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n

nShe had giggled.

nAt this point, most of the people who were paying attention were questioning the little lass's sanity.

nBesides the rain, there were no other sounds coming from within the cave and so that sinister-sounding giggle was especially prominent. Though it was only sinister since it came out of nowhere.

nIt was a little abrupt.

nAnyone would find it a little strange if someone just started laughing out of nowhere, especially if it was a suppressed laughter.

nIt sounded like the girl was concocting some devious plans in her mind, especially since these people were already suspecting her, but this was just because Emilin didn't have much practice laughing in uncomfortable environments, meaning anytime it wasn't just her with her family.

n'Has this girl gone crazy from the rain or from sleeping too much?'

nWas the thought that ran through the minds of the people who had been observing Emilin for the past two days.

nWell clearly none of them were mind readers here, because if they were, they'd probably be falling off to their sides, rolling in laughter. Well maybe everyone except Dios.

nWho would have expected this lass, who didn't even know of the connection between these two groups, the team she had met previously and now this group of people, to be dissing both of their captains in her pretty little mind?

nAnyways, Emilin didn't notice the strange atmosphere as she was trying her best not to frown. She felt like she had a bunch of ants crawling on her leg due to the dissipating numbness.

nIt wasn't long before this silence was broken.

n

"So what brought you here?

" It was the sharp-eyed Hunter who spoke once again, he was the most fluent in English with the exception of Dios.

nThe others could also speak in English, but their vocabulary wasn't as expansive.

nEmilin looked to have thought for a bit before responding with her decade-old deadpan expression.

n

"The the land, the views, and the scenery I guess.

" She responded nonchalantly.

nWhile she inwardly nodded, patting herself in the back at her good response.

nZeek, Hunter, and Haneo were thinking otherwise as they spoke to each other with their facial expressions.

n'I knew it! By land, she must mean out base! How did she know it was located here? Was it an insider who wanted to plant the spy or do we have a mole?' Zeek threw Hunter a meaningful glance, widening his eyes and raising both eyebrows.

nHunter returned a meaningful glare, slightly squinting his eyes in contemplation.

nWell, with his sharp eyes, everything looked like a glare.

n'And of course, by the view, she must be talking about looking for our base and observing our every movement to report back to her boss or contractor. How devious!'

n'What a group of dumbasses,' Calim thought, turning his head while pretending he hadn't seen anything.

nHunter continued nodding his head at his own ingenuity, not knowing that one of his comrades was already shaking his head at him on the sidelines.

n'Otherwise, why the hell would she have to say both the land and the views? What else should there be here other than the views? There's nothing special about the land here. She must be talking about our base, that's the only thing special about this location.'

n'And I don't even want to know what's she thinking about when she said the scenery! Oh, the scenery! What other scenery is there to see here other than us and our hunkalishious bodies.'

nHaneo shuddered to think of the possibilities. Just what the hell could scenery mean.

nIt had to be said since these people had already gotten used to this scenery, there was really nothing special about it.

nIn fact, all they could think about when they stepped into this place was the monstrous training they did here.

nThere was really nothing good about it.

nCalim could only sigh, pursing his lips so as to not instinctively voice out his concerns for his friend's IQ.

n'Did too much water get into their heads?' Calim questioned in his mind.

nThey weren't usually this… idiotic. Or so he thought.

nAs for Haneo, he didn't notice anything as he continued to nod exaggeratedly, which was literally caught by everyone in the cave, including Emilin who had previously not been paying much attention.

n'There's no doubt! She's definitely here to spy on us,' was what he was trying to express with that exaggerated movement.

nOf course, Emilin didn't know what they were thinking.

n'No, no. We have to calm down and gather more information.' Hunter shook his head as if he had finally come to his good senses.

nEmilin's thoughts had been so pure.

nEvery word she had said was true only in their truest sense, and yet, somehow, every single letter had been misunderstood, forming a completely different picture for those three men who seemed to have serious cases of tunnel vision.

nThe type of people who would convince themselves that they had a cold if someone told them they did.

nDios, on the other hand, could only shake his head when he saw the small gimmicks of the three people he was with.

nHe almost wanted to just stand up, grab the only sane one, and say that he wasn't with the rest of them.

nHe watched as the little lass looked at them with a terrible expression as if she were being forced to eat dirt, her face was all scrunched up before she finally spoke.

n

"How about you guys?

