The sound of clattering wind chimes yanks you from your slumber. Your eyes squeeze shut as you turn over in your bed in protest. ‘Just five more minutes,’ you think stubbornly, willfully ignoring the soprano chimes originating from your cell phone.

“[Y/N]!” a screech from the other side of the room pierces your eardrums.

You emit a long groan and reluctantly turn towards the bedside table to reach for your phone. While rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, you read the algebraic problem presented by your math alarm.

2 - (1 + 6) + 9 + 3 = ?

“Turn that off this instant or you’ll be hearing wind chimes out of your until the doctors surgically remove your phone!”

Feeling a sense of desperation, you shove yourself under the blankets in an attempt to muffle the alarm. You struggle against your grogginess to solve the problem mentally and finally click “7”. The offending noise finally ceases and you sag into your bed with relief.  

“One of these days I’m going to kick you out,” your roommate growls. You sit up in your bed and look at her apologetically. If looks could kill, you would already be on your way to meet your maker.

“Sorry, Soobin,” you tell her and flinch as you watch her roll her eyes and fling her blankets over her face.

Generally, you and Soobin get along well. However, the two of you had been unable to work out class schedules that had her waking up before you. She was a much lighter sleeper, so the two of you had decided she had to be the person with the earlier schedule. A twist of cruel fate had decided that the two of you would not be able to coexist at 7 AM.

After forcing yourself out of your bed, you think about the events that had transpired the day before.

“Bangtan? As in ‘bulletproof?’” you asked as you examine the apparent leader of the guild, RM. Something about his heavy, hooded eyes and the dimples on his cheeks rang a bell of familiarity in your head. Your eyebrows furrowed slightly as you wondered why.

Perhaps mistaking your facial expression as confusion, RM gave you an easy smile and reached into a holster attached to his belt underneath his indigo tunic to retrieve a silver gun, which he then twirled skillfully in his hand. “Exactly. I’m the Guild Master.”

You nodded in understanding, a little wary of the gun until you remembered the village was a safe-zone from player on player violence. You allowed yourself to relax now that the members seemed receptive to meeting you.

“Were you really being mauled by a bear? Was it a brown bear?” Jimin asked teasingly, eyes shining with mirth.

“What? No! It was a black bear, for your information,” you huffed with indignation. Black bears were a level higher than normal brown bears, a distinction you found necessary to point out. “Not that it matters… I didn’t have any mana left to fight.”

“Mana?” J-Hope piped up, scrunching his eyebrows together, “You mean you can’t melee?”

Your eyes look away from the group, embarrassment tinging your cheeks with warmth. “Umm, no?”

“How can you go into the forest with no melee ability?!” exclaimed Kookie with disbelief. Your right eye twitched with annoyance in response.

“Guys, don’t be so rude,” Jin interjects. “If she did so, she must be proficient with ranged magic.”

“She seemed a little skillful at dodging!” V added, smiling at you encouragingly.

You shot a grateful look at Jin and V. “I’m no expert, but I have been practicing my elemental abilities since I started out this weekend. I just happened to run out of mana potions without realizing it and lingered around a little too long.”

“An Elementalist? None of us chose that class,” RM looked thoughtful for a second. “You know… if you hang out with us a little more, we might have a spot for you in our Guild.”

You looked at him, eyes shining with interest. You noticed the other members studying you carefully and nodding. V looked at you with a huge grin. You found it slightly amusing how he had gone from being a polite stranger to a cheerful boy in the presence of his fellow guild members.

“You know, provided you don’t ,” RM added with a smirk, interrupting your thoughts. Your smile weakened and you felt your eye twitch slightly. Something about the brusque jest tugged at your memory weakly.

Shaking the thought aside, you puff up your chest with confidence at the challenge. “I may be fairly new to this game, but I can put up a fight,” 

“We’ll have to see about that, then. Can you log on tomorrow?” the leader asked. You noticed his gun was still in his left hand, twirling with subtlety.

