#( replied )

Everyone else just watches as the gloomy shut-in who refuses to speak to strangers sprints across the hallway.

"...BRO."

"...BRO?!"

"...BRO!!"

And suddenly, the most antisocial person in NRC is hugging someone. Nobody knows what is happening.

• Nobody believes you're just online friends.

Ace: "You've never met."

"Correct."

"You've never seen each other's faces."

"Correct."

"But you're best friends?"

"Yeah."

"..."

"..."

"That sounds fake."

— Meanwhile, Idia knows your sleep schedule, your favorite games, every voice crack you've ever had, your food preferences, which bosses make you rage quit, and every embarrassing phase you've ever gone through. He's basically known you longer than anyone outside of his family.

• Your DMs are horrifying. Ortho somehow recovers years of chat logs. The first conversation. Hundreds of thousands of messages. Entire arguments over game balancing. Three-day-long conversations that never technically ended.

— A random message from four years ago reads:

> "brb bathroom"

Immediately followed by:

> "sorry that took 8 hours"

The conversation simply continued like nothing had happened.

• Voice calls. You'd spend six-hour Discord calls doing absolutely nothing. No conversation. Just existing together.

— Every so often...

"You alive?"

"Yeah."

"Cool."

Then it was back to silence. That was quality friendship.

• Gaming legends. The two of you became infamous online. People recognized your usernames together.

"Oh no."

"It's those two."

"We're cooked."

— You developed combo strategies without speaking. Idia knew exactly where you'd move, and you knew exactly what ridiculous strategy he'd attempt. It was basically telepathy.

• Meeting in person is... weird. You've heard each other's voices thousands of times, yet actually standing face-to-face feels surreal.

"...You're taller than I imagined."

"...You're shorter."

"..."

"..."

"This is cringe."

"Extremely."

— Neither of you knows whether to high-five or hug until Ortho physically shoves Idia toward you.

• He's so much louder with you. Everyone assumes Idia is always quiet.

— The second you're together...

"NO, THAT'S A TERRIBLE BUILD!"

"IT WORKED!"

"BY ACCIDENT!"

"STILL COUNTS!"

Ignihyde regularly hears the two of you yelling at each other over game mechanics at three in the morning.

• Ortho absolutely adores you. He's heard about you for literal years.

"Oh! You're finally here!"

"You're exactly as Brother described!"

Idia immediately panics.

"ORTHO."

"DON'T."

Ortho innocently continues.

"Brother has mentioned you approximately 18,734 times!"

— Idia mentally blue screens.

• You know things nobody else does. You know what genuinely makes him laugh. Which topics he'll actually ramble about. How to tell when he's socially exhausted before he says anything.

— You even know his typing habits. His "..." means something completely different from "...?" and you can tell when he's lying because his punctuation changes. Nobody else notices.

• His social battery doubles around you. He still hates crowds. Still avoids people. Still wants to disappear.

— But with you? It's effortless. You're one of the only people who doesn't drain him. He can spend an entire day with you and somehow end up with more energy than when the day started.

• Online habits don't disappear. You're literally sitting beside each other.

— Your phone buzzes.

> Gloomurai: "grim is eating fish shaped crayons again"

You look up.

Grim is, in fact, eating fish shaped crayons.

You type back.

> You: "dude stop him"

A second later...

> Gloomurai: "no u do it"

Neither of you says a single word aloud.

• The others slowly realize why you're so close. It isn't some instant soulmate connection.

— It's history. You celebrated birthdays together online. Stayed awake through each other's worst nights. Finished games together. Watched movies while syncing countdowns. Helped each other through bad days. Sent memes at two in the morning. Spent years slowly becoming each other's favorite person without ever expecting to meet.

When the impossible finally happened, it didn't feel like meeting a stranger. It felt like finally putting a face to a friendship that already existed.

• The heartbreaking realization. One evening, after the excitement has settled, Idia quietly asks:

"...So... does this mean... you're actually from another universe?"

You nod.

"Looks like it."

He stares at the floor.

"...That's actually insane."

"...Yeah."

"...Out of every possible reality..."

He lets out a tiny laugh.

"...I somehow made friends with someone who didn't even live in my universe."

You smile.

"And somehow we still ended up on the same team."

His lips twitch into the smallest smile.

"...Guess digital media really is multiversal."

"You're insane for that, actually."

Kim Dokja raised his head at the loud voice. You were leaning over Han Sooyoung, eyebrow raised and hands on your hips, peering down at something in the plagiarist's lap. He couldn't see it clearly from this distance.

As if sensing his attention, you glanced over at him and grinned. Kim Dokja returned it with a questioning look.

"Sooyoung-ssi is trying to mix beast blood into healing tonics."

Kim Dokja frowned. "That will not increase the effects."

"You've tried it, have you?" said Han Sooyoung snidely. "Tried all the potion combinations out there? Ha, I didn't think so."

You laughed. It was a sound that often filled the air when your companions were around. Kim Dokja had grown rather fond of it, and even Yoo Joonghyuk nodded along, content, when you brightened their ears with your laughter.

"Will you drink it?"

Your tone was innocent, but your eyes danced with mischief. Han Sooyoung huffed. "I'm not stupid."

"No?"

Han Sooyoung went off, spewing mild rage and curses at you for having taken a shot at her pride. Kim Dokja observed. He was impressed by your constant ability to bait the plagiarist.

"Just don't test it on animals," is all you said once there was a break in her ranting.

"How else am I supposed to see if it works—?!"

Kim Dokja decided to walk away before he was dragged into her nonsense. He nodded his head to you. You watched him go with an unidentifiable expression.

