In Between Reality

Chanyeol stretches his arms once more as he finally settles in front of his laptop after a tiring day in school. He looks around one last time, marking off his mental check one last time before diving into the world of fantasy.

Home work – done. Folding laundry – done. Feeding Nido – done. Watering the plants – done done done!!!

He grins at nothing when he realizes that all his tasks are complete. Here he comes! The amazing world of dragons and brave warriors with cunning witches and flamboyant princesses is just a click away. He switches on the laptop and attaches an extra mouse, headphones and keyboard for better access and waits for the device to boot.

After few seconds, when the device is fully ready, he connects it to his wifi and logs into the game. He waits a little bit for the game to finally load and digs in as soon the screen displays the elaborative cursive text.

Legends Of The Exo Planet: A Saga Continues

He opens his own village first and collects all the revenues he needs to continue his own journey for the Master Dragon. He checks and rechecks all the stuffs around his village and makes sure that his base his secured. He collects the vegetables and sells it to the market for extra money and when he sees that he has acquired his daily amount for today, he gets out from the town and heads towards the fantasy forest.

He starts walking down snowy path covered with numerous gravels and wanders down the forest aimlessly. He takes several turns and bends, finally reaching an empty patch of land. He walks across it and was about to move forward to the other side of the magical forest, when suddenly a blue light misses his character by mere inches.

“What the?” he groans and turns around immediately to see a hooded stranger standing at the edge of patch. Instantly a notification pops on his screen and his eyes widen in surprise.

DoDyo12 has challenged you for a fight off!

Accept or Reject?

Chanyeol smirks at the notification. Ah..someone wants to play, he thinks as he accepts the challenge. He repositions his keyboard and firmly grabs his mouse and waits patiently for his challenger to attack first. 1…2…3…and the character shoots a blue ray in his direction.

Game on!

Chanyeol smirks as he dodges the attack effortlessly and throws his fire punch in his opponent’s direction. His opponent avoids it perfectly and attacks him with his moving earth power. Ah…this player is from the earth clan, his mind adds and Chanyeol nods at the screen. He has fought with too many earth clan members to know their weakness all too well.

It’s always the same. Earth clans are always weak against his special lava punch.

But for lava punch to work perfectly, he needs to gather as much as energy he can. He decides to avoid all the attacks and defend himself until he’s ready to use his power. His opponent keeps throwing attacks at him and Chanyeol chuckles at the naivety of the gamer.

“Must be new..” he mumbles to himself and avoids another boulder thrown in his direction.

He checks his energy level and when he sees that it has reached its maximum potential, he presses on the lava icon displayed right below his energy bar and holds it in his rival’s direction. 1…2..3… he releases the click and waits for it to hit stranger right in the face.

But it doesn’t.

His opponent dodges it perfectly and before Chanyeol can even realize what’s happening, his virtual character gets hit with mud punch and crumbles onto the snowy grounds before disappearing into thin air.

Chanyeol blinks at the screen and tries to process everything that happened to him in this short span of 10 minutes. Park Chanyeol aka RealPCY27, one of the royal and most recognized players of Exo Planet, with one of the highest rankings in the game, just got defeated by someone named DoDyo12.

How in the world did this happen?

Chanyeol let out a frustrated sigh and ruffled his hair. This is the first time he lost so terribly. He glared at the screen and saw his character coming back to life again. He huffs and starts to walk again. But before he can even cross the patch again, the hooded stranger stops in front of him and another notification pops up on his screen.

DoDyo12 Requested For A Chat.

Accept or Reject?

Chanyeol squints at the notification. He stares at it long and hard until his fingers move to click at the accept button. If it was any other situation, he would have not even bothered to spare a second glance at the chat request but since he lost to this person, he does own him a small chat, doesn’t he?

As soon as he accepted it, a chat box opened on the bottom of the right side and a message showed up.

DoDyo12 – Thank you for dueling with me.

Chanyeol stares at the message and scratches his nape. Eh? This is the first time someone is thanking him for a duel. It’s quite weird. Actually cross that. This person seems weird. Nevertheless, he has to reply him since he accepted the chat or else it will seem rude.

