"People have been here before us?"

Jimin chimed softly, his lips twisting into a deeper frown as Wonho shrugged in response.

Wonho sighed silently, "I don't understand... if whatever hint you've collected basically asked you to enter an area illuminating purple lights, and you so happen to see the cave with those purple lights... it doesn't make sense..." he mumbled with a furrow to his brows, "It's become a territory - even a home - for those Snaders." He grimaced.

"Do...do you think that maybe someone...-?" Jungkook began uneasily but shut his lips tightly at the firm shake of Wonho's head.

"I think it's best we don't ponder over it." He mumbled. Jungkook was hesitant to say any more and decided a simple nod should do. He didn't want to know what happened either.

"Why are we stalling?" Yoongi cut through the thick atmosphere, redirecting the topic at hand to the one that is surely most important.

"We're standing idly in front of this giant cave. Why did we stop?" He asked again.

"Y-yeah... we're so close." Hoseok added softly, feeling uncomfortable at the implications and conclusions that everyone's drawing out. Wonho pursed his lips and nodded agreeably, "You're right. Whatever it is, it's in the past so there's no use bringing it up. It's already happened anyways." He mumbled.

Clearing his thoughts, he clapped his hands in finality, "Alright- okay. Yeah, um, let's get you all out of here." He said with a newfound determination.

Everyone collectively nodded then, disregarding the subject to focus on actually finding that exit within the cave's darkness.

I laid limply against Hoseok's chest, nodding leisurely as exhaustion began to creep into my body. I don't comment on it even though the sudden fatigue worries me considering I hadn't lifted a hair to do anything aside from look. Just look.

Surely that can't tire someone out?

I remain silent as to not disrupt this sudden burst of determination that everyone shared whilst they gazed intently at the giant cave.

"I'll take out the torches." Namjoon mumbled out loud whilst making his way over to Yoongi who sported the blue bag.

"Yah, Yah, I'll take it out." Yoongi hurriedly stopped the larger male from rummaging through the contents of his bag, involuntarily implying at the rapper's destructive tendencies, making him feel embarrassed as he nodded silently. Jimin couldn't help but snicker loudly at that, giving Namjoon a pat on the back.

"Here, hyung. I'll hold the other one." Yoongi grumbled whilst handing out one of the two torch lights to Jin before the pale man returned to rummaging through his bag to pull out the remaining three glowing rocks that they bothered to carry and handing it over to Namjoon, Taehyung and Wonho.

Yoongi shrugged at Wonho's perked up eyebrows, "You can use echolocation so you should be fine." He reasoned before focusing on his torch as he switched it on and directed the light towards the cave's looming darkness.

"Why does this torch suddenly suck?" Jungkook scowled, noticing the lack of illumination it brought to the cave.

"Who cares? It'll probably work inside. Let's go!" Yoongi ushered impatiently.

-

"Is everything okay, sunflower?" Hoseok cooed softly, glancing down at my head resting motionlessly against his shoulder, a worried crease possibly twisting his features, but I'm not sure - it's dark.

We've all trudged in for a few while and it has proved to be nothing but an empty space thus far. A natural tunnel-like structure that was slowly building doubt for everyone the deeper they went.

I hummed at Hobi with a dubious smile. "I just feel... floaty." I questioned more than answered, unable to find the correct word to describe how I truly feel.

"How does that feel?" Hoseok wondered, a hint of concern rising in his tone at the odd choice of description. I made a face that said 'I don't know either!' because I wasn't sure if I was feeling anything to begin with.

Before he could probe any further, his attention darted forward at the others as they all came to a halt.

"Woah.." Taehyung gasped breathily, just ahead of me and Hobi as he held a glowing rock to help us see where we walked.

I strained my neck slightly to look past my shoulders and felt my own eyes blow wide at the sight.

Glitching walls and some blank, vibrantly bright white canvases that disrupted the natural structure with its flat, boxy appearance, casting a bright glow to the large cave that seemed to have stretched past the game world's graphics. More squares covers some rocky surfaces with flat, pitch black boxes that reflected no light.

(A/N: for reference the silhouettes were made to represent how large it is lolol and to share my idea on how these glitches are represented)

We were basically at an incomplete setting on the game world that remained unfinished. Possibly meant to remain out of reach for game players.

I swallowed as I took in the sight of obvious red, green and blue colors vanishing and appearing, making the majority of us blink irritably at the blinking lights it caused.

It was a light show, really. I wish I had the energy or the functioning legs to take a good look of it. Maybe even touch one that can be tangible, see if it does anything, feels odd, or perhaps it's simply a matter-less phenomena that we can see.

