Before I continue, at least let me explain why Jeongyeon and I snuck into DahTzu’s camp in the first place.

Mina wanted me to kill them for their experience points, mainly so that I can hurry and level up. It was also her way of dealing with their incompetence. Two birds with one stone, right? 

There was one problem with that whole thing: I’m not an assassin, plain and simple. Killing people in their sleep was a terrible thing to do, whether it was in a game or not. Besides, Dahyun, as I recalled, could feel the Phenomenon. If I harmed her, she’d feel every slice, every cut. The very thought of trying to kill her in such a terrible way was sickening.

My plan involved keeping them alive. The knife was symbolic; if I snuck in while they slept, stabbed the dirt between them, and then left, when they awoke, they’d find that I was a good person worthy of their trust for not killing them. I’d need their trust for the next part of my awesomely strategized plan.

I struck true, the knife digging deep into the ground with a soft but satisfying crunch. I rose, wiping sweat off my forehead, and signaled to Jeongyeon that the deed was done. She nodded and stepped out with me into the night air. Quietly, we took any weapons they had nearby and snuck away, just to be safe. If they didn’t agree to my terms, they might get angry and try to kill us. Not having weapons would make it easier for Jeongyeon and I.

Once we were at the edge of the clearing, far away enough that we had enough distance between us if things went awry, I pulled my pan flute out and blew as hard as I could.

The only way in which I can describe the sound it let out was that it sounded like a hoarse screech, not unlike the way a person who’s been crying for a long time sounds. It echoed through the clearing, loud and clear, and there was an immediate response, the exact one I wanted. Inside the tent, Dahyun and Tzuyu scrambled out. They immediately searched for weapons, but when they saw that all of them were gone, they looked dumbstruck.

“Now,” Jeongyeon said, and we stepped out into clear view. Tzuyu recognized us first.

“You! ChaeYoungster!”

“Yeah,” I began, walking their way in a slow manner. I didn’t want to spook them, in case Dahyun had some spells up her sleeve that could be summoned in less than a second’s notice. “It’s me. Listen carefully. I have instructions for you. Follow them, and maybe you won’t be hurt in the process.”

Dahyun and Tzuyu exchanged glances, and I continued. 

“Look inside your tent. There, you’ll find a dagger–“

“Knife!” 

“–you’ll find a knife embedded into the dirt. I put it there. I was above your bodies and you were at my mercy. I could have killed you, but I did not.” Just as I asked, Dahyun and Tzuyu peeked in, finding Jeongyeon’s knife exactly as I described. “In exchange for such...kindness,” I struggled to say, feeling a little weird about asking them to be thankful that I didn't kill them. “Um, I want to ask for your help. Accept and surrender yourselves first, and then I’ll continue.”

Dahyun and Tzuyu shared another look. Dahyun nodded, and I relaxed. I smirked at Jeongyeon, proud of myself. This strategy was easy peasy. Maybe I was cut out to be—

I got cocky . I stopped paying attention to my surroundings, and that’s when Dahyun, who had secretly pulled out Jeongyeon’s razor-sharp dagger from the dirt, threw it directly at my head. 

It struck me straight in the eye.

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever had something sharp and deadly strike you in one of the most vulnerable and vital parts of your body? It’s not pretty, I’ll tell you that, though I’m sure anyone could imagine it.

I screamed and fell to my knees, the pain making it hard to hold myself up anymore.

“Chaeyoung!” I was vaguely aware of Jeongyeon shaking me and calling my name, but the shock of the attack was too strong. It was like being frozen solid. Even if I wanted to move, I couldn’t, and I was cold all over. 

I started shaking really badly, the shock wearing off and leaving me with a more intense feeling of utter pain. It became hot suddenly, unbearably hot, and I began to sweat like as if I was in a jungle in the middle of the hottest day instead of in a forest on a cold night.

I heard grunts in front of me, but I couldn’t tell what was happening exactly. Maybe Dahyun had decided to attack Jeongyeon next and they were currently in battle. 

I started crying because I knew that I’d have to pull the knife out in order to heal myself properly. With my good eye, the right eye, I watched my shaky hand raise and pull up the spells menu. I selected the only spell in my arsenal, the Heal spell, and equipped it. I numbly wondered if it would be possible to heal the wound a bit, then pull on the knife a little, repeating the process until I safely pulled out the wretched thing with nearly no pain. I didn’t get to find out.

