CHAPTER 6

28-01-2514

Jaehee stared at the empty space in disbelief. The air, smelling of earth and light rain, pushed down on the girl, waiting for her to break down. 

"Yu-yuhan?" Jaehee called out as she looked around. She scanned the area, her petite fox frame swinging side to side as she looked out at the numerous trees and bushes—nobody in sight. 

Jaehee bit her lip. 'Why? Why would he leave—then again why not? For all Yuhan knows I'm just another noob.' She frowned, a bitter taste left clinging to the back of . Dissatisfied and glum, she clicked her tongue.

"He couldn't have gone far,” she comforted herself as she began her march back.

It only took Jaehee a few minutes and turns to become lost. Wherever she went the ground was covered in the same dirt and leaves and the trees were always too tall to see the sky, even if she could see the sky she wasn’t sure it would help her. Alone in her thoughts, she became more and more determined to find her brother. She wanted to tell him in the game to see his reaction, and hold a conversation with him where he could actually answer back. Firstly though, she had to find out where she was.

Jaehee began to mutter in irritation. She had already bumped into several mobs and barely made it out alive. With her agility increased in fox form though, she was able to hide or run away quickly. Now that she thought about it, she must have lost track of where she was going when she was running from a mob of beasts.

Suddenly she caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of her eye. Instinctively she hid behind a tree, her snout poking out as she glimpsed at the—player?

A male player stood huddled on the ground scavenging toadstools from the forest floor. He already had what seemed like a bag of mixed herbs and berries under his arm. He was covered head to toe in thin dark clothing. His eyes peeked out between his black mask and dark hair. It was an odd sight, seeing an assassin harvesting, even more seeing one of such a seemingly high level.

The assassin then got up, the ground where the toadstools were now bare. He looked around him then started off in the opposite direction Jaehee was standing.

‘It looks like he knows where he’s going,’ Jaehee thought to herself. Before he could completely disappear she began tailing him. Assuming he was heading towards the city to find the apothecary, and that he really did know where he was going, he might be her way out of the forest.

After a few minutes had passed the assassin stopped in his tracks, Jaehee thought he was wondering which way to go next but then he turned around. His eyes locked onto the small orange fox behind him. Suddenly his figure blurred. Jaehee couldn’t see his movements but instantly he was in front of her with his eyes blazing and knives extended to the sky. In the split second she had Jaehee screamed. She could feel the rush of wind slice her neck—but no pain followed.

Jaehee couldn’t hear anything but the drumming in her head as she held her breath, her eyes squeezed shut.

‘Huh?’

She hesitantly opened her eyes to see the man had withdrawn his weapons as swiftly as he had drawn them. Her eyes were wide, startled, confused and frightened.

“You’re—” he uttered behind his mask, he squinted, “You’re a player?”

Jaehee stared at him, still too shocked to react.

The man bowed and apologized, explaining he had mistaken her for the rumoured rare fox of the forest said to drop amazing loot.  

After Jaehee had seemed to recompose herself the assassin apologized again. “I’m Jung Daehyun, an assassin,” he introduced himself.

Jaehee did the same before explaining her situation. They began walking as she did, not that she was sure where.

Daehyun nodded. “So that’s why you’re in fox form,” he hummed after listening to her story.

“So,” Jaehee started hesitantly, she gulped in, “You don’t happen to know how to get back to the city, do you?”

“We just keep going in this direction,” he points ahead of them, “and should be there in a few minutes.”

She realised they had slowed their pace so her short fox legs could keep up with a human’s strides. He didn’t seem to have any ill intentions but she still wouldn’t consider him trustworthy, nonetheless she became curious. “Um—”

Daehyun hummed in response, his eyes glancing at her as he waited for her to continue.

“What are you doing here? Uh I mean,” Jaehee pursed her lips, “You seem like a high level…” she trailed off, unsure what she wanted to ask to begin with.

Daehyun nodded, scratching his jaw in thought. “Well, I may have been the cause of an incident,” he admitted, after a moment he asks, “Have you heard about the wyvern attack in Hephaestus?”

“Yesterday?” Jaehee murmured, mostly to herself. She had overheard some players telling the story in great detail, many were injured or died. There were also rumours of a team who slayed it, some say it was one person alone, others say a second monster appeared and fought the first, while others claimed it just vanished in thin air. Now that she thought about it, what happened to the player’s that did die? Afraid of finding an answer she quickly asked the boy how he could have possibly been the cause of a wyvern attack.

Daehyun rubbed the back of his neck, “I opened a mystery box and it just so happened to release a wyvern in the city. I had a quest that finished nearby so I decided to stop over to see the damage,” he explained, “Also I wanted to know what happened. I’ve heard lots of rumours already.” He didn’t see any harm telling the girl. After all if she found some sort of way to use it against him—he could kill her.

Though she wasn’t quite sure what he meant, Jaehee nodded with an ‘ah, so that’s what happened.’

“Did you get to see it?” he asked after a moment.

Jaehee shook her head, “I saw the damage though.”

“Is it bad?” he didn’t wait for a response before pointing out towards the wall that had begun to creep between the trees. “We’re here.”

Cassandra’s eyes lit up as the little red fox reappeared from the forest. She stood up from her seat and eagerly waited for the player’s news.

Jaehee walked up to her, Daehyun following after, and confirmed the plan. The three of them then rushed to the guards of the gates not too far away and told them of the foxes’ plan of invasion.

Cassandra sighed in relief and thanked the players for their noble deeds before handing the promised rewards to Jaehee. She bowed her head to the assassin, apologizing for that was all she had to offer. Upon claiming her reward and officially completing her quest, Jaehee returned to her human state.

