Archive of Our Own ^beta

The first time it happened, Seven didn't understand what was happening.

He was happily eating his Honey Buddha Chips while he sat on the sofa when it happened.

The first thing that disappeared was his chips. It turned into binaries and codes while he was mid-bite. He thought it was odd, but he didn't think too much about it. He was going to grab another chip, but the chip bag disappeared, turning into binaries and codes.

He stood up from the couch and noticed how the furniture and his bunker itself were disappearing into binaries and codes. He panicked and avoided any of the binaries and codes going his way. He took out his phone and the only thing he could see was a giant red text that said 'RESET IN PROGRESS'

"What…?" he muttered out loud as he stared at the screen in disbelief. What did it mean by 'reset in progress'?

He received the answer just as everything but him disappeared into binaries and codes. He was left in a black-and-green space that was only filled with binaries and codes.

He walked and walked, but he was getting nowhere.

He tried looking for anything else other than binaries and codes, but there was nothing else. Even the phone in his hand disappeared into binary and codes.

He stayed lying on the ground, waiting for something to happen.

He didn't know how long he stayed there, but everything suddenly changed.

His room slowly appeared again, which took him by surprise. He stood up and watched as more of the bunker appeared as though it never disappeared, but it was off.

The state of the bunker didn't look the same before it disappeared.

He slowly sat up and watched as the phone appeared in his hands and dings. He immediately opened it to check the RFA application and his eyes widened when he saw new messages from MC.

The messages MC sent were the same as though it was her first time chatting with them. His brows furrowed in confusion as he stood up and looked over at the security cameras in Rika's apartment.

"What the—?" He doesn't understand what's happening.

MC looked the same when she first arrived at the apartment; a nervous wreck, pacing around the apartment and hesitant to touch anything.

The RFA members eventually asked for his help with the newest member in the chatroom, and what was he supposed to say?

He was the one who wanted to question them.

Why didn't they recognize who MC is? Why are they acting like this is their first time meeting her? Why are they talking about her as though they never bonded with her? She is the RFA Coordinator.

But he didn't ask about it in the chatroom. He replied to them, acting like he also didn't know who was the new member in their chatroom. He chatted endlessly while he went to check on his computer, hoping to check if any of his files had been saved.

None of the files that dated back eleven days ago were saved.

The date on the bottom right of his computer was on the same day MC arrived at the apartment and the Unknown hacker infiltrated the chatrooms.

How…?

Did he travel back in time? But that didn't explain the binaries and codes.

Was the past eleven days a vivid dream he had?

It had to be, right? There's no other explanation for this.

He smiled as he looked back at his phone, following the messages alongside and adding his own whenever he had something he wanted to say.

Once everyone left the chatroom, he leaned back in his chair as a sigh escaped his lips.

He doesn't understand what's happening…

The sixteenth time it happened, Seven believed that he was stuck on a time loop.

His bunker reverted to what it looked like eleven days ago. All of his messy Honey Buddha Chips lying on the ground were gone. His clothes were free from the messy stains he didn't bother cleaning.

He checked his phone, and they were talking to MC like she was a stranger. Again.

Her replies remain the same, but there were also some odd ones in it, talking about a game. But he believes she's just joking around.

Other than that, there was nothing different about it.

Her first day remains mostly the same, almost like a pattern.

The start of a change began during the second day onwards. She would reply differently to each RFA member, except there were times when she favored one over the rest.

She would grow close to any of them until the other eventually grew feelings towards her by the fifth day.

Then something bad would always happen afterwards.

The security system messes up, Unknown comes to try to kidnap her, the love interest comes and saves her before it happens, drama involving their personal lives, and the RFA Party happens smoothly.

Sometimes he and someone else would go to this place called 'Mint Eye' to find out more about the 'Unknown' hacker that he could never seem to figure out their true identity.

There's a part of him that wonders if he already knew, but something is preventing him from remembering who the Hacker is.

