“Make sure to wear your seatbelt—”
With the teacher’s reminder, the bus, which started rumbling with the sound of the engine, was beginning to shake.
As the vehicle swayed, I stared blankly inside my bag, which shouldn’t have been empty.
This morning, I said I would know it would be inside, but inside the open zipper was a Gomtaengi with no traces of having been there.
Clothes began to sneak out through the gap in the zipper I had opened for confirmation.
After pressing down on the balloon-like bulge to close the zipper again, I poked Shiyeon, who was sitting beside me, with my elbow.
“What?”
“Check if there’s a sea snake.”
With her head tilted in confusion, Shiyeon leaned closer and whispered in my ear.
I spoke in a hushed voice, lowered just enough so other friends around wouldn’t hear.
With a sound of exertion, Shiyeon placed her bag on her thigh.
Over the sound of the zipper opening, I could see the sea snake that had spent a day in the bag since last night, pretending to be a stuffed animal, still occupying its spot.
I was worried what I would do if both were missing, but at least one was in its place, so that was a relief.
Gomtaengi, I’ll see you after the study trip.
“Is the bear gone?”
Shiyeon seemed to have caught on to the reason for my question about the mascot, as she leaned over from her armrest and whispered in my ear.
“Yeah, it’s not here.”
Her response seemed like she had somewhat expected that, murmuring matter-of-factly about the absence of the Gomtaengi.
Somehow, I felt uneasy since she was confident about it.
The bus, which had only been rumbling in the playground, began to start off strongly with a booming sound.
Maybe because there were a few latecomers, the bus left at 7:16 AM.
It was said that the traveling time would take at least 3 to 4 hours or so.
After all, this journey involved transporting nearly 90 people all at once by bus.
If we took the subway, it could get us there in about two hours, but efficiency isn’t something you worry about on a trip like this.
For a long while, only the sounds of the engine and students chatting filled the bus.
Among the lively atmosphere, I could hear the crinkling sound of snack bags rustling from everywhere.
As one person began to make crunching noises while chewing a snack, a wave of snack unwrapping spread out like a ripple.
Riding on the wave, I decided to pull out a snack that had been buried deep in my bag.
It was the ‘Returned X Chip’ hot spicy flavor, with a design reminiscent of a wave.
The moment I accidentally uttered that name, I would face the big disaster of transforming in front of others.
Grabbing the sharp part of the snack bag, I nonchalantly ripped open the side of the bag.
While placing the snack bag on the armrest, I held it securely with one hand to prevent it from tipping over.
As if waiting for this moment, Shiyeon’s fingers also reached into the bag for the snack.
“Tasty.”
“Mm.”
Amidst Shiyeon’s murmuring that it was delicious, I offered a short affirmative response.
The saltiness that seemed to dry my tongue and the spiciness mixed with a hidden sweetness in the snack’s flavor delivered its taste strongly.
Snacking alone in the corner of my room was different from enjoying snacks during a trip; the taste was far more special.
I do like cookies with just sweetness, but snacks are definitely about the salty flavor.
I hadn’t specifically chosen this name, but if you wanted something salty, you would definitely choose this snack.
And so, as I munched on the snack, we began our conversation.
“How’s your drawing going these days?”
The first question was about Shiyeon’s recent drawing updates.
Even living in the same house, having the chance to sit together and chat for a few hours was quite rare.
Among those times, she doesn’t share the site where she posts her drawings, but she often shows the results for evaluation, so we talked about those drawings.
With some time to kill, I aimed to delve into a topic that allowed for long conversations to make the 3-hour bus ride worthwhile.
“Yeah, I get quite a few comments and likes.”
Shiyeon enjoyed the reactions to the drawings she had made.
It seemed she hadn’t had many negative experiences yet, as she appeared simply pleased.
I remembered the post titled ‘Appled Apple Commission Village’ that Gomtaengi had shown a few months ago and, worried, I decided to ask.
“Do you get any strange comments?”
Not directly asking, ‘Is there anyone weird asking for animal drawings?’ but rather bundled all those requests and negative comments into one question.
“Strange comments?”
“No, never mind if you don’t know.”
Shiyeon tilted her head, seeming like she didn’t even know what kind of ‘strange comments’ I was referring to.
With her expression perplexed as if she wanted me to provide examples, I brushed it off, saying it was okay if she didn’t know.
Sometimes it’s better not to know, and even if you did, there was no need for advanced knowledge.
“Is there anything difficult about drawing?”
With a tiny hope that she wouldn’t take an interest in this conversation, I casually diverted the chat by asking if she had any difficulties in drawing.
Shiyeon got swept away by the flow, soon articulating the difficulties she felt.