“Yeah, sure. What do you have in mind?”

“Arena dueling.”

You gulp, swallowing your nerves as you dress yourself. You had strayed away from the Arena for a reason. There was no way you were planning to jump into Arena battles until you had at least gained some more fighting experience. Watching the majority of Animus Online players be melee combat-based as an aspiring magic user was nerve wracking.

After slipping your feet into plain red Converse, you sling your backpack over your shoulder and leave the dorm, listening to Soobin’s loud snoring become muffled as you shut the door carefully. You tie your hair into your signature ponytail and reluctantly force your feet to take you to your class.

Later in the morning once your Biochemistry lecture ends, you trudge over to Anatomy and Physiology, dreading the upcoming task - a frog dissection. In the previous lab, you had been tasked with “dissecting” a potato. Rest assured, even the generally mature University atmosphere suffered from fits of giggles as your classmates attempted to make “medial incisions” on the vegetable. The task had greater success in making you hungry rather than in teaching you about anatomical planes.

Your stomach lurches as you walk into the lab room and notice the stiff frogs lying on metal pans next to several stainless steel dissection instruments. You quickly avert your eyes to avoid looking at the tiny creatures and instead look at the lab sheets on the counter-tops near the pans.

‘Looks like we had our partners chosen this time,’ you groan inwardly, walking down the aisles to look for your name. Finally, you find your lab sheet and sit down. With curiosity, you peer at the lab sheet beside yours and see the name “Park Jimin”. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a name you recognized. You weren’t even sure if this student was female or male.

You silently read the lab instructions on the sheet as you wait for the class to begin, trying to ignore the chemical fumes emanating from the dissection pan beside you. As you begin to wring your hands in anxiety, a masculine figure walks into your peripheral vision and pulls the stool away from the lab bench to take a seat. You turn your head to look at your assigned lab partner.

“Hey, partner,” he grins shyly, his long sleeves obscuring his small fingers as he waves. You feel a little nervous upon seeing his face, realizing that he is rather handsome. Your eyes are drawn to the neat arrangement of his dark brown hair and the long silver chain dangling from his neck. You shake off the obtrusive thought reminding you of the passage you had just finished reading in the procedure regarding the removal of loose jewelry and baggy clothing.

“Hi. Jimin, right?” you extend your hand as a greeting, suddenly self-conscious of your clammy palms. “I’m [Y/N].”

“Nice to meet you,” he smiles gently and takes your hand in his. You can’t help but admire the softness of his warm palm before he withdraws it. You return the sentiment with an awkward smile, wringing your hands once more in embarrassment about your sweaty palms.

Thankfully, you aren’t left wondering what to say for too long. Your lab instructor walks in and greets everyone. She explains the dissection process, insisting that every partner must make an effort to participate equally, much to your dismay. After offering her assistance if anybody requires it, she allows you to begin.

Your eyes flit over to Jimin briefly as you reach for the boxes of gloves and surgical masks above the counter-top. After offering them to Jimin, you extract a pair of gloves from the box and slip your hands into them as you attempt to shake away your unease.

“You alright?” Jimin asks, examining the look on your face after he goes straight for the scalpel.

“Err,” you mumble, while fumbling through your attempt to tie the disposable surgical mask to your face. “Animal dissections kind of make me sick.”

“Ahh,” he nods in understanding. “No problem, I’ll take care of it, and you can say you helped out. You can take the notes.”

After winking at you, an action that gives you even more butterflies in your stomach, he slides the tray closer towards the both of you. For the first time, you take a real look at the specimen. Its arms and legs are grotesquely contracted with stiffness. Before Jimin brings down his scalpel on its belly, you gently press his shoulder. He pauses and looks at you with a questioning expression.

“I think you’re supposed to pin its arms and legs to the dissection pan first,” you speak, pointing your finger gingerly in the direction of the metal pins inside the instrument kit.

He hums in agreement and grabs the pins. You attempt to not wretch as you listen to him attempting to unfold the frog’s limbs from their stiff positions. A soft crack makes you grimace in disgust.

