As you walk down the corridor toward the black box theater, you notice a familiar figure standing in front of the door, flanked by two of her companions. You groan inwardly when you realize that the figures are Hyuna and her glittery cronies. Swallowing your annoyance, you morph your face to look nonchalant as you approach them.

You give them a once-over, quietly juxtaposing their tight blouses, short skirts, and ostentatious heels to your plain band t-shirt, dark skinny jeans, and worn out canvas shoes. Their pale, skinny arms are crossed, displaying their professionally manicured nails, adorned in several variations of pastel.

“You’re still here?” snaps Hyuna, her glossed lip curling with contempt. Before you can say anything in response, her face lights up with an expression that you recognize as her “I’ve-got-a-sick-burn” face. “Oh I get it. [Y/N]’s here to teach the class.”

Neither you nor her mindless familiars have any idea where she is going with this, as made evident by their conflicted facial expressions. On one hand, they’d like to sneer along with Hyuna – but like you, they don’t appear to have any idea what Hyuna is talking about.

Hyuna sneers as she watches your silent confusion. “[Y/N] has gotten so good at acting like a backstabbing in sheep’s clothing that she’s qualified to teach theater at this point.”

You stare at her with disbelief. How could you be a backstabber when she was the one who cut you off when you had been close friends for years as children? Now she was a bully who criticizes you every chance she gets. As far as you knew, the worst thing you had done to her was accidentally smash her mom’s vase when you tripped at her house. While the incident was not your proudest moment, you don’t believe it warrants such vicious backlash from your former best friend.

You know you should just ignore her baseless taunts, but you can’t help yourself. “Aren’t you guys too old to be bullies? High school ended quite a while ago.”

Unwilling to stand around parrying insults with the girl, you shove past them and walk into the black box theater.

The last time you had met Hyuna, you had felt the urge to drop the class. Arguing with the infuriating girl was not really a favorite pastime for you, despite what she appeared to think when she relentlessly sought to get a rise out of you. You knew dismissing her would only encourage her, but while you were too tired to deal with her, you were reluctant to allow her to have the last word.

Immature? Yes.

But you had run out of ways of figuring out how to deal with your former best friend. Attempting to have a civil discussion with her had been unsuccessful, leaving you with only bitter memories of a friendship that had crashed and burned for seemingly no reason at all.

Shaking your head, you set your anger aside silently as you make your way toward the seat you had chosen the other day. As you sit down, you see Hyuna rewarding you with a scathing glare as she sits among a small crowd of people.

You resist the urge to roll your eyes and simply look away, eyes resting on the small stage in front of you. For a while you allow your eyes to glaze over as you wait for the professor to show up and begin the class.

Movement in front of you breaks you out of your daze and you notice a tall, slim male with chocolate brown hair. He turns to walk through an aisle nearby and you notice his full lips and a flawless complexion. He smiles as he catches your eye and moves to sit in the row behind you.

You shift in your seat, growing uncomfortable as the minutes pass. As you take your phone out of your bag to check the time, a door opens to admit the professor, who strides confidently into the small theater, carefully holding a black hat upside down.

“Hello all,” he smiles pleasantly, “Hopefully you have been settling into your schedules with no issue. After Monday’s lecture, I was thinking we could do something a little more interactive.”

You lean forward in your seat slightly, intrigued. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to meet some new people, and hopefully make new acquaintances. You weren’t keen on allowing Hyuna to be the only person you knew in the room forever.

“And so, I decided it would be nice to see your improvisation skills. In this hat, I placed different scenarios. I’d like you to get into groups of two and pick one scenario. Then I will give you a few minutes to discuss your plans.”

After he finishes speaking, the professor steps aside to allow the students to come forward. As the majority of the class stands up after selecting their partners quickly, you redden as you realize you are partner-less. Suddenly, you remember the young man who had seated himself behind you.

You turn around in your seat and give him a sheepish look. “Wanna be partners?”