RealPCy27 – You’re welcome. I had fun!

He types away and waits for the respond. He sees the typing icon and then with a pop sound the second message appears.

DoDyo12 – Actually I just started playing this game and I was trying to level up. That’s why I challenged you. Hope you didn’t mind it.

Chanyeol chuckles at the message. He was indeed right. This person was still new to the game that’s why he kept on firing his shots without controlling his energy level. That’s kinda cute though. There’s hardly any new player around these days.

RealPCY27 – I realized that. But you played great for a newcomer. You’ve got skills! By the way if it isn’t weird..can I ask your gender? It’s for addressing you in a better way.

Chanyeol sent it but he regretted it slightly. It looked like he was rambling a little bit. But honestly he can’t really help it. Rambling is after all his second nature. Even his best buddy Jongdae acknowledges it. But he can’t help it too since whining is his second nature.

DoDyo12 – I’m a guy. I thought it was quite obvious with my id…

RealPCY27 – It is quite obvious but I was just being sure you know. You can never know with internet these days. Hahaha….

DoDyo12 – Yeah right.

RealPCy27 – Okay one more question. What’s your birth year?

DoDyo12 – Why do you need to know?

RealPCY27 – Just want to know if we’re of same age. I’m November, 2000. You?

DoDyo12 – January, 2001.

RealPCY27 – Oh…We’re almost same aged but still I’m older than you.

DoDyo12 – Yeah yeah. If that makes you happy.

RealPCY – Ouch! Anyways wanna join forces? We can be a great team together!!

DoDyo12 – I was about to ask you that….But yes. I want to join forces.

RealPCY27 – Amazing!!! Let’s fight together to conquer the Master Dragon and save Exo Planet!!!!

DoDyo12 – Yay. Let’s save the planet.

RealPCY27 – Wah!! You sound so joyless…

DoDyo12 – Because I am. Anyways I gotta go right now. Let’s start together tomorrow at 7 pm alright?

RealPCY27 – Alright!! See you tomorrow!!!

Chanyeol closed the chat box and opened his clan settings and added DoDyo12 to it before continuing his journey. Slowly he became immersed in the game and the thought of chatting with someone named DoDyo12 quietly left his mind. He found many precious gems and received tons of money as he crossed the fantasy forest and stepped into the mystical underworld ruled by the god named Kai.

Before he could continue his journey again, he heard his mother’s voice filtering through the room. With a sigh he logged out of the game and shut down his laptop. He’ll play again tomorrow. And let’s not forget about the fact that he’ll finally play along with someone.

He’s excited for tomorrow and right now that’s all he can say.

^^^

The next day when he logged in, Kyungsoo was already waiting for him. Chanyeol smiled at the sweet gesture because it showed that he was not the only one who was excited about playing together. Chanyeol opened the chat box and sent Kyungsoo a message saying that he was sorry for being a little late.

DoDyo12 – It’s alright. Now can we start?

RealPCY27 – Sure.

DoDyo12 – What’s your current location?

RealPCY27 – About to enter the underworld ruled by Kai.

DoDyo12 – Alright. Catch you in a bit. Wait for me.

Chanyeol waited for his partner to arrive and surely his partner did arrive within 10 minutes. After that, they continued their journey together, occasionally chatting and spewing curses when they lost something. Another hour later, both of them reached the final stage of the underworld and faced one of their biggest challenges, The Raging Phoenix.

It seemed quite easy at first but that’s the trick of this level. It seems easy until it actually starts to fight you back. At first Chanyeol grinned when he threw his punches and attacks at the phoenix along with his partner. But almost a minutes later it turned into a banging of keyboards and shouts of war cry because holy he was definitely not prepared for the dragon wrath to be directed in his way.

DoDyo12 – FIGHT IT OFF!!WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

RealPCY27 – I’M TRYING CAN’T YOU SEE? TRY YOPUR SPECIAL PUNCH OR SOMETHING!!!

DoDyo12 – I DID AND THAT DIDN’T WORK..

            NO PCY DON’T SHOOT PUNCHES!

            WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ARE YOU A NOODLE? FIGHT BACK!! PCY!!!

RealPCY27 – SHUT UP!!

DoDyo12 – I can’t believe we lost because of you. Now we have to play this region again.

RealPCY27 – I’m sorry alright. I wasn’t prepared for it.

DoDyo12 – Forget it. Can’t be helped. I’m going now.

RealPCY27 – Wait..Can I know your name?

Chanyeol stared at the screen as he waited anxiously for the reply. He doesn’t even know why he asked this question. He’s aware of the fact that keeping your identity secret is a ground rule in this virtual world but still he did it.

DoDyo12 – Why?

RealPCY27 – I’m curious that’s all. If you don’t wanna say then it’s alright.

DoDyo12 – It’s Kyungsoo. Do Kyungsoo.

RealPCY27 – I’m Park Chanyeol. Nice to meet you Do Kyungsoo. Please take care of me.

DoDyo12 – You’re weird Chanyeol hyung. Anyways it’s nice to meet you too but I gotta go now. Bye. See you tomorrow at 7 sharp.

With that Kyungsoo logged of and Chanyeol stared at the screen with one of the biggest grins he has ever had in that day.

He feels really happy but he doesn’t know why.

^^^

“Jongin was saying that you added someone in your clan.” Jongdae said as he munched on his chicken sandwich. “What happened to ‘imma play solo till I die’?”

Chanyeol stared at his best friend with nonchalant expression and shrugged. “I guess I found someone being worthy enough to join my clan.” He replied as he took a sip of his favorite orange juice. The expression of betrayal made by Jongdae almost made him choke on his drink.

“You betrayed me!” Jongdae accused, pointing a finger in his direction.

“I never made any promises Dae.” Chanyeol shrugged. “Plus you at gaming.”

“I hate you Park Chanyeol!”

“Yeah yeah. I love you too” Chanyeol chirped as he finished his pack of orange juice and shot it in the dustbin.

“Anyways..Tell me about that person. The one worthy enough to join your ‘clan’.” Jongdae said quoting the word clan in an exaggerated way.

“Don’t know much about him. We’ve been playing together for only 3 weeks. He’s username is DoDyo12. He’s real name is Do Kyungsoo. He’s younger than me but man he’s savage.” Chanyeol replied with a smile.

“How?” Jongdae asked.

“Called me noodle on the first day we played together.” Chanyeol replied as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“I love him already.” Jongdae replied his Cheshire grin which earned him a smack from the taller.

“Plus he play’s really well you know? We passed Kai’s underworld in two days.” Chanyeol announced proudly.

Jongdae gaped in his direction and said “2 days??!! Man!! You broke Alphakris’s record!”

“I know. It’s all because of him. He’s really amazing.” Chanyeol replied smugly before stealing all of Jongdae’s fries.

^^^

It’s been almost 3 months since he and Kyungsoo have been playing together. It’s become a habit to him nowadays. He’s always ready in front of his laptop at dot 7pm and waits patiently for his partner Kyungsoo to show up. He’s happy to be honest since he never had anyone to play along with. Plus, Kyungsoo really is a nice person. He may become harsh from time to time but man…that boy is sweet as honey.

It wasn’t quite apparent at first. Hell, he was really scared to piss Kyungsoo off at the start but after few weeks of playing together, the younger boy did warm up to him a lot. Kyungsoo would sometimes ask about his well being, sometimes about his school. It usually stops in these two topics only since they get immersed in the game easily, only talking when it’s absolutely required. But honestly, if Chanyeol could get a chance, if he would glad to know more about Kyungsoo.

DoDyo12 – Tomorrow we’ll enter the Ethiopian castle right?

RealPCY27 – Yup..Um..Soo..Can I ask you something?

DoDyo12 – Yeah. Go ahead.

RealPCY27 – Can I add you in Kakao? If you don’t mind…

Chanyeol’s heartbeat increased as he sent the message. He’s done it. Now he’s going to get the reply in any moment. 1 minute…2 minutes…3 minutes.. and still there’s not a single reply from the younger boy. Chanyeol kept refreshing his tab but still there was no reply.

