Lost in Space Until I Saw You

Rian suddenly felt a tug on their arm; a man with brown hair tied in a ponytail looked at them firmly.

"What do you think you're doing?! That's dangerous!" the man scolded them, despite being a complete stranger. Or so Rian thought, until the man, still holding their arm to prevent them from jumping again, spoke with surprise, "Rian?"

They turned to look at the man still holding them, feeling the rough leather gloves brushing against their skin. Lysander, a secondary character in the plot and a guard at the Golden Moon laboratory, stood before them.

Rian had already given up the moment they left their phone on the tree, having processed that they would die—twice—in less than thirty seconds, and now, a character from Beta Tester was touching them?

Panic took over. They pulled their arm away and started running along the sidewalk, crowded with pedestrians.

"Rian! Wait!" Lysander shouted while pulling out a radio. "Edmund. Respond. Emergency!"

Their minds, dazed by surprise, noticed as they ran that the people around them were speaking Korean. Yet they could perfectly understand all the comments, the signs, and the announcements. They had never learned the language, but it was as if their brain was translating automatically.

"Lysander, what's happening?" asked the silver-haired lawyer in Victor's car.

"Rian is running along the sidewalk, heading away from Golden Moon, in the opposite direction, along the avenue. They're in complete shock," the security guard reported over the phone.

"Rian, in shock?!" As Edmund confirmed what was said, Victor could see Rian running desperately in the opposite direction from them.

"Driver, stop," Victor ordered his chauffeur before leaving the car. "Run! Then tell us where they are."

Edmund nodded and began to chase after Rian.

"Let's turn around. Let's see if we can cut them off before something happens," Victor said to the driver with a slightly hurried tone, tapping his right leg—a tic the driver already knew from his boss: he was highly nervous.

Given the young CEO's unusual outburst, the luxury car driver pressed the accelerator and switched to the fast lane, trying to intercept the person who had just run past them.

Rian continued running, overwhelmed by confusion. Wasn't it sunset less than five minutes ago? Seven-thirty in the evening, to be exact. But a public clock they had never seen said it was 10:35 in the morning, right next to the café where Leon and Serena were having breakfast.

"Leon, isn't that Rian?" asked the radiant lady as she stood up from the table.

The young blond choked on his coffee at the sight of the person they hadn't seen all day yesterday, now in the middle of the street, disoriented and having a panic attack.

"Wait here," Serena said, leaving her purse and cousin at the café table.

"Serena, wait! Ah!" he exclaimed as he clumsily got up from the table, spilling his coffee on the floor and scattering his papers everywhere while trying to make a call.

She had only walked halfway down the block when Serena finally took Rian's hand.

"Rian!" she called to get their attention. "It's me, Serena. Serena," she said while raising her hand to reach Rian's. "Do you recognize me?"

Gradually, those words began to stir some familiarity. They made Rian react.

"Serena?"

"Yes! That's right," the woman in casual attire said gently, touching Rian's face after slowly approaching to avoid startling them or causing an aggressive reaction.

"Rian!" Edmund's voice was heard as he finally caught up after chasing them down the avenue, nearly out of breath. "I finally caught up to you."

"Edmund," they said his name, a bit calmer now.

Almost immediately, Victor's car parked at the edge of the sidewalk to let Victor out while the driver went to find a place to park.

"Victor..." Rian said as they recognized the man approaching them.

"Rian, are you okay?" That question from the CEO made them burst into tears.

"Why don't we go somewhere a bit more private?" suggested Edmund, who was beginning to notice that the scene was attracting people's attention.

Once they picked up Leon, who was nearly in tears when Rian approached him, Victor informed Lysander and requested that a private room be rented in a restaurant so they could talk as long as necessary.

While the driver transported them to the location, they began bombarding Rian with questions about what had happened, why they had disappeared in the middle of the project, whether they were experiencing side effects from the simulation machine tests, and other questions related to the game's plot.

Serena realized that Rian was starting to have difficulty explaining themselves, so she asked everyone to remain silent during the trip until they arrived at the venue. Upon arrival, Sophia was already waiting for them; Leon had informed the private group of administrators that they were moving with Rian to a new location to talk.

"Rian, they've already told me what happened. Are you okay? What happened? Where have you been? Why did you miss yesterday's tests?"

"Sophi, everyone has already asked them the same questions," she said as Rian began to feel dizzy from the questions.

They decided to give Rian more space until everyone was finally inside the restaurant. To make the conversation more pleasant, they ordered a round of drinks and appetizers. Rian felt pampered with their personal catering service.

