The dungeon floor is wet and slimy and Mihyun wishes she hadn’t gone with the flow. The dungeon door clanks shut and in the dim light of the torches on the walls, she can see the guards leaving. “Come back!” she screams, the shrill sound echoing off the stone walls. “We didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Who was the one who said to play the game?” Jaehyun mutters, and Mihyun whips around to glare at him. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Jung Jaehyun,” she growls. Kun shoves himself between them, clearly annoyed.

“Guys,” he says forcefully, “Mihyun is right. This is a game, and we’re supposed to win it. We’re stuck in one room, which means that we have to escape this one room, and we can work together to do it. We’re actually at an advantage, guys.”

He’s right. As if splashed with ice water, Mihyun calms down. “You’re right,” she says, lifting her skirts to avoid dirtying them. “So if we’re escaping from this dungeon, then we should find a key or a tunnel.”

Jaehyun rolls his eyes. “Where? There’s nothing here.”

That’s true too. Other than the moss growing on the floor, the cell is completely empty. Kun thinks for a moment, eyebrows furrowed, and then brightens up.

“This is a breakout room!” he exclaims. “You know, like you’re given clues and you have to escape?”

Mihyun knows what an escape room is, but the problem is, in real life, the players are given hints. Kun nods, but his eyes are searching the bare walls. “I know,” he says, “but this game wouldn’t leave us hintless. I think the biggest hint is that there’s nothing we can use.”

“What’s that mean?” Jaehyun seems to have given up being angry. “Are we supposed to be finding things on the walls?”

Suddenly, a thought occurs to Mihyun. “That’s exactly it!” She rushes to the closest wall, skirts forgotten, and almost slips. In a flash, Jaehyun’s there to catch her, even though she hadn’t fallen. “Check the walls,” she tells him, pressing her own hands to the stone. Seeing his eyebrows furrow, she explains, “It might be a mechanism like a lever or a secret compartment.”

On the other side of the room, Kun is doing the same thing. Jaehyun looks down at her, then puts a hand on the wall. His expression changes immediately. “Ew,” he says. Mihyun can’t help laughing at that. “Do you—” He breaks off, conflict in his eyes. “I mean, you can leave this to us, you know?”

“Why?” Strings of green slime cover Mihyun’s hands as she continues to feel along the walls. “We’re all stuck here anyway, plus I didn’t do anything last time.”

Jaehyun moves to give her space. In doing so, his hand hits a brick and it sinks into the wall with an audible click. He stills, and even Mihyun freezes in shock.

“What was that?” Kun rushes over carefully. “Jaehyun, move your hand.”

Jaehyun only looks at him. There might be a bit of fear in his eyes, but Mihyun’s not sure. “What if it’s a trap?”

“It won’t be,” Kun reassures. “If we could die now, why wouldn’t they just kill us earlier? Save the trouble, right?”

Mihyun wonders if Kun is the voice of reason in real life too. Kun of NCT certainly seems to be. After a bit of thought, Jaehyun moves away, and the brick face springs forward, revealing a secret compartment carved out of the stone.

“You were right!” Jaehyun cries out. He reaches into the compartment before Mihyun or Kun can stop him and takes out a small wooden box. It’s about the size of a book, and locked with a modern combination lock, the type sold for school lockers. “Hmm, we need a combination.”

The logical track to go down would be that each number of the combination is associated with each of them. Three people, three numbers. But what numbers could represent them?

Even Kun seems to be stuck. Jaehyun holds the lock up to his ear, turning the bolt slowly, but soon gives up. “Anyone know how to pick a lock?” he asks with a half-smile. “I’m only partly serious.”

“I can only pick tumbler-pin locks,” Kun sighs, but Jaehyun shoves the lock into his hands anyway. “I told you, I can’t do these.”

“You can still pick some locks.” Mihyun stretches her back. She wants to sit down. “That’s better than me. And Jaehyun too, I guess.”

Kun rolls his eyes. “Zero to forty,” he says. “That’s the standard combination lock. Obviously, since combinations are made up of three numbers and there are three of us, we should have a number each. The order we can figure out later, but the most important thing right now is to find our numbers.”

Silence falls as everyone sinks into thought. Suddenly, Jaehyun groans. “They’re not on the walls, are they?” he pleads. “I don’t want to search four whole walls of slime.”

“Three,” Mihyun points out helpfully. “One wall is all metal bars.”

