•••••
"Today seems a bit...normal?" Koeun wondered to herself when she saw how well their fifth day was going on until now. No pranks. No fights. No weird things happening. Maybe today is just fine.
"Nakamura!"
"It's Gong!"
"Whatever, you're still Nakamura to me."
"Well, Nana. I go with Gong now."
'Okay, I take that back,' Koeun said to herself while sighing.
"I don't like red!"
"You know what, Herin?"
"What, doofus?"
"I don't care,"
"Lee Donghyuck! Give me the pink one!"
"Why should I listen to you?"
"Because I am Herin!"
"Well, I am Donghyuck Lee and I speak English much better."
"No, you don't!"
"Guess what, Herin?" Donghyuck snapped his fingers sassily. "I do!"
Mark covered his ears from hearing the two loud voiced frenemies bicker. He closed his eyes, regretting the fact he was in the same group with the one and only Lee Donghyuck. The boy is the sole reason why all these useless bickers and fights even begin in the first place.
He doesn't even want to start with Na Jaemin and his hobby of annoying the girl he's head over heels for.
Meanwhile Chan was showing Michael Jackson's dances to Jisung who tried to follow him. He was very persistent on making the younger love the singer as much as he does.
Arin and Lami were playing with each others' hair. The elder was braiding Lami's hair and the younger was tying up Arin's hair in pigtails. Yeri was with Jeno, showing off the pictures she took as souvenirs from yesterday's frog incident.
"Mark," Koeun called him and he opened his eyes to see the tall girl towering over him with the sunshine ray shining through, making her look like an angel in his eyes. His lips part, staring at her blankly.
"Oy, Mark!" She nudged his shoulder.
"Yes? Koeun? Yes? What? Yes?"
"What?"
"...Yes,"
Koeun plopped down beside Mark and stretched her legs out. "Don't you feel like something happened?" She asked in a whisper.
He looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, it seems like nobody remembers what went on yesterday." She said and he shrugged.
"Isn't it a good thing that no one remembers?"
Koeun stopped to think for a while before hesitantly nodding. "Maybe, maybe you're right."
"On the contrary, don't you think this camp trip or whatever this is, is very, very boring?" He asked, sitting cross-legged. She eyed her teammates then to the other students in their groups who weren't doing much either.
"I agree,"
Mark suddenly turned to her with a look she knows very much. She shook her head vigorously while he nudged her. "C'mon!"
He pulled her up with all his might and ran to the nearest person. He poked Jaemin, making him the seeker and poor boy, the younger doesn't even know what was going on until the elder yelled the sacred word, 'tag', before each and every member of their team ran away, leaving Jaemin and Hina still in her own world.
"Damn it," Jaemin cursed under his breath and held Hina's hand in his.
"We gotta seek," he said and she sighed deeply.
"Not that we have a choice,"
"I'd still choose you if I had a choice."
"Wow, thanks. I'd just pass away the choice then."
Anyone can see how Jaemin's heart cracks into small pieces then turns into dust.
•••••
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Nothing is ever a good idea, Koeun." Mark pulled her to hide behind a tree. "Because unplanned plans are the most likely to succeed." He answered, making a lookout for the two seekers.
"That was...good advice."
"Huh?" He turned to her. "What'd you say?"
"You're an awful good person,"
He looked at her a bit offended but shrugs.
"But, seriously, Mark? Why are we suddenly playing tag?" She asked, looking at the tall trees surrounding them.
"For fun. Plus, it's free time."
"Well, what if—"
"We just enjoy it, huh?" Mark look3¥ at her with a determined look and she just sighed, acknowledging him.
Koeun looked down to their intertwined hands and wondered how it came to this. She stared at their hands for a while then to his broad back. Mark noticed how quiet she was and they had a staring contest for a few seconds before a loud screech woke them up.
"That's Yeri," Koeun said, recognizing the high pitched scream of hers.
"She hates losing though," Mark chuckled.
"So does Jeno," she retorted. She pulled Mark's hand and walked ahead of him. "If we want to win, we've got to do everything," she said, determined. She smiled confidently while leading him deeper into the forest.
The two of them ran together in silence.
No words exchanged.
Just the sound of their breathing in the quiet green environment.
"Do you think JaeNa can find us here?" Koeun asks.
"JaeNa?"
"Yeah," she panted. "Jaemin and Hina,"
"Maybe," Mark replied.
