The atmosphere turned very quiet, so eerily quiet that they could distinctly hear the gentle rustling of the wind and the chirping of insects.
Apart from the crackling campfire, Suga might have mistaken Trevor and Yuze for participating in a mannequin challenge.
Squeeze— Suga jumped when he felt a hand squeezing his shoulder.
“Haha, why’d you run so fast?
Shouldn’t you be thanking me for escorting you to your location?”
“….”
“So….” Zion released his grip and walked forward, scanning the area around them.
Then his eyes fell upon the pot of boiling venison stew.
“Ah, nice, your team managed to bag a deer.
But too bad, all this effort will be in vain because of you, Suga.”
“What do you mean?
Because of me?”
Zion chuckled, casually stirring the broth as Yuze and Trevor took a step back, intending to escape to the tent.
However, Zion cast his gaze at them, remained fixed on both of them as if telling them not to move, Yuze and Trevor who saw that instantly froze in their tracks.
“Ah, it would be better if you add some pepper…” After tasting a bit of the broth, Zion lowered the spoon and gestured at Trevor.
Trevor, who was standing next to Yuze, complied, nervously walking over to Zion and grabbing the pepper from the basket.
No one dared to speak.
A heavy silence fell once again, and the tension in the air was palpable.
Only the bubbling sounds of the boiling stew could be heard as Zion stood there, leisurely observing it with folded arms.
Why is he still here?
Why doesn’t he head back to the instructor’ camp?
This is so maddeningly awkward!
When the stew was fully cooked, its delicious aroma wafting through the air, Trevor lifted the pot and placed it on the ground.
He grabbed a bucket of water and extinguished the fire.
With no one speaking— to be extremely honest— who would dare to say a word in such a tense atmosphere?!
Trevor forced his legs to walk away from Zion who was still looking silently at the pot, the guy snort softly, throwing his gaze at Suga as if to ask, ‘Why did you bring that guy here?’ Strangely enough, Suga, though without words, understood Trevor’s thoughts from his gaze and rigidly shook his head.
He absolutely had no idea why that guy was still lingering around here!
Then, a moment later, when Suga walked over to approach Trevor closer, suddenly a man flung open the tent flap and came out while scratching his head.
With an annoying innocent face, Aaron stretched his body which made a loud ‘krrk’ sound then nonchalantly said, “Is the food ready? I’ve been hungry forever—oh.”
Aaron froze as he saw the man standing near the spread-out carpet.
He blinked in disbelief at what he was seeing.
“Huh?
Instructor Zion, why are you here?”
“Haha, Suga, you’re quite unlucky …
your group is so unique.”
Zion snapped his head at Suga, a sneer evident on his lips.
“Everyone’s an alpha, and you’re an omega.”
“I’m not an omega.” Suga tried to correct him.
“Are you sure?”
For a moment, Zion seemed to ponder, but he eventually shrugged as if not caring and shifted his attention to Aaron, “Marcus and Suga broke the rules. So your group is blacklisted.” As if guessing that maybe Aaron was their leader, Zion told that information directly to him.
“Huh?”
Trevor, Yuze, and Aaron were equally astonished.
“Wait a minute,” Yuze who had been silent spoke up, “Marcus …
that guy, I understand he’s a troublemaker, but Suga….”
“He’s trying to hide someone who broke the hunting rules here.”
“….
Huh?!” Suga reflexively protested as if not accepting that he was also declared to be breaking the rules, he stepped closer to Zion.
“I obviously have nothing to do with Marcus and… What do you mean I’m trying to hide someone who broke the rules? I’m clearly helping a man who got injured?”
What kind of nonsense was this?
The man snorted, finding Suga’s reaction amusing, before finally bursting into laughter and continuing, “The guy who got injured broke the rules by stealing another team’s catch, you see … Technically, it wouldn’t be a rule violation if nobody had witnessed it. Ah-ah, poor Suga, you didn’t know the guy but you still helped him? That’s laughable … What a naive little guy ….”
What.
Huh.
Hearing that Suga was even more flabbergasted.
Obviously he didn’t know that the man he brought to the medical team was breaking the rules.
Nevertheless, if he saw someone injured, the normal human reaction was to help.
