I rested my palms flat against the dark oak table. “And then she shot me in the head, point blank, with an arrow.”

I heard a round of ouch and yikes go around the table. Jihyo, Nayeon and Momo absentmindedly rubbed their foreheads, as if feeling the pain themselves. 

It was the next day. We had decided to rest up because Jihyo decided it was better to do so after such a difficult time getting to the mountain. The late morning sun shone on me through the window of the inn, warming me up despite the chills I got from retelling this story.

“Dahyun and Tzuyu must’ve looted my body afterward. I remember them telling me I had an ultra rare backpack, which I had stuffed with tons of health potions. They must’ve taken that and all of its contents, because, you guys know, I was level 1. I didn’t even have any EXP to drop. I was useless for leveling up.”

Momo eyed her empty cup, probably wishing she still had something to drink so she could drown away my story. “Man, this is depressing. We had no idea about any of this, Chaeyoung. I’m so sorry.”

I took a deep breath, kinda feeling Momo. I wish I could drink and forget everything, too. I’d only told this story once, to 3Mix, but it was getting harder to do it. Reliving that arrow being shot to my head was difficult to me– I mean, that doesn’t just happen every day, and it’s definitely scarred me for life. But now I was getting into much more painful territory. I was getting to the part where I met Mina for the first time in Paracosmos, and I knew this was gonna hurt me way more, even if it was just me telling my new friends about it in a story.

“Thanks, Momo. That’s why I’m telling you guys all of this. I’m hoping that with the two of you joining us, my story can help us understand a few more things. But, for now, let’s continue. The worst part comes next…” I began, feeling Momo’s mood drop even lower. Sorry, Momo.

I told them about Mina finding me, right when I was about to be struck by a billion volts of lightning, and how at first she seemed very worried for me, but then seemingly did a whole 180 and threw me against a tree. She was nothing like the Mina that I had always known, the one that cried when commercials for abandoned animals came on. 

Finally, I paused right at the part when I remembered the storm getting worse, where Mina began her monologuing. The memories were flooding back violently, and suddenly, after a bright flash… I was there!

The hairs on my arms rose, and in this vision-like memory, the rain that managed to pass the leaf barrier of the trees pelted my back like rocks. I was cold, practically frozen to the bone, and as I looked around, I saw that I really wasn’t at the inn with 3Mix and SaMo. I was in the forest! I was on my stomach, and as I looked up, there was my beloved Mina, recounting her evil deeds, just like I remembered! She was describing all the sadistic things she had done to get to level 99, like killing people she partnered with.

Thunder rumbled above me, and when lightning flashed once more, it was like time skipped forward; I was now being held down by skeletons. They were the ones that held me down right before Mina stabbed my neck. I saw Mina wave something before my face. It was white, and sharp. You could tell just by the look of it. But what was it? I couldn’t remember, and I didn’t have time to think about it, because I felt an intense, searing pain coming from my throat. 

The pain was so intense that it somehow ended this vision, or whatever it was, almost in a jolt-like way, and when I looked around, I was back at the inn. I was cold, surrounded by my friends who looked shocked. They all seemed to be freezing their asses off, too, actually. To my left was Jeongyeon, holding Jihyo’s hands as if to warm them up, and SaMo to my right were huddled so close to each other you could have thought they were joined at the hip. 

They were all staring at me, confusion dripping from their expressions.

“Is it cold in here?” I asked, very stupidly, I might add. We were all shivering.

“Yeah. Must be a draft or something. ty inn. They need to fix the holes in the roof,” Nayeon said dismissively, but not convincingly. Nobody mentioned the fact that it had been warm moments ago, or the lack of holes in the roof. “Go on, though. It doesn’t end there.”

I had to find my train of thought again. Was that a vision I just had? I wasn’t sure, but I could dwell more on that later. There was so much to talk about that this went straight to the back of my mind. 

Eventually I remembered where I left off and finished the story with Mina nearly killing me with something , challenging me to a duel if I ever found her again, 3Mix rescuing me, adopting me and then promising to train me so I could eventually beat Mina and bring her home. “So this is a time sensitive thing, guys,” I finished. “The longer we stay put, the longer Mina goes without food or drink in the real world. I want– no, not want, I need– to find her and beat her at whatever she wants. That’s the only way she’ll leave this game willingly. It’s… it’s the only way, guys. She could die!”

Sana had been looking at the table before us very intensely when I turned to her, but she must’ve sensed my eyes on her because she looked up and gave me a pained smile. Now she knew that we were in similar situations. Momo, according to her, was acting aggressively, which was not how she normally acted at all. 

Momo stood abruptly and leaned forward on the table, a super determined expression plastered on her face. “Then what the hell are we waiting for? Let’s go! We’re wasting Chaeyoung’s time here!”

  Jihyo signaled for her to sit down, and Momo, surprisingly, did without complaint. Sana and Momo had only known Jihyo for a few hours, but already there was no question who had the authority here. Then again, it was hard to argue with Jihyo, who had giant golden armor that completely changed her sweet disposition into a commanding one.

“I know it’s necessary we act quickly, but I want to talk to you two,” she motioned at Sana and Momo, ”at least briefly. I want you guys in our guild. We don’t have any archers and you two would be a huge advantage.” Nayeon and Jeong clearly didn’t like that at all, you could see it in their expressions. But neither said anything, not even when Momo and Sana excitedly agreed to join.