All the commotion didn’t go unnoticed by a third party. As I kneeled on the ground, the moon had been shining brightly above me, but at that moment, a mountain rose above me, blocking the light. They had barely registered in my brain, those deep growls, when something that felt akin to a thick three trunk swiped at me, making me fly to the far right. The impact of landing on the ground sent a shockwave through my head and I was sure the knife had been pushed deeper into my eye socket.

“Chaeyoung!” I heard Jeongyeon again, but my name was followed by a pained grunt and a limp body landed on top of me, knocking any breath I had out of me. The hair of the body was blonde, and I was horrified to see it was, of course, my friend. My good eye traveled up and I calmed a little when I saw she still had HP left. 

YooTheBest, LVL 60

86 HP

Jeongyeon was just out cold for a moment, I guessed, since nearly ¾ of her health was gone. Shakily, I removed her from myself and tried to continue healing. My own health was pathetic at 5 points away from death, due to the knife and Gucci’s swing.

Dahyun, with Tzuyu in tow, walked close and peered at us. There was an indiscernible expression on Dahyun’s face, but Tzuyu looked very uncomfortable. 

“Did Mina send you?” Dahyun asked me, but I couldn’t speak. Moving my jaw felt like a terrible idea with the head-splitting headache that was working it’s way down starting at the top of my skull. She became angrier for that and her face reddened. “I asked, did Mina send you or not?”

I wasn’t sure how she had figured that but assumed she had her own reasons to assume that this was all Mina’s doing. 

Tzuyu whistled an order to Gucci, and the beast reared itself, ready to pounce on Jeongyeon and I, when, suddenly! A volley of arrows flew over the tops of the trees behind me!

Each arrow struck true and got Gucci square in its exposed shoulder. It let out a pained wail then fell to the ground with a thump. It wasn’t dead, I could tell by it’s heavy breathing, but it was actively taking damage from the arrows; the Cerberus turned green, yellow and red intermittently, indicating poison damage, similarly to how Nayeon’s poisoned bolt had done to SaMo.

There must have been about thirty of forty arrows lodged into Gucci’s body, too many to have been shot by Momo and Sana alone. They were damn good archers, but they weren’t that good, were they?

Tzuyu cried out the beast’s name but found no time to care for it as an entire group of girls rushed in from the forest and into the clearing. They rushed into Dahyun and Tzuyu, smothering them before they could react at all. Beside me, I saw Jeongyeon sit upright to watch the scene before us. 

When the dust cleared, Dahyun and Tzuyu were bound by the very ropes that had held their tent. 

Who were these newcomers that came just when things were getting dire? 

Jeongyeon got up and tripped over to them and one of the mysterious girls met her halfway. It was— Jihyo?

Carefully, I sat up and saw that the large group of girls was nothing more than just Nayeon, Momo, Sana and Jihyo, but cloned somehow. Before my eye, more than a third of the girls shimmered out of existence, leaving my four friends left. I gasped in awe. Was that a special kind of illusion? Who had such a cool ability? I wasn’t sure, but figured I’d find out in due time.

“Chaeyoung!” Nayeon noticed me in my bad state first and darted over, the glowing ball that was a healing spell already in her left hand. “I didn’t think it would be this bad.” She reached for the knife but I whimpered, scared of the pain that would come from removing it.

“No, Nayeon, please,” I said weakly.

“Oh, Chaeyoung… We have to get it out. Heal yourself first, though. If we don’t get your health up, I’m afraid I’ll end up killing you,” she said, referencing my 5 HP. I nodded, equipped the spell, and soon my left eye felt like the physical embodiment of static: it was uncomfortable in a way that felt like I had a whole hive of bees nestled carefully between my brain and my skin. However, it was a more welcome sensation than just straight up pulling the knife out with no aid. After filling my health about halfway, she began to tug on the knife, asking me to continue healing myself.

I’m not gonna pretend like it didn’t still hurt. Of course it did. There’s something that feels wrong–unnatural– about having something foreign move inside of you. But you know what hurt more? Yes, more than a knife to the eye, it hurt to see Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana and Jihyo look at me with such pain and worry in their eyes. 

Jeongyeon couldn’t even look directly at me. Her eyes hovered somewhere to my left, and I knew then that she blamed herself, at least partially, for what had transpired, though it’s obvious that none of it was. All of this, their evident sadness about seeing me in so much pain, it was...horrifying. 

