Second Party Formation
"Did you guys fight or something?"
"......"
Instead of answering, Manager Lee avoided our eyes. The sight made me sigh.
"If you don't want to talk about it, fine. I'm heading out."
As I tried to leave, Manager Lee grabbed my wrist.
"Help me out a little."
"......"
"If I show up at the in-laws like this, your grandfather will tear me in half!"
Manager Lee seemed genuinely terrified of meeting his father-in-law soon, so he was begging us for backup. I hid a sly smile. Everything was going exactly as planned. Only the final step remained.
"So what's the price?"
"Want me to buy you a game?"
"Hmm, that feels a little light...."
I kept my expression as relaxed as possible. The one in a hurry was him, not me.
"There's a new character out these days, right? I'll buy you a whole truckload."
"Hmm. Three truckloads."
"Where's your conscience?"
"If you don't like it, solve it yourself."
Manager Lee looked like he'd bitten into something sour. "...Fine. Three truckloads."
"Deal sealed."
With the contract established, we shook hands, eyes shining with confidence. Ha-im's 'What the hell is wrong with these lunatics?' stare was just the cherry on top.
"How are we going to calm Mom down?"
"Just wait. First I need to see exactly how angry she is."
I headed to the kitchen to check on Mrs. Kim's condition.
Every time she chopped vegetables, her fury radiated through the blade. This wasn't ordinary anger.
"Are you really mad?"
"No."
'Yeah, right...'
She was just swinging a knife, but every motion was packed with rage. The way she claimed she wasn't angry while acting like that made the lie completely obvious.
"Dad really went too far this time."
"......"
I pressed myself against Mrs. Kim's back, hugging her from behind. From the ingredients, it looked like she was making eel rice bowls today.
"How could he forget our wedding anniversary?"
"Exactly!"
The moment I showed sympathy, Mrs. Kim poured out everything she'd been holding in. There was clearly a lot of built-up resentment.
"He's always like that!"
Mrs. Kim drifted into the past. Back when they were students, everything had been sweet and loving. She'd gotten pregnant by accident at nineteen, but she'd powered through university and childcare with the mindset of "sleep when you're dead." She hadn't minded that part. Her husband had to serve in the military, so his life had been even harder.
The problems started after that. Between university and raising a child, they grew distant. Birthdays and anniversaries stopped being celebrated entirely. On top of that, her husband had been an orphan who worked three part-time jobs a day, with no one to turn to for help. Then, after all that hardship, the son they'd raised suddenly went missing. After that, reality hit them both hard and they became even worse about special occasions.
So this time, with the whole family gathered, she'd decided to make eel rice bowl—famous for its stamina benefits—only for him to say...
It was a good thing she hadn't been holding a knife at that moment.
"Did I get married just to hear things like that?!"
If she had been, he would've ended up split down the middle just like that eel.
"No matter how long it's been since we last celebrated, you should at least remember the wedding anniversary!"
"Come on, cheer up. Dad still loves you just as much as ever, right?"
"......"
Mrs. Kim had an incredibly youthful face. Even in her early forties, people often mistook her for someone in her late twenties or early thirties. What man wouldn't cherish a beautiful, big-breasted, youthful woman like her?
"Dad doesn't know how lucky he is. He got to marry someone like you, Mom."
"R-really...?"
Mrs. Kim, who had always been weak to compliments, began to calm down. This was my chance.
"So, in that spirit... can't you forgive him now?"
"......"
"We can't keep fighting forever."
"...That's true."
Her anger had been a momentary flare-up. She didn't actually plan to never see Manager Lee's face again. Once things were settled, she fidgeted with her fingers and made a gesture for him to come over.
Manager Lee approached cautiously. Mrs. Kim gave him a pathetic look and sighed.
"Sit down already. Food's almost ready."
Manager Lee let out a huge breath of relief and took his seat at the table.
After that, the three of us enjoyed the eel rice bowls and got up from the table. Manager Lee, however, was the exception.
"Honey, get ready to go out."
"Go out? I didn't hear anything about—!"
A terrible thought flashed through Manager Lee's mind. Today was their wedding anniversary. At this late hour, there was only one thing left to do.
