Bending down, Suga checked the object, resembling a phone— small explosive device that Marcus had hidden under the seat, then carefully handed it to Yuze.
Yuze looked at Suga with a bright face as if seeing an angel, he sniffed, pretending as if crying happily. "I knew it from the beginning, you are a normal human, Suga!"
"Tsk, we're late again. If this keeps up, we'll be late for hunting, and the deer there will hide once they know that many people are going to the forest."
Leaning back in his seat, Trevor closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. Aaron frowned, clicking his tongue. "Why did you wake me up if we haven't arrived yet?"
Turning his head to give Aaron a sharp look, Suga pointed to his shirt. "You are drooling on me, idiot! If you want to sleep, don't lean on me."
"Aha..." Still with a nonchalant face that didn't show any guilt Aaron scratched his nape. He closed his eyes again and fell asleep instantly, his head leaning against the car window.
What kind of human could fall asleep that quickly?
It seems Yuze was right; only me, Trevor, and Yuze were normal in this group.
Suga didn't know how he would handle Marcus later. Eyes staring blankly at Marcus, who was still unconscious due to his blow— This man had to be monitored 24/7 so that he wouldn't make any chaos again, but who would watch this crazy man continuously? On the topic they would be camping with Marcus for two days.
"Let me go hunting with Yuze and Aaron. Suga, you watch over Marcus," said Trevor.
As if he could read Suga's mind, Trevor turned his head back and chuckled, adding, "Take his bag ... I'm sure he's carrying a lot of bomb-making tools in there. If you hide his bag, it won't be difficult to keep an eye on Marcus. I'll cook later because no one else can cook in this group. By the way, Suga, can you cook?"
"Yes, I live alone with my brother in Japan, so I'm used to cooking," Suga replied.
Trevor smiled as he let a sigh of relief, looking at him as if he had been given a miracle by God. "Most of the guys here can not cook, so I'm glad. When I first heard we were getting a new member, I thought we were getting another mad man." Covering his face with both hands as if he was crying tears of joy after hearing about someone who can do basic human survival skill, Yuze also nodded with a satisfied smile— agreeing with Trevor's statement. He started the engine and continued their journey to the forest.
Upon arrival, They parked their car near the river, the area was quite strategic and was deep in the forest, the breeze touching his skin made Suga breathe a sigh of relief as he looked around, the tall trees and boulders, the sound of insects and flowing water, it was so soothing — when was the last time he went to the forest? It was probably a long time ago that he was last in a place of nature.
As they walked together searching for a suitable spot to set up their tent, they were struck by the beauty of the lush trees and the sound of the flowing river. It would have been a very peaceful forest if it were not for the occasional loud gunshots in the air.
Suga was assigned to watch over Marcus, the man now standing next to him— Marcus smiled and Suga smiled back at him as his eyes occasionally glancing on the large bag that Marcus carried. His mission was to seize that thing, Suga had no clue what was inside it, but he knew that the group would be safe if Marcus did not cause any trouble.
Surprisingly, Aaron quickly set up the tent, and Suga was amazed at his ability to set up a large tent in just a few minutes. However, as Suga was about to give him a praise and thank Aaron, the tall man immediately threw himself inside and fell asleep.
--I shouldn't feel happy this quickly considering Aaron is a weird guy.
They took turns arranging their belongings inside the tent, and when it was Marcus's turn, Suga carefully watched the location of his bag. Marcus squatted and opened his bag, taking out a strange box-shaped object.
"????"
"Suga, have you ever been hunting?" Marcus asked without looking at him, his hands tinkering with the device.
"Well ... Long ago, with my father," Suga replied.
"Hunting at IHPS is troublesome because if you fail and end up at the bottom, you will be punished by cleaning the IHPS building. I don't want that, I'd rather go into red area because then I can be free, doing whatever I want."
Red area? isn't that place scary? If you think about it, Marcus is really a weird guy.
Hearing Marcus's grumpy tone, it seemed like he had experienced that punishment himself, and from the way he was saying it, it was a super exhausting task. Suga of course, also didn't want that, so he prayed that Yuze, Trevor, and Aaron could complete their hunting task smoothly.
Wait a minute, Aaron—
That damn guy is sleeping!
Taking off his shoes and stomping his feet into the tent where Aaron was fast asleep, Suga threw the backpack he was carrying to the side, hitting Marcus's back and causing him to groan in pain.
He climbed on top of Aaron's body, pulling the collar of the man's shirt and shaking his head as hard as he could.
"Aaron, you have to go hunting!!!"
Aaron, the guy who was sleeping, his eyes remained stubbornly closed, not feeling any of the hard shakes from Suga. Knowing that Aaron wouldn't wake up, Suga slapped his face hard.
"Aaron, it's your duty to hunt!!!"
"Aaron, you idiot! Wake up!!!"
Slapping him a few more times and occasionally pulling on his shirt collar, Aaron slowly opened his eyes a few moments later, his forehead furrowing. Seeing that Aaron had woken up, Suga stopped slapping, giving him a sharp glare.
"Suga, are you trying to flirt with me?"
"Huh?"
Bewildered, Suga's previous expression turned into a look of astonishment, staring at the man as if he was looking at a crazy person, Aaron's words were so random and just came out of nowhere that it left him speechless. Slapping and shaking his collar violently was considered flirting? This guy is braindead.
