The Boss Wants to Die - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The boss wants to die.
Chapter 13
“…….”
“Our purposes differ, that’s all. So don’t bother asking me why I’m doing this as if it’s something strange.”
“You don’t need to go this far. I’m not escaping from you anyway.”
Akt straightened his posture as he caught sight of the fangs glinting between Roun’s crimson lips.
The oppressive weight lifted, and breath came easier.
I regarded him with irritation.
The way Akt walked that razor’s edge, never crossing beyond it—fox-like and infuriating.
“You’re not making any effort to make me happy. You’re not, are you? That means you’re searching for another way to die.”
Akt’s dark gaze lifted upward.
Just above us lay Michael’s room—the one I’d made a deal with today.
A chill ran down my spine.
“So how can I trust just a leash to keep my mind at ease, Roun?”
“I understand now why you were pressing me for answers, so back away.”
I rubbed the goosebumps rising on my neck and pushed at his shoulder.
Akt withdrew obediently, tidying his disheveled white hair.
The very image of a proper, unblemished priest.
Suddenly it seemed absurd to me.
How he was always trying to present himself as a righteous priest in front of me.
I bared my teeth and sneered at him.
“From now on, keep a certain distance. Don’t come any closer.”
“Understood.”
Akt nodded with almost exaggerated compliance.
He must have felt the suspicion in my gaze, yet he merely smiled as though my caution pleased him.
Then, speaking with the detached tone of someone who hadn’t just shared something intimate, he said:
“Tomorrow we’ll move to a different village.”
“Already?”
“I’ve maxed out all the levels available here.”
“How many?”
I rubbed at my neck, where his fingertips still seemed to linger, as I asked.
“Level 40. We’ll skip a village and head straight to the next one.”
“You leveled up ten times in a single day?”
Leveling wasn’t instant ramen—it didn’t progress that quickly and smoothly.
Besides, this was a virtual reality game.
Even if it were possible within the system, a player’s Fatigue prevented it from being easy.
“Did you clear another Hidden Quest or something?”
“If you’re curious, just stay with me all the way.”
Akt spoke softly, offering a smile with a lingering aftertaste.
The words he’d spat out moments before were far too ominous to dismiss as cute pouting.
I was repulsed.
“Anyone who saw us would think I’d just arrived at dawn.”
“The problem of high-level player abuse in low-level villages is serious enough as it is.”
Akt spoke with utmost gravity.
“Especially in a beginner area like this—most high-level players you encounter are malicious. Don’t wander around late at night.”
Naturally, Michael at Level 230 crossed my mind.
‘Surely he’s not talking about Michael?’
I scrutinized him with suspicious eyes, but not a crack appeared in Akt’s ironclad smile.
‘Surely not.’
“You forget sometimes, but I’m an Evil Spirit. Don’t wander late at night? I’m not a child.”
“There’s such a thing as psychological attacks.”
Akt countered with apparent ease.
“You seem to take emotional wounds rather easily, don’t you? Most people who act tough are like that, or so I’ve heard…….”
Just as I was about to be captivated by Akt’s beautifully drawn smile, he seized the opening and asked:
“Did anything unpleasant happen today? Did no one treat you like a mere monster and try to kill you?”
With my eyes wide open, looking up at him, I suddenly felt my ears grow hot, and I stumbled backward.
“You’re the one who was treating me like a boss monster just now.”
“If I hadn’t framed it that way, you’d have kept interrogating me, saying you didn’t understand. I won’t do it again.”
“Well, there’s nothing wrong with that behavior. What’s the problem with treating a monster like a monster…….”
I found myself thinking of Michael, who’d drawn his sword the moment he learned my true nature.
My nerves went taut, and the Evil Spirit within me stirred awake, whispering that I should smash and destroy everything.
I was sick of having to suppress it, to hold it back.
I scowled and clenched my fists.
My eyelids trembled faintly from the Fatigue that had driven my mind to its limit.
“If you’re going to act like that, then I’ll face you as a strong and wicked Evil Spirit too.”
“Just as I thought.”
Akt’s voice dropped to barely a whisper.
“Something happened, didn’t it?”
I went rigid.
“Stop pestering me from the side and get out.”
“But—”
“I said get out!”
Under the Evil Spirit’s insistence, my composure finally cracked.
I shoved him hard.
Akt slammed against the wall with a dull thud.
Dust came cascading down from the wooden ceiling—he was so massive that the impact shook the beams.
Akt rubbed his lower back and stretched the corners of his eyes mockingly.
“Ow, treat me gently like a piece of glassware, would you? Handle me so roughly and I’ll break.”
“Just go ahead and break, you lunatic!”
