8. Divergence

On their way home, Cha Kwan couldn't remember what Ma Yong was talking about. He didn't even know when they arrived.

During dinner, he couldn't taste anything. His parents asked him some questions, but what answer he gave them, he did not know.

All he wanted to do, was to see her one more time. To feel the warmth of her embrace. It was as if she had shown him that Cha Kwan wasn't complete. And now that he became aware of it, he could not stop his longing.

'No… No. She wasn't real. She was just a program. No… But…'

Cha Kwan struggled to straighten out his thoughts and feelings. An unknown amount of time passed as he tried to convince himself.

But…

After hours of staring at the ceiling at night, a part of Cha Kwan finally snapped.

So what if she wasn't real? Wasn't it enough just to see her? Just one more time? It was just a VR café anyway, right?

If only he could see her one more time…

That day, Cha Kwan couldn't sleep because of anticipation. If he went to the VR café in the morning instead of school, he could be with her for hours, maybe days…

Just the thought of it was enough to make his heart race!

* * *

In the morning Cha Kwan couldn't concentrate on his breakfast.

"Don't overdo it. We love you, and we'll always be here." His mother kissed him on the forehead before going to the noodle shop.

Though he was desperate to get back to the VR café, his mother's words gave Cha Kwan a pause. How lucky he was to have such loving parents.

And yet, he was about to skip school, so he could see her one more time. Once he remembered those red eyes, and the rhythm of her intense breath on his skin, Cha Kwan felt all reason leave him in that second.

'I… I need to get back. One more time. Just one more…'

He jumped from the chair and hurriedly grabbed his backpack and jacket. The feeling of guilt was already pushed away by an intense need.

The door opened, and he saw Ma Yong.

'F*ck, why's this kid here now?!'

Cha Kwan immediately formulated a plan. If he went to school like always, then acted like as if he had a bad stomachache, there was no reason for Ma Yong to doubt him. In fact, if he played his cards right, he could do it a few more times in the following days!

Ma Yong though, was completely oblivious to Cha Kwan's thoughts. "D-Did you see the news?" He asked as he looked over his shoulder. He leaned in and whispered. "Apparently the owner of that VR Café got arrested last night… For…" He leaned even closer. "For stealing top secret R&D project!!"

It took Cha Kwan a good moment to parse what Ma Yong was saying, because most of his mind was filled with dreams about seeing her one more time. Once he understood Ma Yong's meaning, he froze and looked at the boy's face.

"What?"

Ma Yong kept looking over his shoulder. "Let's go!" He continued to whisper. "We shouldn't talk here."

Cha Kwan followed him in a panic. They left the building, passed a few streets and found an abandoned lot. Ma Yong whipped out his phone and showed Cha Kwan a news article.

The picture of the proprietor was just under the news of a SAA cadet.

"Fang Yan, the owner of the newly opened VR Café… was arrested due to violating the interdimensional research pact?" Cha Kwan's mouth dropped, and his hands started to shake. He grabbed Ma Yong's phone and continued to read.

Though it was a barebones news, the page did have the picture of the VR Café's entrance in addition to the proprietor mugshot. There was no mistake.

'… No. No… This is not happening… This is not happening…'

The rest of the article included a statement from the Whiteleaf corporation that condemned the culprits for breaking the interdimensional pact through espionage.

Cha Kwan listlessly gave the phone back.

Ma Yong seemed to be talking, but Cha Kwan only caught the last part. "… an't be related to the call I made last night. Even mega guilds wouldn't work that fast…"

"…"

'Did this little sh*t just say he called someone last night?...!'

Cha Kwan felt the world was crashing down. "Who… Who did you call last night?"

"The help line of the Whiteleaf corporation. To check the license of those guys." Ma Yong answered in a straightforward manner.

"… W-Why Whiteleaf?"

"Because they had their branding on the cabins? Whiteleaf is serious business, so I wanted to check just to be safe. Honestly, I thought they were just painted Whiteleaf logos, who knew they'd be the real thing…" Ma Yong grabbed his head and stared into the horizon.

'Ah, this… this little sh*thead…'

Meanwhile, Cha Kwan was slowly realizing the fact that he wouldn't be able to see her if the VR Café was shut down.

Her smile, her playful expression, the feeling of her tail wrapping around his waist…

"A-Anyway, we shouldn't tell anyone we tested those cabins, right Kwan? In the phone call I just said I saw them carry Whiteleaf VR crates. T-They wouldn't come and take us away for using their experimental magitech, right?" Though he tried to contain his feelings, Ma Yong looked genuinely scared. To the point that his intensity even broke through Cha Kwan's sorrow.