" She asked, in relation to the previous question she had been asked.

nEmilin had finally built some courage, pushing these words out through the gaps of her teeth with good intentions, but her expression was easily misunderstood, and her words even more so by this suspecting bunch.

n'See! See!' Haneo looked around, giving everyone an 'I told you so' expression.

n'She's trying to probe us.' He concluded, mouthing each word.

nOf course, this didn't escape Emilin's keen eyes.

n'What? Did I say something wrong?'

n'No that's not right. This is what everyone says with the people they've just met.'

n'If the others say something, you respond before asking about them, right?'

n'I didn't seem to have said anything wrong, so what's with this reaction?' Emilin tilted her head to the side in confusion.

nEmilin felt her heart sink a little.

nShe had tried so hard, so why didn't it seem to go as she had expected? If the problem didn't lie in her words...was there something wrong with her?

nWell, it's true that it was because of Emilin, but not in the way she was thinking.

nBefore Haneo could make this even more complicated than it already was, Calim interrupted, starting to recite the background story they had agreed upon.

n

"Please don't mind my friend. He isn't used to getting any attention from members of the opposite sex.

" He explained as if saying that Haneo's previous reaction was due to being excited from being asked about.

nHaneo threw Calim a glare, which Calim promptly ignored in good faith.

nHaneo could only give up on the matter since it was somewhat his fault and Calim was somewhat covering for him at the moment.

n

"Well, it's like this. We live and work together nearby, in the city, and we head into the mountain range on our days off together. That was a couple of days ago. We were jogging around here as usual when the sudden downpour came.

" Calim was throwing some glances at the people looking at him as he spoke.

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"We were in the middle of the forest when that happened and there were only trees around us, so we did our best to hide underneath those, but soon, we realized that the rain wasn't going away any time soon.

" Calim started elaborating with hand gestures.

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"Our bags were left at a spot quite far back since we didn't want to run with luggage, but we also left our compass there accidentally. And well you see… we couldn't find our way back.

"

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"Though I guess it would be more accurate to say, we couldn't agree on a direction. In the end, we had to resort to the most logical method of choosing who would decide the direction we were going to head off to, which is of course rock-paper-scissors.

" Calim said nonchalantly as if it were the most normal thing to say.

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"And that bastard over there won. Though I have to say, I guess he is somewhat lucky to have pointed us to somewhere with coverage.

" He said while pointing at Haneo.

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"When made our way here, well, we thought that this was the way back. Well, we had some hope. But clearly, that wasn't the case.

" Calim said, with a rueful sigh.

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"Thankfully we still had some rations, well enough to last us this long, but it seems like we're running low on that too.

" He said while looking at Hunter, who shrugged with a helpless expression as if to agree with the previous statement.

n'Rations and overall IQ, that seemed to have been left behind too. It seems we're running low on everything. It's best we go back and find it.' Though he did keep that last part to himself

nAfter finishing his part, he gave Emilin an expectant look, as if expecting her to praise him for a job well done with the storytelling.

nWell, if he was waiting for a reaction, he would just have to wait till his grave, because it wasn't coming anytime soon…

nThough Emilin still found many of the parts of that story suspicious, she didn't bother asking about them, not as if she could, but that was beside the point.

nA few moments passed in silence before Emilin nodded as if to say she bought the whole story.

nBut it was also at that moment that Dios's group's plan fell through.

nAll because of Dios's stupid comms which he forgot to turn off.

nOr as he would like to say, all because of the stupid person who had called him, knowing that he was in the middle of an undercover mission.

nThe moment Emilin's eyes were drawn into the coms in Dios's ears, which were previously hidden neatly behind his hair, a whole lot more suspicious points popped up.

nAfter all, there wasn't supposed to be any signal out here and she could clearly hear the faint sounds of the ringing, which echoed throughout the, if not, quiet cave.

n***

nMini-theater:

nHow conversation goes...

nHunter: *Eyebrow raise* *wink* *Eyebrow raise*

nZeek: *wink* *wink* *Eyebrow raise* *wink* *wink*

nHaneo: *Nod* *Nod* *wink* *wink* *Eyebrow raise* *Smile*

nCalim: *head turns around* sorry do you know them?

nDios: *Shakes head resolutely* No I thought they were with you.

nCalim: No way! How could that be? I thought they were with you.

nHaneo, Zeek, Hunter: ...

nHaneo, Zeek, Hunter: *looks at each other*

nHaneo, Zeek, Hunter: *wink*

nHaneo, Zeek, Hunter: Vote! haha

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