I Became a Raid Boss

“Yuki, can you help me out?”

An unexpected call.

And the request that followed made Yuki let out a short sigh.

“You said last time that you didn’t need my help.”

-Did I say that?

“Yeah. When I asked if you wanted me to help, you said no.”

-That’s because…!

From the other side of the phone, Da-eun’s voice suddenly raised in irritation, followed by a soft whine from a young girl, startled by her outburst.

Da-eun’s voice became faint as she tried to soothe the girl, but it wasn’t long before she returned.

“What I said?”

-You know, about calling weird people into the ring to fight. I thought you’d say something like that, so I said I didn’t need your help.

“? Is there any other kind of help I can give? I really don’t think so.”

-What’s with that outrageous self-awareness?

“I’ve always been like this.”

-You’re unbelievable.

“So—”

She must be pulling an incredulous face right now.

Yuki imagined Da-eun’s expression on the other end of the line.

“What kind of help are you asking for?”

-Are you going to help me?

“I don’t know. Let me hear it first.”

Instead of giving a clear answer, Yuki subtly delayed her response.

From a general perspective, it wouldn’t seem like a particularly positive signal.

It carried a similar nuance to, “I’ll review it and get back to you later.”

In reality, Yuki truly intended to decide after hearing her out, but Da-eun, assuming it was a rejection, reluctantly explained her request without much hope.

-So, here’s the thing…

_

“…‘Can you walk around near my house?’ What kind of request is that?”

What kind of favor was this supposed to be?

Even more ridiculous was the fact that she had agreed to it.

Yuki muttered in self-mockery as she trudged down the street.

According to Da-eun, it was supposed to “spread bait.”

Initially, Yuki didn’t think much of it, but as she aimlessly walked the streets, she began to feel like bait hooked onto a fishing line.

“This is something I don’t even need to do.”

Yuki’s grumbling had been anticipated by Da-eun when she made the request.

Since the focus was on Kana, it wouldn’t mean much if Da-eun wandered around alone. However, she didn’t want Kana to be exposed either.

-Of course, you wouldn’t want to show yourself to someone like that either.

When explaining her reasons, Da-eun spoke in a voice heavy with guilt.

Even though she called it help, it was, in a way, taking advantage of another person.

That was why Da-eun felt uneasy even as she made the request.

“I don’t mind.”

But as always, Yuki didn’t think much of it.

Her face was already plastered all over the media countless times; what difference would it make if it was shown a bit more?

Of course, having her privacy exposed was a different story, but either way, Yuki wasn’t the type to care about such things.

What did bother her was how this situation disrupted her training, which made her accept the request without hesitation.

She would act as new bait for the fish, a net to catch the intruder.

“….”

Despite the earlier conversation, Yuki’s mind now only held the simple cause-and-effect: Da-eun asked for help, and she agreed.

And one more thing.

“If I finish this quickly, I can get back to training.”

Feeling restless from a lack of physical activity, Yuki preferred to wrap things up as soon as possible.

It was a principle so straightforward that it bordered on simplistic.

“…Does this even work?”

No matter how she thought about it, just confronting the person directly seemed easier.

Still grumbling, Yuki followed Da-eun’s instructions and kept walking.

“?”

A strange sensation crawled up her spine, sending tingles to the back of her head.

Following her instincts, Yuki stopped and looked around, but nothing unusual caught her eye.

“Was it just my imagination?”

Yuki turned her head to scan the area again.

If she had been a protagonist in a horror movie, she would’ve come face-to-face with a ghost the moment she turned.

If it were a comedy, she would’ve comically fallen into an open manhole.

But since this was reality, nothing happened.

Even after reciting “It’s just my imagination,” a mantra as potent as “Is it over?” no immediate events occurred.

However.

As Yuki turned her head, she caught the fleeting shadow of someone quickly slipping into an alley.

She couldn’t make out the person’s details.

“Hmm.”

Yuki rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

Why does this even work?

When a storm brews, Yuki would rather fight than avoid it, which made this situation incomprehensible to her.

But her job was to faithfully execute Da-eun’s orders. She didn’t need to understand.

