CODE : SURVIVAL (BTS X READER)

Chapter Thirteen: Welcome to Level 3 - The Wild Code

Yet they all felt it.

They were being watched.

“Do you think it’s animals?” Hoseok asked after a while, trying to keep his voice steady.

Y/n shook her head. “Not normal ones. This game… there's nothing normal.”

Namjoon stopped, pointing to faint claw marks on a tree trunk. Deep. Fresh. Too high for anything on four legs.

“We need weapons,” Jin said tightly. “Real ones.”

“I saw some bamboo shoots back there,” Jimin offered. “Strong enough to make spears.”

“Good idea,” Namjoon said. “Let’s collect a few.”

While some of them cut branches and sharpened ends into crude weapons, others kept watch, back to back. The air grew hotter, heavier, as the sun rose higher. Insects buzzed louder, as if agitated by an invisible pressure.

Finally, they regrouped, now slightly armed and more focused.

Just as they were about to move again, a shrill, inhuman scream pierced the forest.

Everyone froze.

“What the hell was that?” Jungkook asked, breath hitching.

They didn’t wait to find out.

They ran.

Branches tore at their clothes. Vines snapped underfoot. Whatever was behind them gave chase—its sounds were impossibly fast, too smooth, too unnatural.

They didn’t look back.

Only when the jungle thinned into a mossy grove and the sound disappeared did they collapse, panting, gasping, wide-eyed.

Their time in Level 3 had begun—and it had no intention of letting them rest.

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They moved silently now.

Twigs snapped underfoot, vines tangled around their legs, and sweat soaked through their clothes, but none dared complain. The air had grown thicker—heavier, as though the forest itself was watching them.

Birds had gone silent.

That was the first sign.

Y/n gripped the strap of her bag, eyes scanning every leaf and shadow. She tried to remember this part. The fanfiction had described a jungle... hadn’t it? But everything was a blur, like fogged glass. Her memories came like fragments now—flashes of emotions, pieces of text—but the details were fading faster than she wanted to admit.

They regrouped near a decaying jeep half-swallowed by moss and vines.

“This jungle wasn’t here yesterday,” Jin muttered, looking up at the trees. “The rules of this game are changing.”

“No,” Namjoon said grimly. “The levels are evolving.”

Suddenly, the ground shook.

Once.

Twice.

“Is that… an earthquake?” Hoseok asked, stepping back.

“No,” Yoongi said, his voice low. “It’s walking.”

They all turned toward the sound.

Branches cracked in the distance.

And then it emerged.

It didn’t look like a monster at first.

It was the jungle.

Its body was an amalgamation of bark, moss, and thorns. Vines slithered across its limbs like muscles. Its shoulders sprouted trees twisted into a crown, leaves rustling when it moved. The face was the most human thing about it—if you could call it a face. Bark twisted into the suggestion of cheekbones and a jawline, but its eyes were hollow, dripping sap that hissed when it hit the ground.

Roots grew and retracted from its back like breathing lungs.

As it stepped forward, the earth obeyed it—shrubs parted, and branches bent. The creature was the forest.

“Defilers,” it rumbled in a deep, guttural voice, more felt in the chest than heard. “You walk where you do not belong.”

Its fingers extended—long tendrils of ivy tipped with thorns that dripped black liquid.

Jungkook stepped back. “What the—what is that thing?!”

“A guardian,” Namjoon guessed, voice shaking. “Of this level. Of the jungle.”

“Run?” Yoongi asked again.

Y/n opened her mouth to shout yes—when the monster moved.

Fast.

Too fast.

A root shot from the ground, nearly wrapping around Taehyung’s ankle.

“RUN!” Namjoon bellowed.

They tore through the jungle, dodging vines that lashed out like whips. The forest was alive now, working with the guardian. Trees shifted. Paths changed. Thorns erupted from trunks as if grown in seconds.

The game wanted them dead.

Y/n’s leg caught a root, and she stumbled—but Jungkook grabbed her, pulling her up with both hands.

“Stay close!” he said, not letting go of her wrist.

Behind them, the monster let out a roar—like the sound of splintering wood and thunder crashing together. Animals scattered. The air reeked of sap, rot, and danger.

They dove into a hollowed-out tree trunk just as a massive vine smashed down where Y/n had been.

For a moment, everything was still.

They lay in the dark, breathing hard, faces covered in sweat and dirt.

Y/n’s heart thumped wildly in her chest.

She could still hear the monster searching.

But her thoughts were louder:

She’d read this level. She remembered the jungle. She remembered the guardian’s name...

But not anymore.

It was like someone had taken an eraser to her memories—scrubbing out pieces every time she advanced.

She looked at Jungkook, who was still holding her wrist, his chest rising and falling fast.

“You okay?” he whispered.

She nodded.

But in her mind?

No.

She wasn’t.

And something was telling her—they hadn't seen the worst of this jungle yet.

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