“Sorry,” Jimin crinkles his eyes apologetically as he pushes the pins through the frog’s legs and into the firm foam of the dissection tray. After he finishes the gruesome task, he reoccupies the scalpel and begins to smoothly cut into the frog’s belly. You bite your lip as you reluctantly watch him cut the frog’s skin off with a pair of scissors, revealing the purple-gray muscles of the frog. Your eyes return quickly to your lab sheet and you scribble a description about the grotesque sight.

“Park Jimin,” a stern voice calls from behind you, startling you into dropping your pencil. You turn towards the voice and see your instructor frowning. “Why are you still wearing dangling jewelry?”

“Oh!” Jimin exclaims in surprise, placing his scalpel on the tray. “Sorry, I didn’t realize.”

“I’ll take care of that for you since I haven’t touched the frog,” you tell him as the instructor shakes her head in disbelief and walks away toward another group. 

He gives you a sheepish smile. “Alright,” he says as he rotates his stool to turn his back toward you. You stir into action and lean over toward him, feeling guilty for not remembering to warn him about the laboratory dress code. Your hands inch towards the back of his neck hesitantly, noticing the soft tufts of dark hair tapering off near the base.

“Do I have something on my neck?,” he teases in a low voice. 

“A-ah, no,” you sputter while blushing furiously, grateful for the coverage of the surgical mask. You carefully lift the chain from his neck and place it on the edge of the lab bench.

“Thanks,” he turns to look at you with a wink. You feel your cheeks heat up even more with mortification.

‘He can’t see me blushing. He can’t,’ you inwardly groan. You extend your palm toward the frog to take his attention off of you. He chuckles and retrieves the scalpel to continue with his prior incision into the abdomen of the frog.

‘I think I’m going to die,’ you squirm in your seat while screwing your eyes shut, willing the lab period to end as soon as possible.

After the horror-fest of Anatomy lab, you wander around the Arts building, wondering where the theater room is located. You had recently added Theater to your schedule after realizing you could easily fit an elective into your day. For some reason, you felt compelled to try Theater, even though you knew you were probably too shy to act well. Watching the dramas on TV had left you wondering what it would be like to be the main character in something for once. The prevalence of awkward female leads gave you hope that there was such a role befitting you.

You are so deeply invested in your thoughts that you fail to avoid bumping into a person in the hallway after turning around a corner of the hallway.

“I’m so sorry!” you apologize, stepping backwards as the girl looks up from her cell phone. Your frown deepens as you realize who you encountered.

“Ugh,” Hyuna rolls her eyes after she gives you a once-over. “Why are you here? I thought this was the one place your nerdy shoes would never tread.”

Your eye twitches in response as your mood shifts from guilt to annoyance. Bumping into Hyuna on campus always leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth. You have no idea why, but the girl has had it in for you since your high school days. You had been the best of friends throughout elementary and middle school until her crowd of friends had suddenly changed. Ever since, the sweet girl you had known has been sour during every encounter you’ve had.

“Fancy seeing you here, too, Hyuna,” you state passively and start to walk down the hallway toward your classroom. She follows you quickly to walk beside you.

“Why do you always smell so bad? Usually you smell like nasty baby formula or vinegar, but now you smell like preservative,” she scrunches up her nose in disgust.

She knew damn well as a laboratory stockroom work-study that the reason you smelled like those things was because of your work as a biology research assistant. “I don’t know, maybe it’s you,” you retort, “Something’s gotta preserve that cold, dead heart inside of you.”

You quickly pick up your pace to leave her behind, smiling as you hear her curse behind you. At least your verbal parrying was always entertaining. Although it often hurts you to think about your damaged friendship, it comforts you to know that you are nobody’s pushover. 

