I Became a Raid Boss-Chapter 140: And, Again (2)

When I first heard Edel's plan in the Holy Kingdom:

"...If I ascend."

I asked Edel:

"So, if what you’re saying is true, and I can rewrite the system... can I..."

"-Bring your father back? It’s not impossible."

"...!"

"But are you sure about that?"

Your father has likely already reincarnated and is living a new life.

"...And?"

"Even if you could find his memories and body through the system, would he truly be happy to return? The man known as ‘Garid’ doesn’t seem like someone who would."

I froze.

I wanted to say, "It doesn’t matter," or "He would want to come back."

But the words wouldn’t come out.

While I believe that the same soul equals the same person, would my father, who’s now living a new life, feel the same?

He might think that regaining his life at the cost of someone else’s is an unbearable burden.

Someone who once vowed to dedicate his life to strangers would never take kindly to such an act.

Would he resent me?

Would he ask me why I brought him back?

Would he blame me for forcing him to live by sacrificing others?

Or would he be grateful?

Would he hold me and tell me he missed me?

Maybe it’s both.

He might secretly resent me while desperately hiding it for my sake.

My father is a kind man, after all.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t predict how my father would treat me if we met again.

Would I have understood him better if we’d had more conversations?

I think I’m starting to understand what it means when they say children can never fully know their parents' hearts.

"Take your time to think about it. But don’t take too long."

Edel gave me an extension for my answer, telling me to decide when everything was finished and I returned.

She spoke of success, not even entertaining the thought of failure.

As I left the Holy Kingdom, postponing my decision, I headed to Raxia and met many people.

Some were familiar faces, some I saw for the first time, and others only remembered me one-sidedly.

The conversations I had with them brought me varying degrees of confusion.

One of the most confusing encounters was with a demon I met in Raxia, dragging along a dying body.

"I suppose I’d feel miserable. As I said, I don’t want to live at the expense of others."

"Even if the life sacrificed belonged to a heinous criminal?"

"Even so."

Those words were something I would never have agreed with.

But if my father, Garid, had heard them...

He would’ve agreed wholeheartedly.

And with a hearty laugh, he’d have slapped the demon on the back and suggested grabbing a drink together.

"Choose."

After all that, when I stood before Edel again, the crossroads she’d once postponed for me now stretched out before me once more.

Edel told me there was no more time to delay.

"...I will."

I hadn’t planned on delaying any longer anyway.

"Leave."

To a new world.

No, to the world where I once lived.

It’s not that I no longer wanted to see my father.

But more than that longing...

"I don’t want to be hated."

I was afraid.

"Oh my, little Kana is such a coward?"

"...Could you at least call me a filial daughter instead?"

Besides, bringing my father back felt like it would be a disgrace to the life he’d lived.

"You can’t spend your whole life yearning for someone who’s gone, can you?"

My father was likely already living a new life.

So what I had to do was ensure that the new life he was living could remain peaceful.

Just as he once saved me when I was on the verge of death,

Now it was my turn to repay that debt.

"And..."

Looking into the mirror Edel created, I murmured softly as I watched the girl within it, fighting and bleeding.

"I want to live, too."

A normal life.

"I just felt like it."

It was a single phrase that encompassed all those thoughts.

"Just...?"

As if confused by my answer, Daeun repeated the word aloud.

After repeating it a few more times, she seemed to organize her thoughts and nodded.

"In any case, it means I get to stay with you, right, Kana?"

"...That’s enough to satisfy you?"

"Feelings can’t always be neatly explained. Some people feel a fated connection and get married at first sight, so why not express it with something as simple as ‘just because’?"

"Daeun, you sure love talking about emotions."

"...Ugh!"

Remembering how she’d lectured Edel and me about emotions earlier, Daeun’s face flushed red.

Then suddenly, her expression grew complicated.

As expected of someone so passionate about emotions, her face reflected a range of thoughts.

I wondered what she was thinking.

Before I could ask, Daeun hesitated, then opened her mouth.

"I’m sorry. All this time, I thought the world you were in was just a game. Ah, by ‘game,’ I mean—"

"No need to explain. I already know."

"Huh? You know...? How?"

"...Edel told me."

Edel gave me a look that seemed to say, "Me?" I ignored her lightly.

But just because she opened her mouth didn’t mean my doubts were resolved.

...It’s a game, isn’t it?

