With a gasp, I jolt up, startled by the sudden shock that comes with the reconnection of my consciousness. I feel dizzy, disorientated and breathless. My surroundings spin around in a blur of colors and it takes a while before I'm adjusted after being disconnected from the game.
I've made the jump between the online and the real world almost on a daily basis since I purchased the game and I'm still not used to it. It makes me feel sick every single time and it always takes a few minutes before my body functions as normal again.
It makes sense; your consciousness is literally ripped away from your body when you play. Of course, it will be unsettling when it returns. There's always a small voice in the far back of my head that tells me playing like this can't be healthy for a human body and mind. I think so, too, but I stubbornly decide to ignore that nagging feeling.
Careful not to damage me or the headgear that comes with Anthem of Fighting, I undo the clip that secures it around my head and slowly take it off, trying my best not to tangle the wires. After gently placing it on my nightstand, I sit up and flatten my now messy hair.
"You look like a fish when you gasp for breath like that," a voice suddenly speaks up and I look around to see my two best friends sitting there, one occupying my chair and the other sitting on the floor with his back against a drawer.
"Thanks, Seungmin," I sarcastically reply, ruffling my hair one last time with a frown set on my brows. "I bet you won't look any better when you'll make the jump tomorrow."
"I'm not even sure if I'm going to do it," Seungmin huffs, crossing his arms as he gives me a skeptical look.
"Dude, the gaming console you ordered is freaking expensive," my other friend, Felix butts in from his weird position on the floor. "There's no way you ordered it for nothing so heck yeah you're going to make the jump."
Meet my best friends, Kim Seungmin and Lee Felix. The three of us are the idiots of the street and the noisy trio of the school, hence why everyone seems to know us. I've known Seungmin basically all my life and we met Felix in freshmen year, right after he moved here from Australia. The three of us have been inseparable from that day on.
"That, and it would be cool to play AoF with the three of us," I add and Felix eagerly nods to support my statement.
Felix plays the game as well. We bought it on the same day and we literally spend a good 24 hours on the game before we decided to disconnect and meet up in real life again.
That was the plan, at least. Your body might be sleeping while you're online but your mind isn't. You wake up utterly exhausted every time you log off, all the energy drained from your body and mind.
"Okay, I guess that's decided," the youngest sighs in defeat. "Tomorrow it is."
"I'm still surprised that we managed to convince him that easily," Felix chimes, patting Seungmin's knee since it's the only spot he can reach from his position on the ground.
"I bet I'm even more surprised," the boy mutters with a frown. "I'm still scared as heck, though. Watch me chicken out in the last minute before I log in."
"Don't even think about it," Felix speaks darkly, pointing a stern finger towards the youngest, who raises his brows.
Ignoring the stiff feeling in my muscles, I swing my legs over the edge of my bed and let my bare feet touch the cold floor.
"Why are you guys here, anyway?" I ask, giving both my friends a questioning look.
"Why not?" Felix shrugs. "I mean, we all live in the same street so what stops us from going over to your house randomly and stare at you while you're kind of asleep?"
"You're being creepy again," Seungmin scolds, scowling at the orange-haired boy before looking up at me. "He was the one staring at you, I didn't-"
"Liar! You freaked out every time Ji moved because you thought he was dying," the other corrects him. "So that means you were staring, smartass."
"I'm buying a lock for my door," I mutter, shaking my head in disbelief.
"Okay, unlike what this idiot is saying," Seungmin sighs, playfully nudging Felix's arm, "I came here to figure out how that thing works."
The youngest makes a face at the BeyondReality headgear that's placed on my nightstand and I chuckle.
"Stop looking so disgusted, Minnie. It's not that bad."
"That's just his face," Felix counters, sticking out his tongue.
Seungmin and I both decide to ignore our friend's antics and I reach out to grab item the youngest fears so much.
"It's basically just a helmet," I explain as I set it on my lap. "You just put it on your head, lie down and say 'game start' and you're ready to go.
There's a manual that explains how you connect it to your computer. It looks like a lot of wires but it only took me ten minutes."
Seungmin nods, looking everything but convinced. "The helmet is just plainly terrifying," he cringes. "How does that even work?"
