After your last class of the day, you walk through the crowds of students gathered in the commons, who are engaging in a variety of activities ranging from learning to goofing off. On your way to your university’s learning center, you pass by several whiteboards that are either filled entirely with content or in the process of being filled by anxious students.

As you travel up the flight of stairs, you mentally run through the material you are supposed to cover during your tutoring session. You had unfortunately had several irresponsible mentors throughout your undergraduate career and are not very keen on the idea of showing up unprepared to a tutoring session that you are in charge of leading.

While lost in thought, your foot catches on the last step, causing you to lose your balance. Before you can fall down, your hands grasp the railing on the side of the stairs. You sigh with relief as the moment of danger passes. Unfortunately, you have been accustomed to gravity requesting your undivided attention at inopportune times, but at least it was somewhat rare to make the full trip.

Smoothing your blouse self-consciously, you continue toward the learning center. As you enter, you scan the room, wondering if you will see any familiar faces as tutors.

You spot Kim Taehyung, a former classmate from freshman biology, huddling among a group of guys. You had gotten along well with him during your first year of university, but had chosen a different major, so you hadn’t seen him around much after that year. Sometimes you would see him outside around campus with his notebook, leaning over flowery bushes and examining colonies of ants. He would sometimes be too engrossed in his writing and sketching that he would often miss your greetings for him as you walked by.

You approach the laughing quartet, wearing a pleasant smile on your face.

“Come on, guys! I didn’t fail out of biology last year, stop saying that!” one of the guys with soft light-brown hair insists while playfully shoving another boy, whom you recognize as Park Jimin from your Anatomy and Physiology class.

“Maybe you didn’t fail, but you didn’t finish the class,” teases a younger boy with black hair.

The light-brown haired male sighs with exasperation. “None of you took Professor Moon. He seemed to think that was the only class we were taking.”

As Taehyung pats his friend’s back with sympathy, he spots you approaching the group. “Hey [Y/N]! I didn’t know you were a tutor, too.”

You smile mischievously and respond, “What makes you think I’m a tutor?”

His facial expression morphs into one of confusion. “Are you a student then?” he asks with a bemused tone of voice.

You snort with amusement, “No, Taehyung-ssi. I’m a tutor.” It never fails to amuse you how air-headed the brunet could be at times.

“Right! Why would you take General Biology three years later?” he laughs while scratching his head sheepishly. His friends join him in his laughter, and the black-haired boy playfully punches his shoulder.

“Taehyung-ah lives in a different world sometimes,” he chuckles as Taehyung swats his hand away.

“I may have noticed,” you grin in response as you reach for the clipboard in the center table of the room. You look for your list of students and notice that you have four. Taehyung follows you and reads the list over your shoulder.

“What? Why did I not get assigned to any of my friends?” he complains behind you.

“That might be a good thing, you know. Can’t be having too much fun,” you smile sympathetically as you make your way to an empty table. You clear your throat and project your voice, “Alright guys! If you’re in [Y/N]’s group, make your way over here, please! That means Jeon Jungkook, Jung Hoseok, Park Jimin, and Shin Mina!”

The three guys who were hanging around Taehyung make their way over to your table. You shoot a bewildered look at Taehyung, who looks at you from across the room with a pout. You give him a sheepish grin and a small wave before turning to the males settling into their chairs.

“Right, so… I’m [Y/N],” you smile awkwardly. “How about you guys? I do believe I’m acquainted with Park Jimin-ssi.”

Jimin gives you a warm smile accompanied by a wink, reminding you of the horrid dissection episode of the day before. You make an exaggerated shudder, earning a laugh from him while the rest of the males look on with confusion.

“He saved me from having to touch a dead frog,” you explain, rubbing your neck with embarrassment. “It’s not my first dissection or anything, but I hate doing them.”

The group barks with laughter. “A Biology major hating dissections!” the black-haired male exclaims while slapping his own thigh.

You feel warmth staining your cheeks as you sputter, “W-well anyway! Let’s finish introducing ourselves! Where’s Shin Mina anyway?”

“I’m Jungkook. I’m a first year,” says the young black-haired male, once his laughter subsides. “And I haven’t seen Shin Mina since the first day of class. Maybe she dropped.”

The light-brown haired male pipes in cheerfully. “I’m Hoseok! I’m a third-year sports science major.”

“Oh? We’re in the same year?” you ask, curiosity b. Many non-Biology majors usually opted to take General Biology sooner, rather than later. 

