A Party of Two
If I'd thrown them away, then I should be out looking for a new party.
The call came just before the main gate came into view.
Lee Serin.
I stared at the screen for a moment. If I didn't pick up, she'd only corner me with questions in the classroom anyway.
I pressed the call button.
"What."
Where are you?
"In front of the school."
Why did you go alone?
Her voice had been sharp all morning.
"Am I not allowed to go alone?"
That's not the point. We always walked together.
"And yesterday?"
Serin went quiet. She'd asked me to walk with her yesterday, too. I was simply the one who left first.
Wait right there. I'm almost there.
"No."
Kang Jaehyun.
"I'm busy."
Busy with what, this early in the morning?
A new notice was posted on the board beside the gate.
Practical Combat Evaluation — Additional Party Registration
Closes today at 5 PM
"I need to find a party."
What?
"Deadline's today, isn't it?"
Hey, hold on—
"See you in class."
I hung up. Serin called right back, so I silenced the phone and walked through the gate. The missed calls piled up, and underneath them, the messages stacked one after another.
All private messages. Of course they were — I'd left the group chat yesterday.
There was something faintly ridiculous about them contacting me one by one now.
I didn't reply. Instead, I pulled out my student ID and opened the Academy app.
Kang Jaehyun
First Year
E-Rank
Ability: Synchronization
Eligible for Practical Combat Evaluation
Being under investigation and being barred from the evaluation were two different things. Not a single instructor had told me not to participate.
Three people simply looked at me badly. And those three had been my party members — until yesterday, at least. There was no reason left for me to wait.
Today, I had things to do. Finding a party, for one.
Beep!
I tapped my student ID against the terminal in the Practical Training Hall.
Name: Kang Jaehyun
Rank: E
Ability: Synchronization
Desired Role: Support / Frontline Assist
My hand stopped at the last field. Current Party.
None. That's what I typed.
The moment I hit the registration button, several phones around me chimed. One student even recognized me, his eyes flicking between the screen and my face.
The first to approach was the one who'd noticed me earlier.
"Sorry."
The boy standing across from me avoided my gaze.
"We did have a slot open, but taking you on right now would be... awkward."
"Because of the investigation?"
"Yeah."
Three party members stood behind him. One wore a guard brace on his arm.
"Our support got hurt."
"Badly?"
"He's out for this evaluation. That's why we're scrambling."
"So it's urgent. Got it."
"Right. But with everything that just happened, we..." The boy couldn't finish the sentence.
"Yeah. I understand."
"Let's talk again once the investigation wraps up."
"You're not going to keep the slot open until then, though."
The boy scratched his head. "No. Probably not."
"It's fine. Go on."
The next party asked about my ability.
"How much stabilization do you put out?"
"A little over one percent, on a good day."
"Range?"
"Around five meters."
"And you have to stay inside it the whole time?"
"Yeah."
The two girls exchanged a glance. One gave an apologetic smile.
"We need a healer."
"Synchronization doesn't heal."
"We know. That's why we're sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry about."
"There was a healing-type who posted near the bottom of the board."
"I saw."
"You know them?"
"No."
"Then why tell us?"
"They're a better fit for you than for me."
The girl studied me for a moment, then lifted her student ID. "I'll reach out. Thanks."
"Good luck finding someone."
This time, I was the one who stepped back. I cleared the parties I'd applied to off my student ID screen.
The view counter next to my application kept climbing. The calls kept not coming.
Instead, new recruitment notices went up. Parties looking for a swordsman and a shield. Parties that wanted ranged only. The last line of one read: role doesn't matter.
I contacted that one.
The reply came fast.
The tone alone rubbed me wrong, but I went.
The boy scowled the moment he saw me. The one with a short spear strapped across his back. I didn't know the face, but I'd seen the name — near the bottom of the practical rankings.
"You're Kang Jaehyun?"
"Yeah."
"Synchronization, right."
"Yeah."
"And offense?"
"I use a sword."
The boy looked at my waist. I hadn't brought a sword today.
"Don't see one."
"It's in the classroom."
"You're prepping for the practical evaluation and you don't even carry your sword?"
"I'm busy finding a party. Why would I?"
The corners of the boy's mouth pulled down. "Look at this mouthy little—"
"Funny. You look like the mouthier one to me."
"Ugh... whatever. If we took you, what could you even do?"
He was the one doing the recruiting here.
"Cover attack gaps. Stabilize mana."
"I can do that much myself."
"Then why are you recruiting?"
The boy laughed. The kids beside him laughed along.
"Hey. Honestly — you think any party's actually going to take you?"
"Maybe not."
"Who'd pick up a bastard who threw away his own party member?"
The area around us went a little quiet. Students who'd been browsing the board turned to look.
"If we take you in, you'd better fall in line and keep your head down. Don't go strutting around and getting anyone else killed."
"No thanks."
"What?"
"I said I'm not doing it. With you."
"Who said we'd have you?"
"You literally just offered."
"God, you can't follow a simple conversation."
"I followed it fine."
Over the boy's shoulder, the ranking board was visible. I checked the name again. It sat well below mine.
"Didn't expect to get interviewed by someone weaker than me."
The laughter died. The boy's hand closed around the spear on his back.
"You trying to start something with me right now?"
"No thanks."
"Scared?"
"If you want to get disciplined for stabbing a classmate before the evaluation, feel free to do it alone."
"You son of a—"
One of the boys beside him grabbed his arm. "Stop it. Everyone's watching."
