2 – Welcoming the New Year

The party started and immediately became noisy.

Maybe it was because they hadn’t seen each other in quite a while due to their respective jobs.

But the biggest reason was probably…

“I saw an article saying Ellen unnie is getting married?”

Ellen was getting married.

She was in her thirties now, so it wasn’t that strange.

The problem was that her partner was quite unexpected.

“I can’t believe she’s marrying Shin Ga-ram?”

Shin Ga-ram of Posner, the fourth-ranked company in Korea.

She’s marrying someone she had no connection with until a few years ago?

Well, he’s not a bad guy, but isn’t it a bit out of the blue?

“I heard they got along pretty well while clearing gates together?”

With so many global incidents happening recently, she apparently got involved with Shin Ga-ram while resolving them.

They were already dating while I wasn’t paying attention.

“I’ll bring a generous wedding gift to the wedding later.”

“You stole my unnie!!!”

“Stole? I was never yours in the first place!”

Unlike Ha-jeong, who was sincerely congratulating her, Ha-yeon clung to Ellen and said that.

It’s been years since they met, and now one of her few really close friends is getting married.

I feel a bit down.

While I was thinking that, an unexpected counterattack came.

“More importantly, when are you and Ha-jeong getting married?”

A silence fell at that moment.

Ha-yeon’s body, which had been clinging to Ellen, also stopped instantly.

“You’ve been dating for years, and you’re still not married?”

“Um… it’s because we’re both busy.”

“Busy my foot. Most of the incidents are over now, and you’re just lazing around at home on weekdays.”

That hit the nail on the head.

I was struck by the truth, and I had nothing more to say.

To be honest, the reason I haven’t married Jin Ha-jeong is simple.

I’m not confident about living together full-time after marriage.

It’s fine if we just see each other now, but I get so embarrassed when we look at each other.

I wouldn’t be able to handle living together.

I’d just sink immediately.

“Let’s move on from this topic.”

Duke said, changing the subject away from romance.

He’s such an old man.

Even though he’s old, he’s almost like he’s in his twenties, so he’s comfortable to be around.

“By the way, the food is really delicious.”

Veronica said, eating dakgalbi and glass noodles.

It really is delicious.

It’s a chicken dish, and it’s also delicious because Ellen made it.

“By the way, is this tteokguk…?”

Kaede said, looking at the tteokguk.

Has she never had tteokguk before?

“You’ve never had tteokguk?”

“No. I usually train or just rest with my family during Lunar New Year’s. I’ve never had it before…”

I thought that Kaede might be like that, so I told her to try it.

Kaede took a spoonful of tteokguk and put it in her mouth.

“How is it? Is it good?”

“Um… it’s good.”

Kaede is quite picky about taste, so if she says that, it must be really delicious.

Ha-yeon smiled slightly at the sight and started eating as well.

A little more time passed like that.

“Everyone’s going to stay until sunrise, right?”

“Of course. That’s what we came to see in the first place.”

New Year’s.

Unlike the past few years, which were full of tension due to so many incidents, this is a comfortable and peaceful New Year’s.

I quite liked the adjective “peaceful” attached to the New Year.

“By the way, what are we going to do now?”

We’ve eaten and our stomachs are full.

Ha-jeong, who asked what we were going to do now, pondered for a moment and then clapped her hands.

“Ah! That’s right! Wait here!”

She said, quickly running into the room and bringing something back, connecting it to the large television.

And before long, something appeared on the screen.

[Throne of Usurpation, Divine Realm War]

A spin-off of the Throne of Usurpation series!

A free console game where you directly control the characters, so ordinary people sweat buckets playing it.

“This is for four players, who wants to play!”

Ha-yeon grabbed the first console.

And then Ha-jeong took the console next to it.

Next, Ellen subtly took two consoles, keeping one for herself and giving the other to Veronica.

A four-person party was formed in an instant.

Seeing that, she pressed the game start button without hesitation.

This Throne of Usurpation, Divine Realm War is a game where you can summon all the Throne of Usurpation characters that have been released so far and fight by controlling them one by one.

It’s basically Super Smash Bros.

“I’ll go with Serage, as always.”

Serage, the heroine of the best-selling series of all time.

I chose Serage, who has blonde hair and blue eyes, similar to my appearance, and the others also chose their characters one by one.

Ellen chose Rain, who was called a cheat character in the first series with water as her main technique.

Veronica chose Pera, the male lead of the third series.

Ha-jeong chose Kane, the male lead of the series where the heroine is the Serage I was going to choose.

He chose Kane, who has black hair and red eyes.

And so the game began.

Each of us was summoned in the corner and started moving.

