LOADING…

The loading screen was enough for me to get nauseous. The letters were too close to my face and the loading icon made me gag and want to throw up. I turned my head, praying that that would help the feeling go away.

My stomach continued churning for two whole minutes, refusing to let me open my eyes until it adjusted. After those two minutes, I slowly opened them. The splash screen had appeared with the Paracosmos logo shining in bright white text. An epic low brass soundtrack played in the background, reminding me of the music that Mina often had playing over her speakers. Despite the fact that the music was cool as hell, I instead gawked at the beauty that was the forest behind the splash screen text. It looked so real, like I was truly outside watching the trees as the sun was setting.

A prompt popped up.

>Start New Game?

I fumbled to press the right button, not even sure how to do that. I didn't know what button I pressed, but the game went dark for a second and a new prompt appeared:

>Single Player Mode (Story Mode, Available for Offline Play)
>Online Mode (Internet Connection Required for Online Play)

“Single player means I’ll be alone, so, uh, Mina is probably in the online one, right?” I asked no one in particular. “Dammit. I hope I’m right…” I selected Online Mode.

>Create a Username

I tried “Chaeyoung” but apparently that was already taken, which is always a frustrating thing to read. I decided to try out the username I used on some of my social media, so I carefully selected all of the letters to spell out “ChaeYoungster”. Thankfully, it let me through after that.

I was asked to select one of two options next:

>Create A Character
>Randomize

“I don't have time to make a character,” I said to myself, and chose to randomize. Surely the outcome didn't matter. Mina played a so-called Skyrim game where she spent hours making characters of different races and it still started with the same cutscene every time. Maybe Paracosmos would be the same?

It showed me the result of the randomizer but I had been impatiently pressing random buttons while waiting and accidentally skipped all that. Immediately after, the game unceremoniously dropped me in the middle of what looked like a desolate town. After that, it asked:

>ChaeYoungster, Play the Tutorial? (You can still choose to watch the tutorial in the menu.)

Feeling like I didn't really need to know how to smash a bunch of buttons, I decided to skip the tutorial. I would regret that decision in a couple of minutes.

I looked around inside the world I was in, shocked that I could turn my physical head around and see the rest of the virtual town behind me, like one can do in real life. It was oddly breathtaking. I’d always wanted a game like this in Chuck E Cheese’s, where you could look around and play in a new world for a bit, and there I was, finally getting my wish because of VR.

The small town looked a whole lot like Belle’s in Beauty and the Beast, except this one had crumbling buildings, overgrown grass and a poorly managed road in the middle. There was no one in sight, making it seem even creepier, like a ghost town. Not even the sight of the beautiful forest beyond the town could help the chills from running down my spine.

I tried moving around, afraid to stay in one spot for too long, but found that I couldn't. I didn't know the buttons for that.

“, how do I walk?” I freaked out. Why did I skip the tutorial? What buttons made me go? Was I gonna be stuck in that spot forever? I remembered that the game told me to go to the menu to watch the tutorial again, but I didn't know what button would take me there.

“Hello? Anyone here? I don't know how to move and I skipped the tutorial. Can anyone help me?” I called out, my voice simply bouncing off the walls. Besides myself, the only thing I could hear was a bunch of windows being thrown around by the wind, flapping and banging into walls.

I didn't know what to do. Without the ability to move forward and backward, I wouldn't be able to advance through the game. Everyone always mentioned that you can only leave the game through a checkpoint, and I was sure that the first checkpoint wasn't right where I was standing, or else no one complain about it being so unreachable.

I looked up and saw a bright blue arrow flashing above my head, pointing to the east of me. What it was pointing to exactly, I did not know. If I couldn't get my feet to work with me, then it was pointless to think about going anywhere. I put that fact aside for later use.

After a bit, I moved my fingers up and down the controllers and found the buttons to move. Thankfully it hadn't taken me that long to do so, so I hadn't wasted too much valuable time trying to find the buttons. Even though no one was watching, I was still embarrassed, as walking was probably the easiest thing in this game and I still managed to find a way to make that a problem. Leave it to Son Chaeyoung to do the impossible.