They apologized for the recent incident, saying, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause any trouble. "

Lysander would usually stay outside the room, ensuring no one intruded on the conversation or that no corporate spy peeked in looking for confidential information. But because he had found them first and, according to Rian, they had also developed a certain affinity with him from what they remembered from the game they deleted during that experiment months ago. Rian smiled kindly at him and greeted him from their seat. Lysander returned the greeting but immediately turned away when everyone turned to look at him, curious to notice that the quiet and reserved security guard was also present due to a friendly relationship with Rian.

"Perhaps it's still too soon, but please explain what happened?" Victor asked with a solemn tone, which is very characteristic of him.

Hearing him call them by their name made Rian feel so at peace that a feeling of fulfillment began slowly invading them.

"Rian, are you really okay?" Leon approached, standing by their side while touching their shoulder.

"Has something happened to you, Rian? You missed yesterday and didn't answer any messages in any of the groups. We were worried about you," commented Sophia with a sweet tone that only those who followed her route or achieved high affinity with her could know.

"Do you feel okay? Can we do something for you, Rian? You know you can trust us," added Edmund with a gentle smile and without any flirtation.

They looked at everyone as if the missing pieces of their life were slowly falling back into place, not noticing that their eyes were starting to tear up. Serena approached and took their hand.

"Rian... What's going on?" she asked gently.

And so, besides breaking into tears, Rian began to laugh heartily. For some, this was concerning—Victor and Leon looked at each other, puzzled. But for the rest, they sensed that Rian had gone through too much 'in a short time' and was finally relieved.

"It's... a somewhat complex story. Quite long. But... I don't know if I should tell you. If it's right to tell you," they finally spoke, although their words only caused more concern among those present.

"You can tell us whatever you want, Rian. We're here to support you," Leon said.

"Thank you," they said with relief, kindly looking at the boy with green glasses. "But first..." they said, looking around, "Where is—?"

"Are you looking for Elliot, Elijah, and Vergil?" Victor quickly said. "They're currently busy with a delicate matter."

Those words put everyone in the room on edge, including Lysander.

"It's true; they're at that part now," Rian said, knowing exactly what point in the story they were at based on the route they always played.

"What part?" asked Sophia, wanting to understand what seemed to trouble Rian.

"Listen. I... want to be completely honest with you. I'll warn you now that what you hear might sound crazy and fantastical. And I'm fully aware that my profile at this table isn't the most valuable to talk about this."

"Don't say that! No one here devalues you for not being part of the board. Even Lysander is present," Leon tried to comfort Rian so they wouldn't feel bad about any status issues at the table.

Sophia put her hand on her forehead and sighed while Edmund chuckled slightly at the blond's innocence. Even Serena sighed with slight embarrassment at her cousin's words. Lysander looked noticeably annoyed by the unnecessary comment.

"Lysander, forgive him. The boy doesn't know what he's saying," Edmund tried to justify him.

The blond boy didn't understand where he had messed up during the entire conversation.

"Leon, what Rian means is that they fear their testimony might be less credible because they joined the project as a volunteer in the psychological area," Victor commented, feeling a bit of secondhand embarrassment.

Serena took her cousin's hand and patted his head to console him; Rian joined in, also caressing the boy who had the air of a scolded puppy.

"Thank you, Leon. And sorry, Lysander. I'm glad you're with us," Rian smiled, calming down much more with the young programmer's slip.

"No problem," he said, trying to avoid everyone's gaze so as not to show how the kindness had softened him.

Rian sat back down and took the glass with the cold drink, rubbing their finger on the wet surface, looking at their reflection inside the glass, which distorted when the friction made the container subtly vibrate.

"First of all, I want to clarify that I feel like I'm dreaming," Rian began their explanation. "You tell me you didn't know anything about me all day yesterday. That means that for you, today is the eleventh day since I joined the Epitome project. However, for me, more than a year has passed since that moment when I had my first interview with Vergil to enroll in the project."

Everyone turned to look at each other; confusion was widespread. No one understood what Rian was talking about. As they were handed some papers and a pencil, Rian began to unveil the truth. They explained how they had met each of them, how the game had entered their life, and how their interactions with everyone had unfolded. They talked about the development of the AI application and how they had consciously overlooked the game's prolonged issues loading their save file—just as they had interacted with the group over the months through the app they had designed to be nothing more than an AI based on the game.

They then recounted how the experiment conducted in their apartment with Hannah and Mario had demonstrated—at least in theory—that their application hadn't been the source of the previous glitches or the ones now being reported in what they called "their universe."