So why was he being dragged into this mess?
Ah!!!
my head hurts, it really does.
Fuck this shit!
“So, your group is on the blacklist, and I’ll be responsible for administering the punishment because I was the one who caught you and Marcus.”
“Goddammit, you clearly knew that I helped an injured person, I didn’t break any rules, I helped someone so I shouldn’t— ugh.”
In a split second, a powerful hand firmly gripped Suga’s jaw, abruptly silencing him.
The man pulled his jaw upwards and upwards, making it difficult for Suga to breathe as his feet no longer touched the ground, forcing him to tiptoe.
He could hear gasps of surprise from his friends witnessing the terrifying scene.
Yuze was about to approach but his steps were halted as Zion’s pupils glanced sharply at him, wordlessly warning him not to interfere.
“You talk too much, and it’s annoying.”
“…..”
“Haha, you’re so light, seems like you’re underweight. Do you not eat? Maybe I should spoon-feed you all that venison stew to add some weight to your body.”
The man slowly moved his hand up and down, so effortlessly it was as if Suga had no weight, as if he was currently swinging a lump of cotton.
Suga felt nauseous due to his shaky vision, and he couldn’t breathe.
Crazy.
What the fuck is he talking about?
Ugh, I can’t breathe.
Suga gripped the man’s wrist with all his strength, digging his nails into his skin, but even though he tried to hit, push, scratch the man’s hand, trying to loosen the grip around his neck, all his efforts were in vain, the man’s body seemed to be made of steel.
Though then, after persistently digging into his skin, there was blood that began to flow from the scratch marks, But what made this even creepier was that the man’s expression was as calm as water, not the slightest hint that he was in pain, those red eyes emotionlessly fixed on Suga as if he were a helpless animal throwing a hissy fit.
Looks like I’m going to die now.
I don’t want to die.
I still want to see Danny grow up, have a bright future, witness him getting married and having a harmonious family.
Suga, with a face turning even more bluish by the moment, glared sharply at the man, digging his nails even deeper and deeper into his skin.
It was so damn hard to breathe but he had to keep telling himself to breathe.
His head felt dizzy, and his vision started to turn white.
On the verge of death, the human survival instinct would kicks in.
And in desperation, a light bulb lit up in his brain.
Though difficult, he swung his leg, summoning the last of his strength, and kicked the man hard in the abdomen.
The man’s eyes widened as if he hadn’t expected Suga to do such a thing, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.
Snorting as if bored, the man finally released him, causing Suga to fall heavily to the ground.
He coughed and wheezed, trying with all his might to draw in oxygen, relentlessly pounding on his chest that felt tight.
This guy is not normal.
Even his stomach, which he kicked, felt rock-hard.
Is he even a human?
Suga massaged his throbbing jaw and neck, guessing that there must be marks from this man’s strangulation.
“Suga!”
Yuze ran up to him, gently rubbed his back as Suga coughed violently.
Carefully checking on him, his face looked worried and he tried to calm Suga down.
Then, noticing Zion who just stood motionlessly, Yuze used that opportunity to drag Suga’s body, moving him to sit under a tree.
Suga raised his head even though it was quite difficult, it felt like his neck would break if he moved just a little wrong— his blue eyes instantly meeting those red eyes.
The man, Zion, stood expressionless, his eyes seemingly scrutinizing every nook and cranny of Suga’s face.
Despite the terrifying red eyes, Suga still bravely glared back at the man.
He really wanted to curse this crazy guy.
“Ha.” Finally, after staring at Suga for quite a while, the man opened his mouth, “It’s time for me to leave.”
And just as the man turned his body around, Trevor came to bring him a bottle of water.
Suga took it and immediately drank the water, his throat still sore.
But before the man could go any further from their camp area, his steps halted.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” The man darted his gaze at Suga, forming a sweet and warm smile, which didn’t match what he was about to say, “I’ll give you your punishment at the beginning of the month. So, just wait for it. Suga.”
He hummed his name at the end, then walked away from them with a childish laughter like someone who had just done something exciting.
Once the man’s back was no longer visible, they simultaneously exhaled as if they had been holding their breath.