Jisoo’s POV

 

I woke up from my slumber feeling refreshed. The events from yesterday came rushing straight to my mind. Somehow, I had found out about the person behind Mandus4Life, and I must say, I am extremely surprised that it was Jennie. Thinking back now, it actually makes sense. Her character in game was straight up gorgeous, just like Jen-

 

Wait, was I about to say… Jennie?

 

I shrugged the thought off and brought the scrambled eggs, poached eggs and omelette I made for breakfast into my room in order to eat and play at the same time. Rule number 1 of being a gamer: Gaming consists of having meals together.

 

The game launched and I logged into my account, pleased with the character that I had created. I will forever be proud of my customisation skills for having the brains to create such a beauty. My character was a female character with bunny ears and a tail. It’s definitely one of the cutest character I have ever stumbled upon in game.

 

Upon entering the server, the friend list indicated that Jennie had been online for the past hour. I double clicked her name and started a chat with her.

 

 

FriendlyChu<3:

Hey

You up so early?

 

Mandus4Life:

Yeah

 

FriendlyChu<3:

Could it be that…

You were looking forward to playing with me?

 

Mandus4Life:

What?!?

No???

What kind of nonsense are you saying?

 

FriendlyChu<3:

Really? :(

 

Mandus4Life:

Yes, I was trying to level up as much as possible before you came online

 

FriendlyChu<3:

It wasn’t because you were thinking of me?

 

 

Mandus4Life:

No.

 

FriendlyChu<3:

Why?

Am I not enough? :(

 

 

Mandus4Life:

No.

 

FriendlyChu<3:

But…

I was thinking of you

I was so excited to play with you

Am I nothing to you? :(

 

Mandus4Life:

Yes.

 

FriendlyChu<3:

:(

Brb, lemme go cry for a sec

 

 

 

I was trying to tease Jennie but got my heart broken in exchange. I mean, she’s just a friend. An online gaming friend, a classmate, and a potential girlf-

 

Jesus Jisoo, you must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed today

 

All of a sudden, the Skype ringtone started playing and I looked at my screen, seeing an incoming call from Jennie.

 

“Hello?” I spoke and alternate tab back into the game, waiting for her reply. “Good morning Jisoo.” Oh my god, how can someone sound so good in the morning. It’s almost as if I am thirsting over Jen-

 

What the heck are you even thinking about Kim Jisoo? I mentally cursed at myself and gave myself a light slap on the cheek. “G-Good morning.”

 

“What took you so long to come online today?” I was confused at Jennie’s question for a second as I was pretty sure I logged in at 9am, the time that we agreed to play together. “Erm… To be exact I came on at 8.59am. If you want the milliseconds then its 34 milliseconds. I wasn’t late though?”

 

“I guess I was the only one excited for today.”

 

“You what? I thought you said you weren’t looking forward to today?”

 

“I was until someone decided to log in just before the stipulated timing. God I even woke up an hour earlier to come online, in hopes of seeing a certain gaming addict playing early.”

 

Jennie woke up early… to play? With me? ME?!?

 

“Yahoo?? You there? Jisoo? Is Skype lagging?” I heard Jennie over the call talking repeatedly as she thought that there was a problem with the internet connection. However, it was my brain that was lagging and processing her words. There was probably a ‘wifi’ of 1 bar in my brain right now.

 

I quickly offed the ‘wifi’ and switched over to ‘4G’. “Y-Yeah, I’m still here. I was looking forward to playing with you as well! I just thought you wouldn’t play earlier and I decided not to as well because playing alone isn’t as fun.”

 

“Aww Jisoo, are you finally admitting that you enjoy playing with me? I remember just recently how much you actually loathed my presence as I kept disturbing you.”

 

“What?? No, I didn’t loathe you. I mean… you were kinda annoying but, I have come to realise just how much fun it was having someone to play with. I have been playing solo for so long and having a friend in game really makes a huge difference.”

 

“Guess it was worth being an idiot in the game huh? Letting you kill me and in return, you get a friend.” I heard Jennie’s giggles over the call and can I just say, that has to be one of the best sounds in the world.

 

“Yeah. It was totally worth joining the dying club with you.”

 

 

 

“Mhm, so you mentioned Lisa was going to join us today?” I suddenly remembered the existence of my friend and looked at my phone to see her bombarding my text messages.

 

“Yeah, she isn’t important so let’s ignore her for now. Shall we start off with some dungeons?” I placed my phone aside and set it to ‘Do not disturb’.

