A/N: The idea for this fanfic stemmed from my obsession with Mystic Messenger, as well as a prompt from the monthly writing challenge that I've personally set for myself (for those that are curious, the prompt was: "Beginning"). There are very mild 707 spoilers, but I hope you enjoy it anyway! Please let me know what you think! ^^

Let's Start Over

Mica tucked a lock of long, brown hair behind her ear as she smiled down at her phone. After downloading the suddenly-popular game, Mystic Messenger, on her Smartphone a few weeks prior, she had already gotten through three routes: Jaehee, Yoosung, and, her favorite by far, 707. To her delight, she still had two more routes to get through, not to mention all the extras to unlock. So, she decided to restart her next play through on her way home from work that day.

It was two in the afternoon when she started the journey home, for she worked the morning shift at the local diner a few blocks from her apartment. However, Mica already knew what happened in the Common Route and could therefore successfully answer each question and win enough hearts to score her next virtual boyfriend. Even so, she paid much more attention to her phone as she walked through the city than the world around her, already engrossed in the now-familiar conversation.

After being unwittingly sent to Rika's apartment- in the virtual world, of course, Unknown had coerced Mica to go inside using the password for the electronically-locked door. The story was the same, as it should be, except for one minor detail: when Unknown sent Mica the password, an actual set of numbers had appeared on-screen as opposed to happening behind-the-scenes in "game time." Mica found this odd, but figured it was part of the latest update and saved the six-digit code in her mental library for later, just in case she needed it for future conversations.

In the game, Mica entered Rika's apartment and Unknown proceeded to delete the data from their chat. In reality, Mica kept walking down the sidewalk, virtually oblivious to the world around her. She smiled at her phone when the familiar music picked up and Yoosung's cheery profile picture appeared on the screen.

Yoosung*: Failed my midterms fml T_T

707: Cuz u played LOLOL all night lol.

Jumin Han: If you want to work for our company, you should take care of your GPA.

Yoosung*: I'm still on the list?! +_+

Jumin Han: Yes.

707: Nice~ Can't believe u get to work straight after college lol

707: In this day and age!

ZEN: Lame. It's nepotism.

Jumin Han: It's called recruitment, actually.

ZEN: It's giving a free pass instead of actually training the worker.

Jumin Han: Whatever. I couldn't care less what you say.

ZEN: What's the difference between recruitment and nepotism?

707: Thought they r the same? O_O

Jumin Han: It's nepotism if you recruit a person you know and they aren't of any help.

Yoosung*: Oh... So you become a candidate for nepotism the same time you're recruited!

707: Wait!

Yoosung*: Why?

ZEN: ?

707: Think someone entered the chat room;;

Jumin Han: Mica...?

ZEN: Wtf. How did it get in here?

707: Hacker!

Yoosung*: Hacker?! Therae's a hacket in ouer rooml!

Yoosung*: Sevnee do somethign!

In reality, Mica let out a little snicker. Her gaze remained fixated to the phone screen in her hands as her feet continued to walk, already knowing the way home through muscle memory. Quietly, someone stepped out from underneath the shadowed awning of a nearby shop and began to follow her.

ZEN: Hey, typos. -_-;;

707: Wait a sec. I'm searching.

Jumin Han: Who are you? Reveal yourself. Hey, Assistant Kang.

Jaehee Kang: Yes, I am here.

ZEN: You were so quiet I thought you went somewhere.

Jaehee Kang: Nothing was out of the ordinary so I was just watching.

Jaehee Kang: but I see something has just happened.

Yoosung*: omg

Jumin Han: Why is a stranger in our chatroom?

Jaehee Kang: No one can enter this chatroom without installing the private app we use.. It seems someone has downloaded the RFA messenger.

Yoosung*: I thought Seven only let us download it?

ZEN: Maybe someone downloaded the app on two phones?

707: Maybe?

Jumin Han: Who downloaded it twice?

Yoosung*: Not me!

Here, the app paused, the "Answer" button blinking yellow. Mica stopped for a moment to respond. Since there were no cars rushing by, she didn't feel the need to check her location just yet- the game came first, as was the case nowadays. She clicked the on-screen button, expecting the only choice available: a shy-sounding, "Hello..."

However, to her great confusion, that response was no longer there. Instead, the application simply pulled up the virtual keyboard on her phone, silently prompting her to type an answer.

"Huh?" Mica wondered aloud. This was a new feature. She didn't think the creators would be able to add personal responses to the already-set storyline. Maybe the new update she'd downloaded the night before came with an AI component? Mica frowned, typed a short response, and hit "Enter."

Mica: Uh... Hey?

Yoosung*: Gahhh it's talking!

ZEN: So it's not two smartphones.

Jumin Han: Who is it?

Yoosung*: Find out what it is!

