After breakfast, the staff had let them wander off and talk to each other as it was only their first day. Jungsu being acutely aware of where the cameras were at every given moment, remained silent and simply nodded his head to whatever Yeong-cheol, Tae-joon, and Jae-ho were saying to him, occasionally responding with a 'yes' 'no' and rarely anything more than two syllables.
Night had quickly approached and Jungsu was ready to shower and go to bed, despite it only being eight o'clock. He'd heard multiple protests, but was firm on his decision to head to bed early. Seeing him headed to shower, two contestants also got up and chose to do the same. Yuri and Ae-ri started making their way to their assigned bedrooms upstairs, while Jungsu headed towards his room downstairs. He was sharing the room with Jae-ho, who was still sitting by the campfire laughing up a storm among the other contestants.
As Jungsu entered the room, he searched from the clothes Kangsoo Entertainment had provided for him. Picking out a causal t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants for bed, along with a pair of boxers, Jungsu picked up a towel and entered the bathroom. It was rather luxurious and clean, with a spacious interior and a standing shower with a sliding door. Glancing around the bathroom, he turned on the shower and took off his clothes. Stepping inside, he grabbed the soap in his hands and glided it over his skin. Feeling the water running through his hair and down his back, he felt his eyes slowly close.
Suddenly, his eyes shot open as he felt his senses indicate something was off. Slamming his hands against the wall, his fingers ran through the crevices between the stone walls. Feeling nothing, he moved to search at the wall in front of him, feeling inside the showerhead itself until he found what he was looking for. A camera.
He stared at the small camera, which had somehow escaped his notice through his negligence. He stared into the lens for one second, two seconds, before he slid open the door.
Throwing a towel on around his waist, he opened the door and ran out. As he raced up the stairs, Yeong-cheol who had just walked inside, looked after him wide-eyed in alarm, along with a few staff members who had only seen a flash of his white back as he bolted.
"Jungsu?!" Yeong-cheol called after him, but Jungsu ignored him as he ran towards one of the doors. Fastening his towel around his hips, he pounded on the door with urgency.
After about three seconds, Ae-ri opened the door. The alarm on her face turning into surprise, and then turning her face red.
Jungsu stepped past her and asked quickly, "Where's Yuri, nuna?"
"Why are you-"
Jungsu ignored her words as he heard loud music blaring from inside the bathroom. Jungsu, knowing that he would have to explain too much before he could get even get Yuri to open the door, decided to break in, knowing that would be more efficient.
Pulling a bobby pin from Ae-ri's head, he moved towards the bathroom door and jammed the back end of the bobby pin inside the slit of the doorknob.
"Hey! Jungsu, what do you think-"
"Cover my eyes nuna." Ae-ri stood still in shock at his words.
"Cover my eyes!" Jungsu nearly shouted as he turned the bobby pin, feeling the lock give way as Ae-ri quickly covered his eyes and the door swung open. Jungsu quickly felt for the lights and turned them off, hearing a small shout from inside the bathroom.
"Is she clothed nuna?" Jungsu asked.
"She's half dressed, but would you please tell me what in the world is going on?!"
Jungsu let out a sigh of relief as he heard that Yuri had not yet taken off all her clothes.
"There's a camera in the bathroom." Jungsu said as he held up the tiny camera in between his fingers,hearing them gasp in shock.
Still with Ae-ri's hands around his eyes, he said,
"Yuri, can you please step out now, quickly. Cover yourself up, I left the door open. And nuna, could you tell Yeong-cheol to go downstairs and inform the crew about this. He's standing right outside the door. I don't think anyone but us three came to shower, but please tell him to inform others as well."
As Jungsu heard Yuri wearing her clothes and stepping around him, Ae-ri's hands came off his eyes and Jungsu immediately entered the washroom, searching thoroughly for any cameras. He heard loud conversations outside as Yeong-cheol's shouts echoed throughout the villa. Walking back inside, Ae-ri and Yuri stood outside the washroom, watching as Jungsu swept a hand over his dripping hair. He found the same camera lodged into the showerhead, along with another one near the walls.
