"...the sword. Or katana. Whatever its called."

Baekho quirked a brow at me but picked the bubble with the sword. It popped and a long blade fell into his arms. He gasped and almost dropped it but managed to keep ahold of it.

"We only get one?" he asked and Prism chuckled before twirling and exploding into confetti that faded away like data. "What the-"

"Huh..." I turned away and snuggled into the bed while Baekho tried to stretch our connected arms towards the table to place the blade down. "Ugh... I need rest..."

"I know. Just let me put this down first. You won't want to be sleeping in the bed with a sword, would you?"

"Huh... If that'll make me feel safe, maybe I would..." He put it down and climbed onto the bed since it wasn't like he could go anywhere else with me like this. He laid down and I turned around, blinking sleepily at him. He blinked and smiled a little.

"Why did you pick the sword?"

"Hmm... Because you know how to swordfight?" I replied him and he seemed genuinely surprised. I shut my eyes and chuckled. "Don't give me that look. It was written in your profile."

"Wait, you remember?" he blurted out and I sighed, pulling him closer. He gasped softly and stared at me or at least I could feel his eyes on me.

"Yeah... Now... Just let me rest."

~~~

The soft whispers made me shudder as if something was right beside my ear. I knew I was asleep. This was a dream and yet, a dream felt out of place.

"-ke up."

I tried to turn but something was clasped around my waist tightly, pressed up against me. I breathed out as I felt as if something was pushing down on my chest.

"You have t- up..."

I gasped softly and opened my eyes, blinking as I realised I was staring right into Baekho's face. His arms coiled around my waist protectively as he snoozed away. I blinked again and let out a relieved sigh before trying to find for something that would indicate the time to me but there was none. The room lights automatically and off whether we were asleep or awake. There wasn't any clock in the room. I gave his face a few more look before I felt a weird heat rush up my cheeks and hurriedly turned away as much as I could. I started to fiddle with the menu on the cuff instead, randomly clicking into the options to see what we could do with it.

"Hmm? A store?" I clicked into it and numerous items popped up. I noticed that there was 3000G on the top right of the menu and I guessed that was how much we had earned, considering how this was a game we were playing. I scrolled through the menu and it seemed rather RPG-esque. There were health potions, stamina potions, even mana potions and several other items. I gasped when I saw that the BB gun was an option. "Guess that's where they got them..."

I opted not to buy anything first since I didn't know if the gold was shared between us and if it was, I didn't want to splurge it by accident without discussing it with him first. I glanced over to him and he mumbled softly, twitching his lips and snuggling comfortably beside me. I pursed my lips and wondered why this felt equally uncomfortable as it was familiar. As if I have done this before, felt it even maybe but that wouldn't make sense. I didn't know Baekho when I woke up but neither did I know Jonghyun so why was I feeling certain things as if I had felt them before? Amnesia? Brainwashing? They were all possibilities but Baekho didn't know and Jonghyun wouldn't share.

He shuffled slightly and his eyes opened. He looked at me briefly before taking notice of where his arms were. He squeaked and pulled them away. His heat slowly fading from my body as well.

"Sorry... Habit..."

"I know," I replied and then proceeded to show him the store option.

"Hmm... You want to get something?"

"Health potions and stamina potions seem worth it. I mean the others do too but if you play a game, that's what you would typically get first, right?" I suggested and he nodded.

"Let's get two of each then."

After the purchase was made, we left our room to find for something else to do. We were surprised when the sword could be stored into the backpack option although it shouldn't be so surprising but it did take up 2 slots. We agreed that maybe we should start to train our endurance since we seem to be constantly running and escaping something.

"Come to think of it, we only caught one cat. Do you think that was the goal of the game?" he asked and I shrugged.

"Do you really think that everyone would have caught a cat? It's not like our objectives are clear cut from the beginning..."

"Maybe it was just like capturing one of them..."

"Or maybe there was some other hidden objective that someone else cleared or a time limit we weren't aware of."

We didn't know, couldn't have known. But there was still something that didn't click for me. I opened our objectives bar and noticed it had increased a little. We had more views and the objective to clear games did increase as well.

"Well, whatever we are doing, it seems to be filling up the bar," I sighed and he nodded.

"Why the sigh?"

"Cause I don't know...what would happen after we fill up the bar. I mean... Is anything even real?"

He blinked and stared at me. I raised my brows and shook my head.

"Don't worry about me. I'm just thinking. Remember how Jonghyun speaks as though he knows me?"

"Yeah?"

"I feel like... He might not be lying after all..."

"What do you mean?"

"I keep getting weird...deja vu senses... Like waking up to you hugging me. It was startling at first but it didn't feel like it after a few times..."

Baekho tilted his head and rubbed his neck. "To be honest, the same goes for me too... I mean... Its not a strong feeling but..."

"But?"

"When I see you in trouble, something just kicks in..."