I knocked on the nearest door, which required me to make a knocking motion IRL. I tried opening the door and found that it was locked. By the looks of it, I could have easily knocked the door down with a solid kick, but the game developers clearly respected doors more than I did, because there was no button that would let me do that. Instead of entering through the door, I peeked through a nearby window and spotted a bottle sitting on a table in the living room. The game told me to press a certain button to open the window, so I did, despite my morality telling me that it's illegal to break into homes. It’s just a game, though, right? If the game said I could, then there was probably nothing wrong with it.

My shoe got caught on the windowsill as I tried to climb in, causing me to lose my balance and crash into a large and expensive-looking vase collection inside the house. I didn't notice at the time, it felt like such a small thing, but my right leg hurt a bit after that.

I got up, snatched the bottle and quickly ducked inside a cabinet, afraid all of the noise I caused would attract unwanted attention. When nothing happened after a minute of hiding, I decided to inspect the bottle I had just stolen. Above it appeared the text:

This glowing potion is rumored to be used by Mages after they've exhausted their powers. (Recover 20 MP.)

MP? I didn't know what that was. I held onto it just in case that was an important term or something. I searched around the rest of the house, wondering if there was anything else that I could use.

I found a neat looking backpack inside a room. The game told me that it was capable of holding more items than it looked. After searching some more, I found 50G, which I assumed was gold, under a bed and two health potions hidden in a closet. I stuffed all of that in my new backpack, throwing the first potion I had found in there as well.

I explored more of the town afterwards, looting nine or ten houses, and collected a hefty amount of gold, magic potions and health potions. I proudly puffed up my chest. “I've been in this game for a while and haven't needed a single potion yet! Maybe I'm gonna be really good at this game!”

That's when an arrow flew past my head.

I yelped and ran behind the nearest building. I wasn't sure who shot it but I found it really ing rude to just shoot at a person out of nowhere. I snuck a peek from the corner to see if the enemy had lost me and screamed loudly when an arrow narrowly missed my right eye.

I stumbled into an alleyway, hoping to get as far away from my assailant as possible. Was that an online player? Or was it a monster? If it was a monster, then that really . I didn't even have a weapon yet and I was already in a random encounter with an enemy.

Very faintly, I heard a voice. “Hey! I heard someone call for help! Sorry I scared you! Come out and say hello!”

It seemed like a sincere and friendly voice, so I stepped out of my hiding spot and called out to them.

“Oh? Hello!” I waved at them to come closer. The masked assailant waved back and came closer to me. Once they were 10 feet away, though, they pulled out their bow and shot a third arrow at me.

This one didn't miss.

The sheer force of the arrow piercing my shoulder knocked me backwards onto the dusty brick road. I stared at the arrow protruding from my body, my eyes completely wide. They had shot me so mercilessly, what the hell?

When the pain finally settled in, a wail escaped my lips. There was absolutely no explanation as to why I was in such pain! There wasn't any mention in the warning screen about you actually feeling anything at all. I felt what I felt, though, despite what the game did or did not say, and what I felt could not be described with words.

I grabbed the arrow, which had lodged itself into my shoulder, and tried pulling it out. It was too unbearable, though, so much so that it caused my vision to fade.

The person that shot me stepped closer and removed their mask. It was a girl with long electric blue hair in a ponytail. I can't believe that my gay thoughts surfaced even under extreme pain, but wow, she was extremely beautiful. Very faintly, above her head, was her username and level. I read that DugunDubuDugun was her username and that she was level 20.

The girl frowned and crouched next to me. She was so close, I could smell her leather armor. “You got blood on my arrow,” she simply said, establishing early on that she did not give a about me. She firmly grabbed the part of the arrow that was not inside of me and with absolutely no hesitation, pulled it out, causing me to cry out again.

I shut my eyes tightly, clenched my teeth and slammed a fist down onto the ground, trying really hard not to pass out. This task proved itself difficult.

