#i did also beat braving nature 3 with no casters so

[evrytingbagel]

yes im mentally ill yes i have an IS obsession. and what about it!!

[gimmeyoon]

Iron World: 3

✰ pairing: Yoongi x Reader

✰ au: Cyberpunk

✰ word count: 3.8k

✰ warnings: explicit language, major angst, mentions of death and violence

✰ summary: ❝Welcome to Iron World, the latest virtual reality online game. Choose your class, join a guild, and explore the depths of this planet. As one of the first 20,000 people to explore this brave frontier, how you enjoy this immersive experience is up to you. There is so much to do and see, you’ll never want to leave.❞

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     73 days. Taehyung didn't think often about how long they had spent in the game, but Chimmy had made a comment about it today, so it was all he could think about. 73 days since the game changed. 73 days since Taehyung's beast lord had gone from medieval times to cyberpunk. 73 days since the creator had given him two lip rings on his bottom lip, that he still wasn't used to eating with, and runes down his neck that symbolized connection, strength, and speed. 73 days since Jugeum had gone from looking like the hound on Taehyung's neck to a half-robot concoction.

     Gone was the friendliness and loyalty in his eyes, replaced with the cold technology that Taehyung used to explore the cityscape. This was his job now, every morning he went up to the roof of the apartment building Bangtan called home and he watched the city through Jugeum's eyes, looking for clues to the next quest in the game. So far, the guild had only beaten one level of the hotel that sat in the middle of the city and supposedly housed the creator, though who could trust him anymore. It was hundreds of stories tall. Taehyung wished Chimmy hadn't made mention of how many days it had been.

     It wasn't exactly a fair assessment. The game play in this world was different enough that the guild had to figure out how to play well again. It was ground zero, and it took some time to get used to the differences. Not to mention, they weren't getting much help from the other players. Sure they supported them, Bangtan rarely paid full price for anything, if they paid at all, but it seemed that the game change had discouraged the rest of the players.

     Agust D perhaps had the biggest learning curve. He was a spell-caster, yet he hadn't done any magic since the game changed. Mono had come to the conclusion that his powers had been turned off in the code rewrite. Something about necromancers not being cyberpunk.

     Taehyung knew that wasn't it though. He wasn't sure what was wrong, but Jugeum could sense the necromancer's magic, and the connection rune on his neck meant Taehyung could too. If anything, Agust D was filled with magic, it scared Jugeum, he didn't want to go near him.

     But Agust D didn't use that magic, and sometimes Taehyung wondered if he was afraid of it too. He never asked though, and he didn't tell anyone what Jugeum sensed, because he knew that would make Agust D mad. It wasn't his place to pretend like he understood what his friend was going through.

     To pretend like he knew what it was like to narrowly escape death.

     Jugeum suddenly stopped in front of a building Taehyung hadn't noticed before. Taehyung urged Jugeum forward, but the hound stayed put. He couldn’t help but smile as Taehyung realized this must be the start of the next quest.

     Good boy, he sends down the bond between himself and the hound, and he can feel the dog's excitement sent back. Taehyung calls Jugeum home before switching his sight back to his own. He heads back inside, pausing momentarily to enter the code installed into the dilapidated building.

     A red light greets him.

     Taehyung curses as he realizes he must have entered last weeks code. Mono insisted that it be changed every week to keep them safe. While most other guilds tried to help Bangtan in any way that they could, some guilds had turned bad in here. Some were intent on staying in this world, where they felt powerful. Not to mention the game created characters that they fought to make it out of here. No one was sure exactly how much they could interact with the players.

     Despite this, Taehyung thought changing the code was overkill. The change in the game had come naturally to Mono. The wizard seemed born to be a hacker, and so far no one had been able to beat his skill.

     No matter how many times he beat the other players in the hacking competitions held every Tuesday and Thursday, Mono still worried that someone would find a way into the base. He'd been even more anxious than usual since the game changed. Everyone had been.

     Two tries later and Taehyung finally entered the code of the week.

     You stand up as soon as V reenters the base. You had been sitting in the large middle room just waiting for the beast lord to return. The new version of the game made you wait much longer than before. The original game play had been straightforward, but this cityscape was an open map with no true clues on where to go next. You had spent days looking over the notebook that the creator put in your inventory, but it meant nothing to you. You think it might have been a trick to make you wait even longer.

     You made the mistake of expressing your hatred of stasis to the cleric once. Now, Chimmy always insisted that you just needed to relax and take advantage of the waiting. You had no doubt that he was alluding to the various men and women that he brought back to his apartment below the base. You regretted ever choosing to live next to him.

