The Boss Wants to Die - Chapter 14

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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
14
I fell into thought, then opened my Skill Window.
Until now, I’d only spammed attack skills, so I’d never really paid attention to what else Ak Sin had in their arsenal. There’d been no reason to.
I scanned through the window with a complicated expression, and when I spotted something genuinely useful, I let out a low whistle.
[The Evil God’s Eyes See All!
Scans for Status Abnormalities afflicting your target.
― Scan Level: 10 (Maximum Level)
― Current Subject: Manager of the Sticky Massage Shop (NPC)]
‘Not bad at all.’
The moment the thought crossed my mind, a hologram window materialized.
[Activate ‘The Evil God’s Eyes See All’ scanning skill?
The activated skill will remain in effect until you change locations.]
‘This could be useful.’
I fought to suppress the grin trying to break free across my face.
Akt had no idea I possessed a skill like this.
Information about every skill I used was shared across the world.
If they wanted to kill me, their best bet was pooling their heads together and devising a strategy.
After one year passed, then three, then six, they’d all come to believe that those were the only skills I had.
Every extermination squad that found me reported the same abilities, so it was an easy mistake to make.
The truth was simply that they were too weak for me to ever need anything else.
‘Living this long, I’ve actually grown grateful for those gnats. Thanks for spreading the false hope that Ak Sin doesn’t have many skills and can therefore be defeated.’
[You have successfully activated ‘The Evil God’s Eyes See All’ scanning skill.]
The skill information on the right shifted from OFF to ON, and a small activation indicator appeared at the bottom of my field of vision.
I examined the NPC again.
Something that hadn’t been visible before now caught my eye.
A small fog icon swirled slowly above its head—the mark of mental constraint.
[The Manager of the Sticky Massage Shop is currently bound by a Memory Concealment Contract.]
[Memory Concealment Contract.
After entering into this contract, you forget that the contract was ever made for a specified duration.
Forgetting about a contract can sometimes prove remarkably useful.
Especially if someone suspects you.
You’ll perform the most convincingly innocent act without even realizing it!]
“Wow……”
It was far more sinister than I’d imagined, and admiration slipped out unbidden.
‘This Akt bastard is way darker than I gave them credit for.’
A chill crawled down my spine as I attempted to void the Memory Concealment Contract.
[Contract Termination Failed!
You are not the contract’s signatory. Bring the actual signatory and try again.]
‘Is there another way?’
I began rifling through my Skill Window again.
While doing so, I casually pressed my foot down on the NPC’s back as it tried to slink away.
As if it had anywhere to go.
A single raise of my eyebrow in warning was enough to make the NPC tuck its tail completely.
‘A veritable treasure trove.’
My Skill Window contained every conceivable thing. Among them was even a skill that could break this situation.
[Nightmare Thief.
Overlay the target’s mental Status Abnormality with Ak Sin’s mental Status Abnormality.
― Target’s mental defense skill must be Level 5 or lower.]
‘Will it even take?’
I activated the Nightmare Thief skill while worrying it might not work, but thankfully it seeped in smoothly.
It seemed the NPC had no mental defenses at all.
I layered every mental constraint with terror, overwriting them completely.
The Memory Concealment Contract didn’t break, but the NPC’s recovered memories seemed to cause its whole body to shake like an aspen leaf.
“So you’ve got something to tell me now, do you?”
I smiled wickedly.
“P-please, spare me! Spare me! NPCs don’t revive when we die! It’s the end! Please spare me, Player……”
I regarded the NPC with an odd expression.
Akt’s voice, explaining how the relationship between NPCs and Players wasn’t good, rose dimly in my memory.
‘They’ve set some strange parameters on the NPCs. Death means no revival. How unsettling.’
Moreover, the NPC was aware of the Player.
‘What a strange game this is.’
I shook my head to reassure the NPC.
I needed information, not to torment anyone.
“I’m not going to kill you. Just let me peek into your memories. That’s all. Easy, right?”
“B-but if you do that…….”
“Akt won’t notice. The contract won’t be broken. You just need to play along when the moment comes.”
Crouching down and explaining it kindly, the NPC lifted their face as if surprised.
I offered the faintest smile and extended my hand.
The NPC grasped it with visible relief.
[Ak Sin has used Hook of Memory.
Penetrating the memories of the Manager at the Sticky Massage Shop.]
The NPC flinched and jerked back in alarm.
