Never Online ch. 50
Title: Never Online
Chapter: 50/50
Pairing: JungMin/KyuJong, HyunJoong/Tablo
Rating: R overall
Warning: AU, violence, angst
Summary: As part of the security detail for the online game known as Never, two officers encounter a group of elite hackers that seem intent on destroying the game, and it's their job to stop them.
A/N: RP with yeonah. Crossover with Super Junior, U-Kiss and Epik High
The next morning, JungMin was up with KyuJong just after dawn. Apparently his boyfriend wanted to try his hand at cooking for everyone for the first time, so JungMin was "helping". Though his brand of help was to stay out of KyuJong's way and taste anything that looked good.
The night before had been fun, and everyone had been too tired to make the trip home so the house was full of sleeping people. JungMin could tell KyuJong was happy about that, wanting to share the morning again with everyone since no one had anywhere in particular to go that day. YoungSaeng and JongWoon had scheduled their appointments for later in the week, finally having the hard drives removed.
Shooed out of the way again, JungMin hopped onto the computer out in the hall to see if there was any new developments with Never. "Hey... Kyu?" he blinked at the message box that came up when the monitor booted up. "There's... an in game message for you."
"...Say what?" KyuJong blinked in confusion, looking over his shoulder out at JungMin in the hallway. He placed the spatula in his hand down before he could burn himself. "In-game? Is it another announcement about the shutdown?" There was no way he was getting an actual message, Never was down.
"Um... no," JungMin shook his head. "I can't tell who it's from, it's anonymous. I'm opening it," he said, clicking on it and eyes widening. "No way... Kyu, come read this."
Worried now, KyuJong took everything off the heat so it wouldn't burn before hurrying to join JungMin in the hallway. "What is it?" he asked in confusion, looking around JungMin's shoulder down at the message on the screen. He was a little slow at reading what was on the screen, but then his eyes widened in shock.
"How is that possible?" JungMin whispered, reading it again just to be sure. "The game's down right? They were still deciding on what to do about it I thought."
"...We wouldn't be getting this if the game wasn't running," KyuJong murmured, scanning over the message to make sure it was real. "..." He drew in a breath before stepping away. "Could you go wake the others up, Min? Breakfast is just about done, and then I need to get wired in to see what in the world is going on."
"Yeah, sure," JungMin nodded, kissing KyuJong's cheek as he headed towards the stairs. It had to be a mistake, maybe a message that got stuck in the system before it went down and was only just now getting to them. But that wouldn't make sense if the game was still shut down. Taking the stairs two at a time, he started knocking on doors, HyungJoon and JongWoon's first as they were the most likely to get up without a fight, then moving on to the others.
"Go away!" YoungSaeng called through the door when JungMin knocked.
"I will soon as you two get up and come down to read the in game message Kyu just got!" JungMin called back, moving on to the next door.
RyeoWook cracked his eyes open at that, blinking blearily at the door. "...Did I hear him right?" he murmured, pulling back to look up at YoungSaeng. He didn't want to move, comfortable where he was.
"... I think so," YoungSaeng nodded, rubbing his eyes a little and sitting up. "We should probably go see what's going on," he said, glancing down at RyeoWook with a smile. "How are you feeling?"
"Great," RyeoWook smiled back at him, though he winced a little when sitting up. "...A little sore though," he chuckled sheepishly, taking in the older man's body before he shifted to the edge of the bed to find a pair of clothes to wear.
"I'm sorry," YoungSaeng winced in sympathy, getting to his feet and crossing over to his dresser to pull out some clothes. "It gets better, though if you find it too uncomfortable, we can always try it the other way next time... if you want."
RyeoWook flushed at the idea, though he smiled a little more. "I wouldn't mind trying." He felt more confident about the whole idea now.
By the time they were both changed, he could hear movement in the hallways. RyeoWook cracked the door open to see Daniel walking by, heading downstairs. "Someone's cooking breakfast."
"... My money is on Kyu," YoungSaeng said, sighing a little and following RyeoWook to the door. "Though I wouldn't mind if he starts cooking now as well."
"He was a decent cook before considering he couldn't see what he was doing," RyeoWook chuckled. "I'm sure he'll be a pretty good cook with a little practice." He leaned up to kiss YoungSaeng lightly before heading towards the stairs. "What was that about an in-game message, anyways?"
"How should I know?" YoungSaeng blinked at him, shaking his head as they descended the stairs. HyunJoong and Daniel were both hunched over the monitor, the former looking confused. "What's up Hyun?"
"Not sure," HyunJoong shook his head. "We should check out the equipment after breakfast, and see what's going on," he said to Daniel.
"So is Never back up or not?" YoungSaeng asked, his arm over RyeoWook's shoulder, leading him past the two at the computer into the dining area.
"That's the only explanation," KyuJong frowned back at them, busy making sure he had the recipe for the omelets right. "Or they're in the middle of bringing it back up. Did you see the message? We left it on the monitor."
"No," RyeoWook shook his head in confusion as HyungJoon and JongWoon came into the room behind them, half-asleep.
"It's from KiBum."
Those that hadn't read the message yet stopped, looking at KyuJong with a mixture of expressions. "KiBum?" YoungSaeng repeated. "How...? What does it say?"
"It says he's fine, and we should spend more time with him," HyunJoong said, sighing a little. "I don't know Kyu, this sounds more like something he'd send before the game got shut down. Maybe it was just delayed in being delivered."
"The time stamp says it's from today though," JungMin said, leaning up against the counter.
KyuJong drew in a slow breath, gaze unfocused as he thought. "Maybe," he murmured under his breath before he looked over at them again. "After breakfast I'm going downstairs to see what's going on. That entire system should have been shut down with Never; even if it was delayed, the only reason it would be sending now was if the system was back up again."
"Well I don't think you'll be going alone," HyunJoong said, looking around. "I'm going with you, if it is back up and running, or starting to, I want to see what's happened."
"Maybe then we can find out about some of the others," HyungJoon said hopefully. "HeeChul, KuiXian, the others... see if they're okay anyway."
"There's no way to know if they're aware about the game coming back up, if it is," HyunJoong said, but he didn't think it was a bad idea to at least try to get a hold of people.
"But... how did KiBum survive?" JungMin said, looking at KyuJong. "Wouldn't his program have been wiped when the game was taken down?"
KyuJong turned the heat down on the stove, placing the cheese in the omelets and folding them in half before covering them. "There was...a theory about that," he murmured, not looking at any of them. "Just a hunch, but..." He looked back at JungMin. "We'll see when we go downstairs, what happened."
"Alright," JungMin nodded, giving KyuJong a quizzical look. "You had an idea that this could happen though? That he could survive the game being shut down?"
"It was just an idea, neither of us knew if it would work or not," KyuJong shook his head. "When they shut down all the servers, all the temporary and surface data is wiped. AIs, businesses, user experiences. But the core of the system, the structure...that wouldn't be erased unless the servers were completely dismantled."
