‘I’m hopeless,’ Donghae bitterly thought to himself, as he continued gazing lovingly at the elder. Consequently, he had failed to realize that the object of his desire had successfully beaten the Level 168 Lyka, and was now looking back at the brunette - who was too busy staring back at him to realize.

“Um… Donghae-sshi?” Hyukjae cleared his throat; trying his best to capture the younger’s attention. “Are you okay or is there something on my face?”

“Hmm?” The brunette intelligently responded. “God you are so beautiful.”

“What?”

Donghae blinked. “Huh.”

The elder moved his laboratory stool a bit farther away from his seatmate. Donghae, realizing his mistake, immediately straightened up and patted his face, wiping away the drool that managed to escape while he was busy gazing at his crush. “I’m sorry, Hyukjae. What were you saying again?”

“You had been staring at me for the last 10 minutes.” Hyukjae answered, weirdly eyeing the younger. “Are you okay? Are you mad at me for not working with you on the assignment?”

Donghae eyes widened, his body stiffening. “No! No, no, no! I’m totally okay on working this by myself! You can continue playing your Maplestory.

“Wait,” This time, it was the other’s turn to widen his eyes in surprise. “You know Maplestory?”

The younger grinned from ear-to-ear. “Of course I do! I play it on my spare time. What’s your characters class?”

“I have loads, but I’m currently working on my Luminous,” Hyukjae moved his laptop closer towards Donghae’s, repeatedly tapping on the mousepad to wake it up from Sleep mode. “How about you?”

Donghae shrugged, his heart doing cartwheels from how close he was to the love of his life. “I—I have an Angelic Buste—“

“Oh my God, are you serious?!” The elder interrupted before the other could finish his sentence. "I thought that class only got release for a week in April for the first time! And why Angelic Buster? The only gender available is female."

Donghae shrugged. "She's cute, and powerful.”

For the rest of the class session, Hyukjae and Donghae logged back onto their laptops and friended each other on Maplestory. They chatted about the upcoming updates, monster bosses, which class is OP, which NPC is the hottest (Donghae had to stop himself from growling in jealously when Hyukjae fangirled over Jane from Lith Harbor), until the final bell rang and the professor dismissed the class. 

"Go online this afternoon. You can help me on some quests I've been procrastinating on," Hyukjae said as he stuffed his laptop into it's case. 

Donghae chuckled. "Sure thing. Is seven okay? I get home at around four and my brother doesn't let me use the computer until I showered, ate and done my homework."

"Sure thing," the elder replied before making his way towards the door. "See you at seven!"

As Donghae watched Hyukjae's back exit the lab, the thought struck him. 

Did Hyukjae just asked him on a Maplestory date?

Shift, shift, A, alt, Z, Z, shift, alt, delete, page down—

“GOD ING DAMNIT!”

Growling in frustration, Hyukjae jumped off his chair and buried himself onto the comfort of his mattress. The weight of his body made the bed squeak loudly, and he stuffed his face into the pillow and grumbled in annoyance.

On the laptop screen, he could sense his character’s health bar drain away as he was paralyzed in his spot. The Pink Bean mercilessly hopped over him, the stupid grin etched on its stupid face. As Hyukjae adjusted his head so the screen was in his range of vision and literally cringed as the poor pixel jumped from left and right as the monster continued its rampage. In less than five seconds, his HP bar had been wiped out completely and the character transformed into a tombstone. The teenager groaned, finally pushing himself into his chair and back towards the game.

Since the day Hyukjae had found out about Maplestory through his friend Yesung three years ago during 8th grade, he hasn’t stopped playing ever since. His character was a Level 163 Luminous, currently on his last job advancement, and determined to reach his Level 200 mark. After nearly a year playing the same character, Hyukjae was sure he’d get the character towards its goal in no more than 2 months. He had set the character up in Windia, the only world where he would store all his legendary characters.

Level 200 Aran, Level 194 Evan, Level 189 Dual Blade, and Level 200 Battle Mage. All of his Cygnus Knights characters (all in their maximum levels, by the way) were placed carefully in Broa, and all his Explorers (also maxed) stood proudly in Bera. You could say that Hyukjae was a geek, having such a large collection of characters, complete with different classes. Luckily for him, there were a few students in his grade who were as equally obsessed with the MMPORG.

After quickly clicking the ‘okay’ button, he was soon transported into the closest town – Henesys. There, he noticed his small group of friends hanging around near the Free Market. He walked his character towards them. Kyuhyun — level 174 Demon Slayer— and Kibum — level 181 Phantom— were talking about their inventory before they turned their attention towards the Luminous.

[to Guild] GaemGyu: lost a battle again?

Hyukjae switched his chat from map to Guild, so only members of the EverLasting Friends (E.L.F for short, plus it sounded cooler) could read his chats.