     You weren't sure how he could bring back so many players. You could never sleep next to a stranger. Not in here, probably not ever now. Not since the first in-game murder.

     You made a point of reminding Chimmy that not everyone wanted to get out of here, but he always reminded you that the apartments were safe zones. To which you informed him that you could slip a virus into someone's mainframe while they were in a safe zone and set it to go off once they left.

     He never asked how you knew that. You tried not to think about the day you learned it.

     The memory makes you look over at Agust D. He was there that day. He knew how you figured it out.

     He sits slumped against the wall, and for a moment you let yourself think that he still looks weak. You shove the thought away quickly, reminding yourself that he's the one who made you keep going that day. He knew his limits, he was an adult, and he was still fighting. He wasn't weak, no matter how pale his skin looked or how deep set his eyes were.

     He hadn't slowed down. He always kept up with you on supply runs and missions, but it was in these moments when he wasn't moving that you thought his body looked too heavy for him. Like he might break under the weight of whatever it was he was carrying.

     You never mentioned that he hadn't used magic since the game changed. Instead, he had joined the tanks, not officially, but when you went to the gym to practice hand to hand combat he joined you. When Cooky went to the shooting range, Agust D was with him. He seemed determined to get his skills as high as possible, yet when the casters practiced spells, he never joined them.

��    Agma stalked around the room, the tiger the only reminder that Agust D was still a caster.

     "Jugeum found the next quest," V smiles as he grabs a soda from the fridge. "It's this old looking building down by the market. I swear I've never seen it before."

     "Sounds like the kind of shit the creator would do, keep the building hidden until he's ready for us to entertain him again," you grumble, instinctively grabbing for your pack. You are always sent on recon before the rest of the group goes out. You wouldn't have it any other way, and you're sure Bangtan doesn't mind having it be you and not one of their brothers. They never said anything like that, they wouldn't, but when the first group went out they seemed relieved that you volunteered.

     You didn't blame them. If you were them you would rather it be a new guild member than one of your best friends. The change in the game had required all players to belong to a guild, or some buildings wouldn't let you in. Begrudgingly you got tattooed with the rest of the guild. And now your wrist matched seven others so that you could get into the shooting range for practice.

     Agust D follows your movement, reaching for his own pack. You weren't surprised. The player that jumped in front of a dragon to save you, also never let a recon mission go out without him.

     "So we need a plan," Mono spoke up, taking the conversation by the reigns. V sat on a couch behind him, looking up at the leader.

     Your leader. You still weren't used to that, and had to stop yourself from fighting against him when he came up with an idea you didn't like. You worked better alone, but you were intent on making this arrangement work so that you could get out of here.

     "I've got recon," you said, though it was probably obvious as you pulled your pack on and reached for your gun.

     "Me too," Agust D added.

     "Thanks for stepping up," Mono nodded. "I want one more person to go with them and check out the area. See what we might be up against, get a feel for what the quest might be. Preferably a caster." Mono looked at Agust D, but didn't say what you knew he was thinking. That there was no caster currently going.

     "I'll go," J-Hope spoke up, reaching for his recorder as he did so.

     "Great," Mono said. "the three of you know the drill, don't do anything stupid, and get back here as quickly as you can."

     You nodded, turning to look at Agust D after doing so. No longer did he seem weak, he seemed determined. It was deceptive you thought, how moments ago he had seemed like standing would take more strength than he could muster, but now he seemed ready for whatever was hiding in that building.

     His eyes met yours, and for a moment you let yourself believe that the fire behind them meant he was back to his normal self. You let yourself believe that this time he wouldn't look so tired once the mission was over. That he would go out with the guild instead of going back to his apartment alone.

     You let yourself believe everything would be okay from here on because you had to believe that.

     You had to believe that Agust D would be okay because if he wasn't it would always be your fault.

     Yoongi knew the way that they looked at him. He knew that J-Hope only stepped up for recon because he was going. The bard was many things, but he wasn't a spy. He got spoked too easily for recon, yet he kept volunteering. Conveniently, so did Yoongi. He watched as Worldwide and J-hope silently decided between the two of them who was going. They never let Yoongi so much as piss without one of them going with him.

     He wasn't sure what it would take to convince them that he was fine.

     He wasn't so sure he was fine.

     He didn't know what was wrong exactly, but he knew something was off. His chest felt tight all of the time, a blaze inside of him, and the last time he had used magic it had gone horribly wrong.

