Reality Quest: Questism

Field trips.

From Dowan's memories, I couldn't recall a single good one.

Either he had to give up his room to some local delinquent, or he was stuck playing games alone in a corner, watching everyone else make memories he wasn't part of.

A terrible experience… even just remembering it made me scowl.

But this time…

I hung over Jihan's back, arms draped loosely around his shoulders like dead weight, doing my best to be as insufferable as possible.

"Hey, Jihan, guess what," I mock-whispered directly into his ear.

He sighed, long-suffering. "What."

I grinned. "We're going to Gyeongju~!"

Jihan didn't even flinch. Just kept walking, completely unbothered. What a guy.

Honestly, though? I'd been looking forward to this for a long time.

With what I'd said to Gumin back then, he wouldn't dare run to the Bully Council for help. Which meant the Mad Brothers wouldn't be hunting me down, which meant…

I was finally getting a free week.

No fights. No training. Just food, sightseeing, and a solid week of rest.

Heaven.

"Dowan! What are you doing on his back?"

A voice cut through my thoughts, and I turned my head to see Ahrin walking toward us.

"Ahrin!" I called out cheerfully. "Oh, you know. Just being a nuisance."

Jihan sighed again, more dramatically this time, and shook his head in mock disappointment.

Ahrin burst into laughter. "You really are an idiot."

I grinned. "You excited for the trip?"

"Obviously!" she said, practically buzzing with energy. Then she tilted her head. "Which bus are you guys on?"

"Class 3, so somewhere in the middle," I replied. "What about you and Minhye?"

"We're Class 7, so probably at the very end." She perked up. "We'll come find you guys once we get off!"

"Gotcha." I shot her a thumbs-up, then grabbed Jihan's wrist and forcibly raised his arm so she could high-five him too.

She giggled, dragging her suitcase behind her as she walked off.

What a silly girl.

Everybody around us was laughing and chattering as we all waited for the buses to ready up and the people to arrive. 

They'd parked the buses in the middle of the soccer field so that everyone could see them and not end up at the wrong spot but knowing the people in this school, that wasn't the end-all scenario.

"C'mon Jihan, let's get the good seats… haaa this trip's gonna be so good!~"

***

Pottery.

Fucking pottery.

I came all the way to Gyeongju for fucking pottery.

With a deep, suffering sigh, I slumped over my table, moodily jabbing at the lump of clay in front of me.

Barely ten minutes of instruction, and now I was supposed to sculpt a pot like some kind of artistic prodigy.

I poked it.

Then I poked it again.

…It looked like a face.

Which was impressive, honestly, considering I'd been aiming for something completely different. But I guess Dowan wasn't artistically gifted either.

I turned to my side, just to see if Jihan's was at least as bad as mine…

And my jaw dropped.

Sitting in front of him wasn't some sad, misshapen excuse for pottery.

It was a masterpiece.

A gorgeous statue of a mounted horse, its stance proud and regal. There were cannon-like protrusions from both the front and back, and the man seated on the saddle looked as if he were ready to ride into battle.

And Jihan? He wasn't even trying. He was working on the finer details with the same mild, detached amusement as someone doodling in a notebook during a boring lecture.

He didn't even look impressed.

Meanwhile, the instructor, a middle-aged man who had, minutes ago, been rolling his eyes at our class's feeble attempts… was staring at Jihan's work like it was the Second Coming.

His mouth trembled open.

"G-Goodness…" His voice shook with awe. "Isn't that… National Treasure No. 91, the Pottery Equestrian Figure?!"

I could hear the capital letters in what he just said.

My eye twitched.

Jihan blinked, startled by the reaction. "Uh… is it?"

The instructor whirled toward him. "H-How could you create such a perfect replica?! Who are you?!"

Jihan rubbed the back of his neck. "I just took some classes when I was little…"

Ah yes. The classic "I just took some classes" excuse.

The instructor's face lit up. He stood up to his full height, dramatically thrusting a finger toward Jihan like some ancient martial arts master choosing a disciple.

"You… be my successor!"