After much effort, Rian concluded by explaining all the research and trials they had undertaken in the past month, laying bare their emotions and the motivation behind creating their fictional journal.

While Leon, Serena, and Edmund believed Rian was under severe stress, likely due to current struggles in their own timeline, Sophia and Lysander began to suspect this could all be an elaborate prank orchestrated by Rian and Elliot that had gone too far. However, Victor is the only one who seems to take Rian's words seriously.

"No offense, Rian. But are you seriously going to believe all of that without question?" Lysander asked Victor.

"I don't see a reason not to believe someone who ran through the streets like they were in an entirely unfamiliar world. Not to mention, Rian didn't even seem to recognize us until Serena stepped in," the young CEO said. The others echoed this sentiment as they recalled the fear on Rian's face earlier that day.

"But… this is madness. Are we a video game? I have memories of my entire life—details Rian hasn't mentioned," Edmund said, trying to find a logical explanation for his creeping doubt.

"That's simply because it's your storyline," Leon answered, since the topic was one he understood well. "Each character comes loaded with a personal backstory. And if Rian only played one or two routes, it's normal they wouldn't know everything about the others beyond what's been discussed in shared interactions."

"But still… something doesn't add up," Sophia contributed. "If that's true, why do I feel such a sense of emptiness? Something isn't right."

"Could it be that Rian didn't build enough affinity with you? That's what I get from what puppy boy said," Lysander commented, teasing Leon.

"That's exactly it. I don't think this is a prank anymore," Sophia said, her hand on her forehead, overwhelmed by the flood of information. "If we're to believe Rian's only been with us for eleven days, then I think back on the number of times I've talked to them through Elliot's phone, and the math just doesn't add up."

"You remember those?" Rian asked, visibly surprised and filled with hope.

"Yes. I do remember. Serena, you do, too, right?" Sophia turned to her friend. "You told me recently that Rian encouraged you to start your journal if that's what you wanted. You said you wanted me to pick one up at the bookstore today."

"That's true… but… when did that happen?" Serena's expression tensed as she struggled to recall the date of that conversation.

"More than three months ago," Rian answered.

Sophia and Serena looked at each other. They couldn't grasp how three months could have passed when their calendar claimed it had only been eleven days. Yet the memory felt distant enough to make Rian's version feel plausible.

"When Elliot and you joked about blending energy drinks and protein shakes to help me push through work and hit the gym with Edmund—how long ago was that?" Leon asked, a bit embarrassed.

"Dude… were you actually going to drink that?" Edmund asked, disgusted.

"It had solid marketing, and I felt super emotional back then!" Leon defended himself.

"Months ago. Four, to be exact," Rian replied.

"What?!" Leon exclaimed, eyes wide. "Well, you heard them—I was very emotional four months ago."

Even those who had initially doubted Rian's honesty began to accept the idea, though they were all plagued by headaches whenever they tried to recall dates.

"I'd like to add something," Lysander said, stepping into the conversation from his usual guard position. "Now that Rian's brought this up, I've noticed something odd too—about… well, people who might be Rian."

Victor raised an eyebrow. Edmund and Sophia exchanged equally puzzled looks. Leon and Serena, sharing a single brain cell, looked totally lost, as usual.

"We all agree we've only known Rian for ten days if we ignore the calls. But I've noticed over this exact timeframe that the volunteer group seems to contain thousands of people—far more than the limited number the company said would be part of the project."

"What are you talking about?" Edmund asked, thinking Lysander had finally lost it. "That room can't even hold a thousand people, not even the dev team."

"No, sorry. Let me try to explain. It's weird in concept," Lysander admitted, stepping closer to the table. Using the condensation from their glasses, he began drawing circles on the surface.

"Imagine this circle represents the Epitome testing lab. We have several testing stations in the center, on the lower floor. There's a waiting area if the number of volunteers exceeds the available stations. Each spot is assigned to a single individual—but the station Rian uses, which is tagged with an anonymized ID, sometimes… I don't think it's the same, Rian."

This detail made everyone go quiet, thinking it through. But then, simultaneously, they were struck by sudden, intense headaches—and when they passed, they acted as if the topic had never come up. Rian tried to revisit the discussion, but none seemed to recall Lysander having just tried to speak.

After that incident, time seemed to fly by. Rian began by telling them about Hannah and Mario and how they also had brief interactions, sharing anecdotes from calls, comments among them about details they didn't know about each other, truths that seemed incredible or even dystopian—like the fact that Victor's greatest desire, after the Epitome project succeeded, was to have a pet. This revelation made Edmund burst into laughter.

