the other direction instead" he told them.
Mark: "Alright, I'll go South. Try not to get lost guys. Mark your trees" he instructed them to use their spray paint cans.
They all split ways and went on to find Koeun. Mark, who couldn't help but wonder where she could've gone, started to worry in case she had ran back to camp instead but he was eager to look for her.
It started getting darker. Mark read his watch and it was already 6:58pm. He felt like he was to blame. Even if Koeun couldn't do much due to her current condition, the least he could've done was not leave her alone at the fire place. As he climbed down the steep hill, he saw something that caught his eyes- one of his team's red wristband. Right there, he knew that Koeun had come this way.
Mark: "Koeun-ah!!" he called for her but no response was heard from her. As he finally reached the red wristband, he picked it up and looked around in case Koeun was somewhere close by. "Eun-ah!!" he called again.
The hill was so steep, he was afraid that with Koeun in that kind of condition- that she may have fallen somewhere so he slowly made way down the hill. As he got closer to ground level, he saw another item that looked familiar. He picked up a hair tie and remembered how earlier, Koeun had borrowed it from Hina to tie up her hair due to the humid air.
He heard water nearby. Scared that she may have gone to the river, he ran as fast as he could to the river side where he found nothing there but silence again. The sun was slowly going down as they all continued to look for her.
Soon, the sun the set and Mark looked at his watch once again. It was already 8:24pm. He didn't know if the others went back to the fire place already or not. Then he remembered about the walkie talkies that the camp leader had given each one of them earlier. He used it to call the others but the sound was too scratchy to actually hear anything.
** (( Back at the fire place )) **
Koeun realized none of the members had returned to their fire post yet. She looked at her watch and it was already 8:24pm. Why aren't they back yet? she wondered. After a few hours down at the river side North, she failed to catch any fishes. Her elbow was still bleeding after she had accidentally stumbled down the steep hill earlier. But after taking the fall, she no longer felt the pain that was bugging her all day long. As she looked to her left, she saw the piles of twigs. So... they DID come back? But where are they? she asked herself.
Koeun: "Guys?" she called out for them. Her flashlight was still flaring it's lights wherever she would point it to. She wondered what had happened to their cameraman as well since he was supposed to be back long before already. "You guys?" she called out again but only silence responded to her.
Then her flashlight started failing her. Her light started to flicker as if the batteries were dying. She knew that without her flashlight, she would have no other light source so she ran to the fire place and attempted on making fire. She struggled as the rocks refused to fire up the pit. Slam after slam, she tried to hurry and start the fire. But before she could even get it started, the flashlight went out.
Her heart started beating real fast. She knew she was panicking already so she tried to calm herself down a bit. It was so quite out there that even she heard her own throat make noises as she gulped down real hard, still trying not to freak out.
She had cold sweat running down her forehead, her palms sweaty, and her feet tired. She hugged her backpack really tight and attempted to use her dead flashlight as defense if any animal tried to sneak up on her. Right there and then, her memories started to cycle through her head.
「 Koeun's Narration: "My father was an orphan from Hongcheon (Gangwon) who came to look for work in Seoul. Little did he know, he fell in love with the daughter of a wealthy chaebol (business man). My mother's parents never approved of their marriage so she ran away with him and the two started their own lives together. My father and mother were as different as day and night. My father would work to the core of his bone to earn money for his family while my mother shamelessly spent every penny on nothing but herself. One day, I got really sick. I needed medical care... but my father found out my mother had used up all of our family's savings. They argued. I was 4 years old when my mother finally found the courage to leave my father and I. He had gone out to do what he has always been doing- job hopping. My mother was tired of living such an underprivileged life. The day my father finally found a stable job was the same day my mother left me.
She was emotionally drained from all of the family debt and she was tired of being too embarrassed to go out in public without wearing the latest fashion. She must've worried that I'd let myself out, so she locked me inside all day. Thinking she'd come back home soon, I waited for her at the door. It gradually got darker and darker after the sun had set. My father, who was at an all-staff dinner, stayed out late because he thought my mother was looking after me at home. I was too short at the time to go around the house turning on lights... so I waited for my parents to come home.
Hurry mom... hurry dad, I thought to myself as I cried in the dark alone. Finally after what felt like forever- my father came home. He called out "Honey, you'll never believe it! I just landed a job as a Yoga teacher at Cheongdam Middle School. Sorry I'm so late! I just came back from attending an all-staff dinner with the higher-ups" he announced. When there was no response, he came around the living room and switched on the lights. He noticed I was sitting there all alone in the dark with my head covered in my arms as I continued sobbing in fear.
He took my in his arms immediately and asked me why I was sitting there all alone. He carried me as I held onto him with a tight grip, afraid he'd let me go. He sat me down on the couch as he walked around the house, calling and searching for my mother who was nowhere to be found. Then he stopped in front of the diner table where a note was found. Until this day, I still don't know what the note read. All I know is that it broke my father's heart because that was the first time I saw him cry.
To me, my mother is no longer my mother. A real mother does not abandon her family for any reason. A real mother does not put herself before her children. A real mother... is anything but my mother- my mother who left me without saying goodbye. That is not a real mother. She has left me scarred for life. A fear that was never there to begin with- that fear is now with me forever. I only have my father left. He is my mother. He has always been there for me. I know he hates it when I speak ill or think ill of my mother... but I can't help but feel this way. She ruined my childhood. She left me for other kids to pick on, to tease me for not having a mother... she left me in hell because her happiness comes first. That-- is something a child like me can never forgive...」
Koeun realized that she was crying after the memories made its comeback. It's been a while since she's cried for her mother... for pitying her father... and for her hurt feelings and broken heart. But she knew that her pain was nothing compared to her father's.
Still shaken about the dark and after collecting more courage, she finally wiped her tears and tried to think about what her father would do if he were with her. As Koeun remained seated, she started using her hands to search for the two rocks earlier. She had to make a fire soon since the other members have yet to arrive.
Finally, she found the rocks again and with that- she started scratching the rocks to try to generate a fire. She hit her hand every few times and although it hurt like crazy, she knew she couldn't give up and had to keep trying. After a few more tries, she finally started seeing the rocks spark. Slam after slam, the bristle underneath the rocks started to catch fire and finally after what felt like a decade- Koeun can now see a little light.
As she kept on going, she becomes startled after hearing a rustle coming from somewhere in front of her. Because the fire wasn't big enough, she wasn't able to see anything. So she tried even harder this time. Her fingers were bleeding at this point, tears were still streaming down her cheeks, and her heart was still beating faster than ever... scared that it may be a mountain lion or some wild animal.
The noise was coming in closer... and closer... and closer. Just as Koeun stopped scratching the rocks- she saw a small light coming towards her. She flinched and squinted at the source of light, wondering who could it be... and if it were any of her friends? As the figure came closer, she could finally recognize who it was and that was when her heart sank and she broke down.
Koeun: "Mark... ?" she almost couldn't mutter due to her shaking as she slowly stood up.
Mark : "Koeun-ah, is that you? Where were you?!" he raised his voice at her as he stood just a few feet away from her. Suddenly, he felt Koeun run into his embrace as she rested her head on his shoulder, held her arms tight around his waist, and continued to cry. She was so relieved, so happy to see him, and with him here now- it felt to her like all of her fears and all of her worries from the last few hours has already been gone with the wind...
She knew. She knew that with Mark here now, she felt safe... and that everything was going to be alright.