Yeah, sure, Woo-young can see too. Erogame don't care.

"Yeah. I can still see it."

...fuck.

They're in Canada. How—how could this be—there aren't any espers with this much range. And if there are, then, then he's just fucked. There's no escape. He's already lost.

More likely still, though, is that he's still in Korea. He's still in Korea, and he's under the effect of some esper, and he—can't trust anything. The simplest explanation is that—he—somehow got hold of Tae-gun and has successfully tricked Tae-gun into thinking that he really did call Woo-young when he didn't, and simulated everything else, and now he's, he's—

—but this makes no sense. K- he would never—this just—Tae-gun can't see why he would do this. Sex ad popups? With a cartoon of him fucking Woo-young??? That just doesn't fit.

(Then again, what does Tae-gun really know about him? Only what he wanted Tae-gun to know.)

(Tae-gun thought he knew him better than that.)

(But that's been true since then, hasn't it? Even now, five years later, he doesn't understand what happened, doesn't know why he did what he did, why he couldn't, couldn't have just—)

It's not him. Or if it is him, Tae-gun's lost. And if it's not him, Tae-gun's... also lost. There's no possible world in which he's not in this person's hand, whoever they are, and there isn't a limit to what psychic espers can do, he can't trust anything.

(Maybe he's in a dungeon. That'd be the most reassuring possibilty, that he got in a dungeon that turned out to be a psychic dungeon and it's messing with him.)

(Why sex ad popups though.)

"Sunbae, breathe!"

He takes in a deep breath and starts coughing as his vision clears and the noise in his ears lessens and his dizziness starts to go away. He seems to have at some point sat on the floor but he can't seem to remember when or how or why, and he's hugging his knees and it's not just because of the cold, and now that he's breathing again he's hyperventilating which is not helping with the cough—

"Sunbae, listen to me. What's the worst possibility for what this could be?"

...what's the point in fake Woo-young even asking?

......maybe he's real Woo-young. Maybe they're both trapped.

"I'm trapped in some psychic esper's simulation, somehow." It could be him. "I can't trust any of my senses, or feelings, or memories. It could all be fake. I could have an entire life's worth of fabricated memories—"

"So in those worlds, no action you can take can matter. What worlds can your actions matter in?"

...that's standard esper training. "Worlds where I haven't lost, yet. Worlds where I can trust... at least some of my senses."

"And what do you do in those worlds?"

"...try to find a way out. Try to find the flaws in the simulation."

"Try to understand what's happening. If a psychic esper's got you, or both of us in case I'm real, trapped in a simulation, then there must be some purpose and you can only win if you find out what it is. Right?"

...that logic seems sound... but... it's coming from the simulation, so can he trust it?

Then again, if his very thoughts are under this esper's control, he can't trust them either.

The only worlds in which he wins are worlds in which he acts and figures things out. There are no worlds in which he's won by going catatonic with a panic attack.

His breathing starts to slow down. He starts being able to have thoughts again. It all still makes sense. The logic is sound, the conclusions are correct if the premises are, and he needs to adopt the premises.

Okay.

Okay.

"Okay?"

"Yeah." He pulls himself up again. He needs to take actions that will make him win. And... the best he can think of is figuring out what's up with his screen, since whatever this is seems to have been messing with it.

(Could it be a non-psychic esper's power that can somehow interface with the system? That kind of utility power would be unprecedented, but... all powers were unprecedented, before they existed.)

Okay.

"Yeah," he repeats, more firmly, and looks at his screen again.

The popups have conglomerated into a big pile. Now they start glowing, and turn into one significantly larger popup.

It would be not just misleading but a condescending lie to say we did not expect this. However, we would like it on the record that you're both drama queens.

Welcome to THE EROGAME! Also, unrelatedly, Canada. The Erogame is an omnipotent* engine of erotic fantasy which has decided that YOU, LEE TAE-GUN, are so unbelievably repressed that you merit personal cosmic intervention. Also, MIN WOO-YOUNG is here.

Right now, in the next few minutes, you merit a different level of intervention: making sure neither of you loses any bits, sexy or otherwise, to having rolled around in the Canadian snow. Fortunately, this is something we're super equipped to handle!

...excuse you?

"...okay I have to ask, are you also seeing—"

"A popup calling us drama queens and a 'quest' telling us to 'huddle for warmth'? Yes."

"...I am admittedly kinda cold." Especially now that he can't even move his body from his upper abdomen down for warmth.

"And I'm naked." And actually not really that cold? The ice clothes are, like, uncomfortable but ice is very insulating and his power is making it more insulating. 

...besides, using his power the way he currently is is making him start to get minor amounts of backlash and he is not happy with the idea of cuddling Woo-young naked. 

......the game said "huddle" not "cuddle". Lee Tae-gun where's your mind going. 

Can he click that * over there?

"Sunbae that's a stupid objection and you know it." But can he open his commscreen and summon Tae-gun some clothes?

*Terms and conditions apply in some universes, but not this one.

The screen is available! The app is available, though teleporting in supplies is going to be kind of expensive what with the Canada!

Inexplicably, clothes are not available in any size that would fit Tae-gun! They cap out at Woo-young-sized.

Well, the overclothes do. There is an extremely generous selection of undergarments, and a tab for costumes that may or may not have been there before.