Chapter Text

“It’s your lucky day. This is the last one.”

Bouncing on his heels, Beomgyu tried (and failed) not to seem too excited about picking up a gay harem game. He couldn’t help it, okay? He’d been waiting for this shit ever since it was a Reddit rumour in 2019. He was half-convinced it was never going to come out.

“Which sticker do you want?” the employee asked. She scanned the game then shoved it into a little plastic bag before showing him a notebook of stickers.

“They’re free?” Beomgyu blinked. He didn’t know there were bonuses just for buying the game. He’d wanted to preorder it, but considering most of his money came from his parents, he couldn’t justify wasting what little allowance he got on video games. Even if it was technically self-care.

“Yeah. Day one physical purchase bonus.” She tapped her finger against the top of the notebook. “Which one?”

Beomgyu squinted at the options. Unlike everybody else online who seemed to already have a favourite, he was reserving judgement on who he liked the most until he actually played. Based on looks alone, though…

Even based on looks, he couldn’t pick. They were all so perfect. God. It was no surprise this game had already become so absurdly popular—everything about the characters, from their designs to their voice acting to the little tidbits of personality they’d revealed so far—were so realistic.

Beomgyu was not immune to the fantasy of having a bunch of hot guys inexplicably fall in love with you. Else he wouldn’t be here right now buying it. He hadn’t had a boyfriend since he was in high school and he was lonely, okay? Sue him. It wasn’t every day a game so utterly targeted towards him came out.

If he allowed himself to be a little delusional, he could daydream that this could be his future. Somehow. Despite the fact he was nearing twenty three years old and most idols debuted as teenagers.

He sighed. Well, even if his real life dream of being an idol had flopped miserably, at least a fictionalized version of him could thrive.

“… Sir?” the girl said, dully. “Do you want a sticker or not?”

Beomgyu wondered how many hopelessly single, semi-delusional people she’d had to put up with today other than him. Pitying her, he pointed at a random sticker. There was no way he was going to be able to pick.

She carefully peeled off the corner of the sticker, and then smoothed it over the back of his hand.

“Thanks. Your receipt is in the bag,” she said, and not-so-subtly gestured for him to stop holding up the line.

Once he was back outside and on the sidewalk, Beomgyu lifted his hand to squint at the sticker he’d chosen at random.

Kai’s bright, cheery gummy smile stared back at him, and Beomgyu couldn’t help but smile back.

Coming off of final exams, being rejected from yet another entertainment company, and being ghosted during his one attempt at online dating—it wasn’t an exaggeration to say this was one of the only things he had to look forward to lately.

It was the little things in life, truly. Two hours of homework tonight and then he could finally play this game that he’d been waiting for for two fucking years.

Kai, Soobin, Taehyun, Yeonjun, I’m almost there. Just wait a little longer for me.

(He didn’t care how cringe he sounded. Nobody could hear his gay thoughts but him anyway.)

Chapter Text

“Beomgyu.”

Something very large and chilly grazed Beomgyu’s cheek, shocking him out of his sleep. Beomgyu whined, rolling away.

“Beomgyu, come on. Wake up.”

A shake to his shoulder and he burrowed further under his sheets, making it clear he wanted to be left alone, thank you very much.

“Did your alarm not go off or did you put it on snooze?”

Why was his roommate waking him up in the first place? They didn’t have anything to do today. He loved Jeongin, but the guy was getting a little too comfortable constantly barging into Beomgyu’s room recently.

Unless this was some sort of prank. That seemed like something Jeongin would pull. But, ugh. Beomgyu had gotten up at ass o’clock in the morning after no sleep, drove his brother back from the airport, then promptly passed back out again. There was a time and a place for everything, and now was not the time to pull a prank. Beomgyu wanted to play along, but he didn’t have the energy.

The chilly hand pulled down his sheets and then tapped his cheek again. Beomgyu finally swatted Jeongin’s hand away properly, grumbling, “Leave me alone. I’m sleepy.”

“... Beomgyu,” Jeongin said, voice deep from sleep. Like, really deep. He didn’t even know Jeongin’s voice could go that deep. “Are you sick?”

“What?” Beomgyu mumbled. “No?”

“You’re usually the first to get up…” Jeongin said, seemingly to himself. And, honestly, what the fuck was this guy talking about? It was a Sunday, who cared whether or not Beomgyu slept in? Opening one eye, Beomgyu was ready to fully shove Jeongin away, when—

Choi Soobin glared at him, crossing his arms and looking down at Beomgyu like he was the insane one. Choi Soobin, the character from TXT. Choi Soobin, who was not real and yet was very much tangible directly in front of Beomgyu.

Beomgyu blinked back at him. His brain completely blanked out. All the thoughts in his head went poof.

“What?” Choi Soobin muttered. “Are you sure you aren’t sick? Why are you acting so…” He frowned and placed his hand on Beomgyu’s forehead. His hand was huge. And warm. And sweaty—that must’ve been what the sticky thing on Beomgyu’s skin was. “Your temperature does seem a little high…”

“Um.” Beomgyu’s voice came out squeaky and he cleared his throat. Even the sensation of him swallowing felt uncomfortably real. “I’m fine.”

Soobin raised a brow at him, unimpressed. Beomgyu wanted to slap his hands onto Soobin’s cheeks and pull them, just to see what would happen, but he had a feeling Soobin wouldn’t appreciate that.

Soobin. The video game character. Who was standing directly beside him, bedhead and eye bags and all.

“If you’re sick, hiding it will only make things more difficult for everybody in the long one,” Soobin lectured him. He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more. Beomgyu watched the movement, eyes fixed on how smooth and realistic it was.

“I’m not sick,” Beomgyu said, on instinct.

“… If you say so,” Soobin said. “I need to go wake up the others. But… if you feel sick, please tell me, okay? We have medicine in the cupboard. I’ll get it for you.”

Beomgyu waited for his surroundings to warp or fade like a distant dream, but everything stayed very still. He nodded stiffly, not trusting his voice.

Soobin stared at him for a moment longer, then nodded and slipped outside of the room, leaving Beomgyu to sit in a bed that he was pretty sure was supposed to be his and think:

What. the. fuck.

Okay.

So.

An hour had passed, and all he’d come up with was that he was inside of TXT. Or something. As in, he was literally himself inside the game, living and breathing and all.

Which wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as it sounded like. He was obviously dreaming and his body just wouldn’t wake up for some stupid reason. Meaning he had nothing to worry about. None of this was real.

Except.

Except it’d been almost a fucking hour since he woke up and he still wasn’t awake in the real world, which made no sense. Beomgyu was a light sleeper—the slightest scare had him shooting out of bed. The last time he’d been stuck in a dream, he’d slapped himself and fallen out of bed in real life a moment later.

In this freak dream world, at Soobin (Choi fucking Soobin’s) insistence, he’d dragged himself to the bathroom to get ready. And everything felt so… real.

The marble countertops, the slickness of the soap bottle as he accidentally got soap down the sides of it, his fingertips as they pressed against the glass. It felt really, really real.

He slapped himself for good measure.

Nothing happened except his cheek hurt.

Don’t overreact, he told himself, while simultaneously gripping the sink so hard he was about to pull a muscle. Just because he’d read a fanfiction last night about waking up inside a video game did not mean he was seriously stuck inside a video game.

That was insane. That was literally impossible. It made far more sense that he’d been hit by a car or something and his brain, in a rush of adrenaline, had decided that instead of his life flashing before his eyes like a normal person, he had nothing to live for and so a more interesting final moment would be living inside a video game.