[to Guild] AllRiseSilver: pft no. luminous' dont lose battles.
[to Guild] GaemGyu: but you did
[to Guild] AllRiseSilver: shut up
[to Guild] ikmubmik: but werent u going after the pink bean?
[to Guild] ikmubmik: dude i killed that thing in less than 5 minutes noob
[to Guild] AllRiseSilver: WHY ARE YOUGUYS AFTER ME TODAY.

Kyuhyun's Demon Slayer grinned happily, causing Hyukjae to swing his sceptre in rage. The youngest of the three flew away towards Kibum's Phantom, hiding behind the character stuffed in a Pink Bean costume. The exact one he won from beating the Pink Bean that Hyukjae had failed.

The pair continued to smile mischievously, fuelling the elder's rage more. 

[to Guild] AllRiseSilver: fiNE WHATEVER GANG UP ON YOUR HYUNG
[to Guild] GaemGyu: r u pms-ing or smth man youre never tis grumpy
[to Guild] ikmubmik: i heard from ryeowook that u friended that donghae kid

Hyukjae stared at the chat suspiciously. How did the conversation went from him menstruating to Donghae?

[to Guild] AllRiseSilver: u know ryeowook?
[to Guild] ikmubmik: *shrugs he's in my lit class. heard him talking about it with donghae
[to Guild] GaemGyu: wait wait wait let me guess. u asked him to play maplestory together.
[to Guild] AllRiseSilver: DUDE HOW DID U KNOW.
[to Guild] GaemGyu: im cho kyuhyun you  
[to Guild] ikmubmik: dude srsly wat's that donghae’s class anyway
[to Guild] AllRiseSilver: ..... angel bust.

It took a while for his two friends to stop flooding the chat with LMAOs and ROLFs before Hyukjae could continue typing.

[to Guild] AllRiseSilver: yeah keep laughing
[to Guild] GaemGyu: dude that class is so gay
[to Guild] GaemGyu: im pretty sure ive thrown up at all that pink
[to Guild] ikmubmik: its true
[to Guild] AllRiseSilver: haha very funny
[to Guild] ikmubmik: wats his name?
[to Guild] GaemGyu: more importantly, wats his level?
[to Guild] AllRiseSilver: idk i forgot. he said hes going to come on soon

Right after he clicked enter for the message, a little pop-up bubble from the bottom of his screen grabbed his attention. 

donghae061586 is online

‘Perfect timing’, he thought before he clicked the bubble to send an Instant Message to the younger. He asked him to come over, and the boy said he would after buying a map to instantly teleport to Henesys. Hyukjae closed the IM window to type to his friends.

[to Guild] AllRiseSilver: hes online
[to Guild] GaemGyu: gr8 
[to Guild] GaemGyu: tell him to come over
[to Guild] AllRiseSilver: he is. has to buy a map first
[to Guild] ikmubmik: he has to buy 1? what a noob
[to Guild] AllRiseSilver: wat i thought at first too. who doesnt hav a map already in their inventory?

He stopped typing when he noticed Donghae’s username appeared in the Henesys map. It started moving towards Hyukjae’s spot. As the character came into their screen, it was easy to spot it amidst the other players. It’s light-pink hair and striking blue eyes signified it’s Angelic Buster class, plus the purple ribbon wrapped in a rather extravagant way on her (his?) back was rather noticeable. She (he?) made a smiling face (F10) as a chat bubble hovered atop her(his?) head.

[to map] donghae061586: hello!
[to map] AllRiseSilver: hey donghae :)
[to map] ikmubmik: is this him?
[to map] GaemGyu: you wrnt kiddin about the class
[to map] donghae061586: there’s nothing wrong with angelic buster!

At that remark, Donghae’s character went from it’s normal look to angry (F5). Kyuhyun gave a happy in return (F10). 

[to map] GaemGyu: yeh except for da fact that its weak as
[to map] donghae061586: you take that back
[to map] AllRiseSilver: im going with kyu on this one
[to map] ikmubmik: me2
[to map] donghae061586: fine. let’s try going on a party quest. then we’ll see who’s the weakest.

Hyukjae scoffed. Who does he think he is? Hyukjae’s a 163, Kyuhyun’s 174 and Kibum’s at 181. The Angelic Buster was at a measly 102. Sure, he had never tried the class, but he was sure it wasn’t that difficult. It shoots purple bullets and has an equally violet dragon for a guardian, for pete’s sake!

[to map] AllRiseSIlver: ure on
[to map] ikmubmik: im game
[to map] GaemGyu: ill make the party. we’ll see wat u got noob angel
[to map] donghae061586: get ready to be floored, losers.

Alright, so they had probably been underestimating the Angelic Buster.