It had always been obvious that I needed to get better at this game to level up and get Mina out of here, but at that moment, I found another reason to fight so hard: my friends, the new ones I had made here in Paracosmos.

By the time I ran out of magic points (I was really jealous of Jihyo and Jeongyeon’s seemingly endless reserve), the knife was out. 

I felt warm tears prickle my eyes and I thanked her for her help. If she hadn’t helped me, I think I would have preferred to just keep the weapon embedded into my socket than risk any more pain. 

“Hey, no problem. How do you feel?” Nayeon said, a small, motherly smile on her face.

I felt a phantom pain there, in my left eye, like it was still in there, pushing deep. It was almost like the time Dahyun killed me, sending me to the Game Over screen. I remembered feeling a numb pain between my eyes, like the arrow she shot into me was still there. “It almost feels weird to be able to see through both eyes,” I opted to say instead, wanting to get past it. 

Nayeon frowned. Could she tell I was hiding how traumatized I was? Either way, she dropped it quickly, turning instead to our new hostages.

All of 6Mix gathered around DahTzu, in fact. Tzuyu seemed quite calm despite being tied up, almost like she had accepted the loss already. On the opposite end of the spectrum was Dahyun, agitated, demanding to be released. 

“Alright. I will. Well, maybe. You didn’t take up my first offer and instead attacked me, but I’m nice and will offer again. Surrender completely and join our team, at least temporarily.”

“Why do you need us? Did Mina send you?” Dahyun asked, squirming in her rope handcuffs.

“In a way. She sent me here to kill you for your EXP,” I said, noticing how Dahyun didn’t look too surprised. She must have expected that, some sort of punishment for failing to bring me to Mina. 

“Well? Why didn’t you? We were asleep. You could have slit our throats and we wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it.” Dahyun’s words made Tzuyu frown deeply. She seemed troubled, like she didn’t agree with Dahyun at all. 

“Because I want you two on my team– not necessarily in the guild yet, but you can accompany us, add more experience to the pool. I mean, you girls definitely know stuff about this game that I lack,” I said as convincingly as possible. “Stuff that I need .” 

“Like, perhaps, info on how to defeat Mina in your final battle,” Tzuyu said, and interestingly enough, there was no hint of a question in the statement. The hair on my skin bristled. I had no idea that they knew about it, as I had assumed that Mina had kept the fact from them, almost jealously. I should have figured though, that she’d boast her evil plans not only to me, but to anyone that would listen. 

“Yes,” I breathed out, and Sana jumped in to ask how Tzuyu knew about that.

“She never shuts up about it. Originally, I chalked it up to Mina having some sort of persecution complex, overly paranoid over nothing. Everytime she rambled to Dahyun and I about her plans, it gave me that vibe. Now, after all of this, I see I was wrong.”

“You want us to join your circus troupe and in exchange, I get to help you and exact my revenge on Mina?” Dahyun said darkly, an odd little smirk on her face. “Well, sign me up.” She raised her tied fists in the air, and so did Tzuyu.

So they made their choice.

Gingerly, Jeongyeon handed me that cursed knife and I cut DahTzu free, but not before warning them, specifically Dahyun: “I see you’re easily motivated by revenge. Your attack on me and my friends in those plains and now this? You’re volatile and easily swayed by your own emotions. Don’t think I won’t keep an eye on you.”

“Don’t be so quick. I’m not crazy,” Dahyun said, rather unconvincingly. “I do want revenge, but I’ll do it vicariously through you. Mina deserves to be taken down a peg, and a little break in playing the game to go with you would be the big blow to her pride. That’s all I desire. Truly.” She and Tzuyu rose from the ground they had sat upon and stretched now that they were free. Dahyun rotated her head, making her blue hair fly around. 

Tzuyu took special interest in her wrists, which were heavily chafed. I felt guilty about it, as Tzuyu seemed like the chillest out of the two, but a quick healing spell and the harm was gone. “Now is a good time as any to...apologize for Gucci. I don’t know if, besides ChaeYoungster and Dahyun, any of you feel pain here, but if you do… sorry. I was just playing the game, you know?” 