That would be the cell door. Jaehyun rolls his eyes. “Where’s my Mihyun?” he mutters, crossing his arms. “I want my Mihyun.”

Kun snorts, then lowers his head. “Sorry,” he says, serious again. Mihyun narrows her eyes at Jaehyun. It’s not her fault that he’s being uncooperative, and it’s certainly not her fault that Jaehyun’s Mihyun is best-friend material and her Jaehyun is a celebrity.

“I think,” she says deliberately, turning to Kun, “that we should search the walls just in case the combination is actually written there. Don’t you think so?”

From his expression, Kun clearly does not want to think so. “Yes,” he says anyway, resigned. “I think it never hurts to be safe.”

“Kun!” Jaehyun whines. Kun shakes his head, rolling up his sleeves. “Kunnnn, you’re supposed to be my friend!”

“We just met today.” He turns away and carefully makes his way to a wall. “Come on, we can each search one wall.”

 

***

 

The wall search turns up nothing, leaving them up to their wrists in green slime. There’s an obvious scowl on Jaehyun’s face, and even Kun looks tired. Mihyun shrugs; it was the obvious route to take, and what if they had actually found useful information?

“Well, the walls are out.” Kun picks up the box again. It almost slips out of his hands. “Oops. Any other ideas?”

“I have one.” Jaehyun leans against the cell bars, the only thing that’s clean here. “Try our first initials.”

“K, J, and M? The alphabet only goes up to twenty-six, though.”

He gives her a baleful look. “That’s under forty, isn’t it?”

Kun rolls his eyes. “Okay, so those are which numbers again?”

J is 10. K is 11. M is 13. Kun holds the box carefully in his hands as he turns the lock. Three times to the right, twice to the left, once to the right. When he pulls, the lock clicks open, and Mihyun yells in excitement.

“Jaehyun, you’re a genius!” she exclaims. Jaehyun doesn’t respond, but he looks much less angry than before. “Open it, Kun!”

Inside the box lies a single tiny key. It’s so small that Mihyun hesitates to pick it up. Kun also only blinks. “Jaehyun,” he says, shoving the box into his arms, “it’s yours.”

Speechless, Jaehyun can only gape at the small key. “But,” he stammers, “it’s tiny? The cell door’s lock is ing huge.”

“That means we obviously can’t leave through there.” Mihyun looks at Kun, who nods. “Since we searched all the walls, the only possible options are the floor or the ceiling.”

“Oh, hell no.” Jaehyun throws a disgusted glance at the ceiling. “I am not potentially killing myself to put my hands on that .”

“Floor it is!” Kun declares, crouching down. “Oh, oh boy.”

The floor is even more disgusting than the walls. Icy water and strings of moss float over her hands. Mihyun squeezes her eyes shut, about to put her hands down, when a warm pair of hands encloses hers.

“You don’t have to.” Jaehyun looks about as delighted as Mihyun herself, but he gently pushes her away. “Really, we can do it.”

She can’t tell if he’s playing hero or if he thinks she’s not good enough. “I’ve done nothing,” she retorts. “You were the ones who saved me last time too. I can’t just, I don’t know, not do anything?”

Kun laughs, but Jaehyun only keeps searching. “Fine,” he finally says. “Get dirty, I don’t care.”

“Wait!” Before Mihyun can bend down again, Kun’s eyes widen. “I-I think I found something.”

It’s a large metal ring attached to the floor. “It’s a trapdoor, I think,” Mihyun supplies helpfully, even though that’s definitely what they’re all thinking. “We’ll probably all have to pull.”

“All of us,” Kun agrees. “If this thing is made of metal or stone, which it probably is, it has to be all of us.”

They stand in silence for a while, contemplating the handle. “But,” Jaehyun says, “how are we supposed to all grab it and pull the same way? Or is it supposed to be like tug-of-war, where it’s a person-train?”

Person-train? That’s a new one. Mihyun can’t hold in a laugh. Thankfully, Jaehyun doesn’t seem to notice.

“Let’s try all grabbing it first,” Kun suggests. “Here, Mihyun, you go to the middle. It’s easier.”

Once they’re all in place, they tug. The trapdoor doesn’t move. They tug again. The trapdoor doesn’t budge an inch. They tug again, putting all their strength into it. The trapdoor opens a crack, cold air streaming into the cell.

“Come on!” Kun’s voice is strained. “We can do it!”

