The weight of Wooyoung's leash in his hand never left Yeosang's mind as he and Seonghwa led the way back to their cabin.

After discussing it quietly, they decided that would be the best place for them to lay low and stay out of the way. Plus, the hope was that would be the first place Hongjoong and the others would think to look for them since they never discussed a meeting spot.

He glanced over his shoulder and felt his heart break a little at the defeated look on his friend's usually proud face. "Young-ah?"

"Hmm?" Wooyoung looked at him, perking up just a little.

"I just wanted to make sure you're doing alright." He offered softly.

The younger's features softened a little and he moved to Yeosang's other side to hold his hand. "I'm fine. As fine as I can be, at least."

"It's just a game." Yeosang squeezed his hand. "This doesn't mean anything outside of this forest."

Wooyoung pressed his lips together and nodded. "I... I know. But- "

"Well, aren't you a fine-looking bunch." A deep voice came from their left.

All four of them paused and turned to see two men with watches on their wrists step out from behind a tree.

Yeosang was taken aback for a second, surprised he could understand them. He didn't think they'd spoken English...

"Where's your Alpha, pretty boys? Do you need one to take care of you?" The man was tall, fair skinned, and very built, a rounder face sported wide, blue eyes and a light dusting of freckles framed by blonde hair. Definitely from the States, or maybe somewhere in Europe.

Seonghwa bristled under the comment and moved to stand in front of the other three. "No, we do not. Please go about your day and leave us alone."

The man's friend, also of similar build but with a dark tan complexion and black hair, smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Feisty. I like that."

Another group started to approach them from further up the path. This one was considerably bigger, consisting of what looked to be twelve people.

The two men glared in their direction and took a few steps back. "We'll see you again." The blonde sneered before they both retreated into the trees again.

Seonghwa glared after them for only a second before he ushered their group out of the way of the others passing by who all looked like they could be from South America maybe.

"What the fuck was that?" Wooyoung asked.

"I think... they were a couple of Alphas, maybe without a pack, looking to get some points." Yeosang frowned and turned to look at both San and Wooyoung.

Realization hit the two Omegas and San shifted closer to Wooyoung to lace their fingers together. "That... do you think that rule is actually true?"

"Let's get back to the cabin." Seonghwa said instead of answering. "I'll feel better if we are inside and away from others."

No one felt the need to argue, so they hurried back, jogging down the path to get there quicker.

As soon as they were inside, Seonghwa dropped San's leash and spun around to lock the front door. His hands were shaking so bad, he fumbled with the lock and the deadbolt a few times before they clicked into place.

"Hyung...?" San stepped forward to place a hand on his back.

"Sorry... I just... I didn't get a good feeling from them." Seonghwa whispered. He ran a hand through his hair a couple of times and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

"I think we need to re-evaluate what we want." Yeosang slowly walked into their living room and sat on one of the couches. "This place..." His eyes drifted over to one of the cameras while his hand rubbed his aching stomach, "I think it's going to be a lot more dangerous than we could ever guess."

The other three came to join him, but didn't say anything, letting his words sink in.

"If we think about the rules, they set out for us, those alphas..." Yeosang balled his hands into fists and winced when his nails dug into his own skin. "Those alphas could have taken Wooyoung and San from us. That is allowed here! And then we'd have to figure out a way to get them back! How can someone come up with such a fucked-up idea??"

"Alright, Sangie, let's try to calm down." Seonghwa sat next to him and rubbed the back of his neck. "We read the rules, we know- "

"But don't you find it suspicious that they decided to keep that from us until after we had signed the contract and came here?? And what about the fact that we can magically understand everything? A lot of money has gone into this competition, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

Wooyoung and San sat down across from the two Betas, holding hands again. "Should we pull out of the competition?" San asked softly.

Yeosang gave a long sigh and leaned forward so his head could fall into his hands. "I don't know. Part of me says yes because I really don't like what I've seen so far, but the other part of me wants to say no so we can come out and kick everyone's asses and prove to the world that we are worth it."

"So, let's give it a little time." Seonghwa suggested, still rubbing the back of Yeosang's neck.

It was... soothing. If Yeosang didn't know better, he felt like he could start purring with how much he liked it.

