Waiting for hours in a long queue felt like a lot of wasted time now that Jongin feels the weight of ViRIS in his hands. There's nothing so special about the lightweight, crown-like game console that Sehun has tricked him into buying. He's hasn't even played a single RPG game in his whole life, preferring to be in his dance classes or in his room peacefully sleeping during his free time. So why has he spent a good part of his money (though he's not financially challenged, thanks to his parents) on said contraption?

Right, Oh Sehun.

Bestfriend and best pest Jongin could ever asked for in his life.

He and Sehun had been best friends since they met in Jongin's second dance class after learning ballet, hiphop. It's safe to say that the two of them got along well because of similar interests that is why it was so out of character for Sehun to beg Jongin to buy himself his own ViRIS (or Virtual Reality Interface System) so that they could play the game that every RPG player has been raving about, Exonia.

Jongin had protested, of course. All those years of knowing Sehun, he has learned that his bestfriend does things that he hasn't given that much thought, thus, resulting into a disaster which will involve him, one way or the other. So to protect himself, he demanded that he knows about the reason why Sehun has been whining about a companion to play Exonia and that Jongin is the only person with a golden heart and zero knowledge of the game that he knows of.

"Please, Jongin! This is the only way that I could ever be in my Lulu's radar. Please, I'm begging you!"

Keyword Lulu was used and Jongin knew better than to stand firm on his ground. Sehun will not accept a no when it comes to his Lulu. IdiotHun couldn't even get enough guts to talk to his Lulu and yet he goes about claiming the senior Computer Science student, daydreaming about him and talking Jongin's ears off on how amazing and perfect Xi Luhan is.

A little more prying from Sehun and Jongin was able to piece everything together. He couldn't even trust Sehun to say them logically without his intervention.

So Luhan, being a game nerd that he is, is playing Exonia and has been freely talking to anyone who plays as well. The senior feels so passionate about the game that he has started quite a number of forums as well as a walkthrough for beginners that Sehun has gotten his hands on and has two copies ready. One for him and one for Jongin. What's basically his plan is to get himself into Exonia as well and try to approach Luhan for any tips so that they could advance in the game and for Sehun, towards his Lulu's favors.

Jongin doubts that Sehun's plan will work but he could only sigh as he inspected the ViRIS that will soon be on his head. It's whole body is silver and made out of some light metal that Jongin didn't bother to know. It was designed to calibrate itself once worn on the head like some kind of a crown and the small rectangular sensor in front should be on top of the player's forehead. He set down the box on the floor and took out the instruction manual tablet that he made sure to scan first.

The instructions told him how to wear the ViRIS and how to start its calibration. Good thing that it has a built in battery that could last for twelve hours of continuous game because Jongin is not good with wires. He nestled the device on top of his head and felt for the small protrusion that is the switch to power up the ViRIS.

"Thank you for purchasing ViRIS. Please relax as the calibration process will start in three, two, one..."

The monotone female voice has helped Jongin to calm himself down and believe that nothing is going to happen to him. ViRIS is a state of the art, flagship technology that has been under decades of study and efforts from a hundred-strong R and D team but Jongin is still apprehensive as the manual has indicated that slight pain and discomfort will be felt during the calibration.

"Kindly stand straight with both of your arms on your sides. The scan should only take a second."

On cue, the ViRIS has detached itself from Jongin's head and it grew double its size. Faint blue light emitted from the device and scanned Jongin starting from his head and up to his toes.

"Data being processed."

He remained calm as the ViRIS contracted to a smaller size until it's set securely on Jongin's forehead. There was a soft hum that sends faint vibrations from where it is making contact on his head that started to get annoying after half a minute or so.

"For the last steps of the calibration, the settings will be fine tuned in accordance to your comfort level. Please say 'stop' once the sensation that you will feel is as close as possible to what you are used to. We will start with your vision..."

It was a tedious task, calibration. But Jongin had to be patient because he has already gone as far as buying the ViRIS so he might as well get the value of his money. After several minutes, a few 'stop's and a small hologram screen appearing right before his eyes, the voice coming from the console has told him that he is ready to go and venture the world of virtual reality.

Curiousity has grown in him, actually, so Jongin felt around for the game package so that he could see for himself what is so good about Exonia. He almost forgot that he could still use his own two eyes until he starts the game that he wasn't able to get the little box that contains the game as quickly as he would've wanted. It's a mere chip, not any bigger than the pad of his thumb, which will be slotted inside the ViRIS to be able to be activated.

The packaging isn't too impressive but Jongin has read that players inside Exonia will be choosing which power they will hone in order to complete quests, kill monsters and challenge other players. The game is just like any other RPG game where you do things that will let you earn experience, money and items. The higher your level, the better. There are even events and tournaments hosted for the players where the best of the best gathers and competes for the title of the best Exonian.

Jongin has known this because Sehun has yapped about Luhan being present in all of these and though he wasn't one of the top players, the senior is pretty popular, what with his pretty manly character who could move things at will. It's known that the look of your avatar will resemble you with just a few embellishments but nevertheless, it will be as if you're in the actual game for real.

Well, the whole point of playing games in the virtual reality plane.

He checked the time and stopped his stalling when the clock on the upper left side of the hologram screen says that it's only five minutes before his and Sehun's discussed meeting time at Exonia's starting point. On cue, his phone beeped once. Sure enough, it was a message from Sehun, reminding him of their meeting time and saying that he will be starting the game as soon as his message was sent.

Taking a deep breath, Jongin felt for the game slot and slid the Exonia's chip inside. Right beside the time, the icon telling him that he's already online appeared.

There's no backing out now.

"ViRIS initiate.”

"Kris, you dumb dragon! Wait for me, man!" Chanyeol yelled as loud as he could but the he calls his bestfriend huffed an indignant dragon breath at him and continued to fly over him in his mighty dragon form. They are about to head on the Northern Mountains but the dragon is too proud to transform back to his