At that exact moment, Mihyun loses her footing and falls with a splash. Jaehyun drops the trapdoor as well and it slams shut with a whoomph. “Mihyun! Are you okay?”

Uh, no, she wants to say. I’m dripping and freezing and disgusting.

“Yeah,” she says instead, shaking her arms slightly to get rid of as much moss as she can. “I’m not hurt or anything.”

“I guess it’s not supposed to be lifted like this?” Kun wonders out loud, but Jaehyun shakes his head. 

“No, it is, otherwise there’s nothing else. We’ve searched the entire cell. Come on, Kun, let’s do this.”

“No me?” Mihyun jokes, earning her two pointed looks. “Yeah, right, okay. Too weak.”

Without Mihyun, both Kun and Jaehyun are able to direct their force towards the middle. It takes a lot of work, but eventually, the trapdoor lifts up. Unable to not help, Mihyun rushes forward to help push the slab of metal up. The trapdoor soon clangs to the ground, revealing a stone staircase leading into darkness.

They stand at the top for a long time, the cold wind on their faces. No one wants to make the first move to step into the abyss. Finally, Jaehyun clears his throat.

“At least the steps are dry?”

“They sure are,” Mihyun follows. “What do we say, guys? Let’s go together?”

The stairs are wide enough for the three of them to walk side by side, though it looks like it’d be a tight fit. Kun swallows, visibly nervous. “Oh, god,” he says weakly. “I think I’m gonna pass out.”

“Kun, hold on.” Jaehyun reaches over Mihyun to give him a slap on the shoulder. “We’re this close to winning this dumb game. You can do it, we’ll be with you. Come on.”

After closing his eyes and taking three deep breaths, Kun nods. “Come on,” he says, voice a whole octave higher than before. Holding back a laugh, Mihyun nods and they link arms. “I’m not scared I’m not scared I’m not scared I’m not!”

“Of course not.” Jaehyun’s tense; Mihyun can feel it. “What do you say we sing something? Aren’t we celebrities in Mihyun’s world?”

“Yeah.” Her voice comes out in a rasp. Mihyun swallows as they descend further. “Y-you’re in a group called NCT, and you’re both world-famous. Singers, that is, so you should both sing something.”

“I don’t know any songs!” Kun’s almost hyperventilating. “All I know are old Chinese songs!”

“Me too,” says Jaehyun on her other side. They step onto flat ground, and Mihyun almost stumbles. “I know old Korean songs from, like, the 90s.”

“That’s fine!” Mihyun’s legs feel weak. “Do either of you know Dynamite? Taio Cruz’s Dynamite? Baby you’re a fiiiiirework—wait, wrong song.”

The other two burst into laughter and immediately, the atmosphere feels lighter. “Are those American songs?” Kun asks. “I don’t know them.”

“I know Firework,” Jaehyun says. “They played it at parties.”

“Oh, right, college. Wait, wait, did you go to college in America?”

“Uh, yeah? We’re both international students?” He stops. “Oh, right. Wrong world.”

Kun laughs again. It’s more like a nervous giggle. The ground beneath their feet begins to slope up. “Oh my god, I think we’re going up! Guys, we’re almost there!”

“Keep talking, keep talking!” A draft blows behind Mihyun’s back and she shudders. “Wh-what’s your favorite song? Artist, anything, I don’t know. I love NCT, obviously.”

“I like The Flowers!” Kun blabbers. “They’re a rock band from China and they were the first underage rock band ever in China, and especially the first one to make it big. They had some pretty rough moments and now they’re disbanded, but the main vocalist, Da Zhang Wei, is still pretty popular as a celebrity and I like his voice. Good sense of humor too.”

“I like TVXQ,” Jaehyun continues. In front of them, there’s a faint white glow, and almost instinctively, all three speed up. “I’ve been following them since, like 2008, which was Mirotic, and I really like Yunho—we actually share a name—and I think he dances really well and Changmin’s high notes also kill me and we’re so close and aaaahhhhhhhh!”

They burst out into the light, and all Mihyun can register is that they’re back outside. “The sun!” she cries, collapsing on the ground. She hadn’t realized how much her legs were shaking. “I can, I can feel the sun!”

Kun’s not much better, tears sliding down his face, and Jaehyun’s crying too. “I thought, I thought we’d never make it out of there,” he sobs, pressing his forehead to the dusty ground. “I never knew how much I loved dirt.”

