DO-YUN turns to her, voice strained and exasperated. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier that that the truck had broken down? And how did you even know? None of us has had a signal for hours!”

A-RA doesn’t even look up “Think about it. Why would they give us a tent and food ?”

“BAEK-HYUN contacted the facility before we left. I figured you’d all be sharp enough to piece that together.”

Silence.

The boys exchange glances like students who just realized the exam was open book the whole time.

A-RA’s lips curve, faintly amused. “Besides,” she adds, “I was being considerate. The worst time to worry someone is right before a meal.”

She gives DO-YUN a pointed look.

“Telling you earlier wouldn’t have changed a thing. If anything, you should be thanking me. I shortened your worrying window.”

A collective sigh rolls through the tent like a sad breeze. 

HA-JOON gives a visible shiver, tugging his damp jacket tighter.“It’s going to be a cold night,” he mutters.

A-RA leans back, arms behind her head, smug. “Should we all cuddle up, then? Minus DO-YUN, of course.”

Every male in the tent visibly recoils. They scoot a centimeter farther from her in unison. A-RA pouts, offended.

She hunches under her jacket, pulling it over her shoulders like a sleeping bag. Her eyes flutter closed, serene.

Just as the boys finally begin to settle into a very fragile sense of peace, her voice slices through the rain again—sweet, sharp, and deliberate.

“Oh. Before I forget.”

They freeze.

“I hear there are tigers in these woods.”

Four sets of eyes snap open.

“What?!” DO-YUN blurts.

“Tigers?!” MIN-JUN yelps, already scanning the shadows like one’s going to pounce through the tent flap.

A-RA doesn’t even flinch. “So three of you should keep watch. I’ll join one of you for second shift.”

She yawns. “Don’t worry. I’m a light sleeper.”

“You’re telling us now?” MIN-JUN demands. “After we set up camp?! After dinner?!”

“If I told you earlier, you’d have been scared all the way here,” A-RA says with another yawn, curling deeper into herself like a smug little dumpling. “You should be grateful for my timing.”

DO-YUN opens his mouth to argue but just closes it again with a groan.

Rain pelts the tent like mocking applause. The  seated boys sit stiffly, while YU-JUN stands alert like the royal guard of some palace.Wide-eyed, backs straight, suddenly  evryone is extremely awake.

A-RA smiles.

“Goodnight,” she murmurs, voice warm and wicked.

The boys exchange horrified glances, resigned to their fate as the rain pours on.

Late at night, the boys are on edge, keeping watch.

Then—
A roar. Deep. Guttural. Bone-chilling.

It splits the silence like a lightning strike.

DO-YUN nearly drops his gun. YU-JUN stumbles back into MIN-JUN. HA-JOON shouts a curse under his breath.

 Then they pause and turn to look at the direction the roar came from-just to see A-RA casually sit up, stretch like she’s waking from a spa nap, and calmly shut off her phone.

The tiger's roar cuts out.

The boys stare at her, speechless.

DO-YUN, red-faced and seething, practically growls, “Why would you set your alarm to a tiger’s roar?!”

A-RA shrugs, utterly unfazed. “It fits the occasion.” She smirks. “And what are you so scared of? You’re armed to the teeth and yet panicking over a ringtone?”

Her eyes glint with mischief as she stretches again. “Right, I forgot. You’re the same guys who scrambled onto a truck to escape a flock of geese. What’s a tiger compared to that?”

DO-YUN mutters something unrepeatable under his breath.

A-RA claps once. “Anyway, I’m up. Shall we keep watch or start walking to the extraction point?”

Grumbling, half-asleep, and still shaking off the shock, the boys silently pack their gear.

The team moves through the trees in a weary single file. A-RA leads, steady and confident, followed by HA-JOON, MIN-JUN, YU-JUN, and DO-YUN bringing up the rear with a haunted expression and suspiciously frequent glances over his shoulder.

Then, without warning, A-RA gasps and jumps a step forward.

The boys freeze instantly.

HA-JOON stiffens. “What?! What is it?!”

A-RA blinks, tilting her head. “Oh… it’s nothing.”

Four groans echo through the dark trees.

MIN-JUN glares. “Are you going to keep doing this?!”