"No way, man! Seriously, a pet? You're the CEO of Golden Moon! You could even commission the creation of a voice device to chat with your dog if you wanted," the ash-blond knight half-joked.

"Cat," Rian corrected again, prompting Victor to flash a natural smile that left Sophia momentarily stunned.

However, Edmund's reaction was one of complete rejection.

"Any problem with cats, Ed?" Victor asked, crossing his arms, ready to defend his newly revealed stance. "Are you allergic or something?"

"It's not that, but how can you want such a vile creature?" the lawyer began to argue. "They're ungrateful, always look at you like you're stupid, they're messy and disorganized, you can't understand them."

"Sounds like you've had bad experiences with cats, Ed," Serena commented curiously.

"I've never had one, but several of my clients do. One elderly woman, in particular, had her house full of them," he shivered slightly and hugged himself to shake off the chill, "Just remembering it gives me goosebumps."

"Sounds like they made a mistake and should've placed you as a volunteer, not the local project representative," added Lysander, who, thanks to Rian's intervention, was now more involved in the conversation.

"That was low, buddy!" he replied as everyone laughed.

Despite the apparent joy at that moment, Rian didn't seem to share it. They quickly became downcast and began to smile condescendingly to continue the conversation. They started to wonder how long they'd stay there—if it would be forever or if they'd return at some point.

They looked at the clock on the wall of the private room; it was almost ten at night. Nearly twelve hours had passed since they 'jumped to the other side,' as they had called it.

Victor, Sophia, and Lysander noticed that Rian remained silent for longer.

"Are you thinking about your friends on the other side or about Elliot?" the young entrepreneur asked bluntly.

Rian blushed to their ears, covering them upon feeling the air conditioning.

"And to think someone could actually like that idiot," Sophia commented while sipping roasted barley tea to soothe her stomach.

"That jerk!" Leon began to complain, his words slurred, "He was told this morning that Rian was here with us. I've called him three times, and he doesn't answer the phone. What the heck is he doing?!" he said, slamming his palm on the table.

"What are you drinking, Leon?" Edmund asked as he got up and sipped from the blond's glass. "Damn! This is Long Island Tea! Who served tea to the kid?!" he asked, slightly annoyed.

Then Serena took a sip from her own glass.

"If you know how Leon is with alcohol, why didn't you stop him?!"

"He's already twenty-one, right? He's an adult responsible for his own decisions," she said while washing her hands and turning her back to both.

"But it's up to us adults to teach him!" Edmund was upset by Serena's indifferent attitude toward Leon's drunkenness.

"Don't worry, Ed. I'm already an adult. I know how to take care of myself," said the young man who had barely had two cocktails.

"Lysander, help! Bring a glass of water for the 'adult who knows how to take care of himself' but doesn't know how to drink."

When asked for the favor, the security guard was also having his own drink on the rocks. He had relaxed enough to tie his hair into a man bun and unbutton a few buttons of his shirt, fully embracing the style of someone working overtime.

"Not a bad idea. I'll get one for us, too," he added before opening the door.

As soon as the door slid open, Lysander came face to face with Elliot, standing nervously and slightly scared at the door.

"What are you doing here, idiot?!" the guard asked the young man, stunned at the end of the hallway.

Elliot remained silent; words wouldn't come out of his mouth. He couldn't explain the fear that stepping inside meant for him.

"Elliot, you idiot! Don't leave me behind," came Elijah's voice as he made his way into the room, even pushing Lysander aside when he noticed who was at the center of the table. "Rian! You appeared!"

Elijah ran to where Rian was and threw himself to hug them.

"You had me worried. Where have you been?" The younger brother behaved like a spoiled child when he finally saw the person who had his heart in turmoil with worry.

"Elijah, hi," they said between laughs and slight embarrassment, as Elijah was overly affectionate, though Rian knew the reason well.

Rian remained silent to avoid exposing a topic that needed to be addressed between the brothers. Their gaze turned to Elliot, prompting Elijah to release them, knowing that Rian had always looked at his brother with that longing.

For his part, Elliot still didn't dare to step inside.

"Elliot... it's me. I'm Rian," they said, advancing with an overwhelming feeling in their chest.

Without explanation, Elliot stepped back, maintaining distance, which puzzled everyone but tore Rian apart inside.

"What the heck are you doing, man?! Come in!" Edmund scolded Elliot, who was displaying very unusual behavior.