He looks around the room before answering, much to your dismay. He smiles and stands up. “Sure.”

Your anguished expression must have shown quite clearly, because when you stand up he leans in slightly. “Sorry, I’m not actually a student,” he explains. “My name is Kim Seokjin.”

You return his smile, feeling relieved that he wasn’t intentionally trying to avoid being your partner. “My name is [Y/N]. Nice to meet you. If you aren’t a student, then why are you sitting in, if I may ask?”

As you both walk down the stairs toward the stage, he turns to look at you kindly. “I’m doing my observation hours. For a teaching degree.”

You hum in understanding, feeling a little reassured now that you knew that at least one of you knew what you were doing. When you reach the hat with him, you look at him questioningly. He nods at you to signal that you should pick the scenario. You reach into the hat and pick out a random sliver of paper. As you walk back to your seats together, you read the scenario out loud.

“A horror scene.”

You shoot him a wide-eyed glance. “Um,” you mutter nervously, “I’m about as menacing as an irritated hamster.”

As you sit next to each other, he glances at you with amusement, “Don’t some hamsters eat each other?”

He chuckles at your befuddled expression. “Don’t worry, I think I can make a convincing villain. What should we do? Something supernatural? Vampires? Werewolves?”

You give him a funny look. “You might look a little strange pretending to be a werewolf. I can’t imagine anyone pulling that off with no costume.”

“You dare underestimate my skills?” he asks with an easy smile. “Anyway, I agree. A werewolf scenario might look funny if I’m pretending to be a threatening hairy creature while I look so handsome.”

You stare at him with amusement. It’s not like he is wrong, but you silently wonder if he is anything like the men in Hyuna’s crowd – handsome and arrogant. You figure he seems good-natured enough to be given the benefit of the doubt. Most of Hyuna’s crowd often treated you like a village peasant, but you figured that was at least partly due to your frayed relationship with Hyuna.

“So…. A vampire scene then?” you ask carefully. Suddenly, a thought occurs to you that makes you flush with embarrassment. “Wouldn’t that be kind of…intimate?”

Seokjin studies you carefully as he thinks. “I’ll keep the physical contact to a minimum. All you have to do is look terrified,” he says, reassuring you with a smile.

You allow yourself to relax a little. After discussing your scenario together for a little longer, you are interrupted by your professor.

“Alright, I assume you’ve all had a sufficient amount of time to figure something out? Let us begin.”

The professor then proceeded to call out the various scenarios he had prepared for the class. Some were quite normal, if not random – scenarios involving customer service, educational setting, and engaging in a recreational activity.

Much to the chagrin of everyone watching, one scenario prompting a very flustered Hyuna and one of her doll-faced sidekicks to muddle through the situation of “providing customer service to an exceptionally irate customer”. Apparently, while Hyuna was gifted at acting demanding and livid (surprise, surprise), neither her nor her friend were particularly talented at improvising a convincing scenario.

“WHY,” she belts before pausing, looking as angry and stiff as she could manage – you couldn’t help but note similarities between her expression and that of a constipated pufferfish – “IS THERE NO KETCHUP ON MY FRIES?”

Nothing could prevent the barely contained sniggers that erupted from the audience.

Her friend looks just as flustered, clearly unsure of where to steer the scenario. “But Ma’am…. There is a ketchup bottle right there,” she stutters nervously, pointing at empty space near a seated Hyuna.

Hyuna momentarily broke character, looking as though she was trying hard not to break a sweat as she glanced at the professor before snapping her gaze back to the other girl. “I specifically said that I wished to have ketchup on these fries when I ordered!”

The other girl twitches uncomfortably before raising her hands in front of her chest in order to pretend she was flipping through a small notebook. “I didn’t write that in my notebook. I’m s-sorry, ma’am.”

“Get me fries WITH ketchup this instant!” Hyuna screams, banging her fist on the table.