Ha-yeon, who could boast that she was the most experienced here, used a skill on Ha-jeong as soon as the game started and charged forward.

And was immediately countered.

“…What the heck.”

And then a skill came flying.

She dodged the skill, as expected of an experienced player, and continued to attack while panicking.

It had been nerfed, but it was a cheat combo that used to be called unblockable.

She kept using the combo, but they held out quite well.

“Give me a break, Veronica!!”

“Don’t you know that the world of competition is ruthless?”

Veronica’s Pera was sticking close to Rain, whose specialty was long-range attacks, and unleashing a flurry of close-range attacks.

I thought Veronica had never played this kind of game before.

And Ellen said she had played it a few times!

While thinking that, I busily moved Serage and chipped away at Kane’s health.

-Grace of Light

Not the grace of blessing, but a real gun of silver.

Light poured out from the barrel of the gun, finishing off Kane.

“Ah… I died.”

“You were really good, though.”

Serage immediately charged at Pera.

“Falcon Punch of Justice!!!”

Serage’s signature technique and ultimate move, the Falcon Punch of Justice.

Ah, no, the Fist of God (but that’s weird too), was charged to the max, and Pera’s health, which was more than half full, was instantly reduced to zero.

“I won!”

To be honest, there was no bet on the line, and we were just doing it to pass the time, but isn’t it nice to win?

“By the way, Ha-jeong, you’re pretty good, huh?”

Winning is winning, but there was one thing I’d been wondering about since earlier.

Why was Jin Ha-jeong somewhat good at that game?

Considering his personality, he would never play such an otaku game.

“I saw you playing it for a bit when I went to your house before. I wanted to try it too, so I bought it and just played it because it was fun.”

“My house?”

“Yeah, a few weeks ago. I practiced because I thought you might play it someday, but I still lost…”

Ha-jeong made a gesture of boredom with the hand holding the console.

Seeing that, Ha-yeon made a suggestion.

“If you can beat me in a 1-on-3 match, I’ll grant you one wish.”

Ha-yeon said, putting her hands on her hips with an air of triumph.

The three of them naturally agreed to her words, and the bet began.

The characters were the same as before.

As soon as the game started, I ran towards Ellen this time.

‘Ha-jeong and Veronica are a bit tricky.’

Ellen is the easiest to deal with.

And she has the most tricky abilities.

That’s why she’s the perfect target to take out first.

I spammed the dash button, and as soon as I was in range to use a skill, Serage immediately unleashed it.

Bang!

True to her concept as a martial arts saintess, she immediately smashed the enemy with the power of light gathered in her legs.

Ellen died instantly.

“Another first blood!”

Ellen stood up as if she was about to throw the console.

But without even paying attention to that, an attack came flying towards Serage.

-O’ devouring flames that burn everything in the world.

True to his chuunibyou character, Pera shouted such lines and launched black flames, and Kane immediately unleashed a skill at the spot where Serage lightly dodged the attack and landed.

-Black Fang.

Black fangs.

Countless black swords rose from the ground, and Serage’s health was instantly reduced by half by the attack.

Tatatatat!!!

Ha-yeon frantically pressed the console buttons.

It seemed like she was pressing them mindlessly, but it was all calculated.

And a moment later, Serage flew into the sky.

“Sacred Hectopascal Kick!!”

She created the effect of gathering the power of light in her legs again and slammed Pera with those legs.

Pera, who was a character with weak health, died instantly when she was hit head-on by the skill, but there was still something annoying left.

The devouring flames of erosion were attached to Serage’s body, eating away at her health.

‘As quickly as possible!’

It was clear that I would die before the fire went out, so I rushed to Jin Ha-jeong for a quick victory.

But Kane kept using evasion skills and running away.

“You’re not even a man!”

“Are you saying you’re dating someone who’s not a man, then?”

Kane also has low health, so he’ll die as soon as I hit him once!

While thinking that, I kept chasing him, and suddenly he stopped and was about to use a skill.

-game finish

Serage died from the dot damage.

Damn it!

“Ah… I lost.”

Ha-yeon said, putting down the console.

And the three of them said to her.

“We won, so it’s okay to make a wish, right?”

“Are you going to make it now?”

“Of course.”

The three of them looked at Ha-yeon with playful eyes.

A chill ran down her spine, and she finally realized the situation and started to panic.

“It’s not something weird, is it?”

“Of course not. It’ll be very easy and not difficult, right?”

Ha-jeong said as if they had already planned it.

Ellen drove the final nail in the coffin.

“Wear a maid outfit. And post a proof shot on social media… no, post it.”

“Kkyaaaaaaak!!”

It was a very.

It was a very embarrassing bet.