But he had always liked the attention Seonghwa gave him.

"Alright." The younger conceded.

"If we have to split like this again, then we will always bring San and Wooyoung back here, where we can keep them safe."

"We are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves!" Wooyoung shouted, standing up with a huff. "I will notgive in to this ridiculous idea that I'm some, some, some, fucking damsel in distress!!"

"Youngie, please," San stood next and wrapped an arm around his waist. "It's just a rule of the game. We know you aren't. I know that I'm not. But we need to think about the game as a whole, and that Android today made it pretty clear that Omegas... that we are meant to stay in our place."

"It's bullshit!!"

"It is. It is." San placed his other hand on Wooyoung's cheek to force the younger to look at him. "But the important thing is that we know it is, and how we decide to handle it going forward. Don't let them decide who you are."

Wooyoung opened his mouth to speak again, then closed it when his lower lip started to wobble and the two of them closed the gap to hug each other.

The sight made Yeosang feel a little better. Even though jealousy used to be an issue for him in the past, he was so happy that Wooyoung and San could draw on each other for strength. Especially right now.

"One day at a time." Seonghwa said, a soft smile tugging at his lips. "We just need to take this one day at a time."

Yeosang leaned into his side and nodded. "But what do we do right now? I'm starving."

The older extended his motions to pet the back of Yeosang's head, earning a small hum. "I know, I am too. Hopefully the others find something to bring back..."

"Why do we have to wait for them?" Wooyoung took a step back from San and rolled up his sleeves. "What if we explore the area around our cabin? We don't have to stray too far away, but then we could map out the area so we can feel more comfortable here."

"And we could set up some defenses!" Yeosang jumped up and clapped his hands together once. "Youngie you're a genius!"

Wooyoung blushed a little and beamed, even as a hand started to rub at his stomach and his nose scrunched in discomfort.

They ended up grabbing three of the knives they were given, a flashlight, the hand axe, and Wooyoung took the seeds to sort through and see what might be worth planting.

"Just in case." He said with a shrug.

Yeosang still doubted they'd see any of them grow, but there was enough unknown surrounding them that he didn't argue.

San ended up finding an empty journal on a bookshelf in the corner that he took, along with a couple of pens to map out the surrounding area.

"Alright." Seonghwa stopped them at the front door, his natural instinct to take care of his younger member emerging once more, "Stick together and pay attention. We don't need anyone catching us by surprise."

He held the hand axe in his right hand and San's leash in his left while the other three had the knives.

When he received a nod from each of them, he unlocked the door and stepped outside.

The light hadn't changed much in the hour or so they'd been inside. Birdsong came from every direction and there was the sound of chirping crickets added to it as well.

A gentle breeze rustled the trees, knocking loose dead pine needles and rustling the leaves growing on trees tucked between them.

They started walking in ever widening circles around their cabin, taking note of anything that seemed important.

The ground was softer yet got a decent amount of sun ten paces behind the cabin, which would be good to plant some crops according to Wooyoung.

Almost thirty paces to the west were a group of berry bushes. That made their day and San was quick to make note of the location so they could return to pick them.

They also found a few varieties of mushrooms scattered around, though none of them knew how to tell which ones they could eat, and which may be poisonous.

Yeosang was at the point that he didn't want to trust the minds behind this game to plant only edible mushrooms...

The best thing they found, though, was about seventy paces west of their cabin.

A stream fed pond.

With fish.

And it was a decent size too, maybe ten or so yards across.

"How the fuck do we mark our territory so no one messes with this?" Yeosang asked immediately, glancing over his shoulder. Their cabin was still in sight, but barely.

"No idea..." Seonghwa frowned. "I guess that's something we will have to figure out as we go along. It's still early in the game, so it may not be a bad idea to catch as much as we can. They were kind enough to give us a deep freezer."

Which was true. Their kitchen was stocked with plenty of cooking gadgets and utensils, along with a stove, sink, refrigerator/freezer combo, and a deep freezer tucked away in a little underground cellar they could get to from the large walk-in pantry they had.

"Right." San said, puffing his chest out a little, only for it to deflate seconds later. "How?"