The girl cowers. At this point you were fairly sure it wasn’t acting – Hyuna genuinely looked frightening, her face puce with unfettered rage.

“Y-yes, ma’am,” the other girl bows meekly before scurrying off quickly.

Your shoulders were wracking with silent laughter as you hunched over in the seat. What were they even doing during the planning time? Discussing make-up tips? It was beyond ridiculous to imagine anybody having such a violent reaction about missing ketchup on their fries. One look at Seokjin told you that he wholeheartedly agrees, covering his mouth with one hand as he giggles.

“Well then,” the professor spoke, clearing his throat after the giggles subsided. “That was certainly…dramatic.”  

The next few scenarios were also interesting, albeit in a different manner. The scenarios took a more serious tone, involving themes such as ghosts, police arrest, and a dramatic western stand-off. Some of the students managed to make their scenarios more lighthearted – the pair with the ghost scenario decided to conduct a séance to summon Myrtle, who promptly scolded the other person through the medium.

“Why did you have Mexican food, Harry?” the medium wailed. Several of the audience members began to choke with laughter. “You clogged my toilet!”

Finally, after a mixed bag of serious and jovial scenarios, the professor calls out your scenario.

“A horror scene! I am looking forward to seeing what this scenario has inspired,” the easygoing man smiles, scanning the crowd of students.

You cast a quick, nervous glance at Seokjin as you both stand from your seats. He gives you an encouraging smile, instantly putting you at ease after a soft flutter in your stomach settles, replaced by a subdued warmth.

You take your places on the small stage, facing each other.

“I can’t do this anymore,” you choke out, looking at him with what you hope is your best pained frown.

Seokjin’s expression turns icy. “This isn’t about your human boyfriend, is it?”

“N-no,” you stutter nervously. You feel a pang of real tension. His cold expression seems so convincing.

“Don’t lie to me,” he growls, taking a step closer. There’s a short pause, and the anger on his face dissipates. Instead, only a dangerous calm remains just below the surface as his head tilts slightly. “I’ve seen the way you look at him. He is a weak human. He will never be able to give you what you really need.”

“I don’t need anything from a bloodsucker!” you yell angrily, turning on your heel.

Before you can take a couple of steps, you feel a tug on both of your wrists. You hear him take a step closer until he is close enough for you to feel his body warmth. Your eyes widen and you allow yourself to visibly shiver as he lowers his head to your neck.

“I will never allow anybody else to have you,” he says quietly, but loudly enough for the audience to hear. You feel his head shift quickly jerk and he blows on your neck quietly, signaling you to gasp with shock. From the audience’s perspective, it would be easy to imagine that he is your blood, although the only physical contact between you is through your wrists.

He lets go and moves his head from your shoulder, prompting you to stumble away from him. You clutch the area of your neck where he blow air.

“What have you done?” you cry out, trembling until your knees seemingly give out from under you. You slump onto the ground dramatically. Abandoning your sense of self-preservation for the moment, you writhe violently on the stage for a few seconds before going deathly still.

A few quiet seconds pass by before claps begin. You pick yourself up from the ground with Jin’s help in order to give a quick bow.

“Thank you that performance. Just the right amount of tension, I believe,” the professor praises the pair of you.

After thanking him, you both make your way back to your seats.

“That was brilliant,” you whisper to Seokjin. “You’re talented.”

He flashes you a sweet smile, “You did an excellent job yourself, [Y/N].”

“That was the biggest spider I’ve ever seen in my life! Good thing I don’t have arachnophobia,” Eunhye exclaims, running into the Proelium gates as you follow closely behind.

You silently agree with her sentiments. During your latest dungeon-run with her, you had soon discovered that the entire place was crawling with insects, especially spiders.

Dog-sized spiders.

And one massive spider that was about as tall as you and wider than you and Eunhye combined.

