You had downloaded the game on a whim. You had seen many people talk about it over the internet, and seeing some of their reactions had perked your interest. You weren't even sure of how to play the game or any of the characters. You just knew that everyone loved all of the characters in it and that you kind of knew their names. You also knew that it was a dating sim with a twist on it? You hadn't searched for any spoilers, so you had gone into the game blind.
Maybe that's how you had ended up in such a strange scenario.
The game started off interestingly enough. You were in a "chatroom" with a mysterious person by the name of "Unknown". Not suspicious at all, you thought. This wasn't your first dating sim you had played, but this was definitely a new twist to it. Unknown had wanted you to return a phone to a specific address, but was unable to go there himself. You had figured it was because he was super sketchy.
There were a couple of prerecorded responses that you could choose to answer him. Some of them were definitely more realistic than others, but you weren't about to argue with the stranger in a game. You wanted the game to progress, so you had followed along with his instructions (although since you wanted to be truthful, you made it at least a little bit difficult for Unknown to convince you).
The game had taken you to an almost-Visual Novel moment where you were standing in front of an apartment door. You had frowned at your phone. Why was there a keypad on an apartment door? Was it really just an apartment?
Unknown had known about the keypad. He had asked you about it. You were reluctant to just enter an apartment (even in just a game) so you had recommended ringing the doorbell considering it was an option. Nobody answered. You supposed that was pretty obvious. So you entered the code and entered the house.
That's when things went sideways.
There was a loud screech that reminded you of the days of dial-up computers. At first you thought it had been echoing from your phone, but then realized from the pain in your head that it was actually coming from your mind. It was almost as if you were wearing the best headphones in the world, only it was screeching in your head . The hairs on your body stood on end and you gasped as electricity rocked through you. What the hell was happening?
The world around you turned black and green, and you thought you saw something that reminded you of The Matrix . Numbers skittered across your vision and your ears popped when a flash occurred. You could only squeeze your eyes shut and fall to your knees, clutching your phone to your chest, unable to block out the eruption of the senses.
The shrieking stopped abruptly, but the ringing in your ears continued for a few more moments. Your head throbbed, agonized by the attack. Had your phone electrocuted you? You didn't know. You could barely think. You found yourself collapsed on the floor of a place you didn't recognize, but your mind was swimming too much to even really process it. You could only think to grab your phone and squint at the screen, trying to focus around the fuzziness in your head.
Whatever had happened to you, your phone was still working properly. The game was still going, and it appeared to still be in chatroom mode. All the people talking, you realized, must be the datable characters. They all had their own pictures and names and colors, so it helped your mind recognize there were multiple people chatting. There were even adorable animated emoticons. They had chatted amongst themselves a bit before the character "707" noticed your name on the chatroom as well and called you out on it.
You couldn't respond to them, though. Your head was still swimming. You were barely comprehending what you were reading and oftentimes you had to scroll back up to read what had just been said because it was going too fast for you to keep up. So you focused on just reading.
And then the game froze and a text box appeared, offering you a single response for you to choose.
It was like that for the rest of the chat. You were introduced to each member of the RFA and were given a taste of each of their personalities. You could tell right away that they were all pretty friendly and were clearly good friends with each other (not including the bickering Jumin Han and ZEN). You had ridden along with the chat deciding it would be better to focus on one thing while your mind reoriented itself. You could worry about your health in a minute.
The game assigned you a job in the RFA as a person who answered emails for a party that was supposed to occur who-knows-when. You had agreed to do it cheerfully, although in real life you weren't so sure you would just join a group of strangers. You could do all the messaging and such through your phone, they explained. At least it wasn't your typical game.
It wasn't until everyone in the chatroom had logged off of the chat and you had exited to the main screen of the app to see all the little tidbits to it did you finally look up from your phone. And your stomach promptly fell out through your feet. This wasn't your house. This wasn't your room. There were drawers and a bed and a computer, but none of it was yours. But you recognized it anyway. You had just seen it on your game's screen a moment ago before your phone had electrocuted you.
"N-No way . . ." You shakily climbed to your feet and touched the bed. It was real. Everything was real. the scent of the room was completely different from your own. There was an almost staleness to the air, and you noticed a very fine layer of dust on most of the things. The house didn't looked lived-in at all. Outside of the windows was a city you didn't recognize, and your legs collapsed beneath you.
You didn't want to believe it, but somehow you had entered the game.
Or you were slowly dying after being electrocuted by your phone. Maybe you were in a coma?
Considering yourself in the game seemed a lot less bleak, in your opinion.
And then your phone began to ping with messages. You lifted the phone up to unlock it, your hands shaking a bit. You may have been going into shock. You weren't sure. There were a couple of messages on the RFA app from 707 (or was it Luciel? Didn't someone call him Luciel? Or Seven?), Zen, and Yoosung, but it was Unknown's that got you.
Unknown: It'll be really fun from now on. Enjoy your time with everyone. I'll go get you soon.
Maybe you had signed up for something very dangerous.