“Coloring is a bit challenging… I want to make it look three-dimensional, but no matter what I do, it always feels flat.”
“Hmm.”
Listening to Shiyeon’s struggles as she took another step closer to being an artist, I was able to savor those three hours.
Time passed, and by 10:32 AM, we arrived slightly earlier than the scheduled 11 o’clock at the amusement park parking lot.
Considering our departure was a bit delayed, it seemed we were able to get here on time since the roads were clear.
“Let’s all get out in order from the front—”
Without mentioning the unique nature of the study trip, it felt like an ordinary weekday afternoon across the country.
Well, I didn’t think it would be completely empty, but…
The crowd was enormous, rivalling even Children’s Day at the amusement park.
‘Is everyone actually here for a weekday outing?’
The numbers felt as if all the people in the world were gathered together.
According to our schedule, we were going to stay here for as long as 10 hours.
Almost the entire day, until 9 PM, we had free time to take care of both lunch and dinner at the amusement park.
Comparing it to the old days of school trips where we only went to see rocks, this freedom was in a whole different league.
I never expected I would feel the world had changed so much on the first day of a study trip.
The bus finally emptied with only a power bank, wallet, and water container pulled out from the bag.
“What’s at XX Land?”
“A lot of things!”
We gathered at the front of the bus, waiting for our homeroom teacher’s instructions.
Before even entering the amusement park, chatter mixed with excitement filled the air as we discussed which rides to try.
Honestly, though 10 hours might seem like a long time, considering the number of people, it didn’t seem like everyone could even ride one ride an hour.
After a brief roll call, the teacher handed out meal coupons to each of us.
[Student Group Special Meal Coupon (10,000 won)]
“Alright, what I’m handing out now is a meal coupon. If you lose this, you’ll have to buy your own meals, you understand? Enjoy yourselves, and remember to check in at 1 PM at the front gate and gather again at 9 PM at the front gate, okay?”
“Yes!”
Thanks to some group reservation perks, we ignored the long lines and headed straight for the entrance.
Once inside, we were offered complete freedom after a short briefing.
With no interference at all, we had time to eat whatever we wanted or ride whichever attractions we desired.
With the size of the amusement park being seemingly massive enough to take hours just walking around, I felt oddly overwhelmed by its scale.
Grabbing a pamphlet piled by the entrance and unfolding it, I found a detailed guide to the attractions and facilities.
It was so extensive and detailed that it left my mind feeling blank.
It took me about 5 seconds just to find out where we were standing on the map… the entrance.
“What should we check out first?”
“Hmm…”
Even just asking, ‘What should we ride first?’ didn’t clarify things, as the teacups didn’t say ‘teacups’ and the carousel wasn’t just labeled ‘carousel.’
Instead, the teacups were called something like Flower Dance, and the carousel was identified as Royal Horse something or other…
Since their names had all been altered into something bizarre, differentiating between what was what was the first hurdle.
Among all those countless attractions and facilities, one area caught my eye.
‘Jutopia… is that a zoo?’
“Why?”
Shiyeon responded to my sudden stop while looking at the map.
Reacting to her voice, I pointed to a spot on the map and subtly asked, “What about this?”
“A zoo? Sounds good!”
Upon seeing the word Jutopia, Shiyeon immediately recognized it as a zoo.
Without a hint of hesitation, she readily agreed and started scanning the area for directions based on the entrance.
Beasts I had never seen up close in my life.
There was a sign stating they had predators I had only seen in photos and that it was only open until 5 PM, making our first experience there.
‘Wow, this place is packed…’
And then, the wait time was a whopping 1 hour and 40 minutes.
As we exited to eat, wasting time waiting felt too regrettable, so ultimately with impatience and determination, we took numerous photos of tigers, lions, bears, etc., before we could finally leave.
After exiting, I checked the time; it was 12:36 PM.
“Wow, it’s almost 1 PM already…”
Taking part in one experience ended up taking an entire 2 hours.
“I’m hungry.”
As we walked towards the front gate, Shiyeon complained about her hunger.
After all, breakfast consisted of just eggs and rice at around 6:30 AM.
Given it was nearing 1 PM, it was natural she would be hungry.
“Let’s do a quick roll call and then go get lunch.”
With everyone gathered at the front gate for the check-in at 1 PM, without being able to eat lunch, we completed the roll call.
Once freedom was returned, we headed to the dining area for lunch.
The downside of this amusement park was the restaurants being scattered here and there.
To match their concepts, each district had restaurants designed with different themes, but for the two starving middle school girls, the nearest restaurant was the urgent option.
With the imposing face of a white-bearded uncle, the needlessly salty pieces of chicken and hamburgers became our lunch.
