The sun was already starting to set once we had everything ready to start with the barbecue. The fridge Jeongin had been hanging out in had just magically filled up with food. I guess in games everything's possible.
Socializing with fake friends was kinda awkward though. They looked so real, I could even touch them, but their personalities just weren't quite it. They were similar, but not identical.
I was starting the barbecue with my brother. It was silent most of the time.
Jisung passed by with some vegetables he'd chopped up to barbecue along with the meat. "You need to interact more with him" he informed me. "The elevator won't show up until the game is satisfied with how much you've let him and everybody else in" he explained.
"How do I make the game satisfied?" I asked with a frown.
"Be personal, share your worries and just your life" he said before leaving again.
I sighed and looked at my brother, then I looked around at the scenery around us. Felix was hanging out with a handsome blonde guy with curly hair and broad shoulders, setting the table. Seungmin and a guy around his age were copping vegetables along with Jisung and another guy their age. Jeongin and his brother were getting drinks for us, or may I correct myself, they were filling the table with soju bottles. Oh my...
"Why so much soju? We don't even have an opener" Jisung commented on their collection.
"We can look at it and pretend we're drunk to maybe have an easier time" Jeongin said.
"You don't need a bottle opener for soju though" I said. Usually soju bottles have a screw cap.
"Yeah, no, this soju doesn't have a screw cap, because the game just wants us to be able to look at it" Jisung said bitterly.
I remembered something that could be to help. I took off the backpack on my back and searched trough it. "I have one right here" I said and held up the opener I found in my backpack.
"Wait really? That's great, makes it much easier to share your life" Jisung said and took it.
Felix came by with the meat we were going to barbecue. "You're still not done with the fire?" He asked as if it was unbelievable I still hadn't gotten the fire up completely. It was almost big enough and it hadn't passed that long really.
"As if you could do it faster" I muttered.
He gave me a glare but didn't say anything before leaving.
"Whats his problem with me really?" I asked out with low voice.
Jaehwan obviously heard though. "Is he being annoying?" He asked.
I rolled my eyes. "Don't even get me started" I said.
"I hope he's not bullying my little sister" he said and a frown occurred over his face.
I pursed my lips. "No, he's just really annoying" I said.
"Maybe he's into you" he said with a smirk.
I glared at him and smacked the back of his head lightly. "As if" I said.
Jaehwan just laughed. "Or maybe he just finds you intriguing" he said.
"Or he just enjoys teasing me" I said.
"But wouldn't it be fun to tease him back then?" He asked me with a raised eyebrow.
I looked at him. Was it just the game or would my real brother have said the same thing? "Yeah but he's finding the most stupid reasons to tease me, I don't want to be as desperate" I said.
He smiled. "Then just be the bigger person and only tease him for things that aren't stupid" he said as the conclusion.
I just snorted. "Mm"
***
An eternity later we were all gathered around the barbecue. It wasn't too big, so we had all squeezed together to fit.
"Yah let's all toast" Jisung said and started filling glasses with soju.
"You can't drink soju" Felix commented as Jeongin's glass was being filled.
"We're inside a game, what do you expect me to do?" He said and looked back at him with a glare.
"It's not that you'll do something stupid, it's because it's bad for you" Jisung said and stopped what he was doing.
"Then it should be just as bad for you too" Jeongin said and shrugged.
"At least we're legally damaging ourselves" I joked.
"In some countries you are allowed to drink at 16" Jeongin said as if that would make him not underage.
"Not in Korea" Felix said.
"But are we really in Korea though? We're inside a game, we're not really in a country" Jeongin continued trying so hard, which made me feel like we should just let him for this one evening. He's only like half a year too young, how bad can it be? I drank way before his age.
"Just let the kid drink" I said at last.
I looked up at his fake brother sitting next to him. Looks like he won't interfere in this conversation. He probably has nothing to do with this. All the fake people were sitting completely still, not saying a word. Like they were paused at the moment. Since they weren't actually real they weren't even blinking or breathing.
