The Reason for Coming (1)
The Reason for Coming (1)
On the monitor, several characters charged simultaneously toward the giant monster.
Above the head of the dungeon's final Boss,
bold text appeared.
【Cataros of the Golden Shooting Star】
Seeing that name might have reminded me of someone, but when I asked the game content developer (Eve), she said it was just a coincidence—something thrown up by data mining.
There wasn't much I could argue with there.
So I let it go.
Cataros's HP was already bottoming out. The rendered Cataros swung its fists and went berserk.
Just a little more. Just a little more.
After countless failures and attempts,
we were on the verge of clearing the dungeon.
《I will never give up!》
Cataros's line flashed in the game text. A red circle spread outward from the floor where the Boss stood.
I urgently typed into the chat.
[ I am a real mage(Warrior): Breath!!! Dodge it!! To the corners!!!! ]
It would have been nice if I could have delivered orders through a mic.
Unfortunately, most people who played this game (myself included) preferred to keep their identities hidden.
Because of that, all explanations and orders had to be relayed through chat alone.
And because of that, I—the guild master of the Jeonjangyeon (Warrior Artisan Union) and factory manager—had no choice but to keep my hands full.
Everyone moved to the corners upon seeing my chat.
Since I had explained the boss mob's attack patterns in advance, it seemed no one had died from that last-ditch desperation pattern.
Except for me.
Flames erupted from Cataros's mouth, filling the dungeon.
[ 'I am a real mage(Warrior)' has died. ]
I had been tanking in the center until the last moment,
and that was the price of having to type orders into chat.
I left my character's ghost as it was
and turned my head toward Eve, who was diligently controlling her character.
"...Can you do it?"
"It is possible."
Eve pounded on the keyboard furiously.
Finally, the last fire spell launched by Eve's character struck the Boss monster and exploded.
The graphics were very poor, but since this was the result we had earned after hours of attempts, the sight felt nothing short of magnificent and spectacular.
《Mark my words..., I shall return!》
With that text, Cataros's figure slowly turned transparent.
That was when everyone's chat exploded.
[ P2034871140(Warrior): Got it!!! ]
[ P77648(Warrior): Kiaaaa!! ]
[ Does Sleep Come on This Crap(Thief): Almost fucking died;; ]
Various party members briefly typed their impressions.
Then Eve moved toward where my character had died and revived the fallen character.
Phew, we did clear it.
I watched the character stand up, surrounded by a halo of light, and typed into the chat.
[ I am a real mage(Warrior): Everyone, thank you for your hard work on the raid! ]
I really had no idea how many hours it had taken.
It felt like we had been pushing nonstop from morning until night. And, of course, I hadn't eaten in between.
Jeonbungi No. 2—the first person I had recommended the Warrior class to—approached me and typed in chat.
[ P2034871140(Warrior): As expected of the guild master. Holding aggro to the end like that was incredible. ]
[ I am a real mage(Warrior): Not at all. It's all thanks to you guys, sticking with the strategy without fail. ]
The other party members inside the dungeon were also thoroughly savoring the afterglow.
[ Does Sleep Come on This Crap(Thief): I'm poisoned and feel like dying... can I get some heals...? ]
[ Eve(Mage): Heal tap tap ]
[ Does Sleep Come on This Crap(Thief): ? ]
First, I collected every item the Boss monster had dropped, without missing a single one.
As had been decided from the moment the party was first formed,
it was time to roll the 'dice'—something everyone looked forward to just as much as the dungeon strategy itself.
[ I am a real mage(Warrior): Everyone, gather up! I will distribute the drop items by class! ]
Even at a glance, the quality of the items that had dropped was beyond imagination.
There weren't that many game users anyway.
I suspected this might be the first clear.
Naturally, everyone was eager.
The party members who had been scattered around chatting in small groups instantly gathered near me.
Meanwhile, I spoke to Eve, who was sitting at the computer right next to me, eyes fixed on the monitor.
"Eve, good work to you too."
"Positive statement. Saving to voice data. Also, you may provide compensation later."
"Hm?"
I didn't know what she meant by needing something.
But there was nothing I couldn't do for Eve, who had played such a crucial role in the strategy.
"Well, let's distribute the items first."
I turned my gaze back to the monitor.
And—
[ I am a real mage(Warrior): First, I'll distribute the warrior gear through the dice (Typing....) ]
—I was in the middle of typing that message in chat.
- Thud, thud, thud!
Someone knocked on my apartment door.
.......
Wait.
