I Became a Raid Boss

Chapter 146

Da-eun didn’t have any particular reason for placing the chocolate on that high shelf.

‘Snacks… should be put in the cupboard.’

If they were within easy reach, she would be tempted to eat them every time she walked by, so she made a habit—a quirk, really—of putting snacks somewhere harder to reach. Today’s grocery arrangement was simply the result of her routine.

But there was one difference today.

She now had a housemate, and that housemate had watched her organizing everything.

Here’s how it all went down.

After Da-eun left to start her stream, Kana, who was left alone, was scrolling through her phone when she suddenly felt the need for something to snack on. She remembered that Da-eun had put some snacks in the cupboard.

She likely wouldn’t have listened even if Da-eun had told her not to eat any, but in any case, Da-eun hadn’t said so, so Kana headed straight to the cupboard.

‘Oh.’

Of course, it was only natural. Even for Da-eun, who was taller than the average Korean woman, it wasn’t easy to reach, so for Kana, who was much shorter than her peers, it was nearly impossible.

There was a time when Kana could move through the air like it was solid ground, but indoors, that wasn’t an option. Not to mention, in her weakened state, even attempting such a move would surely slow her already sluggish recovery.

Even after jumping several times, her hands just wouldn’t reach, so Kana looked up at the cupboard with frustrated eyes.

Why did that cupboard have to be unnecessarily high, making her suffer?

A product created for human convenience was, ironically, making life harder for her in this ridiculous situation.

Finally, Kana dragged over a chair from the kitchen.

Standing on the rather high chair and stretching up, Kana’s hand finally touched the chocolate.

‘…Oops.’

Maybe it was because of all that shopping, but a sudden wave of fatigue hit her, and she momentarily lost her balance. Instinctively, she grabbed whatever was nearby. ?

And the result was—

Crash!

Thud!

Just as Da-eun ran out in a hurry, a full-blown disaster had unfolded.

Luckily, Kana hadn’t fallen, but every plate her flailing hands had brushed against came tumbling down and shattered into pieces.

‘…I messed up.’

Without even grabbing the chocolate that was at her fingertips, Kana muttered to herself as she surveyed the disaster zone.

That was the whole story.

After hearing Kana’s slow, hesitant confession, her gaze averted, Da-eun sighed.

When will I be able to clean up this mess?

Da-eun looked around with a troubled expression, then turned to Kana.

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

“…No.”

Hurt? Me?

Da-eun had half-expected such a response, but to her surprise, Kana answered without resistance.

‘She must have been really startled….’

Kana, who was usually so confident, looked genuinely dejected.

Seeing this unexpectedly childlike side of her, Da-eun, who had considered scolding her for such a major accident, softened. Her protective instinct, mixed with pity, pushed away her irritation.

‘Yeah. For her to do that, she must have really wanted a snack, especially when she’s unwell.’

Da-eun’s gaze softened, completely won over by Kana’s unintentional charms.

“It’s a relief you’re not hurt. As for the plates… I can always buy more. Just stay where you are for now.”

To prevent Kana from stepping on any small shards she might not have seen, Da-eun added this instruction, worried Kana might misunderstand her intentions. After confirming that Kana nodded, she left to get cleaning supplies.

Sweeping up the large pieces with a broom and vacuuming up the smaller shards, she meticulously removed even the tiniest splinters with tape.

Then, she lifted Kana, who was still standing on the chair.

Kana’s light weight and warm body were fully supported in Da-eun’s arms.

Hanging there, staring straight at Da-eun, Kana lowered her eyes.

“Sorry.”

“Huh? Oh, no, no. Kana, you didn’t do it on purpose, right? Besides, it’s my fault for putting it up there in the first place, so let’s just call this a mutual mistake. Yeah?”

“…Okay.”

‘Hmm. That was a pretty mature response, if I do say so myself. Good job, Shin Da-eun!’

If Kana had heard, she would have thought, ‘That’s Da-eun for you,’ and any goodwill she’d felt for Da-eun just now would’ve been significantly reduced. But, since Kana couldn’t read Da-eun’s thoughts, she remained unaware of what Da-eun was thinking.

“I completely understand now why families with kids use plastic dishes.”

“I’m not a kid, you know.”

Having picked up on the context, Kana retorted sulkily.

“Oh? If you’re not a kid, then I might need to punish you for breaking the plates.”

“…”

“Oh no, looks like I’m broken too.”

Caught in a verbal trap, Kana froze stiffly.

Sway, sway.

“…Put me down.”

Kana, who had turned rigid like a piece of wood, swayed wherever Da-eun’s hand moved until she finally snapped back to her senses. Only after Kana’s eyebrows started to twitch did Da-eun set her down.

If I don’t stop here, I might get scratched.

“Anyway, it’s a relief it wasn’t something serious. For a moment, I really thought we were being robbed.”

Looking back, Da-eun realized she’d have nothing to worry about even if there were a break-in, thanks to her trusty ‘guard cat.’ But at the time, she was genuinely startled by the commotion.

As she gently stroked Kana’s soft hair, Da-eun’s eyes suddenly widened.

“Oh, the stream…!”

She’d had this nagging feeling that she was forgetting something, and now she remembered—she’d dashed out in the middle of streaming! Since she hadn’t grabbed her phone on the way out, she couldn’t check, but she could easily imagine the state of the chat right now.

Compared to the mess Kana made, it was probably pure chaos.

Thinking about diving back into that pandemonium, Da-eun couldn’t help but stifle a sigh.

