They forgot to take one thing into account, that being the fact that they have never dealt with or seen an upset Ijin.

They underestimated how long Ijin could hold onto anger.

Seokju never thought Ijin was the type of person to hold a grudge, but at the same time, he had truly said something hurtful. But it was still so odd because Ijin came off as a person who was very logical and calm. As a person that wouldn't let his emotions affect his judgment.

He was wrong.

It had already been a week and while Ijin wasn't outright ignoring him anymore, he wouldn't stay around Seokju longer than necessary. It was like they were meeting all over again, Ijin was giving him monosyllabic answers. Only that time, they were curt and to the point, not once did Ijin give the single inclination that he wanted to have a conversation with Seokju. Still, Seokju gave Ijin his space.

Their spat had already started to stress out the others as well, and considering that they had been planning for a little night outing long before their argument, it was almost a recipe for disaster.

Which led them to their current situation.

In an awkward as-shit car with Jaehyung and Ijin in the front, and he, Hyeokjin, and Yeongchan in the back, the only saving grace was that the music was playing, and everyone was tired anyway. Seokju had to leave Yeona's place at almost midnight for him to tag along, so that meant that whatever conversation may have started didn't last long until everyone started to doze off. More than once, Seokju had to stop himself from bouncing his leg so he wouldn't wake Hyeokjin, who was leaning against him as he slept.

As the only person who knew where they were going, Jaehyung drove. Out of the passengers, Seokju and Ijin were the only ones that stayed awake. It was silent in the car, the radio lowered in consideration of Hyeokjin and Yeongchan, but as soon as Jaehyung turned off the highway onto some dirt road in the bumfuck of nowhere, he had to ask. "Jaehyung, "He looked out the windows, and he pursed his lips at the way he couldn't see more than two meters into the trees, "where are you taking us?" Although he had whispered his question, that had been enough for Hyeokjin and Yeongchan to wake up.

"Are we almost there?" Hyeokjin asked tiredly, his hand rubbing at his eye as Yeongchan also questioned where they were going.

"A cool abandoned skate park I found online, "He could hear Jaehyung's grin as he turned onto another, narrower dirt road. "I figured it would be cool to explore at night, and there's a swimming hole nearby too, so we can go for a swim before leaving." Well, that explained why they had been told to bring swim trunks and an extra set of clothes, but it didn't explain why Jaehyung thought taking them to the middle of nowhere was a great idea.

"Um, "Yeongchan had a nervous tone to his voice as he looked out the windows, only to see thick pine trees surrounding them, "Is this really a good idea?" Seokju found himself agreeing wholeheartedly with the question.

Why the fuck did they let Jaehyung convince them into the outing? They wouldn't have agreed if they had known that they were going to be in the middle of a forest. Seokju himself thought Jaehyung would have been reasonable in the surprise location and would have picked a public hangout spot. Jaehyung told him to take swim trunks! He thought they were going to some type of overnight water park or something! Or at least a area with lights!

"Yep!" Jaehyung was the only one who had a light tone in his voice, and in the back, he, Yeongchan, and Hyeokjin exchanged looks in the dark. It looked like he wasn't the only one who regretted trusting Jaehyung. "There's not gonna be people the hell out here, it's gonna be great. Trust."

"I trust that this is going to be a bad idea." Alright, even he had to admit that Ijin's snark was amusing. Everyone but Jaehyung laughed, the redhead just huffed to himself in annoyance.

"Alright, that's enough bitching from you lot." Jaehyung turned one more time, and Seokju found himself blinking in surprise when the tight dirt road turned into what used to be a gravel parking lot, "we're here!" He quickly put it into park and after instructing Ijin to open the glove box, he started to hand out the flashlights.

Seokju looked out the window, his hesitance towards the situation only increasing. The only source of light in the area was the car's headlights and the light the full moon provided. Faintly, he could see a sign for a path to the left of them, with another path illuminated by the headlights. Other than that, there was nothing he could see from his position in the car. Even the gravel had grass growing through the rocks, showing just how long the area had been abandoned.

To say that he had regrets was almost an understatement. "Me, Hyeokjin, and Yeongchan are gonna go check out the swimming hole." Jaehyung said brightly, annoyingly ignorant of their hesitance.