My intuition was screaming.
I turned the 'message notifications' back on—the ones I had turned off because they could interfere with gameplay.
Dozens of notifications had arrived.
And most of them were from one person.
After confirming that, I walked toward the front door very carefully, so that my footsteps wouldn't be heard.
A familiar female voice filtered through from beyond the door.
[Why the hell has a woman's voice been coming from inside all day?! Ha. Fine. I'll count to three. If you don't come out, I'm forcing it open—.]
Upon hearing that, I instinctively tried to open the door immediately. It was a reflexive action born from over ten years of being with Catherine.
But at the peak of that alarming sense of crisis,
I grabbed my own arm—the one about to reach for the doorknob—and managed to come to my senses.
I looked behind me
and scanned the scene inside my room.
Eve, sitting in front of the computer, looking at me.
A large double bed.
Traces that made it look like two people were living here.
"Ah."
[I heard that just now. I'm opening the door!!]
I was in big trouble.
17. The Reason They Came (1)
The ancient sages said
that even if a tiger bites you, you can survive as long as you keep your wits about you.
In that respect,
I first calmly typed into the chat.
[ I am a real mage(Warrior): Everyone, truly, sincerely, no lie—something urgent has come up, so I will distribute the items later. Let's meet again then. ]
[ P77648(Warrior): ? ]
[ Does Sleep Come on This Crap(Thief): Crazy? ]
[ P2034871140(Warrior): Guild master? ]
I ignored those reactions and exited the game.
Because I had failed to distribute the drop items,
all kinds of stories might pop up in the game after I left—but that wasn't a problem worth worrying about right now.
Since it wasn't related to my life.
I stared at the monitor that had turned black.
After finishing some slight mental recalibration, I turned around with an awkward smile.
"...So, uh... a cup of tea?"
"No."
The in-game boss nicknamed the Golden Shooting Star could be dealt with purely through DPS.
But there was no method for dealing with the childhood friend who had heard the noise from next door and come over.
"......."
"......."
I would have appreciated it if she'd said something.
Catherine was just sitting in the middle of the room, staring intently at me.
Still, at least she had taken her shoes off before coming in, so it seemed like she hadn't lost all reason yet.
I didn't know what kind of excuse I should make for this situation. I quietly waited for Catherine to speak.
In all the time I had been living in this cyberpunk world, Catherine had never once gotten truly angry at me, and she didn't seem like she was angry now, either.
(It sounds like a lie, but it's true.)
Even so,
seeing the moisture welling in Catherine's eyes, I was plagued by an inexplicable sense of guilt.
Catherine opened her mouth.
I didn't even have any intention of making excuses.
I just listened to her words in silence.
"......I want to live with you too."
"Excuse me?"
I doubted my ears.
* * *
This is a story from a long time ago.
The meeting between Catherine and Lee Si-woon was an event from the distant, distant past.
And back then,
the young girl, Catherine, had looked at the equally young Lee Si-woon and thought—
'...Is this guy a crazy bastard?'
It wasn't a strange thought.
After all,
they were in a place where hundreds of corporate cleaning (murder) drones—machines built to decompose organic matter—were flying around thanks to corporate privatization.
And there he was, looking at her, Catherine, with a face that said he knew absolutely nothing.
'.......'
She didn't know the reason.
But Catherine made up her mind to take care of that boy for the time being.
Maybe it was because they were around the same age.
And maybe it was also because a young friend who had been close to Catherine had recently been harpooned and taken away by a drone.
If Catherine hadn't helped Lee Si-woon, it went without saying what his future would have looked like.
And it was from that moment on
that Catherine started going around with Lee Si-woon.
Starting with how to survive in that place,
she introduced him to people who could help.
They resolved countless incidents.
Crossed countless lines of fire.
After spending more than ten years like that,
it was no surprise that she had come to harbor feelings beyond mere affection for the boy she had initially seen only as a younger brother to look after.
Of course, his face also happened to be her type.
Precisely because of that,
Catherine could not help but feel a secret sense of betrayal about the current situation.
Of course, she knew rationally—
it was easy to say,
but this wasn't something she should truly call a sense of betrayal.
And she herself recognized that if she hadn't wanted to see this kind of situation unfold, she should have acted proactively from the beginning.
But.
'...Starting from now.'
Even so, she had no intention of giving up.
Now that things had reached this point,
no matter how the situation unfolded from here on,
Catherine secretly vowed, without anyone knowing, that she would never back down.
'......I need to look into whether Neon City allows polygyny.'