"So... you think he managed to integrate his program into the core of the program? That'd be tricky to do," HyunJoong said. "If anyone could do it, he could, but I just can't imagine that would be easy to do."
"Well we'll find out after breakfast," YoungSaeng said, setting out plates. "No use speculating when we'll find out in less than twenty minutes."
KyuJong nodded, turning back to the stove. Seeing RyeoWook pouring water for them to drink, he drew in a breath and smiled. "Well, my first attempt at cooking alone, hope it turned out edible," he said ruefully, sliding the finished omelets onto plates and cutting them in half for each of them.
"Looks great hyung," RyeoWook smiled at him. "So we don't have to worry about JungMin hyung going hungry?" KyuJong beamed happily.
"It looks fine Kyu, we've eaten worse," YoungSaeng said, patting his friend's shoulder lightly. "Everyone sit, out of the kitchen, shoo," he flapped his hands, moving everyone out of the way and to the table.
Once everyone was seated and the food was brought out, there was an excited buzz through the room. Everyone laughing and in high spirits at the prospect of not only the possibility of KiBum having survived the shut down, but the game being back as well. Even though the group had worked for years to shut it down, they knew how important it had become to society for better communication and advancement. With the company's CEO's being in jail and awaiting trials, there was no longer the fear of the game, and what it was doing to people.
Something else was bothering JungMin though, something that had been nagging at the back of his mind for a long time and now he felt like asking (probably because KyuJong had his sight again). "Kyu," he started, tilting his head to the side,"how come after all that time you never had a guide dog?" YoungSaeng snorted, nearly choking on his food at the question.
KyuJong stopped eating, blinking at JungMin with wide eyes. "I...Uh..." He coughed a little, eyeing YoungSaeng as the older man choked. "We tried that a while back, it didn't work out."
"Why?" RyeoWook blinked in confusion. KyuJong mumbled something about 'vicious' and 'loud', sinking in his chair a little.
YoungSaeng had to stop eating, setting his chopsticks down, his whole body shaking in laughter. Even HyunJoong was looking a little amused.
"I don't remember you having a dog," HyungJoon blinked, looking at JongWoon in confusion.
"It was a long time ago," YoungSaeng got out, still laughing. "And it was not vicious, it was a labrador, a sweet as pie labrador. We just didn't know that KyuJong is petrified of dogs."
"Really? Dogs?" JungMin pouted at KyuJong. "But dogs are cute and their whole butts wiggle when they wag their tails."
"It nearly gave me a heart attack," KyuJong tried not to whine, not meeting anyone's eyes. "Jumping all over the place and barking in my ear."
"The butt wiggling part would be hard to find cute if he can't see it happening," Daniel reasoned, chuckling as he shook his head at KyuJong's plight.
"He's exaggerating," YoungSaeng rolled his eyes. "The dog wasn't that bad, just got a little too excited a couple of times cause he was a puppy. He still needed more training to get used to Kyu. The poor thing lasted a week, and spent more time following me around because KyuJong was too scared to leave his room."
"Oh... well I guess you can't help what you're scared of," JungMin said, putting an arm around KyuJong's shoulder.
The older man was pouting unhappily again, shoulders up defensively.
"Maybe it'll be easier to handle dogs now that you can see them?" JongWoon piped up. "I mean, they are pretty cute."
"Let's leave the poor guy alone and finish breakfast," Daniel chuckled, continuing to eat.
"I'm sorry, I was just curious," JungMin said quietly, leaning over to put his chin on KyuJong's shoulder, lips pouting for a kiss.
Turning his head to the side and seeing JungMin making a pouting face at him, KyuJong's lips curled upwards again before long and he leaned over to give the requested kiss.
"We really need a No PDA at the Table rule," JongWoon whined.
"Or you can just turn and give your own boyfriend a kiss," HyunJoong said mildly. "It's what I do."
"The difference is, you two don't often stop with just a kiss," YoungSaeng chimed in, finishing up his breakfast. "And that makes everyone nauseous."
"I never really noticed before now," KyuJong chuckled, leaning back against JungMin once he was done. RyeoWook got up to start clearing the table, carrying his empty plate back into the kitchen. "Do you need help cleaning up?"
"No, we'll do dishes after we're done downstairs," YoungSaeng said, bringing in a couple more plates to the kitchen. "I think they can wait just this once."
"Sounds good to me, come on Daniel," HyunJoong was up out of his chair, bouncing his way out of the room to the stairs.
"I guess breakfast's over?" HyungJoon sighed, looking down at his half eaten plate. "Don't throw this out, I'll finish when we get back."
JongWoon, already standing, blinked down at HyungJoon when he noticed that no, his boyfriend hadn't finished eating. "You feeling okay, Joon?" he asked as the others started making their way downstairs.
"Hm?" HyungJoon looked up at JongWoon as he stood up. "Yeah, I'm fine... just nervous. I mean... KiBum... if he's really... I really did think of him as my brother you know," his head bowed and he sniffled a little.
Eyes sad, JongWoon wrapped his arms tightly around HyungJoon, holding the younger man close. "We'll see how things are when we get back down there," he murmured into HyungJoon's ear, closing his eyes. "But if he did make it...you'll be able to spend more time with him from now on," he chuckled, before quietening. "I always meant to ask you...when Kyu was working on the program, why did he make it to be your little brother?"
HyungJoon sighed a little, rubbing at his eyes to clear them. "I was supposed to have a little brother... but he didn't make it," the younger man admitted quietly. "I... haven't told anyone else, not even Kyu why I wanted him to be my little brother."
"Oh..." JongWoon felt pain for his boyfriend, hugging HyungJoon tightly. He really hoped KiBum had made it. There was nothing he could really say, just holding onto HyungJoon and hoping he could take away some of the hurt.
After a long moment he pulled back enough to smile at HyungJoon. "Let's go see your brother then, Joon."
HyungJoon just nodded, too afraid to try and speak or he'd just end up choking up again. Taking JongWoon's hand, he followed him towards the stairs where everyone was downstairs already.
"Well?" YoungSaeng was peering over KyuJong's shoulder at the terminal. "Is the game up or not?"
"It... looks like it is," HyunJoong nodded, checking the connections and the router. "I'm getting a green light over here, what about you Kyu?"
"Same," KyuJong nodded. He'd plugged himself into the monitor, eyes closed so he could focus without being distracted by what he was seeing. "The servers are all online. Running at basic functionality from what I can see, and there's not many online yet, but it's up." He tilted his head back towards them, opening his eyes. "We going in?"
"If it's safe, don't see why not," Daniel said, leaning in.
"We're going to need to remake avatars, looks like those got wiped, JongWoon?" HyunJoong glanced at the older man. "Can you give us some quick copies of ours? Nothing fancy, we'll customize them ourselves, I just don't want everyone taking too long with it."
"I swear JongWoon, if you make me a girl again, I will murder you in your sleep," YoungSaeng threatened as he sat down in his seat, booting up his terminal and plugging in.
