The Anticipated Field Trip - 1
"All right, grab your bags and get on the bus!"
A few weeks passed, and the day of the field trip finally arrived.
The trip to our destination, Jeju Island, wasn't particularly long. About an hour by bus, then another hour by plane. Boarding would take a little extra time, of course, but it wasn't as if we'd be stuck waiting forever.
"Sihyun, you're not sleeping?"
"I'll sleep once you do."
Fortunately, we boarded the plane without any trouble and were soon flying straight for Jeju Island.
The seating arrangement was simple enough. Each group sat together in a row — me and Riya, then Yuwon and Hoyeon, in that order. With only four of us, the seats lined up neatly, so there was no need to split up. A small mercy, if nothing else.
"Deadline…"
Yuwon, for the record, had been in a deadline rush right up until the day before. The moment he got on the bus — and then the plane — he collapsed. He clearly hadn't slept properly in days. He'd probably been mainlining energy drinks at near-addiction levels.
"Mmm…"
And Riya, right after saying that, pulled a blanket over herself and fell asleep too. She'd gone to bed pretty late the night before, so she had to be exhausted. She hadn't managed much sleep on the bus either.
Maybe I should read a book.
I wasn't sleepy. Partly because I'd gone to bed so early the night before, and partly because I'd never been much of a sleeper to begin with.
Why so early? There were a few reasons, but the biggest one was how much I was looking forward to this field trip. Whenever something exciting was coming up, I could never sleep well.
I haven't had time to read lately, so this works out.
I pulled out the book I'd set aside from my bag and opened it. A fairly well-known classic novel, and a pretty good one. I'd finished it once before and was rereading it now. The protagonist kills his father, kills his lover, kills a treacherous official, and then dies himself at the end — which I found surprisingly compelling. A kind of freshness and shock I'd never experienced in a story before.
I was killing time with that book when the plane suddenly jolted a little.
Thud.
"…?"
"Sihyun…"
Riya's head slipped and dropped against my shoulder with a soft thud.
It wasn't heavy at all. Honestly, I could have said there was no weight to it whatsoever. What did get to me, though, was the way her hair kept brushing against my neck as she rested there — soft strands tickling my skin with every slight movement of the plane.
Her silk-like silver hair swayed gently, grazing my neck again and again.
It's been a while…
Back in elementary school, she'd leaned on me plenty of times while fully awake. But once we hit middle school, it was different. She seemed to avoid doing it on purpose. On the rare occasions she instinctively rested her head on my shoulder, she'd freeze like she'd been struck by lightning, her face flushing red, and pull away almost immediately.
So her leaning on me like this really was a long time coming. And now that it was actually happening—
"Ha…"
My face went hot. I was embarrassed.
No — there was embarrassment, sure, but also something harder to put into words.
All of a sudden?
Physical contact with Riya at this level wasn't anything new. It had happened more than once or twice recently, even. So for my heart to start pounding this hard over it felt strange.
Or… maybe not?
Thinking about it, my heart had probably raced every time.
Rustle—
"Hup…"
Riya, who'd been still until then, shifted her head, and her hair tickled my neck all over again. That faint, creeping itch crawling along my throat was almost impossible to endure. My body twisted half on instinct, and I glanced sideways—
"…"
"…Just keep doing what you were doing."
I met Hoyeon's eyes. He was looking at the two of us with a faintly forlorn expression.
A sudden silence settled over us.
After the briefest pause, I turned my head away, put my earphones back in, and tried to focus on the novel again. Tried, at least.
"…I miss Haryeong."
Something muttered from beside me, but I let it go.
Not long after that, the plane we were on arrived at our destination: Jeju Island.
"We'll meet back here in thirty minutes."
The lodging wasn't bad at all. For something the school had arranged, it was actually quite nice.
The room assignments were straightforward. A boys' wing and a girls' wing. The boys were split up by group; the girls were all put together in one large building. Since there were three of us guys, we got the smallest room in the place — though thankfully it wasn't so cramped that it felt tight.
"Today's just dinner and recreation, and that's it."
"Tomorrow's going to be rough, then."
Strictly speaking, there was only one item on today's schedule, so it didn't look like it'd be hard. Being the first day, they probably weren't planning to drag us too far — just keep things light. Tomorrow, of course, we'd be running all over the place and wearing ourselves out.
After unpacking, the first meal we had was fried rice. A classic choice, really. It didn't taste bad. For school food, it was genuinely delicious.