Out of nowhere, Koeun stoppdd abruptly and took a breather, making Mark slow down. She panted heavily while Mark had steady breathing. There, in front of them, a wooden cabin, identical to the ones they are currently staying in, but this one looks much more obsolete and shabby compared to their cabins.
They exchanged glances with each other. Why is that they encounter the weirdest things when they are together?
Koeun let go of Mark's hand and went near the door. She knocked on the door out of courtesy. The door slowly opened by itself with a squeaking sound, coming from the rusty hinges. She cringed and goosebumps ran down her body.
"Mark?" The boy inched closer towards her and both of them peeked inside the cabin. It was empty. Mark entered the cabin first, followed by Koeun after.
"I think we should start a job, Koeun."
"Not now,"
"I mean, with all these detective skills of ours. We could rule the world."
"We, and by we, I mean you, don't have any detective skills, Mark."
"Why not?"
"Look at you!" She hisses. "You're like a walking alarm detector. Once you see danger, you'd be hollering your way outta there."
"...Koeun, why are you so mean?
"Do you expect everyone to be rainbows to you?"
"Well, not everyone, like you, has to be dark and gloomy."
"I am not dark and gloomy."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yes, I am not."
"The hell with the two of you knuckleheads. You guys sound like freaking firetrucks."
There comes the inhumanly sound coming from the manly Mark and Koeun who was almost on the verge of losing her eardrums and consciousness.
"Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?" Koeun chanted nonstop.
"Oh my god, I think I broke a vessel." Mark held his nape. He opened his eyes and stared at the being in front of them. How unlucky were they to meet two ghosts in under a week?
"Is he gone? Is she gone? Is it gone? Are they gone?!" Koeun askes out loud while covering her ears.
"No," the ghost said. "I'm still here."
Mark had to force Koeun to open her eyes and come back to reality. She took deep breaths while staring at the ghost in front of them.
"How the heck did you even find this place?" The ghost asked, annoyed. "Nobody comes here," he continued. "Unless you're lost or probably..." he trailes off, looking at the both of them with a look of amusement. "Into some, I don't know? Pleasure time,"
"Ew!" Koeun shrieked in disgust while hugging herself. "W-why? What? Ew!"
"I-it's not like that." Mark answered, kind of stunned with the ghost's visual. He looked too handsome in his eyes. He doesn't even look real. Mark actually felt his cheeks reddening from looking at the ghost.
"By the way, the name's TY." The ghost said while casually shrugging.
"TY?" Koeun asked, finally getting her senses back.
"Yes, call me anything. I don't care," he uttered. Koeun found him acting quite drastically from the way he looks. He lookes cold, yet he acts so...laid-back? She doesn't know the right word to describe him but she does know one word.
Perfection.
After staring at what a sculpture face of his, something clickes in Koeun's brain. His picture was put up with the seventh cabin's ghost—which they still don't know its name—in the hall of their school. She sighs in defeat when she can't remember any information about these two dead people when lots of stories and assumptions have been posted nearly everywhere in school—although some have been filtered for the sake of the new students to not scare them off but this situation right now was making her brain roast.
"How did you get here, uh...TY...sunbae?" Mark asked hesitantly.
"It's actually my first time in this cabin. I never knew this place existed. We were always over there with the other cabins." TY explained, looking around the empty cabin.
"W-we? I mean, there? Are you talking about the cabins that we're staying in?" Mark stuttered over his words.
"Of course, where else?" TY said in a 'duh' tone.
"So, you must know the other ghost." Koeun pointed out.
"What other ghost?" TY asked, confused.
"The one that stays in the Cabin #7. No one can enter that place. They keys were missing." She explained
"The seventh cabin?" TY asked. "Are you kidding me?" He snorted. "Because of that Casper, I am left here. I was his roommate but he kicked me out apparently, so I'm currently staying here and there." He muttered. "It's the pale looking one, isn't it?"
"Well, I don't know if he's that pale...but yeah, he was the only one there. He had dark hair." Mark said.
"Did he tell you his name?" TY asked. The two shook their head in sync. "Great," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes in the process. Then, he snapped his head towards them. "How did you get here?"
"Oh, we were playing—Oh my god!" Mark quickly took out his phone to look at the time. He groaned when he sees how long the two of them were gone. The kids would be worried by now.
"What kind of stupid game is 'oh my god!'?" TY asked, scrunching his beautiful face.
"It means we've been gone too long. We need to get back." Koeun said, heading to the door.
"Oh my god, oh my god, what should I do?" Mark said to himself.