His smile falls slightly. “I had Professor Moon,” he offers hesitantly.

“Say no more. I know exactly how Professor Moon is. He’s scared a lot of first years out of the Biology program with his teaching methods,” you sympathize, picking up on his insecurity about the matter through his tone of voice. The full smile returns, wrinkling the corners of eyes. The feeling is inexplicable, but you feel the need to make sure it stays there.

You smile as you stand up, uncapping a marker to write out the first problem involving a diagram of the mitochondria. “Alright guys, I guess we’ll get started since Shin Mina may not be joining us after all. Did you guys work on the assignment for this session?”

Your question is met with silence. You turn around with confusion. “You guys worked on it, right?”

Jungkook bursts into a quiet fit of coughing before stretching his back as the others stare intently at their presumably blank worksheets.

“Jungkook-ssi? Can you tell me where glycolysis occurs?” you ask, raising your eyebrow slightly.

His eyes widen as the rest of the group focuses on him. “Right, umm… outside the cell… right?”

You nod with approval and turn to Park Jimin. “Which is called?”

“The cytosol,” he answers confidently.

You smile and turn to Jung Hoseok, “Can you tell me one thing that does take place inside the mitochondria?”

His fingers twist the pen in his hand restlessly. “The….citric acid cycle?” he replies hesitantly, his eyebrows furrowed. 

Nodding in satisfaction, you sweep your gaze across the table to look at each member of the group. “See, you guys know this stuff. Let’s make sure we work on some of it before our tutoring session, though. Is that alright?”

The trio grins sheepishly in their chairs and nod, postures loosening.

“Let’s work on the assignment on your own for a few minutes and then we’ll go over it together,” you smile patiently and turn back to the board to write more problems.

As you push the elevator button, you hear a familiar voice behind you. “[Y/N]-sunbae! Do you mind if I ask you something?”

You turn to make eye contact with the speaker, Hoseok. “Sure thing! What were you curious about?”

He clears his throat, suddenly wringing his hands. “I was just wondering what the best way to study is. Professor Moon traumatized me with his ‘word-for-word’ method of grading. It really wasn’t working out for me.”

You hum in understanding and nod reassuringly, “I can see why that would give you some trouble. To be honest that doesn’t seem to me like the best way to learn anything. You should read the material closely enough to be able to explain the content in your own words. Trying to memorize someone else’s words seems too superficial.”

Hoseok’s expression eases as you speak. The two of you step into the elevator as the door opens. “Then, do you know if Professor Bang is that way?” he asks as he presses his floor destination after you.

“Definitely not. In fact, he hates rote memorization. You should ask your friends if you can try explaining concepts to them. If you have no problem with that, you should be all set.”

His shoulders sag with relief as he absorbs your words. “Thanks, [Y/N]-sunbae.”

The elevator door opens to reveal your floor. You stretch your hand outwards in order to keep the door open. “No problem! If you ever need any help, feel free to call me. I’m sure you all got my email with my contact info. And by the way, you can just call me [Y/N]. I’m not your sunbae, anyway.”

His lips twist into a sunny grin and he lifts his hand to wave. “Alright thanks, [Y/N]! See you around!”

After completing the final problem on your physics homework, you stuff your journals back into your bag and shove your writing implements back into a desk drawer. You snatch the headset sitting on the corner of the desk and jump into bed.

“Back into nerd land, I see,” Soobin teases you as you strap the device over your head.

“You have your Netflix binging, I have this,” you glance at her, sticking your tongue out playfully. She rolls her eyes and returns her focus back to the drama on her tablet.

Once your headset is properly fitted onto your head and obscuring your eyesight with darkness, you press the button on its surface and watch as the city of Proelium materializes before you. You look around the busy city, noticing masses of players running past you in every direction while NPCs walk by leisurely.

‘I’m feeling the urge to explore this new area,’ you smile enthusiastically, opening your friend list with hopes of seeing Eunhye online. Your smile falters when you realize that Eunhye still hasn’t logged in since the last time you had played together. Your eyes float up to read the only active name on your friend list, J-Hope. You select his name to send him a message. Before you can type anything out, you are beaten to the punch.

J-Hope: Hey [Y/N]! What’s up?

You: Not much. I just finished class work, how about you?

J-Hope: Same here! I was just having the urge to explore the forest and see what type of stuff is nearby. Would you like to practice some new skills with me?

You: Yeah, let’s go! Race you to the front gates?

J-Hope: You’re on!