Nayeon raised her eyebrows, and I thought she’d dismiss her, but instead she shrugged. “It’s fine. You seem nice, so you’re forgiven.” Sana didn’t like that one bit. I could tell by her derisive snort.

“Anyway, what’s our first move, captain?” Dahyun interrupted, her tone lightly dipped in sarcasm.

I tried to act like it didn’t get to me as I adjusted the straps of my leather armor, making a point to show that this was once hers and that it was mine now. I said, through gritted teeth, “Jihyo is the one you’ll be answering to. She’s the guild leader.” I stepped back and gestured to the aforementioned leader.

Dahyun is an already pale girl, but when she saw Jihyo, she blanched even more. She looked afraid of her. “Is- is that a full set of heavy armor?”

“Yes,” Jihyo answered. 

“As in, armor that the warrior class uses, one of the only classes with enough stamina to use it?”

“The very type of armor.”

“And is it Dragon Scale armor? The kind of armor that requires either a fat purse full of coin to purchase, or the person to defeat an actual...dragon?” Dahyun asked again, her voice shaking slightly.

I had no idea what was going on, but the air was tense. The sky above us was already dark, but it was darkening even more.

“Yes, that’s exactly what it is,” Jihyo patiently answered again. Behind her, Nayeon tried to hide a proud smile.

Dahyun wasn’t done with her questions, it seems. She asked a final one. “Which was it? Did you buy that full Dragon Scale set? Or did you kill a high level boss yourself?”

Jihyo smiled and s her way to Dahyun until they were toe-to-toe. “ around and find out,” she said, calmly. Cooly. I saw Dahyun swallow cartoonishly.

“Okay. Well, I’m not going to do anything to find out. I was just wondering, of course. We’re a team now, are we not?” Dahyun turned to me and held her palms up, as if she was surrendering. “All I’ll be doing is ensuring that you get to that point where you’re confident you can defeat Mina. Cross my heart.” The little smirk that accompanied those words was something rather unsettling. There was something not right about it. 

Right then, as if agreeing with me, a clap of thunder sounded all through the forest and beyond. It’s a trap! it seemed to say to me, but to everyone else, all this meant was that it was time to find shelter. As the rest of the team scrambled to put up shelters, Jihyo requested I join her to the edge of where the forest begins, where we’d left our horses. They carried more than half of our equipment, including the stuff for the tents. 

During our run, she must’ve noticed I was deep in thought, because she nudged me carefully.

“A gold coin for your thoughts?”

I really didn’t feel like telling her about my bad feelings toward Dahyun. I didn’t know how to put it into words that she creeped me out, because there was a little doubt in me; I wasn’t sure if I just held a grudge toward her because she was the one who threw the knife at my eye or if she actually gave off bad vibes. I also feared Jihyo would kick Dahyun and Tzuyu out of the team just because of my suspicions, and we’d already gotten this far into my plan. I lied to her.

“Just thinking about how little I know. With just a glance, Dahyun noticed you had dragon armor, or whatever it’s called. When you first showed me your outfit, I didn’t think it was anything special. If it weren’t for her, I probably would have finished this quest of ours and not known about how special your armor is.”

“And you feel bad about that?”

“Yes. The more and more I learn, the more and more I realize I don’t know anything.”

“Don’t worry, Chaeng. This knowledge comes from exploring the world, entering shops and defeating enemies. From here on out, we’ll be doing more than that, and we’ll point out all new things to you. Soon, you’ll be a pro at this game. Promise.” 

I genuinely smiled at her, because although that hadn’t been what was actually on my mind, it had been a thing that I was insecure about. I definitely knew very little about anything, from armor to exploration, magic to the creatures of this world. But now, my mind was more at peace.

We made camp where Dahyun and Tzuyu had previously made their own and settled down for what remained of the night. I got to sleep with Momo and Sana, which was good because there weren’t enough blankets and SaMo were cuddlers. They let me sleep between them and they held me tight. It felt...nice. Comfortable and warm. I found myself actually able to fall asleep, which was probably more than I could say about Nayeon, who had to sleep with Dahyun and Tzuyu to keep watch over them. 

I worried for her when we all got up in the rainy morning and began to pack up for the journey ahead. Jihyo was more chill now, but she was still giving Nayeon the cold shoulder, which to watch, both because I know Jihyo was right to be hurt, but also because Nayeon had the world’s cutest pout. 