"Proper genders, quick avatars, got it," JongWoon said sheepishly as he dropped into his seat. His computer was booted up within a few seconds, and he started to work. "Give me five minutes to set it all up, looks like everything really was wiped."
"They're still reseting and configuring all the systems, it must have came back on only an hour or so ago," KyuJong said, frowning as he tried to access the connection to the Marumir program. "I can't find KiBum's program at all."
"That doesn't mean anything though, he could have hidden really well," HyunJoong said, eyes on his monitor as he started to type up some messages. "I'm going to send messages to our contacts, see who's still around and who isn't."
JungMin was wiggling in his seat, looking at RyeoWook with a huge grin. "This is kind of exciting isn't it?"
Chuckling at JungMin as he slowly sat down, RyeoWook shook his head at his partner. "I suppose so." But he was excited at the idea that KiBum might have survived, and the game was being brought back. "Did they really reach an agreement about how to handle the game and possible addictions, though?"
"That's what I'm looking at now," Daniel said, skimming through news reports while they waited for JongWoon to finish with their avatars. "Looks like the store houses are staying shut down. According to a report this morning, they're looking at 'mandatory log-out sessions' to make sure no one stays in the game too long."
"That's a good idea," JungMin nodded, his eyes downcast. He still hadn't heard anything from his mother, she would have been pulled out of the storehouse by now.
"Well it looks like the word is spreading about the game coming back up, just got a message from HeeChul," HyunJoong said, smiling a little. "They're all fine, they got out at the first sign of shut downs."
"That's great," KyuJong breathed in relief. Looking around the room with a small smile, he blinked at the expression on JungMin's face, worry entering his eyes.
"Okay, all done!" JongWoon chirped, sending them each their mock-up avatars. "Same appearances, but left the clothes as the default sets."
"That will work for now," HyunJoong said, closing down the messages and booting up the game. "Find us a good place to land Kyu... who knows what's there and what isn't now." Sitting back in his chair, he plugged in and closed his eyes, the others doing the same.
"Got one," KyuJong nodded, finding a location far enough away from the main squares to not draw attention to their arrival. "See you there."
Leaning back and closing his eyes, RyeoWook felt that familiar rush of disappearing and appearing in a completely different place, the sounds of birds and people talking entering his ears. He opened his eyes again, looking down at himself before looking around at the others. They'd appeared at the edge of a park, grass stretching to one side of them with many trees and paths.
"...Did we have a park here before? Where are we?"
"They changed the landscape," JongWoon looked around them in circles.
"It's an improvement over the city I think," YoungSaeng said, looking down the street the park was butted up against. There were still some of the taller buildings, but the neon lights and bright flashing signs were gone. "It's kind of nice."
"I guess we'll see how well this works out," HyunJoong said. "So, what do we do? Why don't you try sending a message to KiBum, Cue."
KyuJong nodded, datapad already out and tapping away at it. "Already sending it." He was clearly praying that KiBum was all right.
Looking around as well, RyeoWook nearly backed up into YoungSaeng, grinning back at the older man a little sheepishly. "I wonder if all the servers were redone like this." He had a suspicion there were far less gambling houses and sex halls now than there were before.
"I don't know, I guess it depends on the country," YoungSaeng said, putting his arms around RyeoWook's waist. With the company being shut down, the governments of each country took over their servers. Some would take longer than others to be back up and running.
"Appa!" KiBum appeared in the midst of them, nearly tackling KyuJong around the middle in a tight hug.
KyuJong's entire expression lit up in joy, despite nearly being knocked to the ground. "Oh my god, KiBum!" He hugged the program tightly, burying his face in the younger man's hair. "You're okay! You're still here!" He lasted two more seconds before tears made it impossible to understand what he was trying to say.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine," KiBum grinned, wiggling happy in excitement. "It worked Appa, they didn't wipe the core structure, just like we thought."
"It's good to see you KiBum," HyunJoong was smiling, reaching forward to give them both a hug.
"Ack! One at a time!" KiBum yelped, flailing a little before he pulled back, putting up his hands to keep everyone away from him. "I have a surprise for you all."
"Hm?" KyuJong blinked at him, still trying to hold on to his 'son'. He let KiBum pull away after a moment, wiping at the tears of relief. "A surprise?"
There was a slight shuffle of movement behind them, someone appearing. "Hyungdeul?" Jumping slightly, KyuJong turned around.
SungHyun stood in front of them with a tentative smile.
".... Kevin?" HyunJoong's jaw dropped. "How...? You... Someone explain please."
"When they cut the connection between him and his body, he was in limbo," KiBum said, smiling softly at Kevin. "Only had a few seconds before he would disappear, so I... tied his signature to my program."
"That's...I didn't even know that was possible," JongWoon gaped at them both, in stun mode for a second. Then he grinned widely and tackled SungHyun in a hug, the teenager squawking as he landed on his rear on the ground.
"Crazy kid, you know how worried we all were," Daniel smiled in relief as SungHyun hugged JongWoon back.
"So you saved SungHyun's life," KyuJong smiled widely at KiBum, wiping at his eyes as he started crying again, hugging the program close.
"Not SungHyun anymore," the teenager shook his head, looking up at them. "It's just Kevin now."
"Kevin... your parents," HyunJoong said, eyes tight in worry. "Your body is still alive out there... you think there's any way to put him back?"
"He doesn't want to," KiBum shook his head, pulling slightly away from KyuJong to look at HyunJoong. "And... I don't want him to. I want him to stay here."
"Huh?" HyungJoon looked between his brother and Kevin. "I thought you hated each other?"
Kevin shook his head. "We never really hated each other. And I don't think I'd be able to leave anyways...I have no connection to my body anymore like you all do, that was broken, so I don't think I could go back."
He stood up once JongWoon got off of him, dusting off his pants before going to stand beside KiBum. "And I don't want to leave him alone."
"Oh...oh," JongWoon blinked repeatedly as Kevin took KiBum's hand lightly.
KiBum's fingers laced with Kevin's and he smiled brightly at everyone. "Now that I don't really have a purpose in the game anymore, I'd be kind of bored all by myself... or at least that's what he tells me."
"I guess there isn't much we can say then, except we're glad you're both okay, relatively," HyunJoong said, patting KiBum's shoulder. "We were very worried about you."
"Hey now, I'm a survivor," KiBum chuckled. "Appa made sure I wouldn't be undone by something so simple as a shut down."
"I knew if there was a way to do it, you'd find it," KyuJong smiled widely at the younger man. "I'm so proud of you, KiBum, you've grown so much," he hugged the program again, careful not to disturb the hand that was holding onto Kevin's.
When KyuJong pulled back, JongWoon grabbed HyungJoon by the shoulders and steered him in front of KiBum. "Someone else missed you too!" he chirped.
HyungJoon squeaked, scowling at JongWoon over his shoulder before turning to look at KiBum. "Um... yeah... I'm glad you're okay, and stuff," he muttered awkwardly, looking down at his feet.