You quickly clear away your messaging window and take off, sprinting toward the main gates that you had entered for the first time yesterday. While attempting to maneuver around crowds of people, your foot catches on the bricks of an elevated sidewalk, causing you to land on the concrete face-first. Luckily, your arms absorb the impact and prevent your face from doing the same. Your health bar takes a minor hit, but the impact is barely felt.

“What the hell,” you groan while stumbling onto your feet as you reflexively dust your laced brown leather pants. Ignoring the attention you gain from the nearby players, you continue your run toward the main gate. As you approach the wide gate doors, you notice J-Hope’s form already resting beside the stationed soldiers.

“No!” you cry out, slowing down your run until you’re walking dejectedly toward J-Hope. “I tried so hard, too.”

J-Hope bursts out laughing, the corner of his eyes crinkling. “You didn’t even ask where I was! I was already nearby.”

You huff angrily and stomp past him, passing the front gates outside of the city.

“Wait! [Y/N]!” he exclaims frantically. You smile as he chases behind you. “Don’t be angry! It was only a joke!”

You stop abruptly in your tracks, causing him to bump into you.

“[Y/N]…?” he asks quietly, walking around you to look into your face. As he stops beside you, you quickly reach out to tap his shoulder and take off running before yelling, “Tag, you’re it!”

You hear him sputter behind you in astonishment as you run into the forest. An icon identifying the area as “Latebra Forest” flashes across your vision. The crunching of leaves under the feet of you and your pursuer livens the tranquil ambience of the forest. As you admire the chorus of birds in the calm forest, you feel something rip through your robe, pinning you to a tree.

“J-Hope!” you screech, moving quickly to dislodge the throwing knife that had pierced your mage robe from the tree trunk. You look behind you to see him walking leisurely toward your position, twirling a dagger in his hand.

“Lesson 1: Dodging attacks,” he smiles cheerfully. He inspects your torn robe carefully. “I can see why you’d wanna fill the trope of a mage by wearing that robe. But wouldn’t you rather ditch the robe for something more practical?”

“My robes are practical,” you argue. “They’re enchanted robes! They give me extra elemental damage.”

“Well that’s great. But I think you’d have an easier time avoiding damage if you don’t give your enemies better chances of catching you,” he voices his concern.

You purse your lips before humming in reluctant agreement. After unhooking the clasp holding the robe together, you lift it away from your shoulders, revealing a white ruffled blouse with a brown under-bust corset. “I suppose I can figure out how to enchant my shirt.”

“You certainly have a sense of fashion,” J-Hope compliments you easily after appraising your outfit. You blush and thank him before attempting to hand back his throwing knife.

“Oh no, keep that. We should work on teaching you how to make use of it,” he smiles, leading you into a forest clearing. You grip the dagger with uncertainty as he turns around to face you.

“Can’t we start out with, like, sticks first?” you ask nervously, eyeing the sharp end of the dagger. You weren’t very keen on the idea of stabbing or being stabbed, despite the fact that this was all virtual reality. Pain was very muted during this game, but it still existed all the same.

He barks with laughter. “We’ll be fine, no worries,” he reassured you warmly.

You nod hesitantly and drop into a fighting stance, holding the dagger awkwardly in your fist. J-Hope looks at your posture with curiosity. “What are you doing?” he asks after a moment of silence.

“I’m getting into a fighting stance, of course.”

“You’re not distributing your weight properly. And you’re bent too low. You would have a hard time fighting someone off like that,” he explains.

You attempt to adjust your fighting stance as he carefully instructs you on adapting a better posture.

“Hm, you’re not quite achieving the right stance,” he says as he walks closer.

“Can you help me? I’m pretty uncoordinated,” you groan, eyes flashing at him imploringly.

He drops into a low crouch and places a gentle hand on your left foot to spread your legs apart, guiding the foot away from your other foot. Your breath hitches slightly as his hands rest on your knees, pushing them slightly to heighten your crouch. He rises from his crouch to adjust your grip on your dagger. Finally, he places his hands on your shoulders. 

You make eye contact with him as he pushes your body back slightly to correct your posture. If this had been real life, you would have been able to see the delicate peach fuzz on his face. His eyes widen as he realizes his proximity to you.

“S-sorry!” he exclaims, stepping back quickly to put some space between you. You notice his cheeks begin to redden, likely resembling yours.

“That’s okay. So this is a proper fighting stance?” you ask quickly, eager to change the subject.

He quickly nods and laughs shortly while rubbing the back of his neck. “With that position, you should be able to choose quickly between fight or flight. Ensuring mobility is your best choice, either way.”