     The other's didn't know about that, they were convinced he couldn't do magic anymore, but he could.

     He had decided to try something small, knowing that something wasn't quite right about him since the change, so in the alley between the apartment building they lived in and the No Tell Motel next door, Yoongi tried to light a candle he stole from Chimmy's apartment.

     He'd set the whole alley ablaze. The robo firefighters put it out before any of his guild members saw it.

     Whatever it was, whatever was wrong with him, it was too much. He didn't trust himself anymore, not after that. He didn't have time to figure it out, they had to beat the game, so he started working with the tanks. He was half-tank anyways, so the shift wasn't that difficult.

     No one ever asked him about it, and that was the way he preferred it. He knew they noticed, he could see the way they watched him, but he didn't know how to explain it. He was pretty sure they'd make him sit missions out if they knew the truth. It was better like this. Better that they all just pretend things were okay.

     Yoongi knew he was still an asset. If for a second he thought he was hurting the guild because of whatever this was, he would step down. He had faith in them, he knew his friends were the best in the game.

     Maybe he felt like he had something to prove, but every time he had the chance to help his friends, he took it.

     J-Hope had taken the task of driving to the market, leaving Yoongi to his thoughts as he sat in the backseat of the car. Phoenix never spoke on the way to recon missions, though she had opened up since the game change.

     Yoongi couldn't help but note that she seemed particularly more willing to talk to him. He wasn't stupid, he knew it was because of the dragon, but he liked talking to her regardless. She still hadn't shared anything personal about herself, but that was to be expected. At least she knew their names now and could joke around.

     He could tell she was watching him like the rest of the guild, but she seemed to be the only person who truly trusted his strength. She never made him feel weak when they went on runs together.

     J-Hope pulled to a stop outside the market, and Phoenix was out the door before Yoongi could even grab his pack. He joined the two members and followed them to the building V had described. Someone called to J-Hope as they walked down the street, and the bard smiled widely at his admirer.

     Yoongi could hear the stranger whisper about him and the Phoenix. Everyone talked about them after the dragon, but no one dared talk to them.

Zombie. They called him. That's why he never does anything other than missions.

    Word on the street was that Phoenix raised him from the dead as her name would suggest. And being an undead Necromancer was pretty on-par for the character type. No one cared enough to disprove the rumor, especially since none of Bangtan really knew what happened that day. Yoongi should have died.

     But he didn't.

     The building in front of them was in worse shape than the one Bangtan lived in, which was saying something. Mono had worked hard to make their building the least appealing. Less intruders he had said.

     Like an old and run-down building would hide the lead guild home to a zombie and Jesus-like raiser of the dead.

     "J-Hope, can you play that invisibility song so we can get in undetected?" Phoenix asked as she observed the building.

     "Sure," he said, pulling his recorder from the bag slung across his chest. "It's what I'm here for anyways."

     "We get in, see what we're up against, and get out. Yeah?"

     Yoongi and J-Hope nodded, confirming the Phoenix's words. Recon could go south quickly if they got caught. The three of the them were likely not enough to take down whatever was inside.

     Though he would bet money that Phoenix wouldn't go down without taking whatever waited for them with her.

     J-Hope plays through the song two times, before motioning for Phoenix to open the door. The Bard motions for Yoongi to go in after her, which is unsurprising. J-Hope can cover him from the back but also probably feels slightly less scared with two human shields ahead of him.

     The hallway that greets them is narrow, giving them no choice but to walk in a straight line. Phoenix walks past the stairs, and Yoongi recognizes this as a silent command to clear the first floor first. He thinks it's unlikely that the quest will be so easily accessible, but he agrees with her thought process.

     They can't leave this level until they're sure nothing can or will follow them. They cannot rely on J-Hope's spell to keep them covered. They cannot leave any corner unsearched, because the game required that of them. They had made the mistake of underestimating the game before, they were not going to do it again.

     They made it to the fourth floor of the building, when Yoongi felt the air change around him. It surprised him, as he had never sensed anything like that before, and as he watched Phoenix, he knew that she didn't get the same feeling that he had. The one that made the fire in him burn stronger than before. He turned to J-Hope, his eyes betraying him, as his friend looked back at him worried.

     "What is it, are you okay?" he whispered.

     "Something’s here."

     "Very good, Agust D."

     Yoongi quickly turned in the direction of the new voice, reaching for his gun as he did so. They were supposed to be invisible, yet the man stared right back at him.

     "So much for your spell," Phoenix hissed, her own gun aimed at the man before them as well.

