* * * * *

Blinking at the bright colours, Hyuk opened his eyes.

Everything around him, from the trees and the sky to the castle before him, was in strong fluorescent shades. How long he had been unconscious, he had no way of knowing. Minutes passed one after another while Hyuk struggled to adjust his eyes – but his vision was still a blur. There was a heavy pulsing in his head, as though someone was hitting it with a hammer over and over again.

“ Uhh… Where am I?”

“I wonder that too, sometimes.”

Suddenly Hyuk felt wide awake, even panicked. He searched his surroundings for the source of the voice - but there was no one there.

“ …What?” muttered Hyuk into the air.

“ I mean, you could, of course, always answer that you are somewhere.” continued the voice, unperturbed. “But there’s a little problem with that. Somewhere implies that you are at a place in physical space. No one said anything about virtual space. So, sadly, I think that we are both nowhere.”

Hyuk really, really didn’t know what to make of that.

“…Excuse me?! What the hell do you mean by that??”

“Already in rage mode, and didn’t even finish the tutorial?”

At that moment, right next to him, a boy appeared. For the most part, he looked like a regular boy he might meet in school or in the game room.

“Hyuk, please relax. It’s just a game.”

Instinctively, Hyuk jerked away from the stranger. Something about a person appearing out of thin air made him distrustful. “A… game? And who are you, anyway?

The other boy blinked, as if something had just snapped within his head. He suddenly started to shout.

“We don’t have time! Princess Hakyeon is in grave danger! You have to go save her!

Hyuk stared at him, confused. “What kind of cliché storyline is that?!”

“Cliché or not, you have to save your lovely Hakyeon!”

“My lovely Hakyeon?!”

“Yes! She promised her forehead to whichever brave hero rescues her!”

“ ... You mean, she promised her hand, right?”

“Details are unimportant, let your courage guide you!”

By now Hyuk was getting more than a little annoyed. He had no idea where he was or how he got there, but all the other boy did was confuse him. “That’s the most useless advice I’ve ever heard. Will you tell me what’s going on??”

“Oh wait, I almost forgot! Take this item!”

Something small and fluffy landed right in Hyuk’s lap.

“A... Chopper doll?”

“ When the time comes, its magical power will aid you!”

At that very moment, a song started to play - a soothing male voice that seemed to be coming from the sky itself. Once again, the other boy blinked, and as if someone had pressed a button, something changed within his eyes.

“PARK HYOSHIN-NIM!!!” he screamed, beyond himself with happiness, and began to run towards the castle.

“What? Hey, wait!!!”

Bolting after the mysterious boy, Hyuk suddenly felt something beyond strange. No matter how fast he ran, the other boy was always a step ahead. When he tried to run faster, so would the boy. If he slowed down, the boy would, too. It was like the stranger was programmed to be uncatchable.

The castle door slammed shut right in Hyuk’s face.

“Great… now what?”

With nothing else to do, Hyuk took a better look around. Now he could see much clearer – but what he saw was…

Impossible. Simply impossible.

On closer inspection, the trees around him weren’t really trees. They had no leaves – only green squares, green pixels, above an equally pixelised trunk. The castle was a huge system of grey blocks, the clouds were squares of white on an even blue background.

And there was something ever stranger.

Whenever he looked, a bright green line would appear in the lower right corner of his vision.

When he looked up, the green line would be in the sky. When he looked down, it would be on the ground – but always in the bottom right corner.

“A… A… A HEALTH BAR???”

No one seemed to hear his shout. The only sound was the birds singing. Expect Hyuk couldn’t see a single bird anywhere, and when he paid attention, he noticed the sound was actually repeating itself incessantly.

“No way. There’s just no way.” To whom Hyuk was talking to, even he didn’t know. “This must be a dream, or…”

Suddenly his head felt dizzy again. Leaning onto one of the pixelised trees, he waited for the headache to pass.

The silence around him was deafening. He was completely alone.

All of a sudden, everything came back to him – the new machine in the game room, his fight with Kyuhyun, his own elbow accidentally pressing the robot-shaped button, the moving mirror image of himself on the screen.

“KYUHYUN!!!” he screamed into the air. The birds chippered relentlessly, the same exact melody over and over again. “KYUHYUN, YOU BASTARD! WHERE ARE YOU?!” Something wet was on his cheeks. “CHANGMIN! SUNGJONG! JACKSON!!!”

Hyuk brought his hands to his face to wipe his tears away, but they just kept coming, sliding down his cheeks and chin.

And when he caught one on his palm, he saw it wasn’t a tear anymore.

It was just a light blue sqaure. A pixel.

* * * * *

KissTheDream: This story was (sort of?) inspired by Vixx's 'Rock Ur Body' MV.

PS. HAIL THE CHA FOREHEAD!!! <'3