You finally reach the classroom listed in your course schedule and walk inside. Looking around, you marvel at the sight of the interior of the black box theater. The dark walls are carefully lit with gentle white light. Along them, you see dark cameras, speakers, spotlights and black wires spanning across perimeter of the theater. A small, square stage sits at the center, surrounded by several rows of cushioned chairs on all four sides. There are several students seated already, chatting amongst themselves. As you wonder where to sit, you feel somebody shove past you. Your eyes narrow as they follow Hyuna, who smooths her short skirt on her way take a seat beside her chatty friends.

‘Definitely not sitting over there,’ you purse your lips as you head toward a different section.

After enduring the not-so-furtive glances and giggles pointed toward your direction during the theater lecture, you are glad to finally leave and finish getting your work prepared for the next day in the comfort of your dorm. As you pack your notes into your backpack, you glance at the virtual reality headset for Animus Online sitting on your desk. The electrodes connected to the headset peer at you from under the curve of the headset.

You sigh in defeat, walking up to your desk to lift it from the desk. You sit on your bed and lower it on your head, making sure it is strapped on properly. After lying on your back, you press the power button located on the temple of the device.

As the devices manipulates your consciousness, you feel yourself materialize inside the tavern you had been in before you logged off, but now it seems uncharacteristically quiet despite the chatter of the players lounging around. You laugh out loud when you notice the bard from yesterday in the same exact spot the Bangtan guild had left him. Apparently nobody had any complaints about the arrangement. You almost feel bad for him, until you remind yourself that he is just an assortment of pixels and programs.

Chuckling, you open your user interface to look at your friend list. You feel a little disappointed when you see that all seven members of the guild are already online. Despite the time you had to mentally prepare yourself, you still feel apprehensive about jumping into the unfamiliar territory of the Arena. If they insisted that you had to participate, you would definitely raise a stink.

Before you can open a messaging window, a message window appears in your interface.

J-Hope: [Y/N]! RapMon says you should take the carriage to Proelium! It’ll be faster. We’re already in the Arena so hurrrrryyyyyy!

You: Coming!

You rush out of the tavern and run toward the marketplace nearby to restock on potions and supplies. When you finish, you run out of the village toward the horse stables. You pay the carriage driver with several gold coins and jump into the carriage.

As the carriage starts down the path toward Proelium, you stare at your limp gold pouch pitifully. It had not fared well after the heavy amount of purchases. Ten minutes of game play and you are already broke. As you wonder whether it is possible to file for unemployment in-game as an adventurer, the carriage draws to a stop in front of a magnificent marble gate spanning the entire perimeter of the city.

You walk past a masked guard clad in heavy armor and pass the gate, marveling at the sophisticatedly paved roads and large buildings. You note the similarities of the city’s layout to the layout of ancient Roman cities you had read about in history class. The sidewalks were cushioned between the paved road and buildings, so narrow that they were almost nonexistent, and gave the city a very crowded atmosphere.

You open your user interface to view your city map. Now that you were no longer a newbie, you realize that you did not have to ask around for directions every time you went somewhere new. You set a location marker on the Arena and close your interface window. A blue arrow suddenly appears in your field of vision to point you toward the location of the Arena.

When you finally reach the Arena coliseum and walk through its gates, you are astonished by the sudden outpour of thousands of chants. You open your messaging window as you walk up the stairs to enter the spectator seating area.

You: How in the world am I supposed to find you guys here?

When you reach the top of the stairs, you are able to see the entire level of seats around you, as well as the upper levels across the arena. You notice silver icons flashing to your right. For some reason you had forgotten that friends were denoted by silver icons. Your mind wanders toward Eunhye accusingly before you shake the thought away.

You: Oh nvm. Found you.

You run across the aisles to meet the guys, who are whooping loudly and standing on their seats. At the edge furthest from you is Suga, next to Jin and Kookie. V and J-Hope are beside them jumping excitedly. You noticed that RM and Jimin are nowhere to be seen.

“Hey guys!” you exclaim over the noise, gaining the attention of J-Hope and V.

