i don't like this game. | BTS OUTCAST AU

chapter 1: let the games begin

jaehwa was walking with her friend, choi chaeyoung, a college junior who she met the first time she arrived. after their encounter, they've been friends ever since. but enough of those cliche flashbacks. jaehwa and her junior friend were walking from the campus's library after studying and snacking, chaeyoung insisting on walking her younger friend home at such a late hour. even though it was late, and chaeyoung knew very well that jaehwa had paranoia and anxiety, she was still expressing her concern about the two disappearances that happened in their area, all eerily close, not to mention.

if "expressing her concern" means teasing jaehwa and freaking her out.

"i heard their names were park jimin and jeon jungkook. they were both college students too. jimin and jungkook were both sophomores, like you, jae. i've never seen them around here, so they might've went to different colleges." chaeyoung said in this tone that unnerved jaehwa, telling her that chaeyoung was enjoying talking about people that went missing a little too much. "yeah, okay. but still, the police need to hurry up and find them. this is getting too concerning." jaehwa replied, not bothering to look chaeyoung in the eye.

"true. but the police don't want to investigate any further because evidence shows it's linked to a video game. 'outcast', i think. they say it's some 'unknown force not to be meddled with'." chaeyoung continued, making jaehwa suddenly laugh. "a video game? i'm suddenly not paranoid anymore." she said. "bitch, all you need to do is investigate. it's just some video game. i am a huge nerd for them, but video games are just video games." it was now chaeyoung's turn to laugh. "yeah, but honestly, a person like me should do the investigating." she said, making worry flash across jaehwa's face, but chaeyoung didn't notice the look. "this is your building. 2254. go on in, girlie." 

jaehwa unlocked the gate, and took one step in, her other foot still lingering in the back. jaehwa decided to stay with both feet side by side, and looked at her friend who was also standing around, waiting for jaehwa to go in. "chae, please tell me you aren't going to go investigate. maybe if it is something as mundane as a video game, people still went missing. i don't want you to be one of them." chaeyoung just casually laughed at jaehwa's sentence, leaning on the metal fence. "still the paranoid kim jaehwa i know and love, huh?" she asked, but the look on jaehwa's face made her laughter die down, and with the serious look on the sophomore's face, chaeyoung decided to answer the question.

"i promise i'm not, jae. that was just a joke. i'll let those slow police do their so-called 'jobs'." jaehwa laughed, and closed the gate a little bit further. "i'll see you tomorrow afternoon, chae." she said as chaeyoung backed away. the college junior hummed in response, casually waving as she walked off and looked behind her shoulder. "bye." chaeyoung replied, and jaehwa watched as the girl walked off. 

she sighed, and practically ran into her dorm, not wanting to be surrounded by darkness any longer. jaehwa locked her door, and didn't expected to be greeted by anyone, seeing as she didn't have the "ideal roommate" who didn't party late and always greeted you with her. she flicked on the light, throwing her jacket onto the couch that she so desperately wanted to sink into. and that's exactly what she did.

jaehwa pulled out her phone from her cross body purse, propping her legs up onto the glass coffee table in front of her. she decided to text namjoon, her childhood crush who owned a music shop, even as a college senior. he knew all about the game, being as much of a gamer as jaehwa was, and even though jaehwa was kind of spooked, she needed to talk about it to get it off her mind, as crazy as it sounded. plus, jaehwa hasn't seen namjoon around as often as she used to, and even though talking about a game possibly linked with disappearances wasn't the best subject to talk about with anyone, jaehwa could've cared less.