The four of them took a moment to ponder, then Yeosang snapped his fingers. "Maybe the tool kit will have finish line! Then we can probably find some semi-springy branches or carve poles. They won't be anything fancy, but we can probably rig something up."

With their new discovery lifting their spirits, the four of them ran back to the cabin to see what they could use to catch fish.

Luckily, there was indeed a large spool of finishing line in the toolbox, along with the standard set of pliers, hammers, nails, screws, screwdrivers, and other things commonly seen in took kits.

They decided to sacrifice some of their thinner nails to make hooks, which San took charge of.

Meanwhile, Wooyoung decided to wash out the basket their meat had come in so he could pick some berries and they had something to put any fish they caught in.

Seonghwa and Yeosang took it upon themselves to look for good branches they could use for fishing poles, as well as anything they could potentially catch to use for bait.

They ended up rolling a couple of logs that resulted in some worms they scooped up and pocketed.

It took another thirty minutes or so, but they returned to the pond feeling incredibly proud of what they'd been able to put together.

With worms attached to their makeshift hooks, all four of them picked a spot on the pond to cast their lines into.

"Who would have ever thought we'd be fishing for our own food??" San giggled, his eyes creasing into adorable crescents.

"No more ordering at the push of a button." Yeosang chuckled, then he groaned loudly and threw his head back. "What am I going to do without chicken??"

The others laughed at him, bright, genuine laughs that made the semi-attempt at a joke worth it. Anything to take care of his family.

Yeosang rubbed his stomach again when a sharper pain than normal shot through it. He'd never gone this long without eating before, so he attributed the pain to that...

All the more reason to succeed in catching a fish today.

Luckily, Seonghwa got a bite ten minutes later.

The other three all rushed to help him pull it in since they didn't have a reel, working together to get the fish close enough to shore for one of them to use a sturdy, forked branch they found to scoop it out of the water and throw it on shore.

All four of them cheered and hugged each other while jumping in circles, elated with the success of catching their first fish, even though it was barely big enough to feed once of them.

But it just helped their determination grow. They wanted to do right by the others, thinking about how wonderful it would be if they came back to the possibility of a decent meal still just in case they didn't catch anything themselves.

Hours passed, and while their hunger grew, while the stomach pain grew... they succeeded in catching 22 fish total, and there was still plenty left in the pond.

"We should come back every day." Yeosang said as they walked back with their haul. "Stock up as much as we can."

"I agree." Seonghwa nodded. His eyes darted around the forest, keeping an eye out for anyone else who might have discovered their spot.

They had yet to come across another cabin, so hopefully that meant that everyone was given a decent amount of space.

Enough space for a pack.

It made Yeosang wonder once again just how big this island was. And also... Who was behind all of this? Where did they get the money needed to support this?

His mind raced with all the infinite possibilities while he and the others tried to figure out how to clean and gut the fish they would cook tonight. The froze all but eight, figuring their first meal should be a bit of a celebration.

Wooyoung scowled at the eight chosen fish sitting in the sink full of water for a long moment. His forehead creased slightly, "I've never done this before..."

"We will learn together." San said softly, stepping up next to him. "Just like everything else we may need to do here."

The younger turned to San and looked at him with glistening eyes, then gave a determined nod. "Right! Ok, let's get some knives and try to scrape the scales off. I think I should be able to fillet them ok, I don't know if this is a fish I can cook whole."

Yeosang sighed heavily as he leaned against the counter. "It sure would be nice if we could buy a guide or something at the market."

"Maybe that will be an option?" Seonghwa moved to stand next to him, close enough that their shoulders brushed together. "They did give us those gold coins."

"Hopefully we can earn more." The younger hummed.

Suddenly, heat started to rise to his cheeks and face. He swayed in place and clutched at his stomach.

"Sangie?" Seonghwa stood up straight and reached for him. "Sangie!"

Seconds ticked by like centuries as Yeosang sought out the faces he loved so much. The eyes he could get lost in...

But everything blurred before he could find them.

Then it went black.

"How many?"

"About a third so far."

"Results?"

"Still processing, but a tenth of those are not looking good."

"We expected this. Keep a close eye on them."

"Yes, Sir."

"Collect the ones that fail."