"Geez hyung, don't be so sentimental," KiBum chuckled, putting his arm around HyungJoon and pulled him into a hug. HyungJoon flailed for half a second before giving up and putting both arms around his brother. "I'm glad you're okay too," the program whispered, HyungJoon smiling at that and hiding his face in his brother's shoulder.
"I told you they wouldn't be able to resist!" A voice carried from behind the group, JungMin looking over his shoulder and seeing HeeChul and his group coming towards them.
"Hey! You're all okay!" KyuJong smiled widely at them. Daniel turned around just in time to sidestep a flying tackle from DongHae, the younger hacker skidding to a stop on his stomach.
"Yeah, we all got out okay," KuiXian nodded at them. "You should have seen them panicking when the messages went out."
"What were you all doing while the game was down? It was a crazy time," HeeChul said, reaching down to pick DongHae up by his collar.
"We hid," HyunJoong said with a wry smile. "They caught on to where we were, so we had to get out of town. We missed all the excitement."
"It wasn't that exciting, more like scary," Mimi said with a frown, leaning against KuiXian. "First couple of days before the company went down, people were disappearing suspected of being hackers. Some never came back."
KyuJong's shoulders slumped a little as he leaned a little against JungMin. "They won't be able to pull anything like that again," he said, looking up at them. "Not with the whole world watching."
"No, looks like things are getting better, or at least they're working on some of the issues," KuiXian said, one arm around Mimi. "With each country maintaining their own servers though, who knows how things are going to go."
"Hopefully they realize that there are people watching now," HyunJoong said. "Because even if the company is shut down, I'm still wary about all of this. The government isn't that much better than the company was."
"No, but the government doesn't have financial motivations, just political," HeeChul shrugged. "You can bet all us hackers will be keeping an eye on the game still."
"Whatever happened to just being normal hackers," KuiXian snorted in amusement, lips quirked. "Stealing credits and all that."
"This is more fun," DongHae beamed back at them, half-hunched over due to HeeChul's grip on his collar. "You know what would be neat? Having a brand-new NVR security team. To, you know, make sure people don't go power-crazy again."
"Yeah, you'll be my first suggestion," HeeChul snorted, flicking DongHae's ear.
"He has a point though, even if it isn't official," HyunJoong said. "None of us want what happened to happen again. Even if the governments won't recognize us as being official, we can still do our part to keep the game safe from corruption. Who knows, maybe they'd really listen to us if we do a good job."
"I'm all for that," KyuJong smiled widely. "That's one security team I wouldn't mind joining."
"If there is something going on, there's nothing they can hide from KiBum and Cue," JongWoon laughed. "I'm in too!"
"Oh fine," HeeChul sighed. "I'll send out some messages, let people know what we're up to. It'd be the first time we all work together on something, hey maybe we should meet offline one of these times?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," HyunJoong laughed. "I don't know any of you people well enough to bring home."
"We don't have to bring people home, we could buy a building," JungMin suggested, perking up and looking at RyeoWook. "I'm sure all the company's buildings, like security headquarters are still standing, just waiting to be used. We could buy that!"
"Who? You mean me buy it?" HyunJoong frowned. "We'll see."
"We're really getting ahead of ourselves hyung," RyeoWook chuckled, shaking his head at JungMin. "Let's think about this a little more before you go and ask HyunJoong hyung to buy a building." It sounded like a good idea to him too.
"What are we doing now?" JongWoon looked at them all. "We don't have to leave for a while, right?"
"Let's explore!" HyungJoon said, bouncing excitedly. "I want to see what they've changed."
"It's still limited, the game isn't going to be as big as it was for a while," KiBum said. "Half the servers are still offline."
"It'll be like the start of the game all over again," JungMin said with a smile. "Come on, let's see what this new game has to offer."
"Let's," KyuJong agreed with a wide smile, taking JungMin's hand. It was a whole new world to explore...and then another new world waiting when they returned. He could see RyeoWook sticking close to YoungSaeng's side, JongWoon poking fun at DongHae before hiding behind HyungJoon. "Where to first?"
"Hmm, let's just walk," JungMin said, pulling KyuJong close for a light kiss before starting down the path into the park. "We never really just walked around the game, especially with so few people, let's enjoy it."
"I think that sounds good," HyunJoong agreed, slinging his arm over Daniel's shoulder.
"We'll see you all around then!" DongHae waved excitedly at them as he tried to get HeeChul to let go of his collar. The others in their small group followed after JungMin and KyuJong. Daniel wrapped his arm around HyunJoong's waist in return, seeing KiBum and Kevin following along behind them out of the corner of his eyes.
"Do you think we'll still be able to see the stars tonight?" KyuJong asked, looking at JungMin, and he wasn't talking about in-game.
"I think there's a very good possibility we can see the stars," JungMin nodded, smiling at KyuJong softly. "Maybe the moon will be out too, that would be nice. Maybe a little romantic too."
"Oh ew," YoungSaeng made a face, pulling RyeoWook ahead of JungMin and KyuJong. "We're staying inside tonight."
Laughing, RyeoWook staggered a little as he kept up with YoungSaeng. "What's the matter, you don't like romantic?"
"I think he's more concerned it'll go beyond just 'romantic'," Daniel snorted in amusement.
"And I have every reason to be concerned!" YoungSaeng replied, slowing down a little for RyeoWook to keep up.
"Can we just enjoy being here for right now?" HyungJoon sighed, shaking his head.
"Yeah, we'll worry about being over-romantic after," JongWoon was still grinning like a fool.
Smiling widely as Kevin started laughing behind them, KyuJong twined his fingers around JungMin's and tilted his face upwards to look at the clear blue sky. He felt like a weight had been taken off his chest, and though he didn't know what was going to happen to them in the future, he was without worry for the first time in years. He'd avenged his family's deaths, his sight was back, his friends were around him and his boyfriend was by his side. There was nothing else he could ask for, nothing else he wanted.
JungMin watched KyuJong as they walked leisurely down the path. There was nothing better to him than watching KyuJong smile, and he was happy to have been able to help in any way to see that smile stay. It was infectious he realized, because it wasn't just KyuJong that was so happy, it was all of them. Even YoungSaeng, who had been so hostile and bitter towards the world when they first met that was laughing and happy. Being with RyeoWook obviously changed the usually sullen man for the better, anyone could see that.
Maybe RyeoWook hadn't been so wrong in his idealism about love, because it made a world of difference for them all. HyungJoon and JongWoon were a good example of that, the two absolutely perfect for one another after so long of just trying to be friends. Then there was HyunJoong and Daniel who made it seem like getting together was the easiest thing in the world.
JungMin recalled that conversation he had had with RyeoWook all those months ago, before they knew the men who would change their lives, and turn the world on its head. Love can do amazing things. Love between friends, family, and lovers, was the strongest bond, one that JungMin hadn't even been aware could be possible. Now that he knew it, he wasn't ever going to let it go. Squeezing KyuJong's hand tightly, he smiled to himself as they walked down the path into an uncertain future.
