How far would you go for a chance at a new life?
In the future, a simulation game is developed: Maverick. A survival game played in teams, where the rich of society take advantage of those desperate enough to enter the sim. Min Soren is more than de...
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"Hey. Psst. Soren wake up."
I bring myself out of my sleep and I slowly open my eyes. I reach up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear but my arms are restricted. I come to my senses and I feel a strong arm wrapped around my waist.
I glance to my right and I realize I was resting on Sunwoo's chest—who is still asleep with his back against the wall, and still shirtless.
"Oh my Jesus," I scramble away. I look down to see that I'm wearing Sunwoo's black track jacket zipped up. I don't remember zipping it up last night.
"Oh my god," Kevin says with a wide grin. It's still dark when we switch shifts but his face glows in the moonlight and so does his smirk.
"Oh my god I'm going to throw up." I grab my hair in frustration.
Sunwoo slowly opens his eyes and simply yawns.
"What the hell??" I smack his bare shoulder and he winces.
"Ow why??" He rubs his arm.
"You better not have taken advantage of me in my sleep," I say to him.
"Are you shitting me why would I do that??" Sunwoo asks.
"You could've at least had the decency to put a shirt on if you knew we were going to sleep together!" I argue.
"Wait what? We slept together??"
"NOT LIKE THAT,"
Kevin laughs hysterically at the two of us and I narrow my eyes at him.
"You were still wearing my jacket when you conked out what was I supposed to do—take it off of you ?? Is that what you want??" Sunwoo argues back.
"NO! I-I-ARGH" I cover my face which is definitely red with embarrassment.
"That's what I thought. It's mine to begin with," Sunwoo says.
"Fine just take it!" I unzip his jacket and I throw it at him.
"You should've seen you guys. It was so gosh dang cute!" Kevin smiles. "Sunwoo your arm was around her waist and Soren your head was on his chest,"
"EW" Sunwoo and I shove each other away.
"Guys be quiet," Changmin pops his head out. "Eric is sleeping."
"WAKE UP" Kevin yells and his voice echos loudly into the cave. Eric sits up with extremely messy hair.
"Let's start our offense early. There are way less players now so it might be harder to find teams to fight," Changmin says.
"And because we only have five now," Eric says and our faces all turn dark.
"Yeah." Changmin clears his throat. "But we're going to win this for him, and we'll help you find Juyeon."
Eric nods. It's interesting to watch, how optimistic Changmin, Kevin, and Eric are. While Sunwoo and I share a glance of understanding that there's a slim chance of us winning in the first place, and a slim chance of finding Juyeon again. After all he does live in the second most densely populated faction.
Nevertheless, I ask "Where to, boss?"
"Let's go North today." Changmin says.
We all suit up and Eric lingers behind and I wait for him as the others begin walking. I watch as he carefully takes out the knife Juyeon used to sharpen in his spare time. Eric grasps the handle tightly and stands up with a new sense of duty.
"Ready?" I ask.
Eric nods and we catch up with the others.
"Be prepared for anything at this point. There's less than 50 players left and people start to get desperate. We could face 10 solo players or a team of 15." Changmin says.
"And what do we do when we need extra muscle? Our best player is gone." Eric says.
"Oh my god enough about it already." Sunwoo says. "He's gone and we can't bring him back, and talking about it makes it more painful."
"Maybe for you, because you have no sense of emotion. You have no idea what I'm feeling," Eric sulks.
"I actually do you know why? Because you talk about him. All. The. Time."
"Sunwoo you-"
"Eric it's alright to be sad about it," Changmin cuts him off. "But Juyeon would really hate to see you like this. He would be disappointed in himself for being a distraction for you, so the only thing you can do now is fight on his behalf. It's not like you're alone in this, we're all here." Changmin says.
Eric nods and falls silent to his thoughts while Kevin hums a soft song.
I jog up to Changmin who is staring straight ahead as he leads everyone.
"You're a good leader you know." I say. "You were meant to be team 12's leader. Really,"
"You think so?" Changmin asks. "I doubt myself recently. It was so easy in the beginning but now I'm having to make decisions and cut offs. And not to mention we've lost a player under my account."
"Don't be so hard on yourself." I reply. "You always do the right thing for the team. I mean we're all just trying to do our best here."
"And what if my best doesn't end up being good enough?" Changmin asks quietly.
We listen to the sound of dirt and leaves crunching beneath our feet as we continue walking.
"...don't jinx it," Is all I can offer him.
"Gee thanks,"
Our team stops as we hear quiet talking ahead of us.
"You want to join our team? Prove you abilities." someone says.
"Hide," Changmin whispers. Kevin and I slide behind a tree and so does everyone else.
"You're going to find someone," The voice gets progressively louder. "And, not just rip their collar off, I want you to torture them first. Make someone feel pain before they lose. Our team is ruthless, and we can't have people who hesitate."
"Understood," a second voice says and I notice Kevin's breathing hitch.
"So first person we see, show them no mercy. Then you can join our team."
"O-okay."
We don't dare peek past the tree in front of us, but I can hear them walking towards where Eric is hiding.
"Looks like you can prove yourself right now." the first guy says.
kevin and I look at each other with fear in our eyes until Kevin steps out into the opening.
"What the hell are you doing??" I whisper shout at him but he doesn't look back at me.
There's a long silent pause and I wonder what's going on over there before I hear Kevin say quietly, "J-Jacob?"
