It was a long time before Jin opened up that particular save file again.

As strange and inexplicable as his experience was, he never really could blame the game itself, after all; he could have fallen asleep after a tough gaming round and sleepwalked. He knows plenty of sleep-deprived students who have sleepwalked, even sleep-made ramen. On the hob and everything. One of his mates had an entire conversation on the phone while asleep and had no idea he’d agreed to plans the next day.

But that never stopped that lingering, subconscious suspicion at the very back of his mind.

Finals season had been just around the corner after that night at the library. Whether or not he’d intended to, the game was set aside as he buckled down and tried to salvage his semester of playing around into something passable. All dreams of having a third eye-hole created for him at the hands of a great and terrible warrior began to fade into more general anxiety nightmares, some of which involving animate and vicious text books out for his blood.

His roommate and best friend Yoongi had barely talked to him for three weeks now, aside from fussing over whether he was sleeping well and fully recovered from the scare they all had. Besides that, he had his head glued to his laptop, his treasure beyond all else containing his thought-babies in various word documents.

Jin couldn’t blame him, of course, although he did at times feel a little lonely. And so, Jin sought companionship in other forms – no, not like that, he turned to his video game characters.

Jin switched off the lights to the empty dorm room after shifting his laptop up onto his bed, which was a bunk over his desk. He hauled himself up the uncomfortable steps and into his nest, ruffling himself in like a guineapig in hay. Being so close to the ceiling, he could only lie down, and prop himself up so his forehead was very close to the plaster; he was surrounded by dull shades of white and gray, no distractions around him. Yoongi was diligently at the library, using the reference books they weren’t allowed to take out of the building.

Jin scrolled through the save screen, looking at his most recent exploits in the game. Instead of loading the part he was stuck on, he decided to go to the save before, in which he hadn’t instructed all the main non-player characters to go to the settlement to prepare its defence. In this save, it was still the morning, and all his favourite characters were in a town just south of the forest. They were further away from the impending danger there, and he was busy rallying up every NPC he could find with a backbone to come to his settlement, which was currently the only buffer between the enemy and the rest of the kingdom.

The loading screen went dark, and Jin almost squealed as the game opened to reveal Hoseok the archer, just as he’d perfected in the character creator. Jin did admit to himself that it was lame and weird, but there were quite a few classmate inserts ever since he discovered he could customise NPCs. Yes, even Yoongi was slotted into the game as his sturdy, faithful smithy. He wouldn’t be joining him in battle but enchanted his sword when asked politely.

Jin had clearly just been talking to him before saving the game. His rapport with game-Hoseok was very high, of course not completed; he was only two chapters in to the storyline. But he really liked Hoseok’s character arc, and his personal quest was something he was looking for any cues to unlock.

It all came flooding back. Jin had just been trying to build his relationship with Hoseok lazily by giving him a gift from his inventory. Hoseok hadn’t quite appreciated it like he thought. Not a superficial fellow, it turns out. Maybe that would work better on other characters. He was still 85% positive on his stats though.

He decided it would be for the best to try some other avenues for now. There might be some quests he hadn’t uncovered yet in the area that would help him with the battle to come.

Jin took in his surroundings. He was on the rural outskirts of the town, blue skies and thatched houses all around him. There were paddocks with small groups of livestock, which he’d early on learned not to mess with, lest he wish to summon their daemon guardian… It served him right. He found himself musing that he’d mostly completed city tasks, and he might very well find something here.

He ventured off from his favourite archer, slowly inspecting around for clues. As he paced down the main road, he noticed a small grit path which strayed from the central area, slightly hidden by two houses. Curiosity piqued, he dived down the path, remaining fenced not by houses now but by adjacent paddocks. It steered him past livestock and towards the forest. From afar, nothing seemed awry; however, as he came up to the trees he could make out a foot-beaten track and gap in the undergrowth. Intrigued, he decided to do a quick save and made his way through the twigs.

The screen went to a transition loading page for going between areas. In the brief transition, Jin wondered what lay in stock for him. What lay before him was much more than he anticipated.

The game loaded straight into a mini cut-scene which showed him a trail before him, one messied with dead small mammals. Shocked and taken aback, it took Jin a moment to notice as the camera panned up the path that there was a figure crouching over an obscured object. As soon as Jin’s eyes focussed upon the silhouette, the other had gotten up and fled, object in hand.

Immediately Jin decided to pursue the person, taking off down the meandering path and dodging around the tightening undergrowth. The other was nimble and agile in a way Jin’s character wasn’t built to be, and soon he felt as if he were chasing shadows, that is, until he came to a clearing in the woods.