Chapter: 50/50
Pairing: JungMin/KyuJong, HyunJoong/Tablo
Rating: R overall
Warning: AU, violence, angst
Summary: As part of the security detail for the online game known as Never, two officers encounter a group of elite hackers that seem intent on destroying the game, and it's their job to stop them.
A/N: RP with yeonah. Crossover with Super Junior, U-Kiss and Epik High
The next morning, JungMin was up with KyuJong just after dawn. Apparently his boyfriend wanted to try his hand at cooking for everyone for the first time, so JungMin was "helping". Though his brand of help was to stay out of KyuJong's way and taste anything that looked good.
The night before had been fun, and everyone had been too tired to make the trip home so the house was full of sleeping people. JungMin could tell KyuJong was happy about that, wanting to share the morning again with everyone since no one had anywhere in particular to go that day. YoungSaeng and JongWoon had scheduled their appointments for later in the week, finally having the hard drives removed.
Shooed out of the way again, JungMin hopped onto the computer out in the hall to see if there was any new developments with Never. "Hey... Kyu?" he blinked at the message box that came up when the monitor booted up. "There's... an in game message for you."
"...Say what?" KyuJong blinked in confusion, looking over his shoulder out at JungMin in the hallway. He placed the spatula in his hand down before he could burn himself. "In-game? Is it another announcement about the shutdown?" There was no way he was getting an actual message, Never was down.
"Um... no," JungMin shook his head. "I can't tell who it's from, it's anonymous. I'm opening it," he said, clicking on it and eyes widening. "No way... Kyu, come read this."
Worried now, KyuJong took everything off the heat so it wouldn't burn before hurrying to join JungMin in the hallway. "What is it?" he asked in confusion, looking around JungMin's shoulder down at the message on the screen. He was a little slow at reading what was on the screen, but then his eyes widened in shock.
"How is that possible?" JungMin whispered, reading it again just to be sure. "The game's down right? They were still deciding on what to do about it I thought."
"...We wouldn't be getting this if the game wasn't running," KyuJong murmured, scanning over the message to make sure it was real. "..." He drew in a breath before stepping away. "Could you go wake the others up, Min? Breakfast is just about done, and then I need to get wired in to see what in the world is going on."
"Yeah, sure," JungMin nodded, kissing KyuJong's cheek as he headed towards the stairs. It had to be a mistake, maybe a message that got stuck in the system before it went down and was only just now getting to them. But that wouldn't make sense if the game was still shut down. Taking the stairs two at a time, he started knocking on doors, HyungJoon and JongWoon's first as they were the most likely to get up without a fight, then moving on to the others.
"Go away!" YoungSaeng called through the door when JungMin knocked.
"I will soon as you two get up and come down to read the in game message Kyu just got!" JungMin called back, moving on to the next door.
RyeoWook cracked his eyes open at that, blinking blearily at the door. "...Did I hear him right?" he murmured, pulling back to look up at YoungSaeng. He didn't want to move, comfortable where he was.
"... I think so," YoungSaeng nodded, rubbing his eyes a little and sitting up. "We should probably go see what's going on," he said, glancing down at RyeoWook with a smile. "How are you feeling?"
"Great," RyeoWook smiled back at him, though he winced a little when sitting up. "...A little sore though," he chuckled sheepishly, taking in the older man's body before he shifted to the edge of the bed to find a pair of clothes to wear.
"I'm sorry," YoungSaeng winced in sympathy, getting to his feet and crossing over to his dresser to pull out some clothes. "It gets better, though if you find it too uncomfortable, we can always try it the other way next time... if you want."
RyeoWook flushed at the idea, though he smiled a little more. "I wouldn't mind trying." He felt more confident about the whole idea now.
By the time they were both changed, he could hear movement in the hallways. RyeoWook cracked the door open to see Daniel walking by, heading downstairs. "Someone's cooking breakfast."
"... My money is on Kyu," YoungSaeng said, sighing a little and following RyeoWook to the door. "Though I wouldn't mind if he starts cooking now as well."
"He was a decent cook before considering he couldn't see what he was doing," RyeoWook chuckled. "I'm sure he'll be a pretty good cook with a little practice." He leaned up to kiss YoungSaeng lightly before heading towards the stairs. "What was that about an in-game message, anyways?"
"How should I know?" YoungSaeng blinked at him, shaking his head as they descended the stairs. HyunJoong and Daniel were both hunched over the monitor, the former looking confused. "What's up Hyun?"
"Not sure," HyunJoong shook his head. "We should check out the equipment after breakfast, and see what's going on," he said to Daniel.
"So is Never back up or not?" YoungSaeng asked, his arm over RyeoWook's shoulder, leading him past the two at the computer into the dining area.
"That's the only explanation," KyuJong frowned back at them, busy making sure he had the recipe for the omelets right. "Or they're in the middle of bringing it back up. Did you see the message? We left it on the monitor."
"No," RyeoWook shook his head in confusion as HyungJoon and JongWoon came into the room behind them, half-asleep.
"It's from KiBum."
Those that hadn't read the message yet stopped, looking at KyuJong with a mixture of expressions. "KiBum?" YoungSaeng repeated. "How...? What does it say?"
"It says he's fine, and we should spend more time with him," HyunJoong said, sighing a little. "I don't know Kyu, this sounds more like something he'd send before the game got shut down. Maybe it was just delayed in being delivered."
"The time stamp says it's from today though," JungMin said, leaning up against the counter.
KyuJong drew in a slow breath, gaze unfocused as he thought. "Maybe," he murmured under his breath before he looked over at them again. "After breakfast I'm going downstairs to see what's going on. That entire system should have been shut down with Never; even if it was delayed, the only reason it would be sending now was if the system was back up again."
"Well I don't think you'll be going alone," HyunJoong said, looking around. "I'm going with you, if it is back up and running, or starting to, I want to see what's happened."
"Maybe then we can find out about some of the others," HyungJoon said hopefully. "HeeChul, KuiXian, the others... see if they're okay anyway."
"There's no way to know if they're aware about the game coming back up, if it is," HyunJoong said, but he didn't think it was a bad idea to at least try to get a hold of people.
"But... how did KiBum survive?" JungMin said, looking at KyuJong. "Wouldn't his program have been wiped when the game was taken down?"
KyuJong turned the heat down on the stove, placing the cheese in the omelets and folding them in half before covering them. "There was...a theory about that," he murmured, not looking at any of them. "Just a hunch, but..." He looked back at JungMin. "We'll see when we go downstairs, what happened."
"Alright," JungMin nodded, giving KyuJong a quizzical look. "You had an idea that this could happen though? That he could survive the game being shut down?"
"It was just an idea, neither of us knew if it would work or not," KyuJong shook his head. "When they shut down all the servers, all the temporary and surface data is wiped. AIs, businesses, user experiences. But the core of the system, the structure...that wouldn't be erased unless the servers were completely dismantled."
