The Third Party Member

The heart of the Forgotten Forest.

The Orc Warrior that had collapsed only moments earlier took shape once more. Crimson particles that had scattered into the air drew back together, knitting themselves into a massive body and a suit of heavy armor. Resurrection complete, the orc pulled the axe from its back and began to turn, surveying its surroundings with slow, deliberate menace.

Lunabel drew her sword as if she had been waiting for exactly this. A red cloak stirred lightly behind her character. She had just brought the same boss down, but taking a hit at the very end clearly still sat wrong with her.

Tae-jun let out a small sigh, but his eyes stayed on Lunabel's movements.

He had originally planned to tidy up her gear and skills and leave it at that. But Chae-ah had absorbed everything he taught her faster than he expected. A part of him wanted to keep watching, just to see how much further she could go.

Lunabel charged the boss. Unlike before, when she had barreled in head-on, she swung wide to the right this time and went for the orc's flank.

First strike. Second strike. Even the enhanced combo skill chained in without a single wasted motion.

The moment the orc lifted its axe, Lunabel abandoned the third attack and slipped sideways.

A thunderous crash. The axe slammed into empty ground. Dirt sprayed upward, but Lunabel's health bar did not budge. The instant the attack finished, Chae-ah closed in again, landed a short combo, and pulled back out of range.

Tae-jun's gaze sharpened. She was following the exact attack count and dodge timing he had taught her — not approximately, but precisely.

That was when a new message arrived from ShopShopi.

A moment later, another message appeared.

Tae-jun did not answer right away. He watched Lunabel fight a little longer.

The orc charged. Lunabel checked the direction of the boss's movement, then rolled to the side. After dodging the rush, she did not blindly give chase. She waited until the orc had turned around, then attacked again.

While Tae-jun was sending the reply, the boss wound up a spinning attack.

Lunabel did not run backward. She dove straight into the orc's inner range. The enormous axe blade whispered past the outside of her character and swept on by.

Dodge successful.

The instant the boss's back was exposed, Lunabel unloaded a flurry of attacks. The boss's health dropped fast.

"Whoa… she's suddenly really good."

A small note of wonder slipped out of Tae-jun. It was hard to believe this was the same player who, just a little while ago, had been eating every attack face-first. She had not merely memorized the patterns — she was reacting to the boss's faintest shifts in direction.

That was when a party request notification appeared at the top of the screen.

Tae-jun stared at the alert, puzzled.

ShopShopi usually answered guild members' questions just fine, but she almost never went out of her way to visit a beginner hunting ground where someone was already being helped.

Tae-jun puzzled over it for a moment, then accepted the party request. A third name appeared on the member list.

A short while later, a blue portal bloomed at the forest entrance. When the light faded, ShopShopi's character stood there in top-tier gear — absurdly conspicuous in a forest full of beginners still wearing starter equipment.

Nearby players stopped hunting and turned to stare.

The nearby chat filled up fast, but ShopShopi gave no sign she had noticed. She headed straight to where Arc Saber was standing, parked her character naturally at his side — close enough that they were nearly touching — and watched Lunabel fight.

The words were casual enough, but ShopShopi's character was standing so close to Arc Saber they might as well have been glued together.

Lunabel noticed the new party member too. After dodging the boss's overhead smash, she sent a short message.

The greeting was gentler than expected. Chae-ah, for her part, did not tense up much in front of the name sitting at rank one.

ShopShopi did not push. She flagged that a boss attack was coming, then gave Lunabel time to decide for herself.

The orc laid its axe out to the side. Lunabel dove straight into the boss's inner range. The spinning blade swept past on the outside, and her character took no damage.

ShopShopi watched the movement for a moment, then sent a calm message.

The brief praise landed, and Lunabel immediately chained into a combo.

ShopShopi's explanation was not complicated. Instead of simply telling her to dodge, she gave Lunabel a standard she could use to read the next move on her own.

Lunabel stopped attacking and studied the orc's upper body for a moment. The right shoulder drew back. Before the axe even started moving, Lunabel was already running to the side.

A thunderous crash. The overhead smash missed completely. The instant the boss's attack ended, Lunabel closed in again.