Chanyeol groaned and ruffled his hair in regret. He’s done it. Now the younger boy won’t even reply to him. He has definitely scared Kyungsoo away. Kyungsoo’s probably thinking of him as a creep right now. Ughh..Chanyeol why did you have to ask him for his kakao id? Look now he doesn’t even want to talk to you, his brain scolded him as he banged his head on his table. Great! He’s definitely ruined their friendship.

DoDyo12 – Sorry..I went to the washroom. Yeah you can add me. My Kakao id is DuduCutie93.

As soon as Chanyeol’s eyes landed on the message, his whole face lit up. He stifled a laugh as he read over the username and picked up his phone to open the Kakao application. He ignored all the message he’s received and straightaway went to the search icon to look up for Kyungsoo. After a minute or two he found him out at last.

Chanyeol opened the profile and eyed the display picture carefully. If this was truly the Do Kyungsoo he was playing with then god, he’s truly been a blessed man.

To put it more simply, he felt awestruck after watching Kyungsoo’s picture. They younger boy was simply gorgeous. He had big owlish eyes, small button nose and thick, plump lips. His hair was falling over his eyebrows and everything about this picture screamed perfect.

Seriously, Kyungsoo looked really handsome.

Without thinking any further, he messaged him instantly.

Real_PCY27

Hey! This is me Chanyeol. You are Kyungsoo right?

DuduCutie93

Yes. It’s me Kyungsoo.

Real_PCY27

Thank god I found you. I thought I messaged someone else.

By the way, you are look really cute!!

DuDuCutie93

If you want to see daylight tomorrow, don’t ever call me cute.

Real_PCY27

Oh really? What will you do?

If I call you cute?

DuduCutie93

I’ll kill you and then feed your body to the dogs.

Real_PCY27

For that you need to meet me.

ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Will you come to meet me?

DuduCutie93

Nah. I can’t.

I’m in Japan right now.

Real_PCY27

Wait…Aren’t you Korean?

DuduCutie93

Yes I am.

But I’m currently residing in Tokyo for studies.

Real_PCY27

Ah…Where are you from btw?

I’m from Seoul.

Born and brought up there.

DuduCutie93

I was born in Busan.

But I was raised in Goyang before moving to Tokyo.

Real_PCY27

When did you move?

DuduCutie93

8 years back.

Real_PCY27

Btw, did you really set your user id?

DuduCutie93

I didn’t.

My best friend set it up for me.

I hate him.

Real_PCY27

He really did a good job.

ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

DuduCutie93

Don’t compel me to kill you Chanyeol hyung.

Real_PCY27

Sorry Sorry

ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

What are you doing right now?

DuduCutie93

Nothing much. Doing my literature homework.

You?

Real_PCY27

I’m doing my maths homework.

I’m dying tbh.

DuduCutie93

Hey! Math’s is nice subject.

Real_PCY27

ARE YOU SERIOUS?

DuduCutie93

Okay..maybe not.

But still..It’s nice I guess..

Real_PCY27

I won’t say it’s nice.

But..meh..it’s not mah style.

DuduCutie93

Woah..You just spoke like Kris hyung..

Real_PCY27

Who’s that?

DuduCutie93

He’s my sunbae in school.

He speaks like that.

Chanyeol grinned at the text and instantly replied to it. To say that he’s happy, is a complete understatement. He feels as if he’s flying in cloud 9. He doesn’t really know why but talking to Kyungsoo really makes him feel blissful. He knows that he’s mostly a people’s person but talking to someone online even makes him feel a little awkward. But with Kyungsoo, he has this weird sense of comfort. It’s like he’s known him since forever.

It strange but he surely loves this feeling.

^^^

“Chanyeol – ah! Come down for dinner already!”

Chanyeol jolts away from his position on the bed upon hearing the sound. Eh..dinner time? Isn’t it too early? Chanyeol turned around to look at his clock and saw that it was already quarter past 10. His eyes grew big when he realized that he’s been chatting with Kyungsoo for the past 2 hours.

He slowly sat up on his bed and scratched his head. Woah..it didn’t even feel like that long. Time sure