“I don’t know what you mean,” A-RA replies sweetly, already walking again.

Muttering and cursing under their breath, the boys follow.

They finally reach the clearing just before dawn, breathless, soaked from dew, and absolutely done with nature.

But instead of a sleek rescue vehicle, there sits the same broken-down truck from earlier—its engine still dead.

DO-YUN stops short, blinking in disbelief. “Wait. I thought you said the rescue truck would be here?”

A-RA tilts her head like she’s examining a modern art piece. “I didn’t want you to worry.”

She smiles at him, entirely too cheerful. “Besides, my timing with bad news has been impeccable so far.”

MIN-JUN throws up his hands. “Seriously?! So… help isn’t coming?”

“Help is coming,” A-RA says, pulling out her phone and tapping the screen. “It’s just delayed because of the weather. Imagine if I told you that while we were still stuck in the woods?”

The boys groan in unison.

HA-JOON, done with everything, climbs into the back of the truck without a word. “She’s got a point,” he mumbles. “Still better than the tent.”

A-RA gives a dramatic, theatrical bow. “Thank you! Finally, someone who appreciates the artistry of my timing.”

The rest of the boys shuffle into the truck, some muttering threats, others too tired to care. A-RA hops in last, curls up by the side wall, and rests her head on her pack with a smile.

“Wake me when the cavalry arrives.”

They don’t reply—but the exhausted silence feels like a win.

The inside of the truck is quiet now—almost peaceful—until a tiger’s roar tears through the air again.

The boys flinch, as if nature itself is hunting them down.

A-RA calmly pulls out her phone, unfazed. 

“How is this on me?” she says, lifting a brow. “We’re in a locked armored truck. Four men. One woman. Unless you think a tiger opened the door, climbed in here while we weren’t looking...  and besides, you’ve heard this ringtone before.”

She answers the call like nothing is wrong, casually ignoring the chorus of dagger-filled stares.

The conversation is short. Muffled. She hangs up and exhales.

DO-YUN eyes her with suspicion. “Let me guess. More bad news?”

“Not really...” she says vaguely, slipping her jacket on and hopping down from the truck.

The moment her boots hit the dirt, the boys scramble out after her like anxious ducklings.

She turns around and deadpans, “What are you doing? You think I’d just abandon you here and sprint off to civilization with my superior survival instincts?”

She walks to the front of the truck and taps the driver’s window. A quick exchange later, she’s got a toolbox in hand, and the hood of the truck creaks open.

MIN-JUN eyes her warily. “There’s no way you can fix a truck too.”

She grabs a flashlight and leans in to inspect the engine like she’s been doing it for years.

HA-JOON leans in, visibly impressed. “Wow… Is there anything you can’t do?”

YU-JUN, sensing an uncomfortable vibe, steps on HA-JOON’s foot to stop him from sounding too amazed. 

A-RA, still tinkering, doesn’t even look up. “YU-JUN,” she says smoothly, “a jealous man is attractive  only when he’s jealous of other men speaking to his woman, not when he’s jealous of his own woman..”

YU-JUN rolls his eyes and mutters something in the language of fed-up men.

MIN-JUN crosses his arms, squinting. “Do you actually know what’s wrong, or are you just poking at stuff until it makes a noise?”

A-RA hands him the flashlight with a grin that suggests too much confidence to be legal.

“Even if I didn’t,” she says sweetly, “I will front a  serious look of someone who knows what they are doing,and if I fail to fix it, I will just declare that the truck needs a mysterious spare part that has to be bought and we have to wait..."

She winks. “I’d advise you not to get your hopes up.”

DO-YUN snorts, finally cracking a smile. 

The engine coughs in protest. The boys take a collective step back.

Just then, another tiger’s roar slices through the air.

The boys flinch again.

DO-YUN glares. “Seriously? You haven’t changed that ringtone yet?”

A-RA doesn’t even blink. “If I had the same ringtone in the city, none of you would’ve reacted.”

She looks up from the hood casually, “Also, for your information, that roar came from the back of the truck yet I have my phone right here with me....”

The boys freeze. Confusion morphs into dawning dread. Their eyes widen.

ALL FOUR
“WHAT?!”