That was definitely more realistic. Maybe.

He wiped some sweat from his forehead. It was very sticky. Very much like real sweat.

Squinting himself in the mirror, he turned his head left and right slightly, observing his face. His skin was nicer than usual, and his eyebrows were trimmed cleaner, but if he wasn’t looking too hard, he wouldn’t notice the differences.

It sure did look like his face. The only big difference was that his hair was brown instead of black, and when he touched it, it felt damaged, like he’d bleached it one too many times.

Beomgyu was a serial daydreamer, but he’d never thought so in depth about a scenario before. Like, he’d thought about himself with bleached hair, but he’d never considered how it’d affect his hair texture. He couldn’t imagine that his brain, in its final moments, would think of such minute details.

So maybe the these are my final moments after a car crash and my fictional life is flashing before my eyes scenario wasn’t that realistic either.

Still, that didn’t make the I am trapped in a video game scenario win by default. He could be in a coma. He could be drugged, though to be fair, the drugged scenario had the same problem as the I’m dying one.

Okay. If, theoretically, for some reason, he was literally inside of a video game, here were the things he was certain of. Theoretically. This was a form of contingency planning, not acceptance.

One: he was himself. As in, he was himself in the game Tomorrow X Together. He was the same Beomgyu he’d made last night in character creation that was based on him in real life.

Two: nobody could tell that he wasn’t actually himself. Like, he was himself obviously (see point one), but Soobin hadn’t seemed too weirded out by Beomgyu not wanting to get out of bed, meaning there were no obvious distinct differences between him and video game him. Not at first glance, anyway.

Three:

Beomgyu screamed, batting away the giant screen that appeared directly in front of his face. Like he was in some sort of VR game.

Except it wasn’t a VR game, it was real, he was pretty fucking sure this was all fucking real now, because there was no way he would be scared shitless and not wake up if he were able to. He was the same person who woke up when somebody so much as opened the window or there was a noise too loud in his dream.

The text shifted right before his eyes, backspacing abruptly and then, character by character, reappearing as if somebody was typing:

Beomgyu froze. He shut down. His brain, body, even his fucking heart—all of it just shut down. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t think anybody would know what to do in a situation where they were considering that maybe, possibly, they were trapped in a video game.

Started what exactly?

Oh, great. The floating screen in front of him could hear his thoughts. Splendid. Like this wasn’t bad enough. He could feel tears prick the back of his eyelids.

For some fucking reason, that wasn’t very comforting.

Neither was the fact he still. hadn’t. fucking. woken up yet.

Fuck.

Fuck.

“Fuck!”

He stomped his feet, because he was a grown ass man trapped in a fucking video game and there was some omnipresent computer window talking to him like he was a child and ow, he just banged his knee against the sink and it hurt like a bitch and if that wasn’t a sign that this was real then nothing would be because holy shit it hurt and—

“Beomgyu?” Soobin’s voice came from the other side of the door. “Are you okay?”

Easy for you to fucking say!

“Yes!” Beomgyu yelled. “Banged my head on the wall by accident!”

“What? Did you bruise yourself?” Soobin asked. “Do you need me to—”

“Nope! No! I’m fine!” Beomgyu said with a thousand times more confidence than he felt inside. “Don’t worry.” He paused, then added, more awkwardly, “Hyung.”

“Alright,” Soobin said. He didn’t sound too certain, but surprisingly, he must’ve respected Beomgyu’s privacy, since his footsteps padded away from the door a moment later.

………

He wasn’t even going to begin to unpack the meaning of those words. Or how insulting they were. Just 10? Really? He deserved at least 100 for that!

Fuck no! He spun around. He didn’t have time for this. He was talking to a—what even was he talking to? It wasn’t the voice inside his head, but it wasn’t a person either. A fucking floating text box?

Said floating text box popped into existence in front of his face again, clearly unimpressed by his attempt to look away from it. It didn’t have a face or anything, but he could feel its exasperation somehow.

Beomgyu was about to rip out his hair.

His eye twitched. He wanted to get out of here, obviously, but he wasn’t sure he could trust an inanimate object. Concept? Thing?

Ughhhh.

He buried his face in his hands and groaned.

He supposed there were worse situations to be stuck in. Probably. He couldn’t think of any, but he was sure they existed.

There were another series of noises on the other side of the door, and Beomgyu went completely still as somebody yelled out, “Hyung, watch it!”

Beomgyu wasn’t that well-acquainted with their voices yet—he’d only played the game for two hours—but he was almost positive that the voice was Taehyun’s.

The guy he was supposed to have a crush on. As a video game character. Who was now real.

Which led him to another realisation: he was going to have to pretend to be himself. But he couldn’t even remember his entire backstory. He was so excited to get into the dating part of the game he skipped the introduction cutscene.

How exactly am I supposed to stay in character when I don’t know anything about myself?

That meant he had to act like he had a crush on Taehyun, that he wasn’t aware of Soobin’s crush on him, that he hated Yeonjun… God, that all sounded so tedious. Being in the middle of a harem seemed nice in theory, but actually juggling all these people’s emotions seemed impossible in reality.

This thing was so utterly unhelpful, it was beginning to genuinely piss him off.

Unless you can get me out of here, it’s not ‘help’!

That’s how I can leave? By earning points?

I don’t care!

1 million points.

1 million points?!

1 million points?!?!

He’d looked through the trophy list in the game a few weeks ago when it got leaked online, and the most points one of the achievements gave was 5,000. And he was supposed to earn 1 million?!

So he was basically trapped here forever?

That means he has to—

How is that simple?!

Oh. That was true. They were all predisposed to like him, but...

Won’t they get jealous of each other?

Can I see a walkthrough? Or at least the game manual?

Are you serious? I only have 10! The manual comes with the game! This isn’t fair!

What?!

I obviously wasn’t serious! Wait—how do you even know that?

That’s not an answer—

Fuck this.

He shut his eyes, forcing the stupid System messages outside of his vision. Deep breaths, Beomgyu. Getting mad at a floating text box wouldn’t be helpful in getting him out of here. He had to focus.

Their words were probably right. It made sense that, if he was trapped in here, the way to get out would be to complete the game. And the logical meaning of ‘complete the game’ would be to 100% it. And 100%ing the game meant romancing every character.

Do I only have one shot at this?

He opened one eye to read the response:

So, that was a yes, basically.

Fortunately, Beomgyu had played Big Hit’s last game for literally hundreds of hours. He even speedran V’s route and reached the top 10 worldwide. So he doubted there would be many surprises in terms of the world logic—his biggest issue was that he barely knew these people.

If he were in the real world, he would simply consult a guide to figure out their likes and dislikes. In these types of games, a few terrible gifts could lock you out of a character’s route forever. Meaning a handful of mistakes could, quite literally, cost him his life.

Taking things slow was the obvious decision, but he didn’t exactly have the time for that. Time was always the limiting factor in these games, and even with a guide, it was still easy to fuck things up. There was a reason why people rarely, if ever, attempted to do every route in one file. Beomgyu sure hadn’t. He always did his separately. It was easier that way.

He sure as hell wasn’t about to waste 10,000 points on the game manual. Firstly, he didn’t have 10,000 points. But also 1 million was a lot, and he had a feeling he’d need every bit he could get. So, improvising it was.

Before he figured out an actual game plan, though—he needed to take a shower, because he smelled from all the sweating he’d done in the past hour. Ew.

… Isn’t hygiene supposed to be taken care of games like this? This is a little too realistic!

Radio silence.

Figures.

He spent a frankly ridiculous amount of time staring at his own body in the shower.

