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“Last one to get there smells like fermented bean curd!” Seungkwan exclaims, pedaling faster and speeding past Chan with ease.
“Hey! No fair, you got a head start.” Chan protests with a huff, exerting extra effort on his legs as he tries to catch up. Seungkwan taunting him with laughter, already a few meters ahead. The road they’re taking isn’t too littered with cars or people, as the mid-morning sets in and everyone’s either at home or at work. It’s also usually the time kids start heading out to play and enjoy their summer, which is exactly what the two boys were doing.
Chan catches up with Seungkwan and eventually overtakes him with a loud cheer. They continue on with their little race, constantly taking turns in getting ahead of each other and throwing harmless insults until they eventually get tired and go back to biking at a regular pace side by side.
“Why does Hansol insist on going on a treasure hunt near the mountain anyway? It’s so far away.” Chan complains.
“It’s not that far, you’re just lazy.” Seungkwan notes with a shake of his head. “Besides, it’s his turn to pick today’s adventure.”
“Fine, I guess it could be fun.” Chan relents with a shrug of his shoulders. “Oh! And we can go swim in the river after.”
“Yeah, you’ll miss being able to do that once you guys move.”
Chan doesn’t fail to hear the bitterness in Seungkwan’s voice and he lets out a heavy sigh. He doesn’t want to think about the prospect of moving to the city so he tries to divert the topic of their conversation. “Do you think we’ll actually find any treasure?”
“We’ve never had any luck before but who knows? You can find all sort of things in the mountains, especially if you know where to look.”
--
The road starts to thin out and they get surrounded by more trees. They see the sign that welcomes locals and tourists to the trail and they start to slow down seeing two figures approach them.
“What took you guys so long?” Hansol asks, waving his hands at them. A little girl follows along behind him, mimicking his hand movements.
Seungkwan and Chan come to a stop and hop off their bikes. “I didn’t know Sofia was gonna be here too.” Seungkwan comments.
“Yeah, well mom told me to bring her along because she rarely gets to play outside.” Hansol says with a roll of his eyes.
“I also want to explore and find treasure!” Sofia shouts, jumping up and down excitedly. A bucket hat fit snugly on her head paired with a white cotton shirt tucked under her khaki shorts and a pair of toy binoculars hanging around her neck. She looked like a cartoon character, ready to traverse the wilderness.
“We would if Chan remembered to bring the metal detector.” Hansol says turning to Chan expectantly. Sofia gets more excited, looking at Chan with eyes as round as plates.
Chan reaches behind for the stick poking out of his small backpack and brandishes it out, a proud grin on his face. “Of course I brought it.”
Sofia deflates. “That’s not a metal detector. That’s just a giant magnet taped to a stick.”
“It’s called being resourceful, Sofia. Not that you’d understand what that means.” Her brother sneers. He starts walking forward leading them off the main road and into a rockier path. Sofia stomps her feet. “Well, what does it mean?”
“It's a secret . Only kids older than six can know.”
Sofia frowns and crosses her arms as the boys laugh, walking ahead with their bikes. She hates it when they make fun of her, older brothers can be really mean sometimes. She kicks at the little stones littered across the soil and grass, her lower lip jutted out into a pout. They reach a small wooden waiting shed occupied by an old man who seems to be taking an afternoon nap. “You guys can leave your bikes here.” Hansol gestures to where his own bike leans.
“What if someone steals it?” Seungkwan says, hesitant.
“Don’t worry, no one will want your rusty old bike.” Chan jokes, already leaning his own beside Hansol’s. Seungkwan grumbles but ends up following suit. With all the bikes in place, they start their trek. “Which trail are we taking today?”
“Not the main one for sure. There’s too many tourists and they all walk so slow and take too many pictures.” Hansol fusses. He motions his head towards a narrower track. “Let’s go here.”
They walk on the strip of land surrounded by shrubs and small trees. The weather was great for trekking, the air not too humid and there was a soft breeze blowing its way through. It hasn’t rained as well which meant that the soil wasn’t muddy and it was less likely for any of them to slip or fall. As they walked further into the trail, taller trees gave them shade against the rays of the sun.