A-RA rolls her eyes. “Seriously, how gullible can a group of trained operatives be?”

They sigh. Not in relief—just exhaustion. The kind that comes from playing mental dodgeball with someone who weaponizes sarcasm like a scalpel.

A-RA walks to the back of the truck with a low hum, grabs her phone, answers a quick call with a casual “Mmhm,” then tucks it  in her pocket as she returns to the open hood.

MIN-JUN, still twitching, mutters, “You really need to stop with the scares—”

Before he finishes, she pulls his hand into the engine compartment and redirects it. 

“Look, the sooner we fix this, the sooner you won’t have to hear tiger roars. Besides,” she adds, glancing sideways, “do you really think a predator would roar before it attacks?”

Her tone is matter-of-fact. Clinical, even.

“Why would it warn you? Even you lot wouldn’t shout, ‘Hey! I’m about to shoot!’ before pulling the trigger. 

Now, imagine a predator that’s born to hunt. It has mastered the art of stealth.... If it roars, ” she shrugs, “…it’s probably calling its friends for the buffet.”

HA-JOON blinks rapidly, visibly unsettled.

A-RA glances at him, then looks back at the engine, adjusting a wire with the same energy one might use to tie a shoelace. “You’re welcome, by the way. Imagine if I’d told you this earlier…”

YU-JUN lets out a long, exaggerated scoff.

A-RA doesn’t even glance up. “YU-JUN, at this rate, your lungs are going to collapse from over-scoffing.”

YU-JUN immediately scoffs even louder in defiance.

Suddenly,rain begins to drum against the steel of the truck. But A-RA doesn’t flinch. Her hands are deep in the engine, sleeves rolled up, smudges of grease like war paint on her skin.

MIN-JUN, arms folded, watches her with the expression of a man thoroughly defeated—but not ready to admit it.

 He asks slowly, “was this entire journey just about emasculating us?”

A-RA doesn’t even glance up. “What do you mean? We just came for work and things happened.” She pauses, then smirks. “Though... the goose adventure? A little. Honestly, I thought one of you would’ve held your ground. Maybe DO-YUN. Or YU-JUN.”

“Why not me?” MIN-JUN scoffs.

That earns him a look. A-RA tilts her head, amusement dancing in her eyes. “Of all the men here, you care most about your face. Your morning routine is probably more complicated than mine. No way you were going to let a goose scratch it.”

She goes down the list with surgical precision.

“HA-JOON doesn't take unnecessary risks. DO-YUN? He’d wrestle a bear if it meant looking manly. And YU-JUN? That man hates losing—. I swear, I saw it in his eyes... for a second, he almost fought the geese. That would’ve been a moment.”

She chuckles to herself, tightening something under the hood.

“The tiger ringtone was just for laughs. The truck breaking down? Just bad luck.”

Suddenly, a heavy downpour crashes around them. A-RA doesn’t budge—until she realizes something strange: she's still dry.

She looks up, confused.

All four men are standing around her, their jackets stretched over her head like a makeshift canopy. No words, no big gestures—just quiet, instinctive protection.

She stares at them, her expression softening.

“But how,” she says quietly, “could I possibly emasculate any of you …when your first instinct is to protect me, even from things that cannot harm me like the rain…"

The rain keeps falling.

But under that web of jackets and pride, they all stand quietly together.

After a short while,A-RA rises and shuts the hood of the truck with a satisfying thunk.

“We need a spare part!” she announces.

From the boys: a chorus of exhausted sighs—resigned, dramatic, operatic.

She flashes a grin and strolls to the driver’s window. “Try it now.”

The engine sputters… then hums to life.

HA-JOON lets out a gleeful whoop, pumping his fists in the air like a five-year-old. The others exchange looks, smiles tugging at their tired faces. One by one, they hop into the back of the truck with her.

The truck lurches forward. The journey back begins.

HA-JOON nods off within minutes, head slumped against the metal siding. A-RA leans against the opposite wall, arms crossed, eyes closed. Rain fades to a distant memory. The hum of the road takes over.

YU-JUN sits nearby, quiet. His eyes drift to her—peaceful now, cheeks still smudged with engine grease. A soft smile tugs at his lips, uninvited and stubborn.