Jihan blinked. Then laughed awkwardly, looking around as if to make sure this was, in fact, happening.

This guy…

He couldn't be serious.

Unfortunately, he was.

The instructor spent the next five minutes passionately pleading his case, practically begging Jihan to consider inheriting his sacred pottery knowledge. He even tried bribing him… with a pizza recipe, of all things.

Which was honestly an admirable attempt.

But knowing Jihan? He probably took classes on making pizza too. And was somehow better at it than this guy.

Still, I had to admit… the double mascarpone pizza he gave us?

This shit slapped.

Jihan and I devoured our food in record time, using it as an excuse to make a quick escape. The pottery master was relentless, and I wasn't about to spend the rest of the trip watching Jihan get courted by an enthusiastic ceramicist.

We stepped outside, finally free, and I stretched my arms over my head, letting out a huge yawn.

Jihan laughed in that quiet, shy way he always did. "Can you believe we still have a museum tour after this?"

I groaned dramatically. "If they want to make us sleep, why not just send us straight to our rooms?"

"Yeah, it does seem kind of boring."

I shot him a mischievous look. "Should we just skip? They don't do roll call or anything…"

Jihan actually considered it, tilting his head like he was running calculations in his head. But after a few seconds, he shook his head. "There's not much to do around here at this time anyway. But…" He glanced at me with a small grin. "After the museum, we could go quad biking."

I blinked. "Wait, that's a thing here?"

"Yeah. I heard it's pretty famous."

I was suddenly very interested. "Well, damn. Why didn't you lead with that? Now I actually want to go to the museum."

Jihan laughed. "I don't think that's how that works."

"Details, details." I waved him off. "Alright, let's get this over with. I'll try not to fall asleep standing up."

And with that, we joined the rest of our class, ready for the museum tour.

Two hours later:

I was dying.

Absolutely, unequivocally dying.

The museum guide's voice had settled into a hypnotic drone, lulling me into a state of semi-consciousness as we shuffled from exhibit to exhibit.

I had tried, really tried, to pay attention. But there was only so much enthusiasm I could muster for ancient pottery after being emotionally traumatized by Jihan's god-tier sculpting skills earlier.

Beside me, Jihan looked perfectly content, nodding along to the guide's explanations like a model student.

Traitor.

I leaned over and whispered, "Hey."

He didn't respond.

I nudged his arm. "Hey."

Still nothing.

Fine.

I pressed my forehead against his shoulder and dramatically whispered, "I'm dying."

Jihan sighed, finally acknowledging me. "We're almost done, Dowan."

"Define almost."

"Fifteen minutes."

I let out a silent scream.

Jihan held back a laugh. "If you fall asleep now, you're gonna miss quad biking."

That… was a good point.

With sheer force of will, I powered through the last fifteen minutes, barely clinging to life as we trudged through the final exhibits.

And when we finally stepped outside into the crisp evening air, I took a deep breath, feeling the exhaustion melt away.

Jihan stretched his arms. "Alright. You ready?"

I cracked a grin. "Hell yes. Let's ride."

With that, we set off toward the quad biking rental, leaving the dull hum of the museum far, far behind.

And then-

I blinked as I paused. "Hey Jihan… is that screaming?"

"Hmm?" 

No, I wasn't hearing things. As we got closer, the sound got clearer.

"AHHHHHH!! AHRIN, SLOW DOWN!!"

I turned just in time to see a quad bike barreling through the dirt track, kicking up a storm of dust as it barely missed slamming into a row of tires.

Minhye was on the back, screaming for dear life.

Ahrin was in the front. Driving.

Horrendously.

"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!!" she yelled, swerving wildly and nearly launching them both into the bushes.

Behind them, the rental manager was sprinting after them at full speed, flailing his arms. "STOP! STOP RIGHT NOW!!"

I watched, stunned. "What the hell is happening?"

Jihan blinked. "I think… I think Ahrin stole a quad bike."

The rental manager, clearly out of breath and on the verge of a breakdown, spun around and spotted us. He immediately grabbed my shoulders. "You two! You're their friends, right?!"

