I Became a Raid Boss-Chapter 139: And, Again (1)

Warmth touched both of my cheeks.

"Warm..."

The warmth radiating from Daeun’s hands wasn’t different from what I’d felt before.

And yet, it felt different this time. Perhaps it was because of the texture.

"So this is what it feels like."

Unlike Joni’s endlessly soft hands, Daeun’s hands had a slight roughness to them, though just barely.

Still, they were soft enough.

I half-closed my eyes.

And I gently let myself be carried by the hands that cautiously stroked my cheeks.

Thump, thump, the heart that had been racing wildly began to gradually calm down.

"...A doll?"

"..."

"No, wait. Judging by the fact that she can talk and move, maybe she’s an android? But she looks so much like a real person."

For a brief moment, there was peace.

But, as expected, Daeun’s strange words shattered my serenity into pieces.

I opened my half-closed eyes and stared at her incredulously, and Daeun, whose expression had been so serious before, suddenly looked startled.

"Don’t tell me... this is to show that they created something based on her?"

**

"What? Not at all."

Follow current novℯls on ƒгeewёbnovel.com.

"Or maybe they trapped someone inside the game, like a brain in a jar, making them act like an NPC..."

The sudden appearance of an unknown company stirring up a frenzy always seemed a bit suspicious.

Edel, the woman who had brought Daeun here, sighed as she listened to Daeun muttering.

"If that were the case, do you think there would be any reason to bring you here to show you?"

"...Maybe they wanted to use my brain?"

"Your imagination is really impressive."

Then she glanced at me.

"I see why you kept her around."

"...That’s not why we stayed together."

It was amusing at times, but there were far more absurd moments.

I let out a light sigh, just as Edel had, and raised my hand to remove Daeun’s hand from my cheek.

The hand that was still stroking my cheek.

"A touching reunion... wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, but I didn’t expect this either."

"You’re right; that sort of thing doesn’t suit you."

"...I didn’t ask for your opinion."

"You don’t have to ask for me to say it. Hmm... But now that I think about it, maybe it’s not so unfitting after all."

What is she going to say this time?

I moved to stop Edel from speaking, but her words spilled out faster than I could act.

"Remember that time on the mountain? You were sobbing and begging—it was delicious. Care to try that again?"

"Just die already."

"...What are you two even talking about?"

As Edel and I exchanged banter, Daeun, sensing something strange, interrupted our conversation.

I fell silent for a moment, staring into her eyes.

In her trembling pupils, the image of a pink-haired girl was clearly reflected.

Let me say it again: I didn’t think my reunion with Daeun would look like this.

Frankly, calling this a “reunion” after only a few days apart felt excessive.

But putting my perspective aside, from Daeun’s viewpoint, seeing someone she thought had died come back would be nothing short of a miracle.

So, to steer this messy reunion toward a better tone, I opened my mouth.

What should I say upon seeing her again?

After much deliberation, I settled on this:

"Hi. I’m Canary. ...Just, Canary."

I briefly debated whether to include my surname but shook my head.

While I liked sharing the same last name as my father, "Gracid" was a surname bestowed by the kingdom, not his.

Besides, my connection with Daeun wasn’t as "Canary Gracid."

Satisfied with my introduction, I nodded to myself.

"...Canary?"

Daeun’s gaze sharpened.

Her brows arched fiercely, her eyes blazing, and her cheeks and hands occasionally trembled.

It was nice to see color return to her once lifeless face, but...

Why does she look like that?

I tilted my head in confusion at her reaction, which radiated pure anger.

Daeun, after swallowing her words several times as if to gather her thoughts, shifted her fierce glare from me to Edel.

"I don’t know if you brought someone who looks like her or made them cosplay, but... did you think I’d be happy about this? Absolutely not!"

"Uh..."

"Just because you’re buried in code doesn’t mean you don’t understand—emotions aren’t trivial things!"

"Wait a second—"

"And you... You’re the same! You might’ve been paid to participate in this, but to toy with someone’s heart like this is unacceptable!"

"...I wasn’t paid, though."

"You weren’t even paid, and you did this?"

Daeun’s expression twisted even further in fury.

She looked ready to storm out, so I shot Edel a glance.

Do something about this.

Edel, however, shook her head.

This is your problem. You’re the reason she’s mad, so you fix it.

Why is this my fault?

Then is it mine? She only reacted like this after your introduction.

...You could’ve explained things beforehand.

You agreed to this, didn’t you?

Though we hadn’t spoken a word, the exchanged glances seemed to carry this unspoken dialogue.

Regardless, calming Daeun down was clearly necessary.

"Even for a game company, this kind of treatment toward players is unacceptable! No, actually, it’s even worse!"

"I get it, so calm down—"

"I can’t calm down when I’m like this!"

Daeun, breathing heavily, showed no signs of cooling off.

She reminded me of an agitated dog, barking and darting around fiercely.

While I didn’t know how to handle animals, I did know how to settle someone down.

I ignited mana at my fingertip.

Fwoosh.

Slash!

The headboard of the bed split cleanly as if sliced by a sword, the cut smooth and precise.

"A true swordsman must be able to cut through anything."

