Hello Player 1, welcome again to a new mini interactive AU!

(Against the shared exhaustion & stress of lockdowns everywhere, maybe a silly story can cheer you up a bit. It may not do anything or maybe you’ll have a small laugh & can go about your day a little lighter. )

Yoonmin live in the opposite building from Namjin. They’ve never really interacted but ever since the lockdown, everyone has had more time to notice the things around them.

On Day 3, Joon realises there’s a cute kitty by his neighbour’s window.

#yoonmin #namjin

He’s sure that the neighbours’ cat almost looked like it was flipping him off...but that’s not possible is it?

Well at least the cat’s owner seems really friendly & now he knows that the grumpy cat’s name is Yoongi.

What should Joon do?

Joon asks about the feline and his neighbour looks a little flustered to talk about it.

Oddly enough, when the word cute left his mouth, there was a crash in the opposite apartment and his red-haired neighbour was joined by a...grumpy looking & very underdressed adult?

This grumpy underdressed human also seemed to be flipping him off for no reason. Twice in a day, what luck. Ugh!

Joon is starting to wonder about his sanity, this odd neighbourhood they’ve moved into and whether he’d be able to last the city’s mandated lockdown of 30 days.

Joon introduces himself and before he can get very far with talking about Jin & his move to this new city or to ask more about the weird neighbourhood, he hears his full name being yelled out for the entire block to hear.

Dear Player, the story now splits into two directions! You can pick where the story will go next.

Jin’s favourite frying pan smelled like overly burnt toast and had black bits of egg falling off. Guess that little snack surprise for Jin wasn’t going to be a surprise after all.

They suddenly hear a tiny muffled cough and they’re pretty sure neither of them made that sound.

Who’s being volunteered as tribute to check the sound out?

Joon carefully approaches the coughing plant waving the burnt frying pan as a shield. Behind the leaves, a tiny creature appears and Jin promptly passes out.

It introduces itself as Hobi, a tiny plant fairy who has now broken a major rule by revealing himself to humans.

Hobi is still coughing and looks harmless and actually...quite adorable. While he lifts a sleeping Jin into a chair, Joon is questioning his sanity for the second time of the day as he invites Hobi to stay and rest a little.

This town gets curiouser and curiouser.

Joon sets down a cup of hot peppermint tea and hopes the smell of it will help little Hobi feel better.

To which Hobi exclaims in excitement that it was his dream to see this “magical pool of wishes” all his life. Also apparently, he’s a big bean. Whatever that means.

As Hobi explains that he’s broken the cardinal rule of plantfolk after being seen by a human so he’s banned from ever returning to the plant city lest accidentally bringing destruction to their kind. Humans don’t seem to have a good track record with them.

To comfort Hobi, Joon:

Joon tries comforting Hobi with a random crab fact but it doesn’t seem to excite him so he tries again by asking Hobi to tell him more about his friends.

That seems like the right question to pull little Hobi out from the zone he was in.

Jin is a little hesitant but soon won over by Hobi’s sunny disposition & how he’s excitedly explaining that big beans aren’t as bad as he was told. He loved Big Joonie Bean’s magic tea.

A storm rumbles in the distance as Jin prepares for dinner. Realising they’re out of eggs,

Jimin has spare eggs that he’s more than happy to share with Joon and although both buildings aren’t very far apart from each other, it’ll still take a fair bit of stretching out the window to be able to reach for anything.

Joon grabs a towel and thinks if he ducks and grabs at the right angle, he’d be able to catch the eggs.

Time almost slows down as Jimin slowly pulls his arm back and lets one egg fly, soaring towards Joon’s open window.

The biggest eggy question:

With some magical luck of the century, Joon manages to catch all the eggs from Jimin. He swore he could hear the cheers of many as the eggs softly rolled into his towel.

Thanking Jimin and promising to return the favour, he carefully heads towards the kitchen.

With little Hobi’s help and the eggs from Jimin, they’ve got dinner and dessert all prepped & stuffed in the oven.

The heart of the storm seemed like it was getting closer with every minute. It rattled the windows ominously with strong winds and pattering rain. Jin shivered.

