READY OR NOT.

- A healthy walk in the dark

“WHAT HAPPENED?” FORAS ASKS. “You are totally zoning out.”

I ignore him, grabbing the backpack. It weighs almost nothing and when I look inside, it has nothing, too. Until Foras reaches in and picks out a piece of parchment close to tatters. Where did he find it?

“Brumdn Cove is on the east!”

I stop at his words. “Did you eavesdrop again?” Foras thrusts the paper onto my chest, with a face similar to my mum’s face when I show her the report card. “It’s on the map,” he says. Add in a ‘duh’ at the end and it’ll be the perfect diss.

I take the ‘map’ from Foras and peer into it. And I must say, I understand utterly nothing. Not even a single stroke of ink on it. The map is a thick piece of yellowed vellum, the kind I’ve only seen in historical films. Across it, a noodle of strokes runs haphazardly, making zero sense whatsoever. There aren’t any words on it let alone coordinates. Even with a compass, I’m as good as a pond fish lost in the sea. So how the heck do I find which way is the east without one?

If Shin Woo was here, he’d probably know.

I wonder what he is doing right now. Was he crying? Did he tell Hanna about my mammoth of a crush on her? Was he eating my share of food? We were supposed to go to the new tteokbokki place at the corner across from the dormitory.

I wonder about my family too. Mum was supposed to cook me biryani this weekend when I’d visit home. And dad would be there too, for once in casuals instead of his work attire. I let every mundane promise run over me and at last, I face the big question.

Was I dead in the real world?

Are you real? Maybe, you already know how to get back.

At least my sister might be okay getting used to not having me around. She’d dig it– OH EM GEE GOOD RIDDANCE DEVIL BRO– if I’m being completely honest.

Since I am not a born explorer and the only thing here with me is a loudmouthed loose lip with an annoying tendency to talk in paroxysms, I turn to Foras with resignation. “So? Know how to get out of here?” For good measure, I poke at it with an index finger with what I hope is my best smile— buddy-buddy, warm and whatever the heck I was trying to project on Foras. Better get on his good side rather than end up getting eaten up for calling him a monster.

“You are asking me?” He looks touched to the point, my toes curl in guilt. Wordlessly, I nod and Foras gives me the same scary-ugly smile he does. I guess he is giving me his best one, too. Hope I don’t look as put off as him when I do.

“I knew we would get along exceptionally well! The System scoffed when I told her.” I wince at the paroxysm of smug happiness constantly raining on me but now that the initial shock of waking up in the middle of nowhere with a meatball sticking a finger into my nose has faded, I manage an actual smile.

“You're the boss,” I tell Foras. It doesn’t take a genius to realise blind walking into the forest won’t be the key to escape. That’s what the dumb characters in horror films do. And they’re the ones that always die first.

A grin grows on Foras’ face, crinkling it like indentations. With sparkling eyes, he pushes up a thumbs up. “Leave it to me, hyung!”

Let me take it back. Maybe blind walking would’ve already gotten us out of the forest.

“Are you sure this might be the way?” I ask for the hundredth time.

“A hundred and twenty three percent sure,” he says. Cue the grin. “I can bet my toe it is!”

No wonder Foras flies. If not, he’d be crawling with amputated legs.

Time stretches like a gigantic piece of chewed bubblegum, going on and on but never snapping. And just like that, I lose the little sense of time I had held on to. Around us, the scenery doesn’t change. The forest looms on us in that ever scary way, totally unfriendly to anyone with claustrophobia. Our puny torch tries its best but there’s only so much it can light. We barely see two feet in front of us.

“When will morning come?” I ask and Foras gives me that same duh-derogatory look.

“It won’t. Not until we get out of Gaal’s Grove.”

“Gaal’s Grove?”

“You don’t know anything, do you?” Foras asks me.

“And how do you know everything?” I reply defensively, a scowl colouring my features. It’s such a weak retort that I internally slap myself. Thankfully, Foras is too self-absorbed to actually care.

“Because I’m the guide!”

“The what?”

“The guide!”

The words finally register in my brain. Foras is a guide. A guide who doesn’t know how to get out of the first obstacle in the game. Great. Amazing. I’d better start looking for a coffin that is my size.

“Maybe we should start marking the way,” I finally say. I rummage through the sad excuse of an inventory but there’s barely anything. Crouching, I look on the ground for stones or pebbles that could help mark the tree barks . “Oh, that won’t work,” Foras helpfully inputs.

“And just why won’t it?”

“Because this is Gaal’s Grove! It’s a constantly rearranging maze made of Stygian Fir.”

A maze. It is a freaking maze! The anger finally kicks in and I grab one of the creature’s legs. “Yah! And it didn’t occur to tell me that before now?”

Foras actually contemplates the rhetorical blame. Actually contem-freakin’-plates. Somebody give me patience so I don’t kill him with my bare hands.

“No,” Foras says. “I thought you knew.”

“Oh my god, I’m going crazy!” I yell. Vexation fills every cell of me and instead of waiting for the System to make contact, I reach out to it for the first time.

“System? System, do you hear me?” I ask in my mind. The slow motion fog arrives quite faster this time and I feel The System in my head in an instant.

“How may I help you, hero?”

“How do I get out of Gaal's Grove?” I’m not exceptionally intelligent but I’m not a moron either. Right questions, I tell myself. This sneaky system hides behind giving misleading answers.

“That, I can’t answer.”

I scoff. “You answered all right last time.”

The System goes silent for a second, and then, an exasperated sigh. “I truly cannot answer that, hero. Reaching the city gates of Brumdn Cove is the first quest. Which makes getting out of Gaal’s Grove your obstacle.”

Getting over my shock of waking up in a game world, my mind finally reels with all the possible ways to complete this. I’m nowhere near a serious gamer but I have my share of experience in playing RPGs. But no matter how much I rack my brain, I come up with nothing. No game gives such a difficult first quest. Heck, they’d be destroyed with bad player reviews if they dare.

“How many lives do I get?”

She smacks me back with sass. “Why don’t you try and figure it out yourself?”

Huffing, I spin to Foras. “Pass me the torch!” I bark. Foras looks confused but still passes it. I feel the System in my head, not moving an inch. Suit yourself. If you won’t tell me things, I’ll just do them my way.

I walk to one of the trees and grab the climber running along it. Foras finally puts two plus two and his voice dips with worry. “Uh, hyung, what are you doing?”

I give him a dry smile. “Just getting out of here.”

And then, I light it on fire.

t o b e c o n t i n u e d

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I swear Rudra is the personification of intrusive thoughts hahaha.

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