The thirty-third time it happened, Seven was now being pursued by MC.

He wondered what the sudden change was.

She never went for him in the other time loops. She always went for the other RFA members—never him.

He thought she was just joking around, replying to her messages flirtatiously, and following along with her calls with entertainment.

His heart slowly warmed up to her charms, and he found himself unconsciously smiling whenever he watched as she left him messages right where the CCTV could see them.

He grew tired of work that he'd been constantly re-doing every time the time loops back to the beginning of her arrival. He is distracted by her and Vanderwood knows it. He came inside the bunker and demanded he get back to work, especially when he was backlogging everything.

He grew so careless that he had almost forgotten about the situation that always happened on the fifth day.

He saw his computer screen light up in codes while there was a red skull that was giving him a warning. The RFA server was hacked.

He was hacked.

He focused on getting the systems back together and tightening the security. While he was working on tightening the security system, he received several messages from the RFA members, asking him about the strange alarm they heard from the app. He tried to keep it as vague as possible until he was sure he had the systems under control.

And once he finally got the servers back to normal, he entered the chatroom and explained the situation. He smiled when MC kept the situation light, not letting her fears get to her. She continued to joke around despite the others being concerned.

He knew he should be over it by now, but he couldn't help but worry about her. He saw the way she paced around the apartment while nervously biting her fingers. He saw the way she stared at the emails, yet to be responded to, before closing the monitor and opening the RFA app. So he called her.

And it seemed like she knew he was worried about her because she was reassuring him of his concerns. She made him laugh, despite the danger she didn't know she was in. She trusted him.

It made his heart soar.

So he went on and built a little robot dog that could spit fire. He thought it was a good idea at first until he thought of the possible injuries she might sustain from it. He showed it to her in the chatroom and she loved it. She loved anything that he made, even though she didn't know all of them.

However, he had to leave to focus more on strengthening the security system in Rika's apartment and finding the hacker.

He called her a few hours later, finally finding a few minutes of free time on his already-packed schedule of things to work on. He worried about her, reassuring her to no end. He played along with her before ending the call with a laugh.

He wanted to meet her badly, but he couldn't.

Vanderwood was watching him, making sure he did his work. He complained to no end and Vanderwood told him he was getting attached.

And that made him freeze.

He wasn't allowed to get attached.

He ignored Vanderwood and instead watched the security monitors, his face flushing when she smiled at him widely with a handwritten message for him to take a break.

So cute, so cute… he thought as he groaned while covering his face. He was distracted by her.

His thoughts are swarming with her, her, her.

He wanted to meet her in person.

He threw those thoughts away, shaking his head.

He can't have romantic feelings towards her.

By the seventh day and onwards, he stayed inside Rika's apartment, along with MC. He tried fixing the security system while being cold towards her.

He didn't want to, but he had already put her life in danger.

Not to mention, he found out the Unknown hacker was his brother.

It made him question what happened to Saeran after he left. He grew suspicious and untrustworthy of V and wondered if he knew about it the entire time.

He tried avoiding talking to MC. He told her that he acts differently in real life compared to his goofy messages in the chatroom. However, she never gave up on him.

No matter how stubborn he was, she never gave up.

So, he hesitated to open his heart towards her. It took a while before he began to open up his past to her, showing her the USB files she tried to access and it was all images of his brother, Saeran.

He gave her the robot cat he destroyed, taking extra care to make sure the robot cat was in a perfect state.

He told her to wait for him as he held her hands and she accepted it.

He goes against V's orders and opens the drawers to see secret documents. He finds an earlier version of the logo found in the emails the RFA members received, as well as blueprints for the building where the emails were sourced.

He stopped the car once they arrived at the building. He and MC went inside and looked around the room. They wandered until they found the computer room. He went on and hacked the monitors, trying to get as much information about 'Mint Eye', but his brother arrived.

