Minor spoilers; please be advised. Thank you!
Cover Photo: IIHIDDENII on Deviantart
Prologue
You're a guy?
Yong Ji-Min was standing right in front of a metal door with a number pad on it, holding his phone in his right hand. He sighed, leaning against the wall, before removing his other hand from his pants pocket. He was very certain that whoever he was talking to, this "Unknown" person, was very surprised by his gender, even though he couldn't hear it in his voice. They were texting, after all.
Darium: Noooo. I'm a very pretty girl with long, shiny brown hair and eyes that will immediately seduce any male who looks into them.
That seemed like an appropriate response in his eyes. He looked around, his brown eyes searching for any sign of life. It was awfully quiet here, and the windowless, tiny hallway was starting to make him claustrophobic. The elevator and stairs were right across from the apartment, the elevator doors showing his reflection in them.
He looked at his reflection. Or at least, he tried to. His eyesight wasn't very good - ever since he started to play LOLOL, his eyesight went downhill. They were pretty bad before, but now, they were even worse. His own reflection looked like a blob of blue, black, and white, with the occasional blob of skin tone. It was terrifying too, since the elevator was only about four feet away from him.
He didn't want to admit that he was basically blind to anyone, especially his parents. Their family didn't make a lot of money in the first place, and luckily for his parents, Ji-Min was very intelligent and ended up getting into SKY University for free. He did well on the CSAT, and took as many exams as possible, pulling a few all-nighters in order to study for his exams. They paid off, and now, he was afraid to tell his parents that he was trying to manage a game addiction as well as his education at the same time. He was doing well, but he knew that his grades would start to slip if he continued his constant gaming.
His phone vibrated.
Unknown: Very funny. I was surprised - you talked just like a few girls I know.
Ji-Min smiled. That was the point. He looked around again, thinking about leaving to go back to his dorm again.
He wasn't even sure how he ended up here. He was bored, and he was in the middle of a class. While he should have been paying attention and taking notes, he couldn't exactly see the board and ended up looking for games on his phone, since he wanted to somehow end his LOLOL addiction. And then he found whatever app this was.
RFA Messenger.
It was labelled as an app to chat with hot guys, and it was filled with reviews from people who were fangirling over how "cute" and "hot" all the guys were. He was about to laugh in the middle of the class - wouldn't it be funny if he decided to go in, pretending to be a girl?
He downloaded the app.
The thing was, he didn't realize that the messenger took up a majority of what little space he had left. In the middle of his class (with a few curious students looking at his phone, wondering what the hell he was doing), he was trying to delete the app. But it wouldn't delete. The little "X" on the corner of the app icon would not appear for the RFA Messenger app thing.
He opened it, only to be connected with this "Unknown" person. The person began to talk about a missing phone, how he wasn't in Korea, and he even sent a selfie of himself. He wasn't that cute. He had a nice smile and green eyes that were kind and caring, but he didn't know what all the fuss was about. Those reviewers must have had low standards.
As a joke, he sent a selfie of himself. Messy black hair, brown eyes. Blue shirt with "SKY University" on it, in big, white text. He was making a duck face - or he was trying to. He was trying to take a selfie, to make a duck face, and also to not laugh in the middle of taking the selfie.
He still laughed when thinking about it.
Darium: Haha, I'm glad I fooled you.
Darium: So uh... about the phone?
Unknown: Right. Is there a password lock on the door?
A password lock? Ji-Min took a look at the door. There was a door handle, and right above it was a number pad. He assumed that was the password lock he was talking about.
Darium: Yep.
Unknown: I'll send you the digits. Try it.
Try it? Whoever he was, he was trying to get Ji-Min to break into a house. He hesitated just a bit before opening the little link with the number code.
There's no way the code would work... right?
He looked closer at his phone. The numbers were very tiny, for some reason, even though they were already fully zoomed out.
4218750.
He typed it in quickly, glad that his practice with his keyboard allowed for him to memorize the number key positions. He heard a little click.
It worked?!
Darium: Easily fooled child, you have a lot to explain.
Unknown: What do you mean?
Ji-Min closed the door, trying to make the sound of the click as quiet as possible. He backed up against the wall and leaned against it, staring at the shiny, metal door with a slightly pale face.