"So... you think he managed to integrate his program into the core of the program? That'd be tricky to do," HyunJoong said. "If anyone could do it, he could, but I just can't imagine that would be easy to do."
"Well we'll find out after breakfast," YoungSaeng said, setting out plates. "No use speculating when we'll find out in less than twenty minutes."
KyuJong nodded, turning back to the stove. Seeing RyeoWook pouring water for them to drink, he drew in a breath and smiled. "Well, my first attempt at cooking alone, hope it turned out edible," he said ruefully, sliding the finished omelets onto plates and cutting them in half for each of them.
"Looks great hyung," RyeoWook smiled at him. "So we don't have to worry about JungMin hyung going hungry?" KyuJong beamed happily.
"It looks fine Kyu, we've eaten worse," YoungSaeng said, patting his friend's shoulder lightly. "Everyone sit, out of the kitchen, shoo," he flapped his hands, moving everyone out of the way and to the table.
Once everyone was seated and the food was brought out, there was an excited buzz through the room. Everyone laughing and in high spirits at the prospect of not only the possibility of KiBum having survived the shut down, but the game being back as well. Even though the group had worked for years to shut it down, they knew how important it had become to society for better communication and advancement. With the company's CEO's being in jail and awaiting trials, there was no longer the fear of the game, and what it was doing to people.
Something else was bothering JungMin though, something that had been nagging at the back of his mind for a long time and now he felt like asking (probably because KyuJong had his sight again). "Kyu," he started, tilting his head to the side,"how come after all that time you never had a guide dog?" YoungSaeng snorted, nearly choking on his food at the question.
KyuJong stopped eating, blinking at JungMin with wide eyes. "I...Uh..." He coughed a little, eyeing YoungSaeng as the older man choked. "We tried that a while back, it didn't work out."
"Why?" RyeoWook blinked in confusion. KyuJong mumbled something about 'vicious' and 'loud', sinking in his chair a little.
YoungSaeng had to stop eating, setting his chopsticks down, his whole body shaking in laughter. Even HyunJoong was looking a little amused.
"I don't remember you having a dog," HyungJoon blinked, looking at JongWoon in confusion.
"It was a long time ago," YoungSaeng got out, still laughing. "And it was not vicious, it was a labrador, a sweet as pie labrador. We just didn't know that KyuJong is petrified of dogs."
"Really? Dogs?" JungMin pouted at KyuJong. "But dogs are cute and their whole butts wiggle when they wag their tails."
"It nearly gave me a heart attack," KyuJong tried not to whine, not meeting anyone's eyes. "Jumping all over the place and barking in my ear."
"The butt wiggling part would be hard to find cute if he can't see it happening," Daniel reasoned, chuckling as he shook his head at KyuJong's plight.
"He's exaggerating," YoungSaeng rolled his eyes. "The dog wasn't that bad, just got a little too excited a couple of times cause he was a puppy. He still needed more training to get used to Kyu. The poor thing lasted a week, and spent more time following me around because KyuJong was too scared to leave his room."
"Oh... well I guess you can't help what you're scared of," JungMin said, putting an arm around KyuJong's shoulder.
The older man was pouting unhappily again, shoulders up defensively.
"Maybe it'll be easier to handle dogs now that you can see them?" JongWoon piped up. "I mean, they are pretty cute."
"Let's leave the poor guy alone and finish breakfast," Daniel chuckled, continuing to eat.
"I'm sorry, I was just curious," JungMin said quietly, leaning over to put his chin on KyuJong's shoulder, lips pouting for a kiss.
Turning his head to the side and seeing JungMin making a pouting face at him, KyuJong's lips curled upwards again before long and he leaned over to give the requested kiss.
"We really need a No PDA at the Table rule," JongWoon whined.
"Or you can just turn and give your own boyfriend a kiss," HyunJoong said mildly. "It's what I do."
"The difference is, you two don't often stop with just a kiss," YoungSaeng chimed in, finishing up his breakfast. "And that makes everyone nauseous."
"I never really noticed before now," KyuJong chuckled, leaning back against JungMin once he was done. RyeoWook got up to start clearing the table, carrying his empty plate back into the kitchen. "Do you need help cleaning up?"
"No, we'll do dishes after we're done downstairs," YoungSaeng said, bringing in a couple more plates to the kitchen. "I think they can wait just this once."
"Sounds good to me, come on Daniel," HyunJoong was up out of his chair, bouncing his way out of the room to the stairs.
"I guess breakfast's over?" HyungJoon sighed, looking down at his half eaten plate. "Don't throw this out, I'll finish when we get back."
JongWoon, already standing, blinked down at HyungJoon when he noticed that no, his boyfriend hadn't finished eating. "You feeling okay, Joon?" he asked as the others started making their way downstairs.
"Hm?" HyungJoon looked up at JongWoon as he stood up. "Yeah, I'm fine... just nervous. I mean... KiBum... if he's really... I really did think of him as my brother you know," his head bowed and he sniffled a little.
Eyes sad, JongWoon wrapped his arms tightly around HyungJoon, holding the younger man close. "We'll see how things are when we get back down there," he murmured into HyungJoon's ear, closing his eyes. "But if he did make it...you'll be able to spend more time with him from now on," he chuckled, before quietening. "I always meant to ask you...when Kyu was working on the program, why did he make it to be your little brother?"
HyungJoon sighed a little, rubbing at his eyes to clear them. "I was supposed to have a little brother... but he didn't make it," the younger man admitted quietly. "I... haven't told anyone else, not even Kyu why I wanted him to be my little brother."
"Oh..." JongWoon felt pain for his boyfriend, hugging HyungJoon tightly. He really hoped KiBum had made it. There was nothing he could really say, just holding onto HyungJoon and hoping he could take away some of the hurt.
After a long moment he pulled back enough to smile at HyungJoon. "Let's go see your brother then, Joon."
HyungJoon just nodded, too afraid to try and speak or he'd just end up choking up again. Taking JongWoon's hand, he followed him towards the stairs where everyone was downstairs already.
"Well?" YoungSaeng was peering over KyuJong's shoulder at the terminal. "Is the game up or not?"
"It... looks like it is," HyunJoong nodded, checking the connections and the router. "I'm getting a green light over here, what about you Kyu?"
"Same," KyuJong nodded. He'd plugged himself into the monitor, eyes closed so he could focus without being distracted by what he was seeing. "The servers are all online. Running at basic functionality from what I can see, and there's not many online yet, but it's up." He tilted his head back towards them, opening his eyes. "We going in?"
"If it's safe, don't see why not," Daniel said, leaning in.
"We're going to need to remake avatars, looks like those got wiped, JongWoon?" HyunJoong glanced at the older man. "Can you give us some quick copies of ours? Nothing fancy, we'll customize them ourselves, I just don't want everyone taking too long with it."
"I swear JongWoon, if you make me a girl again, I will murder you in your sleep," YoungSaeng threatened as he sat down in his seat, booting up his terminal and plugging in.
