* * * * *

“Yo, stranger.”

Freezing, Hyuk frantically scanned his surroundings, but saw no one. His nails were digging into the soft fabric of the Chopper doll.

“W-Who are you?” stuttered Hyuk. If only he had a weapon, or magic, or…

“You ready, punk?” continued the voice, totally ignoring Hyuk’s question. Somewhere behind him, Hyuk heard a metallic click-click sound, which could only be…

“HE’S GOT A IN GUN!!!” yelled Hyuk uselessly, before throwing himself on the ground. And he did so just in time – the bullets flew just past his head, leaving steaming holes in the tree behind him.

“Ya can’t hide from me, punk.” growled the voice, low and masculine. The ground was practically shaking under the stranger’s footsteps. “Stop squirming there like a worm and fight like a man!”

Trembling like he’d been splashed with ice, Hyuk desperately tried to make his Chopper release the “power” it was supposed to have. But to his avail, there were no buttons on the doll, and nothing out of the ordinary about it at all. Squeezing poor Chopper didn’t work either. It looked like the Chopper doll was just that – an ordinary Chopper plushie. Good for cuddling with on a cold night – but obviously useless in combat.

“I- I FLEE! I- I can flee from battles in this game, r-right?”

Finally, the strange warrior emerged from the trees. His shape was just a silhouette in night, but even so, Hyuk could make out his thick, muscular forearms. But one of his hands, starting from the elbow, did not look like a hand at all…

“That’s sooooo cool…” muttered Hyuk.

For a moment, there was a stunned silence. Perhaps it was Hyuk’s imagination, but he thought he could glimpse the stranger’s eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

In a matter of seconds, the unknown character was right next to him. A metal sound near his ear signalled that the gun was ready to fire.

“Say what, punk?” growled the stranger.

Something near insanity had taken over Hyuk. Perhaps it was because none of this, starting from his surroundings, his health bar, his Chopper doll, all the way to this person he was supposed to fight – not one bit of it seemed real.

“Your gun-arm. It’s the most badass thing I’ve ever seen.”

Gun-arm still against Hyuk’s forehead, the fighter straddled Hyuk’s hips.

Only now could Hyuk see him clearly. The left side of his head was shaved, but there was a huge, bright red fringe that covered his forehead and went to the right. He wore some kind of odd military one-piece. On his ears there were tiny earrings with a white star on them, and a spiked golden bracelet on his arm - the one that wasn’t about to shoot Hyuk in the head.

“Say what, punk?”

Hyuk giggled loudly, and even his opponent seemed baffled. It seemed that Hyuk had finally snapped.

“Okay, okay, I take that back!” said Hyuk between giggles. “You are the most badass thing I’ve ever seen- OWW!!!”

“Ya’re trying to flatter me so I’d let ya go, aren’t cha, punk?” The metal point of the gun-arm was digging into Hyuk’s head, scraping his skin. “I’m sorry, kid.” said the stranger. “But I can’t let you get Hakyeon before me! HER FOREHEAD IS MINE!”

“Wha- WAIT!” yelped Hyuk.

“… What now? You lost, kid.” said the deep voice exasperatedly. Almost lazily, he angled the gun differently, still pressed against Hyuk’s skull.

“I- I’m not here for her forehead”, began Hyuk, amazed at the fact he mustered enough sanity to speak, “In fact, I don’t want anyone’s forehead right now.”

If anything, the warrior looked truly lost. “But why else would you be here?” Suddenly his eyes narrowed. “Are you messin with me again, kid?!”

“N-NO!” shouted Hyuk for deal life. “I really, really couldn’t care less about, uh, princess whats-her-face or her forehead.” Hyuk took a long, shaky sigh. “I just want to go home.” Without even noticing it, he was crying again. “I miss my friends. It – it’s scary here.” Hyuk confessed. “Not at all like playing in the game room.”

Suddenly, the weight of the gun-arm against his head was gone. Before he knew it, he was pulled from the ground into a sitting position, and wrapped into a tight hug.

“…Whaaat…” he murmured into the stranger’s shoulder. This game was getting stranger and stranger.

“Poor little kid,” whispered the deep voice into his hair. Perhaps Hyuk was hearing things, or the warrior sounded as though he was on the verge of tears himself. “Poor, poor kid. I’ll get ya someplace safe, don’t ya worry. You’re safe with me and ma gun.”

“O-okay…” stuttered Hyuk, trying to process the fact that he was still alive. Even his health bar was intact.

Finally, the stranger pulled away, still sitting on top of Hyuk. It was hard to tell in the night, but his cheeks seemed a little flushed.

“I mean, uh, yeah. I can get ya back to town if ya want.” he said, dusting the dirt off his uniform. “Punk.” He extended a hand to help Hyuk get up. “Name’s Ravi.”

“You’re not still suspicious of me?”

The fighter started laughing, a giggle that didn’t match his appearance at all. “Sorry, kid, but I don’t think you stand a chance against me, even if you trick me.”

“Yeah, I really don’t.” confessed Hyuk. Some games he was great at, at others he was only average – but this was the first game Hyuk really at. And he didn’t like the feeling at all. He could almost see Kyuhyun sneering at him, and Changmin’s victorious smirk.

“Don’t be down, kid. I’ll get ya to town in no time!” encouraged Ravi, dropping a hand onto Hyuk’s shoulder. He winked. “Just follow me.”

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