The bridge was definitely out of the picture right now. Even if we did make it across, there was no saying how things were like on the other side right now and the fog was blocking most of our view so we could barely even tell if it was safe to cross right now.

 

The school and police station were definitely the next best choices but the school was further. We would have no idea what we would run into while heading that way and the police station seemed rather intact. 

 

"Let's go to the police station," I said and they all nodded in agreement as we started heading towards it. As we got closer, we noticed overturned vehicles or destroyed ones on the road but there was one thing different. There were no growth around the area, no creeping plants or sprouting tree. Just the building but covered in snow and the weirdest part of it were the large ice chunks sticking out of it that you wouldn't have taken notice of at first. It was as if someone dropped an avalanche on it but somehow it got impaled by ice instead of broken by it. 

 

"That's unnatural no matter how I look at it," Baekho said and we just chuckled nervously as we got closer, keeping a look out for metallic bugs or giant wolves. There was nothing that seemed threatening jumping out at us but that only gave us more case for concern. We reached the station and the glass doors were already broken. It wasn't horribly run down like the other buildings we saw but it wasn't in the best condition either. 

 

"We probably should have went to the school instead," Minhyuk said as we walked in and started to look around. We stopped when we heard a creak followed by icy cold wind blowing from inside strangely enough. A door flew past us and crashed into the snow outside before three blue pale humans stepped out, holding bows in their arms except they don't look very human either. They had long pointed ears and silver hair that reached their waists. They looked like elves but definitely unfriendly and cold. Minhyuk instantly had his bow pointed at them just as two of them pointed theirs at us too. Baekho stood in front of me and I blinked in shock while Kihyun's arms seemed to raise up in a surrender pose. Nobody moved but we could tell they thought of us as threats with their sharp blue eyes staring down at us. 

 

The one in the middle parted it's thin lips and started speaking in a foreign tongue. I exchanged glances with Minhyuk who had looked over too but of course, neither of us understood what it was trying to tell us. Even though it seemed that it tried to make a connection with us, failing did not seem to an option for it as it raised its own bow towards us and yelled out a string of command. The two beside it started to shoot arrows and we hurriedly dodged behind the cabinets and table. Anywhere the arrows landed, ice would sprout from it. If it hit us, we just might die from the cold. 

 

"What do we do?" Baekho asked while eyeing them as they ceased fire. Fog started to waft around the police station from all the ice they had just shot out. 

 

"Run or fight," I replied him and he pulled out the katana. 

 

"I don't think running is an option. Even if we beeline for the door, we might get shot at once." 

 

"I don't have a weapon," I blurted out and Baekho looked at me. I gave him a little exasperated shrug before he pulled out the gun from the chess game. 

 

"Still think you don't have a weapon?" 

 

"What th- how?" 

 

"Seems like whatever I pick up and put inside my backpack stays there."

 

"That's handy... But not when we spawn at a bad area," I muttered as I checked the gun. There didn't seem to be anywhere I could check for ammo or maybe I just didn't know how to. 

 

"Minhyuk is signalling us to go in at the count of three. Ready?" 

 

"Huh? Are you sure we can even win them?" I gasped but there wasn't time to contemplate as Minhyuk started counting to three with his fingers. On the third count, he stood up from behind the table and started firing arrows back at them as the fog died down. One of the elves got hit but it didn't even seem fazed as it pulled it out and they started firing in Minhyuk's direction. Baekho took the gun from my hand and start firing just by clicking the trigger. Bullets seemed to fly out of it without a care in the world and it was only now I realised that there were no blanks coming out from the gun. The elves seemed to be able to counter them with some kind of barrier but it also gave Minhyuk another chance to shoot at them. 

 

"I think the sword would be more effective on them," I said without much thought since they looked so thin. Baekho looked at me and nodded as if what I said wasn't an idea but a suggestion. He started running forward and I yelped, following after him with the katana. He swung the gun when he got close enough and one of the elves blocked it with his bow. The other was about to attack Baekho but I swung the katana clumsily and hit the bow out of its hand. The one in the middle growled and lashed out towards me but Baekho pushed us both out of the way. Ice grew from where his hit landed and Minhyuk covered us as we ran towards them, hiding behind the table but this time, they came charging towards us. 

 

"There's 4 of us and 3 of them! We can do something about this," Minhyuk said. 