Dirt! For the first time, Mihyun also loves dirt passionately. It’s so much better than slime, and it can grow plants, which need the sun, and she loves the sun passionately also. The dark tunnel could not have been more than ten minutes long, but it felt like forever, her nerves hyper with fear and paranoia. That sort of fear is something that she’s fine with never experiencing again, thank you very much.

“Congratulations, Mimi#544763, Jay#674859, and QianKun#579544!” a familiar chirpy voice calls. Mihyun whips her head up to see Neo standing before them, blue face lit up in a smile. “You have successfully passed through the first world, Like Flower, Like Jade! Your rewards have been sent to your inventory.”

“We get rewards?” Jaehyun wipes his eyes with his miraculously-clean hands. Mihyun notices that he’s suddenly wearing jeans and a t-shirt and realizes that she, also, is wearing what she’d been wearing before coming to this game. That is, unicorn pajamas. “I have my clothes back!”

Kun, on the other hand, is wearing a very heavy winter coat, a scarf, and a hat. “What do we do now?” he asks, still sounding sort of nasal. “We can’t stay here, obviously.”

“Of course not.” Neo waves a hand, and the landscape dissolves—it’s only now that Mihyun notices the golden palace beyond a high wall—into blue and white confetti. “We will now head to the Hub, the place where all players gather between worlds. There, you will be able to buy clothes, equipment, food, and more! You’ll also be able to meet other players and form teams with them, if you so wish.”

“Teams?” Jaehyun glances at Mihyun. The confetti dissipates, leaving them standing in the middle of a bustling street. “Oh, .”

‘Oh, ’ indeed. The Hub looks exactly like a normal city, complete with apartment buildings, restaurants, cars, and even landscaping. The only thing missing is the sky, replaced instead by a deep purple matrix.

“All players are given apartments to stay in, free of charge,” Neo explains. “You can check into any apartment building you want, but be careful! Once you check in, that’s your apartment for the rest of your time here in MultiExperience.”

“Teams,” Jaehyun urges. “How do we form teams?”

“To form a team, you must first add a player as a friend.” Neo pulls up Jaehyun’s profile, where there’s a shiny new tab labelled ‘Friends.’ “Afterwards, you may choose to create a team or join a team. You will, by default, be the leader of the team that you create. Teams are not limited in size but must contain at least two people.”

“Team,” Jaehyun decides, turning to Mihyun and Kun, who’s not paying much attention. “Come on, guys, let’s make a team.”

“I…” Kun turns, an apology already on his lips. “I’m sorry, guys, I just saw my friend. Here, I’ll add you both as friends, but I can’t form a team with you, I’m sorry.” He quickly pulls up his Friends tab and, using the ‘Proximity’ feature, adds Jaehyun and Mihyun as friends. “Sorry,” he says again as he hurries away.

It happens so quickly as Mihyun can barely process it. “Well,” she finally says. “You and me?”

Deep purple reflects off Jaehyun’s face as he adds her as a friend. “You and me,” he agrees. “Let’s do this.”

 

***

 

None of the players on the streets take notice of them, though some of them smile and nod. That’s when Mihyun remembers that she’s still wearing pajamas. “Neo,” she whispers, “where can I buy clothes?”

“Clothing stores are available all across the city,” the robot chirps, waving an arm at a nearby store. “You may buy clothing with coins, which you can earn from passing through worlds or working.”

Working? They can work in this game? That brings up a whole different category of questions. Where can they work? How long can they live here? Is everything the same as in real life?

Neo whirrs. She can almost see the gears in its head spinning. “You can rest for up to seven days in the Hub before moving onto the next world. During that time, if you would like to earn more credits, you may apply for work at any store. Though the Hub is not entirely a human city, the structure is indeed based on human architecture.”

Jaehyun opens his mouth again, but Neo cuts him off. “Before I leave, there are some things you must pay attention to.” A blue screen pops up in front of Mihyun. “This is your profile. You may notice that your stats have improved! Every time you successfully pass through a world, your stats will improve. You may also choose to raise them in the Hub with coins.”

“Oh, right,” Mihyun interrupts. “What about that apple you gave us? Can we buy other props too?”

“Of course! You may buy equipment, clothing, or anything else you need, as long as you can afford it.” Neo blinks and begins to fade away. “From now on, you will be on your own. There are plenty of player organizations here in the Hub if you need help. Good luck, Mimi#544763 and Jay#674859. I hope I get to see you again.”