Donghae’s character practically took control of the entire party quest, dominating the charts for most kills and fastest time. The little flurry of pink left enemies in it’s path as they battled through the entire map, every bullet from it’s feminine-looking weapon hitting it’s target precisely. Not only that, but each hit it made cost at least 80,000 damage. It only took less than 2 hits for the enemy to fall onto it’s back. Donghae also managed to never get hit by the monsters, for his HP didn’t even move down the bar a single bit. In fact, the Angelic Buster was the one who had to save Kyuhyun’s life by throwing health potions at his direction while the Luminous and Phantom were busy dealing with their own monsters. 

When the time for the boss to come out, the three of them had to wait at the back as Donghae delivered a blow after blow from his one-handed gun. It was embarrassing, really. When the monster hollered it’s defeat and gifts exploded out of it’s disappearing body, the Angelic Buster insisted on letting them take what they wanted. I already have them, Donghae’s character explained.

They were now just standing silently in the lobby of the party quest, letting what just happened to sink in. The pink-haired Angelic Buster sat in his sakura tree chair happily in front of the trio, as if the feeble level 102 hadn’t just beaten a level 163 Luminous, level 174 Demon Slayer and level 181 Phantom in a level 160 party quest.

[to Party] donghae061586: how was that? still a noob?
[to Party] ikmubmik: well i gotta say. tat was smth
[to Party] GaemGyu: how did u even…..
[to Party] donghae061586: i have my secrets. who’s to say this is my only character in maplestory?
[to Party] donghae061586: in fact, i’ve already reached level 200 for your class, kyu.
[to Party] GaemGyu: WAT U DID HOW WAT TELL ME EVRYTHNG I NEED TO KNOW
[to Party] donghae061586: hehe. that’s just going to take the fun away from the game!

Hyukjae finally decided to intervene when Kyuhyun’s Demon Slayer started chasing the poor Angelic Buster around the map, his face stuck in the angry emoticon. 

[to Party] AllRiseSilver: alrite alrite kyu calm down
[to Party] GaemGyu: HE KNOWS ALL THE SECRETS 
[to Party] AllRiseSilver: doesnt mean u get threaten him for it
[to Party] ikmubmik: o guys i gtg. mom demanding for me
[to Party] donghae061586: bye!
[to Party] GaemGyu: imma go 2. the noobs not goin to tell me anyways >:(
[to Party] donghae061586: :P
[to Party] AllRiseSilver: k, bye kibum bye kyu
ikmubmik is offline
GaemGyu is offline

Donghae walked back towards Hyukjae when Kyuhyun gave up on pursuing him. However, he was  standing way too close to the Luminous, so the boy quickly backed away. 

[to Party] AllRiseSilver: thx for the prizes btw
[to Party] donghae061586: no problem. all in the day’s work.
[to Party] AllRiseSilver: we never got to helping me with my quests
[to Party] donghae061586: oh, yeah. wanna go do them now?

Hyukjae agreed. They abandoned their current party quest and made a new one, consisting of only  Donghae and him. For the next couple of hours, they spent on helping Hyukjae hunt for things the NPCs demanded for to get a reward in return. They split the gift (usually potions, scrolls or armour) when they could. It was fun to have someone of a different class as a party partner. They balanced balanced each other, Hyukjae with his dark and light powers combined into a deadly weapon and Donghae with his ability to summon his dragon to attack whenever possible. The Luminous learned a lot about how Angelic Busters work. They weren’t dependable on MP, and their connection with their guardian dragon are what someone would describe as creepy. Seriously, the dragon had a thing for the angel’s .

Donghae told him that he already had a Luminous character, also at it’s maximum level. Luminous was a rather complicated class to describe. They harnessed the power of light and dark, and could alternate between either powers to their please. When both of the meters are full, they can finally release the ultimate blow, a combination of the two that could slay an entire map full of monsters in one go. Luminous acquire a rather high MP limit to make up for the low HP, so they do not require as many Mana potions as most classes do. Their priority would be Health potions.

They finally separated ways at the end of their final quest. Hyukjae promised to meet up with him at school tomorrow morning, and the boy replied with a happy emoticon. After saying their final goodbyes, Hyukjae logged off Maplestory and shut down his laptop. He crawled into his bed and fell asleep right as his head touched the pillow.

A/N - I’M ALIVEEEEEEE

more chapters! more plot! wooooo! if you noticed, my writing style has changed (hopefully) so i can wait to finally get back on with this storyline! oh how i miss playing maplestory. apparently, my new internet company won’t let me play it, so it has over a year since i’ve logged into it :c also, i didn’t have time to check if my all of my details of the game are actually correct (no internet at the moment), so i’m literally just bullting some of it. if you guys wanna know more, just search it up on the website!

see you all on the next chapter ;u; comment and subscribe!