The staff entered inside Yuri and Ae-ri's room, watching in shock as Jungsu, wearing nothing but a towel, placed two cameras into their hands with a cold glare. The staff shivered under his cold demeanor, almost feeling as if he had placed a knife on their necks with the aura he emitted.
Soon enough, more contestants entered the room, shocked and enraged upon hearing Jungsu's discovery. Yuri quickly placed her towel around Jungsu's shoulders as they entered, casuing Jungsu to look down at her in thanks.
"So are you telling me that you were filmed Jungsu? Were you showering when you found it?!" Na-yeon asked, enraged.
"Yes." Jungsu said with an exhale.
"Bo-mi! You better find the person who placed those god damn cameras, or so help me you guys will be hearing from me in court!" Na-yeon screamed.
Bo-mi, the poor woman, wasn't responsible for anything and bowed deeply, nearly in tears. However, Jungsu didn't like seeing a woman, especially one quite older than him bowing down. Grabbing onto her shoulders he pulled her back up before moving back.
"It's fine. It's not like anyone wants to see a man naked. If it were Yuri then it would've been a much larger problem."
While they agreed with the second half of his statement, everyone stared at Jungsu in disbelief as he seemed so confident in the first-half of it. As they all glanced at Jungsu's glistening abs peeking through the towel placed around his shoulders, along with the water trailing down his pale face and body from his drenched hair, they couldn't believe the lack of awareness Jungsu had. Even Dong-ha looked at him like he was crazy.
"Just make sure to remove the rest of the cameras and set up camera detectors. I would also like to personally interview every staff member on the premises. I don't think Yuri wants to get the cops involved, do you?"
Yuri shook her head in denial.
"Neither do I. But somebody needs to handle this case discreetly. I suggest you hire some private detectives."
Bo-mi, with tears running down her face, bowed once more and nodded her head. "Yes! We will make sure to catch whomever did this! I'm so sorry Jungsu, and Yuri!"
Jungsu, nodded, then stepped outside casually, as if he were going to make breakfast, and went down the stairs towards his room.
As the contestants and staff watched after him, Jae-ho said, "He seemed smart enough, but is he actually alright in the head?"
Shaking his head, Yeong-cheol smirked. "My friend has a couple of screws loose. But he has a grrrrreaaaat heart!"
"And great shoulders." Na-yeon smiled as she stared at the spot Jungsu had long left.
They glanced at her in silence.
Na-yeon, looking around her, shrugged her shoulders in self defense.
"What?" She said with wide eyes as if asking others if they hadn't thought the same.
Meanwhile, Yuri and Ae-ri who had gotten a better look at Jungsu wore troubled looks. Both thinking of the scars they had noticed on Jungsu's body.
_______
As Jungsu laid on his back over his new bed, he listened as Jae-ho's breaths turned to steady, even ones. Slowly moving up, he quietly opened the door, not bothering to turn on any lights. Though he knew the cameras were placed everywhere throughout the villa and he wouldn't be able to escape them, what he didn't know was whether or not the cameras were still recording.
As Jungsu moved through the dark, he went to grab a glass of water from the cabinets. His eyes taking in the small particles next to the camera he had noticed earlier along the bottom of the countertop. Sliding his fingers along the edges, he went to fill up the glass of water, turning off the tap once it had reached the brim of the glass. Tilting his head back, he drank the water while smelling the substance along his fingers.
It was the slight smell of cigarettes. Jungsu almost wondered if this was a trap as such a silly mistake was bound to get someone caught. But then he decided that whoever set it up must not have thought he would get caught very easily. Perhaps someone on the filming team, one who monitored the cameras around the villa.
Jungsu, placed the glass down on the sink and began washing it before setting it aside to dry.