Would a mega corporation backed by interdimensional empires and high-end guilds, kidnap civilians just to get some more research data?

The answer to that was a resounding yes.

The more Cha Kwan learned about the world affairs, the more he found himself wishing for an absolutely ordinary life.

And in Cha Kwan's case, the situation was even worse!

What if they just wanted to do some tests, and find out that Cha Kwan was reincarnated?

Who would be able to stop him and his parents from becoming test subjects in some pocket dimension?!

That, woke up Cha Kwan.

"We were never there." He said as he grabbed Ma Yong's shoulders. "We just went to a regular VR Café, and played regular VR games. Our day was so normal that we don't even remember anything in particular. Got it?"

Ma Yong fiercely nodded. "Y-Yes. It's not like we saw some military secrets anyway, right? I-I only played that makeover app. T-Totally normal VR game. Y-Yeah…"

"… Yes, exac-… Makeover app?" The name seemed too specific to be a cover, Cha Kwan asked without thinking.

Ma Yong was surprised by Cha Kwan's surprised expression. Then he looked around, just in case. "Yeah, I played a makeover app made for rankers, w-what did you play?"

"…" Cha Kwan couldn't give a truthful answer. He tried to think of something on the fly. "I… played a food app, d-demonstrating cuisine of… different cultures…"

"A food app?"

Cha Kwan nodded slowly. "E-Elven dishes… and stuff. Desserts. So on… But we shouldn't talk about it. Don't write it, don't mention it. We just played Climber World Online 2, lost a few rounds then went home."

Thankfully, Ma Yong agreed immediately. Whether he believed the food app excuse, Cha Kwan didn't know.

* * *

Inside an underground lab, surrounded by Whiteleaf logos, two men were left alone to deal with an arduous, thankless work.

"Run a diagnostic again…" One of them spat out with exasperation. "Let's cover our base for the 4th time before calling it a day."

The other could only sigh while looking at the 6 ranker cabins. "How did they even lose these things to begin with? How is that even possible, you'd need a trailer-truck to move them." He shook his head and restarted calibrations.

"I think these were caught in the crossfire. Probably from that Yun group."

"Yun Group? Yun Sang-Kyu?"

"They say he lost his mind and killed a bunch of Whiteleaf executives. So…"

The man calibrating the equipment shuddered. They weren't executives, but they were Whiteleaf employees. Both tacitly agreed not to dig too deeply into the matter. The less they knew, the better.

"What about the diagnostic logs?"

"Just delete it. The stupid f*ckers ran the seduction resistance training and the makeover programs. No use in having that data around."

* * *

Between intense longing and fear of being discovered as a reincarnator, weeks passed in a hurry. Cha Kwan found himself inside the noodle shop, cleaning the tables upstairs.

"Isn't this fishy?" Asked one of the old mans in the corner. "How could the government so publicly favor a non-human corporation like that? First that Yun guy, now this…"

Cha Kwan's hand froze upon guessing the topic of their idle discussion. It was impossible not to, because this had become a neighborhood hot topic ever since that day.

Another old man that looked to be in his 70s answered with a heavy voice. "I doubt they'll even get a proper trial. Poor f*ckers; shouldn't have stolen from them Whiteleaf's. They say elves never forget grudges…"

The owners of the VR café had already disappeared. Korean government and the Hunters Association refused to make a comment on the grounds of this being an interdimensional crime. The affair was swept under, but that didn't stop everyone in the neighborhood from speculating.

Of course, neither Cha Kwan, nor Ma Yong appeared interested in any of it!

Once Cha Kwan was done putting the table in order, he used all his willpower to stop the shaking of his hands and went back to the kitchen. In a family run noodle shop, there was no shortage of chores to keep oneself busy.

He absentmindedly started washing the few remaining dirty dishes. Even now, all he needed to do was to close his eyes, and he could almost feel her presence.

No matter where he was, no matter the time of day, he always kept thinking about, her.

At school while listening to world history, on the weekends as he helped his parents at the shop, at night when he could only stare at nothingness in silence. All he wanted, was to hear her voice one last time.

As the fear of getting his life destroyed by an interdimensional corporation subsided, that desire became stronger. And yet there was nothing he could do to fulfill it. To Cha Kwan's dismay, he learned that the full-dive cabins were strictly regulated. Let alone finding a VR Café that had one, even renting a unit as a civilian was out of the question!