Darium: I basically just broke into a house.
Unknown: You were doing it to find the owner of the phone. Why don't you go in and leave a note?
Darium: You're hot and all...
No sarcasm there. He smiled just a bit but continued to type.
Darium: ...but I'll have to refuse.
Unknown: Please? I promise I'll pay you back when I return. Please... I'm begging you.
Ji-Min almost felt pity for this Unknown guy, but entering into a stranger's house without their permission was unwise and against his morals. But also leaving a stranger hanging without helping was against his morals as well...
Darium: Alright. You owe me though
He pressed the code once more and entered, closing the door behind him. All in front of him were blurs of blue, white, and brown. Nothing was in detail except for... except for nothing.
Everything was blurry.
He heard a small click and turned around. That was a much louder click than before. He touched the door in hopes of finding the handle immediately, but it took a while for him to.
Once he felt the cold metal handle, he pulled it. It wouldn't budge at all.
He was locked.
Darium: What is happening? I'm locked in!
Unknown: Th
Darium: Dammit, Unknown, I thought you were cute and kind!
Unknown: ank
Unknown: you.
He bent his head down, reading his last few lines of text before the entire screen turned black. It was then replaced with a blue screen and new text boxes, but not with this Unknown person.
Unfortunate too, since he pressed the enter button as soon as this chat appeared.
Yoosung: Failed my midterms fml T_T
Darium: Unknown, you little hot piece of shit!
Jumin Han: Excuse me?
Darium bent his head down in order to see the name. Jumin Han. That was familiar... he was certain he heard it before.
Wait.
Wait...
WAIT...
This was the C&R International CEO.
He accidentally called someone a hot piece of shit in front of the CR International CEO.
Darium: I... uh... um...
Darium: Hello. You are excused.
There was silence in the chat he just joined. Ji-Min took this time to shake his head slightly in order to clear his mind. He opened his eyes, greeted by the familiar blurriness of the world around him. He looked down at his phone and saw that there was a new chat box, except it seemed to mix with the text that he just sent to the chat. He looked closer at the phone again, wishing that he had glasses or even contacts (but unfortunately, college took the money out of his wallet).
Yoosung: Hacker!? Therae's a hacker in ouer room!
Yoosung: Sevnee do somethign! It's takling!
Zen: Hey, typos. -_- ;;
Zen: Who were you calling...
Zen: "you hot piece of shit"?
He looked at Yoosung's profile picture. A blob to him. His name sounded familiar, however, although he couldn't exactly remember who he was...
He, however, recognized Zen's name. A musical actor. Great performances. He didn't enjoy them, but his sister did, and her sister would never stop talking about him. She should be 19 now? He hoped that she ended up in SKY University as well, but she wasn't obsessed with Zen anymore. He hoped.
God, she remembered how she would always talk about how cute his eyes were, how soft his hair looked, and how his face was picture-perfect. He also remembered his reply to her constant praising of Zen.
"Am I not hot enough for you? I am, after all, more perfect than him."
His sister slapped him.
Darium: Um... Unknown?
Jumin Han: How do you not know who you are talking to?
Darium: No, I mean, the person who I was calling a "hot piece of shit" was Unknown.
707: Wait a sec. I'm searching.
707... what a strange name. It was just a number, three digits, supposedly lucky... but what was he searching for?
Jumin Han: Good.
Jumin Han: Now that we have that settled, Darium...? Who are you? Reveal yourself.
Jumin Han: Assistant Kang.
Jaehee Kang: Yes, I am here.
The C&R International CEO's assistant? Oh wow. He was talking to a few important people here. Unfortunate how he couldn't see any of their faces though.
Darium: How many people are in this chat? Two C&R workers... a musical actor...
Jaehee Kang: That is nothing for you to worry about.
Darium: I feel as if I should start worrying now that you've said that.
Yoosung: Wait...
Yoosung: You play LOLOL?
Yoosung: Do you main Darium? Wow!
Ji-Min stared at his screen in disbelief. Yoosung... his classmate also obsessed with LOLOL? He was in this chat?
He downloaded a chat for chatting with cute guys? Was he gay?
Then again, were Zen, Jumin, and this 707 guy gay?