"You sat on top of me, moving your hips, so I thought you were trying to flirt with me. Sorry I'm not into dudes." Aaron continued, as if trying to explain further, and that was not a necessary thing to say, Suga thought— so he let out a confused "Huh?"
There was awkward silent for a moment, Suga let go of his grip from Aaron's shirt collar, quickly straightened his body but then suddenly Aaron brought his face close to Suga's with both hands now circling his waist. Suga didn't know what was happening, furrowing his brow and trying to get away from Aaron's tightening grip. Before he could protest, Aaron spoke up. "Are you wearing perfume?" Inhaling near his neck, Suga concluded that yes this man was crazy, he pushed Aaron's face roughly so as not to get too close.
"No, not at all!!!"
Aaron, knowing Suga's face turn bitter immediately stood up with a displeased look. Hearing his answer, Aaron raised his eyebrows, looking at Suga with skeptical expression, though he didn't talk. He stretched his body and rubbed his eyelids. Still feeling sleepy, and tried to sleep in different side of the tent, however the sharp gaze from Suga made him abandon the intention to lie down again.
"... Ha, I'm sleepy."
"Trevor assigned you to hunt."
Clearly unhappy, Aaron let out a sigh of disappointment and yawned for the umpteenth time. "Look..." Two fingers pointed to his blue eyes. Seeing that, Suga made a strange expression.
"What?"
"I'm not wearing glasses, how can I hunt properly?"
Well, yeah this might be it, this seems to be their group's fate. Such an unlucky group.
"Ah ..." Seeing Aaron's eyes that were directed to the area behind Suga's back, Suga reflexively turned around to see what Aaron was looking at - but then, "Marcus' bag is no longer there..." Right at the moment the words came out from Aaron mouth, Suga gritted his teeth, hitting his own temple- shit, he had one task; to keep an eye on Marcus.
"Marcus, last year ... he was penalized for burning down some trees because of his stupidity. If we let him go unchecked, it's likely to happen again, and all members will be blamed because of that idiot."
After listening carefully to Aaron who spewed all the information about his hunting experience with Marcus, Suga sat quietly, letting out a nervous laugh fo a moment. Aaron walked out of the tent, leaving Suga with wide eyes and a suddenly throbbing head.
Penalized? What kind of punishment? No, he didn't want to cause trouble on his first hunting experience at this crazy organization. This is so stupid. Grumbling to himself, Suga pulled his own hair in frustration. He was serious about beating up Marcus if he managed to find that idiot later.
—
The forest was truly beautiful, with dense trees and the sound of wind rustling through the leaves, but then a gunshot shattered the peaceful atmosphere. He walked through the forest, but he actually had no idea where the damn Marcus had gone. It was his own fault for impulsively running off without bringing GPS device after realizing Marcus wasn't around their campsite.
Suga sat down for a moment, resting his head against a tree, cursing to himself. He didn't know where the man was, he didn't know where he was himself. All he could see were trees, occasionally dense grass, big rocks, and more trees. He forgot to bring his bag, and now he might be lost, but Suga wasn't too concerned because the occasional sound of gunshots meant he wasn't too far from other IHPS members.
"I'm really going to beat up Marcus! That bastard." He stood up again, walking while looking around, occasionally kicking small stones while running through the forest. His feet were tired, but he remembered that Yuze and Trevor assigned this task to him, and the three of them were probably busy hunting right now, while Suga couldn't do one job right.
That maniac, Marcus, disappeared without leaving a trace, he didn't even say a word, using the time when he was busy scolding Aaron to escape, as if he already knew that Suga would be watching him and would seize his bag.
That guy is oddly smart, it's so frustrating! Muttering to himself, Suga saw a bridge in front of him and there was a parked car nearby. It must be a car from another IHPS group, it wouldn't hurt to ask if they've seen Marcus pass by here.
Approaching the car, he saw a man sitting behind a tree. Suga greeted him and the man raised his eyebrows looking surprised, clearly a reaction from someone who didn't know him. Well, that's understandable, Suga is a new member so his face might not be familiar yet.
"Excuse me, I just wanted to ask, have you seen a guy named Marcus pass by here?"
The man's face twisted into a frown upon hearing the name. But then, the man laughed slightly, shaking his head. "Sorry, I didn't see him, I'm so sorry you're in the same group with that maniac."
Rubbing his forehead again, he took a deep breath. "Okay then, thank you." he said with a heavy sigh, and strode away from the man. He didn't even know which way his feet were going now, just wandering in various directions in the vast forest, without knowing where the damn Marcus was.
Deciding to rest, as the sun grew darker, Suga leaned his head against a tree trunk and closed his eyes. As long as Marcus didn't cause any trouble or set any trees on fire, they might not get any punishment. Suga hoped that Trevor, Yuze, and Aaron were successful in their hunt so they could avoid ending up in last place. Suga didn't want to be punished by cleaning up the building that was occupied by crazy people, it would surely be exhausting.
But then.
While trying to calm his headache by taking deep breaths and closing his eyes, a loud explosion sound echoed through the air, flock of birds chirping in the sky, flying away from the direction of the smoke— and that made Suga's eyes wide open.
"No way! No fucking way—" He quickly stood up, though stumbled a little. Suga ran as fast as he could towards the loud sound that he was sure was the explosion caused by the person he was looking for— goddammit. Why did this have to happen to me—