"Um, "Yeongchan quietly cut in, his voice meek as he slumped down under their looks, especially when everyone started looking at him. "I think I'm just gonna stay here…"

Yeah, Seokju didn't blame him. It looked like the place where there would be a serial killer hiding out from the authorities. Hell, Seokju wasn't even sure if he would willingly explore the area during the day. But at the same time, staying in a car, by himself, wasn't more comforting. He would rather be with the others than do that.

Hyeokjin's brows rose, "You sure? You're gonna be here by yourself."

Yeongchan nodded his head, "I'm sure. I'll lock the doors."

They all exchanged looks, all of them wondering if it was truly safe to leave Yeongchan behind in the car while they were exploring. Sure, he was going to be in the car, but he was going to be in the car by himself . The signal out there was shit, so if something happened, there was no guarantee that they would be able to find out in time.

They didn't want to force Yeongchan to do something he didn't want to, but at the same time, they didn't want to leave him alone.

Ijin sighed and reached for something by his feet. There was the distinct sound of velcro before he came back up. "Here." Ijin handed Yeongchan his knife, the same one that was illegal for him to carry. Seokju dragged his hand down his face, "Use it if something happens. Honk if you need help."

"Yeah, "Jaehyung added, making a show of leaving the keys in the cupholder, "we'll be close enough to hear the horn, but here are the keys just in case."

With the sigh of relief that Yeongchan heaved out, it was clear that they made the right choice in letting him stay behind. He took Ijin's knife, and although Yeongchan didn't know how to use it properly, he clutched it to his chest. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it, "Hyeokjin said as he reached forward to grab one of the flashlights, "So me and Jaehyung are going to the swimming hole, and Ijin and Seokju are going to the skate park. We'll meet up later and no-" he and Ijin didn't even get a chance to protest. "You two have been making it awkward for everyone else, so either you guys make up or-" Hyeokjin pulled something up from his feet.

Seokju scowled at the sight.

It was a stupid 'get along' t-shirt, one that was clearly big enough for them to stuff both him and Ijin into it.

"Or we're gonna make you two wear this."

Ijin scoffed.

Scoffed.

"You can try." Ijin grabbed the last flashlight and got out of the car, slamming the door closed as he did so.

Seokju cringed, especially when he saw the expectant looks from everyone else.

Right. Well, it was certainly a roundabout way to go about it, but all that did was give him a chance to finally apologize.

Telling them a quick thanks, he was quick to get out of the car so he could catch up to his friend. Ijin purposely picked up the pace when he realized that Seokju was tagging along, but he wasn't so much of an asshole as to let him stumble around in the dark.

Or at least, Seokju thought he wasn't.

They watched as the pair disappeared into the forest. "Are you sure that it was a good idea to pair them up together?" Hyeokjin asked as he followed Jaehyung to the swimming hole, waving goodbye to Yeongchan as they did so. The forest was so quiet, they could hear the car locking as they left the parking lot. A bit further away, they could hear Ijin and Seokju walking away, Seokju asking Ijin to slow down. Based on the annoyance in Seokju's voice with the repeated plea's, they were going to assume that Ijin had not slowed down.

They would have to be idiots to not notice the way Ijin and Seokju were not getting along. Those two usually got along the best, but overnight, it was like they suddenly hated each other. Of course, they had gotten some explanation when Seokju told them about his mistake, but beyond that, they didn't know much. All they knew was that Seokju fucked up and that Ijin was not inclined to listen to him in their spat.

Well, they called it a spat but it was definitely one-sided. Ijin blatantly ignored Seokju out of spite or hatred, all while Seokju looked like a kicked puppy each time Ijin did so.

They did have to give it to Seokju for trying over and over again. It was a noble attempt that would have worked if Ijin hadn't been so stubborn.

"Oh yeah." Jaehyung said confidently, moving a branch out of the way for Hyeokjin as he did so, "They need to make up and stop making it so awkward for the rest of us. If they can't make up now, I don't think they ever will." Jaehyung was hoping that the forced isolation would make them make up. That or they would finally make the decision to remain friends or not.