Jaehee Kang: How did you find out about this place? Where did you download the application?

707: Oh...^^; Wait.

707: Just found something. This is weird.

Zen: What is it. Hurry and tell me.

707: I traced the IP...

707: It's from Rika's apartment.

It was at this moment that Mica felt an in icy chill shoot up her spine. The unmistakable feeling of being watched suddenly overtook her and she whipped her head up, looking around frantically. As she glanced to the right, trying to get her bearings, a flash of silver hair and the tail end of a black, zippered jacket disappeared behind the corner of the alleyway.

Wait- alleyway? Mica never had to pass a creepy alleyway like this one to get back home...

Turning behind her, she realized that, in fact, none of her surroundings were familiar. Slowly, she faced forward. In front of her stood a one-story, floor-level apartment with an unmistakable, electronic password-protected door handle. Mica's face paled. She looked down at the app, to find that the chat had continued on in her momentary distraction. It was now at the point where she was once again expected to respond. Just as before, however, she was only presented with the option to type. No pre-rendered answers this time around, it seemed.

With shaking hands, Mica typed an answer.

Mica: What's happening?! Why am I seeing the apartment in front of me?!

As she waited for a response, a shuffling noise came from the direction of the alley. Mica quickly looked in that direction, fully expecting someone to jump out at her. However, she saw nothing. This only made her feel even more uneasy.

Not knowing what else to do, she cautiously approached the front door to Rika's apartment. Surely this was a dream, right? An obvious sign that she'd been playing way too much of this game. As soon as she touched that door, she would wake up in her bed, back in her familiar room.

To Mica's horror, however, her hand met the door handle just as easily as it would in real life. Moreover, when she typed in the six-digit code that she remembered Unknown passing on to her in the app, there was a little jingle and the door swung open, Mika's mouth falling open along with it. She glanced back down at her phone. She'd missed a lot of messages, but realized that the option to respond was still lighting up even as other characters were still typing. Could she also now interject the conversation whenever she wanted?

It wouldn't hurt to try.

Mica: I'm really confused

Mica: and i'm scared

Mica: this is weird... what's happening?

Yoosung*: ?

ZEN: That's what we want YOU to tell us!

Yoosung*: She finally talked again!^^

Jumin Han: Mica, if that is your real name, please provide us with an explanation. How did you access this application?

Mica swallowed hard. This definitely had to be some sort of AI installed with the new update; there's no way the programmers could have predicted every potential response that a player could write, let alone when they'd write it.

Oh, there was that sudden chill again- it made the hair on the back of Mica's neck stand up and she clenched her teeth instinctively. Shooting a quick look into the alley behind her, she ran into the apartment and slammed the door shut without a second thought.

"What the hell's going on?!" she exclaimed to the deserted apartment. She disliked how the sound echoed desolately around the empty room. Bad things had happened here, she knew, and it gave the place an unnerving vibe. Suddenly, Mica remembered the worst thing of all about being in that apartment.

With a jolt as if she'd been physically struck by something, she wrenched herself away from the door and ran to the dead-center of the room, furiously typing as she moved.

Mica: i'm in the apartmnt for real because someones following me

Mica: if I'm really here, that means theres a bomb!

Mica: pls tell me its not real!

Her entire body trembled as she waited for a response. There was nothing for about five seconds, and then a flood of messages came all at once.

ZEN: What r u TALKING about?

Jumin Han: A bomb?

Jaehee Kang: You can't be serious...

Jaehee Kang: This must be a cruel joke.

ZEN: 707, you're security system is busted...

Yoosung*: A bomb in Rika's apartment? No way!

Yoosung*: Don't joke about things like that!

Yoosung*: Who are you?!

Yoosung*: Seven, WHO IS THIS?

ZEN: Yoosung, calm down...

Jumin Han: Seven, now is not the time to be silent. We need your input. What is going on?

Yoosung*: Seven?! Hello?!

ZEN: You still there, Seven?

Mica: Please... someone tell me what's going on... Am I seriously in danger right now?

Jaehee: ...She seems legitimately concerned. Seven, what is happening?

Yoosung*: 707?

707: ...

ZEN: Finally! He's back!

707: give me a sec

Mica jumped violently when the Mystic Messenger ringtone began to play, phone nearly slipping from her grasp and crashing to the floor. Luckily, she managed to save it and, gripping the slick case as tightly as possible, hit the "Accept Call" icon and placed the phone to her ear. She took a deep breath, but before she could let out a sound, a familiar voice came through the other end.

"How did you know that?!" 707 asked, loudly. To Mica's surprise, he spoke in English, albeit with a strong Korean accent. "About the bomb- how did you know that? Who are you?!"

