SINGULARITY

Chapter 1: Stranger Than Fiction

June 11th 10:58AM

Liv let out a shuddery breath and brushed imaginary dust off her shoulder, wishing she could just as easily do the same to her nerves. As she clung to her bucking confidence with all four figurative limbs and marched towards the director, she questioned, not for the first time, how—and, more importantly, why—she had ever gotten into this business to begin with. She wasn't cut out for this.

Acting had never been part of the plan.

Mr. Director had his back turned to her when her phone pinged and Liv jumped at the opportunity to procrastinate with the same enthusiasm of a fat kid when the ice cream truck comes rolling down the road. Pivoting in another direction without breaking her stride, Liv took up an inconspicuous spot where the makeup artists set up shop and opened up her phone.

She was supposed to be meeting her costar today, but she had been anticipating the moment with a special kind of dread. Liv had never taken on such an…intimate role before. Sure, she'd starred in a couple low budget Sundance Film Festival hits, and she'd done a pretty good job. She'd even done some modest roles in some not-so-obscure works as well, but she never imagined her dabbling in the film industry would take off the way it did. It had started off with modeling for some extra cash, and somehow escalated from there. So, she was frankly shocked out of her pants when a Korean casting agent offered her a role, and after reading the script, she almost turned it down…

But the sad matter of fact was that she needed the money.

Everything came down to the bottom line, now-a-days…

She sighed as she flipped through her notifications, desperate to stomp down her nerves and ever-present misgivings by any means at her disposal. And right now, it looked like that was Mystic Messenger.

A classmate had gotten her hooked on the otome game a while ago, and she still found it impressive how immersive it was. The story itself wasn't something she ever thought she'd be interested in—a big mystery with hackers, a secret cult, and a fundraising organization—high fantasy and science fiction were more Liv's speed. But she kept hearing the name Mystic Messenger pop up in various circles of her acquaintances, and she was always the curious sort… The reason she tended to stay away from the mystery genre was because she also tended to get a little…obsessive whenever there was something she didn't know, not to mention impatient when the answer toyed with her, so enticingly out of reach—like so many other things in her life. That's why she preferred fantasy.

After all, anything was possible in a fairytale world…

She hummed along mindlessly to the jaunty theme song, tapping out the beat on her phone screen as she waited for the app to load. She'd grown even more interested in the game when she started learning Korean for her role. It was slow going at first, but after transitioning to her temporary lodgings in Seoul, as she expected, the learning process sped up exponentially. Total immersion in a foreign culture was an extremely powerful way to learn a new language. Sure, it was a little stressful, and there were some pitfalls, and faux pas, but Liv wouldn't have it any other way. She insisted on being spoken to in Korean, and in just a few months, she had already gotten to the point of understanding the gist of what everyone was saying to her. The speaking part was harder, of course, but everyone on the set had been extremely kind and understanding, so it was coming along well. And the written language was around twenty times easier than Japanese, so getting her lines down wasn't a problem. She just needed some help with her pronunciation.

For that, she prescribed herself a more than healthy dose of Korean dramas to listen for the nuances in speech. In addition to that, she found the phone conversations in Mystic Messenger to be particularly helpful in learning that as well. She even found herself pausing the calls at certain points and formulating cheeky responses to the various members of the RFA, or even imagining entire conversations in her head. It was a little silly, but she figured that all actors developed certain eccentric rituals at some point.

As a writer, she called it her 'process.'

She wondered if actors had a special name for it, and if she could even call her silly habits a true 'process.'

Liv had never had formal training in the theatrical arts, or much of anything practical or normal, to be honest. When she was interviewed, everyone always seemed so shocked to find that any meager amount of skill she had was largely self-taught. And when they chalked it up to natural talent, she put a swift end to that idea. Every day of her life forced Liv to contend with the fact that the only 'natural talent' she had to speak of was a penchant for particularly vivid daydreams. But she made do with that; come hell or high water, she was determined to turn those dreams into reality.

Liv earned her skills with painstaking practice and hard work, just like anyone else.

But no matter how much she practiced and how much praise and support she got from fans—actual fans—she couldn't help but feel alone and out of place in this strange new world.

After all, acting had never been part of the plan.

She frowned down at her phone, checking her connection. Strong and steady…how strange. The app was sure taking its sweet time to load. She tried to swipe out of it so she could relaunch, but she froze when her screen flashed at her. Then, everything went black. Liv blinked, dumbfounded, and clicked the home button frantically. Nothing.

"What the fuck?" she said in English, shaking her head. "Did it just die?"

And then her phone blinked back on.

"What—" Wide, green orbs fixed on her screen, compiled code of the same color raced on a black background and reflected eerily in the shine of her eyes. It reminded her starkly of something out of the Matrix. "Is this…part of the game?"

The phone felt hot in her hand, vibrating slightly, and it emitted a strange whirring noise she'd never heard it make before. She was about five seconds from flinging it away—rumors of exploding phones not lost on her—but before she could take action, a familiar voice shocked her into dropping the device at her feet.

"Ah! Here she is! Our lady of the hour!" Seeing her jump, Mr. Director let out a sheepish laugh. "Oh, so sorry. Didn't mean to startle you, Ms. Holland. Are you alright?"

"Oh, um…" She struggled to find the right words, but it was hard to form proper sentences when the man standing right next to the director could've been a real life counterpart of Hyun Ryu-call-me-ZEN from Mystic Messenger. And it just got worse when he smiled at her.

"Here, I'll get that for you." He knelt in front of her and picked up her phone, turning it over and checking for cracks. "Phew—looks like it's not broken." He laughed. "Is this an iPhone?"

"Is that funny?" Liv wondered, feeling oddly self-conscious about it. She knew the brand of one's phone often said a lot about their personality, (and their wallet), but Liv hadn't exactly chosen hers; it was a hand-me-down.

Liv took what she could get.

"No, I've just never seen one before." He laughed again.

"Really?" Liv raised her brows at him. "That's surprising. I hear a lot of people don't like iPhones, but I've never had any trouble with it…until now, anyway. It's acting all…" She thought for a moment. "'Finicky'? That's the correct expression, right?"

"Yes." He chuckled at her, still holding her rose-gold phone. "Your Korean is impressive for a beginner. I think it was really brave of you to take on this role."

"Oh, er, thank you, but…" Liv felt her cheeks flush. "It really doesn't have anything to do with bravery."

He looked like he was about to say something when Mr. Director declared, "This is good! You're already talking like friends! Chemistry is so important between co-stars!"

"Oh!" Liv blinked at the obnoxiously pretty man in front of her with alarm. "Then, you are…"

"Hyun Ryu. Call me Zen." He flashed a blinding grin at her.

Liv could've fainted dead right there.

Her first instinct was to check for hidden cameras and call it a joke. Surely some of the crew had noticed her fixation with Mystic Messenger and decided to play a prank on her. It was inspired, she thought—or it would be, if not for the perfect authenticity in 'Zen's' face. Liv might be comparatively new to the acting scene, but she knew when someone was acting.

This wasn't acting.

Act normal, she told herself, just act normal.

So, with mechanical precision she forced herself to reach out her hand and recite her typical mixed Korean/English greeting that everyone seemed to find so cute.

"Olivia Holland. Twenty six years old. Nice to meet you. Call me Liv."

He shook her hand with a laugh. "I look forward to working with you, Liv, and getting to know you more. Though…I failed my English classes at school, so I hope you can bear with me."

"Actually, I prefer that you speak in Korean," she said, still on autopilot, in an odd state of numb. She kept staring at 'Zen's' face, searching desperately for flaws or any sign of insincerity. She found none. "It helps me learn."

"Yes!" Mr. Director said, patting her shoulder with a fatherly smile. "Our Ms. Holland is very diligent! It's amazing how far she's come in just a few months!"

"It's really nothing special…" she denied, looking away and toward the floor, wanting nothing more at this point than to sink into it and reemerge in a world that made sense. "One of my majors is East Asian Languages, so…"

"Oh, you're a college student?"

"Yes." She nodded, then shook her head. "Or I was, until I ran into some financial issues last semester. I'm lucky Mr. Director paid to fly me out here. Most of my paycheck for this film is going towards my education; if there's anything left over after living expenses, that means I can eat." She gave a deprecative chuckle at the alarmed look in his peculiar reddish eyes. "I've honestly been looking into transferring to a university here in Korea since it's so much cheaper…"

And other reasons besides, but she wasn't sharing those with someone who was a fictional character just five minutes ago.

"Really?" He sounded shocked. "I didn't know that. What do they charge in America?"

"Oh, just your self-respect, and then your arms, your legs, your immortal soul…" Liv said darkly. "I could go on, but we'd be here all day."

For a second, Zen didn't look like he knew whether she was joking or not, but Mr. Director had no hesitation in laughing heartily at Liv's peculiar sense of humor; he was used to it by now.

"I for one am proud to play a part in paving the way for your future, Ms. Holland. I have a feeling it's going to be very bright indeed!" the jovial man said, grin stretched almost too wide. "I'll leave the two of you to get acquainted. Let's work hard today too!"

And with that, he was off towards the caterer's booth, chattering to an aide with a clipboard.

Without the perpetually cheerful man to function as a buffer, the two were left standing there awkwardly until Zen laughed, releasing a bit of the tension.

"Can you believe he's worked with Chris Nolan? It's exciting, isn't it?"

"Oh, er, yes…" Liv said, forcing a smile, even if she felt like she was acting out one of her daydreams. "I love Chris Nolan films. It'll be good if this one has a similar vibe to it, even though it's more of a romance than a thriller…" She cleared her throat and looked away again. "I'm…looking forward to working with you too."

She was having trouble looking at his face for too long. He was incredibly attractive in a completely foreign, untouchable way. He had to have some form of albinism, she thought, to have such unique coloring in his eyes, his skin, and his hair—a color Liv could only achieve with a steady regimen of peroxide. It was almost ridiculous how good looking he was, and that by itself wouldn't have been so bad if he wasn't Zen. That's what made Liv want to bolt right out of the room. She wasn't cut out for this kind of thing. She knew she should never have walked through the doors of that modeling agency. The world was broken, and this was all their fault, somehow—she was sure of it.

Or maybe she was just going insane. Either one.

"Have you ever played a part like this before?" Zen asked her, his voice softer than before. When Liv met his eyes, she saw sympathy in them, likely misinterpreting her reticence as simple shyness.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Not at all," he said, in a hurry to reassure her. "It's just that when I heard I was going to be co-starring with you, I ran some google searches…"

"Oh." Liv missed the days when she didn't have her own Wikipedia page. "So, I guess that answered your questions."

"Not all of them, but I've read good things about you," he said, offering her another carelessly handsome smile. "You have a reputation for being diligent, kind, and especially for keeping a cool head under pressure."

"I have a reputation…?" This was news to Liv.

He laughed that all-too-familiar laugh again—the intimate one that made you feel like you were part of an inside joke, the one that sounded like he was trying to smother it, only to fail in the end.

"Sorry, sorry…" he said, recovering and smiling at her with that devastating grin. "It's just, I understand what you're going through."

Liv found that very hard to believe.

Still, she asked, "You do?"

"My career is just starting to take off too—it's crazy, isn't it?" He laughed again, the feeling of deja vu making Liv's stomach lurch like it did when she missed a step on the staircase. "I'm suddenly getting fan mail every day, and people stop to take pictures of me on the streets. It's even caused traffic accidents before. I don't know how I should feel about it… but with a face like this—" here he flashed her another rakish grin "—who can blame them?"

"You're right," she said. "That does sound crazy."

If Liv's laughter sounded slightly cracked, Zen was kind enough not to notice. Or perhaps he was just too busy admiring his reflection in the screen of her phone—which he was still holding…

"Why am I still holding this?" he said as if reading her thoughts, laughing, and he handed it back to her. "You should think about getting a case for it, or else it might break the next time you—"

Just as the phone touched her fingers, the screen began to flash violently, and the whirring noise was back louder than ever. It landed face down on the floor when she dropped it this time, and she winced when she heard the screen crack. She continued to grimace as she bent to pick it up, turning it over and expecting the worst, only to find a new level of 'worse' staring back at her.

"Seven hells, how is this my life?" she breathed.

Shining through the spiderweb crack that was her screen, the elegant brown logo of the RFA was damningly clear. A few seconds later, the welcome screen transitioned to an overly familiar chatroom. The messages were coming through too fast for Liv to make sense of them, and in Hangul besides, she had no chance of deciphering any of it.

"What the—" Zen stared at the screen in utter shock. "Is that—Liv, how did you get our app on your phone?!"

"I don't know, Idon'tknow," She shook her head, close to tears and utterly done with this situation. She was praying it was all just a strange horrible dream and she wanted it to end. Now. She thrust the phone at Zen. "Can you make it stop? Can you fix it? Please?"

Zen opened his mouth to respond but Liv's phone interrupted him with its completely obnoxious ringtone and she almost dropped it again.

She was mortified, but the look on Zen's face was worse.

"Is that…Nyan Cat?"

"It was better than the Imperial March," she explained.

That one made her jump every time, though Nyan Cat wasn't much better.

It was her brother's idea.

Zen visibly shuddered. "We're going to have a talk about that. Later. For now…" They looked at the ID on the phone. "Who is 'Unknown'?"

Eyes wide, Liv could only shake her head.

For a moment, they just stood there, listening to it ring, and then silence. A moment later, Liv felt all her muscles tense up as Nyan Cat started up again.

For some reason, it sounded oddly sinister.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Zen said.

Liv could only nod in agreement.

"I don't know why this is happening." She felt her chin wobbling and the heat gathering behind her eyes as the stress and fear caught up to her. "Is this a bad dream?"

When the ringtone stopped and started again, the dread that was pooling in her gut surged as a feeling of helplessness sunk over her like a shroud.

"I…don't know what's going on either." Zen seemed loathe to admit it, and he frowned down at her phone before looking at her with a new sort of determination. "But we're going to figure it out together, okay? I have friends who know how to handle these things. Will you trust me?"

Liv gave him an unsure nod, though oddly enough, she did find his words reassuring. Maybe this was a dream. Maybe it wasn't. But in either case, trusting Zen couldn't be a bad thing, could it? He was a good guy, she knew, from playing his route—though she'd only been through it once, and she never unlocked the after ending. (Liv, frugal and never one for microtransactions, only paid for hourglasses to unlock the other stories). She remembered identifying with a lot of the issues Zen had with his parents, even if they weren't the same as hers. She identified with most of the RFA members in some small ways—perhaps that was the reason the game was so popular.

"I'm just going let Mr. Director know there's an emergency, and give my friends in the RFA a call, okay? They're good people." He ducked his head to catch her eyes, and gifted her with a reassuring smile. "We'll get this figured out, I promise."

"Okay, I…" Liv swallowed as her phone started ringing that horrible ringtone again. "I'll trust you, Zen."

"Thanks!"

He smiled at her, and another wave of deja vu hit her like a mactruck. And with that, he was off to talk to the director, leaving Liv with only the offensive company of Nyan Cat.

Eventually, the dread and uncertainty became too much and she hit the answer button.

"Finally!" A sharp, irritated voice spoke as soon as she put the phone to her ear. "Who the hell are you?!"

Liv's eyes widened and she couldn't help but blurt back, "That's what I should be asking! Why do you keep calling me? Do you have any idea how rude that is?"

"Rude?" He sounded slightly unhinged when he laughed. And like most people's laughs, like their smiles, Liv had memorized this one by heart. "Hah! Rude is not picking up when I call you! Who the hell do you think you are? Huh? Stealing my software, I'll show you—"

"Ray?"

"Wha—how do you know that name?!" And why not? Liv mused. With all the rest of the crazy shit being hurled her way, she suspected she should've seen this one coming. "I'll only ask one more time, and then I won't be so nice—WHO ARE YOU?!"

"Look, my name is Liv, and I didn't steal anything. I don't have that skill," she tried to reason, though without much hope. She'd only played most of the way through Saeran's route; she lost heart towards the end, finding herself uncomfortably reminded about a lot of personal failings until she finally called it quits. Still, she knew enough about Saeran to understand he wasn't the sort to listen to reason.

So maybe he'd listen to something crazy.

"I was just playing a game!"

"Game? Hah! You think this is a game?! You airhead, you really—" He broke off suddenly, leaving Liv in an unnerving silence. His voice was strange when he asked next, "...W-what did you say your name was, again?"

A hesitant pause followed, but then Liv reluctantly recited, "Olivia Holland. Twenty six years old. Nice to meet you."

There was another heavy pause, and then chilling laughter bubbled out from the other end of the line, raising the buzzed hair at the back of Liv's neck.

"EhA-ha-HE-hE...someone's playing a trick on me," Saeran said, muttering to himself, so Liv almost couldn't make out what he said next. "Can't be Luciel—no, he doesn't know her, he doesn't know, NOBODY knows her except for me, hah-AHah-hA!"

Bewildered and disturbed (which was par for the course when dealing with Ray/Saeran, Liv knew) she wondered if she was going to get anything coherent out of the strange, sad little screwball. She figured she ought to at least try.

"Look, Ray, Saeran, or whatever you want to be called—I don't know what's happening here. You're clearly missing some information too," —and a few screws while we're at it, poor thing— "Maybe if we put our heads together, we can figure something out?"

"Ha-hah, you're trying to trick me. You think I'm that naive—not anymore!" His laughter was cold and high pitched. "You can't be her, haha-HA! She's not real. HAH. Not real-not real-not real~lalala I made her up!"

Torn between feeling unnerved and utterly exasperated, Liv interjected in his stream of jabber, "Saeran. Saeran! I know it's a lot to ask, but can you calm the fuck down and be sane for a minute!? Please?!"

"Sane? Ha-hah!" He laughed again, sounding so helpless Liv couldn't help but feel bad. "Who can be sane in a world like this? Heheh-he!"

Trying to remain objective and level headed, Liv conceded, "That's a very good question... I don't blame you at all for feeling that way. I find myself questioning my sanity as we speak. But can we please try to unravel this mystery before we curl up and have our own private meltdowns?" She emphasized, "In private?"

"Hehe, she always wanted to figure out all the mysteries…the secrets... That's how I designed her," he rambled, voice despondent and hoarse. "Are you really...her?"

Carefully considering her words, Liv tried to sound gentle and patient as she spoke next.

"Saeran, I'm sorry, but I don't know who you mean. I'm Olivia, remember? We just met. Sort of."

"That's not possible," another erratic giggle from his end of the line made Liv's shoulders tighten. "You can't be her! I made her up! She's just a tester bot—a toy! You don't exist!"

And with that, Liv's short lived string of patience snapped.

"You're the one who doesn't exist!" She bit her lip to hold in a dry sob. "This can't be happening. I'm not having a conversation with a video game character. This is a dream—just some crazy nightmare. I'm going to wake up any second now—"

She knew she wasn't.

"You know my name, and you even speak English perfectly, just like the backstory I was working on, ha-hah! What a fun prank." Saeran went on. "I didn't get too far with the backstory part, because it doesn't really matter. She was just a tester bot with standard AI features. Just something to play around with when I was bored." He laughed again, almost childlike. "But you stole her, and the RFA software I was working on! You'd better give them back, you freak, or I'll hack into your devices and sell all your information on the darkweb—"

The edges of Liv's vision went black.

"Saeran." Her voice was sharp and uncompromising. "I want you to shut up and think about a couple things before you even dare to think of threatening me. First, I want you to think of your evil, psycho, bitch of a mother who tied you up, starved you, and tried to strangle you. I want you to think about how hard it is for you to sleep at night because of the nightmares, and how you lie awake in the morning staring at the ceiling feeling empty." She ignored his sound of distress and went on. "I know you lie there, feeling alone and like no one will ever love you. I know that you work yourself near to death, you're a nervous wreck, and that you gnaw your fingernails down to bloody bits, and I told you not to worry because at least your toenails will always be perfect, and you laughed harder than you had in years—"

"STOP! Stop! You don't—you can't know that—impossible, impossible!" Liv heard Saeran's breath hitch on the other end of the line. "I deleted those chats! I threw them away! There's no way anyone could have hacked them—not even Luciel!"

"I'm not a hacker, Saeran." Liv told him gravely. "If you really designed my...character...I think you'd know that's not one of my skills." She heard his breathing hitch again. "I don't know if you've noticed, but this clearly isn't a game anymore." Her voice darkened with an anger so intense she felt it burn in her chest. "So why don't you think about that before you ever call me a freak again. Understand?"

"...You hate that word. They used to call you that in school." His voice sounded faint.

Liv barely suppressed a flinch.

"Yes." What was the point in denying it? Old resentment burned through her throat and her voice hitched a little even as she struggled to remain clear headed. "But let's do ourselves a favor and leave the sweet memories for another day, yeah? We have bigger problems. Like, why is reality crumbling around our heads?"

"Hehe...reality's always doing that." He giggled again. "It's fun to watch the pieces shatter."

And...she lost him again.

"Look," Liv sighed. "we're both upset. You have my number, now, right? Why don't you call me back when you're feeling better and we'll...try to put the pieces back together. Somehow." She pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose allowing for a moment of exasperation and hopelessness, then she rubbed out the moisture from her eyes, careful not to smudge her makeup or jostle her contact lenses. "They say duct tape can fix anything, right?"

"Ha-hah! Duct tape!" And the unhinged laughter was back in full force; thankfully it sounded a bit more genuine this time. "We'll need lots!"

"Yeah…" Liv's voice tripped over a helpless laugh, resigned to the madness. "A whole truck load." She looked up at the sound of her name and saw Zen headed straight for her. She cursed in English and said, "I have to go."

Saeran's voice was suddenly desperate.

"You'll answer when I call you next time, right?" he demanded. "You'll answer right away?"

"Yes," she answered, distracted as Zen approached. "Of course. I want to figure this out as much as you do. I'll work hard on my end, okay? Zen is helping me..." She hesitated for a moment searching for the words to say goodbye and settled on an awkward, "Stay safe."

With that, she cut the connection, and stared down at her shattered phone screen, feeling troubled and conflicted. She supposed that was just part of Saeran's charm… He sounded stuck somewhere in a tug of war, flip flopping between his two personas, and the collision was obviously taking its toll on him.

She didn't even know where to start contemplating what he'd said about her and this 'tester bot' he'd created. Part of her wanted to dismiss it as the typical Saeran crazy, but the shrewder portion of her couldn't completely ignore it. After all, how could she, when before today, Saeran was nothing but a character in a game app? His voice on the phone, like all the others, was just a recording that she occasionally made up responses to—like the silly one about his perfect toes. She remembered acting out that conversation in her head, her daydreams vivid as always, and she could hear his surprised, guileless laughter echoing so clearly…

Can I do something for him? she wondered. Anything?

They taught her about cults at school, how someone becomes indoctrinated… She'd even gone through special training and done her research. She knew both the FBI and CIA had special units to take care of cults, because people become powerful in large groups, and the individual situations could be so very delicate…just like Saeran's case. He sorely needed extraction, but with such a fragile mental state...the effort needed to be gentle and patient, two qualities Liv decidedly lacked.

"I just got off the phone with my friends. And Mr. Director doesn't need us on set today, so we've got the rest of the afternoon to take care of this." Zen looked between her and her phone with obvious concern. "Was that 'Unknown'? You really picked up?"

"Yeah, I...know him, sort of," Liv said, still quiet and staring down at the busted screen. Best to tell as much of the truth as possible, right? "This isn't a good situation."

"Did he hack your phone?" A furrow worried itself in Zen's otherwise flawless brow.

"I think my phone hacked him somehow, if you can believe that…" Liv sighed, pocketing the device and rubbing the bridge of her nose as the stress mounted on her. "He's freaking the fuck out. So am I, for that matter."

"I am too. Everyone in the RFA is really shocked. How—no, why does this person have our information?" Zen asked, frowning. "You said you know him?"

"More or less. We've never met in person. It's...complicated." Liv fiddled with the drawstring of her 'Ghost' the band hoodie with a nervous frown, wondering just how much she could share. "His name is...let's just call him Ray. He's stuck working for this crazy cult that wants the RFA guest list information. But he's a victim in all this," she said, dearly hoping Zen would understand, "At heart, Ray is really...a good person."

"Wha—a cult?" Zen raked his hand through his bangs in distress. "Does he need help? Shouldn't we call the authorities?"

"No!" Liv shook her head wildly, her styled hair going askew. "The leader, she...she has lots of people of authority covering for her. She can make people disappear if she wants. We could be making the situation even worse if we're not careful."

"That's—" Zen shook his head in disbelief. "This is insane. Can't we do anything?"

"This...needs a subtle approach. We have to handle things delicately, or Ray might end up in deeper shit than he already is, that poor bastard..." Liv sighed with building anxiety in her throat. "You said your friends in the RFA could help?"

"I told them what I know, but this…" Zen studied her with narrowed eyes, still frowning. "But, Liv, how do you know about the cult? Or the RFA? We're not exactly a huge organization. Our charity parties are really exclusive… How are you really involved in all this?"

"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you…" Liv just shook her head helplessly. "I barely believe it myself, and I'm the one living it. I think…" Her eyes burned with unshed tears of anxiety as she confessed, "I think I need to talk to V. Would that be possible?"

"You know V too?" He looked at her with intense interest. "We all know he's been keeping secrets, but I never thought…"

"I'm sure he's never heard of me. I know of V, but that's it." Liv was sticking to the truth. "I've never met him, and I never expected to. But I think now, it's probably a good idea to make him aware of the situation, because after this, if I'm right, things are going to start escalating quickly..." Liv brushed her platinum bangs out of her face with growing agitation. "He's not going to be happy with me. He's been carefully building a house of cards, and I'm about to blow it right down." She sighed deeply, shaking her head in disbelief. "I never thought I'd ever get involved in something like this… What a nightmare." She looked back at Zen, pleading for him to understand. "Please, believe me when I say I never meant for any of this to happen."

"I...do believe you," he said, his eyes sincere. "I'm not sure why, but I get the feeling you're not a bad person, Liv. V is the smartest person I know, so I'm sure he'll see that too, even if it means giving up some of his precious secrets." He offered her a good natured smile. "If you ask me, this has been a longtime coming, so I don't think it's your fault."

With his words, Liv felt some of her anxiety melt away, and she truly meant it when she said, "Thank you for believing me, Zen."

"Haha, of course." His smile widened. "We're going to be partners, right?" He laughed that inside-joke-laugh of his again, and leaned in to tell her, "You know, despite the circumstances, I'm glad you're the one I'm co-starring with on this film. Anyone else would be boring by comparison."

"Yeah..." When Liv laughed, it sounded hollow. "Never a dull moment in this line of work, is there?"

Once again, Liv pondered her life's choices, and how very far things had flung out of her control. Her carefully-thought-out plans, her fortress of contingencies was crumbling down around her like a dried up sand castle. Then again, maybe she was being too hard on herself. Because who in the world could ever plan for life to turn into a video game?

"That's why I love it! It's my dream job!" Zen's phone suddenly started ringing out a jaunty tone, and when he looked at the ID he seemed surprised. "Huh? Seven? He must've seen the chat logs… I need to take this."

"Of course…" She flinched when her phone quacked at her with a text message, and sighed in exasperation when Zen laughed at her.

"Why are your phone settings set to such ridiculous ringtones?" he chuckled as he answered his phone.

"My nine-year-old brother set it up for me and I haven't had the heart to change it," she explained, opening her home screen to see a text from 'Unknown.' "I should see what he wants too…"

She opened up her texts and frowned.

Hey, tester bot, you better answer.

I'll call you soon, so you better pick up right away!

I need you to tell me what's happening with the RFA.

Liv frowned, thinking out her response as she pulled up her Hangul keyboard.

I will, don't worry. Zen's on the phone with Luciel.

She sent it, then hesitated before going ahead and sending a second text.

I hope you don't get in trouble because of this.

Is everything okay with you?

A moment later, she got a text back.

Who's worried?

Are you worrying about me? How annoying. Don't be an idiot.

Liv's frown deepened.

What I'm saying is that you probably shouldn't tell HER anything until we work out a solution to keep her happy.

I'll keep you updated, and we can come up with a compromise, or at least a stalemate where no one gets hurt, okay?

I don't want you to get hurt because of this...

We don't know why this is happening yet, so please don't blame yourself.

I know you like to do that.

A second later, he sent,

Worry about yourself more…

You disappeared from my computer to the real world, where anything can happen to you.

Don't you get it? You're the one in danger!

Liv felt a slow, incredulous smile creeping onto her lips.

Now, who's worried?

It's okay. I might not look like much, but I'm actually pretty tough, you know.

I can survive anything.

I'll believe that when I see it

Liv could never resist a challenge.

She opened up her camera, gave it a sardonic twist of her lips and a cheerful one-finger salute, then sent off the selfie with zero regrets.

Look.

Look at it.

Let it sink in. Cherish it. Really experience it.

She expected to get something scathing back right away. He'd call her ugly and she'd laugh. Something like that.

Instead, she got,

How…?

How do you look exactly like I pictured her in my head?

Liv's smile faded as a sad, yet horribly familiar feeling settled in her chest.

I am her.

I am Liv.

But even after putting it down in words, a time old question branded itself into her mind.

Am I real?

Unsettled, she shook her head and slipped her phone back into her pocket, willing herself to stop thinking. That road only led down to dark twisted places she'd rather not revisit any time soon.

"Are you sure? Right… Yeah. Okay. Let me ask her first." Zen looked over at her and asked, "Liv, will you come with me to meet a member of the RFA? He's a little strange, but I can't think of anyone better to figure out how our app got onto your phone." He gave her a bright smile. "And I'll be with you the whole time to make sure he won't try anything weird." Liv heard a loud voice from Zen's phone but couldn't make out any of the words. He held it away from his ear with a wince and stared at it like it had personally offended him. "You can see for yourself if she agrees to—" Even Zen's scowling face was pretty, Liv noted. "No! Don't even think about it! I won't let you! Dammit, Seven! Don't you dare—"

Zen grew more and more agitated as the one sided conversation escalated to a speed that was simply beyond Liv's level of Korean.

"Um!" she deliberately raised her voice just enough that Zen's phone could pick it up, taking a step towards him to say, "If it will help us figure things out, I'd be happy to follow you to the Batcave. How far is it from here?"

Liv clearly heard a laugh from Zen's phone and a handful of words, and then it beeped the end of the call.

Zen lowered the phone and sighed, shaking his head. "He's texting me the address. It's weird, I've known him for years now, and I've never actually learned where he lives… Not sure how I feel about that. But hey, Liv," He looked at her earnestly, "I hope you don't feel pressured into this. It can't feel good for you to follow someone you just met to a strange guy's house."

"It's okay," Liv said. "I don't get pressured easily. So if I'm following you anywhere, just know I'm doing it because I trust you."

He raised his brows at her and beamed. "Hah! I hope you don't trust everyone you meet. You're too cute to get taken advantage of."

Liv raised her brows right back, amusement and anticipation at a chance for mischief gathering in her chest.

"Ah… In that case, I should probably apologize to you."

Zen blinked at her.

"Huh?"

"What is the phrase in Korean…?" She muttered to herself, thinking. "Ah! That's right. A blackbird may be black but its flesh is white. Appearances can be deceiving. Case in point:" She gestured to herself with a flamboyant flourish. "I'm cursed with this baby face. I hate being dishonest, but it deceives everyone I meet. So, please accept my apology." She offered a teasing smile. "Rather than cute, my personality is actually a little devious. Please keep that in mind, and don't let your guard down around me because I'd hate to take advantage of someone as lovely as you."

"T-take advantage…" A light dusting of a blush bloomed in his cheeks. "of...me? ...Lovely?"

"You don't let just any girl follow you around, do you?" Liv's smile morphed into an impish grin. "If that's the case, it's a good thing we're friends now. I'll protect you if any bad ones try to put the moves on you."

At that, Zen caught onto the joke and burst out laughing, startling one of the makeup artists as she packed up her kit.

"What?" Liv laughed along, pretending to be offended. "You don't think I can do it?"

Grinning at her, Zen said, "I don't think you're like any girl I've ever met."

Liv gave him a wink. "I knew you'd catch on quick."

He was about to respond when his phone beeped at him, and he sighed, opening up a text message.

"That's the address… To be honest, I really don't want to take you to Seven's house," he said. "I'd rather take you out for drinks instead and then practice our lines together. I'm really looking forward to performing with you now."

"That would be fun," Liv agreed with a nod. "With any luck, we can get this thing resolved quickly, and then go do that. I don't usually drink;" she ammended with a short laugh, "I was just going to go home and have a small mental breakdown later, but now that I think about it, good drinks and good company sounds better…"

"I'm glad you think so!" Zen grinned at her, then leaned in to say, "After all, my heart just breaks thinking of such a cute girl crying all alone."

Liv laughed despite herself.

"You're going to torment me with 'cute' from now on, aren't you?"

He returned her wink from earlier. "I catch on quick."

Hello, new best friend,

is what she wanted to say.

But as she followed Zen out of the studio, onto the street, and down to the subway, chatting and throwing pleasant banter back and forth, Liv just couldn't shake the dissociative feeling of earlier from her bones—that wavering sensation of disconnect from her current reality, leaving her puzzled on what was real and what wasn't. She'd always had trouble with dissociation ever since she could remember, but it had never been so disconcerting as it was now. She even used to enjoy it on occasion, at least until reality slammed back into place with a collision powerful enough to make her head spin.

Now, Liv found herself struggling to hold onto the here and now. She saw Zen standing next to her, saw him smile, heard him laugh, felt his kind hand on her shoulder when he braced her for the subway train's jarring stop. But it almost felt like it was happening to someone else, and she was just watching another visual novel play out on her phone. Was any of this real...or not?

More to the point, did she want it to be?

The side of her that was made of pure practicality protested that it didn't matter what she wanted; what matters is the truth. But something deeper at the root of the problem told her this was important. Something told her that even if she knew the truth, even if her mind could naturally differentiate reality from fiction like a normal person's, in the circumstances Liv found herself in now…

She had a feeling even a normal person would have trouble accepting it.

But as she delved deeper into the nebulous, dark well of her feelings, Liv found in herself a curious spot of warmth she could only identify as...hope. She wasn't unfamiliar with hope; in fact, hope was something Liv was a full advocate for. There was a time when she thought it might be gone forever, but she'd proven herself wrong. Liv knew better than anyone how powerful and inexhaustible hope could be—how resilient it could make someone. Once she found it again, she refused to let go, and used it as a tool to drag herself out of the pit she'd dug for herself. Today, she used it to raise her head up from the ground and see the opportunities she could seize all around her if she just kept holding onto that burning, bright feeling.

This hope was something different though.

It was a soft, tiny, tremulous thing—like, and yet unlike the indomitable hopes she'd forged for her future in fire and turmoil.

It's just like a baby, she realized, so new and innocent…but where did it come from?

She was almost afraid to examine it further, because she suspected, even before she had a chance to wonder, that if she followed the tenuous strand back to its origin...she would find that it came from her truest self—the self she kept swaddled up in the softest cotton, entombed in the most sacred shrine, in a tower surrounded by steadfast walls, in a beautiful room filled with all the things she loved. And only Liv had the key to it. She didn't visit the room very often, even if everything she did, she did for what, and more importantly who, was in that room. The occupant was usually sleeping peacefully, but every so often, she'd stir, and send out some fleeting feeling into the dark either that Liv would dutifully chase after, even if she was ambivalent about it.

Like this hope.

What in the world are you thinking? she whispered to herself.

I'm lonely, herself whispered back. I want a friend.

And when Liv looked over at Zen and he smiled at her, she felt that small little hope turning within her.

This friend? she wondered to herself. But he might not be real…

Does it matter? herself wondered back.

Does it matter?

Does it matter?

The thought echoed almost eerily in the dark expanse of Liv's mind, and when she found that she could not find a definite answer to it, she smiled back at Zen.

Maybe not.

"You look like you're thinking pretty hard about something." He gave her another teasing grin and said, "I wonder what's going on inside that oh so cute head of yours."

She rolled her eyes and turned her gaze out the window where the city was racing by. They just switched trains fifteen minutes ago and were clearly headed away from the city center...

"You and me both..." she said, almost too quiet for him to hear. Before he could inquire further, she told him, "I'm glad you seem to know where we're going, because my sense of direction is awful. The only places I know how to get to in Seoul are the studio, my apartment, the market, and this sweets bakery down my street that I'm addicted to."

"I see you've got your priorities straight—work, home, food, and a sweets addiction," he laughed, shaking his head at her. "Are those really the only places you've been since coming to Seoul?"

"Yep. I guess I'm not much one for tourism, not that I wouldn't enjoy it if I had someone to show me around." She smiled back at him. "My sense of direction is just really that terrible. I'd get lost in a city like this on my own in an instant, even with GPS." She chuckled. "My mom always used to say I have the sense of direction of a gnat that can't find its way out of a paper bag."

"I've never heard that before. Is that some kind of American phrase?" He gave her a puzzled look. "It doesn't sound flattering…"

"Haha, you're right about that. It hurt at the time, because it's meant to describe someone who's particularly dimwitted. To be fair though," she interjected before he could look too concerned, "my mom wasn't wrong." At his alarmed expression, Liv shook her head with a deprecating chuckle. "I used to do dimwitted things all the time. I was a bit of a delinquent when I was in high school, to be honest. And even though things are different now, it's difficult to change a parent's perceptions of the child they raised..." She smiled brightly at him and held up a determined fist. "But we're both doing our best to understand each other, and we're making real progress!" This time, when she laughed, it was with true happiness. "I'm super excited about it."

"That's…" Slowly, Zen smiled. "That's really nice to hear, actually. It makes me feel hopeful."

"I would hope so," Liv quipped with a quick grin. "Hope is really all you need in life. I could go on preaching all day long about how important it is to stay positive and never lose hope, no matter what life throws at you. But I think you already understand me."

"Haha, I just might know a thing or two about it. The way you talk about it though, it almost makes you sound devout—like it's some kind of religion," Zen remarked.

"Really?" Liv shrugged with a laugh. "Maybe it should be. I think hope is a gift from the universe. It's like a currency for dreams.

"Currency?" He gave her another puzzled look. "You mean, like money to pay for dreams?"

"Sort of, yeah." Liv nodded and explained, "The more you have hope, in other words, the more you believe in something, the greater chance you have of making that thing a reality. There is a direct correlation between belief and success." She quickly amended, "Of course, belief by itself isn't enough, you also have to take action. But you can only take action if you believe you can. Hope is where it all starts. And it can be applied to every aspect of your life." Liv gave a sheepish chuckle at the alarmed look on his face. "Am I making any sense at all?"

"Y-yeah…" Zen blinked off his shock quickly and smiled. "Sorry...it's just, for a second there you sounded a lot like someone I used to know." His smile turned bittersweet as he said, "She...had to leave this world. And all of us in the RFA miss her dearly..."

Liv felt her stomach turn at the thought of being anything like Rika. But...Zen only knew the best side of Rika, so she knew she shouldn't feel upset. It was a compliment, so she should feel thankful, right? And… She studied Zen's face carefully and saw the sadness in his eyes, even if he was smiling.

Even though she knew Korean propriety advised against it, Liv reached over and took Zen's hand.

"I'm sorry she left you."

There was nothing else she could say.

If Liv was being sincere, she could only muster up a small measure of sympathy for Rika.

The rest of her sympathy was reserved for the ones hurt by Rika.

And the lion's share of that was reserved for the ones still being hurt by Rika.

Even before Liv learned the truth about Rika, she still hadn't held much sympathy for her.

"You know," she told Zen, still holding his hand. "I used to know someone like that too. He was my best friend." She laughed a little bitterly. "My only friend, if I'm being honest."

"No! Your best friend...also…?" Zen studied her intently, concern written starkly upon his fair face.

"Heh, almost…" Liv's smile felt hollow on her face as she turned again to watch the cityscape fly by, and it slowly faded. "He would've done it if he hadn't told me about it first. He always acted so carefree around everyone else, but he trusted me more than anyone. So, naturally, he told me everything about how he hated living, and no matter what I said, it couldn't change his mind." After a moment of studying her own blank reflection in the glass, she put on her best smile and turned back to Zen. "So, I betrayed his trust without thinking twice about it. Long story short, I tracked down his relatives and they stopped him from going through with it." At Zen's shocked expression, Liv only shrugged. "He hasn't wanted anything to do with me ever since." The smile on her face sharpened like a razor. "But I'd rather die than say I'm sorry."

"That's…" Zen shook his head slowly. "Even though you say that like it was no big deal...you must have been under a lot of pressure to make a decision—no, a sacrifice like that." When Liv just smiled and shrugged, he said, "I don't even know what I would have done in a situation like that...with Rika." He shook his head again. "But your friend...do you know if he's still…?"

"Alive? Oh, definitely. And thriving, the last time I checked," Liv said. "We went to the same university. He graduated this year, and went on to get into his dream job, from what I heard. The last time I saw him on campus, he was holding hands with a girl and laughing."

"And...he hasn't talked to you since then? Not a word?" Zen asked. "You don't think there's any chance the two of you might make up, like you and your mother?"

Liv shrugged.

"Never say never I suppose, but…" She sighed and looked away. "I've always thought people's hearts are a little like houses. They invite you in, and show you all around these neat rooms where you can explore and play and have fun and laugh together for hours and hours…" She smiled. "And some of them are shut, and won't open unless you knock politely. Some of them are dark, and the person won't want to go in with you until you shine a light. And some doors are completely locked, and won't open until that person gives you the key. And sometimes…" Her smile faded. "Sometimes, even if a person invites you back in, all the doors are locked, and no matter how much either one of you wants it, and however many keys you try, the doors just won't open again…" She stared down at their joined hands. "Hearts are tricky things, Zen."

"But...that sounds so sad. And aren't you contradicting yourself from earlier?" he pointed out. "About believing, and having hope?"

"Haha, that's likely. I'm a mess of contradictions, I'll admit it." Liv shrugged with a goofy smile. "I'm only human, you know."

After a moment, Zen smiled back and gave her fingers a warm squeeze.

"I like that about you," he said. "And just so you know…" He winked at her. "You've got an invitation to my house any day of the week."

With that, Liv felt that baby hope inside her give a mighty kick that almost brought tears to her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice a little strained, "but can I hug you right now?"

"R-right now?" He asked, blushing and sending an alarmed glance around them. "On a train full of people?"

Liv laughed. "I can wait 'til we get off the train if you're embarrassed. Or even later at your house—"

"That's even worse!" When Liv laughed harder, he narrowed his eyes at her and said, "Eh? You're teasing me again, aren't you."

"Maybe just a little…" She giggled at him and squeezed his hand. "I know Koreans aren't fans of public displays of affection. But I'm from America, and I can't help but miss it." She shrugged with a sheepish smile. "I'll do my best not to embarrass you though...as a friend, or a co-star." Suddenly she gasped, "Hey, I'm still shaky on my honorifics so I'm not sure about this, but since you're much more experienced than me as an actor, shouldn't I be calling you Sunbaenim?"

"But if you call me that, it means you can't tease me anymore," Zen pointed out with a grin.

Liv groaned and tugged on her pixie short hair. "This Korean hierarchy system is so confusing!"

"I think you're doing just fine being yourself." Zen laughed at her dramatics and said, "Propriety is overrated anyway."

"So…" Liv's gave him a sly smile. "Does that mean I can hug you whenever I want?"

She watched in delight as Zen proceeded to have an internal war with himself, cheeks bright as Rudolph's nose on Christmas, and he finally choked out, "...M-maybe when a couple more people get off the train?"

"Or maybe not...because it would just be a tragedy for the world if your face was permanently stuck that color." Liv dissolved into a fit of giggles as the color in his cheeks deepened even further. "Your moonlight complexion would be completely ruined, and I won't be responsible for that. Ah! I remember now! That's who you remind me of!" Liv tapped her temple. "Tsukiyomi! The Japanese god of the moon!"

Slowly, Zen smiled. "A god?"

Liv grinned making sure to lay it on thick. "But truthfully, I think your smile is a hundred times brighter than the moon god's."

"Well, that's because the gods made a mistake when they created me," Zen said, playing along, flicking his ponytail back over his shoulder with a flourish.

"Haha, you know…in Greek mythology, the gods used to have children with mortals all the time." Liv gasped. "That's got to be it! The moon god came down from the moon and bewitched your mother! There's no other explanation!"

They spent the rest of the train taking turns speculating about the origins of Zen's good looks which grew more and more ridiculous as they went on. It went from gods, to aliens, to fairy changelings, to genetic experimentation, but in the end, Liv's favorite was still the moon god theory.

She was still having trouble with her dissociation but talking helped. Laughing helped. Holding onto Zen's hand helped. He noticed her spacing out every so often, but always managed to bring her back by giving her hand a squeeze or drawing her into another conversation, and he was thankfully understanding enough not to ask too much about it. She didn't doubt he probably would at some point if it continued to be a problem, but Liv was hoping it would go away on its own before it got that bad—praying, actually. She didn't want to have to get back on meds again if she could help it, but if the symptoms grew worse…

She didn't want to think about what happened when things got worse.

When they got off the train Zen checked the address again and called a taxi. They were definitely at the outskirts of the city and Seven's house was even further out.

Zen gave a dramatic sigh, and said, "I don't know why Seven decided to buy a house all the way out here… I guess there's no other option but to wa—" At that moment, both of their phones started ringing and Zen cringed once again at Liv's Nyan Cat ringtone. "We are fixing that the next chance we get—the sooner the better! Ah…" He looked at his phone. "That's Seven right now. I'll see what he wants."

The ID 'Unknown' flashed at Liv through her cracked screen, and before she picked up, she took a brief moment to muse over the chances of both the twins calling them at exactly the same time.

Go figure… she thought and hit answer.

"You picked up!" Saeran sounded astonished, if not a little more coherent than last time they spoke.

"I told you I would," Liv said, trying to be patient. "Are you feeling better?"

"I…I'm fine. Don't worry about me." His voice was quiet, and Liv found his assurance less than reassuring.

"I wanted to apologize, for what I said earlier…" She said, feeling bad for bringing up painful memories. "It was unnecessarily cruel just to prove a point like that… I should've just sent you my picture from the start. You believe me now, right?"

"There's no way anyone could've known what the tester bot's avatar looked like…unless they hacked my head," Searan mused to himself, then sounded a little panicky. "That's not possible, right?"

"Not that I know of," Liv said, trying to keep the amusement out of her voice. "I think I saw a Syfy movie like that once though, if you want to look into it."

"I have too much work…" He let out an exhausted sigh. "What's happening with you right now? You said you're with an RFA member?"

"Zen's on the phone with Luciel again. We're waiting on a cab right now, headed to his place."

"You're going to his house?" Liv raised her brows at the alarm in his voice. "Don't! Turn around right now, it's dangerous!"

"Sae—" She started to say his name but glanced back at Zen over her shoulder and thought better of it. "Look, I'm going to call you Ray for now. I have to go to Luciel's place so he can take a look at my phone and figure out how the app got onto it. And…" She should just nip this in the bud. "There's some things you should know about V and Luciel. I know you don't want to hear this, but I learned things from playing through their routes, and I should tell you now, before I actually meet them, just so you don't think they brainwashed me into saying it." Which would be tragically ironic. "You're being misled about them. They're not your enemies."

"Not my—" He made a choked sound, and Liv heard coughing in the background which made her wince. Poor thing couldn't even verbalize the possibility. "Liv-ahaha—" he coughed some more, and Liv truly started to feel worried. "I don't care…about V, just stay away from Luciel! It's too dangerous for you!"

"Ray…" she tried to sound calm and collected, so she didn't aggravate his condition even more. "I have to get my phone checked out. It's the only way—"

"Just come here and let me look at it!" Though it sounded like a command, it also sounded like he was pleading, and Liv's heart broke a little. "I can find out more than he ever could! He doesn't know anything about your situation, so he'd be working from wrong information from the start, looking in all the wrong places! It's better if you come here," he said again, something desperate in his voice. "Just stay here with me and be safe."

"Ray, I think you know that's not a good idea…" Liv said, lowering her voice as Zen got off the phone and looked over at her. "You know I wouldn't be safe there. Nobody's safe there. Including you."

"I'm fine!" he said, forcing his voice high and cheerful, though the desperation still seeped through loud and clear. "Everything is fine! It's paradise here! You'll see. I can hide you. You'll be safe! I just…" The cheer drained out of him until only the desperation was left behind. "I just need to see…" The 'you' went unspoken, but he tried to cover with, "I just need to see that you're safe."

"I'll be safe," she said, "I promise." When that didn't seem like enough to convince him, she added, "If it will make you feel better, I'll call you, and send you a selfie every day as evidence. If I don't, you'll call me. I'll always answer, and if I don't, then you'll know something is wrong. I'll can send you the contacts of people who know how to track me down. They're…" She hesitated with a grimace. "…good at what they do."

"But…Luciel…" Searan coughed again. It seemed just saying his name—and not even his real one—was difficult. "It's not…"

"There's nothing Luciel can do to me that I can't pay him back for a hundred times worse," Liv said with a wry twist to her lips. "Please trust me, Ray. And when the time comes," she paused and put careful emphasis behind each word, "please hear him out. Both Luciel and V have a lot to answer for, but…" She heard his quick intake of breath when she whispered, "they're not who she said they were…" She looked over at Zen as he signaled her, and saw the taxi pulling up. "I have to go now. But I'll call you later tonight, okay?"

"O-okay…I'll be waiting." He coughed one more time before his voice sounded stronger. "Text me those contacts as soon as possible. And call me every day. I want to know your every move."

Liv snorted. "Even if I'm just going to the bathroom?"

"Wha! Liv, this is serious!" he stressed, his voice plying her, "Even if you say it's safe, I…"

"I understand." She didn't, really. Earlier, he seemed confused, unhinged and hostile, and now…there was genuine worry in his voice. It was sweet in a way. And Liv was too much of a bleeding heart not to humor him. She just wished she knew what was going on in his head. "I promise, everything will be fine. And Zen is with me right now." She smiled at him and the actor sent her a curious look as she slid into the back seat next to him. "He won't let anything happen to me."

"Is that the hacker?" Zen whispered; his brows raised in alarm when Liv nodded.

"I don't feel good about this…" Saeran let her know. "But I'll trust you…for now." His voice was fervent as he beseeched her. "Call me. As soon as you get home, so I know you're safe."

"Yeah, I will…" Liv promised, still feeling a bit uneasy. It had been a long time since anyone had showed such blatant concern for her, and she had mixed feelings about it. "I'll send you those contacts and we'll talk again soon…" She hesitated and added, "You stay safe too, Ray."

And with that, she ended the phone call.

She'd always been awkward with goodbyes, even (especially) over the phone.

"This hacker, Ray…" Zen said, watching her watch her phone thoughtfully. "He seems really concerned about you."

"Yeah…he's a nervous wreck." Liv nodded. "It's a little weird, actually. But he's always been a little weird, so I can't tell if this anxiety is actual weirdness or just his normal level of weird."

"Heh, then you must know him pretty well?" Zen asked, eyes bright with interest.

"I know him a little too well…" Liv muttered, feeling grim. Too well for my own comfort.

"So, you've worked together?" Zen probed further, looking a little too interested now. "Or are you…"

He trailed off deliberately, and it took Liv a second to see what he was getting at. When she got it, her eyes went wide, and she shook her head wildly.

"Oh, no-no-no-no-no! That just—no. No way!" She shook her head again for good measure and held her arms in the shape of an X. "Absolutely not! Ray is…" She winced, and tried to explain, "not in a good place, mentally or physically, right now."

"Sooo…you're saying he's not your type?" Zen tapped his chin thoughtfully.

Liv covered her face in exasperation.

"That is not what I'm saying." She sighed into her hand. "Ray is a wonderful person, really, but…he needs to get himself out of that place and straightened out before thinking of anyone else. That doesn't leave much room for a healthy relationship…"

I should know. And not just because I got a bad end, like, three separate times on his route.

Then again, it's not like I can talk about healthy relationships like I know the first thing about them…

"So, you don't work together, and you're not lovers…" Liv winced as Zen said that word. "Then how are you connected?"

"I…can't really explain it. We're still shaky on the details." She rubbed a hand down her face. "For simplicity's sake, let's just say we were pen pals—" If pen pals could send messages across the barriers of reality "—who didn't actually think the other existed until today. Before that, I thought everything about you guys, and Ray, was fictional." She rolled her eyes. "And Ray apparently thought I was a chat bot he created."

Zen blinked at her in shock.

"That's insane."

"You want to hear insane, ask me about this again when I'm ready to tell you the unabridged version." She chuckled, her voice a little off. "You know, there's this phrase we have in America; you might've heard it before…"

She shook her head with a shaky smile and looked out the window.

"The truth is stranger than fiction," she said to her reflection.

SO, this first chapter is horrendously long.

If you made it this far, I applaud you!

I'm going to be honest here and say I'm relatively new to the Mystic Messenger fandom. I had a disheartening chat with a friend who's a HUGE Mystic Messenger fan the other day about this story, and she brought up some valid points. Mystic Messenger is a quintessential otome game, albeit, the most extensively immersive one I've ever played. And otome games, by the genre, and the very definition of immersion, encourage the player to insert themselves as MC.

As I'm sure you've gathered by now, if you've read this far, Liv is not MC. She's very much an Original Character with her own highly extensive backstory that will play a huge role in shaping events taken from several game routes. My friend pointed out that many Mystic Messenger fans might become personally offended by this. She's right, of course, and I almost didn't publish this story because of it.

But even though she's right, I still feel like Liv is a very well developed and enjoyable character who can offer a lot to the story of Mystic Messenger. I'm proud that I created her. Sometimes she makes me laugh like crazy, sometimes she makes me want to cry, sometimes she makes me blush, and sometimes she just makes me want to slap myself, almost like a real friend.

So to all those lonely folks out there, I hope that Liv can be a friend to you too in these crazy times, and that you'll cheer her on in the story to come.

Thank you.