She had braced herself for several days of effort, so if the bait worked on the very first day of the plan, wasn’t that a good thing?

After confirming that the fish had taken the bait, Yuki slowly but surely began reeling in the line.

_

“…I didn’t get caught, right?”

Meanwhile, the fish that had taken the bait—the man who had written the online post about Joanie and her younger cousin—exhaled the breath he had been holding.

Though he had ventured out confidently with an expensive camera borrowed from a friend hanging around his neck, the truth was that he didn’t have a solid plan.

To be honest, his guess that Joanie lived in the area was just that—a guess. It hadn’t been confirmed as fact.

For all he knew, Joanie might have been visiting an acquaintance in the area that day.

If that were the case, he would’ve wasted both his time and money.

He was, as they say, “time-rich.” But watching the sands of time slip away from his hourglass still felt like a waste.

That he never did anything about it was another issue altogether.

At any rate, he had thrown his hat into the ring, but once he was out, he had no idea what to do. That’s when he caught sight of a silver-haired woman.

Walking confidently, her face fully visible, the man, a regular viewer of live streams, instantly recognized her.

“Yuki?”

But Yuki doesn’t live around here, does she?

As that thought passed through his mind, a realization hit him like a bolt of lightning.

Didn’t Joanie and Yuki cross paths when Silia Online began?

Even though the girl who initially connected the two was no longer around, it wouldn’t be surprising if they stayed in contact because of that.

“…Something feels off.”

It was the same uneasy feeling you get when you’re not sure if you turned off the gas stove before leaving the house.

The man couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that he was missing something.

But unable to figure out what was causing his discomfort, he raised his camera.

If Yuki was indeed meeting Joanie, as he suspected, this could be his golden opportunity to find the clue he had been desperately searching for.

Careful not to be noticed by Yuki or to draw suspicion from others, the man began to move stealthily.

He almost felt like a detective… or perhaps a secret agent.

In reality, his attempt at tailing her was laughably poor, and he had already been noticed. However, he remained blissfully unaware that Yuki had caught on to him.

He was equally oblivious to the wary glances he was receiving from people passing by on the other side of the street.

And so, the man continued to follow the swaying silver hair as it beckoned him forward, unaware that he was heading straight into a trap.

“Here?”

The man following Yuki stopped in front of a building.

At a glance, it was clearly a high-end officetel, a place he vaguely remembered.

Even so, it didn’t immediately come to mind because he rarely ventured into this area.

It made sense why they wouldn’t run into each other often if Joanie lived in a place like this.

“…Ah!”

Looking up at the officetel, lost in thought, the man suddenly realized that the silver-haired woman had vanished from his sight.

What should he do?

Should he go in and figure out which floor she went to?

“No.”

The man shook his head.

That would be too dangerous, wouldn’t it?

It was the kind of action that could easily get him branded as a criminal.

What he wanted was “proof,” not to commit a crime.

For that reason, the man decided against entering the officetel, but he also didn’t feel like going home after finding just a vague lead on his quarry.

Click!

“Ugh, another miss.”

The man had positioned himself in an inconspicuous corner and spent a long time taking pictures of people entering and exiting the officetel.

He didn’t realize it.

Tap.

The point of no return had passed long ago.

“Are you a photographer?”

A pale hand rested lightly on his shoulder.

“I like looking at pictures too. Could you show me some of the photos you’ve taken?”

The hand felt so cold it made him shiver.

Turning his head slowly in the direction of the voice, the man saw her.

The silver-haired woman who had been in his camera lens earlier now stood before him, her expression icy cold.

She wasn’t alone. Beside her was a large man in a uniform.

“A-ah, well, I….”

“Can’t you show me?”

Even someone completely oblivious to social cues would recognize that Yuki’s words weren’t a request.

Unfortunately for the man, he wasn’t clueless.

If he had been, he wouldn’t have gotten involved in this mess to begin with.

Countless excuses raced through his mind, but none made it out of his mouth.

The moment his gaze met the scar-covered hand of the uniformed man, extended towards him, all the courage he had mustered evaporated.

In the end, all he could do was place his camera into the outstretched hand.

—

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