Seungkwan starts rambling off about the new episode of his favorite anime until Chan tells him to shut up because he hasn’t watched it yet and doesn’t want to get spoiled. Instead, they start arguing over who’s faster, Quicksilver or the Flash. Hansol laughs at them calling their argument pointless. When the two still won’t let up, Sofia picks up a dried flower from the ground, chucks it at the both of them and screams ‘ a Spider!’ . It works because the two nearly fall on their asses which breaks off their squabble. Sofia’s laughter fills the air as she skips ahead of them. Hansol chuckles, amused at his friends’ gullibility.
“She learned that from you.” Seungkwan remarks, still clutching his chest.
“What can I say? I’m a great role model.”
Their ears perk up when they hear the rustling sound of water mixed in with the chirping of the birds. They pick up their pace into a run until they reach the source, a river at the bottom of the slope. It’s smaller compared to the one in the main trail but at least there weren’t any other people. It was shallow too, the deepest part probably only reaching up to their hips. Chan runs up first, removing his sandals and walking in until the water reaches his knees and starts splashing water into his face. The rest follow and they play around aiming water at each other’s faces but also avoiding their clothes from getting too wet. Eventually, Hansol suggests they continue on their trek and just come back later. They cross the river, walking on the shallow end. When they reach the other side, Chan releases a bittersweet sigh. “You’re right, I’ll miss that.”
“I still can’t believe you’re moving to the city.” Hansol mutters, shaking his head. “You won’t even spend sixth grade with us.”
“Yeah and with just one year left. You’re such a combo breaker.” Seungkwan adds.
“Come on guys, it’s not that bad! We’ll still come by every two weeks to visit grandma. Seoul isn’t that far away.”
“Still. It’s more than an hours drive from Gangwon-do.”
“Also, who will I play Mario Kart with after school? You know how much Seungkwan hates playing cause he always loses.” Hansol says.
“And who’s gonna watch Naruto with me? Hansol only wants to play Mario Kart.” Seungkwan retorts.
Chan’s shoulders slump forward. He doesn’t really want to leave either but his parents got a promotion to work in Seoul, they already bought a house, most of their things are packed, and his parents even found a school for him to attend. He’s tried to reason that he can just live with his grandmother but they said that it was about time they lived in the city anyway. Something about better opportunities and better education. Chan thinks it’s all bull, shouldn’t opportunities and education be the same everywhere?
Something collides with his torso and he looks down to see Sofia giving him a hug. “I think what they’re trying to say is that they’ll miss you. We’ll miss you Chan.” she says with a sweet smile.
Hansol walks forward and ruffles Chan’s hair. “Yeah, we’ll miss you buddy.”
“Don’t have too much fun without us.” Seungkwan jokes, putting his arm around the smallest boy’s shoulders.
Chan’s mood brightens. At least, he’s with his friends now. That’s what matters the most, he thinks.
--
They continue walking, taking turns to sweep their improvised metal detector across the ground in search for treasure. Seungkwan starts getting excited when something sticks to the magnet only to be let down when he sees it’s just a key chain someone probably dropped. It’s a wooden souvenir with the ecopark’s name etched across it. Sofia takes it and hooks it onto Chan’s backpack. They try a few more spots on the ground, to no such luck, when Hansol gets an idea. “How about we go in here?” he asks motioning into the thicker part of the forest.
“You want us to leave the trail? What if we get lost?” Seungkwan points out.
“We won’t, it’ll be easy to find come on.” Hansol says already heading in. Sofia and Chan follow while Seungkwan lags a bit behind.
“I don’t really like this idea. What if we disturb something… or someone.” he mumbles, looking around warily.
“Do you actually believe in forest spirits and ghosts?” Chan snorts.
“My grandmother has told me enough stories about them to last my lifetime. Also, isn’t this mountain famous for it’s folklore?”
“It’s all just a legend, Seungkwan. We’ve been here so many times and we’ve never seen anything out of the ordinary.” Hansol assures him.
They venture deeper into the forest. The trees growing in number and size, their roots crawling over the land and obscuring their path that they have to walk over them. There’s an abundance of chirping birds, as well as the sound of crickets and a couple of frogs. Hansol sweeps the magnet around, still searching. They hop over a particularly large root. Sofia however, because of her tinier legs, ends up tripping on it. She makes a small cry of pain as she falls to the ground. Hansol immediately rushes to his sister’s side. “Are you okay? Can you get up?” he asks worriedly.
“I think she might have twisted her ankle.” Chan points out.
Hansol reaches out to touch it. Her face contorts in pain. “Ouch!”