When you had caught your first glimpse of the thing, you were sorely tempted to turn around and walk out of the cave, but you were not given much of a choice when your best friend charged in recklessly, wielding her two-handed axe.

If there was anything you had learned about your friend, it was that she had almost no sense of self-preservation in-game. Which was strange, considering her aspirations of becoming a doctor. But you supposed it was down to two sides of the same coin of being a protector.

“Come on, [Y/N]! We need to stop looking like newbies! Let’s go shopping,” she insists, grabbing your forearm to pull you toward the market district.

“Alright, alright,” you sigh with exasperation. This girl had enough enthusiasm for the two of you. “Hold your horses. We ran all the way here.”

The two of you weave through the thick throngs of people clustered around various display carts filled with a variety of wares. A store of brick and lime mortar captures your attention as you walk by, displaying “Enchantment Emporium” in cursive script.

“Hey Eunhye!” you exclaim, grabbing her attention. She stops in her tracks and turns to look at you. You point to the storefront. “I’m gonna go in there. Want to come with?”

“Are you kidding? Enchanting stones and enchanted equipment cost a fortune. I’ll meet you after I go to the Armorer, alright?” Eunhye winked, flashing you a bright grin as she ran off.

You sigh. Sometimes you wondered how that girl found all of her excess energy despite her heavy course load. Shaking your head as you stare at her retreating figure, you turn to walk into the store.

The first thing you notice about the store is how dark, yet gleaming it is. The ambience replicated that of a dank, dark dungeon. However, the shimmering properties of several types of equipment resting on shelves and inside cabinets catch your eye. A range of glowing colors surround each piece of equipment, offering hints of the types of enchantment they represent. Various display cases throughout the small enclosure exhibit brilliant, iridescent stones of various sizes and shapes. An enchantment workshop is situated at the corner.

As you make your way toward the enchanting bench, the NPC storeowner gives you a generic greeting. You barely hear the door swing open behind you as you stand at the bench, staring at the runes engraved on the stone mantle.

“What now?” you mutter quietly, looking at the unfamiliar markings on the bench, which are arranged in a circular pattern.

You unequip your white blouse and brown corset ensemble by replacing it with the generic light brown tunic you had begun the game with. You place the ensemble carefully on top of the circular rune pattern. You retrieve the enchanting stone you had found the day before from your inventory, and run your thumb over its smooth surface as you examine the enchanting bench.

“Do you need some help?” a deep baritone voice from behind you startles you, almost causing you to lose your grip on the stone.

You whip your head to the side as a tall, sandy-haired man moves to stand beside you. Your eyes graze over his strong jaw, high cheekbones, and rose pink eyes with a subtle metallic glint.

He smiles carefully, his eyes wrinkling slightly at the corners. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“I-It’s okay!” you insist, feeling slightly embarrassed about your lack of situational awareness. “Actually, I might need some help. How can I put the strongest elemental damage enchantment on this clothing?”

“Place your stone here,” the man pointed at a single rune above the covered circular rune pattern. After following his instruction, a small holographic menu appears, showing you the various types of enchantments that can be placed on your outfit.

“Oh!” you exclaim with excitement. “I can do even better and use a Fortify Elemental Damage enchantment that is combined with Mana Regeneration.”

You select the option to add the combined enchantments and watch with fascination as ethereal wisps of magic begin to escape from the stone and attach themselves to the fabric. White tendrils soon envelope the entire clothing article, imbuing it with the assigned enchantment. As the transfer of magic concludes, the glowing tendrils thin out and dissipate.

You pick up the clothing item, noticing a soft white glow clinging to the fabric surface, similarly to the enchantment of the robes J-Hope had advised you to ditch. You equip the enhanced ensemble with a feeling of satisfaction and grasp the spent enchanting stone from the workbench. Predictably, the surface of the stone no longer glows, its magic having been spent to power your blouse.