I fell silent since I wasn't sure what to respond to his sudden revelation and also because the rock climbing activity was a real spook. It was high and looked as if it stretched on forever. Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration but for someone who hasn't done it before, it was massive. There were others there, climbing up or falling down.

"Guess this will build teamwork too," I said and he nodded.

"Looks like there are only belts...and helmets to work with..."

"No gloves?"

"Nope."

I didn't want to do it without gloves. Who knows how many others have touched each jutting rock before? But Baekho was already clicking the belt around himself before helping me into one too.

"Wait, I don't think-"

"Hey, you'll be fine." He hooked the harness on and I gulped. "We will take it slow."

"No, I meant... The germs... I don't want to touch them..."

He looked at me before chuckling. "Come on. It's not dust and we need this anyways."

I grumbled and sighed before nodding to follow along. We started to climb, one step at a time. He continued encouraging me as we went higher.

"Didn't you say you were afraid of heights?" I groaned as I hoisted myself to his level.

"Yes but we have the harness."

"Ugh... How do you even have the energy..."

"I exercise quite a bit."

"A bit doesn't result in muscles like yours."

We briefly stopped talking as we reached half of the wall or at least it seemed that way. I went a little higher and my foot slipped, giving up along with my hands almost instantly.

"Minhyun!" he yelped just as I squealed. There was the harness preventing me from plunging to death but I was shocked when Baekho grabbed me by my waist and pulled me close. I felt my face flush up as I felt the strength in his embrace. Odd as that may sound considering how I wake up to him hugging me, he was still gentle but firm.

"Woah!"

"You alright?"

"Yeah... I was going to be fine. You worry too much," I said and cleared my throat slightly, taking hold of the grip again.

"If you fall, I'll get dragged along too. Don't forget, we gotta work together."

"Oh, right... Okay."

The day went by quickly after that, taking a walk to the library briefly to read and relax before we call it a day. The same alarm woke us up and we gathered in the main hall. I finally took notice of our growing little group. There was now a shorter male with his tall partner following us too.

"Good morning, you lovely little precious humans~" Prism greeted us with a happy tone as he swung his stick. "I see lots of familiar faces and unhappy ones."

"People are dying! That's not exactly a happy occasion."

"True, you are but imagine... The world might actually be a better place without everyone in it."

I sighed, wondering why people even bother anymore. Talking to Prism was like speaking in riddles and all you end up with is frustration.

"Well, enough about that. Let's start with today's game! I hope you brushed up on your board skills before today, I welcome you to The Board."

Our surroundings started to fade and black and white tiles started to appear on the ground.

"For those who wish to join, as usual, accept the game. For those who don't, good luck with the next game."

"Let's go, Minhyun," Baekho said and I nodded, both clicking the tick. We were teleported into a dim area. It was rather bright where we were but any further than a large square surface was just darkness.

"Where the hell are we?" someone blurted out.

"Where is my friend? Hyunwoo?!" Someone else yelled out. I noticed Baekho started looking around too. People started to walk but they didn't get far before someone familiar yelled out.

"Don't step out from your box!" Jonghyun said, not too far from us. We looked down and realised that we were each in our own monocolored tile. Black and white. Just like before.

"What's going on?" the pair in front of him asked.

"Remember what Prism said. Welcome to the board. We are playing a board game," he answered the person. People started gasping and looking around for confirmation. As if on cue, more lights seemed to turn on and two rows of statue humans appeared again. They were of similar stone like figures as the one from the previous game except they were more of a western theme this time. Instantly, it was like a click.

"Chess, we are playing chess," I said softly. The front row were of the same statues and the back row were of mirroring ones.

"Chess...? How do we play chess like this?" Baekho asked and I shrugged.

"The other side is white so they move first," Jonghyun said. "Look at your own positions. If you're in the row in front of me, that must mean your movements are only limited to pawn moves."

"Wait! I don't know how to play chess," someone in the front row squeaked.

"Someone has to take charge."

"Hey, chess has to have a king! You can do that, can't you? Lead us to victory?"

I realised that Jonghyun was in the king box.

"That makes us a Knight then," Baekho said and I nodded.

He seemed uneasy about but nodded. "We still don't know what kind of tricks this has so we have to be cautious."

One of the enemy pawns started to move forward one box and stop.

"Alright. What do we do?"

"Pawn in front of me move forward one step."

"Are we just mirroring their movements?"

"No. I'm trying to go for the quick three step win," Jonghyun clarified. "But that's only if things go as planned..."

Their bishop slid out from its tile and Jonghyun bit his lips.

"This is bad... If we are following real chess rules, you two can't come back."

"Oi! Oi! Do you really know how to play?"

"Sacrifices have to be made in chess," someone else blurted out.

"Shut up! You're not the one standing here!"

"Quit yammering!"

Everyone started to talk over one another, arguing about who should take lead.

"What should we do, Baekho?" I asked.

"Huh? I don't know much about chess... What do you think?"

"I think..."

~~~

Bored game?

> make a move (Defend the King / Attack the Bishop)

> watch it unfold