Chapter 146 - Camping Trip (1)

Orea stretched her limbs as soon as she got out of the bus. Minwoo was yawning while the other students were also tired from the long bus journey. It took them nearly five hours to reach the camping spot and they were already exhausted.

"Ugh!" Orea winced. "My back! The damn bus shook all the way here!"

"The roads are bad in this area," Minwoo scowled. "I don't think I can dance for days!"

Orea was about to say something when someone brushed past her. Startled, she looked around to see that it was Myung. He was talking off his headphones and looked ahead, completely ignoring her. Minwoo looked from her to Myung.

"Trouble in lover's paradise?" Minwoo teased.

"Shut it!" Orea snapped but she was glancing longingly at Myung's back. Even though she could not admit it, she missed hanging around with him. At first, she was merely interested in him to gain access to the Prime Minister's security vault but she came to genuinely enjoy Myung's company.

But after his confession, things had been awkward. She had hurt him very badly and despite her own heartache, it was best for both of them to stay away from each other.

The other students were now taking their luggage out of the luggage rack. Orea picked up her bag pack and with Minwoo, followed the other students towards the campsite. Myung was walking ahead with his friends, making polite conversation but his actions were mechanical. He merely nodded or said, "hmm" to anything his friends were saying to him.

Suddenly, he felt someone grab his arm. He frowned to see Marley was clinging to him.

"What do you want?" he asked, feeling irritated.

"Myung, let's go on a walk after we settle in our tents!" she whined. "It's such a beautiful weather today! And we have the afternoon off!"

Myung was about to tell her off when he noticed Orea was walking away with Minwoo. Her eyes glanced at him before she quickly looked away.

"Yeah, let's go," he said loudly. "I'll meet you here after we set up the camps."

Orea heard him but did not look at his way again. But Minwoo noticed her scowl which she hid from everyone's sight.

"What's going on?" he asked shrewdly.

"Nothing!" Orea claimed. "I'm just tired. And your fanclub is about to come any moment."

She was right. As soon as all the students came out of the different buses, several girls began to block their way.

"Minwoo, I want a selfie!" one girl demanded.

"Minwoo, you're so hot!"

"I want to marry you!"

Minwoo was surrounded by so many of them that he felt overwhelmed. He turned to Orea for help but she ditched him and scurried off ahead towards the tents.

"Orea! Help!" he begged after her but she only shrugged and flashed him a thumbs up. Minwoo cursed at her but was engulfed in his legions of supporters. 

Meanwhile, Orea walked through the crowds, looking for her tent number. She held the student itinerary which had the details of the trip. Taking out her phone, she texted SD that she had arrived at camp. Her dear old cousin was usually an annoying but cool headed guy but when it came to her, he would get unnecessarily worried and make a fuss.

Sending him the text, she put her phone away and looked around. It was a clear, sunny day which was perfect for a camping trip. The place they were at was on the edge of a forest which was around sixty miles away from the Capital. A portion of the forest had been cleared off to make this a hotspot for campers and the school had rented it for two days.

The colorful tents flooded one section of the camp while an activity spot was only five minutes away. The activities are all survival related like fishing, making a fire by hand, cooking under the open sky and many more. There were also some games which the counselors had arranged like treasure hunting, beetle hunt and a few others which Orea was not much interested in. 

Being a member of the Light, she was already trained in pretty much all sorts of survival skills which her peers had not even heard about so it was mostly boring for her. She usually skipped the camp trips but thanks to stupid Marley, who pushed to make it mandatory for everyone, Orea had to tag alone or risk losing a grade.

Such a pain, she gritted in her thoughts. Oh well!

She found her tent and stepped inside it. There was no one else in there though which made Orea frown a little.

"I thought we were supposed to have partners," she muttered. Shrugging, she chose one of the bunk beds on a side and put her bag on it. Since there were no activities scheduled until night, she had time to kill.

Fortunately, she came equipped to carry out some of her plans.

She lay on the bed, browsing through her phone. To her relief, the protests against Mikhael had picked up and now, the social media was abuzz with the slave incident. She pressed on one of the news videos.

"As you can see behind me the protestors have been shouting slogans outside the Embassy for hours," one reporter claimed. Behind him, hundreds of people were shouting and demanding for Mikhael to answer to them. There were NGO's as well who were fueling the fire, demanding for the protection of human rights.

"End this reign!" the protestors chanted. "End this reign! End this reign!"

The reporter stopped one of the leaders of the protests.

"Do you think that Ambassador Mikhael will heed to the public's request?" the reporter asked.

"He must answer to us or resign!" the leader shouted with great passion. "His actions have ruined the lives of many people and are a violation of basic human rights! As an Ambassador, he should be ashamed of using his power to torment people! We want him to leave our peaceful country-"

There were several loud noises as several protestors began to break the pictures of Ambassador Mikhael. They smashed his smiling portraits and set fire to them.

"EVERYONE DESERVES LIBERTY!" they shouted. "EVERYONE DESERVES LIBERTY!"

The police were having a tough time containing the crowd but it was only the beginning. Unless the government stepped in, the crowd would increase to hundreds of thousands. 

"They'll have to put out a false statement soon," she sighed. SD had already briefed her on his deal with Choi Taek. They wanted to use Choi Taek to eliminate his own allies. With Mikhael out of the way, Taek would look towards someone else to carry out his illegal slave trade. This is where Jaejun will step in to take over the trade and effectively control all of the Company's trade routes.

Biggest hurdle in their way was the Prime Minister but Jonghyun was their pawn in that play. 

Currently, Jonghyun was colluding with the Yakuza to work against Choi Taek. They were looking to take over the trade routes but their actions would only make the old man suspicious of the Prime Minister. The close relationship between Choi Taek and the PM had been a major hurdle. Once the seeds of discord were sowed, these two factions would turn on each other, prompting the Empress and the real leader of the Company to show up.

Just hope my other cousin doesn't mess up our plans, she thought bitterly.

Just then, the tent's zipper began to open. Orea quickly closed the app and turned on an idol video instead. She heard a familiar giggle and to her shock, Marley walked in, pulling Myung with her. 

Marley's smile was wiped off her face as soon as she saw Orea while Myung remained nonchalant. Orea tried not to show her annoyance at the annoying curly headed girl but something in her was snapping. Seeing Marley wrapping her claw-like fingers around Myung was testing her patience. A lot.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Marley demanded.

"I'm in this tent too," Orea said in a cool tone.

"Get out!" Marley ordered. "I'm not sharing with you."

But Orea did not move. "I don't want to," she declared. "You can't make me leave. This is my tent and I like it."

She flashed a mocking smile at Marley. Myung tried to remain calm but Marley's behavior towards Orea was also beginning to annoy him. However, seeing how unaffected Orea was by his presence was annoying him even more. 

Did she really not care about him? Not even a bit?

He knew that his anger was irrational and that he could not force Orea to like him. But who would explain this damn heart which simply refused to listen?

"Forget about her," Myung said coldly. "Ms. Heo does whatever she wants."

"Yes," Orea shot back. "I do what I want."

She knew he was unattainable but his distant attitude was making her heart ache. They were silently pining for each other despite the thorny words on their lips. Myung looked away, not being able to face her anymore. It was just too damn painful.

"Myung, she's gonna bully me!" Marley claimed, throwing a glare at Orea but Myung ignored her and left the tent. Orea returned her gaze to her phone, ignoring Marley's growls.

I'm gonna make her pay, Marley vowed.