"Well, that helps light this place up... I was worried when we'd run out of battery for the torches." Namjoon muttered as he proceeded to disregard his glowing rock before taking a step closer to the large enclosure.

"This is trippy..." Jimin huffed, blinking repeatedly with an indignant frown as the light show began to hurt his eyes.

"But it's so pretty, too." Taehyung awed, observing the sight before him with great wonder.

I sucked in some deep breaths as the sight of this place suddenly made me feel a little lightheaded. "H-hobi," I breathed, feeling a little panicked as I suddenly can't seem to gasp in enough oxygen.

Feeling myself be put down, I was met with the sight of a fretting Jinnie and a panicked Hobi. Both of them were examining me with great attention as I tried to breath deep breaths but only managing short intakes and long exhales.

"Oh no, love, what's going on? What's happening??" Jimin gasped soon after, reaching my side and making me lean into him whilst I reached to pull at the collar of my shirt, feeling as if it was trying to suffocate me. My efforts was unavailing as my arms remained immobile beside me, so it only stirred me to panic more.

"I-It's hard to- to breathe" I weeped weakly, eyes frantically looking around as the rest gathered around in great concern, faces twisted at the misfortune of my sudden struggle with taking in enough air for my lungs.

"Torch! Give me the torch!!" Jin exclaimed, being handed one of his torch that he was using before he fidgeted with it to turn it on. I squinted my eyes as the light flashed my way before I blinked a few times and watched as the beam trailed downwards and stopped by my neck.

~ Jin's POV ~

I struggled to hold back my gasp as the torch light helped me see a sight that was frightening enough to make me feel faint. But before else, I was panicking over the fact that one side of her neck had begun to follow after the fate of her missing leg. Its slight translucency answered for the reason behind Diana's sudden struggle with breathing.

"Holy heavens-!" Hoseok choked out.

I felt tears build up in my eyes, but I kept them at bay, feeling utterly helpless knowing this awful mess was the world's doing. Not a matter that can be fixed by a doctor.

"Quick! We need to find that exit!!" Namjoon gritted hurriedly, standing on his feet before rushing into the large enclosure to search around the area in hopes to find the 'light hidden within' from that note I recited till I could by-heart it.

That made my rushing thoughts come to a daunting pause as my eyes glanced towards the numerous glitches and white, box canvases decorating the large cave.

Which light is it?

"Joon-Ah! Wait for me!" Yoongi called after him, a stressed expression plaster on his face as he ran after the taller male that had managed to trip one too many times in a span of a minute from the rough, bumpy surface of the ground. Taehyung and Jungkook rushed after them, intending on lending an extra eye to find that exit before things got any more worse.

"Diana- Diana, try and follow me, yeah? Watch me; Breathe in... 2, 3... and out... 2, 3..." I returned to aid her, noting how she tried to breathe in as much as she could. She blinked my way as she gasped for air, making my heart ache painfully as her silent cry for respite was a bellowing scream from the look in her eyes.

"I can't- can't...breathe!!" She choked in a gasp, crying in terror. Her unshed tears began to fall, doing nothing to ease her racing heart.

"Sweetheart, focus on my voice, okay? Can you do that for me, baby?" Jimin softly hushed from beside her, keeping a grounding hold on her shoulder and back whilst nodding my way as Diana followed his line of sight.

"Listen to what Jinnie hyung is saying, baby. Just follow what he tells you, yeah? One step at a time." He cooed softly, remaining calm and collected - something I wish I could achieve this very moment amidst my hammering heart's fast rhythm. I hurried to instruct her baby steps in order to potentially ease her into a more regular breathing pattern.

Slowly and gently, I coaxed her into following my every step. She watched as I told her to see the rise and fall of my chest whilst I inhaled and exhaled long and calm breaths. She watched as carefully as she could as I made audible sounds of breathing in and blowing out my breaths. She slowly began to follow my steps to the best of her abilities.

All the while, Hoseok and Jimin settled on either of her sides, rubbing soothingly over her upper arms and back while encouraging her and praising her efforts. Jimin even decided to follow my instructions, his close proximity being felt by her probably an extra push to make her follow me in exact.

I repeated these motions as many times as I needed to before I soon began to calm down myself, feeling some tension and stress bleed out of my being at the sight of the slower rise and fall of her chest. Her cheeks gradually began to gain back their colour - Another factor that had me all sorts of troubled as her complexion was going pale in her expense.

I managed to smile reassuringly her way, finally feeling a bit better and much calmer as her breathing slowly evened out into a more regular pattern. Her tears had dried up by this point, leaving a damp trail in its wake along her face - a reminder of the panic and fear she experienced just then.

