Why Am I Suddenly in This Raid?

The raid suddenly picked me? "Me?" The question just slipped out—I was that dumbfounded.

What the hell is this nonsense?

The paladin was nothing more than an online friend. Nothing more, nothing less. On top of that, I was handling every gimmick perfectly and pumping out solid damage, so his sudden political play made zero sense.

"Could you explain it so I can actually understand?"

"Is explaining it really that hard for you?"

I was grateful he’d gotten me into the raid, but the ridiculous reasoning and the way he was badmouthing the paladin who’d invited me started to piss me off.

"……!"

When the argument started getting out of hand, the raid leader jumped in to mediate.

……!

All sixteen mistakes belonged to the rogue. Even if you added up every other raider’s errors, they still wouldn’t top his.

"……."

After the rogue was gone, only heavy silence remained in the raid. It was over. That idiot had completely destroyed the mood.

The raid leader let out a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠long sigh.

…Guess we have to.

I’d seen it coming. The atmosphere was ruined, and everyone was mentally and physically exhausted.

A little disappointing. I wanted to keep going a bit longer.

When I was about to log out after the party disbanded, the paladin called me on Discord. This was the first time he’d ever called me on a private line.

What’s this about?

I was curious, so I picked up.

"……?"

The first thing out of his mouth was an apology. That was absurd in a whole different way.

"Why are you suddenly apologizing?"

"……."

The viewers were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cracking up. Here was someone swallowing his pride to apologize, and they were laughing at him.

"Everyone quiet. If you make fun of the paladin one more time, I’m taking a week off."

The chat fell silent instantly. Finally, we could have a proper conversation.

"How is this your fault? It was all the rogue."

No answer. It seemed he still fully believed it was his fault. What was I going to do with that frustrating personality of his?

While I’ve got him, maybe I should ask what I’m curious about.

"By the way, you actually begged to get me into the raid?"

Hmm, so that’s why he brought me in.

"……."

I’d only mentioned it lightly, but he’d taken it to heart. He was more considerate than I’d expected.

Still, I had to give him the facts.

"I don’t think of it as a bad memory at all."

"Yeah."

A character from an anime once said that when five humans gather, at least one of them is guaranteed to be trash. Whoever came up with it, it was a timeless truth. In this case, the trash had simply been in our raid.

If you looked at the LaMae community posts, this kind of thing happened all the time in other groups. It wasn’t strange that it had happened to the party I was in.

"Isn’t this the kind of thing you’re bound to experience while raiding?"

Besides, I probably wouldn’t be doing many raids anyway. Getting all the experiences I could out of this one wasn’t a bad thing.

"Think of it as getting vaccinated. So don’t feel guilty about it. It wasn’t your fault."

"It’s nothing. Should we hang up? I’ve kept a sick person on the line too long. Take care of yourself."

We ended the call. Time for me to get up too.

"Should we end the stream here?"

"What do you mean keep streaming? I’ve already gone way longer than usual today."

Somehow three hours had already passed. That was a seriously long stream.

Oh, I forgot to mention the important part.

"Also, tomorrow is a break day."

I turned off the stream, lay down in bed, and fell asleep. What could possibly happen from taking one day off?

After earning about five million gold from the Chairman’s PK mission, I headed to the kitchen for dinner. The moment I saw the side dishes on the table, my face twisted.

Stir-fried fernbrake, stir-fried eggplant, stir-fried mushrooms, seasoned soybeans, lotus root, zucchini stir-fry. Not a single piece of meat in sight. Why was the table filled exclusively with the things I hated most?

"I’m not eating dinner today."

At those words, Mrs. Kim’s eyes sharpened.

"Just eat."

"No! There’s no meat!"

Did she think I came back to Earth just to eat this stuff? I politely decline a table full of nothing but grass.

"I’ll order delivery."

The moment the words left my mouth, Mrs. Kim started smacking my back.

"Ow! Why are you hitting me all of a sudden?!"

"I told you that kind of food is bad for your health! If you’re going to eat delivery anyway, just sit at the table and eat what’s here!"

But I wasn’t ready to give up. While I was trying to order delivery, Ha-im walked out. The instant she saw the side dishes, she frowned.

"What the hell? Why are the side dishes like this today?"

Now two against one, Mrs. Kim had no choice but to retreat to the kitchen with a sigh.

"Ugh, wait a minute. I’ll at least fry some egg rolls and grill some cutlassfish."

Mrs. Kim whipped up egg rolls and grilled cutlassfish in no time. I had to admit, her cooking skills were top-tier.

"Hm. Yeah. This is more like it."

"Oh my, look who decided to grace us with her presence."

Manager Lee came out of his room, frowned at the table like we had, but unlike us, he sat down without a word.

While we were eating, Mrs. Kim kept glancing at me. Was something going on?

"What? Do you have something to say?"

Mrs. Kim stared straight at my face. What was with her?

Finally, her tightly closed lips opened.

"…Aren’t you thinking of going to university?"