Chapter 8

The sun was shining brightly over their heads as only 20 minutes passed by since Kim Yeong found the third item. The three of them followed Kim Yeong around the lake as he showed them the different things he saw on his "laps" around the lake.

"Hey, Lily! Come over here and look at this!"

Elizabeth swam away from the group and went over to a couple of rock formations while dragging Lily along with her. Inside the rock formations were a couple of fish who were scared by the sudden movement of water caused by Elizabeth swimming to it. A few moments later, Lily swam to her.

"Aren't they pretty cute? Wanna catch one?"

"...I'm good. Too slimy."

"Awww, you're too chicken. I'll just go catch one and give it to Master, hehe."

"...Fine."

Using Lily's desire to see Kim Yeong happy, Elizabeth was able to convince Lily to join her. They both dove under the water and they circled around the rock formations, trapping most of the fish in between them.

After observing the fish a few seconds longer, they went back up for air and made a plan.

"Alright, I'll give you a signal, then we go in, got it?"

"Yeah."

Diving back down, Elizabeth held up 5 fingers and became counting down 1 by 1. As soon as she retracted the last finger, they both quickly swam towards the rock formations, which scared out the fish. As the fish started swimming away from them, both Elizabeth and Lily extended their arms to try and grab at the fish. Both managed to catch a fish.

"Did you catch any?"

"Yeah."

"Let's compare!"

When they compared the fish, they could see that Lily's was just a little bit bigger.

"Awww, and here I thought I would win this with ease. Alright, let's show this to Master! We might even be able to eat these."

"..."

The two of them swam back to the two boys who were just swimming around the lake exploring and talking.

"Welcome back, did you two have fun?"

"Hehe, Master, look! We caught some fish to eat!"

"Here, Master..."

The two girls both showed their catches to Kim Yeong and he smiled.

"Good job, I guess we gonna have fish when we get back home tonight!"

"Yay!"

Kim Yeong patted both of the girls on the head. Elizabeth gave him a mischievous grin while Lily just sank a little bit into the water, presumably blushing a bit too.

"I guess we can head back to the camp and wait for Shiratori to finish with the dishes."

---

When they got back to the camp, Shiratori had finished with the dishes and jumped into the water waiting for them. With him getting into the water, the girls put the fish in a container, jumped back into the lake, and started to play around like doing races and just more exploring.

By the time they got out of the lake, it was 3 p.m. Michael had a lot of fun, to the point of forgetting that he had no extra clothes. So he had to borrow from Kim Yeong until his clothes dried off.

He was not really happy about it.

Michael looked very uncomfortable in pants that looked overly baggy. They also looked as if they were constantly about to slide off and reveal all his bodily secrets.

To speed up the process of drying his clothes, they made a temporary campfire and as an added bonus, they made some lunch.

They sat around the campfire and showed each other the stuff they found. Michael was enjoying the different rocks, fish, and other things the "friend" group had collected. However, as the time went on, that joy slowly became sadness.

"So Michael, you still enjoying your time with us? You look kind of sad." Noticing Michael's depressed state, Kim Yeong walked up behind Michael and started patting him on the back.

"Yeah, I'm just sad that our time together is ending soon."

Michael looked down at his bowl of soup and started planning out his life until "The Invasion". He would need to at least get a job, a hotel, and other necessities. He was busy making a plan for how he would make money when Kim Yeong gave him an irresistible offer.

"Wanna live with us?"

"Huh? Wait, live with you guys?" Michael turned around and stared at Kim Yeong. However, the look in Kim Yeong's eyes showed that he was serious.

"Yeah, I'm assuming that you don't have a house in the city."

"No..no I don't..."

"Then what seems to be the problem? Come live with us when we get back to the city. I'll take care of all your expenses and other problems." Kim Yeong crossed his arms and continued to push for Michael to come live with them.

However, Michael was put even more on edge.

"What's the catch? There's no way anyone would give such good conditions to someone they just met if they didn't have any hidden motives."

"Haha, I just want one favor."

"And that is?"

"Don't betray me. That is all."

"...That's it? I thought it was going to be something more than that..." Michael tilted his head in confusion.

'Is that really the only thing he wanted? There's gotta be more to this. But I guess for now, I'll agree to his terms.'

"So what's your answer?" Kim Yeong patiently waited for Micheal's answer and it wasn't long before he got a reply.

"Sure, as long as you don't pull anything stupid like crime, I won't betray you."

"Alright then. Finish your food and come join us to wash the bowl. By then, your shorts should be dried off. I'll go tell the others what's gonna happen."

"..Thank you. Thank you so much."

"He, don't worry about it. As long as you comply with my favor, we'll get along great."

After they finished having their little chat, Michael quickly finished the rest of their soup and joined the rest of them at the lake to clean his bowl. Getting rid of most of the grease, he gave the bowl to Shiratori and grabbed his shorts. He put them on and gave the overly baggy pants back to Kim Yeong. They finished cleaning up the rest of the camp and readied up to leave back to the city.

"Are you guys ready?"

"Yessir!"

"Michael, you ready?"

"Yeah, just about."

"Alright then, let's go back home."

And so, they began their hike out the forest, and back to the city.