BREAK THE WALL | JENLISA, CHAESOO

Chapter 1

While she was climbing the stairs of her parents' luxurious mansion, Jisoo's hand nervously ran through the strands of her raven-colored hair. For the first time in her life she was utterly confused about her future. Until now, she was a perfectly obedient daughter to her parents: she never caused any trouble and always followed their advice. Even in her teens she didn't have the rebellious phase like most teenagers do. After graduating high school with perfect grades, she enrolled into a prestigious law university, just like her father wanted. Her love life was quite uneventful too, she dated several times, but her parents didn't approve of any of her relationships, so she ended them quite quickly.

And yet right now she was very disconcerted, as if a small thorn kept pinching her heart. It was a feeling of longing for something else in her life... but she didn't even know what it could be. A loud, disappointed shout awakened her from her thoughts, it was clearly coming from her younger sister's room.

"Jen? Was that you? Can I come in?" she asked, knocking on the door.

After a brief pause she heard a muffled, affirmative groan so she came inside. As always when being in Jennie's room, Jisoo couldn't help feeling surprised by how disorganized it was. Piles of clothes lying around, half-empty bags of snacks and just a lot of useless stuff everywhere. Such a sharp contrast to her own room, which was always tidy and clean.

"What happened, why were you yelling?" Jisoo asked and Jennie gazed at her older sister's worried face. Jisoo was the closest person to her, Jennie never bothered her parents with her problems, it was her sister who always listened and helped her. The same story repeated itself many times: Jennie would get into trouble, confess to her sister, Jisoo would listen and give her advice, Jennie would follow this advice and the problem would be solved. "I can't even recall how many times she helped me in this way." Jennie thought, suddenly feeling very grateful. So she didn't even hesitate before telling Jisoo the truth.

"I've never told you about it, but about a year ago I met someone really special... in Simlife."

Jisoo groaned. Simlife was a popular virtual reality game, a sort of life simulation in which you could be any character you wanted and interact with other people like in a normal world. You could play it with a special helmet which allowed you to be fully immersed in this virtual reality. Thanks to the cutting edge technology, the helmet emitted and received brain waves, which made possible for the player to interact with the environment with all five senses.

"Are you seriously still playing this stupid game Jen? I've told you many times, it's not good for you. Why would you even want to play it when you can live your real life instead?"

"I hate my real life." Jennie burst out. "It's so damn boring because our parents never allow me to do what I really want! Controlling freaks! They probably already planned the next ten years of my life!"

"Calm down." Jisoo frowned. "And what is that you want?"

Jennie shrugged, suddenly silent.

"Come on, you can tell me." Jisoo encouraged her.

Jennie was visibly unsure about how her sister was going to react to the news, but she finally confessed:

"For example in Simlife my character's name is Amy and she's a member of a motorcycle gang."

"You must be kidding me." Jisoo's eyes widened. Her little sister? In a gang? "Damn sis, I always knew that you were rebellious but aren't you taking it a little too far?"

"You have no idea how exciting this virtual life is! No one controls me, I can ride on my motorbike wherever I want, I can have fun with my friends, I'm... I'm free." Jennie uttered the last word with clear delight.

"Aren't you becoming addicted to this game?" a worried expression returned to Jisoo's face. "Anyway, let's talk about it later, now tell me about this mysterious special person."

"Her name in game was Laura, she joined our group three weeks ago and we really hit it off, I can't even begin to explain how cool she was." Jennie's eyes went dreamy for a split second, only to be filled with sadness a moment later. "We spent the most amazing three weeks together, I know three weeks is not that much, but we really developed a kind of special bond, like soulmates. And we didn't even make out that often, our relationship was mostly on spiritual level, you know..."

Jisoo didn't know, she had never had such an experience in her life, but she nodded. Then she glanced at her younger sister sharply.

"Wait, are you telling me that you can have sex in this virtual world?"

"Yeah. I mean it's not real, it's just cybersex, but sometimes it's just as good."

Jisoo shook her head in disbelief.

"Okay, so what went wrong between you two?"

"One day she just disappeared from the game. Completely. She just stopped being online, stopped responding to my messages... The only thing she left for me was a short letter, I still remember it like it was yesterday. It said: 'Sometimes I feel that no matter what we do, our happiness is always swept away by this cruel storm called life... Forgive me Amy. And if I'm not back a year from now then forget me and be happy'." Jennie's lips trembled. "Today is exactly twelve months since I received this message. And she hasn't come back. That's why yelled in frustration, because I feel so crushed and powerless right now-" her voice broke.

"Jen, maybe... maybe it's a good thing that it didn't work out... I mean, you realize it's just virtual life, right? Maybe you should concentrate on finding someone in real life instead."

"You don't understand, in my real life I'll never meet someone like her." Jennie replied, resigned.

"I'm sure you will." Jisoo said it with such confidence that it immediately made Jennie feel better. She stared at her sister, astonished by her resolute optimism.

"Thanks Chu... You always know how to cheer me up." she sniffed. "I'm such a mess, but I'm so lucky to have the best sister ever." she whispered with a thankful look in her wet eyes.

"Wrong, it's me who has the best sister ever." Jisoo replied with a warm smile and Jennie couldn't help responding with a grin on her own.

They stayed in silence for several seconds, then Jennie said:

"Maybe you're right. With Laura gone I don't feel like playing it anymore." she pushed the helmet aside. "Wait, maybe you'd like to play Simlife? I'm sure you'd love it!"

"I'd rather not." Jisoo replied without thinking, but then she hesitated, recalling her earlier confusion. "Uhm, okay, I'll think about it, maybe I can try it one day."

"Yay! You'll have so much fun, you'll see!" Jennie exclaimed with joy and handed her the helmet. Jisoo looked at it pensively, not sharing her excitement. She didn't know why, but she couldn't brush off this unshakeable feeling that this virtual reality game was something that would turn her life upside down.