"That's it, baby. Just like that," Jimin sighed in relief, planting a chaste kiss to the side of her head while Diana finally breathed without feeling too restricted. Breathing without any more instruction. Her eyes blinked blearily, red around the rims and puffy from constantly tearing up.

I deflated on my spot, feeling the last of my panic flush out of my body as I was sure she wasn't going to jump into another panic attack. Feeling my throat hurt from the need to cry out, I pushed it back with a gulp and crawled my way to her with purpose before scooping her into my arms and securing her vulnerable self in my embrace.

I will burn that disc and it's shitty case to crisp. Until it's nothing but ashes. Every last copy of them.

"It's okay, my love. You're okay." I murmured into her hair, holding her tightly against me and feeling my bottom lip wobble from the need to weep as I felt her sag into me, very obviously exhausted.

"I wanna go home" she muffled out so softly, making me teary-eyed again. I glanced ahead to see Jimin and Hoseok in the same position as me; at the brink of tears.

"Me too, sunflower. Me too." Hoseok stuttered out, shuffling closer before joining the hug and encasing her from behind. Jimin sniffled before clearing his throat, "We'll be out soon! We just have to look around, now!!" He reminded before standing up to his feet with one final swipe to his teary eyes. He smiled at us, "I'll go help look for that 'out'. Join us when you're ready!" He said before running after Jungkook, who was the closest.

"I'm sorry," Diana let out softly. I paused at that, feeling transfixed and confused at the sudden apology.

"What? Why are you-..?"

"I-I know it's not entirely my fault... I'm still sorry. I can't lift a finger anymore, SeokJin... I can barely move. I'm constantly needed to be checked on because I keep getting worse every passing second and there's nothing we can do about it" she sniffled, making all those tears I kept at bay break loose.

"It's not your fault at all, Ana..." I clenched my eyes shut as my tears fell - a final attempt at holding them back.

"Please don't feel sorry. You have nothing to apologies for. You never asked for this to happen - no one d-did." I gritted my teeth, holding on to dainty threads at this point, "Please, you don't need to say my name so formally, it's.. it's just Jin, okay?" My voice cracked at the end.

I lifted my head up at the sound of Hoseok's sob. I felt my heart shatter at his display of emotions. He hurriedly wiped at his eyes to collect himself to stop crying, but I simply opened my arms to invite him into this embrace as well, knowing very well that all the building tension was bound to burst to an overflowing amount we can't handle.

"Once- once we're back together in the real world," Hoseok began, "You owe me lots- and I mean l-lots of cuddles, okay? I expect you to- to be stuck to me for- for a whole day!" He stated firmly, his voice wavering with his cries, but his words put a smile to my face nonetheless. I looked down at Diana who smiled as well, a glimmering tinge to her eyes showing that she's just as emotional at the moment.

"I promise, Hobi," she sniffled.

-

~ Jimin's POV ~

"I'm going to spend an entire day in the dark once I'm out. These lights are going to blind me at any moment," Yoongi hyung grumbled from beside me, making me chuckle softly as he followed that vow with a bunch of curses sent to the game.

"I knew this shit was shady as fuck the moment it made that awful noise. But noOoOo, Namjoon had to insist and enter my fucking name without asking me and pressed play because he was growing too curious and bored to think things through!" He ranted out.

I snorted at the look Joon hyung directed at him from a distance, hearing everything in the silence of this cave. Joonie hyung shook his head and decided to skip a bit more far away from us, clearly ignoring the bitching he was getting in his face from a very clearly irritated cat-man.

"Hyung," I giggled as he continued to rap out his complaints without rest. "What?" He huffed with a scowl. Rolling my eyes, I pointed towards the blank wall in front of him, "You're supposed to look for the exit. You can curse this place once we're out. Not while we're still in it, you know." I pointed out and he simply rolled his eyes and walked away while mumbling more curses under his breath.

With a sigh, I turned back to search this stupid exit and found my eyes landing on Wonho. He was quiet since we entered and I can imagine the reason to be because we might have to part from him soon enough.

He's basically a glitch himself - but an opposing one that goes against the game and helps the players. More specifically, to help Diana. I turned to look at the said girl and felt a pang in my heart at the sight of her fading hands and legs. And now, her neck. Presumably from her mid-riff.

With a grim look, I decided to search for that damned exit and get to it sooner. As Wonho had mentioned - as the game realises we are getting closer to leaving, the faster her condition worsens. We've been undoubtedly very lucky to not run into any creatures. Especially those snakes that apparently are more in number.

"Try searching for a hidden corner, everyone. We might be inside the cave and all these glitchy lights seem to imply that they're the exit, but it's too obvious." Wonho finally announced, his eyes darting around with a secret level of concentration that I can only presume to be his way of using that extra ability to sense what's around.

My eyes resumed their searching and it halted on Jin hyung cradling Diana close to him all the while he strode leisurely to lend an extra hand himself to speed up the process of searching.

His face was void of any light despite all the brightness surrounding him and us. It put me into an anxious mood as his face was covered up with a masked blankness that hides his troubled feelings instead. It made me frown and I nearly walked over to pry him for what's bothering him so much that he finds the need to hide it (to no avail though, considering I noticed), but I held back knowing he probably needed some time to himself to figure his thoughts out.

"Infamous words among ourselves - the biggest lead can be right where we are!" Taehyung exclaimed after that.

"It doesn't seem to apply here, Tae." I huffed softly, giving him a sad smile but he remained unfazed - something I always find myself admiring because no matter what anyone says, he'll stick to his beliefs and claims.

"Who's to say it doesn't? We never know so it won't harm to still try. At least we can check every corner before jumping to a new spot knowing we didn't miss anything." He smiled back at me in challenge, bringing a positive light to our current situation. His words being heard by everyone and quite clearly, it helped give them a boost as well.

"Right, let's keep searching then," Namjoon smiled our way, a silent gratitude that Taehyung and I appreciated in response.

"I don't think there's more space to cover aside from what we can see here, though. So we should find that exit any time soon." Hoseok said out loud as he went around touching anything illuminating light. The sight made me giggle to myself because previously, he was too chicken to even go near it as he remained at least 5 meters apart from any and every glitchy light source.

"But what about that note? Didn't we conclude that we need to find purple lights?" Yoongi chimed in, lost in his thoughts as he recited the note's words.

Wonho hummed at that, looking around, "Did anyone bother to feel through any of these glitches? Maybe they're covering a loose rock. Like the ones you guys first camped in - that one giant rock hid an entrance." He suggested.

(A/N: CREEPER-)

"Aw man, I have to go look through each of these brightass glitches again?" Hoseok hyung whined halfheartedly.

I shrugged and walked over towards the nearest glitchy light and stopped infront of the giant white, boxy canvas. I instinctively squinted my eyes as the bright light wasted no time to penetrate them before I shoved my hand in, feeling for anything past it's brightness before gasping-

"G-guys! I think I just found an entrance!!" I screeched hastily, shoving my second hand in to push at the loose rocky texture under my grip. I payed no mind to the running footsteps from behind me and noticed another pair reach forward to help me push.

"Yah! There's something here!!" Jungkookie let out in surprise. "No shit, I just said there's an entrance here!" I side-eyed kook who gave me a deadpanned look before resuming to push the heavy piece of shit aside.

"That was fast." Taehyung commented in bewilderment, making me puff my chest out pridefully. My luck is impeccable sometimes, I get shocked at myself, too.

"Good grief, I knew something was up when all these glitches were here." Wonho remarked.

The sound of scraping rocks soon made its way into my ears and I couldn't help but grin widely as I pushed harder. Not another moment later, said loose rock rolled out of the glitch's clutches and stilled to the side, where we can see that it was much bigger than I had anticipated.

I gave my small hands a glance, wondering if I had underestimated my strength.

Damn, I'm strong asf

"So... we're supposed to go in that glitch to reach the other side?" Hoseok hyung grimaced and I gulped back my unease.

"It's not some deep hole on the other side, right?" I asked hopefully, feeling my thought suddenly switch towards spiralling into all sorts of misfortune that could await us on the other side.

"Yah, don't you dare jinx it!" Yoongi complained.

"Okay okay, I'll go first." Wonho interjected before we could begin to bicker. We all stilled and watched carefully as he stepped forward and placed one leg into the white, boxy glitch and then took another until he was halfway in.

"Should we carry our glowing rocks just in case?" Namjoon hyung suddenly brought up, making us all pause and turn to him, contemplating it.

"Be right back," Hoseok scurried towards our one way out and hurried to collect our disposed rocks as quickly as he left before he rushed back with a huff.

"Here," he handed them over to anyone who reached for it, keeping one of them to himself before we all turned back to Wonh—

"Wait, what the f—- where did he go?!?!"

_____________________________

Wow this chapter Is kinda long lolol

My college has the exact course I want so I'm breezing through my lectures and tests as if they're merely a time-passer for me! 😄😄 but that's it. THEY DONT GIVE ME HOLIDAYSSSS AAAAAA
Diwali break is approaching and my sister has gotten a gracious 25 days break, my cousin a sweet 15 days and me??? ME??? I GET A MEASLY 6 DAYS! 🙄🙄🙄

Anyways, short lil rant there haha, 👍✨ hope you guys are enjoying these chapters and this one as well 🥹✨

See you next chapter! 🥰🥰 Love you guys ❤️💕💕

~ Ada