Smoking wasn't that uncommon in Korea, so he had five suspects in mind. First, they were all men, as it was statistically unlikely that a woman would engage in these kinds of illegal acts. Secondly, now that he knew they smoked, he would have to narrow down the participants based on the way they smoked, where they smoked, along with their other habits.
Jungsu stepped outside to the backyard, hoping to find some other clues when he spotted a figure sitting by the pool. As she heard the door open, Yuri turned towards Jungsu.
Her eyes widened as she'd started to get up in alarm before seeing that Jungsu was there.
"Ah, Jungsu, you're awake as well."
"Yes, I couldn't sleep." Jungsu said.
Yuri nodded as she settled back onto the ground by the pool.
"I couldn't either. That's why I came to sit by the pool."
She dipped her toes into the water, glancing up at Jungsu with a curious look on her face.
"Do you like the water, Jungsu?"
"Yes, I like it." He said while glancing down into his reflection as he stood above her.
"It's a vital source of life." He responded.
Yuri huffed out a breath.
"That's not what I meant. I'm asking you if you like it, regardless of it's functions."
Placing her head onto her hand, she glanced up at him in question.
Thinking for a beat as Jungsu looked into the dark water, he said, "No, I don't particularly like the water."
"Why, are you scared?" Yuri laughed, and Jungsu stared at her fave for a beat longer than necessary before glancing away.
Jungsu recalled the memories he had accumulated over the years in relation to the water. None were very pleasant.
"I suppose you could say that."
Yuri's eyes widened as she looked at him in surprise.
"Really? I didn't think you were the type to be scared of anything really." She confessed.
"Everyone is scared of something. Some people just learn to better deal with their fears."
Yuri's eyes lingered over his for a moment before she turned away and asked, "Then what scares you about the water?"
Jungsu, finding a gleam in the water, shook his head as he'd even managed to find a camera in the pool.
Distracted, he absent-mindedly responded, "What everyone else is scared of. The darkness, and the emptyness of the waters. That which is inside, the unknown, and the known."
Jungsu could almost see the faces rising up from inside the dark waters of the pool. Faces he had long wished to forget. They haunted him, tormented him at times. But he didn't dare forget them. He remembered every single one of them. Their empty eyes stared back at him in accusation, before sinking down into the water.
Yuri was silenced as she listened to Jungsu's surprisingly philosophical talk. Wanting to ask him about what had scared him in the water, or rather, what had given him those scars, she opened her mouth before closing it again. Glancing at Jungsu's face, she didn't know how to ask.
"You sneaky rats!" Ae-ri said from behind them. Jungsu turned around, not surprised to see her.
"You could have told me that you were going to have a late night chat! Gosh, now I feel left out!" Ae-ri pouted as she looked at how close Jungsu and Yuri had gotten.
"Oh, we were just talking about Jungsu's fear of water." Yuri offered up in apology.
"What?" Ae-ri laughed as she looked at Jungsu. Sitting down next to them, she pulled down on Jungsu's arm to make him sit.
"You're scared of the water Jungsu?"
Jungsu nodded silently, while Ae-ri narrowed her eyes and smiled as if plotting something.
"So you can't swim?"
Jungsu shook his head at Ae-ri's question.
"I can swim." He responded.
"Hmm." Ae-ri said mysteriously.
"I hear tommorow we are going back to filming, can you believe it!? After what happened, they still want to film immediately. That cheap director, when I get my hands on them.."
Ae-ri trailed off as Jungsu thought about why a camera had been placed in the pool. Whoever had placed the camera inside must have gone into the pool at one point. Jungsu pondered for a moment.
It wasn't exactly warm, but it was neither that cold at the moment. But given the fact that there was a camera inside, Jungsu figured that the staff would find a way to get them inside the pool.
As Jungsu glanced into the pool, he dreaded what other plans the show had in store for them.