An Unexpected Camper

After buying an iced Americano at the first-floor café, Ju-ri stepped into the elevator with her coworkers to head back up to the office. The lunch rush was just ending, so the car was packed to bursting. But as people from the lower floors dropped off one by one, the elevator thinned out until only familiar faces remained. Ah, with one exception.

Ju-ri stole a glance at the man standing at the very back of the elevator like a stone guardian statue. Han Geon-joo of the Development Team. Heading back from lunch, is he? Bet he ate at the company cafeteria again today.

"Ugh, I thought I was going to die in there. Finally, some air."

With the space now a little roomier, her colleagues let out a collective sigh of relief. We're not alone yet, though. Ju-ri felt a touch awkward about it, but after confirming that Geon-joo had earbuds in, she turned her head away.

"We should come in a little earlier."

"Or later, whatever."

"That'd make us late, you idiots."

"Oh, look at this. The club sign-ups are out for the year."

Today's stir-fried squid was nicely spicy and tasty, if a bit on the greasy side. Ju-ri was chasing the meal down with coffee when Yu-ha jabbed her in the side. She looked up, and Yu-ha tipped her chin toward the elevator's display panel.

Ju-ri shifted her gaze to where she was pointing.

"Whoa, there are like twenty clubs."

"What's a meditation club supposed to be?"

Ju-ri gave a vague hmm and scanned the list from top to bottom.

Meditation, musical theater, vocal training.

Quirky.

Fishing, soccer, bowling.

Sausage fest.

Certification study group, table tennis.

Safe bets.

Hiking, running, walking.

Broke people.

Flower arranging, baking, cooking.

Girl central.

"See anything you like?"

"Hmm… out of those, golf or camping? Tennis could be nice too."

"Damn, those are all the expensive ones. Just join two. You can sign up for up to two, remember."

She'd recently broken up with her boyfriend, so she did have some free time on her hands—but not enough to justify joining two clubs.

"Camping looks the best."

"Huh? Ju-ri, you're into that? That's such a surprise. I figured you'd be a luxury-resort type."

"Yep. It's pretty great, actually."

The boyfriend she'd dated three years ago had been a camping fanatic. Since he always told her to just show up with nothing but herself, she'd tagged along a few times. At first she couldn't see the appeal—camping was less comfortable than a hotel and hardly any cheaper. But after a few trips, she got it. A freer, more rustic vibe than any hotel could offer, something like that. She and that boyfriend were long over, but camping had earned a permanent spot on her list of hobbies.

"What about you, Yu-ha?"

"I'm already doing musical theater."

Ju-ri pressed her lips to her coffee cup, listening half-absently to Yu-ha and the others chatter.

Camping, huh. Maybe I'll give it a go for the first time in a while. I did drop a fortune on that gear.

When Ju-ri stepped into the room in the company café that doubled as a small meeting room, she froze dead in her tracks. A man with a heavy, brooding air, planted squarely in the center of the room, seized her attention.

…Did I come to the wrong place?

She instinctively backed up a step and checked the placard next to the door.

Small Meeting Room.

That's right, though?

She pulled out her brand-new phone—released this year, not a single scratch on it—and searched for the text the club president had sent her.

First OT location: company café room.

She checked the message several times, and it was definitely this place. Ju-ri smacked her forehead with her palm and scowled.

It was an unambiguous matter, yet the reason she kept running through the verification ritual was simply that she couldn't believe it. She turned her head slightly, and through the room's glass wall she spotted Geon-joo sitting there, dumb and motionless. Where he did not belong. Her brow creased further.

What do I do.

That guy and I do not mix.

Of all the clubs in the world, he had to pick camping. Honestly, I'd have expected him to pick nothing at all—or given his personality… hmm, doing absolutely nothing would suit him best. Or some activity that cost zero money.

Camping was active, and while strangers might find it surprising, it cost a fair amount.

Out of twenty clubs, the one Han Geon-joo seemed least likely to join would have to be camping.

A café employee hauling a giant mop gave her a sidelong glance as she passed. Ju-ri scratched her jaw.

Whatever. Just go in.

When she reentered, Geon-joo's gaze brushed over her briefly and slid away. Flustered, Ju-ri pulled out the nearest chair and sat down.

An awkward air hung over the room like a lingering case of indigestion.

"Hello."

An greeting was the bare minimum, after all.

Geon-joo gave a slight nod. His stony face stirred up feelings of discomfort and awkwardness in equal measure.

"You're… here for the camping club, right?"

Just in case. Because no matter how she turned it over in her head, camping and Han Geon-joo had zero overlap.

It's a bit rude, but.

Geon-joo nodded again.

"……."

"…Have you always been interested in camping?"

This time he gave a short headshake.

"Then why camp—"

"……."

For the first time, a question that couldn't be answered with a simple yes or no.