It was so… pretty. In real life, he’d always had issues putting on weight, but here his whole body was everything he’d ever dreamed of. There were imperfections, certainly more than the other characters, but they only added to his charm.

He’d spent over twenty years resigning himself to looking a certain way and always being slightly unhappy with his appearance. Now he looked exactly like how he wanted to, and it was unnerving.

He washed his body and then his hair, careful with the strands since they were coloured. It was much more brittle than his hair in real life, and he winced when he accidentally pulled out a few.

See, shit like this was how he knew there was no way he was just dreaming. What kind of unconscious mind thinks of such small, meaningless details?

He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he failed to get out of here. If he got a game over… it didn’t take a genius to know that meant he would die. Or get wiped, whatever—the point was, he couldn’t live out his life here even if he wanted to. Which he definitely did not. He had friends and family back home, a job lined up for graduation. He wanted to play this fucking game, not be in it.

Once he was sufficiently clean, he turned off the shower and stepped out, shivering. Now for human interaction. Or rather, character interaction. He was more presentable now, but that wouldn’t fix any discrepancies with his personality.

The fact they were all apparently in love with him only made things worse, since they’d be more attuned to what he was normally like. He’d rather they all didn’t give a shit about him!

After patting himself dry, he shook off the water in his hair and then pulled his pyjamas back on. It was still amazing how real everything felt. He knew it was real, but like… it was really real, huh.

First, before he spoke to anybody, he wanted to check his phone. And more specifically, his contacts list. He opened the door to return to his room where his phone was, and—

“Oh, hyung!”

Beomgyu didn’t even make it to his room before his arm was being grabbed and he was being tugged away.

His room, directly across the hallway from the bathroom. So basically, he didn’t make it two steps before being assaulted. He should’ve known. He was rooming with four people hard designed to want his attention. This was probably going to be his life from now on.

“Why were you in the bathroom for so long?” A somewhat familiar voice asked. “I was beginning to get worried you’d hurt yourself in there!”

Beomgyu turned around to answer, and—holy shit.

“Um,” he said, eloquently.

Huening Kai smiled at him, pretty locks of blonde hair falling over his bright eyes; a little, perfectly placed scar indented into one of his flushed cheeks; sweet lips that were designed specifically to look peachy pink and very kissable.

The pixels on his screen did nothing to capture how beautiful he was face to face. Nothing. Beomgyu literally felt his breath be taken away just from the sight of Huening Kai’s smile. No regular human had ever done that to him, not even when he came face-to-face with Taemin one time at his local supermarket.

When confronted with Beomgyu’s stunned silence, Huening Kai’s smile faltered. “Hyung?” he called, waving his other hand in front of Beomgyu’s face. “Are you feeling sick…?”

Fuck, he was already acting weird, wasn’t he? How would he normally react to the most beautiful person he’d ever seen grabbing him out of nowhere? Swoon, probably?

But that was regular Beomgyu. The Beomgyu here was Huening Kai’s friend already, supposedly. Swooning would be even weirder.

“Sorry. I’m still a bit sleepy.” He cleared his throat.

Huening Kai’s smile returned, albeit tentatively.

“Poor hyung,” he cooed, patting Beomgyu’s head in a way that could only be described as lovingly, and Beomgyu had the distinct feeling he was being treated like the dongsaeng and not the hyung.

“Mm.” Beomgyu smiled in return, close-lipped, trying not to get distracted by how pretty Huening Kai’s hands were. Long fingers, perfect nails, smooth skin…

“Well, Taehyunnie made you breakfast and it’s getting cold, so!” Kai smacked said pretty hand against Beomgyu’s back, shoving him forward, and geez, there was a lot of hidden strength in those arms of his. “You aren’t allowed to skip breakfast again!”

Beomgyu winced. Good to know this version of him was also a chronic breakfast skipper.

“I even made you coffee,” Huening Kai continued, sounding a touch proud.

Nothing in the world sounded sweeter to him than coffee right now, short of getting the fuck out of here. Maybe Huening Kai was an angel, like the fandom theorized.

“Thanks, Huening Kai,” he said.

He expected another head pat, but instead all he got was a deep pout. “Hyung, I told you to just call me one or the other,” Huening Kai… Huening? Kai? complained. “It sounds weird when you say the whole thing. I thought we were past this.”

Beomgyu thought he was just being respectful, since that was literally what was on Kai’s introductory page on the website, but okay. Good to know.

“Sorry, Kai,” he said. Kai huffed, but didn’t seem all too bothered by Beomgyu’s slip-up, which was a relief.

“Just don’t forget!” Kai scolded him. “Now c’mon, let’s eat!”

In the single most embarrassing moment of his life, Beomgyu dropped his spoon into his cereal when Soobin entered the kitchen.

He hadn’t been able to get a good look at Soobin when he first woke up, but now that he was more alert, he could fully appreciate his apparent childhood friend’s face. And wow, what a face it was. Like Kai, he was so, so much more handsome in person it was startling. His hair was shorter than Beomgyu’s, still its natural black, exactly like it’d been on Beomgyu’s screen when he played the game. The people on Twitter who kept describing him as the ‘Nation’s First Love’ type had the right idea. And why were all of their lips so naturally glossy?

Yunjin was an avid SooKai shipper, and he could see the visual appeal when they were together. They both looked like movie stars, tall, with innocent faces and kind eyes. Beomgyu slowly picked his spoon back up and watched them, pretending to be zoned out when he was really greedily taking in every movement of theirs.

“Good morning!” Kai said cheerily, immediately plastering himself to Soobin’s side. Good to know Beomgyu wasn’t the only one Kai jumped on sight.

“Morning,” Soobin answered. He looked just as sleepy as he did when he woke Beomgyu up two hours ago, if not even sleepier. “Did you guys eat breakfast already?”

“Taehyunnie, Beomgyu hyung and I did.” Kai waved in Beomgyu’s direction. “I think Yeonjun hyung is still asleep.”

“He’s not, he’s just too lazy to get out of bed.” Soobin sighed. “He’ll probably come out when…”

His eyes slid over to Beomgyu, and both he and Kai looked at him like he was some sort of wounded animal.

Right. Yeonjun was his ex. For what reason, he had no fucking idea. But it would likely be a major plot point—being in the same famous K-pop group with your ex seemed like it’d be a pretty big deal.

God, he didn’t even want to think about how he’d start that route. There’s going to be so much yelling and side-eyeing over shit he didn’t actually do. And he’s going to have no choice but to suck it up.

Kai didn’t seem too perturbed. “Okay!” he chirped. “Do you want me to make you coffee?”

This kid was so nice. Almost too nice. He was so obviously the ‘ideal type’ character—no real person could get so excited over making other people coffee.

“I’m alright, but thanks,” Soobin said. He tickled Kai in the side and Kai giggled, jumping back and swatting his arm before leaving Soobin alone to sit down beside Beomgyu again.

“Hyung,” Kai whispered, once he was seated. “Don’t think I didn’t see that.”

“See what?”

Kai tapped the top of Beomgyu’s spoon and grinned. Beomgyu slumped closer to his bowl, nudging Kai away.

Was Kai one of those characters that played matchmaker for him? Beomgyu hated those types of characters precisely because he loved them too much. The fandom always overlooked them. And Beomgyu really didn’t need Kai’s encouragement to pursue anybody. In fact, he was a little concerned Kai helping him would hurt him by fucking up his own efforts to get together with a character.

Plus, Beomgyu wasn’t even having gay thoughts about Soobin. He was just observing how handsome he was. Straight people did that too. Not that Beomgyu was straight either, but… not the point.