"You think so?" Hyeokjin didn't really like the sound of that. He liked the friend group as it was, and he didn't like the idea of those two breaking off.

The redhead sighed as he kicked a pinecone into the woods, "Yeah. Those two, they don't beat around the bush. You know if they don't makeup now, they're gonna stick to their guns."

Hyeokjin sighed. That was a good point. Seokju and Ijin were so stubborn, if they said no once, there was no point in trying to convince them because the more you tried to convince them, the more they dug in their heels. Seokju had even admitted to them once that he would continue saying no out of spite and that had Ijin nodding in agreement.

"Alright. Tha-ow!" He hadn't noticed Jaehyung stopping in the middle of the path, and ended up walking right into him, banging his nose into the back of Jaehyung's head. "Why did you stop, asshole?!" Rubbing his nose, he looked around, trying to find what the hell had caused his friend to stop so suddenly.

"Hyeokjin, Hyeokjin." Jaehyung was tapping him frantically, and the nervous tone in his voice started to make Hyeokjin nervous.

He started to look around with more urgency, "What? What?"

Jaehyung, at last, grabbed him, and with a shaky hand, he pointed at the path in front of them, he was pointing at something beyond the beam of the light.

There was something there, and it was not natural.

They could barely see the outline, but it was the size of a small child. Its eyes reflected the light from the flashlight, and just that alone told them it was nothing they'd ever seen before.

Its eyes were too far apart, it looked like Hyeokjin could have put his fist between its eyes and there would still be some room to spare. It looked like it was sitting on its back legs, much like a rabbit would, but they could also see its front legs (arms?) Dragging on the ground.

"What is that?"


He sputtered as Ijin let the branch swing into his face, his face stinging with the impact of the leaves and branches, "Jesus christ- Ijin!" Seokju ran to catch up to Ijin, trying his best to not trip over tree roots as he did so. Clearly, Ijin had decided to use the branch as a distraction to widen the gap between them. "Stop ditching me!" Ijin was the one that had the flashlight and weren't they supposed to be making up?

They couldn't make up if Ijin kept on ditching him every chance he got!

At last, Ijin came to a stop, hopefully, to let him catch up, and Seokju was grateful that Ijin was giving him a break for once. "Finally!" He was almost breathless when he got to Ijin, and for a few seconds, all he did was breathe.

All he had to do was catch his breath and then he was going to apologize like he had been planning to. He looked around as he did. It was still dark as shit and unless Ijin handed over the flashlight, he wasn't able to see much at all, the canopy did a great job at blocking out the moonlight.

The sound of a branch cracked behind him, and he just knew that it was Ijin trying to be a dick and scare him. His tone was flat as he said, "Very funny." As much as he wanted to apologize to his friend, Ijin was making it very difficult for him to do it willingly.

"That wasn't me." Ijin's voice was just as flat, and Seokju damn near rolled his eyes.

He didn't believe him for a second. "Sure, it wasn't." And just as Seokju turned around to confront Ijin about scaring him.

They made eye contact as something growled in the darkness.

Oh fuck.

It was like it was a horror movie, slowly, Ijin turned the flashlight in the direction where the noise came from. And whatever had growled, was just out of the range of the beam.

All they saw was the vague shape of something twice their height and glowing eyes.

Without a second thought, Ijin flicked the flashlight to the eyes and Seokju internally died when the bear bared its teeth at them. The resulting growl was deep enough to make his chest vibrate.

So much for apologizing.

"Ahh! Go go!"

"Fuck!"

They took off down the trail they came from, the two of them sprinting as fast as they could as the bear chased them. It was a nauseating blur of running in the dark, trying to make sense of the severely unsteady light that was illuminating their pathway, and pure and utter fear.

Ijin's yelp was the only warning he had before they started tumbling down the hill together, head over heels, dirt, and leaves filled his mouth as he fell. Seokju couldn't stop the groan of pain when he landed on a rock, but he didn't have time to deal with the pain. He could hear the bear still running over them and he had to scramble to his knees, frantically looking for the flashlight.

He spotted it a few feet away, the flashlight allowing Seokju to see that Ijin had yet to get onto his knees.