“Hey,” I whispered to her when I was done picking up my stuff. “How’d you sleep?” 

Nayeon frowned and tried to hide her growing pout. “It was fine.”

“Are you sure? You can talk to me, you know?” I tugged on her sleeve to make her look at me, and I tried to convey with my face that I was serious. 

Nayeon deflated. Got her . “It really was fine. It does hurt that Jihyo is still pushing me away though. I wish she’d let me explain, wish she could understand that it was like I was under a spell when I kissed Mina. I didn’t actually do it because I wanted to, but because something about Mina drew me to her. I don’t know what she did, but I guess it doesn’t matter. Jihyo doesn’t seem to want to hear about it anyway.” She finished fixing her bedroll and strapped it to the rest of the pack, then looked at me with a hint of a smile. “Thanks though.”

“Did you guys not talk it out at all at the town in the mountain peak?” I asked as I looked around. It seemed like all of the packing up was done. Jihyo, Jeongyeon and Sana were discussing something, so we weren’t able to move yet. 

“No. We didn’t get to. You disappeared, remember? I think we were about to go to the inn and finally settle everything, but that’s when Jeongyeon noticed you weren’t with us and we all set out to look for you.”

“Right,” I said, embarrassed now. I didn’t think that my wandering off would make Nayeon’s chance of reconciliation fly out of the window. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking when I wandered.”

“‘S’alright, Chaeng. It’ll happen eventually, maybe outside of Paracosmos. We’ll definitely have to talk in real life about it.” Nayeon patted my head. “What’s our next move?” she asked, the little meeting over now.

Jeongyeon frowned in my direction, but I knew it wasn’t necessarily directed at me. I hadn’t done anything yet. “Chaeyoung hasn’t saved her game yet. Right?”

I nodded, pretty sure about it. Jeongyeon nodded back and looked at Jihyo. 

“Well, that should be our next goal, to find one. She’s at level 7 now and needs to save this progress in case we come across more problems. Sounds good?” Jihyo looked around to get the opinion of everyone in the guild. Momo nodded, as did Nayeon and everyone else. “Good. Chaeyoung. Come here. You’re gonna want to learn this.”

Jihyo pulled her map out of thin air and pointed at a specific little spot to the south of where we were. It was marked by a tiny circle icon that resembled a whirlpool. Actually, when I looked around at her map, there were tons and tons of those splashed around, almost evenly throughout the map of the continent of Mwong-Mi. I knew those weren’t on my own map, and at that moment I realized what those little icons were. “Save points,” I breathed out. 

“Yeah. These are all save points. They’re only marked on your map once you discover them. You haven’t found a single one, so you don’t have any on yours.” Jihyo pointed to the same location again. “This right here is the closest one to us. It’s in the Odi Desert, just southwest of here. It’ll be awhile to get there, but we can train you as we travel.”

I nodded, still looking at her map. It was actually full of many, many other icons that I wouldn’t even guess the meaning of. Maybe soon? “So you’ve been to the Odi Desert?”

Jihyo nodded. “Yeah. It’s a desert where the features are all the same, making it hard to get out of unless you’re constantly using your map to make sure you’re not going in a circle. Difficult, since there are also a ton of enemies to encounter there.”

I shivered. “Oh boy, can’t wait for that.”

Momo winked at me. “We’ll help you. Don’t worry about that. There are eight of us, so while one person has the map out, the rest are good to fight.”

“Does ChaeYoungster have a weapon?” Tzuyu asked, who was near the back of the gathering. Everyone made space for her to walk forward. “Or will you be needing one?”

I thought about it. Did I? I remembered...something, like it was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t quite place it. Oh well. I did, however, remember my pan flute. I pulled it out and played a little note, making everyone jump away in fright. Oops.

“You’re a BARD? ” Dahyun exclaimed rather angrily. Now I was the one to jump back in fear. “A damn Bard. Great. I’m never gonna get my revenge. We might as well give up now, because there’s no way she’ll ever be able to beat Mina.”

“Hey,” I said, surprisingly defensive toward whatever a Bard was. “I was able to get your horse to throw you off, completely turning the tides in our favor, if I remember correctly.” 

Jihyo stepped between us and I shut up immediately, not wanting her to cast another Silence spell. “Enough, enough. We don’t know what Chaeyoung is yet–“

“Only Bards can play instruments, though! And that would explain why she’s leveling up so slowly!” Dahyun interrupted, choosing a very bad hill to die on. Sana pulled out her bow and in a second had an arrow notched and pointed at Dahyun’s heart. 