"Let go."
"If an instructor shows up, you're the only one who loses."
The boy glanced around. The students who'd been laughing a moment ago were suddenly very interested in their phones. The hand on the spear lowered.
"Insufferable bastard."
"Yeah. You are."
I canceled my application on the board.
Application link with the specified party has been closed.
The parties I'd applied to vanished; my application itself stayed up. Someone could still contact me first.
So far, no one had.
At lunch, I went to the campus cafeteria.
The table we always sat at was already taken.
Yoon Seoa. Lee Serin. Han Yuri. And Cha Siwoo.
Cha Siwoo was sitting in my seat.
Seoa spotted me. Her mouth opened like she was about to call something out. I found an empty spot and sat somewhere else.
I was hungry. It wasn't that there was nowhere to sit. Someone else was just in the place where I always sat. So I ate alone.
When I stepped into the corridor, someone was walking toward me from the far end.
Park Minwoo.
One of the three I'd carried out that day. And the one who'd been closest to Kim Doyun.
Our eyes met, and we both stopped.
Minwoo looked at the student ID in my hand. He glanced once toward the Practical Training Hall board, then back at me.
From behind me, someone called my name.
"Jaehyun!"
Seoa. Serin and Yuri were with her.
Minwoo looked at the three of them, clicked his tongue, and shoved past my shoulder.
Serin glared at his retreating back.
"What did he say to you?"
"Nothing."
"See? Why'd you just let him go?"
"What would grabbing him accomplish?"
Serin looked at me. "You were really out looking for a party?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"I still have to take the evaluation."
"We agreed you'd sit this one out."
"When did I agree? You three decided that."
"That's the same thing."
"It's not."
Seoa took a step forward. "Don't look for a party."
"Why."
"Just wait until the investigation's over."
"I told you no. That's exactly why I'm finding a party."
"You have us."
"You're three, not four."
Seoa's lips moved. "We didn't kick you out—"
She couldn't finish. And it was true — they hadn't kicked me out. They'd simply replaced me.
Yuri caught Seoa's arm. "Let's leave it for now."
"Leave what?"
"Think about how Jaehyun feels for once."
"I finished thinking."
All three of them looked at me at once.
"I'm finding a party," I said.
Someone tapped my shoulder from behind. I turned to find a girl I'd never seen before.
Black hair left loose. A training uniform thrown over her school uniform. An A-Rank insignia pinned at her chest.
The name came to mind before the face.
Baek Harin.
"You looking for a party?"
"Yeah."
"Then do it with me."
"Do what?"
"A party."
"Why me?"
"You wrote on the board that you're looking."
"Do you know who I am?"
"Kang Jaehyun."
"That's not what I asked."
"I've heard the rumors, too."
"Plenty of others have seen the board as well."
"They'll have parties already."
Harin held out her student ID screen.
Baek Harin
A-Rank
Current Party: None
"I don't have one either."
An A-Rank without a party was strange in its own right.
"Why not?"
"Everyone I used to run with left."
"Why?"
"It's a long story."
"Tell me now."
"Register first."
Harin waved her student ID. "Two people is enough to register."
"So let's do it."
She pointed toward the Practical Training Hall. "Registration closes soon."
Serin pushed in between us. "Hold on. You're Baek Harin, right?"
"Yeah."
"Do you know Jaehyun?"
"Just met him."
"Then why would you party with—"
Harin looked at her. "Are you his party?"
Serin's words caught in her throat.
"If not, move."
Harin turned back to me. "Your ability is Synchronization, right?"
"Yeah."
"It stabilizes mana."
"A little."
"Good enough."
"What about the rumors?"
"Has the investigation come out with anything?"
"No."
"Then nothing's confirmed yet."
"And if it turns out I really did abandon someone?"
"Then I leave. Simple."
"Aren't you scared?"
"Of what?"
"Going into a practical with me."
"You're an E-Rank."
"That's not what I meant."
Harin thought for a moment.
"If you're the type to throw people away, I don't party with them."
"You just said it wasn't confirmed."
"Exactly. So until it is, we're fine."
Harin turned away. "Coming or not?"
Until now, I'd always been the one going to people. Baek Harin had come to me.
"Let's go."
We headed back to the Practical Training Hall. The three of them followed. They had rosters to fix today, too.
Cha Siwoo was standing at the registration terminal. When he saw us, he stepped aside without a word.
Harin tapped her student ID.
Student Baek Harin has created a Temporary Party.
My turn. Harin's name and mine appeared side by side on the screen. A-Rank and E-Rank. The gap was too large, even for a gap.
Enter a party name.
Harin typed a single word into the blank field: Temporary.
"You're seriously naming it that?"
"We can change it later."
Serin leaned in to peer at the terminal screen. "Do you even know what Jaehyun's ability is?"
"Synchronization."
"Do you know how weak it is?"
"I can just ask him."
Yuri addressed Harin directly. "Baek Harin."
"What."
"Taking the practical evaluation with only two people is dangerous."
"That's why it's temporary."
Harin pushed my student ID toward the terminal. "If you're registering, register."
This time, nobody answered for me.
I pressed my student ID against the terminal.
Student Kang Jaehyun has joined the Temporary Party.
2-member party registration confirmed.
My phone rang. Seoa's, Serin's, and Yuri's phones went off almost at the same instant.
Student Kang Jaehyun has been registered to a new Temporary Party.
Seoa's gaze moved from the screen to Harin. Then, at last, to me.
"...You really did it."