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It was a hard day. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. Gilyoung was mad. He didn’t even know to who. Himself, Shin Yoosung, or Han Sooyoung. The only thing that mattered was that they were forced to take the long run on this sub scenario. He wasn’t even aware of why they had to take this one. Sooyoung only told them to follow her, and they did. It’s not like Dokja was there to give them any reassurance.
The boy quickly decided to check something while they walked.
Sub Scenario ‘One with the fruit’
Category: Sub
Difficulty: B-
Clear conditions: obtain the hidden chest on time.
Time limit: 7 hours.
Reward: 12000 coins, ??? fruit
Failure: ——
It couldn’t be the money they were after; they had been grinding coins faster the last few days. What did that fruit do? He thought to ask but a few wasps caught his attention, making him smile at them. One good thing about this place was that he encountered lots of bugs on the way.
It had a lot of vegetation and was quite a humid place. Gilyoung always lived in the city and his family couldn’t afford tourism to a kind of jungle, so he was a bit happy to be in places like this.
…however, not everyone was happy about this. The leader of the group had been stung by a few bugs on their way to this “prize”. And the other girl was having trouble with one. Yoosung was luckier, unlike the adult who got a whole byke out of them.
“UGH! What is the problem with these things?!”
“Don’t be rude! They like you!” The bug boy giggled to himself at the sight of Han Sooyoung and Dokja’s incarnation getting more “friends”.
Complaining soon arose. “Tell them to get off us, Gilyoung. It’ll make our job faster.”
The boy pouted a bit. But told the wasps to go away anyway. It might be fun to watch them fight off his tiny friends, but he also wanted to be done with this. Speaking of being done with this…
“Hey, you two.”
“…yes?” The other child looked to her teammate as she tried to fix what the bugs did to Sooyoung and her.
“Do any of you know if we are going in the right direction? It feels like we’ve been going in circles.”
Yoosung didn’t have a straight answer, so she only looked at the other. “We should be getting there soon enough. We’ve been walking in circles.”
The children’s faces turned into disbelief. What was the purpose of all of this then?
What she hadn’t told them was the puzzle that the scenario holds against them. This scenario didn’t have someone to be defeated, it was only a test of endurance for patient people. She usually wouldn’t do this, but she needed to get those two something for them.
With her weapon, she destroyed a small bush in front of the confused children. There was revealed a very small chest that she took and opened it…
[You’ve gained one tropical apple!]
Only one. Damm, she was hoping to get at least two. These apples gave the one who consumed it a boost on defense while using “tame”. She looked at the two kids in front of her before choosing.
“Yoosung.”
“Huh?” Both children still disorientated asked at the same time. The girl, instinctively, caught the small fruit that Han Sooyoung threw at her.
“It’ll help you be better with your tame skill. That was everything, we’re done here.” She would have said more but she was so tired, so she walked and destroyed some vines, exposing the exit.
Yoosung looked down at the tropical apple, ready to eat it but stopped at feeling Gilyoung’s stare.
She smiled at him, ready to tease him but frowned at seeing his expression. He looked sad, hurt, and jealous. She had been with him long enough to know those emotions of the boy with his expression alone but, somehow, anyone else didn’t. Not even Dokja, or if he did, he didn’t do anything about it.
“I don’t get it. Why are you always the one getting this stuff?”
Gilyoung looked at her in the eyes, he didn’t even want that apple. He only wanted to know why people were more considered about giving her stuff. This scenario was all about surviving with insects and Gilyoung was the one who spent all his magic protecting everyone here for the last five hours. Why was Yoosung the one who got the prize?
Truthfully, Han Sooyoung’a plan was to get one for each of them but seeing luck not be on her side she gave the only one to Yoosung. She knew that she was a great person to have on the team and seeing how Dokja acted towards her… she thought the best option was to prioritize the Beat master.
The girl was a bit taken aback by Gilyoung’a tone. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t play with me. You know exactly what I mean. First Dokja and now her. Does everyone just prefer you?” He was holding back tears. The boy added before she could even respond. “It’s fine. It’s fine. I should have expected it”. He got up and went back to the already-finished scenario.
He started to walk. And started to run before he could even realize it. Tears falling from his face. He wanted to look tough, but he couldn’t hold it back anymore, he didn’t want anyone to see him like this. He heard a scream that called his name, but he didn’t stop.
Yoosung looked back at the exit for a moment before deciding to go and get him alone, starting to run two seconds later after him.
“Gilyoung! Please, wait a moment!” The one being mentioned looked back, realizing that the one who called his name was already catching up to him. She was faster. Of course she was, she had a constellation that provided her with a good number of coins.
“Go away!” He shouted back and used his skills to make bugs in the area stop her. Her speed lowered a bit at the attack of the bug, but she soon realized that they were only distracting her, not even one dared to hurt her. Seeing this, she speeded up, the bugs around her trying to blur her vision. Sadly, for them, she already had her target and wasn’t going to let go that easily.