“Thanks for the help!” you exclaim, whirling around to face the helpful player. Your eyes rest upon empty space. Frowning, you scan the store for sandy-haired man, who appears to have vanished.

Shrugging to yourself, you walk toward the storeowner.

“Your enchantment has been paid for by another player,” the NPC states when you reach his counter.

“What?” you blink with confusion.

“The player has chosen to leave a gift note,” the NPC continues, placing a piece of parchment on the counter.

You pick up the parchment and read the note.

“For a lovely rose.”

Blushing, you suddenly feel weak-kneed about the generosity of the mysterious player. A frown quickly takes over your face when you realize you never learned his name.

Without hesitation, you bolt out of the store, eager to find the charitable stranger. Unfortunately, the crowd has thickened considerably since you’ve ventured into the enchanting store. Your head swings back and forth to scan the crowd on both sides of the street. A sandy haired man walking away from you catches your attention.

You run down the street to catch up to the stranger. “Excuse me!” you blurt out as you circle around him and face him.

“Oh,” you murmur with disappointment. The sandy haired player was not the same man you had met in the store. Blue eyes look into yours with confusion.

“Sorry, I got the wrong person,” you tell him, backing off to the side near a market stall. He gives you a strange look before continuing down the street.

“[Y/N]? Is that you?” a pleasant male voice rings out from beside the market stall.

You turn around to face the person calling you by your player name.

“Jin!” you exclaim pleasantly when you recognize his familiar blonde hair and full pink lips. You trot up to him and notice he is picking out vegetables. “What are you up to?” you ask curiously.

“I’m getting some ingredients to make stew,” he smiles cheerfully, waving two potatoes in the air.

“Stew? As a substitute for potions?”

“That’s right,” he replied, grabbing a handful of carrots. “How about you? Are you busy? Maybe I can show you how it works.”

You look around the market square, looking for the sandy haired man half-heartedly. “I guess not. A random guy came into the Enchanting Emporium and paid for my enchantment while I was distracted. It looks like he’s gone now.”

After paying for his ingredients, Jin turns around, fixing his gaze on you with a playful smirk. “That’s interesting. Sometimes girls pay for my stuff, too. I guess that’s what happens when you’re attractive.”

Your eyes widen in surprise at the admission. What was in the water lately that made everyone so confident? You stutter in shock,”B-but-“

Before you can argue with him, he starts down the path and raises his right arm. “Don’t even argue. Come on, let’s go!”

You stumble forward to catch up with his long stride. “Go where?” you mumble, fighting a blush.

“To the Bangtan Guild house!” he declares happily.

“What? You have a guild house already?” you ask incredulously. You hadn’t investigated, but you were almost positive that you would have to play for a good part of the year before you would be able to purchase even a regular player home.

As you follow Jin into the residential area, he clarifies his statement. “Err,” he starts sheepishly. “It’s actually a regular player home. We were impatient about having a player home, so we all worked hard and pitched in to pay for a cheaper player home.”

You hum with understanding. That was much easier to believe, especially knowing that the Bangtan Guild was relatively new.

“So V is a Ranger, Jimin is a Spellsword, J-Hope is an Acrobat or something sneaky, and RM is a Gunslinger. How about you?” you ask, voice lilted with interest.

“I couldn’t decide, so I chose to become a Bard,” he answers kindly.

“What exactly is that? I see that as a choice sometimes but I’ve never paid attention.”

“It’s mainly meant to be a Support class, so I can give buffs and heal other players, as well as distract or hinder enemies with my instrument. I’m sure you saw me playing my lute that first day we met,” he explains, meeting your eyes as he smiles.

“Oh, right! You were quite good with that lute,” you compliment him freely.

“Thanks,” he blushes. “Other than that, Bards can do many other things, depending on the player’s preference. I’m not coordinated like Jimin and J-Hope, so I dabble with a crossbow and some magic.”

“That sounds pretty well-rounded to me,” you look at him thoughtfully. “I ought to branch out more as well.”

