062

In fact, "Velvet School Life!" holds a very special meaning for me.

If I were to go into a long, sentimental story, it would never end, but to summarize, I, like Jin Yuha in this world, am an orphan without parents. As a result, I lived a boring life, repeating work and home from an early age.

The only thing that could be considered a hobby was cooking, but since there was no one to eat it, I ended up eating it all myself.

In other words, it was a tough life without even the leisure to make friends, let alone a lover.

As I grew weary of this cold reality and began to question if this was truly living, I stumbled upon the game Velvet School Life.

A world filled with vibrant colours, where charming characters exchanged cheerful banter at the Academy. It was truly a new world to me at the time.

Despite the bleak setting, these characters did not lose their courage or their smiles.

As a player of the game, I became a supporter, watching over them from behind the scenes and cheering them on.

Nonetheless, I found comfort in witnessing their growth in the face of adversity, their triumph over formidable foes, and their transformation from caterpillar to butterfly, shedding their past selves.

Some may scoff and say that I was overly invested in a mere game, but who cares? I was deeply immersed in the world of Velvet School Life.

However, at its core, this game is a collectible girl game, where the primary mechanic is pulling characters through gacha and raising them.

If one pulls blindly, there will inevitably be characters that go unused. But I really disliked the idea of neglecting the characters I pulled in such a way.

"It feels like I'm deliberately excluding them just because they're not needed."

And so, I came up with a rule

My rule was: unless there was a character I really wanted, I wouldn't pull on the character gacha! I would only pull for resources and equipment! And once I pulled a character, I would make sure to use them somehow!

This was the playstyle I had adhered to while enjoying the game.

Of course, I didn't use Jin Yuha either.

Anyway, what about now that the game has become reality?

"Are you going to say, 'Unfortunately, you can no longer be with us,' to someone who has temporarily joined the party and become useless?"

Unless I had never included them in the party in the first place, that was not something I could bring myself to do.

"Someone who will be with us until the end… Cough, ahem! But is there a reason why you're saying this?"

Shin Se-hee, who had been coughing to get my attention, asked me a question. Of course, from her perspective, it was natural to think that people could be replaced without a second thought. It was a reasonable question.

'…Rather than rambling on and on about my sentimental reasons here, it would be better to give a more rational explanation, right?'

I took a moment to gather my thoughts and then spoke.

"First of all, it's because of our party's reputation."

"Our reputation?"

"Yeah, right now our party is completely unknown, but we're going to become quite famous in the future."

Everyone nodded in agreement, having experienced the synergy of our party during the tutorial boss battle; it was enough time to understand each other's strengths.

"And when that happens, whether we like it or not, we'll attract a lot of attention."

"…Oh."

"In fact, most people will react positively, but not everyone in this world has good intentions. And there are also Demons."

Shin Se-hee's face hardened. This part would resonate with her the most, as it was related to her personal story, which would be revealed later.

"There may be people who join our party with the intention of breaking it up or settling in, or people who are initially well-intentioned but are influenced by others with malicious intentions."

I made eye contact with Shin Se-hee, Kang Do-hee, Lee Yoo-ri, and Lim Ga-eul as I spoke. Lim Ga-eul seemed a little taken aback by this sudden talk, as she had just joined us today.

Yeah, we're a party after taking down the tutorial boss together. No backing out now.

"So I want to form a party with people I can trust, people who are mine."

"Yes, I understand."

Shin Se-hee nodded in agreement.

"And the second reason is that our party's growth rate will be quite fast."

This part was unavoidable.

A party led by a player would inevitably get involved in various incidents in this world.

Even if we lacked growth resources, as long as we kept defeating these monsters, our experience would naturally accumulate.

"So, in terms of efficiency, it's better to have someone who is optimized for our party from the start rather than people who come and go temporarily."

Well, even with this explanation, they probably wouldn't be completely convinced. After all, in the early stages, it would be more beneficial to recruit other characters.