Cha Kwan's longing turned into an ever-present sorrow.

For Ma Yong though, the situation was the opposite!

In the weeks following the "great loss" they suffered in Climber World Online 2, Ma Yong had steadily worked towards redefining himself. First he bought skin care products, then focused on his mannerisms. Even the way he walked gradually changed. And months later, today, now that his hair had grown long enough, Ma Yong got himself a two-block haircut, just before they went out with Cha Kwan and their classmates.

"Yong you piece of sh*t, when did you become a frickin' idol?!" Exclaimed Sander upon seeing Ma Yong.

The answer to that only came in the form of a knowing smile, followed by Ma Yong lightly shaking his head.

Everyone: "…"

They had met inside a mall out of habit. Not because the mall itself was popular, but because their parents felt better knowing that they were near a designated shelter if a dungeon break had occurred. They were middle-school students after all!

As he looked around, Cha Kwan thought Sander's words had some truth to them. Ma Yong really stood out!

He wasn't sure if this change was positive, but it seemed Ma Yong thought it was worthwhile. And of course, the destroyer should've had ample practice during that Climber World Online 2 incident…

"You know what, why don't we put you to test? Karaoke motherf*cker. 1v1 me!" Sander's suggestion got traction from the group, especially after they saw Ma Yong's rapid eye movement!

"Wait…"

"Let's vote, raise your hands for karaoke!" Everyone except Ma Yong raised their hands. Truthfully, Cha Kwan didn't want to do anything. But he knew he had to keep himself busy, if nothing but to keep his parents and friends happy.

If it was up to him, he would rather stay in the bed and stare into the intricate patterns of the imperfect paint job.

"Fine!" Answered Ma Yong. "But I need some refreshments first. I am parched."

Sander did a double take and looked at Cha Kwan in disbelief. "Did he seriously just say parched?" In a collective daze, the group watched Ma Yong enter a small convenience store.

"Whoa whoa, wait, did you see that?" Asked Roh Kyung-Ho as he pointed towards the store. "The cashier just checked Ma Yong out!" He exclaimed with a whisper.

"What?"

"No way…"

The group fell into silence and watched the interior movement like a hawk. Ma Yong casually grabbed a bottle with graceful movements, glanced at a few other things and walked towards the cashier with… elegance!

Words came out of Roh Kyung-Ho's mouth on their own. "… I thought you were joking but he really looks like an idol… Sh*t, he's even drinking mineral water now?!"

The cashier sweetly smiled at Ma Yong before the latter put the bottle on the counter. Under the watchful eyes of the group, the two inside the store talked as Ma Yong took out his wallet. Then the cashier started giggling and touched Ma Yong's shoulder.

"Guys, I think I'm seeing things. I don't know why, but I'm hallucinating Ma Yong flirting with a girl…" No one in the group responded to Sander's comment.

Ma Yong leaned on the counter as he talked and laughed with the cute cashier. Then, the cashier grabbed a pen and wrote something down on paper.

"""No f*cking way…"""

Even from outside, the group could tell the cashier was blushing! Ma Yong accepted the piece of paper and exited the store with a smile.

They stared at Ma Yong as if he was an alien creature. But all of them noticed his shaking hands before long.

Cha Kwan spoke before others. "She's still looking, let's go somewhere else." The cashier was still intensely staring at Ma Yong!

"I… I need to p-pick her up in 10 minutes…" The group came to a halt after hearing Ma Yong's shaking voice.

Gone was the idol, replaced by the usual Ma Yong! With a familiar bashful smile, colored by equal amounts of hope and fear.

Ma Yong had waited for this moment for years. And now, he was at the cusp of his ultimate goal, of having a date with a girl!

Cha Kwan glanced at the cashier then looked at Ma Yong. "Don't forget to use protection." He said with a sigh. His friend was going to become a man, the cashier was going to make sure of it.

"""Protection?!""" Exclaimed not only Ma Yong, but others as well.

Though he was completely inexperienced in this life, Cha Kwan knew well how a normal teenage boy's mind would work. Or rather, how it wouldn't work under certain circumstances!

"Roh Kyung-Ho, go to another store, buy condoms and give them to Ma Yong discretely. And you." He pointed at Ma Yong. "Keep at least one in your wallet. Don't even think about not using it. Understand?"

A shocked and red as tomato Ma Yong fiercely nodded.

"Ah sh*t!" Sander held his nose and frantically tried to take something out of his pocket. As Cha Kwan watched the young boy try to stop his nosebleed, the feeling of being alone intensified.