“I dropped my spoon, so what?”

“Nothing,” Kai sang. He winked at Beomgyu and Beomgyu’s heart did the stupidest skip of all time. It wasn’t even a gay wink. It was just Kai was so ridiculously pretty, it was like a preconditioned reaction to being near somebody so attractive. “Nothing at all.”

Beomgyu narrowed his eyes at him. “It better be nothing.” He swooped his bowl into his arms and stood up. “I’m going back to my room. Tell Yeonjun he can come out now.”

He meant it literally, but it highkey came out bitchier than he wanted it to. Oops. That was likely in character though, when speaking about Yeonjun, so whatever.

“Gyu,” Soobin greeted him. He was by the coffeemaker, directly beside the trash, where Beomgyu was dumping his uneaten cereal. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I told you, I’m fine.” He rolled his eyes. Geez, talk about an overworrier. He knew Soobin was in love with him, but Beomgyu was clearly not sick. “When do we leave again?”

“Eleven thirty. Three and a half hours.” Soobin pursed his lips. “But…”

“I have some stuff I need to get done,” Beomgyu interrupted. “I’ll be in my room.”

“Oh. Okay.” Soobin sounded so openly disappointed Beomgyu almost felt bad for him. Almost. “I’ll knock on your door when we’re ready to leave, then.”

“Thanks, hyung.”

The tips of Soobin’s ears went red, and… that easy, huh? Maybe the ‘hard’ routes weren’t as hard as they were marketed to be, if just staring Soobin in the eyes and calling him hyung was enough to fluster him.

He shouldn’t get too excited over anything until he figured out the scope of this world, however—so on to researching he went.

The first thing he did when he got into his room was lock the door. The second thing he did was find his phone, tucked under his pillow, and checked for Yunjin’s name in his contacts.

Of course, she wasn’t there. He pressed the cold screen to his forehead and sighed. She didn’t even exist, did she? Why would she? This was a fictional world with pre-generated characters. And she wasn’t a character, she was a real person.

His best friend in this world was… Soobin. Who he didn’t know, and wasn’t real. So basically, he was alone. Haha. Great.

So alone…

He curled up in bed with his laptop propped up against his knees, happy to find that his laptop was mostly the same as in the real world. His password was the same, his desktop bar was the same, everything was the same except he didn’t have Discord downloaded.

First things first: he needed to figure out the breadth of his job.

Do I need to do the game part of the game too?

Helping our group become popular… organising schedules and stuff.

Can you please just tell me without the powerpoint!

Beomgyu had a lot to say on why he ‘wasn’t as fun’, but he wasn’t going to get into that now. How do I decide the schedules?

Explain, please? Without the powerpoint!

Fun was not the word Beomgyu would choose for that sentence. This was going to be so tedious! Not only does he have to date everybody in his group, but he also has to act as the creative, marketing, and economic director for them.

Opting to ignore the stupid text box in the side of his vision, he looked up their group online. As expected, they were… flops. Like, actual flops. There was no other way to put it. They weren’t even in the Top 100 on iChart.

He was going to have his work cut out for him.

Where do I begin?

… That sounded too good to be true.

Like what?

Debatable, considering you’re the one keeping me here! That’s the opposite of helpful!

No comment on how he was literally kidnapped from his real life. Of course. But... hmmm. That made sense, and was a standard game mechanic. Maybe it wasn’t a scam.

What’s the first quest?

Getting Yeonjun of all people to hug him—the character being Yeonjun was obviously not chosen at random. Off the top of his head, Beomgyu couldn’t think of any reasonable way to make Yeonjun hug him. He could hug Yeonjun, but the other way around?

The points, though…

He hadn’t even met Yeonjun in this world. This could be disastrous. But it couldn’t be that hard to make Yeonjun hug him, could it?

Famous last words.

Can I go into a negative point balance?

The ‘right now’ caught his eye, but fuck it. What did he have to lose? He tapped the YES button floating in front of him and the screen shimmered, solidifying the word with a bright light.

Another thing on his plate. But hopefully the effort it’ll require will be worth it. He laid back on his bed, legs propped up, head resting on his pillow.

While he could work on getting Yeonjun to hug him all week, romancing someone was something that would take a fair bit longer. Should he do them one at a time? Or all at once? All at once sounded near-impossible. As long as he budgeted his time wisely and made sure he was making progress every week, one at a time seemed doable.

Ugh. There was so much to think about. He should’ve asked Soobin what exactly they were doing today. And he should meet Yeonjun and Taehyun before they leave. But fuck, he was so tired already, both mentally and physically, and the downwards drag of his eyelids seemed impossible to fight against.

Game plan: he would sleep for an hour and then return to the living room, where he could hopefully meet the other two members. Then he would figure out what to work on first, who to spend time with, what the fuck he was going to do about his actual job. Later. After he napped.

Just a short nap…

Chapter Text

This time, when Beomgyu’s eyes fluttered open from his nap, he was ready for the jolt of seeing a vaguely familiar face in the flesh.

Okay, maybe not ready, but he wasn’t completely blindsided like before. The cute, wide-eyed boy hovering over him still made him feel a bit dazed, but he managed to keep his cool.

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up, his head spinning a bit. Taehyun took a step back, like he was unsure whether he was allowed to touch Beomgyu.

“Did you already clean up?” Taehyun asked, his voice trembling slightly. “We have to leave soon.”

Beomgyu yawned, stretching his arms over his head. He remembered bits and pieces of the game, but he wasn’t sure exactly what they’d be doing today. No use asking Taehyun for details. He had no way to justify why he’d forgotten something so important. He’d just have to figure it out as he went along.

They were still in the tutorial week, only two days into their debut, so hopefully that meant things would be easy. And this was a dating game, not an idol management simulator. As long as he followed the script, the schedule shouldn’t be too difficult.

Maybe. Probably. Debatably.

“Hyung?” Taehyun prompted.

“I’m ready,” Beomgyu said, voice coming out smaller than expected. He cleared his throat and tried again with as much confidence as he could muster, “I’m fine. I showered earlier.”

“Alright.” Taehyun pursed his lips. “Soobin hyung and Yeonjun hyung are already gone, and they made me swear we’d get there on time.”

Beomgyu blinked away the lingering haze from his sleep, and he could practically feel his cheeks turn bright red when he took in Taehyun’s appearance. The fact his smile was awkward didn’t take away from how pretty he was; he had the same smooth, glossy skin as Soobin and Kai, and his hair was delicately tousled as if he’d just walked out of a magazine.

And he was also, for some reason Beomgyu couldn’t fathom, shirtless. That wouldn’t be an issue if he wasn’t in Beomgyu’s room.

Beomgyu coughed very loudly into his fist and then made a shooing motion. “I need to get changed, so…”

“Right.” Taehyun took another step back. “I need to make sure Kai is ready anyway. Um… the van is coming in fifteen minutes, so just be out by then.” He rubbed the back of his neck, and Beomgyu hastily looked away so he wouldn’t get an eyeful of Taehyun’s extremely twiggy-but-beautiful arm muscles. “Thanks.”

“Thanks for waking me—up…” Beomgyu said. Taehyun didn’t give him a chance to finish before he was scurrying out of the room.

Considering how stoic and distant Taehyun was portrayed in all of the promotional material, he hadn’t been expecting… that. Even the Taehyun that Beomgyu had (very briefly) met through his laptop screen had been more confident than that. But Beomgyu supposed entering your crush’s room shirtless would make any boy nervous.

