A YEAR AGO...

Daemon was, as always, isolating himself to escape reality. The 10th graders made fun of him for not speaking, and he needed to pull himself together. He sat in his black armchair, chatting and playing games with other people as the computer light reflected on Daemon's face. He could already feel himself improving in speaking. As Daemon smiled with delight, he heard his father yell at him:

"TAKASHI! COME HERE!"

Daemon walked over to his father, trembling. His father was in the kitchen, staring at the chocolate paper that had fallen to the floor:

"TAKASHI! THE FUCK IS THIS!"

"I must have dropped it last night, it wasn't on purpose!"

"GET IT FROM THE GROUND!"

Seeing his father clenching his fist, Daemon paused, his father continued to shout:

"GET IT!"

As Daemon bent down to pick up the piece of chocolate, his father kicked Daemon in the back. Daemon shrieked in pain and fell to the ground as his father hit him hard once more:

"DO NOT SCREAM!"

His father continued to strike again:

"Am I going to clean up your trash? Son of a bitch! Get up and be a man! You don't stay out of your room all day because of a stupid girl! Stop being a pathetic bastard! Be a man! Be a man!"

Daemon was trying to pathetically block his father's fists with his hands. Blood was pouring from between his fingers. His father stopped and knelt on the ground.

Daemon hastily dumped the trash on the floor and ran to his room, locking the door. His microphone on the computer was turned on, and when he put on the headphones, he heard people's laughter. He turned off the computer, threw himself on his bed, and hugged his pillow. He closed his eyes, trembling. All he wanted was to get away from this world as he slowly fell asleep. Yeah, getting away from this world sounded nice...

—————————————————————————————

Daemon and Lockheart were walking through your city on Level 4. Daemon looked tired and tense, while Lockheart was looking wearily at Daemon while Daemon carrying Nyaru on his back.

Daemon rolled his eyes at Lockheart and asked:

"Seriously, can't we just wait a few days and join which Guild is best?"

As players gradually reached level 50, Guilds were starting to open up. Guilds were the main factor in survival, communication, trading, and socializing.

Lockheart continued:

"We will join the Guild of my friends."

"When did you have friends besides me?"

"Somehow I met my real-life friends at the bar. They said they were going to form a Guild together and invited me in."

Daemon tried to hide his nervousness, Lockheart rolled her eyes and asked:

"Seriously, why are you so nervous? You were never been like this when you talked to me."

"But… you were one person. Now when there is more than one person, they will judge me and make fun of me because the power will be in the hands of society. Then I will be excluded. And they will mock and bully me."

"ARE YOU SERIOUS! Society? Never had a small group of friends before?"

Daemon didn't answer that question, every time he tried to talk to humans something went wrong. That's why he isolated himself from people. Not only Yui, but he also had many more traumas. Daemon couldn't stand people uniting. He thought they would push him away from himself if they were united. He was always changing the subject and hiding behind his jokes, but deep down he was always afraid. He was selfish but always wanted Lockheart and Nyaru to stay with him. Talking to others now, Lockheart would gradually abandon himself.

Lockheart took a deep breath, remembering that Daemon was an otaku-neet:

"Look Daemon, we're just going to form a guild together. That's it. It's not my intention to leave you. All I'm asking you right now is to keep up with us. Got it?"

Daemon shyly shook his head.

———————————————————————————————

They continued walking down the stone path. Nyaru had fallen asleep. Lockheart stopped in front of a merchant shop.

"Here we come!"

"Are we going to talk here?"

"One of my friends chose merchant as his in-game career, he buys items from that job and sells them for an extra fee. This way he will gain even more Kud."

Daemon suddenly remembered that careers were unlocked at Level 50.

With the career system, he could gain tradable items and EXP from doing some real-life hobbies. Unfortunately, Daemon didn't understand this kind of work because of his lifestyle. That's why he hadn't chosen a career. He turned to Lockheart:

"So what career are you thinking of choosing?"

"Maybe Cook. Merchant and Blacksmith seem too complicated to me."

Meanwhile, a man's voice came from inside the shop:

"Lockheart, are you here?"

"Yup."

He looked at the Daemon, squeaking:

"And I brought a girl and a neet with me."

"H-hey!"

Daemon was sensitive because someone he didn't know heard him.

Nyaru woke up and started to yawn, Daemon gently lowered her to the ground:

"Are we here?"

Lockheart smiled and stroked Nyaru's hair.

A short blond-haired man opened the door, Nyaru and Lockheart came in first, while Daemon sighed from behind.

When they stepped into the shop, there were hangers with equipment and framed swords all around. In the middle of the shop was a white marble table and 6 wooden chairs. On the counter table at the back of the shop were pieces of metal, potions, and gems.

There were three people in the shop.

The man with short blond hair, tall and fat, wearing iron armor smiled:

"Welcome. I'm Haruto."

He gestured to the girl beside him, who was short, thin, with short blue hair and eyes, smiling calmly, and the girl who looked exactly like him except for the long hair:

"These are Ren and Rem. Twin sisters."

Lockheart hugged them, smiling.

"Rem, Ren! It's been a long time, how are you!"

Rem replied with a calm smile:

"We are good how are you!"

Ren jumped with joy:

"Who's next to you? Were you with him all the way?"

Daemon rolled his eyes as the girls screamed and laughed at each other. He whispered to himself:

"Heh, women."

Then he noticed that the man called Haruto was staring at him:

"A-ah. Right, I forgot."

Stuttering, he put his hand to himself:

"I'm Dae- I mean... Takashi. And the little girl next to me is Nyaru."

Smiling, Haruto approached Daemon and held out his hand. Daemon shook his hand. Then Haruto patted Daemon on the back:

"Bro, you can be sincere with us. You don't have to be so nervous, we are just chilling..."

Daemon looked at the people next to him. Rem and Ren were talking to Lockheart, Nyaru was examining the swords hung on the wall of the shop, and Haruto was smiling at him.

There was nothing to be afraid of.

After a few minutes, they all sat down at the table and started talking. Daemon was smiling, excited to have joined a group.