“Jihyo said to shut the hell up! She can’t be a Bard, nobody ever chooses the Bard class!”

“Actually, Sana, little tiny reminder that, uh, I don’t know what my class is. I accidentally randomized it.”

Jihyo rolled her eyes and waved at Sana, telling her to put her bow away. “Okay! Listen! We’re not going to make assumptions! We can’t be...too sure. Only time will tell if she’s a Bard or not.” I could tell she was trying to convince herself more than everyone else. Clearly, being in the Bard class was a terrible thing, if the ever-sensible Jihyo was ignoring the damning evidence: both Sana and Dahyun had both said that only Bards can play instruments, and that’s exactly what I’d been doing for the past few days.

“Here,” Tzuyu said, handing me a small, simple blade with a leather-bound hilt.

“Thank you for the knife–“

“ Dagger,” Jeongyeon corrected for the millionth time.

I clenched my teeth. “Thanks for the dagger!” And I meant it. I really was thankful for it, appreciating Tzuyu’s effort into making sure I don’t die too easily.

“You’re welcome. I think I owe you for treating you like a bowling pin for so long.”

I laughed at that, already relaxing and enjoying Tzuyu’s company.

Soon, we headed south toward the mysterious Odi Desert. It took us three days to get there, but just as I was promised, they were filled to the brim with information and training. 

For one, I learned more about Perks, which were special abilities unlocked with points you earn for leveling up. Jeongyeon had already touched on that before, but now that I actually had points to spend, it was high time I really learned about Perks. At some point I had leveled up to 7, granting me six whole points, one for each level up.

Excluding myself, all of 6Mix had really cool perks: dash abilities, quick health regeneration, resistance to magic, all that jazz. Momo and Sana had unlocked a cool perk that let them draw their weapons two times faster than normal!

There were so many different options, neatly organized into webs, that I had a hard time choosing. Thanks to my team, though, we decided on this:

• 2 points for Quick Health Regen, resulting in a 10% total increase.
• 1 point for a Light Armor Bonus, letting me take more damage when wearing all light armor.
• 2 points for Resist Damage, letting me take more damage overall.
• 1 point to increase the effects caused by my flute. Before it only created a Confusion effect, but now it also caused Slow, which, surprise! Slowed down enemies.

Jihyo tried her best to object to the last point going toward the flute effects, but Momo and Sana were very stubborn when it came to it. I tried not to act like I was picking a side, but SaMo were right; I needed that extra effect for my only true weapon.

I also learned that I could harvest flowers and other organic matter to create potions and poisons. ‘Alchemy,’ Nayeon called it. I quickly learned a few recipes.

Among other things, I learned about magic and how to obtain more spells, about armor and the different advantages each type has, how quests work, and a lot more about weapons. 

Tzuyu requested I keep training with swords, bows and blades, since Bards are apparently supposed to be good with them, and eventually, after much blood, sweat and tears, I finally got the hang of Jeongyeon’s short sword and the dagger. I definitely needed more archery practice, though, but I was content with the progress I was making. 

With all that I had been learning on those three days, I leveled up to 14. I no longer felt like much of a burden.

The night before we reached the Odi Desert’s lone save point, Jihyo suggested we rest instead of braving the last leg of the journey. It was dark, and at night deserts get cold, so not one soul disagreed. Using some dry desert brush and Dahyun’s fire stream spell, we made a campfire and began to set up our tents.

I was feeling really good about myself. I mean, c’mon, level 14? Seven whole levels after only a handful of days? It gave me an unshakable high! I found I was actually excited about entering the cave where the save point was, ready to fight low-level gremlins like Jihyo said there were. 

I had too much energy to sleep, so I crept a ways from the campsite with my dagger, planning to practice a few Nayeon taught me.

I worked up a sweat and slashed the air for a few minutes before a voice behind me said “Hey, Chaengie. Mind if I join you?”

I turned to see Momo, a blade of her own in her hand.

“Not one bit. Let’s train together!” Since Rangers also use blades, Momo was giving those a chance too, saying she was tired of depending on her bow so much.

“Is it yours?” I asked, head motioning to the blade in her hand, and Momo shook her head, saying it was Sana’s.