With that, Mihyun and Jaehyun are left alone in the middle of the bustling street. Jaehyun turns. “Let’s make a team,” he says, hand already hovering over the ‘Friends’ tab. Mihyun wants to slap his hand away, but that would be rude.

“Can we get clothes first?” 

“Accept my team invitation first.”

Jay#674859 is inviting you to the team ‘lets get this shizzz!!!’

Is he serious? Mihyun gives him a look but accepts the invitation anyway. “Now can we go get some clothes?”

The closest clothing store seems to be specialized. All of the outfits hanging on the racks are sleek and high-tech. Mihyun feels dizzy just looking at them. “Are we supposed to have, like, classes or something?”

Jaehyun picks up the price tag for one glowing bodysuit. “2000 gold?” he exclaims. “No, Mimi, we’re yeeting. I only have 200 gold.” He grabs her arm and pulls her back onto the street. “We started out with 100, I remember, so I guess we earned 100 from the game.”

The next clothing store they enter is much friendlier on their eyes and wallets. Mihyun quickly buys a full set of casual clothes: jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt, a hoodie, and socks and sneakers. Jaehyun buys a zip-up jacket as well.

“So 100 silver makes 1 gold,” Jaehyun says, counting his change. “I guess that means 100 bronze is 1 silver, if we’re going by the same conversion.”

It’s a classic game-currency conversion. Mihyun’s not too worried about that; instead, she looks around at the high-rise buildings and the purple sky. “Should we check into an apartment first? Or get something to eat?”

Jaehyun throws his money into his pouch and looks around as well. “Are you hungry? I’m not very. I want to explore some, but—” He cuts off abruptly, looking at her with wide eyes. “Wait, did you say check into an apartment?”

“Yes?” Mihyun can’t tell what’s wrong with that. “Is there a problem?”

“D-d-did you just?” Jaehyun’s face has turned bright red, and Mihyun can practically see the steam coming out of his ears. “Did you just imply that we’d be living together?”

It hadn’t been her intention, but now that she thinks about what she’d said, it does seem like she was saying they should live together. “No!” she says, trying not to panic. “I wasn’t saying that!”

But Jaehyun’s not listening. His face is still red, but he’s talking very quickly to himself. “I mean, that wouldn’t be—I mean like, it would be more convenient since we’re a team but what if they only have one-bedroom apartments, right? What if we end up getting more team members and they misunderstand something? What if they want to move in too? No, no, there’s too much to risk here, but it really is inconvenient to keep knocking on doors and all—”

He breaks off again, though this time, he doesn’t look her in the eye. “I want to go find one of those player organizations. Maybe they can tell us something about this place, or about the other games. I mean, we only have a week, so…”

Mihyun agrees quickly. They can worry about housing arrangements later. The most important thing right now is finding out more about this game. “Maybe we can go downtown.”

Downtown is the right place. It’s bustling with people, neon lights and flashing signs everywhere, almost like a night market, if night and day existed here. Mihyun adds that to her mental list of questions: how do we tell time?

“Hey, pretty lady, wanna join our team?”

“Newbie? Are you a newbie? We can help you!”

“North American players over here! Biggest organization in-game!”

Immediately, they’re bombarded with advertisers. Jaehyun grabs onto Mihyun’s arm, face blank, and wades them through the crowd. Lights pass in a blur, and for some reason, Mihyun wants to smile. There’s really someone out here looking out for her, even if he might just be looking out for the Mihyun he knows. Still, it’s comforting, to have someone back her up in this strange place.

He drags her to a small, isolated booth. The attending player perks up at the sight of them. “Hello!” she says excitedly, grabbing two pamphlets. “What can I do for y’all today?”

“We want to know more about this world.” Jaehyun slams his hands down on the plastic table, making it shake. “Everything we can.”

“What are you so aggressive for?” Mihyun pokes him. “Calm down.”

He glares at her but takes a deep breath. The booth attendant—her nametag says Karina—bites back a smile and hands them a stack of pamphlets. “Here,” she says, “these all contain information that my organization has gathered. You don’t have to join if you don’t want to!” she adds hastily, seeing Jaehyun’s expression darken. “You can just take them, or if you’d like, I can also answer some questions.”

“I have a question.” Mihyun raises her hand involuntarily. “How do we tell time in this place?”