Her brother clicks his tongue. “I told you to be careful, look what happened. Come on then, I’ll carry you.” he says offering his back. Sofia crosses her arms around his neck and he stands up with a grunt.
“Okay, now I think we should really head back.” Seungkwan urges.
Hansol sighs. “You’re right.” he hands Chan the metal detector and adjusts Sofia on his back. “Urgh, mom’s gonna be so mad.”
They start heading back. Hansol leads the way, looking around for any familiar looking trees or bushes. When the 10th minute mark has passed and they still haven’t managed to get anywhere with less dense trees, Hansol realizes that getting out might not actually be that easy.
“Is it just me or have we passed that tree that looks like a giraffe for the second time now?” Chan asks slowly.
“Great! We’re lost, I told you this was gonna happen.” Seungkwan exclaims pointing at Hansol.
“Oh okay. It’s all my fault now, huh.”
“Who else co-”
“Shhh! I can hear a river.” Chan hisses, shutting them up. He listens for a while. “I think it’s this way.” He starts walking ahead of them, using the metal detector to clear away plants blocking the way. The other two share a look of shame and follow behind the youngest boy.
Chan was a few feet in the lead when they hear him blurt out. “Hey! The metal detector found something.” he calls out in delight.
“Treasure!” Sofia exclaims. Hansol and Seungkwan jog over to where Chan is crouched down.
“Are you sure it’s not just another key chain?” asks Seungkwan, skeptically.
Whatever was on the ground was reflective, light bouncing from it. Chan brushes off the rest of the soil and reveals the face of a silver watch. “This actually looks like it could be pretty expensive.” He says giddily. He starts digging it out, sweeping away a mound of loosely packed soil. He almost got it when he lets out a yelp and crawls back frantically which takes his friends by surprise.
“What’s wrong, Is there a spider?” Sofia teases.
Chan shakes his head in panic. He take a big gulp. “There’s… a hand.” he whispers.
“A what?” Seungkwan questions in disbelief.
“There’s a hand. The watch is still attached to a hand.” Chan repeats, his voice wavering.
Hansol scoffs, walking forward to check. “That can’t be true.” He picks up the metal detector and sweeps off the rest of the loosely packed soil. His blood starts to run cold, the hairs at the back of his neck standing. Sure enough, a limp arm is connected to the said watch. He digs around at the rest of the mound and the soil cascades down revealing the body of a man. A dead man. His skin was dry and pale gray. He didn’t seem to have any visible cuts or wounds. There’s no blood. But his body was as lifeless as a grave. Sofia shrieks in Hansol’s ear.
“Oh my god. Oh my god, oh my god.” Chan starts rambling as he rushes to stand and walk further away. “Is he dead? How did he die? Do you think he was murdered ?”
“We should call for help.” Seungkwan says his voice choking up, tears threatening to spill. He starts shouting for help on the top of his lungs, panic laced in his voice.
“ Shut up! Are you stupid? What if he was murdered and the guy who killed him is still around?” Chan hisses in fear.
“Are YOU stupid? Look at him! He’s already decaying, he’s been dead for a while.” Seungkwan argues, angry tears starting to run down his face. He hates this. He hates getting lost in the woods. He hates the topic of death. He hates the ant bite he got earlier during their trek. He’d rather be at home watching cartoons.
“Will you two stop. You’re scaring Sofia.” Hansol’s steady voice cuts them off.
The two look at him incredulously. “We just found a dead man, Hansol. Everyone. Is. Scared.” Chan retorts, emphasizing the last three words.
Sofia tugs at the sleeve of his brother’s shirt. Tears and snot already smeared across her face. “Can we please go home.”
“We will.” He turns to the other two. “Listen, let’s worry about getting out of here first and then we can go find a grown-up and tell them about it immediately.”
“How are you so calm right now?” Seungkwan asks shrilly.
“I’m not calm. I’m just as scared as you are but if I freak out will that dead man be brought back to life? Will we find our way out of here? No.” Hansol answers, his tone final. “Now, let’s get going.”
They walk in silence, with an occasional sniffle from Seungkwan, Chan cursing under his breath and Sofia’s soft sobs on her brother’s shoulder. Hansol starts to see a sliver of a clearing and leads them towards it until they emerge back into the trail. He lets out a sigh of relief, glad to finally be out of the thick forest. But as he takes a look at everyone else’s faces, he also realizes that they won’t be having any more adventures for a while.