“[Y/N]!” they shout, sporting wild grins. J-Hope, who is closest to you, steps off his seat to gently pull you into the one beside him.

“No,” V pouts, grabbing your hand. You redden from the sudden physical contact by the two males. “Move J-Hope. She’s next to me.”

“Fine, I didn’t wanna sit next to you anyway!” jests J-Hope as digs his fist into V’s shoulder. He flashes you a grin as he allows you to switch seats with him.

“What’s going on? Where are RM and Jimin?” you ask, fighting to keep the color away from your cheeks as you find yourself sandwiched between J-Hope and V.

“Look!” V exclaims as he points toward the center of the Arena. You see silver and orange walk towards each other from opposite sides of the Arena. “You’re just in time to watch them duel.”

Your eyes widen in surprise as you lean forward, feeling excitement build in your stomach. This would be the first time you watch the Bangtan members fight.

After a horn is blown to signify the beginning of the match, the orange-haired male darts around to avoid the onslaught of gunshots aimed toward him. Jimin skillfully weaves his way toward the silver-haired RM, whose bullets are somehow blocked by his drawn sword. You notice that the bullets that ricochet off the blade cause it to spark brightly. As Jimin reaches RM, he raises his sword and brings it down with force, intending to end the match with a decisive victory.

You gasp when the force of Jimin’s sword creates a loud clang as it is blocked by RM’s weapon arm.

“No worries. RM wears some strong bracers underneath his tunic,” J-Hope reassures you, pulling the collar of his black laced tunic aside to display the chainmail armor underneath. “We’re all protected.”

You nod in understanding and quickly return your gaze to the dueling pair. RM appears to be cornered, his gun held firmly and he struggles against Jimin’s strength. You notice his hand snaking into his waistband as he holds the younger male at bay. You barely have time to widen your eyes before RM whips out a second gun with his left hand and fires it into Jimin from a foot away. Jimin stumbles backward from the impact, barely able to keep his sword in hand as he uses his other hand to clutch his wounded stomach.

“That sneaky hyung,” says V beside you, a tone of awe coloring his voice. “He didn’t tell us he could dual wield his guns now.” The rest of the members shout in surprise at the turn of events and you notice with amusement from the corner of your eye that someone’s popcorn spills out of their lap as they jump out of their seats.

Intent on maintaining his element of surprise, RM fires at him again using both guns. Jimin yelps in pain as the bullets tear through his tunic, spraying the air with red. He snaps out of his surprised state and begins to run around RM, removing a sturdy metal shield from his back to protect himself from the doubled gunfire. As he runs, you notice that his form glows brightly for a few seconds. You realize that he must be activating his health potions behind his shield. While Jimin is circling him, RM quickly reloads his ammunition as he keeps his eyes on his nimble opponent.

You watch as Jimin stops in his tracks and points his sword at RM, who is occupied with reloading his second gun. A burst of light blue magic bursts forth from his sword and strikes the gunslinger, who is thrown back by the impact and falls to the ground. One of his guns and several of his bullets clatter to the ground.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Are they just doing this to show off their hidden skills?” exclaims Kookie from two seats away.

Jimin rushes forward recklessly, abandoning his long-range strategy in favor of old-fashioned melee. His shield clatters to the ground as he raises his sword with both hands, angling it downwards to pin RM to the ground. Before his sword can finish its descent, the silver-haired male rolls to the side and aims his gun at the spellsword, who cannot avoid plunging his sword into the ground.

“Bad move, Jiminie,” he teases as he unleashes his gunfire onto Jimin. The orange-haired male releases his hold on the sword as the bullets rip through his body with light sprays of red, jerking his body backwards with each gunshot. A  loud horn is heard throughout the Arena, signifying that the match has been concluded.

Jimin drops onto his knees beside his embedded sword, his head lowered in defeat. RM struggles to get up for a moment and limps over to Jimin, dropping his gun on the ground. A small vial appears in his hand, which he then pours down Jimin’s throat after carefully lifting his head. The younger male’s body glows brightly with light for a couple of seconds. RM extends his hand to his guild member, who accepts it and uses the support to stand up and steady himself.