Karina smiles, leaning back in her chair. “It’s actually nighttime right now, which is why the sky is purple. During the day, it’s light blue, like the typical sci-fi blue. There are also clocks around, and you can buy watches too.”

“What about the worlds? Are any of them particularly dangerous? Because, like, our welcome message said that people aren’t expected to die.”

“Hmm.” Karina taps her fingers on the table. “Well, everyone gets a different world each time, but from what I understand, none of them are particularly hard. We’ve lost people before, but not many.”

Mihyun glances at Jaehyun, and he looks back. It’s obvious that he mirrors her feelings: people do die in this game, and that is not reassuring.

“What about equipment?” Jaehyun asks. “Do we need them, or are they just there to help?”

“Oh, you don’t need anything extra.” Karina brings out a small dagger to show them. “Sometimes they make life easier, like this. I would have died in my second world if I didn’t have a weapon. But in general, the game will give you everything you need for a world. Same with clothing.” She nods at their outfits. “You could technically go the entire time wearing whatever you were wearing when you first came since the game dresses you, but sometimes it’s nice to have a change of clothes.”

Jaehyun gestures to Mihyun. “Your turn.”

So she goes. “If we make it to the end, does everything go back to normal? There’s no, like, catch? We’re not going to lose a limb or our memories or anything?”

Karina shrugs. “Girl, who knows? Some of our members have gone onto the fifth world, but who knows if they actually make it out? And if they do, it’s not like we know what happens to them anyway.”

It’s Jaehyun’s turn. He glances at Mihyun, mouthing ‘two more questions.’ “So how did we get here, anyway?”

That’s a question that Mihyun’s been thinking about too. “Who knows?” Karina rolls her eyes. “Y’all are asking all the existential questions. These are things that no one really knows. Maybe we’ll know if we get out, though.”

It falls to Mihyun to ask the last question. She thinks for a while, then decides to break the delicate ice. “If we’re one team, can we live in one apartment, or do we have to get two?”

Karina bursts out laughing, almost falling out of her chair. “Sorry, sorry!” she wheezes, climbing back up. “It’s just that, people rarely ask us that in person! Anyway, yes, you can. The leader can ask for a multi-person apartment that will have more than one room, and if more members join, the apartment will automatically add more rooms.”

After they leave, Jaehyun sighs in relief. “Well, I guess that solves that problem,” he says, face red. He still doesn’t look at her. “We can have a team house.”

“Sure.” It’s not like they’re going to sleep in the same room, so Mihyun isn’t opposed to the idea. “I’m hungry, though. Should we make food or eat out?”

“I want sushi.”

That settles that, then.

 

***

 

Welcome to MultiExperience! You must be confused, so let The Best Organization explain some things for you…

…oh, and a suggestion: use a fake name. No, it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, but who knows? Maybe it’ll help you protect your personal privacy. This is a game, after all…

…one more thing you should know: the game genderbends players when there’s enough female players. Generally, the game likes to keep the female:male ratio at about 1:4 or more. Since random players are randomly chosen for each world, there is a large chance that players will land in a world with few or no female players…

“You’re telling me I might end up being a girl???”

Mihyun rolls her eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic, it’s not as bad as you think. It says here that we can enhance a stat for the low, low price of free, or enhance all of them for a fee.”

“How much?” Jaehyun munches on some cereal that they got last night. “If it’s not too much, we might as well. I want a weapon, too.”

Mihyun also wants a weapon. The only thing she has right now that might even count are those acupuncture needles. Actually, she’d expected some sort of weapon from the game rewards, but it seems like all she got was an HP boost and 100 gold. Here’s to hoping the next world gives better rewards .

Turns out, it costs about 500 gold to enhance all stats at once. Mihyun exchanges a glance of disbelief with Jaehyun. “Just, just intelligence, then.”

“Intelligence?” The old shopkeeper, an NPC, looks Mihyun over from head to toe. “I’m not insinuating anything, girlie, but I think you’d do better with dex.”

Is he calling her dumb? Before Mihyun can fire back, Jaehyun agrees. “Intelligence doesn’t really do much in games. I’m guessing most of the games are going to have to do with physical stuff, so dex is a good choice. I’m upping strength, so you probably won’t need to. If you really want to go with something more ‘on the side,’ I’d say do perception.”