"Proper genders, quick avatars, got it," JongWoon said sheepishly as he dropped into his seat. His computer was booted up within a few seconds, and he started to work. "Give me five minutes to set it all up, looks like everything really was wiped."
"They're still reseting and configuring all the systems, it must have came back on only an hour or so ago," KyuJong said, frowning as he tried to access the connection to the Marumir program. "I can't find KiBum's program at all."
"That doesn't mean anything though, he could have hidden really well," HyunJoong said, eyes on his monitor as he started to type up some messages. "I'm going to send messages to our contacts, see who's still around and who isn't."
JungMin was wiggling in his seat, looking at RyeoWook with a huge grin. "This is kind of exciting isn't it?"
Chuckling at JungMin as he slowly sat down, RyeoWook shook his head at his partner. "I suppose so." But he was excited at the idea that KiBum might have survived, and the game was being brought back. "Did they really reach an agreement about how to handle the game and possible addictions, though?"
"That's what I'm looking at now," Daniel said, skimming through news reports while they waited for JongWoon to finish with their avatars. "Looks like the store houses are staying shut down. According to a report this morning, they're looking at 'mandatory log-out sessions' to make sure no one stays in the game too long."
"That's a good idea," JungMin nodded, his eyes downcast. He still hadn't heard anything from his mother, she would have been pulled out of the storehouse by now.
"Well it looks like the word is spreading about the game coming back up, just got a message from HeeChul," HyunJoong said, smiling a little. "They're all fine, they got out at the first sign of shut downs."
"That's great," KyuJong breathed in relief. Looking around the room with a small smile, he blinked at the expression on JungMin's face, worry entering his eyes.
"Okay, all done!" JongWoon chirped, sending them each their mock-up avatars. "Same appearances, but left the clothes as the default sets."
"That will work for now," HyunJoong said, closing down the messages and booting up the game. "Find us a good place to land Kyu... who knows what's there and what isn't now." Sitting back in his chair, he plugged in and closed his eyes, the others doing the same.
"Got one," KyuJong nodded, finding a location far enough away from the main squares to not draw attention to their arrival. "See you there."
Leaning back and closing his eyes, RyeoWook felt that familiar rush of disappearing and appearing in a completely different place, the sounds of birds and people talking entering his ears. He opened his eyes again, looking down at himself before looking around at the others. They'd appeared at the edge of a park, grass stretching to one side of them with many trees and paths.
"...Did we have a park here before? Where are we?"
"They changed the landscape," JongWoon looked around them in circles.
"It's an improvement over the city I think," YoungSaeng said, looking down the street the park was butted up against. There were still some of the taller buildings, but the neon lights and bright flashing signs were gone. "It's kind of nice."
"I guess we'll see how well this works out," HyunJoong said. "So, what do we do? Why don't you try sending a message to KiBum, Cue."
KyuJong nodded, datapad already out and tapping away at it. "Already sending it." He was clearly praying that KiBum was all right.
Looking around as well, RyeoWook nearly backed up into YoungSaeng, grinning back at the older man a little sheepishly. "I wonder if all the servers were redone like this." He had a suspicion there were far less gambling houses and sex halls now than there were before.
"I don't know, I guess it depends on the country," YoungSaeng said, putting his arms around RyeoWook's waist. With the company being shut down, the governments of each country took over their servers. Some would take longer than others to be back up and running.
"Appa!" KiBum appeared in the midst of them, nearly tackling KyuJong around the middle in a tight hug.
KyuJong's entire expression lit up in joy, despite nearly being knocked to the ground. "Oh my god, KiBum!" He hugged the program tightly, burying his face in the younger man's hair. "You're okay! You're still here!" He lasted two more seconds before tears made it impossible to understand what he was trying to say.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine," KiBum grinned, wiggling happy in excitement. "It worked Appa, they didn't wipe the core structure, just like we thought."
"It's good to see you KiBum," HyunJoong was smiling, reaching forward to give them both a hug.
"Ack! One at a time!" KiBum yelped, flailing a little before he pulled back, putting up his hands to keep everyone away from him. "I have a surprise for you all."
"Hm?" KyuJong blinked at him, still trying to hold on to his 'son'. He let KiBum pull away after a moment, wiping at the tears of relief. "A surprise?"
There was a slight shuffle of movement behind them, someone appearing. "Hyungdeul?" Jumping slightly, KyuJong turned around.
SungHyun stood in front of them with a tentative smile.
".... Kevin?" HyunJoong's jaw dropped. "How...? You... Someone explain please."
"When they cut the connection between him and his body, he was in limbo," KiBum said, smiling softly at Kevin. "Only had a few seconds before he would disappear, so I... tied his signature to my program."
"That's...I didn't even know that was possible," JongWoon gaped at them both, in stun mode for a second. Then he grinned widely and tackled SungHyun in a hug, the teenager squawking as he landed on his rear on the ground.
"Crazy kid, you know how worried we all were," Daniel smiled in relief as SungHyun hugged JongWoon back.
"So you saved SungHyun's life," KyuJong smiled widely at KiBum, wiping at his eyes as he started crying again, hugging the program close.
"Not SungHyun anymore," the teenager shook his head, looking up at them. "It's just Kevin now."
"Kevin... your parents," HyunJoong said, eyes tight in worry. "Your body is still alive out there... you think there's any way to put him back?"
"He doesn't want to," KiBum shook his head, pulling slightly away from KyuJong to look at HyunJoong. "And... I don't want him to. I want him to stay here."
"Huh?" HyungJoon looked between his brother and Kevin. "I thought you hated each other?"
Kevin shook his head. "We never really hated each other. And I don't think I'd be able to leave anyways...I have no connection to my body anymore like you all do, that was broken, so I don't think I could go back."
He stood up once JongWoon got off of him, dusting off his pants before going to stand beside KiBum. "And I don't want to leave him alone."
"Oh...oh," JongWoon blinked repeatedly as Kevin took KiBum's hand lightly.
KiBum's fingers laced with Kevin's and he smiled brightly at everyone. "Now that I don't really have a purpose in the game anymore, I'd be kind of bored all by myself... or at least that's what he tells me."
"I guess there isn't much we can say then, except we're glad you're both okay, relatively," HyunJoong said, patting KiBum's shoulder. "We were very worried about you."
"Hey now, I'm a survivor," KiBum chuckled. "Appa made sure I wouldn't be undone by something so simple as a shut down."
"I knew if there was a way to do it, you'd find it," KyuJong smiled widely at the younger man. "I'm so proud of you, KiBum, you've grown so much," he hugged the program again, careful not to disturb the hand that was holding onto Kevin's.
When KyuJong pulled back, JongWoon grabbed HyungJoon by the shoulders and steered him in front of KiBum. "Someone else missed you too!" he chirped.
HyungJoon squeaked, scowling at JongWoon over his shoulder before turning to look at KiBum. "Um... yeah... I'm glad you're okay, and stuff," he muttered awkwardly, looking down at his feet.
