I Became a Raid Boss-Chapter 231: Confession (3)

Doorbell.

The dictionary definition is a signal bell that rings to summon someone.

To explain further, it's a device installed to notify people inside a house of a visitor's arrival. Ideally, it should be placed in a position where it’s easy for the visitor to find and press.

But the doorbell at Da-eun's house was definitely not in an ideal location.

It might be easy to find, but pressing it was a different story... Especially for short children, who could barely reach it.

Even Da-eun, who was relatively tall, had to slightly raise her arm to press it.

Da-eun had often wondered what the person who designed it was thinking and why they put the doorbell in such a high spot.

But—

‘How cute.’

In this moment, I couldn’t help but feel grateful to that unknown designer.

If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have been able to see Kana, standing on tiptoe, pressing the doorbell.

As I watched with a warm smile, Da-eun spoke as soon as the bell rang.

"Why press the doorbell?"

"?"

Kana turned to Da-eun.

From her slightly widened pink eyes, Kana could read the question in Da-eun’s gaze.

"You could just open the door and go in."

"...You pressed the doorbell last time."

"That was because I wanted to."

Da-eun raised a teasing smile.

"It’s not the same now."

"..."

"Hehe... I’m joking. Back then, it was the first time meeting Kana, so I did it. Though, it wouldn’t have mattered if we just went in, but I wanted to keep the mood."

"So, you’re saying it was just a joke?"

"Heh. It wasn’t a joke, just setting the atmosphere. Anyway, shall we go in now?"

Da-eun hummed as she placed her hand on the keypad.

Just as she was about to enter the password—

BANG!

Thud!

"Kwek!"

She let out an odd scream as the door swung open suddenly, hitting her head.

I found it quite amusing.

As Kana grinned, watching Da-eun groan, the door opened, and Da-eun's mother, Yerim, peered out from behind it.

"Oh my? What are you doing there?"

"...Mom, you did this! You should at least say something when you open the door! How can you just swing it open like that?"

"I can’t open my own door however I like?"

"There’s someone at the door!"

Yerim always felt guilty toward Da-eun.

Having been born prematurely, Da-eun spent her childhood in the hospital, missing out on the good things children should experience. Yerim couldn’t shake the feeling that it was her fault for giving birth to such a frail child.

She never hoped Da-eun would become a doctor or a lawyer, just that she’d grow up healthy. But...

‘...Did I make her too healthy?’

Looking at her daughter’s behavior, Yerim couldn’t help but wonder.

"Did you think I’d be standing right in front of the door...?"

Yerim sighed quietly, turning her eyes toward Kana, who had been stiff since her arrival.

"You must be tired from the long journey. It's chilly, so come on in."

"A long journey? We live in the same neighborhood, Aunt... Ow! Ouch! No violence, please!"

Kana winced, rubbing her head as Yerim slapped Da-eun’s back.

Whenever Da-eun said something nonsense, Yerim would respond with a slap.

This playful interaction between mother and daughter was part of their daily routine, but Yerim's actions had an unexpected effect.

...

Kana, watching them, felt a strange emotion rise within her.

At the same time, the tension in her stiff shoulders slowly eased.

Although no one, including Kana, noticed this change.

"You must be having a hard time living with my daughter, huh? I’ll apologize on her behalf."

"...Huh?"

"Kana?! You’re supposed to deny it, saying you love living with her. How can you just agree?!"

"But it’s true."

"Stop with the nonsense and come in already."

"...It’s a double attack. So unfair."

Da-eun dodged her mother’s attempt to hit her again and rushed inside.

She looked at the shoe rack and tilted her head.

"Hey, where’s Dad?"

"Do you think Dad would be home on a weekday?"

"...Oh, it’s a weekday, so he must have gone to work. I’ve been so out of it lately, I forgot what day it was."

"Didn’t I tell you to live more regularly?"

"I do live regularly... I’ve just been really busy with this and that lately."

"You’ve always been out of it, not just lately."

"...Isn’t that a bit harsh, considering it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other?"

"Alright, Kana, come sit down. I made your favorite meat dish."

Ignoring Da-eun completely, Yerim gently grabbed Kana by the shoulder and led her to the table. Kana followed willingly and sat down, her eyes widening at the elaborate meal Yerim had prepared.

Yerim, noticing Kana's apprehension, smiled gently.

"I tried to make something nice, but I don’t know if it suits your taste."

"I’ll eat it and give you my review."

"Ugh..."

Yerim glared at Da-eun, who had interrupted, but this time, she didn’t smack her on the back.

It seemed that when Da-eun opened her mouth, Kana’s tension eased, and Yerim allowed her to speak.

