Chapter 18: Creepy

Ji-Hye gasped, her blood running cold at what she was seeing. Without thinking, she skittered backward, narrowly avoiding getting caught by one of the heat-seeking vines emerging from the bush. 

 

It's rare for her to give a fuck, but in this situation, one was ready to burst forth. It was on the tip of her tongue. "Are you seeing this? What is this wannabe eldritch abomination doing inside of a hide-and-seek game?"

 

"I don't know," Ari replied, wide-eyed, trying to seem just as confused as Ji-Hye was. Yet he couldn't stop himself from displaying small tells, almost giving himself away.

 

However, Ji-Hye didn't notice his peculiarity and instead kept staring at the long, girthy vines that were reaching out toward them. In her mind, it seemed like it was waiting, almost in anticipation, to capture them. It was creepy as heck. 

 

Even though it was by chance, Ji-Hye had seen a video that started similar to this, and there was no way in hell that she would ever want to star in one. She wouldn't put it past a big company to have clients that get their rocks off over things like this.                                           

 

Luckily, Ari was here with her. Without him, she would have been trapped like a duck, waiting for her capture. That's when it hit her. 'How did Ari know the bush was a trap? Was there something about it in the event details I missed?'

 

However, as soon as that thought crossed her mind, she dismissed it. Because she could actually recount, on both hands, the number of times she reviewed the event details. 

 

Nor could it be that Ari was just naturally observant and could feel discrepancies in his surroundings. Her experience growing up with him and knowing him to be a complete homebody proved that wasn't the case.  

 

"How did you know there was a trap?" Ji-Hye asked as they continued to back away. Because for the life of her, she couldn't figure it out. 

 

"Well... I guessed," Ari answered, quickly. Too quickly for it to be true. 

 

"What do you mean by guessed?" she questioned with a raised brow. "How could you guess there would be a trap in a hide-and-seek game?" 

 

Ari shouldn't keep forgetting how smart his cousin was. Yet he does it regularly and now his forgetfulness is coming to bite him on the butt. 

 

"Like you said before, the bush was a perfect hiding place. But it felt too perfect. Why would the creators of this area make it easy for us to win a pod? Wouldn't they try their hardest to make us lose, so fewer people would win? So, wouldn't they have some tricks up their sleeves?" Ari replied, throwing a multitude of questions back at her so he could divert her attention. 

 

"You're right... they would." Clenching her fists, she stared angrily at the bush. "I can't believe those cheaters. Even though I can see the logic behind it, it feels wrong. They should have informed us about this." 

 

Ari nodded in agreement. "They should have, but then again, we shouldn't have been so naïve to expect that a large corporation would make getting free stuff from them would be easy." 

 

"Urg... I know you're right, but I hate that you are," Ji-Hye said, before shoving her hand through her pixelated pink hair. 

 

"Now that we know that there are dangers in these woods, we need to be extra careful," Ari instructed as he bent down to collect a couple more rocks, thinking they might come in handy later on. "We have no idea what else could be hiding in here." 

 

"Yeah! We need to be on our guard. Who knows, the seeker might be a giant killer scarecrow or something."

 

Ari smirked at her guess and thought, 'Close, but no cigar.'

 

Ji-Hye was about to speak again when suddenly a faraway scream pierced the air, startling both of them. Curious, they looked in the direction that it came from before looking at each other.

 

"Looks like someone got caught...," Ari stated quietly, wondering if what caught them was a trap or Killerjack. Either way, it wasn't his business and from the looks of it, Ji-Hye decided it wasn't hers either.

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"It appears so," she said, moving in the opposite direction of the screams. "Let's go this way. The other way is clearly not a good route to take." 

 

" Well... well... look at this. It seems little Jiji's conscience has flown away. And here I was thinking of ways to turn you down when you ask to help that person."

 

"Help? I know of no such word right now. This is a competition. We can only look out for ourselves," Ji-Hye replied, waving him to hurry along. 

 

Ari snickered silently. He was glad that she had her head in the game. He wanted no emotional mishaps to stop them from winning the pod. 

 

~

 

As they traversed once again through the dark forest, the duo was focused as they observed the surroundings in search of any hidden danger. They couldn't help but stay close to each other, their instincts telling them to be wary of anything that might jump out at them.

 

Suddenly, Ji-Hye's foot caught on something and she tripped, landing heavily on her backside. Ari quickly ran to her side and helped her.

 

"Are you okay?"

 

"Of course I'm okay. I'm in a body of an avatar," Ji-Hye blushed as she brushed the dust from her body. "I just wasn't looking in front of me."

 

Knowing that she was too preoccupied with looking for traps, Ari smirked. "Maybe I should lead."

 

Without saying a word, Ji-Hye moved behind him. With a shake of his head, Ari began to walk forward again.

 

The duo continued on in silence, their steps echoing through the darkness.

 

Now that he was leading them, it would be easier to find that special place where they could hide out at. The only thing he was worried about now was having Killerjack find them before they could make it there. 

 

Ji-Hye didn't understand how Ari could be so confident as he led them through the woods. When she was trying to, she was extremely paranoid, and rightly so.

 

After realizing the dangers this hide-and-seek game held, she was extremely cautious of her every step. She had been fooled once by a trap, but it wouldn't happen again.

 

~

 

After what felt like hours of walking, but with a glance at the giant timer in the sky, it had barely been a few minutes, Ari saw a small rock formation in the distance.

 

'This is it,' he thought, smiling brightly. 'This is exactly how it appeared in the video.'

 

However, before he could even attempt to bring this to Ji-Hye's attention, out of nowhere, an axe sliced through the air, embedding itself into a tree, only missing his head by a couple of inches. Ari's breath caught in his throat as he realized who was behind him.

 

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