Hoping that the sound of thumping paws wouldn't get any closer, Seokju scrambled to his feet and after helping Ijin onto his feet, they were running towards the car again with the flashlight in hand. It had been downhill the entire way and somehow, between the top of the hill and the stream, they had managed to lose the damn thing.

If it wasn't for the fear that the bear was still nearby, then Seokju would have collapsed on the ground to catch his breath. They still needed to hurry up and get the fuck out of there, but after what had just happened, they needed to catch their breath.

"Fuck, "Ijin said breathlessly, hunched over on his knees as he caught his breath, "I hate bears."

He almost chuckled, "Yeah?" He coughed for a few seconds when he accidentally inhaled his saliva, "I think they like you."

Ijin scoffed and for a few minutes, all they did was breathe and keep an eye on their surroundings. They couldn't hear anything following them, but that didn't mean that they let their guard down at all. Their heads were on a swivel the entire time, even more so when they started to walk back.

Seokju trailed behind Ijin a few steps and although the bear didn't do anything to calm his nerves, he didn't let himself squirm out of it.

"I'm sorry." Ijin didn't show any sign of hearing it, nor did he stop, but Seokju knew for a fact that unless he lost his hearing in the past thirty seconds, he heard him.

So, he continued.

"For what I said, about your superiors. I'm sorry, it was a dick move, I should have never said it. I was upset and I crossed the line." Seokju was rambling, and although his stomach was twisting at the way Ijin wasn't acknowledging any of his words, he didn't stop, "You trusted me with that and I threw it back in your face. You were just worried and I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry, truly." Still, Ijin didn't say a thing, nor did he show any sign of responding.

His stomach sank.

It hurt, but he knew that he deserved it.

He really fucked up.

They kept on walking back to the car, but there was a flicker of movement ahead of them that had him frowning. What was that?

"Ijin?" The trees were moving unnaturally. Well, the branches were, but they were moving against the way the wind was blowing them. There was a faint scream in the distance that only made everything seem worse. Another scream echoed the first one, he could just barely hear it, but it sounded like Hyeokjin? Wait, focus on the present.

He strained his ears, but with the sounds of their crunching footsteps, the wind, and the distant screams, he couldn't hear much.

The branches stopped moving, and it was obvious that Ijin hadn't noticed yet because he was still walking toward them.

"Uh Ijin?" He started to get closer to Ijin. Not only was it starting to get sketchier, but the screams hadn't stopped either.

Ijin huffed, and turned his head towards him to say, "Seokju, I-"

There was a loud crack of wood. "Ijin!" It was the fucking bear that had been moving the branches! He grabbed Ijin from his shirt and twisted him away just in time for him to dodge the bear's swipe. Seokju's heart leaped into his throat when he felt its claws skim his forearm in the process.

With the way he had yanked Ijin out of the way, they were stumbling over their own feet, but with the way they were grabbing at each other to get each other back onto their feet, they were running again in less than a second.

"Are you kidding me!"

"You good!?" Seokju appreciated the concern but it was not the right time for it.

"Yes yes fucking run!"

They were running for their lives again, only that time, there wasn't a way to lose the bear between them and the car, all they could do was run for the car, hoping to god that the others were already in there. To make matters worse, they had gotten pushed away from the path, all they could do was run in the vague direction that their internal compass pointed them towards.

It was nauseating to run through the forest, even with Seokju trying to keep the flashlight still, the bear chasing them made it difficult to contain the panic.

They ran and when Seokju nearly stumbled after he stepped onto a different terrain, something firmer than dirt and rocks under him, Ijin disappeared from next to him.

All he heard from Ijin was another yelp before there was a splash of water, coughing following the action soon after. At last, Seokju flicked the flashlight to the ground, revealing cracked cement hidden under overgrown grass and leaves. Seokju had to hop to the side awkwardly to avoid stepping into the divot he was on the edge of.

Where was Ijin?!

The pounding footsteps behind him stopped and when Seokju finally turned around, he was met with the terrifying sight of Ijin scrambling to get out of the slick skating bowl. The little water at the bottom had thoroughly soaked Ijin and the brown crud on the surface made it nearly impossible for Ijin to get a grip on anything.

