♡ Chapter 5 ♡

The scene faded in first. Clouds—white clouds—and columns rose majestically, every detail in them shaded and highlighted to perfection. The light shined sparsely through the wispy puffs, tinted with hints of baby blue and golden yellow. A young man stood with open arms, his eyes narrowed in a gentle, knowing smile. He stood still and silent, beckoning Jungeum to join him. A dreamy haze was settled over it all, the way the world looks when you've just woken up from a deep sleep.

Then, the words came into view, the large, slanted cursive letters fading from seemingly nothingness.

"Welcome to Renascence Online."

Two white text boxes followed, labeled ID and PW respectively.

Jungeum stared at her computer, wide-eyed, awed by how much effort had been crafted into just the login screen. Did the makers of this game go to such lengths throughout the entire game? Hastily, she typed in the information to the account that she and Myungsoo had created earlier that evening. Just before she hit enter, she pulled her headphones over her ears- so that she could revel in the "full experience."

She hit enter and the picture before her crumbled. The columns cracked and browned with age, the sky darkened with chaos, and the young man faded from existence, leaving a desolate emptiness where he had been before. The beautiful music from before transitioned to a haunting piece, full of resounding chords and longing vocals. The welcoming words disintegrated to dust, carried away by the wind. Then, her screen dimmed to black once again.

Confused by the sudden change to ruin, Jungeum waited with anticipation for what this intriguing program would throw at her next.

"What you just saw is the fate of the world—if it continues its current course."

As the smooth male voice spoke to her, Jungeum blinked at her screen in bewilderment. It was still black. What was going on? She reached out to shake it just as the next line came.

"Do you know where you are, young one?"

The screen opened horizontally, flickering back to black a few times, as if it were Jungeum herself opening her eyes. Before her stood the same young man from before, only he was moving and breathing like a living human being. He was unnervingly realistic. Jungeum furrowed her brow. It was almost like he was a real person on the other end, speaking through a camera.

Before she could think about it any further, her headphones were ripped from her head, sent flying to the ground. A searing pain burned at her scalp. Infuriated, Jungeum whipped around to confirm the culprit- there was only one person who would dare come into her room.

"WON. JUNG. EUM. Listen to me when I speak to you!"

Jungeum narrowed her eyes, refusing to give her mother the satisfaction of seeing her wince at the words. She met her mother's gaze, scowling at the heavy makeup that was obviously used to cover up her wrinkles.

Her mother pouted, puckering out her excessively-coated-with-bright-red-lipstick lips. "Don't give me that look. What the hell are you doing? Is that a boy?"

Jungeum rolled her eyes and rubbed her temples, absolutely positive that she wouldn't be able to keep her headache at bay now that her mother was home. "No, mother, it's a game."

"A game?" Her mother's expression dropped to a disapproving frown. "Since when have you been into gaming?"

Jungeum huffed and turned away, "Since now."

"Is this because of some new friends of yours? Did you get into the weird crowd already?" Her mother gripped her shoulder tightly, "I thought we promised we would stay away from strange kids this time."

Jungeum nudged her off, "Different isn't equivalent to weird or strange, mom."

"I don't appreciate your attitude, young lady." Her mother stomped a foot frustratedly on the floor. "This is why you never bring home normal, respectable young men. Or women." She paused, trying to come up with descriptions, "You always bring home those gothic girls or those nasty boys that look like... like they could have been coughed up from a sewer!"

Jungeum clenched her teeth. That was going too far. She faced her mother with a glare. "And the men you bring home are perfectly respectable! They drool over you like dogs; they look at you like you're a piece of meat."

"Yes, Won Jungeum, they are!" Her mother was yelling now. "And I don't want them seeing you playing this or hanging out with pieces of either!"

When Jungeum gave no response, her mother's lip started to tremble. Quickly, her mother walked to the door. "Don't come down until you're ready to act a little bit more mature." The walls trembled as she slammed the door.

Jungeum sat in her chair, breathing deeply, and recollected herself for a few moments before muttering, "More mature. I'm not quite sure who's the more mature one here."

She looked at the screen hopefully but was disappointed. The opening scene had finished already. With a sigh, she stood to her feet and retrieved her headphones. When she put them over her ears, what seemed like hundreds of voices flooded into her head.

"Woah, that was intense."

"I know, right?"

"Guys, shut up. What if we weren't supposed to hear it?"

“You say 'if' like there’s a chance we were supposed to.”

"Okay, everyone, just act natural. Maybe when she gets back she won't know we've been here."

Jungeum wasn't sure whether to be angry or laugh, so she just said exasperatedly, "Guys, I can hear you."

As if she'd cast a spell, everyone fell silent. After a few seconds, the familiar voice of Myungsoo spoke, "Sorry, Jungeum, you left your mic on..."

Jungeum nodded in acknowledgment, forgetting that they couldn't see her. Without speaking a word, she navigated to the character creation screen, trying to channel out the ramblings of the boys. After she'd designed a look, she decided she probably should talk to Myungsoo about the class and such. "Hey, Myungsoo?"

The others grew quieter, and Myungsoo spoke up, "Yes?"

"Female archer named Whisper, does that meet all of the requirements?"

Myungsoo's voice sounded shocked, "Yeah, that's pretty much it. And... um, don't join any guilds if you're invited. Just say no."

"No longer requiring assistance. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow." Jungeum honestly just wanted some peace and quiet- room to focus.

A voice she identified as Sungjong said, "You're going to level alone?"

Jungeum smiled slightly, already warming up to who she considered the sweetheart of the group. "I got it from here, don't worry." She clicked the end call button and all that was left was the sweet hum of the background music.

☁ Yeoldeul's Corner^◕◕

I hate. Hate. HATE! writing angry, mean characters. I think I honestly downsized the mother's iness a bit more than I probably should. x3 Oh, well, perhaps there's more to her... =P I hope you guys enjoy~ And please, with a cookie on top, feel free to leave a comment <3

☁ Pshaw's Corner^◕◕

Empty~ if I nag her enough, Kou might put something here <3