Once we'd finished eating, the only program of the day arrived: recreation time.
"Sit with your groups!!"
"Don't mix with other classes!!"
Listening to the assistant teachers bark orders with barely contained fury, we found our assigned seats — and only then did I get a look at Riya.
"How's your room?"
"Three of us, so not bad. What about you?"
"I'm fine. The other girls too."
I'd been a little worried she might be stuck alone without anyone she was close to, but she seemed to be getting along better than I'd expected. Then again, the girls had always liked Riya, ever since elementary school. And it wasn't as if she had a personality that rubbed people the wrong way.
Once we — and the rest of the students around us, still a bit chaotic — had all found our places, the program began.
More importantly, what kind of game are they going to make us play?
I didn't particularly care, but if I had a preference, something that didn't involve a lot of running around would be nice.
At that moment, the host who'd been warming up the crowd up front announced the game.
"The game we'll be playing this time is a treasure hunt!!"
…Not exactly easy, then.
"A treasure hunt?"
"On Jeju Island… out of nowhere?"
Yuwon and Hoyeon, sitting beside me, both looked puzzled by the sudden treasure hunt, but neither of them seemed put off by it. It did sound like it could be fun.
"We've scattered palm-sized slips of paper all over the grounds of this lodging!"
The host's explanation was simple. Just like any treasure hunt we already knew, we had to find the papers hidden around the lodging. Points would be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis for whoever brought them back.
But there was one crucial difference.
"What you ultimately have to bring back is the subject written on the paper!!"
Just having the paper wasn't enough. You had to bring back whatever the paper instructed you to find. It could be an object. It could be a person. It could even be something material yet abstract.
In short, you brought back whatever was written on the paper, and that earned you points.
"Sounds like a pain."
Kang Yuwon was already muttering under his breath with a scrunched-up face, but he probably wouldn't skip the treasure hunt.
"We only need to bring back one per group?"
"Doesn't seem like it'll be that hard."
Once the host finished explaining, we headed straight outside to start looking for papers.
The sun was just about to set. We had one hour. After that, it would be fully dark and we wouldn't be able to wander around anymore.
"Let's start from the far side. There are too many people over here."
Following Hoyeon's suggestion, we decided to search the opposite end of the grounds rather than near the entrance. The lodging property wasn't particularly large, but finding hidden papers in an hour was still a tall order. And if other students had already checked a spot, it would only get harder — so we made a beeline for the quieter far side.
And finding a paper there turned out to be—
"Huh? Found one."
—ridiculously easy.
A single slip of paper wedged between the iron bars separating the outer grounds from the rest of the property. It had caught Yuwon's eye immediately. He did have sharp observational skills even in the novel, but this was almost too easy.
"Is it supposed to be this simple?"
Yuwon pulled the paper free from between the bars and handed it to me without even opening it.
"Why are you giving it to me?"
"I don't feel like reading what's inside."
In other words, he didn't want to be the one who had to go find whatever was written on it.
I smiled faintly at that and unfolded the paper — and my body went rigid.
A Precious Thing
A precious thing.
An abstract phrase. Something precious could be an object, a person, or even something that didn't physically exist. That alone wasn't a problem — the host had mentioned there would be quite a few like this.
But the content of the mission itself was uncomfortably awkward. A rather troublesome choice of words.
"A precious thing…?"
Yuwon and Hoyeon both fell silent.
What was precious to Yuwon was his novel itself. He'd brought a novel with him, sure, but it was back in the room — and we couldn't go there now.
What was precious to Hoyeon was Haryeong. She wasn't here either, and saying it out loud would have been hard enough on its own.
Meanwhile, Riya and I were glancing at each other.
Should I say it?
What was precious to me was, without a doubt, Riya. It had been true in the past, and it was true now. Even setting romantic feelings aside.
But actually saying it out loud made me hesitate. Embarrassed, even — and that was fine.
So while I was still deliberating, Riya suddenly took my hand.
"Sihyun."
"…Riya?"
"Let's go."
Her face was red. And at the same time, it was resolute.
With that, she took my hand and pulled me straight back toward the starting point.
My heart was pounding.
"Oh! Our first contestants!"
There was no one at the starting building. Everyone else had gone off looking for treasure, so of course it was empty.
"All right! Please tell us the content and the subject!"
There was no one around.
That fact alone made my heart move a little more freely.
"The content is… a precious thing."
Riya was the one who said it.
But the words that followed were mine.
"The subject is Riya."
At those words, Riya's face flushed red.