The bear was leaning over the lip of the bowl, clearly trying to get the courage to go down the manmade surface. Ijin was barely able to climb out of the bowl, but he was still slow going as each crawl forward nearly made him slip back to the bottom.

He didn't even think about it.

"Hey!" Seokju shouted at the bear and when that didn't catch its attention, Seokju swooped down to pick up a piece of cement slab. "HEY!" The bear wasn't focusing on him and Seokju threw the rock.

It nailed the bear right in the head.

Slowly, the bear turned to look at Seokju, its lips curled over its teeth in a snarl. Ijin was finally out of the bowl and was trying to get onto his feet without slipping on the brown muck. "YEAH!" Seokju shouted at the bear, waving his hands around as if the bear needed help finding him, "OVER HERE!"

Ijin was running to the shallow side of the park where he would be able to get out as the bear took a slow step forward.

Seokju took a step back.

Another rock hit the bear in the head and it leapt forward with a snarl.

"Run Seokju!" Ijin shouted out and it was a damn miracle neither one of them fell into another part of the skate park as they took off into the forest.

The only saving grace was that they were within eyesight of the parking lot, the car's headlights reflecting what little light there was.

After Ijin saved him from slipping on the gravel, they took off for the car, and Seokju swore that he must have left a dent in the car with how hard he slammed into it. Frantically, he tried to grab the handle to open the door, and when he finally grabbed it.

It was fucking locked.

Why was it locked?!

He exchanged looks with Ijin and realized with horror that his door was locked too!

He barely heard the voice.

"Have you guys made up yet?" He looked inside and realized that he was looking right at Yeongchan, who had his hand hovering over the lock.

"Yes! Open the door!"

Despite the way Seokju was shouting at him, Yeongchan just frowned, "Are you sure you're not just saying that because I won't let you in until you have?"

"Open the door Ye-Ongchan!"

If it had been any other time, Seokju would have been right there laughing with Yeongchan after the way Ijin's voice cracked like that. Somehow, Yeongchan had yet to notice just how frantic they were. Instead, Yeongchan was laughing his ass off as if they had all the time in the world.

Seokju started to frantically pound on the window as he and Ijin yelled out together. "There's a fucking bear open the door!" As if the bear timed it, it came skidding into the parking lot with a roar.

Everyone was screaming both inside and outside of the car as they opened the doors, and Seokju damn near dove inside. He ended up across the back seats while Ijin was practically on top of Yeongchan as he slammed the passenger door closed.

"Go! Go!" As soon as he said that, he and Ijin started chanting for Yeongchan to turn on the engine and get them the fuck out of there.

Yeongchan tried to turn on the engine and then started shrieking when he made the car fucking stall. "Move!" Ijin yelled as he forced his way into the driver's seat. Yeongchan must have done something because Ijin was struggling to turn it on. Both of them were pounding their fists against the driver's seat, both of them chanting.

"Hurry up, hurry up hurry up!"

The car turned on.

"Shut up!" Ijin snapped at them, "Shut the fuck up!" They did not shut the fuck up, even as they nearly fell out of their seats with the way Ijin peeled out of the parking lot, narrowly missing the bear on the way out.

Wait, where were Hyeokjin and Jaehyung?!

Seokju frantically looked around, as if he needed to make sure that they were truly not in there.

They weren't there?!

He didn't even get a chance to point out that they were missing, because they stumbled out into the path in front of them.

Seokju tumbled out of his seat with the way Ijin braked, and he barely managed to unlock the doors just in time for both Jaehyung and Hyeokjin to jump into the car, screaming at Ijin, "Drive drive!"

"I'm driving!" They were all scrambling to put on their seatbelts because Ijin was going down the dirt road faster than any of them would have liked.

They were all on the same page as they damn near shrieked at Ijin, "well drive faster!"

While it had taken Jaehyung close to fifteen minutes of driving on the dirt road to get them there, Ijin had them back on the highway within five minutes.

Five minutes wasn't nearly enough to help the chaos in the car.

"What the fuck was that?!"

"I don't fucking know!"

"It was a motherfucking bear, that's what it was!"

"That was not a bear!"