Still, it was amusing that Taehyun was seemingly more flustered than Beomgyu himself, when Beomgyu was in a situation a thousand times worse than anything Taehyun, as a computer program, could be possibly going through.

Beomgyu was determined not to make things worse, though. He felt better now that he’d stewed in misery for a few hours.

He didn’t even flinch when the annoying text box filled his vision as he pulled his socks on. See? Four hours in this world and he was already a master.

Beomgyu just rolled his eyes. Whoever programmed this thing needed to understand that the ‘quirky, relatable AI’ shtick wasn’t working out. And the asterisk actions? Talk about cringeworthy.

Do you have anything helpful to say, or are you just here to give me a headache before I start the journey that’ll decide whether or not my existence will be deleted forever?

Then tell me how to pull off today’s schedule!

The System’s text box went away with a flourish, just as Beomgyu expected it to, and he went back to searching through his closet.

Thank god all of his favourite hoodies and sweatshirts were still in this world. Seriously, he would go crazy if he was forced to constantly dress like an idol. And it would be really depressing if he failed this game because he was distracted by his uncomfortable clothes.

He learned enough about being an idol to know that they’d be changing at the studio, but he happily slipped on his favourite hoodie for now. He had to be grateful for the little things.

There was no reason for him to believe he couldn’t pull this off; he had the power of sentience and critical thinking. He just needed to stay calm.

Easy.

Thank you for that reminder. Thanks so much. That’s definitely what I wanted to hear.

When he hurried downstairs, he was greeted by the sight of Kai and Taehyun already waiting in the van, and he could feel the slight flush on his cheeks from earlier returning as Taehyun looked up from his phone to give him a small smile.

The tension between them felt less oppressive than he had anticipated, but neither Kai nor Taehyun seemed interested in talking during their twenty-minute stint in rush hour traffic, so Beomgyu kept quiet and checked out his phone instead.

The Beomgyu of this world—or rather, the programmer of this world who decided what the Beomgyu of this world did—had his own private Twitter account, and Beomgyu used that to check out what people were saying about their group.

In the game, the tweets most reflective of their reputation would probably pop up on the side of his screen every so often, letting him know how he was doing.

In reality, he had to go through their Twitter search and comb through hundreds of tweets about them, ranging from obsessive to legitimately sweet to just downright monstrous.

All these random people had lives in this world, but they also didn’t act like normal people either. They all sounded so tacky—their tweets all followed the same generic hate-comment formula, written by some out-of-touch game designer who didn’t know how kids actually typed.

The same principle applied to the members, really. They were ‘real people’ in this world, but did they act like real people? He couldn’t be sure. All he knew was that if they acted according to their code, they were anything but real.

He wasn’t allowed to be honest about his situation, and according to the System, it was impossible for them to recognise themselves as characters even if Beomgyu did tell them. Therefore, it seemed that their thoughts were limited to how they’d act in the game.

The restriction was understandable from the point of view of whatever sick fuck put him in here. If he could just tell them about his situation, they’d be able to help him unlock all the heart events in a fraction of the time, and he’d be out of here in a week.

But being bound to code meant they were more unpredictable. Beomgyu hadn’t finished the tutorial in real life! He had no idea what their personalities were like. And he couldn’t assume they’d be logical.

Video game characters were never logical. That was a fact. They were caricatures—they were always based on one core trait, or idea, or like or dislike. And then their entire lives centered around that thing.

He just had to figure out what that thing was for each of them. Just. Except he had no idea where to begin.

Beomgyu sighed and shook his head. Now he felt stupid for complaining about his music theory class. He’d rather do a thousand silly online quizzes than this.

Suddenly, Kai’s head spun towards him, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. The bouncing hair made him look like a curious puppy.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice full of concern.

“Just tired,” Beomgyu said, forcing a smile.

Kai was too alert to Beomgyu’s moods. On second thought, Taehyun probably was too. He was just more subtle about watching over him.

Knowing that the other members were so invested in his every move made him uneasy. In a video game, it was fine. It wasn’t like they were paying attention to him, Beomgyu, the real person. But here…

Having people watch him all the time was weird, okay? He couldn’t even sigh without somebody asking him if he was okay. Kai noticed him staring at Soobin earlier, too. To actually be able to sense them staring at him whenever they thought he was distracted was a completely different experience.

Kai narrowed his eyes at him, but a moment later it was gone and he was back to smiling. “We’re almost there,” Kai said reassuringly. “What do you think they’ll have us do? How long will this take to film? Will they…”

He prattled on, and Beomgyu hummed at the appropriate times. To think that getting through this variety show was the least of his concerns for today. The him of one day ago would have cried tears of joy if he’d been told that within the blink of an eye, he’d be an idol heading to film a variety show with a bunch of hot guys.

That means I have to get out of here first!!

… You’re seriously the worst!

After changing into new clothes at the studio, but before he stepped into the waiting room, a massive text box once again filled his vision to remind him of his current quest: get Yeonjun to hug him.

It felt like some kind of warning, and once he ushered it away and followed Taehyun inside, he recognised why.

“Beomgyu-yah,” Soobin called. “What took you guys so long?”

Beomgyu huffed, and he was about to argue back that there were two other people late along with him, but he was silenced by the menacing glare he was given.

Beomgyu was taken aback by Yeonjun, not because of the stunning beauty he was blessed with—he would be more taken aback if Yeonjun wasn’t pretty—but by the sheer intensity of the gaze he was being subjected to. Beomgyu had been in a fair few arguments in his lifetime, and the look that Yeonjun was giving him right now was even more intimidating than any of those.

It was slightly terrifying to be subjected to. Actually, it was really terrifying. If Beomgyu wasn’t so acutely aware that he was in a dating game and not a horror one, he’d be legitimately scared Yeonjun was about to murder him.

He should’ve read the online spoilers that told him what Yeonjun’s backstory was. Not knowing the reason why he broke up with somebody sucked. One-sided enemies to lovers was such a cliche trope.

He strode towards Soobin, trying his hardest to block out Yeonjun’s piercing gaze. He had to focus on the task at hand. “We hit a bit of traffic on the way here,” he explained.

“Ah, okay,” Soobin replied, his brow furrowed in concern. “You need to get your makeup done, and then we’ve probably only got like five minutes before we have to start filming. Do you remember everything? I don’t know if we’ll have time to go over the script—”

“I remember most of it,” Beomgyu said.

Soobin gave him a knowing look, not fooled for a second.

“Here,” he said, handing Beomgyu a crumpled piece of paper. “Just don’t let anyone else find out you didn’t have it memorized, alright?”

Beomgyu nodded, took the paper, and put it in his pocket as he walked toward where Taehyun and Kai were being herded into their respective chairs.

As he walked, he couldn’t help but take a quick glance at Kai, who was sitting quietly, hands on his lap as he listened to the makeup artist prattle on about work. As easygoing as Kai was when they were back at the dorm, he was as shy as a newborn deer in public.

Beomgyu smiled to himself. The details they put into the character’s personalities—like them being shy since they were rookies—were so endearing. The multifacetedness of them as characters was what Beomgyu enjoyed most about Big Hit’s games.

They were still characters, of course, and acted illogically most of the time, but Beomgyu appreciated the bits of realism they had.

He arrived at his own designated chair and sat down, feeling the soft cushioning against his back. The room was filled with the buzz of hair dryers, the hum of makeup brushes, and the murmur of voices as the staff chatted with each other.

The makeup artist approached him, introducing herself and explaining the look they were going for. Beomgyu nodded and did his best to stay still, only flinching when the brush passed over the tip of his nose.