You nod, consciously attempting to commit your new stance to memory. You watch as he returns to his original position a few meters away from you.

“This may sound counter-intuitive, but keep your gaze unfocused rather than solely paying attention to where the attacker’s hands are. You’ll be able to pick up on their movements as a whole, and may even be able to find patterns in their attacks.”

With that said, he lunges forward toward you, wielding his dagger in front of him. He is faster than you realize, leaving you little time to stumble backward to avoid the swipe of silver arcing toward you. As he lunges forward to slash at you again, you stumble over something on the forest floor, falling flat on your back. Instead of stopping to allow you to reorient yourself, you are surprised to see his weapon arc toward your position on the ground. You roll away from the attack with little time to spare and quickly pick yourself up from the ground to avoid his oncoming attacks. You find yourself employing the same ineffective tactic of lunging backward as he slashes his dagger against you.

He suddenly stops attacking, a look of concern marring his face. “[Y/N], why do you keep trying to move backward? Your opponent will always have the advantage over you if they’re moving forward. You’ll probably end up on your back again, too.”

You stare at him, panting heavily from the loss of stamina that had been spent to avoid his assault. You nod breathlessly, understanding the error of your strategy. It appears you aren’t the best at thinking under pressure, especially while employing unfamiliar tactics. Grimacing slightly, you internally berate yourself for falling into the same attacking habits and not thinking to expand your repertoire of skills.

Appearing to pick up on your self-chastisement, his facial expression softens with a warm smile. “You seem light on your feet, so I think you can take advantage of that. Just make sure your movements are to your advantage. Dodging is fine, but you should employ offensive tactics to disorient your attacker. Otherwise, you’ll tire yourself out by only dodging and rolling out of the way.”

You grunt in agreement, your face contorting to express concentration as you fall back into your fighting stance. He smiles and copies the gesture.

Only a couple of seconds pass as he lunges at you again, slashing his dagger horizontally. You dodge by dropping to a low crouch, and quickly use your forearm to shove his weapon arm farther away from you as you rise back up. Immediately, you slash at his side with the opening you made.

“I was hoping you’d make that type of counter move,” he grins, barely blinking an eye despite the light spray of blood that results from your attack.

Before you can apologize for harming him, J-Hope attacks you again. You lunge backward, then attempt to strike back as you regain your balance. He parries your attempted blows with his dagger. Suddenly, he reaches forward with his other hand, grabbing your wrist. Before you can make a decision, he pulls on your wrist, bringing you toward him as he buries his dagger inside your stomach with a short, upward curve.

Before your health points can decline considerably, he withdraws the dagger, stepping back slightly.

“Sorry, [Y/N],” he apologizes, holding his dagger away from you as the stains of red fade off of its surface. “You parry well, but you can’t keep trying the same thing or your enemy will catch on. If they attempt to use your body against you, you should try to rein back your control.”

You nod as your hand drops to your stomach in shock, feeling the wound but not the appropriate level of pain that you would have imagined would accompany it. “How should I do that?” you ask, eager to learn more now that you realize how minimal pain inflicted could be in-game.

He smiles in response to your question, reaching forward to grasp the wrist that holds your dagger. He held his dagger low with his left hand, mimicking the same scenario before he had plunged it into your belly. “What do you think should be your next move?” he asks. “I’ll attack on 3.”

He begins counting steadily as your brow sweats from contemplating your next movement. You watch his weapon arm carefully, readying yourself for your tactic. As soon as his voice calls out “three” and his dagger curves toward you, you lunge to his right, using his own power in pulling you forward to move directly beside him. You kick backward at his knees, forcing him off balance and causing his grip on your wrist to loosen enough to allow you to pull it away. You grasp his hair as you rotate to face his back directly, and hold your dagger against his throat.

He chuckles, “That was well executed!”

Before you can even smile at his comment, he pushes away your hand wielding the dagger to his throat, grabbing your wrist as he twists in place to face you, ignoring your pull on his hair. He quickly hooks his foot around the back of your knee, knocking your legs off balance. He pushes your chest back, throwing you and himself to the ground. As you both fall, he quickly grabs your hand as you lose your grip on his hair. After landing on his knees on both sides of your body, he pins both of your hands to the ground above your head.

You stare at him with utter bewilderment. “Did you- Did you really just do that?”