Nobody argued anymore and all glasses were filled with soju. As if someone pressed an on button, the fakes were suddenly back now, talking, blinking and breathing, at least it looked like they were breathing.
That's just creepy.
I put some meat on the grill along with some vegetables. "Let's just eat now" I said.
"Are you the chef today? I bet your meat will get burned" Felix said.
I glared at him. "I'm definitely better than you" I said.
"Oh you think so? Let's check that" he said and put on some meat as well.
"Are we really having a cookoff right now? That's just ridiculous" I said.
"Who said we're having I cookoff, I just said my meat will be better than yours" he said.
"How old are you really?" I asked him.
"Old enough to drink" he said and shrugged.
"Everyone is except Jeongin" I said and looked at him with disbelief.
"Will you two stop bickering? I'm trying to enjoy this soju" Jeongin said and looked quite done with us. "And I'm supposed to be the youngest" he said and rolled his eyes.
Me and Felix stayed silent after that.
"So how's the levels been going for you recently?" Seungmin asked us.
"Great" I said. I mean we've passed them all.
"Horrible" Felix said, not sharing the same opinions as me.
Seungmin looked between us with a raised eyebrow. "Can you be a bit more unclear?" He asked sarcastically.
"It's been going quite alright" Jisung said.
"We've taken us through them all until now, so it haven't been going that horribly" I said.
"Yeah but how many times have we not almost died?" Felix asked.
"Not that many" I said and shrugged. It's not like we've been crazy and living like we have a death wish.
"But with your stupid plans we soon will die" he muttered.
"Well sorry for coming up with ideas when nobody else is" I said and looked at him with frustration. He never came up with any ideas, who was he to say I have stupid plans?
"Don't you think you two have fought enough now? Both of your meats are getting burned" Jisung said.
I threw a glance at my meat and he was right. I quickly grabbed all of them to get them away from the barbecue."Anyone want meat?" I asked.
"Not your meat" Felix said and put one of his own pieces in his mouth.
I glared at him.
"I want, give me" Jeongin said and started taking of the meat.
As we ate the tension between me and Felix remained, but it's not like the tension ever disappeared, we just always had things to bicker about. We didn't speak to each other and kept throwing daggers back and fourth.
We still had a great time though. We ate and we drank and people were definitely tipsy. I wasn't complaining, everything is easier with alcohol in the blood, it wasn't as awkward anymore to talk to the fakes. We were talking and joking around, sharing life stories and shit.
"I was crazy as a kid, I'm surprised I'm even alive to this day" I shared as it came up as a discussion.
"I was also crazy as a kid" Jeongin said.
"You're still a kid and you're still crazy, I don't see what have changed" Felix said.
"I was almost kidnapped as a kid" Jeongin said from the blue.
"Really? What happened?" I asked.
"I was in Gangnam during the holidays and there was this sect that were trying to scout me, and they almost succeeded, I was scared" he explained and looked at us with big eyes as if he was reliving the moment.
"Yah never follow strangers, even if they say they're buying candy or something" I said.
"But this guy seemed to know everything about me, it was creepy" he continued.
"If he's weird that should just tell you even more to not follow" Jisung said and looked at the maknae who looked like a scared kid when thinking back on what happened.
"I was young and dumb, don't judge me" he said and looked at us with a pout.
I sighed. "We're not judging you, this can happen to anyone" I said to calm him down. "We just don't want it to happen again"
"I've already learned my lesson, it won't happen again" Jeongin said.
"How young were you even when this happened?" I asked him with curiosity.
"17" he said shortly.
We looked at him. "17? I thought you were like 10" Felix said.
"Yah again with this judging, there are grown up people falling for their scams" Jeongin defended himself.
"It's brave of you to share your story, it shows that you've grown" Jeongin's fake brother said.
He snorted. "I'm not sharing with you guys, besides I'm a bit drunk and can't really control everything I say" he said.
I chuckled at his comment. He really had trouble opening up with the fakes. Was that why he stayed here all this time?
"Then open up about your problems to us, we're real" I said to try and help him pass this level he seemed to have troubles with.
He looked shyly at me. "What am I even supposed to open up about?" He asked.