He’d been in this situation a handful of times in real life, doing photoshoots for online stores and his university’s drama club, but it was much more overwhelming to do it for an actual show as an actual idol. The pressure was on.

A single variety show was nothing in the grand scheme of the game’s two-or-so years, but this was the foundation for their reputation. A bad first impression in video games was like any other in the world: it was a thousand times harder to recover from.

He fished Soobin’s script out from his pocket and unfolded it. It was in his own handwriting, not printed. They must have been Soobin’s own notes that he wrote while preparing.

They weren’t helpful, honestly. All it told him was the general outline of the show—introductions, two games, and then a talent show section. Really, what caught Beomgyu’s eye wasn’t the show itself, but rather Soobin’s comments scrawled on the side of the paper.

Introduce album with keywords, was written at the beginning. And then a little lower, Keep Yeonjun and Beomgyu apart!!! Near the end, Try to get Taehyun to show off his vocals.

Soobin was a good leader. Sure, he was designed to be one, but seeing it in action was more endearing than seeing it through a screen.

Speaking of Soobin, he could hear him yelling in the background for them to hurry up. Wasn’t it usually the manager’s job to keep them on task? Beomgyu wondered how many random tasks Soobin was saddled with because the game designers didn’t feel like worldbuilding their staff team.

Then again, Beomgyu was apparently in charge of their schedules, so maybe managers didn’t have jobs in this world at all. Talk about a waste of company money, given there were like five in the room with them right now.

The makeup artist finished in a flash, and he was quickly pushed back onto his feet and shoved towards a can of hairspray. After coughing through a haphazard spray of it, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and then somebody grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the cloud of hairspray.

“Hyung—” Kai started, a hint of concern in his voice.

“I’m fine, Kai,” Beomgyu said, coughing. His lungs were burning. Why did he have to be transported to a game world where he could feel pain? That was just cruel. “Soobin—Soobin hyung is calling us.”

Kai’s expression softened and he leaned in closer to Beomgyu. “No, I was going to say your collar is flipped upside down at the back,” he said as he reached over to fix it.

Beomgyu’s eyes widened in surprise as Kai’s fingers grazed over his bare neck, slipping the collar back into place.

“Oh,” he said.

“Don’t want you making a fool of yourself in our very first show,” Kai said, grinning. “There, now you look perfect.”

Beomgyu could feel his face burst into flames as Kai’s fingers left his skin. The sensation sent shivers down his spine and he quickly looked away, trying to hide his embarrassment.

“Thanks, Kai,” he said, his voice slightly shaking. He cleared his throat, composing himself. “I appreciate it.”

Kai gave him a warm smile and patted his shoulder. “No problem, hyung. That’s what friends are for, right?” He gave Beomgyu a playful punch on the arm. “What about me?”

The sudden question caught Beomgyu off guard. His brain was still preoccupied with Kai touching his neck. “What about you…?”

“How do I look?” Kai asked, lifting his chin.

Beomgyu laughed out loud, and Kai pouted, balling his fists at his sides.

“Hyung!”

The question was just so—so… ridiculous. If Kai were in the real world, a question like that would have everybody hating him. It was irritating when pretty people didn’t acknowledge that they were pretty.

Beomgyu would know. He was one of those low self-esteem people too. He just kept it to himself.

But everybody in this world was beautiful, so maybe it made sense that Kai couldn’t recognise that as easily.

“You look good, Kai. Of course you do. Why are you even asking?”

At first, he thought Kai was outright flirting with him, but seeing Kai’s eyes light up in pure joy as he spoke told him that the other boy was truly just that earnest in wanting his affection.

It was both discomforting and a massive power trip to have so much power over somebody like this. This is why he could never understand people who purposely chose the bad options in video games. What kind of horrible person would reject Kai’s sparkly eyes and gummy smile?

“Are you two ready, or are you going to keep giggling to yourselves in the corner?” Yeonjun asked dryly from where he was leaning against the entryway to the main filming area.

As if on cue, Kai giggled. “We’re ready, hyung. Stop worrying.”

“Yah, I’m not worrying,” Yeonjun grumbled. “I just don’t want you to be yelled at.”

It was comical how quickly Yeonjun’s face turned from adoring to stone cold when he turned towards Beomgyu.

Yeonjun’s eyes lingered on him for a moment, and then he turned away without saying a word.

Beomgyu wondered how long it’d been since they spoke even before he arrived in this world. How long could two people who lived together avoid each other?

He would take the System’s word on that one.

“Please welcome… Tomorrow by Together!”

“Hello, we are Tomorrow by Together!” The five of them stood before the imposing figure of the television host, bowing in unison with a mix of respect and nerves. The tension in the air was palpable. He noticed how the other members fidgeted, twirling their fingers or shifting their weight from foot to foot, betraying their nervousness. Even Yeonjun sounded a bit nervous as he recited their greeting.

One by one, they stepped forward and introduced themselves to the host, each of them growing more confident as the line went on. Beside Beomgyu, Taehyun recited his greeting, hands over his lap.

He sounded so polite. Beomgyu didn’t know whether to be giddy or nervous out of his mind over the fact he was on a variety show, introducing himself as an idol. A fake one, sure, but it was real to him right now.

He didn’t realise it was his turn until everybody turned towards him, Soobin making vague hand signals.

“Hello, I’m Choi Beomgyu.” Beomgyu wrung his hands together and laughed, “Sorry, I’m a little nervous.”

Shyness was cute, right? People loved earnest shyness. A little emotional vulnerability wouldn’t hurt their reputation.

On cue, the host cooed, giving him a wave. “It’s okay! If I’m not mistaken, it’s the first variety show Tomorrow by Together is going on. We’re honoured to have you here…”

As Soobin took the stage, waxing eloquently about their latest album, Beomgyu nodded along in agreement, his mind focused on the task at hand. That was, until the moment arrived for the title track to be showcased.

Suddenly, all the blood in his veins came to a standstill.

He didn’t even consider the fact he’d have to dance. Fuck, of course he had to dance. He was a fucking idol. Fuck.

The other members of the group sprang into action, shuffling into their places, like a perfectly choreographed machine. Beomgyu stumbled forward, his heart pounding in his chest, searching for the spot that had been designated for him. His gaze landed on the gap between Kai and Yeonjun, and he scurried into place.

His attempts at remembering the dance purely from the promotional material were failing him. The others all raised their arms, so Beomgyu followed, but what the fuck did he do next?

The music began; a pounding beat filled the room and echoed in his bones. Suddenly, his body moved on its own—with each step, he felt more and more alive, his confidence growing with each beat.

Maybe this System was good for some things.

The dancing was like a rhythm game, except instead of tapping the buttons on a controller, he was twisting his body to the beat. Thankfully, Beomgyu was really good at rhythm games—and dancing, for that matter, though this wasn’t nearly as difficult as dancing in real life was. All he had to do was focus on the song and his body filled in the blanks.

“Perfect, perfect!” The host clapped once the music tapered off. Nobody spared Beomgyu a second glance, so clearly, he’d passed whatever mini-game that was supposed to be. “That was wonderful!”

She sounded like one of those soundbites that played after the rhythm game ended. Beomgyu snorted to himself, panting lightly, and bent over his knees to catch his breath.

Stamina was not his strong suit in real life or in here, apparently. He’d allocated basically no points into his STR stat since, well, he didn’t think he’d be using it literally. He’d have to work on bulking up over time.

I didn’t even do anything.

……

… Thank you, I guess…

Then why did you ask me to thank you?!

The text box disappeared, and Beomgyu resisted scowling. The cameras were still on. Imagine how horrible he would look if he randomly started glaring into the camera.