“Have I mentioned that I’m in charge of the subterfuge in this guild?” he smiles innocently above you as you merely lie there gaping. How could this sunny boy be the trickster of the group? For some reason, you had seen that as most likely being the maknae’s role. Before you can register that his knees are pinning your hips in place and subsequently become flustered, the pressure of one of his knees lifts as he maneuvers himself to stand upright. He maintains his hold on your hands to patiently help you stand as well.

“I think that’s enough for now,” J-Hope states cheerfully, rubbing his side where your dagger had slashed him. “You gave me a nice fight.”

You blush at his praise, believing that he was probably only trying to make you feel better about your crummy melee skills. Before you can open your mouth to protest, he extends an extended palm out toward you as a cookie materializes in his hand.

“Here! We both took damage, so let’s restore our health. Jin’s creations are very powerful,” he offers genially. With a thanks, you take the cookie and begin to eat it, immediately feeling the healing effects of the item as you savor the sweet taste.

“Jin’s cooking skill is no joke,” you agree as he wolfs down his own cookie. He closes his eyes blissfully for a moment in agreement. You take this brief moment to admire the innocuous expression on his face. It was still difficult for you to grasp the idea that he could be sneaky. You suppose that must be the reason that he’s so good at it in the first place.

When he opens his eyes, he looks upon your eyes with an adventurous shine in his eyes. “Let’s see what kind of hidden places there are in this forest.”

As you travel through the forest, you and J-Hope are quietly giggling about a story involving V and a ladybug fairy outfit.

“That’s something I definitely need to s-“ your amused commentary is cut off when he grabs the back of your blouse and pulls you backward forcefully. Your squeal is muffled by his hand as you stumble backward against him. Ahead of you, where your feet were about step, was a thin rope stretched across the path.

“Sorry, [Y/N],” he whispers quietly into your ear before releasing you. “It seems we might be unwanted company here.”

You scan the forest, wondering what is awaiting you nearby. “Wanna explore?” you whisper, your eyes glittering with the prospect of a new experience in the game. Next to J-Hope, you feel confident that you can tackle whatever lies ahead.

“That’s the spirit,” J-Hope whispers with glee, squeezing your shoulder as he walks carefully ahead of you, avoiding the trap. “I guess we’re having another lesson. Sneaking.”

The pair of you walk carefully survey the nearby area, careful to make as little noise as possible. Somehow, J-Hope’s steps hardly make a rustle while yours cause the fallen leaves and soil to crunch. With each step you take, you grimace about your novice level Sneaking ability. You bite your bottom lip hard in order to refrain from from sighing in exasperation.

Suddenly, you hear voices ahead. Both of you quietly seek the cover of the thick trees as you approach the source of noise. A pair of bandits with NPC markers above their heads are lounging around a small campfire, cooking a rabbit on a spit. They drink from their tankards leisurely, laughing amongst themselves.

“And then he begged me to leave his girl alone. What a wuss!” one of the burly bandits guffaws with amusement.

“What’d ya do then?” the other bandit slurs curiously.

“I took my Warhammer and crushed his pathetic little-“ his voice is suddenly cut off by an astonished grunt as a throwing knife pierces his skull.

“Huh?” the other bandit grunts with confusion, rising from his seated position to withdraw a mace. Before he can step forward to search for the assailants, a frigid ice spear buries itself into his chest, knocking him to the ground. The frosty feeling on your palms subsides a second later.

“Now that’s what I call a sneak attack,” J-Hope grins, twirling a throwing knife with his finger. The two of you then make your way across the campsite toward the fallen bandits.

“Doesn’t it bother you when you kill them? They look like people after all,” you ask carefully as you look at their gored bodies. You could hardly believe you had followed his lead by attacking in an equally brutal way. 

“Think about it this way: if you don’t kill them, they’ll attack you until they kill you. And besides, it’s not like they’re really dying. They’ll respawn back here eventually,” he reassures you as he walks up to the bandit he had killed.

Just yesterday, you had been sick to your stomach from just watching a frog dissection. While your brain could separate the mild gore of this virtual world from reality, it was still disturbing to witness the realism of blood spatter. 

 “I suppose I just need to get used to the blood,” you say as you kneel beside the body of the bandit impaled by your spear to examine his loot. To your relief, the blood around the fatal wound was beginning to fade away. 

As J-Hope kneels to check his victim’s items, you scan the campsite for any interesting items. “Aren’t these guys supposed to have some sort of loot stash? I don’t see anything here.”

“They probably have a hideout nearby. Are you in the mood for an infiltration mission?” he asks as he stands up, leaving the bodies to slowly begin disappearing.