Chae-ah checked the orc's shoulders on the very next pattern. This time both shoulders moved at once. Spin attack. Lunabel dove into the boss's inner range before a single message could appear. After dodging, she immediately swung her sword at the boss's back.

Tae-jun's eyes widened a little.

"Whoa…"

The speed at which she was reading the boss's stance and dodging had jumped, clearly, from just a moment ago.

ShopShopi watched the two of them talk, then checked Lunabel's movement again.

It did bother Ha-yoon a little that Chae-ah had approached Tae-jun first. But she did not want that feeling to make her deny the parts Chae-ah was actually good at. If anything, watching in person, she understood why Tae-jun had said she learned so fast.

Chae-ah remembered the tell after seeing an attack pattern only once. Even movements that had needed several explanations, she never missed again after landing them herself.

The boss's health dropped below twenty percent. Lunabel did not overreach just because of the remaining health bar the way she used to. The moment the orc lifted its axe, she stopped attacking.

Sidestep. The axe buried itself in the ground. The instant the boss locked up, Lunabel closed in again. Two basic attacks and a combo skill. The final sword stroke landed, and the orc's enormous body rocked backward.

The orc crumpled to the ground. Lunabel stood still in front of the fallen boss for a moment, as if confirming the no-hit success text on the screen. Then a message appeared.

Tae-jun nodded, replaying the fight in his head. ShopShopi confirmed Lunabel's success, then turned her attention toward Arc Saber.

Tae-jun's hands paused at the unexpected praise. ShopShopi's answer was simple. He waited a moment, but no criticism followed after it.

Lunabel watched the two of them go back and forth, then rocked her character left and right.

Tae-jun answered as if it were nothing. Ha-yoon looked at that sentence for a moment.

Same guild members. That was not wrong. But it did not come close to explaining everything about the two of them.

ShopShopi's reply followed immediately.

Ha-yoon hesitated briefly, then added one more sentence. Tae-jun's eyes lingered on the chat window.

The Double Star Trial was over, but ShopShopi still thought of him as her partner. It was a strangely nice way to put it.

ShopShopi answered evenly, but there was a tiny thread of pride in the sentence.

Ha-yoon did not want to be cold to Chae-ah. She was starting to think Chae-ah was more fun than expected, too — she absorbed what she was taught quickly, and she did not give up easily after failing. She just wanted, naturally, to make it clear that she and Tae-jun had already been together for a long time.

She had not yet admitted that the feeling came from a small streak of jealousy.

Lunabel ignored the newly spawned orc and circled once around ShopShopi's character instead.

ShopShopi checked Lunabel's level and gear again before answering. Tae-jun agreed immediately.

The word two caught Ha-yoon's eye, and her mood eased a little. Watching Arc Saber and Lunabel form a party of just the two of them had left a pointless tightness in one corner of her chest. But once she was bundled in on the same side, that discomfort faded on its own.

ShopShopi opened the party menu and checked a nearby low-level cooperative dungeon. It was a beginner dungeon with several kinds of monsters and a few simple traps — a better place to experience a variety of situations than repeating a single boss over and over.

ShopShopi kindly added the dungeon's purpose as well. Chae-ah hit the ready button without hesitation. Tae-jun looked at ShopShopi's character, then sent a message.

Tae-jun finished getting ready without any particular suspicion. Ha-yoon looked at the party list for a moment.

The third name still bothered her a little. But the fact that she was in the same party as Arc Saber landed heavier than that.

The three of them entered the Old Underground Waterway, a beginner cooperative dungeon.

Shallow water ran along the narrow passage, and torches mounted on the walls cast a faint light through the dark interior. Arc Saber took the front. Lunabel held the middle. ShopShopi stood at the rear, where she could keep both of their positions in view.

The first pack of monsters appeared at the end of the passage. Two melee monsters with shields in front, and one ranged monster behind them preparing a spell.

Arc ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Saber did not attack the nearest enemy. He swung wide to the side and went after the ranged monster in the back. Lunabel watched him for a moment.

ShopShopi's explanation appeared quietly. Lunabel moved in the opposite direction from Arc Saber.