"Yes, come in!" Leon felt brave enough to scold his tutor, "Can't you see they've been waiting for you all day?!"

Elijah grumbled, throwing a tantrum out of sheer anger.

"They've been like this for hours. I found out they saw the message from your private group and didn't decide to come. I told them that if they didn't want to see Rian, I did, so either they came with me or told me where you'd be," Elijah complained. He really wanted to see Rian and was very puzzled by his brother's behavior.

Elijah's words deeply hurt Rian.

"Is that true? You didn't want to see me?" Rian asked, seeking a definitive answer, but the expectation of a negative response made them tremble with fear.

Rian had done everything possible to see him from the beginning, but maybe he never really liked them. Perhaps he was never sincere. If that were the case, why behave like this now? Or could it be that, in reality…

"It's not that," Elliot replied, playing with his turquoise hair. "You're not supposed to be real."

Everyone present was even more confused.

"All this time, there have been many people coming and going in the infinite loop, but you, for some strange reason, were an anomaly," his tic began to be a bit more aggressive, twisting the lock of hair and making a small knot. "I know you know, but you shouldn't be here."

Elliot was acting cold, calculating, and somewhat despotic. Victor and Sophia knew something was wrong with Elliot; they looked at each other with concern. Elijah stood up from his seat and threatened to hit him, but Lysander intervened. Edmund could barely manage Leon when he also had to hold Serena, who had lost patience with Elliot's frivolous comments, trying to prevent his brother from hitting him. However, his face paled at the horror of seeing Rian's face crying on the verge of despair.

Rian was smiling and crying. Not with screams or loud sobs, but with that deep sadness that slips out silently, that cuts the throat and chokes the words before they're born. The tears flowed without permission, unrestrained; their interior broke so forcefully that they couldn't stop them.

"Ah, I see. That explains it," they began to babble. I was also a game on this side," they said before forcing a laugh. Their reddened cheeks, marked by trembling fingers trying to wipe them, revealed a futile struggle to maintain dignity and not fall apart in front of those who still mattered to them.

Everyone was frozen—no one understood. It had already been hard enough to comprehend and accept what Rian had said, let alone process what Elliot had just added to the situation.

"Can you stop being so stupid?!" Elijah snapped, breaking free from Lysander and grabbing Elliot by the shirt. "They're right there in front of you! They've been with all of us—I hugged them! How can you say they're not real?!"

Elijah's anger seemed to stir something in Elliot. He could see it in everyone's eyes—they were beginning to understand what was happening with Rian and were upset with him.

Rian tugged at the collar of their shirt and tried to wipe the tears from their face, but no matter how much they tried, they just kept coming. Their expression screamed desperation—the slight tremble at the corner of their mouth, the swollen eyelids, the tight breath that made their chin quiver every time they tried to speak without falling apart.

"Don't worry. It'll pass. It always does," they said, their words haunted. Rian had lost all hope of something mutual. "Forgive my selfishness, but I just wanted you to know the one thing I came here to tell you."

They paused to catch their breath, wiping their tears again with both hands. Their lips drew a trembling, defiant smile as if they still believed that by smiling hard enough, they could stay standing.

"For the past year and everything beyond, since I first met you... through all these months..." they sighed, gathering what little courage they had left to smile from the heart while pinching their cheeks to keep from crying.

Contrary to his earlier behavior, Elliot took a few steps into the room.

"I fell in love with you, Elliot," Rian confessed, feeling like they were shattering with every word, every gesture—wearing that absurd, brave smile that refused to fade, clinging to it as if it were their last shield against abandonment.

The redhead in the hoodie lunged toward Rian, who gasped joyfully and froze in surprise.

"Rian… I… too—" And before Elliot could finish, Rian vanished from his arms before everyone's eyes.

There were no screams, no time to react. Just emptiness. Their warmth was replaced by a void. The weight of every unspoken word, every missed moment, came crashing down on Elliot all at once.

His knees buckled, hitting the floor. Guilt consumed him instantly. Regret struck like lightning, cursed by that unfinished sentence hanging in the air.

…

Meanwhile, on the other side, Rian was once again in the park, lying on the gravel where they had slipped twelve hours earlier.

Their stuffy nose and swollen eyes dulled their sense of numbness. It was possible they had hit their head and hadn't woken up for twelve hours.

Hannah and Mario's desperate voices echoed closer—they had been searching all night. Rian checked their head, but the future didn't worry them. The present didn't concern them. What did... was that strand of red-rooted, turquoise-dyed hair tangled in their clothes.