“Good!” Jihyo clapped her hands and pulled up some menu I’d seen only once before. When I was added to 3Mix, Jeongyeon, ever so helpful, told me it was a menu only guild leaders had– it was where they could add and remove members and edit a few settings in regards to the guild. Jihyo selected SaMo’s usernames from a list. They received an in-game invitation shortly after and I watched as Momo and Sana accepted. Their usernames glowed a golden glow, probably signifying that they were now a part of 3Mix. No doubt mine had done the same.

“Hey, why is the guild named 3Mix?” Momo asked, and Jihyo tapped her chin.

“Well… it was because there were three of us in the beginning. But I’m thinking that we should change it now, since you, Sana and Chaeng are with us now. How about it?” She was asking Nayeon and Jeongyeon, but as neither of them wanted the raiders in the guild in the first place, Jihyo just mumbled something and edited the guild name anyway.

“6Mix. There we go! Has more of a ring to it,” Jihyo said, more to herself than us, then completed the settings and closed the menu. Her eyes landed on me as she stood up, and pointed outside. “Alright! Now that that’s over! Somewhere next to this inn there’s a training grounds. We’re all going to teach you all we can about fighting. My hopes are that you learn about some weapons and see if you seem to have a natural skill for them. You see, Chaeng, in this game, a natural ability to wield a certain weapon can indicate what class you’re in. Rogues and Assassins are experts in crossbows, Warriors and Beast Masters are good at long swords, and so on and so on.”

I nodded, a little worried about this. I had literally never been in a fight, in real life or in Paracosmos. Would everything be hard for me? Especially with heavy weapons. How long would it take me to learn how to use them?

Jeongyeon bumped me with her hip as we made our way out of the inn. “What’s up, Chaeng?” She seemed in a better mood now that we were moving– and far away from Momo and Sana. That bothered me a bit. “Looks like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”

“I… I mean yeah, I’m just worried.” I kicked up some dirt. How could I explain this without sounding like an idiot? “I‘ve never held a weapon. Unless you count knives, but those were just kitchen ones. How am I supposed to learn how to use them quickly? Doesn’t it take years to master the sword or something?”

Jeongyeon’s eyes had a humorous glint to them, instantly letting me know that I had definitely just said something stupid. She didn’t ridicule me, though, and patted my back. “Don’t worry about that at all. It’s not like we’re really using them the way they’re used in real life. The game makes up easier ways to use weapons.”

“Oh.” I should have figured! Damn it!

“C’mon, Chaeyoung. Did you really think that I was a skilled knife fighter in real life?” Jeongyeon let out a small laugh, which was okay, because it was Jeongyeon and she was allowed to laugh at me a little. Her teasing never stung too much. “I wouldn’t be in this damn game if I could fight like that in real life. I’d be out on the streets protecting women from creeps or something.”

I felt a little ridiculous, but Jeongyeon patted me again and said that she understood that I was way newer to this game than she was. She promised she’d explain way more things later on, things that a lot of players still didn’t know about. That made me feel a lot better. I already knew a whole lot more than I had two days ago and it was all because of Jeongyeon, so I couldn’t even imagine the fountain of knowledge she promised to drop on me.

 

 

 

For a town that was above the clouds, at the peak of a tall mountain, it really was kind of underwhelming. I expected something cooler-looking, like maybe a castle town with a bustling market and tons of armorers and smiths. This? It was just the one inn we had just come out of, two houses for NPCs, a small shop where you could sell just about everything you had on you, and the training grounds. When we arrived, I tried not to look too disappointed at the training area as well.

It was small and didn’t live up to its label. There were about twenty straw dummies strategically placed around the pathetic dirt area with maybe two other smaller guilds already there, improving their own levels and techniques.

The six of us found an area where I could train, and started making plans on how to go about it. They decided to go like this: two hours with Jihyo for long sword fighting, another two with Momo and Jeong for short sword fighting, and lastly, Sana and Nayeon for crossbow training. If we had time in the day, they’d all gather around to teach me how to use a bow and arrows and maybe the knife. It wasn’t much, but those were the only weapons we had at hand.

With the schedule decided, everyone except Jihyo and I left the area, and I asked her where they were going to go. She didn’t know, but she said she hoped they wouldn’t start a fight with each other. “For once, I kind of hope they split up and stay out of each other’s ways. We need to focus on you right now.”

I hoped they’d avoid fighting too. Then I could focus on sword fighting without worrying about them clawing each other’s eyes out.

Jihyo nodded as a way to signal the start of the session and pulled out two of her swords, both of them sickeningly sharp and heavy-looking. It looked like they were so heavy, in fact, that I worried Jihyo would drop them, but she carried both as if they were mere tree branches. She handed me one, and yeah, it was really heavy. I almost fell over trying to hold mine up. “Use both hands, Chaeng. It’s a two handed sword. I’m going to see if it eventually gets lighter for you. That typically indicates that you’re a Warrior or a Beast Master and that you’re learning how to use it!”

I nodded and tried my best to hold it up. “So when we’re done training, do you think I’ll have leveled up a lot?”

“What?” Jihyo asked, unsheathing her sword and narrowing her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Practicing sword fighting! Is it going to level me up a lot? Or is it going to be a slow process?”

Jihyo shook her head. “No. You don’t level up from fighting dummies, Chaeng. They don’t die and drop experience points. Training is training, plain and simple.”

“Wait! Then why am I here? Why are we wasting time?!” I felt so tired all of a sudden. I dropped Jihyo’s heavy sword on the ground and it landed with a loud clang . “Why aren’t you taking me out to level up? Who cares about training when my friend is starving in real life?”

I was acting like a desperate, whiny child, but Jihyo kept her composure. She stepped closer and picked up her sword, then stared straight into my soul. “So I assume yo