The NPC’s eyes widen, but he nods seriously. “This young man is absolutely correct! Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

What Jaehyun says does make sense; if the rest of the games are as easy as the first one, then Mihyun doesn’t need to up her intelligence at all. On the other hand, the three of them—two of them, really—could barely lift the metal trapdoor. Since Jaehyun’s got strength down, then it would be in Mihyun’s best interests to enhance dexterity, which would help her perform actions with more precision, or perception, which would help her notice details faster. As long as the other games don’t involve heavy evidence-searching, then dexterity would likely help Mihyun the most.

“I’ll go with dex,” she decides. The NPC hands her a glowing blue potion. It smells and tastes like blueberries. Upon drinking it, Mihyun’s dexterity index changes, going from 200 to 500. Jaehyun’s strength also increases upon drinking a golden potion, and they leave the shop with renewed vigor.

“You should get a weapon too,” Jaehyun reminds her, checking his money. “I think I want a sword. It looks cool.”

“Do you even know how to use a sword?” Mihyun retorts. “I’ll see when we get there. A sword would be cool, but I doubt I’d be able to use it right.”

“Well, no, I don’t know, maybe the knowledge of how to use a sword is infused into us. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to use most of the weapons that appear in a traditional video game.”

The weapons shop they’ve come to is an odd mix of medieval weapons and high-tech gear. There are guns, swords, and weird contraptions all on one shelf. The shopkeeper NPC hurries over to greet them. “Welcome to Weapons Galore! What can I help you with today?”

“We’re looking for weapons…”

While Jaehyun explains to the NPC, Mihyun wanders around, poring over the different types of weapons. There are swords from all over the world, some sort of laser-shooting device, and a multitude of guns.

“One thing to note,” the NPC says suddenly, “is that your weapons may not be allowed in certain worlds. If, say, a gun will clash with the history of said world, you will not be able to use it.”

Well, what’s the point then? is what Mihyun wants to say, but having a weapon and not being able to use it is still better than not having one but needing it.

“Do we have to train to be able to use them?” she asks. Realistically, she wouldn’t be able to use any of these weapons, but if the game has a built-in ability to use weapons, then the only problem would be the price of the weapon.

Life, of course, usually does not work out perfectly. “Yes, of course,” the NPC answers. “We offer classes for a fee, or you can train elsewhere.”

That’s no fun. Mihyun chooses a dagger like the one Karina had, with a sturdy grip and a holographic blade.

“Beautiful choice,” the NPC comments as they pay. “Please come again!”

As soon as they step out of the store, Jaehyun’s stomach growls. “I want ramen,” he announces without missing a beat. “The legit kind, not the cup kind.”

“Can you even find cup noodles here?” Now that he’s mentioned it, she’s sort of hungry too. It’s noon, after all. “I want food too.”

From last night and this morning, they’ve found out that food tastes the same as it did in the real world. In some ways, it might taste even better because they can physically feel their HP and stamina increase. It feels like a battery charging up, even though Mihyun’s never been a battery before. Well, she is one now, so that argument is invalid.

The ramen is excellent. It’s a small hole-in-the-wall place that they found through one of the newbie pamphlets. The details in this game are so immaculate, Mihyun suddenly thinks, that if they were allowed to stay indefinitely, she’s not sure she’d go back to real life.

The thought sends shivers down her spine, and she stuffs a mouthful of ramen down . No, no, her parents are still waiting for her. She still has to finish school and live a good life of her own. 

“Are we going to do the second world early or not?” she says once they’re done. The logical option is to wait the whole week and train, but it might be worth it to enter the world early. They’ll be less prepared, but as long as they don’t die, it would save a lot of time, and besides, the game wouldn’t let them die this early. Hopefully.

“Aren’t you tired?” Jaehyun asks, glancing at the deep purple sky with a sigh. “Plus, we have to train some.”

“With who?” Mihyun doesn’t particularly want to go back to the night market. “If we can pick up a few teammates in the second world, they could teach us too.”

On the other hand, if the second world isn’t as easy as the first one, or if no one wants to work with them, the situation would not be good. Losing patience, Jaehyun rolls his eyes.

“We have money,” he says, bringing up his inventory. “Between us, we have a lot of it. It wouldn’t hurt to train a bit first.”

“Okay, fine.” Mihyun gives in, knowing that he’s right. “I guess we’ll challenge the second world at the end of the week, then.”

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this chapter was sort of clunky because worldbuilding is one of my worst skills
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