"I-I... I've played the game three times already," Mica responded softly, utterly confused. Not only was this phone call completely out of place in the timeline of the game itself, but Seven's query was definitely not in the script. Either this AI was extremely intuitive, or something else was going on that existed outside the bounds of what Mica knew to be "reality."

"What do you mean, 'the game?!'" The redhead on the other end of the line sounded frustrated. It reminded Mica of how he sounded during the latter part of his route, and she instinctively winced at his harsh tone.

"This!" Mica gestured to the phone, though she knew he couldn't see it. "This app is just a game! Or... well, it was supposed to be..."

There was a pause. Mica kept the phone up to her ear, but took a moment to look around the apartment. From her vantage point in the center of the room, it looked exactly like a three-dimensional version of the two-dimensional pictures she'd seen in the game, right down to the various binders and papers scattered around the desk and coffee table. The brunette gulped. Whatever was going on definitely didn't bode well with her sense of realism; she wondered if she was losing her mind...

Frowning, she checked her phone to make sure that the phone was still connected. Yes, 707 was still on the line, although he was being unnaturally silent, and, wow, her message alerts were going crazy. Not knowing what else to do, she decided to ask 707 a question in a shaky voice, simply to hear another person speaking; even a reality-bending AI was better than dead silence at this point.

"Er... h-how can you speak English?" Mica grimaced at the phrasing and decided to re-word her query. "I mean... O-Obviously, you probably learned it, but... How did you know that I speak English?"

"Oh, for shits and giggles I installed a translator extension on the RFA app," Seven responded. Though he sounded nonchalant, the desperate clicking of a keyboard in the background told Mica that he was furiously hacking into all of her personal information. She wouldn't be surprised if he actually was doing just that. "Just in case we ever wanted to invite a foreign member to the group, you know? From the second you logged into the chat room, the extension told me that, not only were the messages themselves being translated into English, all components of the app itself were translated as well."

"Oh, I... I see," Mica said quietly, utterly dumbfounded. He sounded legit- like 707... Luciel... Saeyoung, was really on the other line of this phone call. She took another look around the apartment, biting her lip. Maybe she really had seen Unknown- Saeran, really, as she'd recently learned from her last play through, lurking outside just around the corner, waiting for her to falter and thus lead her to a Bad End.

"...This is ridiculous!" she muttered to herself, taking a few steps forward and plopping down on the bed. Though being in the apartment itself made her uneasy, she had no idea where the bomb actually was... plus, at this point in the game- reality, now? ...Whatever this was, at this point the bomb remained safely under the control of the hacker on the other end of the phone. Mica let out a sigh. "I want to go home..."

"Well, since you somehow know what's in the apartment, I'd suggest you stay for a little bit," Seven responded coldly. So much for the happy-go-lucky introduction Mica was used to. "I've looked into who you claim to be, and so far you seem like a normal, American girl... I don't know how or why you have so much information, though, and especially that specific information- I need more time..."

"Sae- er, Seven, I'm not going anywhere," Mica replied, catching herself before saying his birth name. She might know all about him, but obviously the reverse wasn't true at this point and time. She didn't want to give too much away too quickly, at least until she could get a more firm grasp of what was actually going on.

"Good. Just... stay put for now. And please don't say anything else about what's in the apartment in the chatroom; I don't want everyone else to start worrying more than they already are." Mica smiled; that was the kind-hearted Saeyoung that she knew all along. However, her grin quickly turned into another worried frown.

"...This was just supposed to be a fun dating app," she muttered, both to herself and to Seven, hoping (not confidently) that he would be able to tell her what the hell was going on.

"...Dating app? That's what you think this messenger is?" Seven sounded more amused than insulted.

"Yes, that's what it's supposed to be! A game! I've played it before- multiple times! I don't... I don't understand why this time is different... I just wanted to pick a new person and follow the story through again. I only have two more routes to go..."

There was another long pause. Even Seven's keyboard stopped clicking. A dark ball of dread began forming in the pit of Mica's stomach. Eventually, Seven spoke.

"Well, I'd suggest that you get back on the messenger and pick a route soon," he said, his tone back to that of the cold, calculating hacker trapped behind the screen. "The others are really starting to freak out, MC. Ah, sorry- can I call you MC for short?"

"Wait, Seven-"

"I have to go. I'll call you again soon." His comment left no room for argument. Mica's eyes widened and she gripped the phone tighter- surely he wouldn't leave her to the whims of this distorted reality so soon, would he?! As she was about to speak, the hacker gave one final comment:

"Oh, and Mica? Welcome to the RFA."

With that, the phone call clicked to an end and the girl was left with nothing but silence in the empty apartment. This silence, however, only lasted for about two seconds before her alert tone rang. Mica checked her phone, hands shaking.

A new chat room had just opened, courtesy of 707. The title read:

Let's Start Over: Welcome, MC.