“Do you think we can handle it by ourselves?” you ask, somewhat hesitant to agree. Although these two kills had gone easily, you are sure it would be different if the two of you took the fight to whichever enclosed space the rest of the bandits were using as a hideout.

“You’d be surprised how productive we can be if we stick to the shadows,” he asserts confidently, smiling at you before striding across the campsite to search for an entrance. You follow closely behind him, your hands poised in front of you in preparation for an attack.

As you move toward a rocky formation covered in dark moss, a small wall of text appears in your vision announcing the presence of a found location, “Apsterritum”. J-Hope moves toward the blanket of vines covering the mossy wall and sweeps them to the side to reveal a crudely built wooden door.

You both quietly enter the den of thieves, making your way deeper into the rocky cave. You can’t help but wrinkle your nose at the dank mossy smell of the cave overwhelming your senses. It would have been difficult to make your way down the narrow cavern had it not been for the lit torches hung along the wall.

J-Hope prods you to stop as you reach a forked path. You hear him whisper “vita revelo”, causing his hand to glow a dim white for half a second. With the help of his spell, you are suddenly able to see glowing outlines of the human NPC’s past the walls of the cave to your right.

His feet hardly make a noise as he takes the right path. You gulp as you allow him to take the lead, suddenly feeling anxious. You had only gone into abandoned caves with Eunhye when the only inhabitants were wild animals such as wolves. Although you knew these inhabitants are bandit NPC characters, you feel somewhat nervous about encountering a new type of enemy. 

Honestly, you hadn’t been expecting to kill the thief at the campsite with your ice spear in one shot. The thought allows your tense shoulders to gradually relax. Perhaps these NPCs would not be too challenging after all.

You soon approach a small cave chamber where the closest NPC is located. You watch as the male NPC works intently with his back to you at an alchemist’s station, grinding herbs with a mortar and pestle.

J-Hope turns to you and whispers quietly, “When I give you the signal you should copy my movements.”

He turns away from you and begins to tread quietly into the chamber, sticking close to the unlit areas of the cave. His footsteps are impeccably silent as his form blends in perfectly with the shadows.

You watch anxiously as the NPC continues working on a potion, unaware of J-Hope sneaking behind him. Moments later, you hold your breath as J-Hope positions himself directly behind him. Before the NPC can sense his presence behind him, J-Hope covers his mouth with one hand and uses the other to slice his neck. You hold in a horrified gasp as the arterial spray coats the surface of the wall and the alchemist’s station. Gritting your teeth, you watch J-Hope carefully lower the NPC’s body onto the ground along the dark shadows of the cave.

He scans the cave chamber to check on the other NPC standing at the other edge of the chamber before looking at you and nodding. Your eyes flit over to the blood-stained areas, which have already begun to lose their deep red pigmentation.

Shaking your head to remind yourself to focus, you carefully step out into the chamber and stick to the darkness along the edge. The NPC is leisurely pacing across the cave, unaware of your presence and you hope to keep it that way. You cringe at the sound of the soft grinding of pebbles under your shoes as you step across the chamber toward J-Hope. Finally, you reach the spot where the alchemist’s station lies unoccupied and now unstained.

“Not bad,” he whispers as he looks at the NPC, who has turned away from you. “Do you think you want to try it yourself?”

You shake your head nervously. “My sneaking skill is very low. I doubt I’d make it all the way up to him,” you whisper. There was no way you were going to perform such a clean kill. Part of you wonders whether you are currently in a party with a member from the Assassin’s Guild.

He grins with understanding as he twirls his dagger. Instead of repeating his earlier tactics, he throws his dagger at the NPC, impaling his skull. His body crumples to the ground. Your eyes widen at the effective display of skill.

You follow him as he walks quietly across the small chamber to cross into the next narrow pathway. The distant glowing silhouettes of NPCs become larger as you travel deeper into the cave. Your fists tighten as you count how many NPCs appear to be in close proximity to each other. You most likely would not have it as easy this time.

J-Hope stops before reaching the end of the path. “It will be hard to carry out a sneak attack with five bandits near each other. So we need to be quick.”

You nod with agreement and follow him as he continues down the rocky cave path. You are able to see a group of three bandits huddled around each other, appearing to be having a conversation amongst themselves. The other two bandits in the vicinity appear to be speaking to each other near the end of the chamber.

J-Hope turns to look at you and quietly draws your attention to the three throwing knives in his hand. You nod with understanding and begin to concentrate your magic in your palms, feeling the air turn brisk around your hands.