"Shh."

The room fell silent.

**

"...What the hell?! Did you just cut the bed? Do you even know how expensive this bed is?!"

"Why would I care? If you told me to calm her down, then you should’ve expected something like this to happen."

"When did I ever say that?!"

"You said it with your eyes earlier."

"You’re completely insane!"

"You could’ve predicted this by reading my thoughts, so why act surprised now?"

"I can’t! I can’t read your thoughts anymore!"

"Huh."

Edel explained:

Since I’d ascended in rank and my body now carried miasma, she could no longer read my thoughts like before.

Ah, I see.

I nodded in understanding.

"So you’re even more useless now."

"Grrrr...!"

Edel ground her teeth furiously, unable to lash out.

It was kind of funny seeing her reactions become more human than before—probably because she couldn’t read my thoughts anymore.

"Mana...? That can’t be..."

Daeun’s murmuring interrupted my thoughts.

She stared at the pink mana glowing at the tip of my finger as if she couldn’t believe it.

Then, without hesitation, she reached out to touch it.

Startled, I scattered the mana before she could.

She’d just seen it cut the headboard cleanly—what on earth was she thinking?

Though, I guess it could make sense.

To her, it might look like special effects or some kind of magic trick.

In this world, powers like this didn’t exist.

"Do you still not believe me?"

I lifted my arm, and the overly long hospital gown sleeves rolled up.

Clink.

The bracelet on my wrist jingled with a clear sound.

"...!"

Daeun’s pupils shook violently.

In a flash, she grabbed my wrist.

If I’d wanted to avoid her, I easily could have.

But I let her hold my wrist calmly.

Shouldn’t she be more surprised by the sword aura than the bracelet?

After all, a bracelet is just an item you could easily find elsewhere.

Swallowing the question, I stayed still as Daeun fumbled with the bracelet, her fingers trembling.

After a long moment of inspecting it, she let go of my wrist.

"...No way. Is it really..."

But then, almost immediately:

"No, that can’t be. This isn’t a novel or something..."

Even though she wanted to believe it, a sliver of rationality kept pulling her back to disbelief.

A true swordsman must cut through anything, even hesitation.

So I decided to take action to sever her doubts.

+++++

"...So that’s how it happened."

With Edel’s help here and there, I managed to finish explaining everything safely.

Even after first showing my mana, I had to repeat the process a few more times, recount past events, and go through various steps of verification.

"Is it really you, Kana?"

"Yeah."

"Really, really?"

"I said yes."

"This isn’t some hidden camera prank, right? If you later say this was all a prank, I’m seriously going to get mad. I’ll report it to the press without hesitation."

"Go ahead...."

Exhausting. Truly exhausting.

Should I just say no...?

A fleeting bad thought crossed my mind.

But I held it back. Patience is a virtue, after all.

Wham!

Just as I was suppressing that little bad thought, Daeun suddenly threw herself at me and hugged me tightly.

"Kana!"

"Ack!"

"I really thought you were dead...!"

"Mmmph—"

Well, I was dead.

But that aside, I get it, so could you please let go now?

This body was undoubtedly weaker than the one I had in the other world, yet Daeun’s hug was the strongest it had ever been.

I considered pushing her away and raised my hand, but I sighed and gave up.

Through her muffled words, I could faintly hear the sound of her sobbing.

"And then...!"

"Yes, yes."

Her words were so jumbled and incoherent that I couldn’t quite make out what she was saying.

But it probably meant she’d gone through a lot.

Using the hand I’d raised to push her away, I gently patted her back instead.

Whatever else, in the end...

I was just as glad to see Daeun as she was to see me.

The sound of her sobbing gradually died down.

"...."

"...."

"Can you let go now?"

"Kana, you haven’t changed at all."

"They say if a person changes suddenly, it’s a sign they’re about to die. Since I already died once and came back, it’s only natural that I haven’t changed."

"Pfft, what kind of logic is that?"

Even as she laughed in disbelief, Daeun finally let go of me.

"Your face is a mess."

"...You, just because you’re cute, doesn’t mean you can say things like that so carelessly."

Daeun, her face a complete mess from tears and snot, grumbled in irritation.

Good thing she wasn’t wearing makeup—if she had been, she would’ve been a complete disaster.

It’s also fortunate there’s such a big height difference between us.

If we were closer in height, I would’ve gotten drenched....

"Kana, can I ask you something?"

While I was lost in thought, Daeun, who had tidied up her messy face, spoke with her swollen eyes.

"What is it?"

"You said earlier that you could’ve stayed in Sillia but chose to come back to Earth instead."

"Yeah."

"Can I ask why? I mean, I’m really glad you’re here with me, of course! I’m just curious...."

"So you were hesitating because you were wondering about that?"

"It might sound like I’m criticizing your decision to come back...."

"Not really, I don’t think that at all."

The reason I came back.

How should I explain it?

As I tapped my fingers lightly on the bed, my hand brushed against Daeun’s.

I looked at her slightly rough hand for a moment, then smiled softly.

"Just because."

There were a lot of reasons.

But for now, I wanted to say it like this:

"I just felt like it."