“She has more sense than me and bought one a while ago with some spare gold we had,” she said, in a voice that sounded very awed. 

We began to practice combat, with me slashing in arcs and Momo choosing to go for stabbing motions. They were totally different strategies, different approaches in using our blades, but, as Nayeon said as she trained me, “they both get the job done.”

At some point, Sana shuffled close, observing us as we turned each other into bleeding, panting Swiss cheese. 

When we got too tired to continue slashing at each other, Momo and I dropped to the sand in exhaustion, laughing at how much we had been sweating. In the campfire glow, I watched as Sana pulled up a healing spell and healed both Momo and I, a small smile on her face as she did so. It was really sweet of her and felt like an oddly tender thing to do. Sana sat between us and pulled us closer onto an extra comfortable lump of cool sand to relax and watch the fire crackle.

“You two did really, really well,” Sana said after a few moments of silence. By this time I had rested my head on her shoulder and sort of fallen asleep, but I managed to hear those words and wake myself up.

“Yeah,” I drawled out lazily. “I think that, if we stick to what we’re working toward, we could really round out the group, you know?”

“What do you mean?” Momo asked from Sana’s other shoulder.

“Hmm. Well, Jihyo uses a broadsword and a few illusion spells, like the one she used to clone you, right?” I had learned after a while that Jihyo was the one that had the ability to clone her guild x3 at the cost of half of her health. Now that’s a perk. “Jeongyeon uses her short sword and knife, Nayeon uses a crossbow and a sword sometimes, Tzuyu has her three-headed dog and giant sword, Dahyun has a bow and magic staff. Sana has her bow and blade, and you have your bow and blade too! I’m learning about swords and I have my flute. I think that’s a really cool thing, that we have a good variety of weapons. Aren’t we kinda unstoppable?”

Momo and Sana shook their heads. “That’s good,” Sana said, “but we don’t have much in the way of healers. Brute force is fine, but we need people that can also focus on med support. I think some, if not all of us, have just that basic healing spell.”

They were right. It had completely slipped from my mind that support was an important component. 

“You two know a lot about how to play,” I noticed. I realized that I hadn’t gotten to know them at the same length I’d gotten to know 3Mix, who I exchanged bits of information with. I wanted to do the same with Sana and Momo, now that I had the chance right in front of me. “Do you two play a lot of videogames?”

Momo poked the fire with a stick. “Nah. Sana and I haven’t played videogames much. It’s not really our thing.” Sana nodded in agreement, and I sat up, surprised.

“Really? Then how are you guys so good at this? In real life, this game has only been out for around a week and you girls seem like...experts to me!”

“We’re blonde,” Sana winked at me, “but we’re not dumb. We learn pretty quickly. Besides, we have played a few games; the games we’ve played so far have had the same format as Paracosmos.”

Oh.

Sana patted my head and continued. “Momoring and I prefer to play DnD more. It’s a role playing game too, so it helps a lot with knowing how classes and magic systems work in RPG videogames.”

“DnD? Is that Dungeons & Dragons?” 

They both nodded. I remembered it being a game that Mina had begged me to play with her for years, but I refused each time, afraid of looking like a loser.

Sana giggled. “What? Are you surprised?” I nodded, and she said “C’mon, Chaeyoung, don’t tell me you’re one of those people that thinks DnD is for people with no friends.”

“Well…” I scratched the back of my head. “I’m changing my mind now!”

Momo scoffed. “It’s fun, Chaeng. You get to have fun adventures with your friends, and you don’t even have to get up from your couch. You get to see the creative side of your friends come out as they create their character and their corresponding backstories.” She turned to Sana and gave her a knowing smile. “You should’ve the super cool Orc archer Sana created once. We had a seriously interesting campaign because of it.”

“Aww, Momoring. You always talk about her. I’m really glad you liked her. Chaeyoung, you should have seen Momo’s Wood Elf build, and the backstory she gave them.” The look they shared was drenched in tenderness and love. Sana wrapped her arms around Momo so lovingly that it slipped out of my lips before I could process it:

“Are you two dating?”

To their credit, they didn’t pull away from each other dramatically. Sana simply frowned a little and Momo blushed, but neither of them tore themselves away. I even think that Sana may have gripped Momo’s torso even tighter. “No,” she whispered, though she looked very hard at Momo, who was avoiding all eye contact. Sana looked like she was unsure of something as she watched her.