     He was big, Yoongi noted, though he figured the three of them could handle him. He wore a suit, which contrasted sharply with the state of the building he was standing in. His dark hair was braided away from his face, and the longer Yoongi held his gaze, the more certain he was that one of his eyes was robotic.

     "His eye surge," Yoongi noted, the man breaking into a chilling smile.

     "Works against magic," the man said, finishing the explanation.

    "Fuck," Yoongi cursed, looking back at J-Hope to ensure his safety, but no one else approached them. He returned his attention to the man.

     "Please, there's no need for guns," he started, though none of the guild moved to drop their weapon. "I don't want to fight you. I want to hire you."

     "How considerate, but I think I'll keep my gun right here for now," said Phoenix.

     "Very well," he smiled. "I guess I should expect nothing else from the lead guild."

     "What do you want?" Yoongi asked.

     "I want you to get rid of a problem for me."

     "What kind of problem?"

     "Have you heard of Babylon?"

     "The ancient city or that bar Jimin goes to?" Phoenix asked.

     The man smiled again. "The bar. The owner, I need you to take him out. He stole a piece of tech from me, and I'd like it back."

     "So, we have to kill a man for it?" J-Hope asked, his voice rising in shock.

     "A man and likely his goons," the man shrugged. "I want his tech and his property as payment for stealing. Get it for me, and I'll give you the key to the second level of the hotel."

     Phoenix, dropped her posture slightly at this. "Show us the key first and then we'll talk."

    "Of course," the man reached into his suit jacket pocket, and pulled out a gold key. One that looked very much like the key they had gotten to the first floor of the hotel.

     Yoongi's heart quickened at the sight, and for a moment he let his posture drop as well.

     "So, do we have a deal?" the man questioned, as he returned the key to his pocket. "I think we could become mutually beneficial allies."

     "We'll tell the others," Phoenix said, which Yoongi was grateful for. They couldn't make any calls until they got back to Mono. "I'm sure you'll know what we decide."

     He smiled at this. "Clever girl, though I hope you know that having Jax Moon as an enemy is not the way that you want to play this game.

     "Jax Moon?" Phoenix said with a small laugh. "God, the creator really tried to make you tall, dark and scary, and gave you a stripper name."

     Yoongi couldn't help but laugh even as the man looked back at Phoenix with anger.

     "Tread lightly," he said, as he walked closer to the guild. Yoongi raised his gun at the movement.

     "Sorry, Jax," Phoenix smiled. "We'll be on our way safely, and get started on your greed mission."

     "Yes," he started, stopping short of approaching the group. "the sooner you leave, the better for all of us."

     Yoongi refused to let his guard down until they were back in the car, and even then he kept his gun in his hands. You never knew when you truly were out of the game play in this version. And while J-Hope and Phoenix laughed about Jax Moon, Yoongi found himself looking over his shoulder and making sure that they had left without being followed.

     "Agust D," Phoenix said, drawing his attention back to her. "thoughts on your stripper name."

     "Sorry, what?"

     "Come on, keep up," she laughed, which calmed Yoongi's nerves enough to look towards the front of the car again. "J-Hope and I were saying that his stripper name would be The Suck, based on his government name and I'm sticking with Phoenix, because location and exotic animal."

     "Same," Yoongi started. "Agust D already works, because, you know, D."

     "Amazing," she laughed. "We really made fun of Jax Moon and we too have stripper names."

     "At least your's is a fake name," J-Hope laughed. "Mine’s based on my real name."

     And as their laughs filled the car, Yoongi allowed himself to sink back into his seat and relax. He and his friends were safe, and they were going to make it back to the base. They were going to have to do something really difficult in the future, and they might not all make it out, but for now they were together and they were laughing.

     Yoongi tried to ignore the way his chest tightened further and the flames burned brighter as he watched Phoenix talking animatedly with J-Hope. He tried not to think about how he felt his magic burn brighter when she was around. He tried to convince himself that it didn't scare him and that if it did, which it definitely did not, he had no reason to be afraid.

     He was fine.

     But as the flames burned hotter inside his chest, he had no choice but to acknowledge them. So he closed his eyes, and tried to calm them, though he wasn't certain that he could. He had no other choice than to try, because being away from Phoenix wasn't an option. And for a moment, he considered that maybe the flames knew that too. That maybe the flames weren't a bad thing.

     That maybe she made him stronger.

     He hoped that was the case, because the alternative terrified him. That maybe everyone was right and he was a zombie.

    That he had died that day and the flames he felt were the proof of that. That he was burning alive inside himself.

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