Chapter 11: Chapter 9: It's Not What You Think
"It's not what you think!"
"It's not what you think!"
The two said in unison, fear evident in their eyes.
"Then, please explain what I just saw." Geon smirked in amusement.
"..."
"..."
No one explained.
It was already dark outside.
The three were on a cross-sitting position inside the tent they will be sharing for 3 nights.
"My name is Gunnar Sigríðursson. You can call me Gunnar." The ginger-head smiled at Geon, "I'm from Iceland." He added.
"... I'm Choi Geon." The 17-year-old boy continued to smirk.
He then stared at the boy sitting next to Gunnar.
"What?" The boy had a scowl painted on his face.
"What's your name?" Geon ignored the boy's rude remark.
"Kudō Aoi. Japanese." The boy answered in irritation.
"What you saw earlier was not what you thought it was." Gunnar said nervously.
"And this thing here," He pointed at Kudō Aoi.
"Don't mind him. I don't even know why he joined a survival show despite knowing its history with evil editing. You know, since his personality is a bit..." Geon chuckled at Gunnar's explanation.
"Well, what you two did had nothing to do with me--"
"It was a misunderstanding!"
"It was a misunderstanding!"
Gunnar and Kudō's voices nearly cracked Geon's ears.
"Fine, fine. Whatever. I'm gonna take a nap, wake me up when it's dinner time. Just don't get caught by someone else--"
"It was really a misunderstanding!"
"It was really a misunderstanding!"
Geon laughed after teasing the two trainees.
'What a life!'
•••
"Good morning, everybody!" A cringey song welcomed the trainees as they walked closer towards the stage.
Kang Sejin was already there, dressed in a fashionable outfit-- as if he was just in the middle of a city-- as if it wasn't only 6 in the morning.
"We can't start the morning without dancing to this song--"
'Fuck.' Most of the trainees thought.
[~My name is Happie
I smile everyday!
I'm always happy
I laugh everyday!~]
The song [Happie] was released many years ago.
It was a popular song composed by [Lifeatsea].
[(Lalalalalalalala lala)
Sing with me!
(Lalalalalalalala lala)
Dance with me!]
[Happie] is one of the songs under the genre pop cringe of pop song.
[My name is Happie
I grin everyday!
I'm always happy
(My brain's still okay)]
It was intentionally made to be cringey in order to attract many attention.
And it did.
[(Lalalalalalalala lala)
Sing with me!
(Lalalalalalalala lala)
Dance with me!]
[Happie] became the theme song of many kindergarten schools around the world.
One surely lived under the rock if they weren't familiar with this song.
Its awkward lyrics and optimistic meaning were one of the reasons why it became popular.
The other reason was its catchy tone and simple melody.
[(Lalalalalalalala lala)
Write with me!
(Lalalalalalalala lala)
Read with me!]
The trainees internally cringed as they follow Kang Sejin's moves.
One of the main reasons why [Happie] became popular was because of its cringey but easy-to-dance choreo.
"One, two...
"Three, four..."
"Five, six..."
"Seven, eight..." They counted.
Kids especially loved to dance to [Happie]'s chorus, but as grown ups (they claim to be), the trainees were very uncomfortable.
Except one person.
If you thought it was Geon, you guessed correctly!
Our little tuna was the only trainee having fun dancing to the chorus of [Happie].
Why would he be embrassed?
Back in [Family], Geon experienced doing far, more embrassing things when he was an elite.
Dancing to [Happie] could't make him, a thick-faced former gangster, feel embrassed.
•••
"Um..."
"E-excuse me..."
"Yes?" Kang Sejjn smiled at the bewildered expression of the trainees.
"Are we really going to, umm..." Gunnar gulped as he pointed at the lake in front of them.
The lake: Hello!
Everyone: Gulped.
"That's right! You will be maintaning your hygiene through this lake in here!" Kang Sejin said excitedly.
"..."
"..."
"..."
•••
"Wow! The water is very warm!" Geon exclaimed as he tried to jump in the presence of the water.
"There might be some sharks in here..." Gunnar shivered as he hugged Geon's right arm.
"Sharks live in the sea." Kudō Aoi rolled his eyes.
"But there might be crocodiles though." He added.
"What?!" Gunnar shouted, attracting the other trainees' attention.
"It's nothing, hehe..." Gunnar's cheeks turned red like a tomato.
"But are there realy crocodiles in here?" He whispered to Geon.
"No. The water is not green. And of course, [Arkhe Entertainment] won't go as far as put their contestants in a lake full of wild animals to be devoured." Geon answered with a sigh.
He avoided the word, 'dumb' to be used in the same sentence with the word 'Arkhe'.
He didn't want to be evil-edited.
•••
"The water looks tempting." One of the cameramen said as he walked towards the staff sitting on a nearby stall.
"Yeah, I heard that [Arkhe Entertainment] put some sort of a machine to preserve the warmth of the waters in the lake."
"Wow! But, aren't machines of that kind expensive? And look at the size of that lake! It's wide." The cameraman exclaimed in surprise.
"It's [Arkhe], what do you expect?" The staff rolled his eyes.
"They are really serious about this survival show." The cameraman sighed in amazement.
"Yeah, so you should go back to the camera assigned to you before one of the staffs could notice your dissapearance."
•••
Most of the trainees ended up enjoying swimming in the lake.
For your information, they were wearing t-shirts.
Who would want to be filmed half-naked?
The director decided to make the trainees wear a t-shirt since most of them were still minors.
"By the way, how old are you?" Gunnar asked Geon.
"I'm 17, how 'bout you?" The latter replied.
"I'm 15!" The ginger-head answered.
"You're a minor?" Geon said in shock.
"Yeah, but I'm already as tall as you." Gunnar said with a proud smile.
"You're a minor too." Kudō Aoi rolled his eyes at the younger boys.
"You're always in a bad mood." Geon shook his head.
"That old man is turning 20 thid year." Gunnar whispered to Geon.
•••
'Old man, yeahhhhh. What the hell is this?!" Geon's eyes fell out from its sockets as he glanced at the two figures behind the tree.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone