Warning: This chapter contains a sexual assault scene. Please read at your own discretion.

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A man and a woman. Both clad in sportswear swimsuits. Both with great, healthy bodies. 

Jimin notices the intricate inked rose above the red bikini strap on the woman's shoulder. The woman has long black hair, woven in a braid down her back. Her legs shift around in the waist-high water, almost uncomfortably in the presence of the man alongside her. He seems misplaced, as if he wasn't originally invited to this woman's ocean swim and forced himself into the picture. The woman moves away from him, distancing herself from this stranger who approaches her with disguised malintent.

Jimin notes the man's crisply cut muscles, his outdoorsy tan, the smirk on his face as he reaches for the woman's waist--and the subsequent gasp out of Pluto's mouth. 

"What is he doing...?"

Jimin gazes down, expecting to see his own virtual hands. When he sees nothing, he tries moving his arms around, presses the controller buttons a few random times to see if he can do anything. Nothing happens. I guess ghosts aren't meant to do much anyway. I just have my voice and my eyes.

In front of him, the woman slaps at the man's hand, scooting to the side. Different from the other levels, this challenge feels more like a movie. Jimin can only watch and listen as the woman hisses stop that repeatedly to the pursuing man. Pluto's character freezes in place.

"I think you have to stop him, Pluto." Jimin averts his eyes from the obvious sexual harassment, watching the serene waves lapping against the shore instead. What a strange little beach, tucked away in a quiet corner of the sea. 

"Maybe try yelling at him?"

Pluto turns his head around, as if to place Jimin's voice. "Where--oh yeah. You're a ghost. Do you think they can hear you?"

Jimin watches as the man tugs at the woman's bikini strap, urging the string down over the rose tattoo. Although Jimin isn't big on women (he's 110 % gay, according to Hoseok) he has to agree that what the man is trying to do is way more disturbing than the female species in general. He knows that Pluto has to stop him before it gets out of hand--before the game turns a seemingly simple task into an end-of-the-world challenge.

"No, I don't think they can hear me. If I'm not there in person, how could they?" 

The woman angrily swats at the man's hand, struggling to move sideways in the heavy ocean waves. The man follows in close pursuit, his shining mischievous teeth mimicking that of a hungry shark. Jimin shudders. 

"And I think you should try yelling at him-"

.

♥ WELCOME PLUTO97 ♥

♥ you have a VERY ♥

♥ IMPORTANT ♥

♥ task to do ♥

.

"I don't like the sound of this."

Jimin winces as the man harshly grips onto the woman's arm, yanking her into his side. Her braid hits his muscular chest, legs kicking out in desperate protest. The water splashes all around them, to muffle her cries of stop touching me and get the fuck away! But Jimin can hear them all as clear as day from his invisible spot on the sand bank.

"Neither do I."

.

♥ You NEED to ♥

♥ STOP that man ♥

♥ before he goes ♥

♥ TOO far. :) ♥

.

Jimin feels a sharp pang of anger hit his chest. He can't help it as he vehemently explodes in his microphone, damning the game with its stupid passive aggressive nature and backwards programming.

"THAT'S FUCKED UP! THIS IS A GAME ABOUT BEATING FEARS, NOT MAKING LIGHT OF SEXUAL ABUSE YOU FUCKING UNINTELLIGENT, INCONSIDERATE BASTARDS-"

"...let go of me!"

The female's voice is loud in Jimin's headset--wrought with the fear of being controlled by such a vile creature in such a desolate area. Pluto's character runs up to the edge of the water, stops, runs back onto the shore, and repeats the motion a few times. Jimin can hear the exasperated noises coming from Pluto's mic as his SpongeBob character dips his black blobby feet into the waves but goes no further. Is there another invisible wall impeding his progress?

"How am I supposed to stop him!?"

Pluto has his crisis on the shore while the creepy man succeeds in getting the woman's other bikini strap over her shoulder. Jimin bites his lip, rooting for the female to kick the other man in the groin and swim away. However, he knows that the game wouldn't make the level beat itself. Pluto must have some role in saving the woman, and he isn't sure what yet.

"Yell." Jimin suggests, scratching at his crop top anxiously. "Scream at him."

Pluto intakes a sharp breath. When his voice comes out, it's strong, angry--something that knocks Jimin's breath out of his lungs.

"GET AWAY FROM HER YOU MOTHERFUCKER! STOP TOUCHING HER, SHE DOESN'T WANT THAT! LEAVE HER ALONE, ASSHOLE!"

For a second, the man halts his groping. Jimin holds his breath as the buff man spins around, insanity twirling in his eyes, and barks out a laugh. The woman whines and lashes out at her enemy, only to get a harsh slap to the face. Jimin unwittingly cries out at seeing such realistic virtual violence. His hand rises to his own cheek, imagining the stinging pain of the slap. 

Then the man speaks.

"HAHAHA! YOU CAN TRY BUT YOU CAN'T STOP ME, JEON JU-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Pluto suddenly screams, blocking out the rest of the man's words. Jimin flinches back, stunned by the noise. This time Jimin isn't so lucky, tripping backwards on his feet and hitting his lower back on the living room table. He falls onto his side, groaning with the sharp pain of a fresh tumble. Now I'm hurt, just like her. Jimin laughs bitterly at the irony, watching the woman's eyes well up with tears.

"Ji--Melonaju! What happened? I heard a large bang, are you okay?"

Jimin slowly finds his feet, using the table to help him stand up. He rubs comforting circles on his lower back, which he can tell is going to bruise later. Luckily, the headset is only a bit crooked over his eyes. He wonders what would have happened if the headset came off in the tumble. 

"I could ask the same damn thing, Pluto." Jimin rolls his neck out, wincing at the throbs in his lumbar region. "Are you okay? Why the sudden scream?"

"Cuz..." Pluto's character grabs its face, rocking its head back and forth. The man and woman resume their battle in the background, sending splashes in the water up in the push-pull of their struggle. "That man was about to say my real name-"

.

♥ PLUTO97 ♥

♥ you aren't doing your mission. ♥

♥ Real Name>>? K3YworD293 ♥

♥ REAL NAme?REAL-- ♥

♥ CALCULATING... ♥

♥ CALCULAT IN g ♥

.

"What is it calculating now?" Jimin continues to rub his back. "And I still don't understand why you had to scream. The game knows our names and it's going to use them on a regular basis. It's not even that personal, I mean, my name is hardly unique in Korea, and I'm sure there are several other people that share your name too. If you're worried I'm going to look you up or something, I can promise you I won't, Pluto. I don't really care to know who you are in real life." Liar.

"...um, okay? I guess you have a point, but I still don't want you knowing my name. I'd rather you call me Pluto than Ju--I mean--hah, my real name. It's common sense, like, I'm sure you wouldn't want me calling you Jimin all the time, that's a bit too personal, you know, and I'd rather call you Melonboy anyway..."

"Wait." Jimin takes a few seconds to comprehend the fact that Pluto just used his real name. 'Wouldn't want me calling you Jimin all the time', he had said.

"SHIT, Pluto! You know my name?" Jimin doesn't understand why he feels a tug of excitement in his stomach. Shouldn't he be angry?

"What? No, I don't. You must've heard, uh, wrong."

.

♥ CALCULATING...REALNAMEUS4GE ♥

♥ ENTER THE WATER, JUNGKOOK. ♥

♥ IT'S THE ONLY WAY, JUNGKOOK. ♥

♥ THAT YOU CAN STOP HIM :) ♥

.

Jimin stares at the name, repeating it over again in his head...in case he forgets. Jungkook Jungkook Jungkook. This isn't weird at all. Jungkook Jungkook Jungkook.

The name fits in his mind so naturally, like names of liquors at a bar. Would you like a Cherry Jungkook? He can hear himself asking the customers. It sounds like a delicious drink.

Delicious. Jinyoung's voice in his head. 

"Go away!" Jimin commands out loud, forgetting for a moment that his mic is on.

"So now you want me to go away just cuz you know my name, huh..." Pluto sounds disappointed, tired almost. "Unsurprising. I guess that's how they all-"

"No! No, I wasn't talking to you." Jimin hurries to come up with a viable alternative. He lifts a finger and points to the man and woman in the water, then realizes Pluto can't see him. He sighs. "I was yelling at that man! Look at him now! The woman is basically giving up, and the man is going to take her swimsuit off any second! You have to go in, Pluto."

Jimin purposely uses Jungkook's game name, not wanting to upset his buddy by admitting their lost anonymity. Pluto's head jerks left and right, staring at the waves as if they are going to rise up and eat him whole. He slides to the water's edge, stops, and returns back. Just as he was doing before.

"I can't." Pluto complains. "This game won't..."

"Just press the 'A' button on the left controller to crouch, then if you tap the 'Z' whammy two times to the left your character will get into prone position for swimming." Jimin presses the buttons on his controllers along with his instructions, although his ghost can't do anything but float in empty space. 

"Then you press 'B' left arrow 'B' left arrow over and over to get a good front-stroke-"

"You don't understand, Melonaju. My controls aren't the same as yours." Pluto approaches the water line again. "I was given a different set of controls with limits on crouching and swimming among other things."

Jimin chews on his cheek. A different set of controls? Does this Jungkook guy have an outdated version of VR or something? Perilation probably wouldn't work on such old versions of software, though, so that's out of probability. Maybe he hacked it? Is that how he could get on the ceiling before?

"Oh, um..."

A sharp feminine cry blares into his mind. Jimin whips his headset up, staring blankly into the distance. His stomach drops as he spots the red bikini top swishing lazily in the water, the female now half-naked. Jimin averts his eyes, not wanting to see anything personal--even though the woman is facing away from them, still trying to break away from the male that is forcefully tugging at her braid. 

The intricate rose tattoo on her shoulder is almost a cry for help, urging the two players to protect her body from the man who's trying to trespass.

"DAMN THIS GAME! MY CHARACTER CAN'T FUCKING SWIM WITHOUT ADEQUATE LEG CONTROLS, STUPID FUCKING GAME!"

The woman's cries increase, their timbre clashing drastically with the calming crashes of the waves on the peaceful shore. What a horrible scene--a place of natural serenity being tainted by the lustful roots of evil. Jimin desperately searches the shore for something, anything in the game that might serve to help Pluto beat the level. Then he sees them.

"THOSE ROCKS, PLUTO!" Jimin points urgently in real life, even though he knows his buddy can't see him. "SEE THOSE ROCKS?! I HOPE YOU'RE A GOOD AIM, PLUTO! THROW THEM!"

Pluto quickly finds the rocks, breathing heavily in his mic. His long, yellow arm sways down and scoops one up, not hesitating to chuck the particle across the space separating the sand and the rotten, predatory man.

The rocks misses by a long shot, splashing in the water a few yards to the left of the man. An echoing slap noise resonates in the air, as if cursing Pluto for missing. The woman cries out at this expression of violence admitted to her face and weakly punches the man's chest as he gropes her.

"It's okay, Pluto! Try again!"

The sponge says nothing as he picks up a rock and throws again, this time getting a little closer to his target. As he reaches down for more rocks, the game sends a nasty, mocking message that makes Jimin want to kill the gamemakers.

.

♥ Oh, Jungkook. ♥

♥ You keep MISSING! ♥

♥ Look how helpless you are! ♥

♥ Unable to stop RAPE from occuring ♥

♥ You can't even swim to help her! ♥

♥ How funny! How useless! ♥

.

Jimin clenches his jaw so hard under the headset that it hurts. He never thought the game would send messages that hurtful--he only expected the characters in the scenes to. Now he knows not to trust the messages--not to trust anything about this game. The process is purposely setting them up to fail with its rude, insensitive comments and scary smiley faces.

"Don't listen to the game, Pluto. They're just trying to upset you. Keep trying the rocks, you can do it."

Pluto doesn't make a peep. The rocks keep getting launched in the air, hitting the water with loud splashes. 

Waves lap over the rocks boredly, as if unimpressed by their launcher's lack of aim. Jimin tries to block out the sounds of the man's sloppy kisses on the whining woman's neck, instead focusing on the water's sshhhh shhhhh against the land.

Another rock thrown. Another miss.

"Keep trying, Pluto!" Jimin wonders what's going on in Jungkook's head. "You can do it!"

.

♥ Y0U CAN'T DO IT! ♥

♥ you keep failing! ♥

♥ you're so PATHETIC ♥

♥ JEON JUNGKOOK ♥

.

Jimin seethes under his headset. 

"YOU CAN DO IT, JEON JUNGKOOK, NO MATTER WHAT THIS FUCKING GAME SAYS! KEEP THROWING THOSE FUCKING ROCKS!  I SWEAR I WILL FIND THE GAMEMAKERS MYSELF AND STRANGLE THEM IN THEIR SLEEP!"

Pluto picks up a rock, now oddly quiet. He doesn't even react to the messages--Jimin hears nothing from his mic. Pluto chucks this rock with much more force than the last ones.

The rock flies through the air, arcing over their virtual heads. Jimin follows it with his gaze, begging it to hit the man. 

The sharp thunk of rock on skull is palpable even over the swooshing waves. Jimin claps agitatedly as the man's nasty smile melts off his face and his muscled body careens into the water.

"Good job Pluto! Nice hit--wait, what is...that woman doing...?"

Jimin watches in horror as the woman pushes the unconscious man's head under the waves and holds it there, tears streaming down her face. Jimin is so disturbed by the murderous scene that he hardly pays attention to her bare chest or the fact that Pluto is now sitting on the shore, calmy watching the murderous act unfold.

"Shouldn't we, um, stop her-"

.

♥ CONGRATULATIONS! ♥

♥ PLUTO97, YOU ARE ♥

♥ FANTASTIC! ♥

♥ LEVEL THREE: THE LACE-Part 1 ♥

♥ Complete! ♥

.

Before Jimin can ask more questions about the woman now laughing maniacally at the dead man in the water, the screen shifts back to the bedroom from before. On Pluto's side of the room, the bed with black hearts has been replaced by a normal bed with black sheets. All the rose pedals on the floor are gone, and the candles have been snuffed out. Eerie smoke tendrils rise from the candles, filling half the room with a hazed fog.

"Let's go to your level now." 

Pluto's voice comes out worn. Jimin doesn't expect the sponge to have collected himself so soon from that awful level, but Pluto is full of surprises. Just like the game. 

This game is so fucked. Jimin moves his now-visible pawn over to the bed with yellow hearts. He stares at the sheets, wondering what horrible thing is in store for him this level. I'd never recommend this game to anyone.

"So um..."

"Ghost version?" Pluto reads his mind. 

Jimin hesitates, thinking over everything he and Pluto have done together already. Pluto--Jungkook--already knows his name, his fears, that he has a roommate, that he works, and that he's a shameless book nerd. What harm could it do to have Pluto watching one of his fears as a spectator?

"Yeah, sure. Ghost version." Jimin chooses YES! when it pops up in his headset, palms growing sweaty. "But are you sure you're over that last level? That was kind of..."

"Fucking dumb." Jungkook says into his mic, a hint of pain in his tone. "But it's over now. Let's get yours over with too."

"Okay. Um, don't judge me for anything that happens-"

"Yeah yeah. Of course not. I won't judge you. I'm not a meany."

Jimin can't help but laugh. "No, of course you aren't."

"Why are you laughing?" Jungkook seems a bit injured by his laughter. "Do you really think I'm mean?"

"No...no, you're not mean. I'm serious, you're nice!" Jimin giggles, fisting the corners of his crop-top. To be honest, he doesn't know exactly why he's laughing so hard--is it the nerves for his level? Is it the fact that no matter how hard they tried to stick to no personals, they ended up learning each other's names? Which reminds him. "But I'm curious...how did you know my name? I know I didn't ever mention it to you before, so how did you..?"

"Your roommate." Pluto97's arms flail around, as if trying to mimic Hoseok's bright energy. "You know, the whole, JIMIN YOUR SAVIOR IS HOOOOOOOMMMMMEEEE! was just a minor, tad, itti-bitti, little too loud for your mic not to pick up."