J-Hope breaks the tension first as he sneaks quietly into the cave chamber and flings a well-aimed dagger at a bandit facing the path that you had just come out of. You quickly aim your hand at the bandit with his back to you and fire an ice spear you had formed with your mana. As your spear impales the bandit’s chest, another of J-Hope’s daggers finds its mark within the third bandit’s skull.

By now, the other two NPCs near the other edge of the chamber had noticed the attacks and were withdrawing their weapons. J-Hope’s next dagger is thrown too late and clatters against the shield of one of the bandits before falling uselessly to the ground.

You run quietly along the dark corners of the cave chamber as their attention is drawn to J-Hope. Missing your next attack would just not do, and the easiest way to avoid it would be to take advantage of their distraction. As you watch the shielded bandit slash at J-Hope, who nimbly avoids his blade, you fail to notice the faint shine of circular steel on the ground.

“Ahh! !” you involuntarily scream in pain as you step directly into a bear trap. The other bandit who had been pursuing J-Hope turns his attention toward you. He begins running toward you, wielding a heavy mace. With no time to disarm the trap, you shoot a fireball at the bandit. The attack causes him to stumble for a few seconds before he continues running toward you, mace held high in preparation for a powerful attack. You shoot multiple fireballs at the NPC in desperation, not wanting to feel the blunt force of the mace anywhere on your body. After being hit by the third fireball, he falls to the ground, his mace hitting the ground with a low clang.

However, you have little time to sigh in relief as you notice the glowing silhouettes of more NPCs running into the cave chamber. You count at least six bandits before they split into two groups to go after both you and J-Hope.

A fireball is thrown toward you, which you narrowly manage to block by casting a spell ward. You crouch to disarm the bear trap as you maintain your spell ward. You feel a bead of sweat roll down your forehead as a barrage of fireballs beats against your ward. After a long moment, you manage to free your leg from the trap.

As soon as you dispel your ward, you dodge the oncoming fireball and run across the cave to avoid being cornered. You extend your hand and unleash a chain of lightning at the female mage, effectively sapping away a small amount of her mana reserves. You quickly charge your mana into both of your hands and hold them together to release a lightning bolt at her. The attack is strong enough to cause damage to the other two bandits beside her.

Before the bandits can close the distance between you, you withdraw a mana potion and quickly consume it. After flinging the bottle aside, you continue firing lightning bolts at the female mage, who grunts with frustration. She abandons her fire assault to withdraw a small dagger and runs toward you. Before she can reach you, you discharge another chain of lightning, hitting her square in the chest. She emits a low grunt as she collapses to the ground.

You shoot flames out of your palm to incinerate the other two bandits as you briskly walk across the cave chamber. One of the bandits, appearing to have had taken enough elemental damage, drops to his knees and topples over. The other holds his ground, gripping his sword in preparation for an attack. The last of your mana reserves is consumed, causing your flames to die out as embers from your palm.

You quickly withdraw the dagger J-Hope had gifted you earlier and block a strike from his sword. As he withdraws it to strike again, you dodge to the side and slash at his side with the dagger. He turns to face you and slashes at you again, which you dodge once more. You use the opportunity to make multiple slashes in his arm. As he raises his sword above his head, a dagger plunges into his chest, disrupting his power attack. You move out of the way as the NPC crashes to the ground once the sharp object is removed from his body.

You turn around to see J-Hope looking bedraggled and breathing heavily as he exchanges his fighting stance for a more relaxed stance.

“Thanks,” you smile tiredly as you walk toward him. “That had to have been all of them, right?”

“Yeah,” he says quietly. As he looks around the chamber for more silhouettes, you notice the slashes across his shirt. “Looks like that was all of them.”

“I’m sorry,” you frown at the sight of the tears in his clothes. “You seem to have taken quite a beating thanks to my clumsiness. I didn’t see that bear trap and it caught me by surprise.”

J-Hope smiles brightly in response, standing straighter as if to reassure you. “Don’t worry, it looks like we made it out of that problem just fine. At least now we don’t have to keep sneaking around.”

He nudges you warmly and walks toward the bandits he had killed. You sigh, relieved that he isn’t upset about your blunder. It seems that you can’t escape your clumsiness, even in virtual reality.

“I knew it. I knew this guy was the chief,” he mutters, gesturing at the body of the bandit who had blocked his dagger with a metal shield. “Look how much gold he had on him.”