Soobin grabbed onto Beomgyu’s sleeve, keeping him close (and upright) as the show continued into the next section. Beomgyu appreciated the silent reassurance. He was mostly just exhausted from dancing, but he could pass it off as nerves if he had to.

So far so good, though. He doubted all of their schedules would be this easy, but this one wasn’t nearly as bad as Beomgyu would expect from ‘being randomly thrown into a video game and forced to pretend to be an idol version of himself.’

Next, after a brief back and forth between Yeonjun and the hosts, they wheeled out a tray full of headphones. He already knew where this was going. “Shall we play a game next? We’ll have to divide you into teams!”

Soobin straightened his back and started hastily, “I’ll go with Yeonjun hyung and—”

“You can’t choose, silly,” the host chuckled. “Let’s pick them randomly, it’s more fun! How about… Beomgyu-ssi, Yeonjun-ssi, and Huening-ssi, versus you, Taehyun-ssi, and me?”

Soobin’s grip on Beomgyu’s arm tightened, and then he let go, exhaling deeply, “Alright.” It wasn’t like he could argue back without it being suspicious.

Yeonjun didn’t have as much of a poker face, but his head was turned away from the camera and towards Beomgyu for that brief moment. By the time he spun back around, he had a light smile on his face again.

Beomgyu wondered how random this choice truly was. Putting him with the easiest and hardest routes at the same time, in what was likely an opportunity to gain a handful of relationship points—that didn’t seem like a coincidence. It offered the player the immediate choice to either get Kai’s route over with as soon as possible, or jumpstart Yeonjun’s.

He wouldn’t complain no matter who he was paired with. He had to romance all of them eventually. Yeonjun might be pissed now, but in a few months when they’re on good terms again, he’ll be grateful!

“Beomgyu-yah,” Yeonjun said, voice brimming with warmth. He gestured for Beomgyu to move closer. “Stand next to hyung.” It was the first time he had addressed Beomgyu directly.

His acting skills were definitely impressive. Though Beomgyu supposed their relationship in the game made no sense if Yeonjun wasn’t a good actor. How silly would it be if they debuted and two days later, Yeonjun exposed them? That wasn’t how story pacing worked.

Beomgyu slipped on the headphones passed to him, and allowed himself to be led to the end of the line, in front of Kai. Kai bounced on his feet like a rabbit on caffeine, eyes sparkling, and Beomgyu smiled back on instinct.

Then the music began blaring in his ears like war drums, and he winced on instinct. It took his brain a second to filter through the noise to hear the actual song. Was this one of theirs? He hadn’t heard it in any of the promotional material, but he was pretty sure that was his voice in the track.

His parts in their title track didn’t sound like him, most of the time. The player character didn’t have many lines—to minimize voice acting costs and all. But this one was definitely, one-hundred percent his own voice.

How eerie.

He was so surprised at hearing his own voice he forgot he was supposed to be listening to Kai yell, and so he was confused when Kai snapped his fingers in his face. Everybody was going to think he was an airhead with how much he was zoning out.

“Sorry,” Beomgyu said, then felt silly. Kai wouldn’t be able to hear him anyway. He nodded to show he was listening, and Kai pouted, his mouth forming words Beomgyu couldn’t hear.

Kai leaned in, shouted a word into Beomgyu's ear, then stepped back, a grin spreading across his face.

Beomgyu strained to hear, the music pounding in his ears like a herd of elephants. He thought he caught the word "spicy", but he wasn't sure. He shouted back the word he thought he had heard, and Kai nodded, a look of approval on his face.

He couldn’t see or hear Yeonjun from Kai’s other side, so it was like he was only playing the game with Kai. Which was fine by him, and likely by Yeonjun too.

Honestly, it was pretty fun. It was definitely the least stressed he’d been in the whole seven hours he’d been in this world. Not exactly a high bar, but hey, he’ll take it.

It was only once the other team started scoring points that Beomgyu lost some enthusiasm. He was fully aware that winning wasn't everything, but it also kind of was, because he was pretty sure he’d gain Achievement Points from it and he needed every bit he could get.

Also, he was naturally competitive. Sorry, Soobin and Taehyun.

The game continued on for a few more minutes, their two teams going back and forth, and Beomgyu tried to stay focused and not get distracted by how utterly adorable Kai was when he was excited.

“And the word was…” The host paused for dramatic effect for way longer than necessary. “Origami! The BeomJunKai Team wins!”

Bingo.

Something big and heavy was throwing itself into Beomgyu’s side, ripping his headphones off, and Beomgyu stumbled back with an oof to try to catch him in time. Whoever had written that Kai was like an oversized puppy was right.

“We did it!” Kai said. He sounded even happier than Beomgyu was, despite his stakes being much, much lower. “We’re so good at this!”

Beomgyu laughed, relieved. “Yeah, we did,” he said, returning Kai’s hug.

The host said something about a prize to them, but a lightbulb went off in Beomgyu’s mind as Kai squeezed his waist.

Beomgyu narrowed his eyes at Yeonjun, who was clapping and laughing a few metres away. When their gazes met, the corner of his eyes turned downwards, like he was trying not to frown.

They were being filmed. Yeonjun had to match Beomgyu’s energy, else he would come off as rude. And from what he knew about Yeonjun, it was that he took his job seriously, even more so than whatever feud he had with Beomgyu.

It was only a split second, but he saw Yeonjun flinch right before Beomgyu dragged him into their little group hug. He felt a little guilty for making Yeonjun uncomfortable, but not that guilty. He had to get out of here by any means necessary, okay? That included awkward hugs.

And Yeonjun was secretly in love with him or something, so he couldn’t be that upset over it.

Yeonjun’s hug lasted approximately half a second, but it was still a hug. And as a bonus, he was sure the fans would love it. Maybe they’d think Yeonjun was flustered because he was a tsundere. And they wouldn’t be wrong.

Let Yeonjun run away, that was fine. He had Kai blushing beside him, and he’d gotten his hug from Yeonjun. That was all he needed for now.

Achievement Unlocked!
Get Uncomfortably Close to Your Ex
+1,000 Achievement Points

Hidden Achievement Unlocked!
Crush the Competition
+500 Fame

Well, that went significantly better than he expected. Now he saw why the quest only gave 1,000 points. It hadn’t been that hard at all, at least not for him.

And Yunjin always called him spineless. Hah. Would a spineless person be able to pull all that off? He thought not! Anybody less sane than him would still be crying in the bathroom right now. Considering he was trapped inside a fucking video game, he thought he was doing pretty well.

Now, three hours later and freshly washed, he was curled up in his bed back at their dorm, eyes shut, cheek pressed into a clean, worn pillow. He could fall asleep within seconds if he allowed himself to. It felt like he had been here for years, not just hours. He was so exhausted just from their one schedule.

That was another thing about being inside the game; he had to actually do everything. Doing things expended energy—energy that Beomgyu typically didn’t have. Not only physically, but mentally, too.

Soobin said they didn’t have to worry about anything else for the evening, so Beomgyu was taking the chance to let his mind recuperate. He needed to reflect on everything he knew and make a real plan.

But where did he even begin? The task of romancing them all was so daunting. And then he had to manage their group and be an idol as well—whether he liked it or not, those things took up time.

It was hilarious how he’d spent the past five years chasing this exact dream of being an idol, and now that he was here, he couldn’t fully enjoy it.

Now that was a depressing thought.

He propped himself up in bed, bringing his knees to his chest and then resting his phone on his lap. A quick browse through his contact’s list told him that this version of himself didn’t have many friends. The only people he had on his phone were his family and the other members.