The sun revealed itself in this hidden glade, casting a dark shadow over the back of the person before him. The other’s chest was heaving unnaturally, quickly making it apparent to Jin that it wasn’t a result of their brief chase. The other was clutching the jagged object in their left hand so tightly it started to drip with their blood.

Gobsmacked, Jin watched in horror as the other began to twinkle gently in the sunlight. He knew as he stood there it was the calm before the storm. The figure suddenly twirled their upper body around to face Jin for the first time, making the real Jin jump sky high, hitting his head on his ceiling.

“,” Jin exclaims as the almost rabid-looking person screams and rushes at him, blood-smeared object raised above his head like a javelin.

He feels his fingers slip around the keys of his controller as he sweatily fumbled to fight his adversary. He wondered what on earth he had done to provoke the other. He was dying to know.

This thing was dealing immense damage every time it landed a hit on Jin. He had to make sure he evaded every swing or he would be a gonner in three or four hits. A tiny hint was flashing in the corner of his screen. In between dodging this beast and trying to land a hit with his comparably flimsy sword, he tried to read the little notification.

His hits were doing absolutely no damage. Just as he thought he was a goner, a new option flashed onto his screen. It said wrestle.

As soon as he pressed the button to initiate the special move, he was affronted by a bogglingly complex sequence of buttons to hit, a five-second timer and an extremely close up view of his character locking wrists with the monster-man before him. The other was both humanlike and beastly, with beady black eyes and round-ish cheeks, pointy teeth and chestnut hair.

Jin failed the first sequence, however miraculously escaped being wrestled to the ground himself and supposedly ripped to pieces. Now it was a dance until he could get close enough to initiate the special move again.

The other was wearing a dark green overcoat which billowed around him with his lightning footwork and panther-like circling. Beneath the coat Jin caught glimpses of a hardened leather vest, protecting his core. His trousers were a tight weave, something Jin knew you could only get much further south than here. His boots were leather and small, leaving him quick and secure on his feet.

The time came again and Jin pulled no punches this time. He dared not blink as he whizzed through the sequence, not missing a beat. Success. Jin used the other’s hyper momentum to blunder him to the ground, wrestling the object from the other’s iron fist, the monstrous being screeching hideously all the while.

The object was a curious one; incredibly smooth but jagged in edge, a dark jade marbling through it, looking in shape like a lightning strike. The wriggling mess beneath him became frantic for it, only able to grab at dirt. A few seconds longer, and he went completely still.

Frozen to the spot, Jin didn’t move from on top of the other, frightened he would leap up and demolish him. However, it seemed all was still. The strange being was already going through some curious change before Jin’s very eyes.

His teeth no longer seemed out of the ordinary. His eyes were not a black abyss but brown, staring off into the far distance. They were unconscious. Jin gingerly decided to climb off the person and let them breathe.

The other twitched and stirred. Jin instantly began regretting his decision, however he quickly became aware that the person before him now was not the same as the one he faced before. This one could talk.

“Mister… Where are we?” He sounded shaken and afraid. He was clearly young, with darting eyes and soft features. Jin realised this was in fact how Jungkook had spawned into the game when he had created all the main characters to meet later in the storyline. Holy hell, he had not expected that.

Jin tried to calm the other down, but as soon as he saw what Jin was holding he scrambled away in fear. “G-get that thing away from me!” His voice cracked. The object in Jin’s hand throbbed, as if it sensed Jungkook’s energy.

Jin quickly realised he possessed something with great power over the other. The screen went darker and two options appeared on the screen, one red, one blue. Jungkook’s terrified face blinked at him over the textboxes, staring at him.

“Use”         “Put away”

Jin was immensely drawn to selecting the ‘use’ option. The prospect sent his heart racing – it seemed he had the chance to control Jungkook like this. However, his magic bar was low as low can be and he wasn’t certain to what extent he’d have an awesome new party character versus how much it would screw up his own character, like the time he tried to join the Dragonborne cult and he ended up with immense power for five seconds before the dragon mother ate him.

Jungkook watches with bated breath as Jin slowly secures the bolt in his drawstring bag. The thing out of sight, he let out the breath he was holding and falls back to the ground, a puff of dust rising around him.

Jin has so many questions for Jungkook, but couldn’t ask any. He simply watched as the other composed himself and sat up, suddenly aware that he was now looking at the top of the other’s head as Jungkook bowed to him.

“Thank you.”

And with that, the other made speed on the lightest feet Jin had ever seen. He was alone.

-----

Jin looked around him. Something felt… off.

He’d saved and quit his game - that was all fine. He felt as if he were making progress, finally. But something else was off, as he sat at his desk staring at nothing. He should really get into bed.

Jin thought about that for a second. He shook the silly idea out of his head. Of course he’d been sitting at his desk the whole time… right?