She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and gave me a look of distaste. “Don’t be annoying. It's just a game. You didn’t feel any of that.”

“N-no,” I managed to say, noticing from the corner of my eye the pool of blood that had formed around me, “it actually r-really hurts. Help me, please…” It was pathetic of me to beg her for aid, I know, but the agony of the arrow wound was too much for me to care about dignity. I was already close to passing out, and I didn't know what would happen if I did. Doubtful that anything good would happen.

The blue-haired girl’s eyebrows quirked and her frown turned into a look of dread. “You too?”

“Dahyun, hurry, we left our stuff out in the open.” A second person rounded the corner of the building and my pain subsided the second I saw her face. She was a beautiful girl, definitely Asian like the first girl, who I presumed was Dahyun, and I. Her hair was long and brown, and she was wearing silver-looking armor.

My mind reeled at the thought of two incredibly pretty girls seeing me on the floor in a pool of my own blood. I tried to sit up but all I really managed to do was slip on the blood and land on my stomach.

I looked up at the team of two and outstretched my hand. “P-please help me,” I managed to choke out, “I don't know what's ha-happening. It's not supposed to hurt like this. It's just a v-v-video game…” Speaking proved to be too hard of a task, so I rested my forehead against the cool brick road, awaiting a response.

“What did she say? Did she just say that it hurts?” The second girl grabbed Dahyun and led her away from me. I don't know if they did it purposefully, but I could hear everything they said.

“Yeah, she said she's in pain. And it doesn't look like she's faking it… I might not be the only one who's been experiencing this,” Dahyun said, her voice shaking.

“You were right. Someone caused the server to mess up. That's the only explanation, right? Everything was fine until a couple hours ago,” the taller girl said. I quickly looked up at her and caught sight of her username and level. ChocoChewy, level 20. I put my head back down when I started getting dizzy again.

“I don't know, Tzuyu,” Dahyun said, biting her lip. “It’s not happening to you, thank god, but that could change at any minute. I don't want you to feel what I've been feeling these past couple hours. Besides, who’s stupid enough to remove their headset while playing? Everyone that bought this game knew about the bug. Unless they lived under a rock, then they knew not to do that.”

I didn't have the strength to defend myself or inform them that I wasn't stupid, that I had just panicked and completely forgotten to not remove the headset. Unfortunately, all I could do was listen.

“Well, good thing we found that huge stash of health potions, then!” Tzuyu said, clearly trying to lighten the mood. It wasn't helping at all. In my case, at least. I was still dying on the floor.

“Yeah, but I still feel like we need more. If this is gonna be a thing until we find another checkpoint, then we better find a ton more, or else when we run out I’ll suffer. I really feel it. We’re both gonna suffer without enough potions if things get worse and you start feeling it too. Get Gucci to sniff more out, please.”

“What's a Gucci?” I whispered to myself, not sure what a ing bag could do at this moment. I looked up in time to see the taller girl, Tzuyu, put her fingers to her lips and whistle sharply. It echoed across the town, past the fields, into the neighboring forest. Nothing happened for a couple seconds.

“Um,” I repeated as loudly as I could, “what's a Guc-”

I was interrupted by the shaking. It was almost like an earthquake but worse since my body bounced around, causing my wound to open up more and my blood to pour out at an even faster rate.

The earthquake got stronger, when suddenly, a giant white and orange...thing… came lumbering towards Tzuyu.

She was in danger, and you bet my gay was about to save this cute girl from that.

Adrenaline rushed through my veins, helping me find the strength to get up. I hobbled my way to her, (somewhat) firmly planting myself between her and the giant furball. The animal slammed into me, no problem at all, and next thing I knew I was flying into the air. I caught a very brief glimpse of the entire town when gravity took over and I landed in the same spot with a sick crunch.

As the dust settled around me, I could hear nothing but Tzuyu joke. “The rag-doll physics this game uses are just too much, aren't they?”

I heard a dog panting near me, so I found the strength to quickly flip myself over. I was met with the wet snout of a three-headed dog.