He shook his head. Hm. He should ask that when nobody's suspicious of him.
Darium: Wait, Yoosung? It's Ji-Min! From BIOL 144?
Yoosung: Ji-Min? It's you?
Yoosung: I'm so happy it's you and not some stranger ^^
Jumin Han: I recommend having Luciel comfirm that Darium is who he claims to be.
Darium: Fine.
Yoosung: Oh, right.
Yoosung: What was our most recent class on?
Darium: Hm...
Darium: Considering how I'm half-blind and everything is a blur to me, I remembered the professor saying something about RNA...
Yoosung: See? He's Ji-Min! LOLOL ranked number eight in our server, almost top of our class, but I didn't know you were half-blind...
707: Ji-Min? Youre cute lol
Darium: See? I'm Ji-Min! ^^
Darium: I know I'm cute; I'm perfect.
Zen: Really? Not as perfect as me, I believe.
Jaehee Kang: I doubt that you're perfect, Darium.
Jumin Han: We have another Zen in this chat, it seems.
Jumin Han: But don't get distracted.
Jaehee Kang: My apologies.
Jaehee Kang: He is right, however. Darium, how did you get here?
How did he get here? It seemed like a blur (literally and figuratively) to him...
Darium: Hm, so this Unknown guy, who I called a "hot piece of shit", came, and he told me to go return this phone to this poor, probably nonexistent person, so here I am. I also realized that I don't even have the phone to return
Darium: So, yeah, I may have made a tiny mistake.
Jumin Han: Tiny.
Darium: Mhm. Tiny.
707: No way! I have everything covered!
The more Ji-Min read 707's messages, the more he could imagine him. Since his profile picture was just a red dot to him, maybe he was a redhead? He was probably a computer scientist, or somewhere in the field, since he managed to see a photo of him... Probably an expert, too, since he seemed to be in charge of the security for this chatroom. But why would they even need security?
707: So Darium, he told you the passcode for the lock?
Darium: Noooo, I picked the lock.
Zen: ?!
Jaehee Kang: Luckily, I have the cops ready to be called.
Yoosung: Is this one of your sarcastic jokes;;
707: There's no lock to pick lol
Darium: Besides, I'm a student. Not a criminal.
Jaehee Kang: Please do not mess with us like this again, Darium. I almost called the cops.
Yoosung: Jaehee's scary;;
Darium: I can't promise that.
Darium: Also, it's fine if you want to call me Ji-Min or anything.
Yoosung: But Darium;;
Darium: You have Tari. That's about 500x better.
707: Can't deny that
Hm? So 707 played LOLOL too? That's interesting. Maybe 707 was a genius with computers.
Darium: What's your user?
707: That's a secret lol
Yoosung: It's Hacker God.
707: Ahhh! My precious username!
Hacker God... that sounded familiar. He was... No. That was impossible - numbers one and two in the entire server somehow in this group chat meant for hot guys?
Darium: Number one in the server - impressive!
707: I'm blushing...
Jumin Han: Hey.
Jumin Han: Don't get distracted.
Ji-Min put down his phone for a while and looked around. It seemed like a perfect time to give his eyes a break, since he thought that Jumin was going to break into a lecture. The apartment seemed clean... but was it really? He sighed, clicking his tongue in the process. Now that he was stuck in this apartment, it seemed, he was going to have a lot of fun, with his only entertainment being these RFA members.
He leaned against the locked door, feeling the cold metal against his back, his eyes closed. He wasn't worried about food or water or anything, but he was worried about one thing. Yoosung's notes. He saw them a while ago, when he was sick in bed and decided to ask his neighbor for his notes, who happened to be, well, Yoosung.
They were just scribbles on a sheet of crumpled paper.
Unfortunate.
He'll have to ask Yoosung for his notes again.
I hope you enjoyed reading it! (Thank you, too!)
I certainly had a lot of fun creating a sarcastic, overly confident, sort of a douche type of character, and also the idea of a male MC, which I genuinely enjoyed toying with. I plan on continuing this while I work on Elimination, which may slow down the updates of both stories.
I intended this to be a one-shot, but this was fun^^ I want to write about Ji-Min again...
Thank you for reading! Please feel free to review!
-Teri