“Momo?” I called.

“No. We’re just...friends.” She cleared and said no more. 

“ Best friends,” Sana added. “Remember? I told you at the inn’s tavern.” 

Right. She had, at the same time when she told me that Momo was acting differently in Paracosmos. But back then, there had been no signs of wistfulness; this time, with Momo there, I felt there was regret in both girls’ voices. 

Did one of them like the other? Were they friends with benefits or something? I asked myself all of this but didn’t have the courage to voice them. If this was the case of unrequited love, I’d let them settle it by themselves. Carefully, I changed the subject. 

“Well, I’m glad that as best friends you spend so much time together creating nice memories. It makes me think about the relationship Mina and I have.” It looked like my idea to switch topics was a good one as I watched Momo look less tense in Sana’s arms. Sana’s face returned to her resting face again, a warm smile now replacing the concerned frown. I continued. “I told you before that I always turned down my best friend’s offers to come hang out, play a few videogames or even talk about her more...nerdy interests. She tried very often, in fact, maybe hoping I would one day change my mind. She even invited me to meet her other friends, to at least watch them play some shooting games together.”

Slowly it was dawning on me how terrible of a friend I was. 

“That– erm, Chaeyoung? That doesn’t sound very good,” Sana said, coming to the very same conclusion. “If she hadn’t had other friends that shared her interests, she wouldn’t have had anyone to talk to about what she liked. You’re lucky she did.”

I was. I recognized that. 

“It’s really unlike the way I imagined you,” Momo said, the corners of downturned. “You’ve been so nice, especially to Sana and I, who ruined your game really badly at one point. I never expected you to be the kind to be so dismissive of your friend’s interests.”

“Well,” I chuckled, nervous now, “I’m glad you viewed me as a good person, even if for a little bit.”

“Yeah. I mean, I’m sure you’re not a terrible person. Obviously. Just, I dunno. Sana and I had talked about how inspiring it is that you entered a world that you know nothing about for Mina.” Momo shook her head, like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing and learning.

“We’re really close,” I promised, the nerves eating away at any energy I had before. “We really are. We tend to just do other things together, but… You know what? When we get out of here, I’ll apologize to her.” I closed my eyes, feeling the slight breeze tickle my face. Whenever that happened, it would be until I got stronger and found her. That would take a while, I knew, but I swore it. I’d apologize for being such a ty friend. “Thanks guys. For listening to me, and for helping me understand things.”

“No problem at all, baby Chaeng. Being in a guild is much more than just fighting monsters and getting cool rewards. It’s about making cool new friends and supporting each other!” Sana wrapped an arm around Momo and I and nuzzled us with her nose.

“Chaeng!” Momo called from the other side. “Dude! We should totally hang out, just the four of us! You, Mina, Sana and I! We can join up on Skype and play some MMORPGs, or if that’s not your thing, some multiplayer FPS games.”

“Well, I don’t know what the hell you just said, but I’m sure you two won’t let it stay like that for long.”

“Totally,” Sana said as she ruffled my hair once more. “Stick with us, kid, and you’ll know more gaming terms that you care to.”

“Oh? Well, alright. I’m down, and as soon as I get my hands on her, I’ll let Mina know. I’m– I’m sure she’ll love that. She might even cry from happiness.”

Sana smiled, then yawned, which was contagious, because Momo and I both yawned soon after. 

“Okay, I’m about to pass out from exhaustion,” Momo said as she got to her feet. “Let’s all rest, huh? We gotta get some rest before Chaeyoung’s big day!”

“Yeah!” I wiped off some sand and jumped up, excited again. “My first save point!”

“And you know what that means, right?” Sana asked me.

“What?”

“Chaeng! Once you save, you can safely exit the game!” Momo shook me. “If you need to use the bathroom or you get hungry, you’ll be able to do that now!”

My jaw dropped. I COULD? 

Sana patted my back. “You’re more excited about it now, huh?”

“Uh, yeah? I left one of Mina’s friends in charge of taking care of me as I played. I think it’s time I surface from the videogame world and thank her for all she’s done for me.”

“Alrighty then! Let’s sleep!”

I was put into SaMo’s tent again, and though the desert was cold as ice now, I was warm between Sana and Momo, who hugged me as if we’d known each other for years now.