I held their hand firmly.
“It’s fine. Nothing to worry about. Just accept it.”
“I-I accept entry into my memories.”
The moment consent was given, the world went black.
Before long, the interior of a private room came into view.
Now I was the Manager in the memory, watching silently as Akt closed the door behind him.
“Um, what was it you wanted to say……?”
“A contract. There’s no refusal.”
He remained perfectly upright, yet utterly devoid of warmth.
His expressionless face was so oppressive it made one forget his trivial Level.
The Manager’s heartbeat quickened sharply.
A towering frame, a pitch-black priest’s vestment, white hair draped neatly across it.
Akt exuded an eerie atmosphere altogether.
His voice, stripped of its earlier gentleness, remained clear as a bell ringing in a temple—but glacial.
In tones that seemed to resonate through every fiber of the listener’s body, he commanded.
“Take it.”
To me, Akt was nothing like the man who hung on my every word in deference.
He was an entirely different person.
The Manager, forced to accept the Contract Scroll, read its contents and trembled.
“If the companion who came with you were to find out…….”
When the NPC mentioned me, Akt’s eyebrows lifted sharply.
“Then you’ll simply have to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
“B-but…….”
“I said there’s no refusal.”
I was taken aback, words failing me.
Odd and somewhat perverted as he is, he’s fundamentally kind and courteous.
The image of him subduing me without ever being rough had stuck with me.
So I’d underestimated him.
A spineless personality is easy to manipulate, after all.
‘I thought he was just kind to everyone. Was I wrong in my judgment?’
He seemed bored by the whole affair.
His face said that coaxing the Manager, explaining his circumstances—all of it tedious and dull.
I knew what that feeling was.
It was the expression I wore when swatting a fly that had wandered into a demon’s den.
But it was strange that Akt could make that expression too.
“All you need to do is report to me when you leave without the massage. Simple work. I’ll compensate you handsomely.”
“Is that truly all there is to it?”
“Just remember when you’ll have time away.”
Akt withdrew a Black Fountain Pen from his breast pocket and signed the scroll.
His movements carried a kind of precision born of familiarity.
Not a single strand of his snow-white hair stirred.
“The Memory Concealment Contract Scroll must be terribly expensive……. You could simply command me, and I would obey.”
“No.”
Akt’s decadent black eyes curved dizzingly upward.
The Manager’s heartbeat quickened. This time it seemed to flutter for an entirely different reason.
I’d learned many new things today.
‘Can NPCs develop affection for Players? With the Affection System in place, it seems possible…….’
This game allowed romance with NPCs, no less.
For a company not to create a dating system with AI this advanced would be a wasted opportunity.
‘But I’ve never heard of an NPC falling for someone first.’
Akt exhaled a long, weary breath.
“…I don’t want to be blindsided again.”
“……”
“I’m tired of being angry too. So prevention is the best course. This is something I needn’t explain to you anyway. Right?”
“Y-yes, that’s… I’m not sure what you mean at all……”
“Then stop asking and sign.”
The Manager’s hand extended forward and took the Contract Scroll.
My memory ended right there.
***
I leaped out of the Sticky Massage Shop and vaulted onto the building’s roof.
I’d sealed my escape from Akt’s ears tight and thoroughly.
And yet my heart wouldn’t settle.
For days now, my head had been full of Akt Hevgenia.
‘I have no idea what he’s thinking.’
I sat like a cat at the roof’s edge, gazing up at the sun rushing toward the zenith of the sky.
“I don’t want to be blindsided again.”
Had he harbored so many enemies within?
When he found me, he was barely Level 10.
For a Player, Level is history itself.
There was no way he’d traveled the world at Level 10, so his breadth of experience must have been narrow.
Yet listening to him speak, he sounded like a veteran Player who’d been grinding since the game’s launch.
‘My nose is long, but I’m curious what kind of life he’s lived. His story seems complicated.’
I thought about it curiously and pulled out one item of footwear.
[Cursed Red Shoes of Eternal Dancing.
Pretty little shoes rumored to have been reclaimed directly by angels from humans because they were so wicked.
They make you light as a feather.
Do you want to catch a bird flying through the sky just by running lightly?
Do you want to walk around dancing all day long?
Then perhaps these shoes are what you need. That is, if you wish to move like that forever.
※ This is a cursed item! Once worn, it cannot be removed until death!]
But what if the wearer was the Evil God?

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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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