If I wasn't in so much pain I would have actually gotten up and ran for the hills. Instead, I settled with simply stating “Oh.”

“Anyway,” Tzuyu said, “okay, baby, go and sniff out more potions, okay? Go, Gucci, go!”

No way she was talking to that giant beast. No ing way.

Except she apparently was, because Gucci the three-headed dog ambled closer to me, sniffed me, and started barking.

“Does this girl really have enough potions for Gucci to care?” Dahyun asked Tzuyu as she stepped closer to me.

“F-forty potions,” I gasped out, my mind not really processing this wild situation.

“Did this corpse just talk?” Dahyun joked, crouching next to me. “I thought you’d be dead by now.” She put on a serious expression and extended a hand towards me. I took it as her offering her hand to help me up, so I grabbed it and tried to help myself up, but she let go and caused me to fall back down.

I spit out the mouthful of dirt she caused me to eat and glared at her. “What the hell, dude? Are you not gonna help me up?” I reached for her hand again but instead, she frowned at me.

“Listen. You're of no use to Tzuyu and I. Just hand over all of your potions. Every single one of them.”

A different sensation creeped into my heart: bewilderment.

“B-but I'm bleeding! I'm actually hurt! Th-that giant dog probably broke at least five ribs…” Pathetically, I reached out once more, hoping to have gotten through her tough exterior. She had no sympathy for me, though. She stood straight and looked down at me.

“You’re still at level 1. You probably don't even know how to play the game. You'll just be a hindrance.” She flipped me onto my back and pulled out all of my potions.

“Look,” Tzuyu said, pointing at my backpack, “she has the enchanted pack.”

Dahyun narrowed her eyes at me when she saw it.

“Where did you find this? It's an ultra rare item.”

I closed my eyes. “I'll tell you if you help me. Just let me reach into my bag and-”

Dahyun shot me with an arrow when she saw me stick a hand into my bag. I held in my screams as she pulled it out of my knee and tapped me with it.

“Don't move.”

I nodded.

Gucci started barking towards the north part of the town, and Tzuyu looked at Dahyun with a face full of anxiety.

“It's that Japanese duo again. Dahyun, please, let's go before they do what they did last time and take all of our equipment!”

Dahyun nodded and loaded another arrow onto her bow.

“Sorry. Tzuyu and I work alone. We’ll take your bag and all of the potions once you die. Hopefully, the next time you respawn, it'll be somewhere where it's easier to level up. Maybe then we’ll consider taking you into our group and-”

Tzuyu interrupted Dahyun. “The Japanese girls are getting dangerously close, Dubu. Gucci won't stay still for much longer. He'll attack them and get all the EXP...”

Dahyun nodded. “Goodbye for now, ‘Chaeyoungster’.”

She let go of the arrow and it pierced my forehead. Thankfully I died before I could suffer the pain of a point-blank headshot.

“Wasn't that a bit cruel, unnie? You shot that girl right in the face, even after she told you that she's also being tormented by feeling pain in this game,” Tzuyu said breathlessly, running alongside Dahyun as they bolted their way back to their camp, hoping to find it in pristine condition.

Dahyun pursed her lips, trying to pretend she didn't hear her best friend.

“Dahyun? Come on, I know she would have been a burden, but we could have just tied her up and looted her stuff. I can't imagine feeling an arrow go through your brain…”

Dahyun looked up at the girl running next to her. “Forget about her! The two Japanese girls are probably stealing the stuff we worked hard to get, Tzuyu! I'm sure the Dancing Mochine girl is stealing all the snacks you had set apart for Gucci and is crunching on them as we speak.”

Tzuyu lowered her gaze, getting serious all of a sudden. No one stole from her, ever, especially when it came to her three-headed puppy.

Tzuyu whistled, causing Gucci to appear and run with them. The taller girl grabbed Dahyun and jumped on top of the dog.

Dahyun smiled. This would give them the extra boost they needed to get there quicker. She wanted to beat up one of those Japanese girls in particular. The cute one with the username NoSanaNoLife...