 

"Oh yeah? You forgot we are handcuffed to one another and they're not!" Kihyun snapped back. 

 

"Not the time to be arguing now," Baekho said as he took the katana from me and swung up, hitting one of the elves that had already reached us. The other had pulled out a knife and jumped onto Minhyuk before he could aim his arrow at him. The remaining one stood on the table and aimed his arrow right at me and Kihyun. With an instinctive decision, Kihyun and I both reached over and dragged him down from the table. We didn't have weapons or at least that's what I thought, not expecting Kihyun to actually grab the gun Baekho put down and fire it. There was an immediate silence as the other two elves stopped to turn to look at us. They saw their fallen comrade who was bleeding blue before letting out a screech. Baekho managed to cut the head of the elf he was fighting and Minhyuk shot an arrow right between its eyes admist the confusion. 

 

The total silence that followed after only filled us with dread as we watched the three elves started fading away into data blocks as if they didn't exist in the first place and reminded us that this was a game.

 

"So... Did we kill them... Or... What...," Kihyun asked shakily as he dropped the gun, hands trembling as he gulped. Minhyuk hissed and we realised his side was bleeding. "Crap. Minhyuk!"

 

"I'm fine. This isn't too bad...and those were just characters in the game, most likely. It's not like you actually killed someone. Don't feel bad about it."

 

I looked at Baekho and he panted, looking at the katana. There were no blood stains, no bodies. Nothing. They were just gone. Just like that.

 

"So we can kill these things...?" he said softly and I didn't know what to say in this situation. Good on us for winning? But we had to kill in return. I didn't know why my heart stung. It didn't even when we were against those statues but these elves could communicate and they seemed to feel for one another from the way they had stopped attacking when their comrade had fallen. It just felt different and it felt wrong. Even though our lives were the ones at stake. I can't afford to feel bad. Maybe Minhyuk was right, these were just game characters. There was no need to feel bad. 

 

"Here. Drink up," Kihyun said and we noticed him pulling out a intricate looking vial from his pocket.

 

"Ugh.. Do I have to?"

 

"It is a potion. Drink it. Maybe it'll heal your wound."

 

With a scowl, Minhyuk downed the contents and the bleeding seemed to stop as the wound closed up.

 

"Woah," Baekho blurted out and Kihyun looked at us.

 

"You two should be able to do it too. In the shop in the menu," He said and Baekho gasped. He clicked on the menu and it popped up.

 

"That's right. We did buy two of it," he said and I nodded before I caught sight of something on the ground. Walking over, I picked up the bow that had weird engravings on it. 

 

"I think the elves were using this earlier," I said and Baekho looked around, finding a knife and another bow. 

 

"Game drop?" he said and tilted his head. 

 

"Probably. We should take one bow with us and give the other two to them." Baekho nodded and stored it in his backpack. 

 

"Huh? Where did you store the bow?" Kihyun asked in a confused tone and Baekho clicked on the backpack option in the menu to show him. He seemed surprise and showed us his menu. There was no backpack option. "... That's some cheat you have. We have to pick these bags up to actually get some space."

 

"Cheat?" Baekho blinked and looked at me but I could only shrug. It wasn't like we knew others wouldn't have such an option.

 

"Anyways, we should set camp here for the night. I don't think we should go any further for now and we already know our surroundings were rather quiet...," Minhyuk said as he sat up.

 

"We will go look around the place for a bit then," Baekho said and I followed him up. We went around the police station and found a room that seemed untouched by the ice and was much warmer than the front of the police station too. There was also a couch there so perhaps it was an actual resting area. We shifted to the room after meeting up with the other two and decided Minhyuk would take the couch for the night. We had also managed to drag the mattresses from the cells to the room so we didn't have to figure out a way to sleep on the floor. 

 

"Not bad for a first night," Kihyun said and Minhyuk groaned. 

 

"Elves on the first night? God, I can't even imagine how it'll be like once we get to the heart of the city..."

 

I stared at them and wondered if we would even be able to survive this. It felt unlikely but it was also hard to say since we did work well with them somehow. 

 

As if you've done this before. 

 

"Huh?"

 

Baekho turned to look at me and blinked. "Did you say something?" 

 

"Oh. No.... I thought... I heard something..." 

 

"Really? An enemy?" 