Daehyun stood back as the cloud of smoke dispersed, leaving behind a girl in the centre of it. Jaehee shifted her feet. She felt a bit uncomfortable and unstable to be on only two feet and so far away from the ground.

“You alright?” Daehyun asked, steadying her.

Jaehee nodded timidly, it was odd seeing him closer to eye level since she had only been looking up his nostrils so far. She held a hand to her head, which was thumping at the sudden change. She bent over her knees and stared hard at the ground until it became steady.

Daehyun helped her stand back upright, she thanked him. Daehyun cocked his head, still trying to take it in. The game was still able to twist his mind sometimes—how a girl could transform into a fox and vice versa.

“The damaged area is on the other side of the city,” Jaehee stated, pointing straight through the gates.

“Ah, where?” Daehyun asked, he had started in another city and had never been to this one.

The girl smiled, “I’ll take you,” she said, reasoning she should at least do that much.

The rebuilding had already started but not much improvement had been made. The closer they got, the more rubble they saw. On Jaehee’s suggestion, Daehyun sold and bought items from a merchant further away from the destruction site. Those who worked by the heart of the city were unable to afford anything and sold their items for higher prices since they had to pay for repairs. Despite being NPCs they reacted to the environment as such.

Once they had made it to the site, Daehyun fell silent. He looked somewhat guilty and shocked by the great effect of the attack. No house was left unscathed and the ground was speckled with marks of fallen players. The sound of people lifting rubble and attempting to fix gaping holes in their roof, filled what was left of the area.

They went around asking people if they had witnessed the event, and if they knew how it was gotten rid of. Many people replied with a similar story, a warrior, gunman, cleric and swordmaster fought back but it seemed to have just vanished in thin air.

“Do you know what happened to those who died?” Daehyun questioned a tailor whose store had been destroyed.

She shook her head, “They vanished too,” she said gazing at the marks blotting the floor.

Cautiously, Jaehee followed Daehyun as he walked towards a large black mark on the floor. It looked like some kind of circle rune, burned in a sudden instant into the concrete.

“Ever wondered what happens to the dead in the game?” he asked without looking up at the girl.

Jaehee nodded, her voice cracking as she admitted it having crossed her mind. “Do you have any theories?” she asked hesitantly.

He stared at the rune for a while longer before standing back up and dusting his hands. “There’s a rebirth point,” he replied, “like in other games but—” he paused as he looked around them, “No one seems to have reappeared.”

After about an hour had passed the two agreed to part ways. Jaehee had realised she had been online for far too long by now.

“Wait,” Daehyun interrupted before she was able to log off. He took her wrist and placed his band beside hers until a message board appeared before her, asking if she’d like to add him as a friend. He decided he needed to make connections because soon there’d be guilds and parties—and wars. The thought made his eyes crinkle.

Jaehee accepted and found a sudden package of information download itself into her memory. It was an odd sensation, fuzzy but clear as if it she had memorised it long ago. With that, she logged off.

***

Jaehee rose from her bed with a thumping headache. She pursed her lips as something began to rise in . Immediately, she got up and ran to the bathroom, stumbling as she did.

She held onto the rim of the toilet, her arms shaking and world spinning as she threw up. She wiped with the back of her hand, a vile taste tainted . She rose from the floor and dragged her feet to the sink. She felt like she had caught a cold except ten times worst. Her head was spinning and every time she tried to take a step it was like the ground was yanked underneath her.

Jaehee the sink and washed her face with cold water. It hit her like a cold punch of ice, nipping at her skin even after she dried it off. Her eyes were red in the mirror, her skin duller than before. She also felt extremely hungry and weak. Suddenly she remembered.

She looked around her. “Eve?” she called out.

A moment later the android appeared by the door. “Yes?” she replied.

Jaehee analysed her suspiciously. Nothing seemed to have changed, “How’s Yuhan?”

“Fine, Jaehee-nim,” she responded indifferently, “He only had one seizure. I gave him medication while you were away.”

Not trusting the android completely, Jaehee struggled towards her brother’s room.

Sure enough he was resting peacefully, his chest rising and falling. Jaehee heaved a sigh from the doorway. ‘Should I tell him now?’

“Jaehee-nim.”

Jaehee jolted and turned around. Eve had followed her from the bathroom. “What?” she replied in annoyance.

 “Yesterday morning, you’re parents had messaged you that they would be returning.”

Jaehee furrowed her brows. “Yesterday?” she repeated. She paused, “Wait, how long have I been gone?”

“A day.”

“A whole day?” Jaehee scoffed.

Eve nodded coolly. “That is right.”

Jaehee looked around her in disbelief. “What?! You—you—!!” ‘She knew about this. She planned this!’ but the android gave no response, like they never had discussed the game before. Before there was a chance to confront Eve, a chime rang around the house.

Eve smiled, “I believe that is your parents.”

Author's Note: you thought I was never coming back did you? did you? did you?!
I wrote and completely rewrote this chapter at least 3 times, all to about this length. If I went with the first or second draft, the story would be going in a whole different direction. That's how many changes were made. The only thing that stayed the same was pretty much the first 6 lines.

If you didn't already know, I've started university (mid way first year now) so that's why I haven't been able to work on this much. If you enjoy my writing you might want to check out Hopeful Daydreams since it's easy for me to update that... But!! that doesn't mean you should give up on Paradox Online! Even if it doesn't seem like it, I'm probably working on a chapter even if it takes a few weeks/months.

also I have a tumblr now! but... it's pretty much only BTS. I think after I get more art related stuff finished... it'll become a fanart blog ahaha.

I'm sorry this took so long (the update and this author's note.)

Everyone stay healthy! ♥