Jimin's face lifts in a smile. "Ah...I see. You knew from the first day. Damn it, Hoseok. SHIT! I mean, that's not my, uh, roommate, I mean-"

"You're terrible at this!" Jungkook laughs loudly in his headphones, and Jimin finds himself listening closely to the sound. Jungkook's giggles are high-pitched and nasally, coming out as more of a girlish hahahaheheeheahhahe than the average man's deep HUHUHUHUHUHUH. 

"I'm not trying to be! Just forget I ever said Hoseok!" Jimin purposely includes his roommate's name this time, hoping to hear more laughs out of Jungkook. "I mean, no one DAMN IT!"

"HAHAH! You're killing me." The sponge cracks up, and Jimin finds himself laughing along. Pluto points towards the yellow bed after a few deep breaths to halt his laughter. "Soooo..shall we get on to your level now?"

"Ugh..." Jimin frowns at the roundish, sunshine-colored hearts, reminded of Yeonjun, Pluto, and banana Melona bars all at the same time. 

"Yes, let's go."

.

"That. Was. Fucking. Horrible."

Jimin stares at the level bed, watching with satisfaction as the yellow hearts slip away into a plain chick-colored bedspread. He sees the rose pedals being swept up and disintegrating into thin air. The candles all blow out in a soft hufff.

"You're lucky I was there." Pluto beams next to him, spongey hands on his hips and snickers falling from his lips. "You're terrible at flirting, Melontable."

Jimin embarrassedly taps his pulse strips together, the tips of his ears on fire. For his level (thankfully it was nothing explicit) he had to 'sweet talk' a girl on a dinner date at a fancy-looking restaurant. Every time he failed to say the right thing to her--and the game was very, very specific on what the right thing was--the girl would take a portion of the food from the table and pour it on him. 

On top of that, the waiter would rush over every single fucking time it happened, sticking his nose in their business and asking repeatedly if she was okay while insulting Jimin with personal jabs. 

At one point, the game even threw in a you're so dull in regards to women you have to either be brain dead or homosexual but thankfully Pluto didn't seem to notice or react to the words. The comments hurt Jimin a lot, and the constantly disappointed expression of his female date did too, but Pluto told him exactly what to say to the woman after he failed the first five times.

Tell her how pretty she looks. Pluto had said after Jimin got an entire bowl of carbonara dumped on his lap. Jimin swore he could smell the tangy odor of shrimp on him through the headset, it looked that real. Tell her you love those earrings on her, and that the green dress is just her type.

"It's not my fault!!" Jimin stares at the beds with anger and disgust for the game makers. At the same time, relief washes over him. At least the levels weren't super explicit--the only thing he saw was a blurry snippet of breasts, and he was hardly paying attention to them with the murder taking place. Plus, him and Pluto beat their levels fairly quickly. "How was I supposed to know she didn't want to discuss theoretical astronomy?"

"Oh, Jimin...what normal person wants to talk about that kind of stuff?"

The floor feels cold under Jimin's feet as the words sink in. Not only did Pluto--Jungkook--just casually say his real name, but he also plainly stated that he, Park Jimin, was most definitely abnormal. Jimin twists his mouth around, not sure of how to respond. Pluto falls silent, perhaps realizing the weight of his remark.

"I...I mean, who wants to be fucking normal?" Pluto rebounds fast, heading to the level door. Jimin turns around in his headset, watching as the sponge character holds the door open for him like a gentleman. "Pffftt...normal is as dumb as Satan's quarters--us Busan Warriors are above the normal bums in Korea. Now, what do you say we hop out of this dodo and gogo into the cathedral, Melonboy?"

The air around Jimin feels oddly electric, as if Pluto's words have warmed each individual oxygen molecule up. No longer does he feel cold, but strangely warmed, welcomed for his strange habits and failure as a flirter. A glad smile spreads across his face as his character moves towards the open door.

Maybe this Jungkook guy isn't so bad...Jimin laughs as he spots the SpongeBob character dabbing. Maybe we really will be able to beat this challenge and make it to the Winner's Circle-

"HAH, SIKE!" Pluto floats rapidly through the threshold, slamming the door in Jimin's virtual face.

Jimin blinks a few times. He bangs against the door, mouth quirking in a smile as he feels resistance from the other side.

"I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL DUMP SOUP ON YOUR HEAD, PLUTO!"

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