As Jin leads you up the walkway of a modest player home, a curse captures your attention. The pair of you turn around to see a player struggling under a mountain of items a few houses away. A broken potion vial is lying beside his feet, spilling liquid on the cobblestone ground. The player continues on his trek up his walkway, lugging what appears to be his entire inventory into his house as the potion evaporates as fumes.

Jin giggles at the sight. “And that’s why we needed a house,” he announces with good humor, propping open the door for you to step through.

“I get it. I can be an item hoarder, too,” you chuckle as you walk into the home.

You walk into the living room, noticing that the space has been tastefully decorated with mahogany furniture. Adornments and knick-knacks are placed on the walls and on top of small reddish-brown shelves.

“Someone has good taste,” you think out loud, glancing at Jin.

“That would be Suga, mostly. I’ll let him know you appreciate his interior decorating skills,” his eyes crinkle as he smiles.

You watch him disappear into the kitchen as you slowly make your way through the living room, looking at the hand-picked furniture with appreciation.  

“Do you want to help me prepare the stew?” Jin asks as you examine the guild portraits hanging on the walls.

Your head snaps up at the prospect of learning a new game skill. “Sure!”

You dutifully walk into the kitchen behind Jin. He retrieves a knife from the counter and passes it to you.

“I hope you don’t mind helping me cut up some vegetables,” he smiles as he opens his player menu. A bundle of carrots appear on the counter next to a cutting board.

“Of course not,” you smile back in response, placing carrots over the cutting board.

You begin cutting the carrots carefully beside him as he continues to peruse his inventory, retrieving the various groceries he had bought at the market. From the corner of your eye, you watch the forms of lettuce, meat, onions, and other small vegetables materialize on the kitchen counter.

“Hm, that’s strange,” Jin breaks the silence with a thoughtful tone. “I don’t remember picking up this flower.”

You turn your attention to him, mentally putting your hands on autopilot as you continue chopping the fresh vegetables.

A dark flower with a long stalk materializes into his hand. Large dark purple, almost black, petals lie open conservatively, as if too timid to fully bloom. The petals remind you of unwashed purple grapes at the grocery store, mimicking their dry white sheen.

“Looks like a tulip,” you comment, removing your gaze from the flower to continue cutting another carrot.

“This isn’t an ingredient I’ve catalogued alchemy effects for. I hope it’s not harmful.”

Before you can ask what he means by ‘catalogued’, you whirl your head around to watch him place the entire flower into his mouth. He quickly consumes the entire stalk, looking as though eating entire flowers is an everyday occurrence for him.

“What th- Oh!” you cry out, distracted from your confusion when you accidentally slice your finger with the kitchen knife. Dark red blood wells up at the surface of the wound.

As the minor wound begins to seal, you notice Jin stiffen beside you.

“You distracted me with your crazy behavior,” you frown, but maintain a playful glint in your eye as you turn to look at the blonde male.

Instead of looking – I don’t know, normal? – you notice his eyes have become heavily lidded. His arms tremble slightly as he clenches his fists. The muscle on the lower half of his face twitches as his jaw sets firmly.

“Jin?” you ask tentatively, wondering if the black tulip’s effect is strange behavior. “You okay? It’s just a little blood. J-Hope cut me up worse yesterday.”

You giggle quietly, lifting your hand to show him the healing finger. The fresh blood has begun to fade away, but remains dark on your finger.

Jin jerks forward, grabbing your hand and pivoting you roughly so that your back faces the counter. He pins your other hand to the side of the counter.

“Jin?” you whisper fearfully, having never seen such a violent reaction from the gentle Bangtan guild member. For the first time, you notice his eyes are a deep rose pink.

He lifts your healed hand by your wrist, holding it up to his mouth. Without warning, he places the bloody digit into his mouth, it carefully.

“What the heck?” you mutter breathlessly, eyebrows furrowing as his mouth retracts from your finger.