It occurred to him then that he’d never checked his message history with any of them, mostly because in these types of games, you could never see what happened before the game started unless it was a flashback. That would give away too much backstory.

But this was real life here, and surely they’d communicated before, right? And there was no reason Beomgyu wouldn’t be able to see.

He quickly swiped to the first person on the list, Soobin, and tapped their private chat.

Bingo.

Choi Soobin

March 19, 2022

Beomgyu

Hyung

Are you awake?

Soobin

Yeah

What's up?

Beomgyu

I just

can't sleep

Soobin

I get it

I obviously can't either

I'm actually so nervous my hands are shaking as I type this

lol

Beomgyu

Wow

You're such a loser, hyung

Soobin

Um

You literally texted me first??

Beomgyu

Well I'm not SHAKING

Soobin

I was honest with you and this is what you give back to me

Beomgyu

I'm just kidding!!!!

I'm nervous too ofc

But my hands always shake because of low blood pressure, not just because of anxiety >o>

Soobin

You have nothing to be nervous about

You'll do fine

Beomgyu

What if we get on stage and I trip over my own feet??

What if I forget all my lines?

What if I get the hiccups

Soobin

Please

None of those things are going to happen and even if they did, it'd be fine

But I know you and if you want something, you always get it done

So don't worry so much

Beomgyu

Shut up

I could say the same for you >:(((

Soobin

I'm the leader, it's different

I'm not worried about like messing up our song or whatever

but things like if I fuck up as leader, it'll reflect on our whole group, and then what?

Beomgyu

How would you fuck up

Soobin

I don't know

There's probably tons of things I'll have to do as leader that I haven't considered yet and I'll be taken aback when it happens

Beomgyu

Okay, well until you figure out what you're worried about, stop worrying

If you're going to be nervous, have it be over something that you actually know might happen ://

Soobin

Like hiccups?

lmao

Beomgyu

Worrying over something so made up you don't even know what it is is just silly

Yes

exactly!!!!

hyung, you went through so much to make it here, and you made it

we both did

If they didn't trust you to be leader, you wouldn't be leader, it's not like we didn't have other choices

Believe in the me who believes in you :>

Soobin

Yeah

I guess

maybe it'll get easier over time

Beomgyu

It will

and I'll be here to support you

Soobin

I know you will be

Thank you, Beomgyu

honestly, what the fuck would I do without you

Beomgyu

:P

just be glad you live in the timeline where I'm here

Soobin

I am grateful, trust me

I'm happy we're getting to do this together

Ily

Beomgyu

Hehe

Ilyt hyung <3

The conversation was from two days ago. The early, early morning of their debut.

… Why did it feel like he wasn’t supposed to see this yet? It seemed like something that would be revealed halfway through the story, to show how close Soobin and the player were. He had to admit, the best friends to lovers thing was cute. Yunjin would have a blast with it.

Taehyun’s messages were predictably more dry.

Cool Maknae Taehyun

March 14, 2022

Beomgyu

Taehyun-ahhhh

Taehyun

Yes?

Beomgyu

Do you remember those hoodies you showed me

Taehyun

Yes?

Beomgyu

Which colour do you want for your super belated bday gift~

Taehyun

Aren't you supposed to be surprising me?

Beomgyu

Do you want me to give you an ugly hoodie you'll never wear, or do you want me to give you the one you actually want

Taehyun

... Grey

Beomgyu

Okay :*!!!!

Normally Beomgyu would be annoyed by somebody showing him so little enthusiasm, but he knew from common sense that Taehyun just didn’t know how to act around him because he liked him.

In the trailers, there had been glimpses of scenes with Taehyun giggling, so Beomgyu knew there was more to him than just being shy and dry. Only, unlike Soobin, who game-Beomgyu had known his whole life, he wasn’t close enough to Taehyun yet to already have access to that vulnerable part of him.

Unfortunately, the rest of his texts with Taehyun didn’t give him much to work with either. Taehyun wasn’t much of a texter, apparently. But whatever. Beomgyu would crack his shell eventually.

The next person on his list should have been Yeonjun, but tapping Yeonjun’s name in their group chat brought up an empty window. Of course.

Logically, there had to be a paper trail of their relationship somewhere, but he wasn’t surprised that it wasn’t documented in his phone. That would be a little too easy.

Yeonjun wasn’t somebody he was going to focus on for a while, though. That much he knew of for sure.

Kai was last, and his chat was filled with bright stickers and the same kaomojis the System used.

Cool Maknae Kai

March 18, 2022

Kai

Hyung!!!!

I'm going to the store, do you need anything? (*꧆▽꧆*)

Beomgyu

By yourself?

At this hour???

That's not safe????? What if somebody follows you?

Kai

We haven't even debuted yet, at least wait until then before you start worrying about stalkers (⎺ ⎽ ⎺)

I'll be fine!!

Beomgyu

Bring Taehyun with you

Kai

I'm not a child >:c

What do you want from the store!!

Gummy bears?

Beomgyu

.....

Kai

Hehe I know you so well, hyung u3u

I'll be back within 30 mins I promise!!!!

It's literally one block away

Beomgyu

Share your location with the group chat

Kai

Okay, okay, fine

Just for you, hyung ⛦^u^

I’m not a child. Beomgyu wished he were playing the game while reading that line. It would have him rolling around, giggling in his room.

Kai was the most open and approachable out of the other four, and more importantly, he had always been Beomgyu’s first choice to romance. Even in real life! So it only made sense that he focused on Kai first, didn’t it?

Taehyun seemed like an alright choice too, but Beomgyu liked to be cautious. Jumping head-on into anybody else, when he knew for a fact that Kai was supposed to be the easiest character to romance, would just be stupid. Today proved as much; all the other members had some lingering tension with him, aside from Kai. With Kai, it was just simple, easygoing affection.

Plus, if he pursued Kai first, he could use him to find out information about the others. Ask Kai to pass on messages and then tell him what the other members say. Truly no offense to Kai, but he seemed too nice to question it. He could be like Beomgyu’s very own little spy puppy!

He just couldn’t remember what stats Kai’s route needed. Why couldn’t he remember? He’d seen it dozens—no, probably hundreds of times over the past month. It was in like every single advertisement for the game.

Was it intelligence? Or maybe charisma? He didn’t know enough about Kai’s interests to gauge what qualities he would appreciate the most. Ugh.

He needed to get that game manual somehow. Without spending his precious Achievement Points.

For now, he’d just focus on Luck. Luck helped with everything. For example, every time he stepped into the shower, there was always a chance he might slip, hit his head on the wall, and die. Increasing his luck helped with that.

… Maybe not the most relevant example, but hey, it was possible!

System, how do I increase LCK again?

Right. Because playing video games intrinsically increased how lucky he was. That totally made sense. The logic here was amazing.

Conveniently, Soobin was already waiting for him in the living room with the PS4 turned on.

“Hyung, do you want to play a game? Maybe Mario Kart?” Beomgyu asked.

Soobin glanced over his shoulder, frowning. “What’s that?”

“Um… the racing game,” Beomgyu corrected, mentally waving away the text box. “I forgot the game.”

Soobin gave him a bemused look. “Sure, whatever, weirdo. Let’s play.” He patted the spot beside him, holding out another controller for Beomgyu with his free hand.

Beomgyu took the controller from Soobin, laughing to himself. Playing video games inside of a video game. Hah. Talk about a mindfuck. Soobin’s fake frown relaxed into a smile, and he laughed along with him.

If only he knew.