From the beginning, that’s exactly what the gods of the two worlds had intended when they cooperated to create this game. Isn’t it only natural to think of it that way?

When I voiced my thoughts, Daeun hesitated again before speaking.

"But... you got mad in the Holy Kingdom."

"Ah, that."

Though it had led to us becoming closer, like the ground hardening after rain, I had been pretty harsh back then.

"...Sorry about that."

Come to think of it, there hadn’t been much reason to be angry with Daeun.

If anyone deserved the blame, it was the ones who created the game in the first place.

"It was beyond my control, really."

"That’s what incompetent people always say. Anyway, um—don’t worry about it."

Words of comfort weren’t exactly my strong suit, so I tried to brush off her words casually.

But then a question I’d forgotten came back to me.

Something I’d wanted to ask back in Sillia but never got the chance to.

Maybe now I could get an answer.

"Why were you so kind to me?"

If Daeun thought of Sillia as just a game, there was no reason for her to treat me with such kindness.

Yet she had treated me with extraordinary familiarity—even confiding some details about her life in this world.

"Like I said before, I wanted you to be happy, Kana."

"I mean, why would you go out of your way to show so much care for just an NPC?"

"You’re not just an NPC."

Daeun replied firmly.

"I don’t know how to put it exactly... but that’s just how I felt."

"Were you copying me?"

"What? No!"

"The way you’re reacting so strongly makes it seem even more suspicious."

"I’m telling you, it’s not true!"

When I narrowed my eyes, Daeun jumped in surprise, practically leaping back.

Only after I told her it was a joke did her frantic hand movements finally stop.

"When I think about it, maybe what I felt was the ‘fated pull’ I mentioned earlier."

"..."

"Oh? Your face turned red! Are you embarrassed?"

"...No."

Who would get embarrassed over something like that?

Even though I said that, Daeun kept moving around, persistently trying to catch my gaze.

"...Knock it off."

Whack!

"Ow!"

Daeun finally calmed down after receiving a dose of "tranquilizer"—a flick to the forehead.

Watching her clutch her head and groan, I spoke in mild irritation.

"More importantly, aren’t you forgetting something?"

"...Huh?"

"When someone introduces themselves, there’s something you’re supposed to do."

"...Oh!"

Introductions aren’t supposed to be one-sided; they’re about exchanging names.

Realizing what I meant, Daeun let out a small exclamation. Clearing her throat and fussing over her appearance, she smiled brightly and extended her hand.

"I’m Shin Daeun! Nice to meet you!"

Grip.

Feeling the warmth of her hand in mine, I smiled back.

"Yeah. Nice to meet you."

It was just a handshake, so why was my heart racing like this?

"Is this... love?"

"...Don’t say weird things right into someone’s ear."

Was Edel really a god, or just a daughter of some gossiping noble family?

She was doing things that made it hard to believe she was divine.

Love? What love.

Her cheeks puffed up, Edel mumbled to herself.

"You said you wanted to experience an ordinary life, right? Well, that includes love, doesn’t it? Why is that weird?"

"In a situation where there’s no hint of love, talking about it is weird."

"Love can bloom at any moment, you know."

Has the miasma invaded her brain?

Talking to her felt ridiculous, so I decided to just ignore Edel.

"By the way...."

Looking around, Daeun spoke up.

"Are you staying here?"

"It’s only been a few days, but for now, yeah."

"A few days? Then why..."

"Why am I only calling you now?"

"...How did you know?"

"Because it’s obvious what you’d ask."

Answering her question was easy.

"I needed time to recover."

After crossing dimensions, I needed time to heal and adjust to this body, so I’d spent several days bedridden.

Even now, if I got out of bed, I’d probably collapse after a few steps.

"So that’s why you’re wearing a hospital gown."

"Do people wear these for fun?"

"You’d be surprised—some do...."

After saying that, Daeun hesitated and watched me carefully.

"So, will you keep staying here?"

"Yeah. Probably."

I had no money or place to stay, so for the time being, I had no choice but to live with Edel.

Well, I could probably squeeze some money out of Edel if I tried, but with this body, staying here was the only option.

"Then...!"

Hearing my answer, Daeun clenched her eyes shut and shouted.

"Let’s live together at my place!"

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"...Huh?"

Caught off guard by the unexpected proposal, I stared blankly at Daeun.

According to Edel later, my face apparently looked "idiotically dumbfounded."