I Became a Raid Boss

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“It’ll be difficult to sue for copyright infringement.”

This was what Da-eun, who had asked for a consultation from a lawyer, heard.

A calm voice reached her as she wore a puzzled expression.

What about this, what about that…

As the conversation drifted into legal territory, Da-eun’s eyes started to spin.

“…In any case, you can’t punish just based on this writing, right?”

Finally managing to squeeze out a response, she struggled amidst the flood of legal jargon.

The lawyer shrugged.

“Since you didn’t gain anything commercially, and it’s hard to see how the content of the writing defames anyone. The only thing you could hang on is some minor phrasing, but—”

“That also means it’s ambiguous for legal punishment, right?”

“Yes.”

“Ugh…”

The lawyer watched Da-eun, who had fallen into deep contemplation.

While he said that, with enough time and effort, it might be possible to prove guilt.

But that would be inefficient… in other words, ‘not worth the cost.’

Unless, of course, the goal was simply to annoy the opposing party and drain them emotionally. It seemed like his client did not desire that.

“Then how about changing the approach?”

“Change the approach?”

Da-eun’s face transformed into a puzzled expression yet again.

It was as if she couldn’t understand what was being said.

“If they’re walking a fine line, can’t we respond in kind?”

To utilize the law, one must know the law well.

Conversely, the same goes for avoiding it.

“Wow…”

Da-eun gasped in admiration.

“Is it okay for a lawyer to say something like that?”

“What does it matter? No one is listening. And it’s more… hmm, maybe it’s better not to say this.”

“What does it matter? No one is listening.”

Da-eun parroted back what he had just said.

She seemed quite curious, but the lawyer shook his head.

Then he changed the subject.

“If your aim is to bury the writing, there’s really no need to drag it into legal issues. Doing so might attract more attention, just as you were worried about.”

“It feels like I’ve come to a detective rather than a lawyer.”

“The work is similar.”

“…Is it?”

Tilting her head, she still nodded, albeit skeptical.

The lawyer, having gained the client’s consent, slowly opened his mouth.

“…Make them a liar.”

*

There’s nothing eternal in this world.

Not even the emperor, who wielded absolute power and turned rivers and seas into mercury, could avoid the inevitable approach of death.

Even the flames that seemed like they would burn forever are bound to extinguish someday, and the man knew this.

So it was natural that the comments on the post he made were gradually decreasing.

-It was an expected result, but.

“…What?”

The man’s phone vibrated repeatedly while he was focused on the game.

At first he ignored it, but as it rang once, twice, and then several more times, he couldn’t help but pay attention and couldn’t ignore it any longer.

“Ah.”

As his gaze momentarily shifted to the phone, his character died, and the screen turned gray.

Simultaneously, the chat messages piled up.

Inquiries about what he was doing, warm words wishing well for his parents.

How very affectionate that was.

“Shit.”

He couldn’t stand just receiving messages, so he picked up the phone and kindly responded to the well-wishing messages about his family’s welfare.

What on earth sent his parents away from him?

He was looking for an answer to that.

“What is it?”

The root of his irritation and the multitude of greetings came from an app installed on his phone.

It was a community app that notified him whenever there were comments on the posts he made.

It had been ringing incessantly just a few days ago but had quieted down, so why was it ringing again now?

The man felt confused yet, at the same time, harbored an unexplainable anticipation as he clicked on the post.

And soon enough, he was faced with a barrage of ridicule and laughter.

Which was absolutely not what he had expected.

“…?”

The man sat frozen, his eyes taking in the text.

He didn’t even notice that the screen of his monitor regained its color, nor that his teammates were showering playful banter on his unmovable character.

“…What the hell is going on?”

His mind had momentarily wandered off during his outing.

The warning message for being idle on the screen was glaring large.

It was true he had left for quite a while, but if he focused on the game from now on, perhaps he could still seize victory.

However, instead of clearing the message and concentrating on the game, he opened an internet browser.

After all, he didn’t like it anyway.

‘They’re the ones who shit themselves, yet here I am being called out.’

His character had died more times than he had killed enemies, but that was all because of the team members.

Had they moved according to his intentions, he wouldn’t have died so many times, and the game would have been finished long ago, so wasn’t that the reason the game was in such dire straits?

“You guys aren’t worth winning for.”

Even if he got a penalty for leaving the game, it was just a matter of not playing for a while.