So, I mixed in a bit of sincerity as I spoke.

Ahem!

"And lastly… well, I guess this is how I am. I'm not sure how this will sound, but…"

As I opened my mouth to speak, I hesitated a little. But since I had already brought it up, I had to see it through, even if it meant kicking myself at night.

"To be honest, I find it a bit difficult to casually meet and then part ways with people. To be blunt, this part is a bit forced, but can you try to understand me on this…?"

I scratched my cheek, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"...."

"...."

"...."

"...."

I glanced at them from the corner of my eye. The party members stared at me with blank expressions.

'Phew, was that too much of a stretch…?'

Feeling the heat rise to my face, I urged them to leave.

"Alright, that's it for today! You've all worked hard! We have classes tomorrow, so let's meet then!"

.

.

.

As the girls left Jin Yuha's house, they remained silent during the walk.

Lee Yoo-ri recalled her first visit to Jin Yuha's room earlier that day.

'…I remember him saying that he didn't have any money to live at the Academy when he asked to join our group in the Camelot Forest.'

And when she had witnessed his skills, she had thought that there was no way someone with such abilities could be poor.

'I thought he was just making an excuse to protect me… but…'

However, the shabby clothes she had seen in his room, the lone moving box that seemed too humble to contain his personal belongings, it was all too meager. Even she, with her not-so-fortunate circumstances, had brought a substantial amount of luggage.

'…Could he have been in debt?'

Perhaps he had an enormous debt that he couldn't repay without taking on dangerous Black Hunter jobs.

'It seems like he's repaid his debts now, though…'

But then, that didn't make sense either.

If that were the case, why would he have given a senior he had just met a top-grade magic stone without hesitation? And why had he been so eager to take care of her when they first met that day?

'And this as well…'

Lee Yoo-ri fell into deep thought as she gazed at the tattoo on her hand.

She wondered if she had someone like that in her life. As she tried to recall, Lee Yoo-ri's thoughts turned to the place she sent money to every month.

"...family."

The word escaped her lips before she realized it, and everyone's gaze shifted to her.

"!?!"

Lee Yoo-ri covered her mouth in surprise, but the words were already out.

Shin Se-hee, who had been staring at Lee Yoo-ri, spoke up. "I'm sure you're all curious as to why he treats you so specially." Her voice was low and strained, as if she was holding back emotions. "And there are probably many parts of the process that don't make sense to you."

The words that had been on everyone's minds were finally spoken aloud, and they slowly nodded in agreement.

"I know the reason, but it's difficult for me to tell you myself. It's related to Jin Yuha's secret, and I only found out about it by accident, so it's even more difficult to talk about. You'll hear it from him later." Shin Se-hee scanned the group gathered around her: Lee Yoo-ri, Kang Do-hee, and Lim Ga-eul.

'Jin Yuha can see the future, so these people must be special to him in some way in the future he has foreseen.'

And originally, she wouldn't have been a part of that future.

He had shown an inexplicable and intense aversion to her from the very beginning.

Unconsciously, Shin Se-hee bit her lip.

'But Jin Yuha said he would trust me.'

Jealousy welled up inside her, but she forced herself to hold on to those words and calm her heart.

"However, there is something I can tell you now. This is also a bit of personal information, but I think it's important for you to know so that you don't make any mistakes."

She had once decided to recruit Jin Yuha and had conducted an investigation into him.

Of course, that investigation had been completely inaccurate from start to finish. But there was one fact that could be confirmed beyond a doubt.

"Jin Yuha's parents… they both passed away when he was very young due to a monster attack."

The words were enough to shock everyone into silence.

"...So that's why, that's why he…"

Lee Yoo-ri and Kang Do-hee nodded in late understanding.

"Eek!"

Suddenly, Lim Ga-eul gasped.

"W, what should I do?"

"Hmm?"

"Me, I… I told my junior earlier that he has a lot of mothers…!?"

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