He tried convincing Saeran about the truth of what happened, but he didn't believe him. MC showed the contents of the floppy disks. He thought Saeran would finally understand him, but he didn't.

His brother broke down and left in such a hurry.

He and MC left the room to chase after him, but all they saw was V.

V admitted that he saw Vanderwood take Saeran away.

V asked for forgiveness.

He did not accept.

He no longer trusted V.

However, his new mission is to save Saeran.

He told MC she could leave, but she stayed with him.

They didn't join the RFA party.

He held MC's hands as he told her to refer to him by his real name from now on.

She smiled at him. Instead of responding, she kisses him instead.

He held MC close to his chest as they both laid on the bed.

He whispered to her of his fears, and his desire to be with her forever.

He didn't know whether he would survive or not.

He asks if he can embrace her, and she accepts.

He lowered his head so he could properly look at her. She looked back at him, her eyes warm and full of love.

He closes his eyes as his lips make contact with hers.

He finally saved Saeran.

He finally got his brother back—

He was so overjoyed he couldn't stop smiling.

He spun MC around, laughter bubbling in his throat as he looked at her with so much love and affection.

It would take a lot of rehabilitation and therapy for Saeran to recover from his experience in the Mint Eye, and he knows it very well.

He won't leave him.

Never again.

His world is back to binaries and codes when he opens his eyes.

Oh.

Oh.

… right—

He had forgotten about it, too elated to be with MC and reuniting with his brother again.

"Hah…" he chuckled as tears ran down his face. He didn't bother wiping them away, relieved no one would see him in this state.

And yet, it also feels lonely.

Why did he even—

He told himself he wasn't supposed to fall in love with MC, but he couldn't help it. Her charm and personality drew him closer to her. His heart soared whenever she flirted back.

He loved listening to her voice whenever they were on a call.

He loved how she made him laugh.

He loved watching her on the monitor and how she would leave him messages through it or make funny faces.

He wanted her to be his forever.

And she was.

And then she wasn't anymore.

The one hundred and second time it happened, Seven cried.

He finally understands what's happening.

He was not stuck on a time loop.

He was stuck in a game.

He is nothing but a fictional character that exists for the player to fall in love with.

It explains why MC's messages keep changing. It explains why no one remembers what happens.

It explains why MC acts different towards him whenever it was his turn to be pursued. It hurts every time she does.

However, it doesn't explain why he's the only one who remembers everything. He asked the other RFA members about it, but they all replied, not understanding what he meant by it.

He was still unsure whether he was right about it or not, so he joked about it during the chatrooms. Sometimes MC would reply ominously, but there were a few times she didn't know what he was talking about.

He had doubts whenever she didn't know what he meant by it, but the more frequent the odd replies were, the more he believed his theory to be true.

And he doesn't know what to do with this information.

It's world-changing to him.

Seven doesn't know how many times MC has reset the game.

He has grown tired of it.

He is used to MC's patterns.

He knows what happens next. He knows what happens by the end of the eleventh day.

However, the endings change.

The normal ending, the good ending, and the bad ending.

He never liked the bad endings, but those seem to happen often. He doesn't understand why the player likes the bad endings, sometimes a little more than the good endings.

But that didn't matter.

His world repeats over and over again.

And he is the only one who remembers.

He lives his life in a lie.

His thoughts, dialogue—basically everything about him is all because of binaries and codes.

Or maybe he is an error.

707.

A memory that can't be freed or removed.

Was it a coincidence he was named after the 707 error or did the developers make him remember every single route the player takes to make his character more interesting?

He demands answers from them, but he knows he'll never be able to reach far enough for their coding to not affect his decisions and thinking.

He has no control over his own life.

He even begins to question whether what he's thinking right now is his own thoughts or another thing coded on him.

He has grown used to the black and green walls covered in binaries and codes as he awaited for the player to play the game.

His world shifts into color as his bunker appears.

His phone dings and he sighs, putting on a smile as he opens the RFA chatroom to meet the player again.