My face flushed crimson as I shrieked, pointing sharply toward the door.
“Out!”
***
After that day, my eyes were wide open.
That mad conversation with Akt had snapped me out of my complacency and tightened my discipline about my plan.
I couldn’t go on like this.
As Michael had advised, I needed to move more carefully.
Akt behaves like a gentleman, but he’s a man whose depths are unfathomable.
Even that glimpse of the iceberg I’d caught yesterday was sinister beyond words.
What hidden darkness must lurk beneath?
And he didn’t even seem to be trying to hide it.
‘So he sweet-talked me just to lure me out!’
I regretted taking his hand and fleeing the Demon Castle.
I should have thought it through more.
‘If I’d stayed in the Demon Castle, intruders trying to kill me would have kept coming anyway. What a waste.’
My regret knew no bounds.
And yet, on the other hand……
‘I hated being trapped in the Demon Castle that much.’
What an unsettling contradiction I was.
Akt Hevgenia was truly a devilish man.
In a single stroke, I’d become a demon utterly bewitched by honeyed whispers.
‘Regardless, I can’t go on like this. I need to do something.’
And so I’d come up with a plan.
“You want a massage?”
Akt turned to look back at me.
I deliberately lifted my chin with an aloof expression.
“That’s right. I hear the massage here is supposed to be excellent. There are many gentle slimes nearby because of the Beginner Village, or so I’m told.”
I held up a glass bottle and dangled it before him.
“This is the legendary Silky Smooth Slime Essence I’ve heard so much about.”
Inside the suspicious hot-pink glass bottle, a greenish liquid moved viscously.
Akt’s expression reflected in the bottle turned skeptical and murky.
“I see.”
“You said you’d do anything for me. I want to get a massage here. In the meantime, you go level up.”
I extended my hand confidently.
“Money.”
He looked puzzled but dutifully handed over 1 Silver.
At the same time, he slipped me a soft, fluffy Rabbit-shaped Keyring.
“That’s not money.”
“I saw it and bought it. It’s cute, isn’t it?”
“I don’t need—”
The rabbit doll hanging from the keyring wiggled its ears back and forth.
I stuffed the keyring into my inventory as naturally as I could manage.
I glanced sideways at Akt’s face, but as expected, he didn’t mock me.
A demon would normally have something snide to say about liking such things.
He was simply gazing at me with a pleased expression.
‘Oh come on.’
This was embarrassing in its own way.
I should have just accepted it when he offered it.
My face burned.
‘Why does everything he gives me suit my taste so perfectly?’
Embarrassing, so embarrassing!
……But I had no intention of giving the keyring back.
‘Akt knows my preferences far too well.’
I cleared my throat, already plotting to secretly fondle the rabbit keyring’s ears when he wasn’t looking.
“Ahem! Ahem! I’ll make the massage appointment, so you just…….”
“No. Rest easy. I’ll handle all the troublesome parts.”
Akt smiled and headed into the Massage Shop.
He even finished making the reservation himself.
Was it because of something Michael had said?
The act didn’t seem entirely benign—it felt like something done to dispel suspicion.
‘Hmm…….’
After what appeared to be a consultation, Akt went into a private room and had some sort of conversation with the NPC before returning.
‘What was that conversation about?’
“This person is the massage therapist who’ll be taking care of you.”
I studied the bald-looking NPC with the brown hair, my eyes narrowing.
“You’re getting started right away?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
Akt handed me a Strawberry Milk and left.
I inserted the straw into the milk carton and grinned wickedly.
‘Perfect!’
Phase one was a success.
As I swallowed dryly, the therapist guided me to a room.
The room was dimly lit to allow for a comfortable massage.
I stared listlessly at the neatly made bed, then the moment the therapist closed the door, I pounced.
Thud!
The therapist, pinned against the wall, tried to scream.
I immediately covered their mouth.
“Eek, mmph, unngh!”
“Shh. Quiet.”
I extended my black nails long and sharp.
The NPC broke into a cold sweat, terrified beyond measure.
My Evil Spirit’s Intimidation passive had activated, and fear had driven all clarity from their eyes.
I leaned close to the NPC’s ear and spoke deliberately, each syllable crisp.
“You answer my questions quietly. That’s all. Nod if you understand.”
The brown-haired NPC nodded frantically, trembling from head to toe.
I released the pressure and stepped back.
The NPC slid down the wall, clutching at their throat and coughing in distress.
“What did you talk about with Akt when you went into that private room? Tell me everything.”
“Cough, ah, gasp, it, it was just business matters…….”
The NPC whimpered, their voice pleading.
From their expression, they didn’t seem to be lying.
‘But it didn’t feel like Akt just went for nothing.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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