You whistle appreciatively at the large pouch of gold he withdrew from the body. You walk toward the female mage, wondering how she had held up for so long. Compared to the other bandits, she had had a much higher resistance against your elemental attacks. You kneel beside her body and look at her items. Among her inventory, you find several health and mana potions, as well as a decently sized lump of gold coins. You notice she had an unused enchanting stone in her possession.

“Nice!” You stand up quickly, holding the iridescent stone in your palm for J-Hope to see. “I’ve been wanting one of these, but they’re really expensive!”

“Now you can enchant your shirt so you can stop wearing that bulky robe,” he grins with amusement.

As soon as you finish looking through the inventories of the other NPCs, you scavenge around the chamber for additional items. You spot a small chest lying near a table.

“J-Hope! Is that the loot for this dungeon?” you exclaim with excitement. He looks up from a drawer he had been examining and walks toward the chest beside you.

“I doubt it,” he says as he withdraws a lockpick from his inventory and begins working on opening the lock. “There’s still more to this cave. The strong NPCs came out from the next passageway.”

The lock made a quiet click. “See, that was too easy to be the main loot,” J-Hope told you as he props open the chest.

You peer over his shoulder to look through its contents. Several different types of potions, a small sword with a scabbard, and a medium-sized pouch of gold were lying inside the chest.

“Ah! Here, you should put this into use,” he smiles as he takes the short sword encased in the scabbard out of the chest and hands it to you.

You gape as you examine the warm brown leather of the scabbard. Eagerly, you unsheathe the sword and drop into a fighting stance, holding the sword like the last enemy you had fought. You slash at empty air playfully, enjoying the feeling of power of the blade. J-Hope stands up and begins to walk to the next passageway.

“Careful, or we’ll end up with another spellsword ,” J-Hope laughs with amusement, watching your antics as you follow him.

“Ha, funny! I could never be as nimble of a swordsman as Jimin,” you stick your tongue out playfully. “Do you know how many accidents I’ve had today?”

“You’re right. You’d probably end up stabbing yourself instead of your enemy,” he guffaws.

“Careful!” You smirk and point your sword at him. “You’re at my mercy. Keep walking or you get the pointy end.”

“It’s not like I can get any other end. You’ll just end up hurting yourself,” he raises his hand lazily with disregard, not bothering to look at you.

You gasp with exaggeration in response to the snub. “Is that cheek? Now you’re really going to be talking to my blade.”

He snorts as you both walk into the next chamber. “You’ve really let this victory go to your head. Don’t forget that I dealt the killing blow.”

“Pfft. In case you didn’t realize, I didn’t need any help. That punk was about to get it,” you puff up your chest and shove past J-Hope. You pout as you hear him giggling behind you.

Within the large chamber, you find several makeshift beds and bed rolls, along with a collection of unlocked chests holding small weapons and several articles of clothing, as well as small lumps of gold.

As J-Hope occupies himself by going through the locked chests in the room, you walk down the chamber. You spot another passage near the edge of the cave. Unlike the rest of the cave, this section of the cave is not lit by torches. The pitch darkness of the passageway fills you with apprehension. You pause for a second, looking back toward J-Hope, who is too busy rifling through chests to notice. 

You light a small flame with your palm and walk into the passage. The sudden light reflects off of a several dozen pair of small eyes on the ceiling staring at you with curiosity.

“Agh! J-Hope!” you yell, stumbling backward in shock. Several dark bats leave their perches on the ceiling and fly past your head, whipping your hair back as they agitate the air around you.

“What’s wro-“ J-Hope asks with concern before he is interrupted by the migration of the bats. “Oh!”

You manage to hear his footsteps on gravel as he reaches you. “Are you alright?”

You nod, suddenly feeling silly for raising a commotion over some flying rats. He chuckles quietly and squeezes your shoulder in reassurance as he walks past you.

Your nostrils flare at the patronizing treatment, but before you can open your mouth to give him a snarky comment he interrupts your train of thought.

“[Y/N]! I found the main chest! And other stuff!” he exclaims loudly.

You sprint after him, running into a dark room. Spotting an unlit torch stand, you use your fiery palm to light it before scanning the small area eagerly. A large chest, unlike the others you had seen within the cave, is located in the center of the room.

But what had truly caught your attention was the enormous pile of gold coins beside it. You silently walk up to the pile, turn around and drop onto it with a sigh.

“ ‘ Other stuff’ indeed,” you murmur with delight, closing your eyes as you rest on the small mountain of gold. “Let’s do this again, J-Hope.”