Instead of offering an explanation, he merely looks into your eyes. You notice with a start that his pupils have dilated and his rose pink eyes have darkened in color, glinting with golden speckles.

He presses you against the kitchen counter abruptly, pressing his chest into yours as his mouth seeks your throat. You tremble against him as you feel his unexpectedly cool breath on your neck.

“J-Jin?” you squeak, attempting to squirm away. This only appears to encourage his predatory aggression as his grip on your wrists tightens.

You gasp as you feel his tongue graze your neck lightly, tracing a wet pattern over your pulsing blood vessel. Feeling his soft lips on your throat, your knees begin to tremble against his legs. When two sharp teeth press against the surface of the skin, you have just enough clarity of mind to realize your situation before he finally takes action.

His fangs puncture your neck, forcing a choked cry out of you. Your mind suddenly feels too cloudy to process the feeling of your hot blood within the boundary of his cool lips. Intoxicated, you release a throaty moan, blissfully ignorant of your declining health bar.

Somehow, it is the feeling of pressure lifted from your wrists that brings you back to a semi-conscious state. Jin begins to thread his fingers through your hair, fingers pressing firmly against your scalp.

His actions bring you sudden clarity. You bring your hands up to his chest and roughly shove him away from you. Jin’s body slams into the wall, causing him to yelp in pain as he slides to the floor. You shakily steady yourself before grabbing the kitchen knife from the counter.

“H-How dare you!” you stutter furiously, your face flushed and hair mussed as you brandish the improvised weapon. His cloudy expression disappears, replaced by a look of horror as he comes to terms with his actions. Dark red stains his delicately pink lips, dripping over his jaw in a macabre fashion.

“A-ah! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” he exclaims profusely, his eyes wide as he swipes his sleeve across his mouth, darkening the fabric. “I didn’t mean to lose control like that. I’m so sorry, [Y/N]!”

You grip the handle of the kitchen knife firmly, pursing your lips angrily. “You didn’t tell me you were a vampire! I can’t believe you would attack me like that!”

Jin’s eyes redden and begin to glisten. “I was actually planning to tell you here, but I think the plant amplified my thirst. It was bad luck that you happened to cut yourself right then. I’m so sorry!”

Your grip on the knife handle loosens when you look into his glossy eyes. The dark rose pink color has lightened and his pupils have returned to their natural state. His affliction appears to have been chased away. His horrified expression matches his repentant tone, at least.

He frantically pulls up his player menu, fingers pressing into the hologram as his eyes flit over the small screen rapidly. He freezes in place.

“Queen of the Night. I ate a plant called Queen of the Night.” He looks slightly green. “Effects include ‘Increased Vampiric Powers’.”

“And whose brilliant idea was it to eat some random flower? Wasn’t its name available while it was in your inventory?” you screech, lifting your knife once more.

He cowers in his spot on the floor. “It said ‘Unknown Plant Ingredient’! I promise!”

You growl, lowering your knife. After a few seconds of deliberation, you slam the knife flatly onto the counter top. Jin flinches at the sound.

“Quit acting helpless and tell me what’s going on,” you order with annoyance, stepping forward to grasp his hand and pull him back onto his feet.

He swallows nervously, eyes roaming the kitchen. His discomforted gaze rests on a stool near the wall, which he lifts.

“You can have a seat. It’s kind of a long story,” he mutters, gently placing the stool beside you.

You stare at the stool for a moment and decide to comply, seating yourself silently. You look at him with a neutral expression, calmly prompting him to continue.

Jin visibly relaxes, leaning his body against the wall. “It all began with my decision to choose the angel race for myself. None of my friends had chosen that race and it was only available as a choice for a limited time, so I felt pretty excited about it.”

He pauses, frowning at the ground. “Unfortunately for me, there was another guild active during the time that I started the game. A guild that specifically targeted players of the angel race. Their leader took great joy in harassing my friends and I before biting and infecting me.”