Both children avoided rocks, sticks, trees, and all sorts of things trying to slow them both. The bug master changed his direction, trying to lose her using once again diverse communication to try and avoid her. More bus coming her way. Although, coins still were on her side. Her vision was way better, and she could still see him running, then, she stopped at the sight of Gilyoung having collapsed to his knees. There was a giant lake in front of them. He was tired and it was dead. The boy could be good at a lot of things, but swimming was not one of them.
“You all can go away.” He said in a monotone tone, trying to sound fine. All the bugs went away. One entity remained.
“That means you too, Shin Yoosung.” The small boy growled at her, avoiding eye contact and keeping his eyes on the beautiful lake.
The girl only took a step forward. She couldn’t see it, but Gilyoung was starting to clench his teeth harder and harder. Tears silently fell down his face and finally, he snapped.
“What do you want from me?!” He shouted, glaring at her with pain in his eyes. His eyes were slightly red from his cries. She already had everything she could wish for in this destroyed world. What did she have to gain from all of this?
Yoosung’s eyes widened a bit, only to soften after. The boy, seeing the other’s lack of response, added. “Just go away.”
“I won’t go.” The boy looked back at her; a bit tired with his eyes looking down. He wanted to question her. “Why…? You…” he stopped as he felt the girl’s arms wrapping around him. He didn’t return the embrace, however; it did feel nice though. He let his head rest on Yoosung’s shoulder.
Even though it felt like hours, a minute passed, and she pulled away just long enough to see his face. Gilyoung wanted to ask again. “Why are you doing this?” His eyes weren’t avoiding her anymore. She looked confused for a moment and smiled. “You know why.” …but he didn’t.
She couldn’t get it, why did he not realize? “You’ve always been there for me when I look down, just thought I should return the favor.”
So, did she feel the need to do this? If he did that it was because he didn’t like seeing her like that, there was nothing he… “I care about you.” she added, almost reading his mind to avoid any misunderstandings.
His eyes went wide at those words, he didn’t remember when was the last time someone told him those words and sounded so sincere too. “R-really?” His voice was trembling, as if it was going to break at any point.
Yoosung giggled a bit. “Of course I do. Sure, we often disagree and argue but that’s just our way of being us. I like that about us, our arguing isn’t even that serious anyway. You are the only one who gets me here. Let me help you.”
Gilyoung kept staring at her. And soon, he was laughing and crying at the same time.
The girl just waited for him to calm down. They were not in a rush, he could let it go, all he needed to know was that she was there for him.
Once the cries stopped, she asked. “Do you want to talk about it?” The boy only nodded.
Once he felt prepared, he opened his mouth. “I just… don’t get you people.” Gilyoung admitted and continued. “You seem to be meant to be with them. Like all of you must have met each other before.” He had his theories of why that was but that was a talk
for someone else, not her.
“Even Ahju- Kim Dokja seemed to act that way. You have seen him act towards you more on a friendly matter but the one I met… he was cold, it was a ‘come if you want’ rather than ‘I have to protect you and I won’t accept a no for an answer’. “The kid didn't even know what to feel anymore…
“If he’s still alive, I could talk to him…” she offered. “No, I want him to realize it himself.” His voice was firm and soft.
“I respect your opinion, but you are wrong about one thing about me.” “…which one?”
Yoosung looked back at the environment. “I don’t go well with everyone, I’m just good at listening and saying what they want from me. You are better at that or maybe we are just as bad.” She laughed out loud before saying. “If that was the case, why do you think I stayed by your side even at the start when we didn’t get along at all?”
“…to annoy me?” Gilyoung guessed with a half-smile. She giggled at his comment. “Maybe but you were the one who I felt like I could get along with!” She put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure the group likes you and maybe Dokja doesn’t love you as much as you do but that doesn’t mean he hates you.”
“…in comparison to Lee Jihye.” That brought a small laugh from the boy, cleaning his face with water. A moment later, he stood up and gave the other a hand. She accepted it and soon as she was close to him, she received a hug from him. Normally, they wouldn’t have this much contact, but this was important for them. She returned the embrace.
“Thank you.” Was all Lee Gilyoung could mutter.
[Some constellations are happy with your bonding! You have been gifted 600 coins!]
…right. Gilyoung had completely forgotten some constellations were still interested in their adventure. Well, at least-
[Constellation, Demon-like Judge of Fire, is dying of cuteness]
[Constellation, Demon-like Judge of Fire, wonders if a new ship has arrived in the story,]
[You have been gifted 1000!]
…nevermind. The two were a bit embarrassed by the situation, having a small blush on their faces.
“We should get going, Han Sooyoung might be getting worried.”
Gilyoung smiled and nodded, and both started to walk together.
Suddenly, he saw half of the tropical apple being given to him by Shin Yoosung, who had the other half in her other hand. He wanted to argue that she should eat all of it but seeing her expression he knew that she would force him to eat it, so he took it and smiled at her.