Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody (デスマーチからはじまる異世界狂想曲)

Perfect.

I should make the 8:33 train without any problems.

Oh, crap!

It's running early!

Adulting is hard.

Life was a whole lot easier back when I was school.

Oh, yeah.

Forgot it was Sunday.

That's why the train schedule is running differently.

I can't believe I forgot what day it was.

Good morning.

Hey.

Are you seriously working over the weekend again?

Always.

We're slammed right now.

You know, cause of the new guy.

Uh, yeah. That's right.

I can't believe he just up and quit,

especially right before the delivery date?

So you're picking up the slack?

Who else?

But with all the bugs and changes in the core design,

we might not make deadline.

You're a good guy, you know that?

I hope the brass brings in some new people, ASAP.

Turnover didn't used to be this brutal.

But now?

Seems like someone quits everyday.

You're a real grown up, man.

I'm staring down 30.

Better late than never.

Welp.

It's time to start another death march.

Okay.

Finish line approaching.

I'm done writing all the classes and commenting everything.

Now I just gotta generate the documentation and UML

from the source code, and start drilling down on the bugs.

The end is so close I can taste it.

Not again, man.

You can't keep changing stuff

I've already gone over like this.

Hmph.

Sato-- I mean, Suzuki.

You and I need to talk War World , bro.

He just tried to call me Satou again.

We've been working together for six months.

He should know my name by now.

We gotta major problem on our hands:

the client is saying the game's too difficult for beginners.

If we don't fix it before the delivery date,

we are totally screwed.

Huh? I know the client is always right,

but they told us our target audience won't play the game

if we make it any easier.

Uh, I guess you're right.

There's another way.

We should use my idea, the one that got axed early on.

When you create your avatar, you get an item that reveals a map

and three heavy-duty bombs.

Cool.

If you clear the area without using the short cut,

you get a rare achievement.

Two birds, one stone.

Beginners are taken care of,

and skilled gamers have something to play for.

Since we're under the gun,

how about we just go with that?

Good thinking, Suzuki, I'll leave the rest to you!

Hold on a sec!

Yes?

I still have to fix all the bugs in that mobile MMORPG,

so I'm running kinda short on time.

While I'm busy with that,

call the client and get them to sign off.

If I put in that feature and the client says "no,"

we won't make deadline.

Yeah. Right.

I'm calling to confirm right now.

I guess I'll go get some lunch.

There's always an event out here, even on Sunday.

Is she lost?

Hey. You're all right.

What's wrong? Are you lost?

My mama.

I have no idea what's she's saying.

I guess I should probably take her to a police station.

Right.

Come on, let's go get help.

Mana!

Mommy!

Oh. There you are, my love!

Oh. Is she your daughter?

She is.

I'm very sorry if she bothered you, sir.

Please. She was no trouble at all.

I'm just glad you found her.

That's a load off.

For a second I was worried she might think

I was some kind of creep.

Thank you for taking care of my sweet girl.

Sure!

I want chocolate ice cream in a cone

with sprinkles on top!

Her mom is pretty hot, though.

All right.

That should do it.

I guess I should test it out.

Wait.

What was the name of the game again?

Oh, yeah!

FFL .

Good work.

Huh?

Headed out?

Haven't been home in three days.

Gotta get back there fast before the wife kicks me out.

Hey, at least you have someone at home who actually cares.

That's true.

Playing the field's fun, but you don't want to do it forever.

Am I right?

You're 29 years old, dude.

You need to find yourself a lady, my friend.

See ya.

Huh... A lady.

Would be nice.

But when every day is a death march?

That's a pretty unrealistic proposition.

Man, I sure could use a bath.

I'm almost finished.

One last email and then I'm home free.

Suzuki!

We just got a bug report from the storage testing team.

What?

No, that can't be right, I literally just spent

the last couple of hours fixing the storage space bug.

I'm not talking about the inventory

in FFL , dude.

I'm talking about a new one:

There's an item duplication bug in World War .

Check your messenger.

I just sent you an attachment with the details.

All right.

Duplication bugs are hard to fix.

I see.

The jerk didn't want to get yelled at,

so he sent me an email.

He better take me out to lunch somewhere nice

with tons of cute girls!

Done at last!

Huh?

I'm sure there are some bugs left, but it'll be fine.

Digital distribution lets us patch it later down the line.

I can hear the users complaining now.

But I don't care.

If I can just fire off this email,

I can finally get some sleep.

I really needed this.

I haven't shut my eyes in over 30 hours.

Right now.

Sleep is my justice.

What the heck is this?

Am I dreaming?

Huh?

Of course the phone doesn't work.

Whoa! I'm young!

Whoa! I look like I did back in high school.

Well, having a dream

about your younger self isn't that abnormal.

But then again.

This is a little freaky.

Don't get me wrong.

When I'm on a death march,

I have dreams about fixing bugs all the time.

But I don't think I've ever had a dream where my younger self

is actually inside the freakin' game I'm working on.

It's crazy.

It's kind of like War World and FFL got slammed together.

And of course it has bugs.

Whoa.

I just did that with my mind.

Satou.

That's the name I always use for my test characters

when I'm working out bugs.

The Valley of Dragons?

Well, I guess that's what this massive crevice is.