“I have to get back to work, so no more accidents, okay?”

Da-eun peeled open the chocolate she had taken from the cupboard.

She placed it in Kana’s mouth, dusted off her knees, and got up.

‘How nice it would be to just lie down and sleep with Kana like this.’

But reality is cold…

Hugging Kana and drifting off now would feel good in the moment, but it could mean sleeping on the cold streets later.

‘And if that happened, I wouldn’t be able to stay with Kana either…’

That must never happen!

With renewed determination, Da-eun returned to the soundproof booth, sat down, and took a deep breath.

“I’m back.”

As expected, the chat was an utter mess, with worries, complaints, and some chaotic trolling all mixed in.

Seizing the moment, she brushed aside some of the rude remarks and explained,

“What happened? Oh, the plates fell and broke. That’s why I was a bit late after cleaning up.”

—Ohh

—Why did the plates suddenly break?

—Was there an earthquake?

—Doesn’t she live in Seoul? No alarms went off.

—Did you move to Japan?

“Oh, um… I think they collapsed because I didn’t stack them properly after washing. It was a total mess.”

—My plates collapsed just yesterday…

—At least it happened while you were streaming.

—Yeah, if it had been while cooking, you could’ve been hit on the head;

—It could’ve been dangerous;

—Crazy guy lol

—LOL

“…Pfft! Really, is almost getting my head cracked open that funny?!”

—Um?

—???

—You’re the one laughing, so why blame us?

—Anyway, nothing broke, right?

Seeing that Da-eun was safe, her concerned viewers immediately returned to their usual antics.

However, not everyone thought the same way.

—”Am I the only one who thinks it’s strange? Why did the plates suddenly fall like that?”

—”She said she didn’t stack them right.”

—”If they weren’t stacked properly, they should’ve fallen sooner. How does it make sense for them to full out of nowhere during her stream?”

—”It’s ‘fall’ not ‘full.’”

—”Why can’t you spell?”

—”So what are you trying to say?”

Questions filled with suspicion.

Though these comments were few compared to the overall chat, they were enough to stir up others. Da-eun’s moderators moved to delete them, but the chatroom had already descended into chaos, with viewers either agreeing with or arguing against the theories.

—”Did she bring her boyfriend over or something?”

—”Boyfriend? Give it a rest; that’s baseless.”

—”Isn’t it weird she took a few unexpected days off too?”

—”Why do these weirdos latch onto streamers who don’t even do fan service?”

—”Streaming with a cam isn’t fan service?”

—”So just because she uses a cam, it’s automatically fan service?”

—”Please stop feeding the trolls.”

—”This is getting nasty.”

“Haah.”

To think they could blow something as small as broken plates out of proportion like this.

Da-eun sighed, impressed by their bizarre imagination but reluctant to argue back. She didn’t have a boyfriend, as they suggested, but she did live with someone, which wasn’t exactly a lie.

Despite the moderators throwing around bans and temporary blocks, the uproar wasn’t calming down, so Da-eun finally decided to set things straight.

“Alright, alright. Calm down and listen up. The truth is, I have a younger cousin staying over. That noise earlier? That was my cousin messing around and causing trouble.”

—”Huh?”

—”Wait, so your cousin caused that mess?”

—”What? So it was a lie?”

—”Of course! Makes sense. How could plates just randomly break like that, right? lol”

—”The ones who were pushing the boyfriend theory have some nerve calling it ‘of course.'”

“They came to cheer me up because I haven’t been feeling great these past few days.”

—”If it’s your cousin, couldn’t you have just said so?”

—”Seriously, why lie about it in the first place?”

—”Lol, guess why.”

—”How is this troll still not banned?”

—”Does your cousin know you’re streaming?”

—”Invite the cousin on stream!”

A clever mix of truth and a little lie.

“Why did I lie? …Because if I told you all right away, things would go crazy, like this.”

Da-eun pointed out a message in the chat asking to bring her cousin on stream.

“See? You think I’d want to tell the truth when I know this is how you’ll react?”

—”lol, true.”

—”LOL”

—”Caught in the act.”

—”Are they a girl?”

—”Huh? She said cousin, why are you asking if it’s a girl?”

—”Well, if it’s a cousin, they’ll look like the streamer, so they must be pretty, right?”

—”That… makes sense…?!”

—”Now I kind of want to see them too.”

“Dream on. I’m never showing them on stream. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. My cousin has to agree first.”

—”Can’t you just ask?”

—”Just give it a try!”

—”I’ll hold my breath until the cousin debuts, inhale!”

—”Inhale!”

—”Says so here?”

Before the latest topic could cool, they seamlessly picked up a new one.

Why were they so curious about someone else’s cousin?

Though Da-eun firmly denied them, she let out a sigh as the chat remained lively with curiosity. At some point, viewers even started putting up donations for a “show us the cousin” mission.

The initial amount was small, but as it grew bit by bit, it soon added up to an impressive sum.

It was enough that even Da-eun found it hard to ignore—

“Yeah, no. Mission cancelled.”

—”Aw.”

—”Rejected.”

—”That sucks.”

—”Well, if they’re a private person, so it can’t be helped.”

—”Dang.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Da-eun cancelled the mission.

It was a choice that went against public opinion, but since this was a family matter, the viewers mostly understood and accepted it.

Afterward, Da-eun wrapped up the stream with a few updates and stories.

And so, the broadcast, which had taken an unexpected turn due to Kana’s mishap, finally ended, and the once chaotic atmosphere settled down.

…At least, for now, it seemed that way.

—

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