 

Jennie giggled once again and accepted the party invitation I sent. “Do we have to look out for the priest? She might be lurking somewhere.” My senses heightened and I took out my bow the moment we stepped foot outside the town.

 

“Have no fear, Jisoo is here!”

 

“What are you? Superman? Because if superman were to be someone… I doubt you will be him. I thought superheroes were supposed to be invincible and overpowered?”

 

“God Jennie, I was trying to sound brave and give you this sense of security. Let me breath lady.”

I pouted at her words as I certainly am not capable of protecting the both of us from an evil priest.

 

“Ok sure. Please protect me Super Jisoo! I’m a damsel in distress. Save me!” Jennie’s tone was mocking and she was full out teasing me. Somehow, from the moment I interacted with Jennie this morning, she has only been teasing me non-stop.

 

I sighed and continued moving in game while being alert to my surroundings. We managed to make it halfway to the dungeon without any obstacles along the way. Perhaps, the priest is really at church on a Sunday morning? Hallelujah, all hail the gods!

 

We have been dungeoning for the past hour and we quickly made it to the boss stage designed for players level ranging from 35 to 40.

 

“Hey Jen, what level are you again?”

 

“40, why?”

 

“Hmm, ok.” The dungeons for the past hour had allowed Jennie to level up twice. At the rate we are going, she should be able to reach Level 45 within the next 3 hours. It would be really beneficial for the both of us if she is able to reach Level 45 and advance to the next class in order for us to stand a better chance at killing the priest.

 

 

 

“Jennie, you’ll take on the boss alone.”

 

“What?!? Alone?? Are you kidding me right now?” I could practically hear her confusion laced with rage over the call. I had to turn down the volume from 50 to 20 to prevent my eardrums from bursting.

 

“Yes Jen, alone. If I participate in the boss fight the EXP you can gain from killing the boss will be shared equally amongst both of us. But if you solo fight, you can get all the EXP and this should allow you to level up once more.”

 

The call was silent and I could hear her contemplating over the suggestion I gave. “But… If I die, I lose 50% of my EXP…”

 

“Eh, so are you telling me that you can’t do it? That you are a weakling who will only be a prey and never a predator?” I was trying to provoke Jennie and get her to muster the courage to fight the boss alone. Of course, I would quickly step in to help her should I see her HP drop below 20%.

 

“Ya Kim Jisoo! I am only a prey for now because predators like you and that priest feed on the weak! Wait, I mean feed on those who aren’t as experienced and strong!”

 

“Yeah yeah, just say that you are weak and go. Come on, Jennoob, let’s fight the boss together.”

 

“No! I will kill the boss myself. You cunning bowman, stay aside. I will prove my worth to you. I am no weakling!” I was smiling as I had successfully provoked Jennie into fighting the boss alone.

 

Based on my experience with this game, I calculated that Jennie will be able to kill the boss within 10 minutes. Even though she is a mage and will only fare well at ranged fights, she should be able to defeat the boss if she manages to play her cards right. Plus, this dungeon is suitable for players up to Level 40, so Jennie being a Level 40 player shouldn’t face any problems.

 

The both of us entered the boss room and I stood by the door, watching Jennie’s character walk towards the center to initiate the fight. A few seconds later, the boss emerged and Jennie quickly launched spells after spells to combat the boss.

 

In the midst of the battle, I grew bored watching her fight and scrolled through my phone to read Lisa’s texts.

 

 

 

Limario:

Yo wassup wassup!

Im ready to play, what time should we play?

 

Limario:

Hello???

It has been 5 mins and you haven’t read my chat

You still sleeping or what?

 

Limario:

Answer me now or I’ll make all chickens in this world go extinct!!!

Believe me, with a snap of my fingers, all chickens will cease to exist!

 

 

Limario:

I- I can’t believe you are ignoring me…

My heart is broken

It has shattered into a million pieces and can never be mended

I guess, this is where I say my goodbyes

Please tell my family that I love them

Tell my cats that they will be missed and are all equally loved

But please help me to bring Leo to one side and tell him he is actually my most precious baby

 

Limario:

YA!

I have gave you a wholeass speech and you still aren’t online?

Jisoos christ it has been like an hour

Where the hell are you bro?

I’m going to play the game on my own 3, I hate you

 

Limario:

Jisoo I love you, please help me, I’m stuck at this quest

 

 

 

I was reading Lisa’s text and shook my head for having a dramatic friend like her. I was typing my message to Lisa when a voice brought me back to what I was doing earlier on.

 

“KIM JISOOOOOOO!!! HELP ME!!!” I instantly perked up on my seat and looked at the top left to check Jennie’s