You look at him carefully. “Isn’t there a cure for it though?”

“Yes, there is. But it involves brewing a potion,” he pauses, looking unhappy about the memory. “A very expensive potion with rare ingredients.”

“And the incubation period for the disease?”

“Three days.”

You grimace, realizing that the vampire guild had set him up for failure from the start. By targeting new players, they had essentially made it improbable for them to obtain the cure in time.

“You need to check for Active Effects, [Y/N].” Jin appears somber, looking at you with a guilty expression. “I may have infected you.”

You immediately open your holographic player menu to view your Active Effects tab. Under the enchantments of your armor, you notice a red article.

“Morbus Hirudo. Slight vulnerability to fire. Drain stamina five points.”

Jin groans, covering half of his face with his hand. “That’s it. We’re gonna need to go collect the potion ingredients.”

You interrupt him before he can continue. “Wait a second. Maybe becoming a vampire isn’t the worst thing ever? Aren’t there pros and cons to becoming one?”

He sighs in response, “Yeah, I guess so. I suppose I’m a little bitter because I wasn’t really given a choice, and it completely negated a lot of the effects my race gave me.”

Jin began listing the key characteristics of vampirism. You learn that vampirism offers increased strength and speed, as well as resistance to ice magic, poison, and diseases. Those with the affliction even had their own abilities, such as night vision, reanimation, and invisibility for a short period of time. They could even absorb the health of enemies or calm them to momentarily stall a battle.

These impressive gifts came with a heavy price. They were weak to fire magic permanently. Being in direct sunlight impaired their ability to defend themselves and decreased their available stamina, health and mana. Instead of naturally regenerating slowly, these meters would remain stagnant under the sun, forcing them to seek refuge during the daylight hours of the game. Starving oneself of blood helped amplify their vampiric powers, but it also amplified their weaknesses.

“You can’t really hope to benefit that much from vampirism unless you’re willing to play into their lifestyle,” Jin concluded, eyes boring into yours as you mulled over the information in your head.

You sigh, leaning backwards against the kitchen counter. “I guess you’re right. It wouldn’t do me any good to make such a rash decision. I’ll try to find the cure then.”

Jin smiled gently, “Good. I’ll help you, and I’m sure the guild will help you as well. We can go look for the first ingredient tomorrow, since it’s getting late today.”

He paused, and his smile drooped slightly. “I must warn you, though. The reason these ingredients are difficult to find is not because they’re sparse, but because of the creatures that guard them.”

“What do you mean?”

“In order to make a potion to cure vampirism, you need ingredients specific to vampires and to werewolves. Obviously, the werewolf guild isn’t likely to share anything from their den, even if it is to prevent vampirism.

And like I said before, the vampires of the Bloody Roses guild are reluctant to let go of potential recruits, so they guard the ingredients to prevent others from curing themselves.”

Your eyes widen upon hearing the name of the vampire guild. You suddenly remember the stranger at the Enchantment Emporium, with his mysterious rose pink eyes. Rose pink eyes that look exactly like Jin’s.

“For a lovely rose,” you mutter out loud, quickly retrieving the anonymous note from your inventory. You wordlessly hand the small piece of parchment to Jin.

His face pales upon reading the note. “W-where did you get this?”

“It was from the stranger at the emporium who paid for my enchantment,” you explain, frowning at his reaction.

“What did he look like?”

“He was tall and slim. He had sandy brown hair. And rose pink eyes, just like yours,” you answer quietly, looking carefully at his face, which turns even paler.

“Unbelievable,” he breathes out, staring at the counter. “It’s him.”

“Who?” you ask impatiently.

“Ken,” Jin murmurs quietly, returning his eyes to yours. There’s a cold fury within them that you’ve never seen since meeting the mild-mannered blonde male.

“The man who infected me. And the leader of the Bloody Roses.”