I hesitated. "Uhh—"

"PLEASE TELL HER TO STOP BEFORE SHE KILLS SOMEONE!"

I considered that. Looked at Ahrin's sheer joy as she dodged a boulder like she was in a high-speed police chase. Then looked at Minhye, holding on for dear life.

Yeah. This wasn't going to end well.

The rental manager groaned, hands on his knees. "I knew I should've banned students this year… Listen, if you two want to ride, fine—but one of you is going to prove to me that you can actually drive."

Jihan and I exchanged glances.

The rental manager jabbed a finger toward Ahrin's reckless rampage. "I refuse to let that girl drive ever again."

I sighed dramatically. "Damn. There go my hopes and dreams."

Jihan just shook his head, amused. "Alright. Let's get this under control."

We walked toward the parked quads, while in the background, Ahrin let out a delighted, "WOAH, LOOK AT ME GO—!" followed immediately by Minhye's panicked, "STOP LOOKING AND JUST DRIVE PROPERLY, YOU MANIAC!!"

Jihan was busy telling the manager what he knew about riding quad bikes… he probably knew even more than the manager did.

And I was cheering on Ahrin's stupid driving.

"WOOOOOO DON'T DIE GUYS!"

Minhye's shriek was still as loud and clear as day. "SHUT UP DOWANNNN!"

The rental manager groaned louder, rubbing his temples as if we were personally shortening his lifespan. "For the love of—just hurry up and fix this before I lose my business."

Jihan finished listing off safety protocols like a model citizen, nodding solemnly. "I'll take over driving for Ahrin."

"Good. Great. And you?" The manager turned to me with a suspicious glare.

I smirked. "Oh, I'm driving too."

He let out a long sigh, clearly questioning his life choices. "Fine. Just keep them under control."

I turned to Jihan with a lazy grin. "Race you there?"

He chuckled. "I think we should catch them first before we start thinking about racing."

"Details, details."

"AHHHH—WHY ARE YOU GETTING CLOSER?!" Minhye screeched as I expertly maneuvered my quad alongside hers.

"BECAUSE I'M RESCUING YOU!" I shot back, reaching out toward her like some heroic action movie protagonist.

"I'M NOT A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS!!"

"YOU ARE IF AHRIN'S DRIVING!"

"...FAIR POINT!"

Up ahead, Jihan had managed to leap onto Ahrin's quad bike like a damn ninja and was wrestling the handlebars away from her control. She was cackling as if this was all part of her master plan.

"You cannot be enjoying this!" Jihan exclaimed as he finally yanked the quad to a stop, the wheels skidding against the dirt.

"Why not?" Ahrin said innocently, dusting herself off. "You only live once, you know?"

"You almost died once too."

Meanwhile, Minhye was still screaming.

I sighed. "Alright, that's enough of that."

Bracing myself, I reached out, grabbed Minhye by the waist, and hauled her off Ahrin's quad in one smooth motion, effortlessly placing her behind me on mine.

She froze.

There was silence for a solid five seconds.

"…Did you just—"

"Yes, I did."

Her hands hesitantly gripped the back of my shirt. "…I guess this is better than riding with Ahrin."

I laughed. "Try not to fall for me, yeah?"

Her response was immediate. She slapped the back of my head.

Jihan, watching all this unfold, just shook his head. "Let's not get kicked out of the rental place, please."

Ahrin, however, looked absolutely betrayed. "Wait, hold on—why am I the only one not riding anymore?!"

The rental manager stomped up, glaring. "Because you, miss, are banned."

Ahrin pouted. "Boooo. No fun."

Jihan sighed, rubbing his temples. "We'll take another lap to make up for it, okay? Responsibly."

I nodded. "No promises."

Minhye smacked my back again.

With that, we sped off down the sand, this time without imminent disaster looming over us.

Jihan of course was good with driving, Ahrin still screaming behind his back but still tightly holding on. Minhye on the other hand was screaming with joy this time.

I couldn't help feel that something was wrong but…

I'm sure it'd be okay.

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...is there anyone here who actually wants Ahrin as the female lead?

Reviews and stones as usual eheheh