 

"N-no... Something else.. Don't worry about it. I must be overthinking things..." 

 

"Okay... Um... About that earlier, we didn't get a chance to talk about it," he whispered and I felt my hands turn clammy.

 

"W-what is there to talk about...?" I asked softly and gulped.

 

"Hmm... Well, for starters... You know... Um... Do we feel the same way...?" His cheeks turned a little red and I chuckled as I scooted a little closer to him.

 

"What do you think?"

 

He bit his lip and shrugged. "I... Just don't want to have false hope.. You know... I mean... You could probably like someone else and... This is just..."

 

I blinked and leaned forward, pressing my lips on his again. He flinched a little but relaxed into the kiss before pulling away quickly.

 

"W-wait. Kihyun and Minhyuk," he blurted out as quietly as he could and I chuckled softly, glancing at our two buddies.

 

"They're sound asleep, Baekho."

 

"O-oh..."

 

"Look.... I might not remember anything that happened in the previous game but right now, in this game... You're the one I'm cuffed to and you're the one I've fallen for...," I said softly, feeling my heart beat even faster than when we were against the elves earlier. It felt odd to be letting my feelings out right now but honestly, there would never be a better time either in this world we were in. 

 

"Mmm.... I... I like you...." 

 

"Me too. I like you too... But for now, let's get some sleep, okay?" 

 

He nodded and smiled brightly as he closed his eyes. "Good night, Minhyun." 

 

"Good night, Baekho." 

 

I watched as he fell asleep before opening the menu. There was something that had been bugging me since earlier as I clicked into the shop. As I thought, everything in my store was a big mess. All the options had words jumbled up and I scrolled down all the way just to be sure. I stopped when I noticed an exclamation mark that wasn't there before. 

 

eaCmar(!) 

 

Confused, I clicked on it and decided to just purchase it since it didn't cost much. A camera popped up in my hand and I blinked. Somehow, something about it felt familiar. It's weight, it's shape... I couldn't understand why or if there's something wrong with me but there was now a constant nudge in my head. I was about to turn it on but Baekho moved beside me, arms finding a spot around my waist and I jumped a little. I chuckled and decided to check it out next time. Tonight, I should rest. 

 

***

 

Morning greeted us with a less bitter cold and more view as we stepped out from the police station after giving it another check around. There wasn't much we got from there but the most important thing was probably a handgun in a suspiciously empty weapon vault. We started making our way to the bridge since we needed to get across to meet up with Kihyun and Minhyuk's friends. 

 

"Guys, do you feel weird?" Kihyun asked and we looked at him with confused expressions. He touched his stomach and frowned. "I actually feel... Hungry." 

 

"Now that you mention it, I do feel a little parched too," Baekho said and rubbed his throat. "I kind of forgot how this feels like..." 

 

"Hey... Don't joke around like this. If we can actually feel like this, wouldn't that mean....," Minhyuk's words trailed off but we could understand what he was trying to say. 

 

"No, this probably isn't the real world," I said and their brows furrowed, not really reality to be put into words. "I mean, come on, metal bugs and ice elves? If this is the real world, what are we doing playing a game in it instead of living out here? It's already horrifying enough." 

 

"That's true. Come on. Let's keep going." 

 

We reached the bridge in no time since we could actually tell where we were going. There were still no signs of other living beings but that honestly wasn't our biggest concern. Food and water was. So it seemed Jonghyun wasn't kidding when he asked us to find food. Maybe this game was programmed so we would feel it. 

 

As we started to cross the bridge, we also kept an eye out for any cars. Taking a peek to try our luck with food but there wasn't any. Some time passed until we heard little scuttling noises and everyone fell silent, hiding behind a truck to see what laid before us. There were small little creatures that roamed ahead with half the road gone. They resembled panthers but their paws were more like metal claws as they walked, creating the noises we heard.

 

"Well, we need to pass them... Do we fight?"

 

"Wait. The bridge. There should be an undersection to it so we can maybe use that to cross over," Kihyun said and we all looked confused. "Sorry. I saw it in a book in the library... Can't say for sure if that's true..."

 

"If it is, we can avoid fighting."

 

"Or there might be something else down there," Baekho said and everyone became nervous. I looked at them and frowned a little. So it was another split path.

 

~~~

 

Another?

 

> Fight them

 

> Go under

 

> Distract them