"Why did you have troubles clearing this level?" I asked him. Helping him in the way.
He sighed. "I don't actually have that much problems opening up to others, it's just that I feel uncomfortable with him" he said and nodded towards his brother sitting next to him.
I looked at him with a soft smile, showing I was listening as I nodded to tell him to keep going.
"I really love him, so letting him in when I know he's not real, I'm afraid I won't be able to leave him. I'm afraid I'll fool myself and just stay with him forever" he continued explaining.
I smiled comforting. "I understand exactly what you mean. I also love my brother a lot, and parting ways will be hard, but think about meeting him for real instead, isn't that better? He's probably very worried right now and you wouldn't want to make him worry about you right?" I said, hoping to change his mindset.
He looked up at me. "What you're saying do make sense" he mumbled.
I chuckled. "I'm not always dumb" I said. I was looking over at Felix to give him a glare when I noticed how Seungmin was sitting and staring down at the empty glass in front of him.
"You're also having struggles with this level right?" I asked him.
He looked up with a smile but I could tell it was fake. "No, not really, I just stayed to watch over Jeongin" he said, but he was clearly lying.
"You're sitting quietly, not interacting with us nor the fake person next to you, something's bothering you" I stated.
He looked down again.
"You're having a hard time opening up as well, not in the same way as Jeongin, because you just find it hard to share your struggles with the world in general, you want to show everyone your bright side but even you yourself forgets there's more behind that smile that is not as bright" I spoke, when I saw how Seungmin was behaving.
He looked up at me with big eyes. Nobody said a word. I think everyone felt hit by what I said. We all had struggles opening up and showing our feelings.
"I should know since I feel the exact same way" I then admitted, which wasn't easy for me. But this level was all about opening up right. The soju made the level a whole lot easier. I was far from drunk, but it was still so much easier to talk.
Seungmin still didn't say a word. I sighed and filled up his glass. "Here, drink" I said and poured up for the others as well so we could drink together.
After a last shot of soju Seungmin opened up a little. "You're right" he said. "I don't like showing my struggles to anyone, I always try to keep a smile on my face. Sometimes it's like my cheeks are aching from smiling too much but my heart is aching from having to be kept in the dark" he explained.
"We should get better at sharing our feelings" I said with a sigh and looked at Seungmin. "In the future, let's share our problems with each other" I added.
Suddenly I saw how the elevator appeared where it had previously dropped us off.
"Do you guys also see the elevator?" I asked the others.
Jeongin looked towards it and nodded. Seungmin reacted the same way.
"I've had it since a long way back" Jising said. "I was just waiting for all you slow ones" he added making us laugh.
Right he'd already cleared it before, he could probably just do it the same way as last time.
We all looked at Felix and he noticed the curiosity in our eyes. He smiled nervously. "I've seen the elevator for a while as well" he said.
"You have?" I asked, surprised Felix had it so easy to share with those hologram things when he was always so secretive.
"Yeah, I shared everything before we started eating and drinking, when I didn't have all you guys around to listen to my problems" he explained.
Jisung chuckled. "Of course you could open up to him" He said as if he knew who Felix's friend was.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's continue" I said and stood up.
As I stood up I felt the rush of alcohol running trough my body. I swayed a bit when I stood up before I felt a pair of hands grab my shoulders.
Felix was standing behind me, holding onto me so I don't fall.
The others had trouble standing as well and the three others ended up walking on a line with their arms hooked, Jeongin in the middle, who for sure was the most affected, and jisung and Seungmin on each side of him. It was his first time with alcohol, I'm not surprised he had a low tolerance.
Felix on the other hand seemed almost sober. "Yah were you cheating and drinking water instead of soju since you'd already cleared the level?" I asked him when he started walking behind me, still with his hands on my shoulders, pushing me forward.
"Kind of, I felt no need to drink" he said. "Besides, I should take care of you shouldn't I?" He mumbled with low voice, just loud enough so I could hear. At least I think that's what he said.
"What?" I asked to make sure I'd heard correctly.
He was silent for a second. "Nothing" he then said.