While Tae-jun dealt with the ranged monster, Chae-ah approached the two melee monsters up front. Not to attack them. She pulled their attention onto herself, then slowly widened the distance. Thanks to that, the melee monsters never went after Arc Saber.

By the time Arc Saber dropped the ranged monster and came back, Lunabel had not been hit even once. Tae-jun stopped for a moment at the unexpected movement.

Tae-jun could not type a reply. He just stared at the screen. It was a role split he had never explained even once. And Chae-ah had watched Arc Saber move and immediately decided what she needed to do.

"Whoa…"

Lunabel dodged a melee monster's attack, then circled behind one of them. A short combo landed cleanly.

"She's seriously getting good all of a sudden."

Tae-jun muttered it without meaning to. Then he typed the same thing into chat.

ShopShopi watched the two of them talk, then checked Lunabel's movement again.

Chae-ah spun her character in a full circle, looking pleased.

ShopShopi's tone was gentle. She did not tear Chae-ah down, and she did not get in the way of Tae-jun's explanations. If anything, she was naturally filling in the parts the two of them had missed.

Chae-ah adapted just as quickly in the second fight. When Arc Saber blocked monster attacks from the front, Lunabel circled to the side and struck from behind. When a trap marker appeared on the floor, she moved to a safe position before ShopShopi could even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠explain.

Only then did Tae-jun notice that Lunabel's health had dipped, just a little. Chae-ah did not bother mentioning a small mistake. She was already looking for a way to fix it.

The further they went into the dungeon, the more natural the three of them became. Arc Saber opened the path up front. Lunabel read the situation and took whichever enemies were needed. ShopShopi watched both of their positions from the rear and passed along only the information that mattered.

Lunabel changed direction the instant she saw ShopShopi's message.

Chae-ah cut one attack short and returned to a safe position.

ShopShopi did not scold her even when she made mistakes. She explained what had been dangerous, then waited so Lunabel could judge for herself the next time.

By the time they reached the final area, Lunabel's health had barely dropped at all.

In the center of the waterway, a massive alligator-type boss split the water and rose into view. Lunabel drew her sword.

Tae-jun checked the level gap between the boss and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lunabel. ShopShopi answered first, then added a simple piece of advice. Lunabel moved forward.

Early in the fight, she took a hit. She had misread the direction of the boss's tail sweep. But Chae-ah did not panic. She immediately opened the distance, used a recovery item, and closed in again.

When the alligator opened its jaws wide, she stepped out of the front. When ripples spread across the floor, she stopped attacking and moved to safety.

ShopShopi did not give direct orders. She just watched. Tae-jun, too, held down the urge to help and waited for Chae-ah to decide on her own.

Boss health: thirty percent. The final charge pattern began.

Lunabel did not rush. She waited until the boss had drawn close, then rolled to the side at the latest possible instant. The enormous body whispered past her character and thundered on. Lunabel immediately chased the boss's back.

Two basic attacks. Combo skill. Final sword stroke.

The alligator-type boss collapsed into the water.

When the victory screen appeared, Lunabel turned toward the other two.

Tae-jun replayed the fight he had just watched. It was hard to believe Chae-ah had only started the game four days ago. ShopShopi offered praise just as naturally.

Ha-yoon looked at the words you two for a moment. Arc Saber and Lunabel spending time as a pair still bothered her a little. But it was different now that she was in the same party, helping alongside them.

Teaching Chae-ah was more fun than she had expected. And more than anything, she liked that she was the one standing next to Arc Saber.

Chae-ah's question came up, and ShopShopi sent a message before Tae-jun could answer. It was a perfectly natural reason. Chae-ah accepted it without a hint of suspicion. Tae-jun huffed a quiet laugh.

ShopShopi did not answer right away. Ha-yoon looked at her own character standing beside Arc Saber. Then she replied, gently.

It was a short sentence. Tae-jun found, unexpectedly, that he liked the answer. Ha-yoon, too, looked at the screen feeling more at ease than she had a moment ago.

Chae-ah drawing closer to Tae-jun still bothered her a little. That did not mean she wanted to push her away.

Instead of watching from a distance while Tae-jun and Chae-ah formed a party of two — she could simply, naturally, be there with them.