The sourc𝗲 of this content is freēwēbηovel.c૦m.

It was clear that Kana had started relying on her more.

"Let’s eat. Let’s dig in."

Instead of scolding Da-eun, Yerim served the meat on plates and handed them to both of them.

"Thank you for the meal!"

"...I’ll eat well."

The meal time passed peacefully.

Of course, by peaceful, I mean it wasn’t completely silent.

Every now and then, Da-eun would blurt out some nonsense, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Her words helped lift the mood and kept things from becoming too gloomy.

After the satisfying meal, Da-eun suddenly volunteered.

"I’ll do the dishes!"

Despite all her nonsense, Da-eun surprisingly offered to clean up after the meal, which was a pleasant surprise.

"I will too—"

"No, Kana. You don’t even touch the sink, so just rest."

"...I do touch it, you know?"

"Oh... Our Kana is such a good kid? Can you wash without splashing water everywhere?"

"..."

"Hehe... I’ll finish quickly, so go rest on the sofa."

The sink was quite high, and Kana couldn’t argue with Da-eun’s teasing.

So, Kana sat on the sofa, feeling the drowsiness from being full.

Yerim approached her while she was dozing off.

"...Ah."

Kana blinked, sensing someone’s presence even in her groggy state.

She’d met Yerim many times, but always with Da-eun around, so this was the first time she was alone with her, and it felt surprisingly awkward.

It’s like how you feel awkward when meeting a close friend alone for the first time.

And, of course, Kana wasn’t friends with Yerim, so it was bound to feel this way.

With anyone else, she would’ve ignored it, but with Da-eun’s mother, it felt rude to do so.

Kana rolled her eyes without saying anything, and Yerim finally spoke.

"Kana, do you know how much Auntie’s been hurt lately?"

"Uh..."

The sudden question threw Kana off, and the tone, which seemed to be blaming her, left her at a loss for words.

"I’ve been trying to contact you, but you didn’t respond. I thought maybe you didn’t like me."

"...No."

"Hehe. Well, that’s a relief. I was starting to think that if you only contact me when you need something, I’d be sad. But I guess Kana wouldn’t do that."

Yerim said this with a soft smile, her expression clearly resembling Da-eun’s.

Should I go along with her or not?

I’ve heard that you should go along with adults when talking to them, but if I do that, the atmosphere might become awkward.

While Kana hesitated, °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° Yerim spoke again.

"The world’s been so noisy lately, hasn’t it?"

"..."

Kana swallowed nervously, feeling like Yerim knew exactly what had been going on recently.

"I thought at first that it was just a promotion for a new movie. I didn’t think there’d be actual monsters showing up in real life."

"..."

"And then, someone appeared and started defeating these monsters. I felt like I was watching a fairytale hero in action, and it made my heart race."

Yerim’s soft voice was making Kana’s heart flutter, despite the calm tone.

"...That."

Kana couldn’t ignore the unease stirring within her.

"Sorry..."

The apology, filled with guilt, slipped out of Kana’s mouth.

There’s an old saying that it’s hard to apologize first, but for Kana, it wasn’t about that.

Though she was from another world, and Da-eun and she had met through a game, she had kept all of this a secret until now.

And after revealing everything, Kana seemed to look a little relieved.

"..."

Kana’s eyes nervously flickered toward Yerim.

Anyone who knew Kana back in Celia would have found this noticeable.

Yerim’s response was simple.

"I see."

"...So you knew."

"I didn’t plan on looking it up, but with all the talk on TV, it just naturally got into my ears."

Yerim shrugged, but Kana didn’t see her face since she had been looking down.

When Yerim’s hand reached out to her head, Kana flinched, uncharacteristically.

"So what’s this apology about?"

"...I lied. I pretended to be pitiful."

"I see."

Yerim casually shrugged, as if it wasn’t a big deal.

"It’s not like I’d have believed it if Da-eun and Kana had told me the truth at first. I wouldn’t have believed it."

Even when the video first came out, Yerim didn’t believe it.

If the news hadn’t covered it so extensively, she probably still wouldn’t believe it.

"And..."

Yerim, who had been speaking fluently, hesitated for the first time.

"I might make you feel uncomfortable by pitying you, but... I really do think Kana is a pitiful child."

Since Kana made the explosive confession on her stream, the news and articles dug into the story, covering not only the incident in Seoul but also the NPC Kana-ria.

Thanks to the community posts and the investigation into her actions, a lot had been uncovered.

So, despite saying she hadn’t searched it, Yerim had learned a lot about Kana.

And with that, Yerim reached out and hugged Kana.

"You’ve had a hard time, haven’t you?"