He looked at me, silently begging for help.
"......"
Unfortunately, all I could do was wave goodbye. Was this what they called mandatory defense?
In the end, Manager Lee left the house with a look of utter despair. Ha-im, sensing an opportunity, also headed out, announcing she was going to stay out late.
'Hmm, should I start streaming?'
Left alone in the house with nothing to do, I decided to turn on my stream.
A few minutes after I started the stream, viewers began flooding in.
"I'm planning to play Last Magic today."
It might have felt like a long time to the viewers, but it wasn't for me. There wasn't much to do even if I logged in every day. Most of the time I was just PKing those Jeongsanghoe bastards.
"That's actually one of the reasons I started the stream. We've got a meeting today."
A few viewers had already caught on. In July, during summer break, new end-game content was dropping. Today's meeting was probably about scheduling vacation days for office workers and planning an offline meetup.
I put on the VR headset, logged into Last Magic, and turned on the game microphone at the same time. When I opened my eyes, I was standing on a peaceful beach.
"Whoa... this is the guild territory, right?"
A few days ago the territory had been covered in blooming cherry blossoms. Now a vast ocean stretched out before me. It was almost supernatural.
While I was admiring the view, a man in heavy armor appeared beside me.
"Oh, you're here already. We still have some time."
There wasn't much to see beyond the wide-open sea. Most of the guild members were already playing in the water wearing new summer swimsuit avatars.
While we watched the ocean from afar, the guild master walked over. She was also wearing one of the new swimsuit avatars.
"Oh, that's a cute outfit."
The chat exploded at record speed.
The viewers were all begging me to wear a swimsuit, but that wasn't happening.
"I already did it once before."
Human greed truly knew no bounds. Even if someone held a knife to my throat, I would never wear a swimsuit again.
The paladin seemed to share my opinion. Despite being American, he had Confucian values running deep in his bones.
"Okay."
After parting with the guild master, we headed to the meeting room. Everyone except us was wearing swimsuits.
As soon as we sat down, the meeting began.
The moment the word "first clear" came up, everyone was bursting with motivation.
Everyone except the paladin and me roared in excitement. I was starting to lose my enthusiasm.
The rest was simple. We predicted the new boss's appearance date, roughly decided when to take vacation days, and picked a location for the offline meetup. The meeting lasted two hours, and now we had reached the final topic.
'Second team?'
This was the first I'd heard of it. I'd checked the guild group chat earlier, but there hadn't been any messages about a second team. The guild master continued explaining.
Noah was the paladin's in-game name. Looking at the guild members' reactions, no one seemed particularly opposed.
As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot. A large hologram appeared above the round table.
Who could be on the second team...?
'Huh...?'
I blinked. I must have seen it wrong.
The viewers were also shocked to see my name on the list.
"W-wait a second!"
I slammed the table and stood up. All eyes turned to me. It was incredibly embarrassing, but I had to say something.
"Why is my name on there? I'm a mage!"
As everyone knew, mages had the worst controls and mobility, and during raids they were practically useless. So why was my name on the second team roster? I looked to the guild master for an answer, but her reply was completely unexpected.
"Huh?"
'The paladin...?'
Before I could process my confusion, the meeting ended. The rest of us from the second team were told to hold our own meeting. In the meantime, I ran over to the paladin first.
"Hey, why am I on the second team roster?"
"N-no, that's not it, but I'm a mage!"
If he was just pitying me and trying to help this way, I didn't want it. My pride wouldn't allow it. But contrary to my worries, the paladin answered casually.
"Really?"
His expression and gestures didn't look like he was lying. I guess I had no choice but to trust him for now.
I followed the paladin to where the second team had gathered, and we started by introducing ourselves.
There were eight of us total, including me: two warriors, two rogues, two priests, one mage, and one martial artist.
When he repeated what he'd told me, the heavy atmosphere in the raid team lightened up instantly. After discussing various schedules, one of the martial artists made a suggestion.
A few people looked embarrassed, but they eventually formed a circle and put their hands together.
As we all raised our hands together, I thought to myself: Since we're challenging for first clear, let's give it everything we've got.