Hobi hops on Jin’s shoulder as he heads to the window to check on the storm. The plant outside their window is tilting at a bizarre angle & Jin realises that there’s something clutching the plant for dear life.

It loses grip in the strong winds & he catches it just in time.

It’s a tiny Hobi-sized person with bunny ears and a giant backpack (which looks way too big to be carried!).

Still unconscious on the kitchen countertop, he shivers from the cold rain and while Hobi keeps the new arrival company, Joon & Jin look for something to warm him up.

Wrapping him up into a little bundle, they wait for him to wake up. But as the minutes tick by, everyone starts nodding off. Soon all is silent in the house, broken only by an occasional snore.

The new arrival wakes up feeling lost but pleasantly cocooned in a scarf nest.

Little bunkoo tries to wake sleeping Hobi but with the long day Hobi had, he’s practically impossible to wake.

What should Koo do in the meantime?

Koo takes a peek at the sleeping giants and waits for a reaction but Joon and Jin continue to sleep. He wanders a little closer, prodding them gently to no avail. Eventually he starts feeling sleepy again and curls up in the corner of Joon’s hoodie and falls back asleep.

The storm rumbles on in the background as the house sleeps soundly. It seems to cast a spell upon the inhabitants, trapping them in a wakeless dream.

*You have entered Koo’s dream*

You spot Bun-koo skipping through the tall grass. He spots little talking pebbles in the grass and picks them up. He doesn’t get far before a giant snail appears in front of him.

This is Q, the Quest Snail who presents Koo with a game.

Q shuffles a talking pebble under a leaf and Koo closes his eyes while it’s shuffled around. He opens it again and focuses.

If you find the correct leaf, Koo will get a hint on how to move on. If it’s the wrong leaf, Q will force you to jump to a different dream.

Which leaf do you pick?

It turns out the pebble was under the left leaf. In an attempt to get another chance for a clue, bun-koo digs into his giant backpack. (He’s a collector of many things!)

He finds the most magical item he can think of, a pot that he’d got from a fisherman a long time ago.

It’s a legendary pot that cooks fast & stays shiny no matter how it’s used. Said to be blessed by kimchi-ramen loving mermaids who gifted it to the fisherman, Koo loves that pot dearly.

Q is offended & will only accept a memory instead or to force a different dreamer to surface.

Hobi is deep in this dream, reliving a memory.

This world is full of greens & lively plants. The plantfolk talk, sing (or rap) & weave magic on the plants around their village to grow wonderful harvests that they share with their fellow forest friends.

Hobi’s best friend is a black cat named Yoongi who saved Hobi from a hole & they’ve been close since, sharing fruits or trading stories till the cat fell asleep.

But one day, Yoongi disappears leaving behind no explanation. Packing his belongings, Hobi sets off for the city.

Yoongi had once mentioned that he wasn’t from the forest but the far city of big beans, with scary Humans and their moving machines.

He was terrified but finding his best friend was more important than the fear gripping him. The city was probably the best place for information.

The tunnels made weird sounds. It’s just the wind, he hoped. Hobi took each step scared but determined to get out the other end of the tunnel & to make his way to the city.

Taking out a glowing mushroom to help light the way, he felt a cold air rush past him.

A spooky echo whispers a little “hello” from behind him.

Hobi could probably pass out from the fear right now.

Turning around, Hobi stutters out a greeting. The spooky voice belonged to a cave spirit who loved its job of directing travellers through the messy tunnels but due to the many horror stories & movies, no one had dared to stop and talk to a floating voice.

After talking to the cave spirit for a while and explaining his journey, Hobi follows the spirit through the tunnels and out into the open where the city was.

Happy he’d made a new friend, Hobi shared a strawberry with the creature and promised to visit on his way back.

All alone and back on the search for his friend, he wanders the paved streets calling out Yoongi’s name. Hearing the pitter-patter of oncoming rain, Hobi hides under a plant to wait out the storm. (Tiny Hobi doesn’t like rain, the raindrops hurt when they fall on him.)

As Hobi’s dream seems to fade away for now, where would you like to go to next?