At Geon-joo's silence, Ju-ri shut her mouth too. Guess he doesn't feel like answering. She was just about to check her phone when—

"I became interested."

It was a deeply weighted, resonant voice. Ju-ri privately welcomed the longest answer she'd managed to wring out of him all day.

"Oh, I see. Camping is fun. Lots more people are into it these days, too. So you thought you'd give it a try?"

Geon-joo nodded. Did he have some kind of condition that forbade him from speaking more than a few words a day?

Yikes.

She hadn't realized carrying on a conversation could be this exhausting. Ju-ri was confident she could keep a conversation flowing with anyone for a good thirty minutes straight, but she was out of things to say.

"……."

"……."

A suffocating silence settled over them. Which was why, when the club president finally walked in, she smiled so widely it bordered on ecstatic. Geon-joo glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

"You're here early?"

"Yes!"

Caught off guard by the enthusiasm, the club president burst into a hearty laugh.

"Wow, you've got a bright personality. I'm Choi Min-seok, Home Appliance Division."

"Shin Ju-ri, Overseas Sales."

"Overseas Sales! Figures, figures."

Min-seok's eyes crinkled as he grinned, easy and warm. The laugh lines around his eyes folded in naturally. Clearly a man who smiled a lot—good wrinkles, the kind you're born to like.

While Min-seok and Geon-joo exchanged greetings, the others trickled in one by one. The moment one of them spotted her, he waved.

"Ju-ri?"

Team 3, Overseas Sales—her office colleague and resident chatterbox, Joo-won. Ju-ri's brows folded gently inward.

"You joined this club too?"

Oh Joo-won was in this club?

She would've joined the tennis club instead if she'd known.

"What the hell, why didn't you say anything? I'd have come with you."

"That's exactly why I didn't say anything."

"Huh?"

"Why would I invite along extra hassle."

"I'm no hassle."

"As long as you're fine with it, that's all that matters, right?"

Since Ju-ri was smiling as she said it, Joo-won blinked back at her, thoroughly confused.

"Let's get our orders in first. Anyone want an iced Americano?"

Min-seok went around taking drink orders, and Ju-ri drifted naturally to his side.

"I'll help."

There were quite a few people, and it was obvious he couldn't carry everything back by himself—plus, incidentally, it got her away from Joo-won—so Ju-ri followed him, loaded the drinks onto trays, and carried them back to the room.

"Oh, nice thinking. Thanks a lot."

"Don't mention it."

Ju-ri flashed him an easy smile.

Once Ju-ri and Min-seok set the trays down, the drinks made their way hand over hand toward the back of the room. Ju-ri grabbed her own iced Americano and took a seat. Somehow, her seat had naturally ended up closest to the door, while Geon-joo was parked at the far end. As the room filled, his signature energy swept away that stifling quiet from before without a trace.

Ju-ri drained her coffee with relief.

More people than I expected.

The small meeting room was packed. Fifteen or so. Wasn't that a lot for a camping trip? Granted, coordinating that many schedules wouldn't be easy, so a few would surely drop out—but even so, it was no small number.

I've never gone camping with a crowd this big before.

You only live once. What's the harm?

That one sentence simplified everything.

The brooding man from the Development Team, the tiresome Oh Joo-won—all of it.

For Ju-ri, that sentence was both the answer key to life and its compass.

Camping was one of her many ways of savoring life, sure, but she'd only ever enjoyed it in groups of five at most. But camping with fifteen people…

I'm curious what that feels like.

Anticipation edged out worry.

When the corners of Ju-ri's mouth lifted, the men who'd been sneaking glances at her lost track of themselves entirely. When she met their eyes and smiled with a question mark on her face, they grinned sheepishly and nodded back.

"Have you camped a lot, Ju-ri?"

With everyone's eyes fixed on her, one young man struck up a conversation in a bright, cheerful voice. His skin was clean and pale without a trace of acne, and his light-colored hair made him look, at most, late twenties. He introduced himself as Park Hae-seong of the Innovative Products Division, his sparkling eyes locked on Ju-ri.

"Once every spring and fall, without fail. Sometimes in winter too."

The male club members eyed Hae-seong talking with her with thinly veiled displeasure.

"Turns out more people here have actually camped than I thought."

Min-seok, who'd been quietly soaking in the buzz of chatter, spoke up.

"Like I said at the start, I want to try camping on the company's dime—there was no camping club last year, so I'm the one who decided to build one this time. Come on, everybody, let's get healed on company money."

Healing on the company's dime. Was there a word in the whole world more seductive to office workers than that—even more than a company dinner with grilled eel? The mood in the room lifted at once.

"Since some of you have never camped before in your lives, we'll split into groups with the experienced folks spread among them. Talk over three things for your first camping trip: the location, the gear we'll need, and the dates. We'll regather here in thirty minutes."