Unlike those idiots who bet their lives on the game, the man thought he wouldn’t foam at the mouth about not playing.

Setting aside a game he had lost interest in, he looked for the reason behind all the fuss.

And then he couldn’t help but be incredulous.

“What? Manipulation?”

In reality, the manipulation controversy had existed for a while.

It just hadn’t ignited seriously until now, so he had casually turned a blind eye to it.

But why was it reigniting now?

The fire that had once roared was dying down, and the man who had sparked the flames was even searching for kindling.

The cause was a post made by a user.

It not only dissected and refuted the man’s writing one by one, but also claimed that the pictures he took were manipulated.

The clarity of the post was such that, for a moment, the man thought, ‘Is that so?’

“…No! What the hell is this nonsense!”

There were smudged marks, the background did not match.

His face twisted at the post that used various arguments to say the photos had been altered.

“If you take a picture quickly, it might turn out blurry!”

What astounded him even more were the people who supported that post.

Even though the evidence was flimsy and pitifully weak, they swarmed to chew and tear apart his writing, readily accepting the notion of manipulation.

Even amongst them were some familiar usernames.

Just days ago, they had praised his dedication, and now they were washing their hands of it as if they had never said anything—what a disgusting sight that was.

The man tried to turn public opinion around late in the game, but standing against the raging current was futile as he was swept away by the flood of comments rolling in like waves.

“Th-these idiots…!”

Confusion, disbelief, humiliation, anger—all mingled into a single line.

But the man was oblivious.

He didn’t realize that the posts targeting him were hardly different from the one he had made.

No. In terms of maliciousness, his post was even worse.

Perhaps he was consciously ignoring that fact.

“…”

The man steeled his resolve.

He then picked up the phone and dialed someone.

Rrring…

Awaiting the recipient to pick up, he listened to the somewhat bleak connection tone.

-Hello, what?

The call connected without much wait, and a familiar voice greeted him.

-I can’t play games right now.

“Who’s the one asking to play games?”

-What’s this? Are you calling me just for that? Or are you suggesting we drink today?

“…No, you bastard, come on!”

-Then it’s a no, is it? Why are you swearing and making a fuss?

You swore too.

He barely swallowed the words that rose to his throat.

“Anyway, do you have a camera? That what’s it called, the one you bragged about finally buying last time?”

The person on the other end of the call, his friend, loved taking pictures.

After having saved and yearned for that camera he bought, hearing him brag had made the man click his tongue, but he never imagined it would come in handy.

-…Yeah, I’ve got it. Why?

Anxiety dripped from the voice coming through the phone.

“Can you lend it to me for a bit?”

-Forget it.

The reply came back without a hint of hesitation.

-I’m hanging up.

“Hey, hey! Wait a minute!”

The voice grew distant as though about to really hang up, and the man hurriedly intervened.

After several minutes of persuading him by explaining the situation and promising to return it intact, the voice softened a bit.

-I don’t know what the situation is, but either way you can’t need it.

“Isn’t it just pushing the shutter button?”

-Then why look for an expensive camera? Just use your phone camera instead.

“…”

-This isn’t happening, but I’ll lend you something decent instead. It’d be easier for casual shots.

“Oh, thank you.”

The man felt relieved as he thought he was about to be rejected.

-But it’s expensive, so if you break it, you’re dead.

“How much?”

-More than you. It’s a few years old, but even if you buy it now, it’ll be over a hundred bucks.

“You nutjob, how could it possibly cost more than me?”

-Enough. Just buy me a drink later.

“Okay. Thanks.”

The man placed down the phone after the call ended.

Photos being smudged so they’re termed manipulated?

Okay, I’ll show them properly.

If I’m taking pictures anyway, I might as well get them all in frame, even faces, so they can’t say a word.

But of course, they’ll probably start praising him as if they had never criticized him.

“Not a chance.”

The man predicted that and had already taken a screenshot.

When the curtain fell, he would strike down those who wore masks and danced at the ball.

And what he would do would become a legend, talked about for ages to come.

“The result will reveal whether you are the shoddy ones or I am.”

The man muttered a once-popular phrase.

The game that had given birth to that phrase had collapsed miserably, but he believed he would be different.

With that thought, the man closed the internet browser.

-Your account has been suspended for 7 days due to a leaving penalty.

The result screen ending in defeat and the message that his account was suspended greeted him.