You divert your focus from the duelers to look at the other guild members with astonishment. You normally like to think long-range fighters could hold their own against melee fighters, but presently had not considered yourself up to the task. Seeing the match conclude in the favor of a long-range fighter certainly renewed your fervor for proving yourself.

Most of the Bangtan members whoop loudly with excitement while jumping on their chairs. You notice with a giggle that a huge pile of popcorn is scattered underneath Jin’s seat and the empty seats nearby.

“Geez,” drawls Suga at the other end of the aisle in amusement. “When did these rascals have time to develop these special skills? They’re holding out on us.”

“At this rate nobody is going to need my skills,” cries J-Hope dramatically, clutching your arm.

You aren’t sure how to respond because you don’t know what he is capable of, so you pat his shoulder sympathetically. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’re just as important to the guild.”

He beams at you in response, making your cheeks tinge with pink slightly. You had never seen someone with such a radiant smile, not even V. You return his smile with your own and quickly turn away to hide your blush, subsequently meeting V’s gaze, who is looking at the two of you with a pout. Before he can say anything, you hear the other boys start shouting loudly once more.

The three of you turn around to see RM and Jimin join the group, both looking worn out, but satisfied. You join the small crowd of excited males to interact with the pair.

“Jimin, you’re bleeding! Why didn’t you use that shield in the first place?” you exclaim when you see the bullet holes torn through his brown leather tunic, which was stained darkly with dry blood.

He smiles kindly and shakes his head, “Don’t worry, you only bleed briefly in this game. It’s mostly just for show. It is nowhere as painful as it seems.”

You frown, not quite believing his claim. You turn slightly to examine RM beside him. His indigo tunic is marred by a large scorch mark spanning his entire abdomen. You are surprised when Jin reaches forward to lift his tunic and chainmail armor to reveal pink, blemished skin.

“Hey! Jin-hyung, don’t do that here!” RM protests and attempts to step away until Jimin’s hands clamp down on his shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Monie, but you have magic burns,” Jin says sternly, placing his palm over the leader’s abdomen. His hand glows with bright light, resembling the effect of healing potions. When he removes his hand, RM’s skin appears unmarked. The silver-haired male quickly pulls his shirt down to cover his bare skin, fighting away a blush. You can’t help but grin at the site of the confident leader suddenly appearing bashful.

When Jin makes eye contact with Jimin, the orange-haired male quickly steps away, waving him off. “I already healed myself, thanks.”

Jin nods. “I think that’s enough Arena dueling for today.”

“What?! We just got here though!” Kookie protests boldly. Jin looks at him with disbelief, crossing his arms. The other members roll their eyes at his impudence. 

“Err… sorry, hyung,” he grins with cheekiness.  His behavior causes you to wonder if the mahogany-haired boy is the youngest of the guild.

Having recovered from his exposure, RM speaks in a low, ominous tone. “I’m sure [Y/N] is curious to see what we have in store for her.”

“I am not going to fight down there,” you vehemently insist. After watching the carnage of the last match, you are absolutely certain you wouldn’t be able to hold your own against any of the members.

RM shook with laughter. “Wait, you thought we were going to make you fight in the Arena? Do we seem that horrible to you?”

Your ears burn with embarassment. “W-well what else was I supposed to think?”

He shakes his head, still laughing. “Come with me,” he says, his fingers grazing your shoulder as he walks past you. You fold your shoulder inwardly to avoid his touch, feeling slightly humiliated. You huff and turn pointedly to follow after him.

You watch warily as the orange-haired male weaves across the training grounds with prowess, cutting the air gracefully with his sword. The two of you are supposed to train together in front of the members, but it appears that Jimin is taking this as an opportunity to show off his nimble swordsmanship. The display is impressive and quite intimidating, but you are beginning to feel irritated by his inability to take your fight seriously.