"Uh, I don't know the science behind it," I muse, picking the headgear up and inspecting it closely. "The glass part covers your eyes and the inside is designed to get access to your brain no matter how much hair you have."
"Access to your brain?" Felix repeats, eyeing me doubtfully. "You're making it sound like some funky sci-fi shit. It just makes a live scan of your consciousness and mind so-"
"That's basically the same thing," I interrupt him and Felix shakes his head.
"Another point of concern is," the youngest continues, obviously trying to forget about the whole mind-scan thing. "I don't want to end up as addicted as you two."
"Doesn't matter," Felix shrugs, waving it off like it's nothing. "It's still a good month until we have to start at our new school."
I frown at the mention of new school because actually, it's a sad memory to me. Graduating from high school is fun and stuff but I actually liked going to school there. The environment was pleasant and so were the teachers and students.
All three of us enrolled in a new-found college in the heart of Seoul, which offered majors in all our interests.
My two best friends apparently picked up the sudden shift between moods as they look at me with slight concern.
"At least we don't have to travel to Gangnam every single day anymore," Seungmin sympathetically says.
I mutter something under my breath before I reach out to grab my phone from the nightstand. I frown as the device tells me it's already 11.30 pm but I soon realize I shouldn't be surprised. The in-game time is set to match Korean time so if it's dark in Parallel, of course it's getting late in the real world.
What surprises me more is why my friends are still here, at this time. I open my mouth to ask but Felix quickly stops me.
"My dear Jisung, I live next to you and Seungmin lives across the street, of course we come to bother you at this hour," he dramatically explains and I start to wonder if he can read my mind.
"Plus, the only task I have tomorrow is getting Minnie's ass online," he adds, glancing at the cherry-haired boy. "It's not like I have to go to bed early to accomplish that."
Seungmin rolls his eyes at that and scoffs, "with that attitude, I'm not even doing it."
"Okay, maybe I have to go to bed early to accomplish that," Felix quickly corrects his previous statement, innocently looking at me. "Minnie can be a real pain in the ass sometimes."
"I have an idea, why don't we leave Lix out of this?" the youngest suggests, giving me a pleading look. "I just want to enjoy that game. I bet this will turn out as cyberbullying if no one stops him."
"Hey, I'm not that bad," the Australian protests. "I bully you out of love, you know that right?"
I sigh as I listen to their playful bickering. If you wouldn't know better, you would get the idea that those two can't stand each other because of their constant fighting. People often get the wrong idea but this is actually what happens when you put the savage Seungmin next to Felix, who is permanently high on jokes and memes.
Sometimes, just sometimes, it's getting a bit tiring. For example, at 12.36 at night after a long gaming session. Their presence is so loud and compelling and I can't handle it that well after both my body and mind are drained by playing for too long.
Don't get me wrong, I really love my best friends but sometimes, I choose my bed over them.
"I have an amazing idea," I say, a tired grin playing on my lips. "Why don't you continue this conversation in one of your rooms and give me my much-needed beauty sleep. Sounds cool, right?"
"If you wanted to sleep, you could've said so," Felix points out, swiftly jumping to his feet.
"I literally just said that," I deadpan, giving my best friend a troubled look.
Then Seungmin places his arm over Felix's shoulders, giving me an apologetic smile as he starts to drag Felix out of my room.
"We'll call you tomorrow before I... do that," he greets me before pushing Felix ahead of him and closing the door. I can just hear the boy's muffled complaints before they disappear completely and with a yawn, I let myself fall backward, my back meeting the soft mattress that dips in under my weight.
I quickly pull off my sweatpants before I slip under the covers, giving the headgear one last glance. I'm really excited about tomorrow, playing AoFo with all three of us seems like a fun thing to do. If Seungmin likes it, that is.
Reaching out to grab my phone, I set an alarm for 9 am, just to make sure that I'm awake when they call. I definitely don't want to miss Seungmin's first jump to the online world. I have barely set my phone back on the nightstand before my body practically gives in to the exhaustion and it isn't long before I fall asleep.
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I don't even care about what I said about not updating this before my other minsung fic is finished. I'm too excited for this story help :I