"Geez hyung, don't be so sentimental," KiBum chuckled, putting his arm around HyungJoon and pulled him into a hug. HyungJoon flailed for half a second before giving up and putting both arms around his brother. "I'm glad you're okay too," the program whispered, HyungJoon smiling at that and hiding his face in his brother's shoulder.
"I told you they wouldn't be able to resist!" A voice carried from behind the group, JungMin looking over his shoulder and seeing HeeChul and his group coming towards them.
"Hey! You're all okay!" KyuJong smiled widely at them. Daniel turned around just in time to sidestep a flying tackle from DongHae, the younger hacker skidding to a stop on his stomach.
"Yeah, we all got out okay," KuiXian nodded at them. "You should have seen them panicking when the messages went out."
"What were you all doing while the game was down? It was a crazy time," HeeChul said, reaching down to pick DongHae up by his collar.
"We hid," HyunJoong said with a wry smile. "They caught on to where we were, so we had to get out of town. We missed all the excitement."
"It wasn't that exciting, more like scary," Mimi said with a frown, leaning against KuiXian. "First couple of days before the company went down, people were disappearing suspected of being hackers. Some never came back."
KyuJong's shoulders slumped a little as he leaned a little against JungMin. "They won't be able to pull anything like that again," he said, looking up at them. "Not with the whole world watching."
"No, looks like things are getting better, or at least they're working on some of the issues," KuiXian said, one arm around Mimi. "With each country maintaining their own servers though, who knows how things are going to go."
"Hopefully they realize that there are people watching now," HyunJoong said. "Because even if the company is shut down, I'm still wary about all of this. The government isn't that much better than the company was."
"No, but the government doesn't have financial motivations, just political," HeeChul shrugged. "You can bet all us hackers will be keeping an eye on the game still."
"Whatever happened to just being normal hackers," KuiXian snorted in amusement, lips quirked. "Stealing credits and all that."
"This is more fun," DongHae beamed back at them, half-hunched over due to HeeChul's grip on his collar. "You know what would be neat? Having a brand-new NVR security team. To, you know, make sure people don't go power-crazy again."
"Yeah, you'll be my first suggestion," HeeChul snorted, flicking DongHae's ear.
"He has a point though, even if it isn't official," HyunJoong said. "None of us want what happened to happen again. Even if the governments won't recognize us as being official, we can still do our part to keep the game safe from corruption. Who knows, maybe they'd really listen to us if we do a good job."
"I'm all for that," KyuJong smiled widely. "That's one security team I wouldn't mind joining."
"If there is something going on, there's nothing they can hide from KiBum and Cue," JongWoon laughed. "I'm in too!"
"Oh fine," HeeChul sighed. "I'll send out some messages, let people know what we're up to. It'd be the first time we all work together on something, hey maybe we should meet offline one of these times?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," HyunJoong laughed. "I don't know any of you people well enough to bring home."
"We don't have to bring people home, we could buy a building," JungMin suggested, perking up and looking at RyeoWook. "I'm sure all the company's buildings, like security headquarters are still standing, just waiting to be used. We could buy that!"
"Who? You mean me buy it?" HyunJoong frowned. "We'll see."
"We're really getting ahead of ourselves hyung," RyeoWook chuckled, shaking his head at JungMin. "Let's think about this a little more before you go and ask HyunJoong hyung to buy a building." It sounded like a good idea to him too.
"What are we doing now?" JongWoon looked at them all. "We don't have to leave for a while, right?"
"Let's explore!" HyungJoon said, bouncing excitedly. "I want to see what they've changed."
"It's still limited, the game isn't going to be as big as it was for a while," KiBum said. "Half the servers are still offline."
"It'll be like the start of the game all over again," JungMin said with a smile. "Come on, let's see what this new game has to offer."
"Let's," KyuJong agreed with a wide smile, taking JungMin's hand. It was a whole new world to explore...and then another new world waiting when they returned. He could see RyeoWook sticking close to YoungSaeng's side, JongWoon poking fun at DongHae before hiding behind HyungJoon. "Where to first?"
"Hmm, let's just walk," JungMin said, pulling KyuJong close for a light kiss before starting down the path into the park. "We never really just walked around the game, especially with so few people, let's enjoy it."
"I think that sounds good," HyunJoong agreed, slinging his arm over Daniel's shoulder.
"We'll see you all around then!" DongHae waved excitedly at them as he tried to get HeeChul to let go of his collar. The others in their small group followed after JungMin and KyuJong. Daniel wrapped his arm around HyunJoong's waist in return, seeing KiBum and Kevin following along behind them out of the corner of his eyes.
"Do you think we'll still be able to see the stars tonight?" KyuJong asked, looking at JungMin, and he wasn't talking about in-game.
"I think there's a very good possibility we can see the stars," JungMin nodded, smiling at KyuJong softly. "Maybe the moon will be out too, that would be nice. Maybe a little romantic too."
"Oh ew," YoungSaeng made a face, pulling RyeoWook ahead of JungMin and KyuJong. "We're staying inside tonight."
Laughing, RyeoWook staggered a little as he kept up with YoungSaeng. "What's the matter, you don't like romantic?"
"I think he's more concerned it'll go beyond just 'romantic'," Daniel snorted in amusement.
"And I have every reason to be concerned!" YoungSaeng replied, slowing down a little for RyeoWook to keep up.
"Can we just enjoy being here for right now?" HyungJoon sighed, shaking his head.
"Yeah, we'll worry about being over-romantic after," JongWoon was still grinning like a fool.
Smiling widely as Kevin started laughing behind them, KyuJong twined his fingers around JungMin's and tilted his face upwards to look at the clear blue sky. He felt like a weight had been taken off his chest, and though he didn't know what was going to happen to them in the future, he was without worry for the first time in years. He'd avenged his family's deaths, his sight was back, his friends were around him and his boyfriend was by his side. There was nothing else he could ask for, nothing else he wanted.
JungMin watched KyuJong as they walked leisurely down the path. There was nothing better to him than watching KyuJong smile, and he was happy to have been able to help in any way to see that smile stay. It was infectious he realized, because it wasn't just KyuJong that was so happy, it was all of them. Even YoungSaeng, who had been so hostile and bitter towards the world when they first met that was laughing and happy. Being with RyeoWook obviously changed the usually sullen man for the better, anyone could see that.
Maybe RyeoWook hadn't been so wrong in his idealism about love, because it made a world of difference for them all. HyungJoon and JongWoon were a good example of that, the two absolutely perfect for one another after so long of just trying to be friends. Then there was HyunJoong and Daniel who made it seem like getting together was the easiest thing in the world.
JungMin recalled that conversation he had had with RyeoWook all those months ago, before they knew the men who would change their lives, and turn the world on its head. Love can do amazing things. Love between friends, family, and lovers, was the strongest bond, one that JungMin hadn't even been aware could be possible. Now that he knew it, he wasn't ever going to let it go. Squeezing KyuJong's hand tightly, he smiled to himself as they walked down the path into an uncertain future.