"Are you fucking stupid!? It was a bear!"

"I know what a bear looks like! That! Was! Not! A! Bear!"

"Oh, I'm sorry?! Were you the one whose face almost got eaten? Or maybe I just imagined getting up close and personal with a fucking bear!"

"God! Are you guys okay?!"

"Yes god- why did you lock the doors!"

"Because you two needed to make up! Fuck I think I'm going to have a heart attack."

"Are you okay?"

"Are you okay?! We're the ones that got chased by a fucking bear!"

"This is your fault Ijin!"

"Why the fuck is it my fault?!"

"You're the only fucking person I know that's been chased by a bear twice! Twice!"

"Wait, "Hyeokjin cut in, sounding faintly surprised, "Ijin this is the second time you've been chased by a bear?"

Just that single question was enough to silence everyone, and everyone bore holes into the side of Ijin's head as they waited for him to answer.

"Shut it." Ijin's terse answer answered the question.

At first, it was just a snort from Hyeokjin, but that single snort had been enough to make all of them start laughing. It wasn't long until all of them, including Ijin, were laughing hard enough to make their eyes tear up. "You guys are such fucking idiots." Ijin gasped out and that only made them start laughing even harder because what was their life?

They went to an abandoned skate park in the bumfuck of nowhere, two of them got chased by a bear, the other two got chased by a supposed not bear, they were all screaming in the car a few minutes prior and they were currently laughing their asses off.

"So, "Yeongchan choked out, wiping the tears away from his face as he looked between Ijin and Seokju, "You guys made up?"

Ijin made a noncommittal noise, and Seokju found himself leaning forward to ask, "Are we good?"

It was silent as Ijin mulled over it for a few seconds, "Yeah. We're good." Seokju let out the biggest sigh of relief at that.

Thank God.

"Oh good, "Yeongchan said simply, and Seokju snorted when he saw that he had that stupid get-along t-shirt everyone had been threatening to stuff him and Ijin into, "well we don't need this anymore. Yeet!" And before anyone could stop him, Yeongchan rolled down the window and chucked the thing out the window.

That only made them start laughing again. Way harder than it should have but something about it was just funny as shit. Everything seemed funnier since they had finally gotten rid of the tension Seokju and Ijin had been causing.

They were still laughing when red and blue lights started flashing behind them, along with a siren.

They all exchanged looks, their chuckles dying off within seconds. They were the only ones on the highway, there was no way it was meant for anyone but them.

Fuck.

Seokju stole a glance at the speedometer and internally died inside when he saw that Ijin had been driving at one hundred and twenty, nearly thirty kilometers over the speed limit. That was enough for all of them to get detained for the night.

Ijin cursed when he saw just how fast he had been driving, but it was deadly silent as Ijin slowly pulled over and turned off the car. The officer pulled over behind them.

The knife. Seokju swore he felt his face pale when he remembered it.

"Yeongchan!" Seokju hissed out, whispering as if the officer was right outside of the window already, "Ijin's knife!" Ijin's' knife was illegal! So very illegal! They were all going to be in huge trouble if they were caught with it!

Seokju turned to look through the back window, his heart picking up pace when he saw the car door open, "He's coming! Hurry up and give it back!" Yeongchan was floundering, his hands going towards the window as he started to roll it down, as if it was a great idea to throw it from the car right then and there. Seokju would have screamed if he had the chance.

Thankfully, Ijin grabbed the knife before Yeongchan could throw it out the window and stuffed it back into his boot. "Roll it back up and shut up." Ijin ordered and they all automatically fell into line. No words were exchanged as the cop closed the car door and approached Yeongchan's window. Thank God Ijin had stopped him from throwing the knife out.

After the officer tapped on the window, Ijin turned the car back on just enough to roll down the window before he turned it off again. "I can excuse speeding but, "Seokju could barely see from his seat in the back, but he saw the officer hold something white and dirty for them to see, "I draw the line at littering."

Seokju didn't know if he wanted to cry or laugh. It was the stupid get-along shirt Yeongchan threw out the window. Out of everything that could have gotten them pulled over, it was the stupid shirt.

Yeongchan withered under everyone's stares.

"Oops?"