"Nothing, you idiot." Koeun pushed him out of the door and spared a glance to the still confused ghost.
"But sunbae, if you don't stay here, then who does?"
TY looked at her blankly.
"Who knows?"
•••••
"Where in the world did all of you go to?"
The team consisting of Cabin #4 and Cabin #13 cowered in fear as they lowered their heads. Their game of tag had been ruined by one of their alumni who noticed none of the group members were present during the free time and then turned up late to lunch by half an hour. Talk about all the food that got gobbled down.
The winner was Mark and Koeun, of course, Jaemin and Hina didn't have a chance to catch them since they were caught first by the hands of their supervisors. That was how all twelve people are now gathered in the biggest cabin of all, where the alumni stayed in.
Lami pouted, she was unsatisfied with the results of the game and also how they were getting scolded. Jisung kept fiddling with his long and slender fingers. Herin was praying in her mind for the scolding session to pass by quickly while Hina bit on her lower lip. Jaemin had his straight face on, the words from their supervisor going through his right ear and leaving his left ear. Jeno listened intently while nodding every now and then even though none of their words stuck in his head.
Yeri, on the other hand, seemed like she was in another world. She didn't even care at all. Getting into trouble was normal. No trouble, no life. Chan looked at his hands, mixed in between worry and literally no care. He was kind of worried words will get to his parents since one of their supervisors are somehow spies sent by his other parents, who weren't even his parents. Just friends who treat him like their baby. It was weird, considering they have a small age gap and the two weren't even together, but Chan knew better than to ask.
Arin looked upset. She was a nice girl. She had never gotten into trouble before. Being scolded like this hurts her. Donghyuck had the same face as Arin's but with a mix of angry too. Why were they getting scolded? They had done nothing wrong, other than the fact that they went somewhere else during free time where everyone was supposed to be together and played a game which had all of them be all over the place and came late during lunch. He doesn't realize what he did wrong.
"And you, Mark!" The slightly taller past senior of theirs called him. "I expected better from you, you're the leader."
"Who decided to play the game?"
"...."
None of them opened their mouths. Everyone kept mum.
"I repeat, who decided to play?"
Mark slowly lifted his hand. "I did," he confessed.
"Great! All of you can leave, except for Mark." The others look shocked. They can't leave their leader alone to take all the blame when they were the ones who joined in too. It was unfair. For him, and for them.
"I said, you can leave." The senior repeated and the others gave up. If they protested, Mark was still going to take the blame. So, they all left quietly, well, all with the exception of one girl.
"Why aren't you leaving?"
"It's unfair,"
"Excuse me?"
"Mark wasn't the only one who played."
"So?"
"If you need to punish him, I'll receive the same thing."
Mark nudged her elbow for her to stop but she didn't even flinch.
"Mark was the one who initiated the game, not you."
"That's true, but I was with him. So that makes us partners. And I didn't try to stop him. I'm also wrong, it takes two to tango."
"Why you...sigh. Fine. Suit yourself." The supervisor looks done. "Do you even know what kind of danger you just got in?"
The two exchanged glances but kept quiet.
"If you guys didn't return, we would be losing almost 13 kids." The supervisor blabbered.
"What do you mean by that?" Koeun asks.
"Reportedly, one student has gone missing ever since morning. His group mates and roommates don't know where he went to. They thought he was resting because he told them we was a bit sick. Now, he's nowhere to be found."
Koeun and Mark stared at each other.
How did this happen?
"This is such a hassle. This is why I should've opposed more to even stay here again. I know it was the wrong choice. What if another goes missing? Who's gonna do anything about that? It's like freaking deja vu or something."
"This happened before?"
The senior snappedbhis head towards them. He realized he had said too much, much more than he needed to.
"Nothing. You two should head for lunch." He ushered them out.
"Oh and punishment, be sure to wash the dishes and clean up the pots."
Oh crap. Chores.
•••••
It's only part one of Day 5. I'll be continuing part two later on. How did you enjoy this chapter?
A student has gone missing.
It looks like something similar happened before.
Who could the senior be talking about?
Who is the one staying in the shabby cabin?
I'm pretty sure most of you guessed who TY and the ghost in Cabin #7 is.
Chan and Arin are like parents to Lami and Jisung.
Jeno and Yeri are partners in crime.
Comment down on what you'd like to see in the next chap, about anyone in particular.
I swear this book is going astray from what I planned, not that I had a plan in the beginning.