Some time later, Kim Dokja spoke with Jung Heewon. He had already spoken with the others, and the youngest, Lee Gilyoung and Shin Yoosung, had accompanied Yoo Sangah and Lee Jihye respectively. Han Sooyoung had vanished. He left her to her own devices.

"There are hidden pieces not far from here," said Kim Dokja. "The rewards are probably low-level skills, beast cores, or rare potion ingredients. You can reach two within the day. Perhaps three if you go with someone."

"Hyunsung and I can do that. I don't think it will be difficult—"

Kim Dokja blinked, and you appeared next to him.

Your beaming grin was aimed at Heewon. "Heewon-ssi," you said, tone bright. "I think that's a great idea! You two—" Kim Dokja noted the flustered expression Jung Heewon wore "—gallivant off into the sunset. In search of hidden pieces, of course." You finished it off with a wink.

"That's not—ahem." Jung Heewon coughed. "I will go find Lee Hyunsung-ssi."

Kim Dokja noted the over-formality as Jung Heewon walked away sheepishly.

"Bye!" You waggled your fingers and slipped the other hand around Kim Dokja's arm.

He was going to speak, when several constellation messages came in.

[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' complains about the rude dismissal of her incarnation.]

[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is watching the scene with a smirk.]

[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' is picking at his teeth with his thumbnail.]

"Dokja."

[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is looking at the constellation 'Goddess of Love and Beauty' with a frown.]

[The constellation 'Goddess of Love and Beauty' is shrugging.]

What did Uriel want with your sponsor? Were you receiving these messages as well?

"Dokja-ya."

[The constellation 'Goddess of Love and Beauty' tells the constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' that love knows no bounds.]

Love—?

"Kim Dokja!"

You nearly shouted in his ear as you hugged him from behind. Oh, you had been trying to get his attention.

"Did you need something?" he asked. Everyone else had separated to complete their tasks or personal quests. They would reconvene for dinner once the sun set.

"Kim Dokja."

Your arms tightened. Kim Dokja couldn't help but lean back into your embrace as your scent enveloped him in a cloud; despite the circumstances, you always smelled like warm rice and crisp paper. It comforted him.

He jumped out of his skin when your nose touched his neck. "Ah—?"

"Kim Dokja," you repeated. Your nose dragged up towards his ear. Kim Dokja didn't dare move, his breathing stalled. "You talk a lot with other people."

Kim Dokja was very glad that the others had gone off on their own. It would painfully awkward to explain...whatever this was. Your bodies pressed together. The feel of your hot breath on his neck, the color of his cheeks, your hands tucked under his coat.

"I guess so," he said, uncertain.

"Do you get lonely?"

Lonely?

Well... Kim Dokja thought about it. He was no stranger to loneliness. It had been an old companion since his early years in life. But now he had real companions, people to look out for. "Everyone feels lonely at some point," he said in the end.

"So you seek out company from others," you pressed, not seeming to hear him. "All kinds of people."

"Sure—" Kim Dokja winced as your fingers dug into his ribcage.

You sensed it and softened your hold just as quickly. "Sorry."

It happened often in your presence. A subtle shift from the sweet, cheerful person that you were into something murky, like your happy self was teetering on a tightrope only he could notice, and every time he looked up at it you wobbled.

You slipped around his torso to face him, much too close still. Kim Dokja's pulse thumped hard against his chest.

"I'll talk with you."

"What?" Kim Dokja was distracted by the sun glinting off of the shine on your bottom lip.

You smiled. Delighted. "I'll. Talk. With you." A giggle. "You don't need anyone else."

"I don't understand."

Instead of responding, you nuzzled under his chin. Kim Dokja was privately hoping that no one would return anytime soon. While he found your behaviour strange, there was no denying how good it felt to be held by you. Kim Dokja was a liar in many ways, but this was something he could freely admit within the confines of his mind.

"Sometimes I wonder how it could have been if we had met when the world was normal," you said dreamily.

Kim Dokja recalled his time at Minosoft. The small, sad apartment he lived in. Old kimbap wrappers balled up in his briefcase. Walking to work, invisible in the crowded streets of Seoul.

"You would not have noticed me."

You gasped, as if stabbed. "Don't be ridiculous. As if I could see someone like you and not notice."

It was flattering, but Kim Dokja did not want you to feel like you had to soothe his feelings. "No. It's true."

"You're a star, Dokja-ya. A wonderful, shining star."

Stars dotted his vision as your words washed over him and filled his head. It was too easy to get wrapped up in your joyful affections; Kim Dokja often forgot that you were bubbly to everyone. He wanted to believe that you fawned exclusively over him, but Kim Dokja had never been someone people fawned over.

But he indulged. Damn.

"Maybe if you were less of a star, other people wouldn't steal away your attention all the time," you muttered.

Kim Dokja was at a loss for words.

You heaved a grand sigh and tugged him to your group's makeshift campsite. "Come on. Go read on your phone, I'll watch."

He paused. "What?"

"...I'll watch out." You nodded rapidly. "I'll keep a watch out for, um, monsters. Or rogue incarnations. Yeah!"

"Okay."

You both settled against a wall. Kim Dokja scrolled on his phone, searching for a storyline he suspected might point him in the right direction for the next scenario. You curled into his side. He glanced at you, staring out at the street, and gave you a faint smile before diving into Ways of Survival.

The moment his focus returned to his phone, he felt eyes pinned to the side of his face.

Kim Dokja did not sense your gaze waver the entire time he read. And he would be a liar if he said it bothered him.