Silently, you charge your palms with a cold frost, turning the air frigid around your hands. You watch Jimin carefully as he spins with the sword playfully, silently calculating his position. Without hesitation, you fling your palms upward and join them, forcing your magic to construct an icy projectile. Before Jimin can react to your sudden action, he is impaled by an icy spear and nearly drops his sword from the impact.

“[Y/N]!” you hear V shout in surprise. You smirk when you realize this is the first time he (and of course, the other members) have seen your offensive tactics.

Before Jin can rush forward to intervene, the spear bursts away into bright particles, leaving a large hole in his tunic to accompany RapMon’s bullet holes. Jimin gets up slowly, stumbling in shock as he clutches his stomach.

“What was that?” he asks with widened eyes.

Before you can answer with a sarcastic “Magic”, he runs out of your sight so quickly that he seems to disappear and slashes at you with his sword. Your eyes water with pain as you feel heat across your back for a split second.

“You sneaky little !” you growl, turning to catch him with a burst of flames from your palms. Jimin reflexively covers his face with his arms as he shrieks, jumping backwards to avoid the of angry flames.  Your eyes gleam with satisfaction as you notice that they match his hair in color. Unwilling to take any more chances, you cast a defense ward on yourself.

Jimin circles around you, all traces of playfulness now absent from his expression. You smile and charge your ward with lightning, daring him to approach. Seeing your silent challenge, he smirks and runs toward you. You watch in confusion, preparing to dodge in case he decides to cross your ward.

Just before he reaches the lightning barrier, he pulls the metal shield from his back and flings it at you. Your breath is knocked out of you as the shield slams into your stomach. The electric ward dissipates into tiny sparks due to your diverted focus. Jimin rushes forward to slash you with his sword. You force your feet to move and barely manage to dodge his blade. You conjure an ice ward as he slashes at you again and jump backwards to avoid the shatter of ice when he breaks through it with ease.

Slightly panicked, you check your mana reserves, which are now nearly empty. You shove your hand into the pouch on your belt and retrieve a vial of mana potion. Before you can drink it, he rushes forward and knocks it cleanly out of your hand with his sword and quickly positions the blade against your neck.

You gulp slowly, feeling the cool blade grazing your skin.

“I think I know what your issue is, now,” he says thoughtfully, lowering his sword. You lower your hands in surrender as he voices his thoughts aloud. “Considering what V said about how he met you and what I’ve seen from this spar, it seems that you don’t have any way of physically defending yourself.”

You scrunch your eyebrows together and pout. “What? My wards protect me just fine!”

He prods your sternum firmly with his free hand and smirks. “Sure, but when you run out of mana do you think your opponent will patiently wait for you to drink that potion?”

Your face turns hot with indignation at his comment and his daring physical contact. Although he is relatively short, standing at a similar height to you, he still manages to make you flustered with his tousled sunset hair, slicked with sweat around his face. “I-I guess not,” you grumble, stumbling backward with your arms crossed.

“We’re going to have to work on building up that stamina of yours as well,” he winks, taking a step closer. You waver, nearly passing out from the implication of his tone. “See, you’re so winded already and we’ve only just started.”

“Jimin, that’s enough!” V whines, rushing forward from the sidelines to shove him away from you. The rest of the members follow behind him. “We can work on your physical tactics together, [Y/N]. Don’t worry!”

“You’re not even a melee fighter, V. Let’s train together, [Y/N]! I can teach you how to avoid hits in the first place,” J-Hope interjects cheerfully.

“I can teach you how to win with brute force,” Kookie asserts, touting his large iron Warhammer with pride. Your eyes widen at the thought of even trying to hold that thing.

“Pssh, whatever! Just take your pick from whoever is online tomorrow,” Jimin suggests, boldly ruffling the maknae’s hair, much to his visible displeasure as he quickly steps away.

“Yeah,” you agree shyly, biting softly into the inside of your bottom lip as you meet the friendly eyes of the guild members around you. “I think I will.”