The Boss Wants to Die - Chapter 15

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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.
Episode 15
[The Evil God’s Aura dismisses the curse imbued in the item as trivial.]
This level of interference didn’t bother me at all.
I slipped on the shoes and wove between the darkened buildings.
Tapping the ground lightly with my toes to propel myself forward, my body bounced upward as effortlessly as a ballerina puppet suspended by marionette strings.
Unlike the Evil God’s Wings, these left no trace and allowed me to move with ease—I appreciated that.
I bounded from alley to rooftop, from rooftop to weathered streetlamp, hopping lightly as I went.
‘First, I need to find Akt.’
Each time my body lifted into the air, the chiffon hem of the minidress fluttered gracefully above me.
I reached what appeared to be the Plaza and changed back into the Black High Heels.
This was a Village populated by Players ranging from Level 40 to Level 60.
We’d passed the lower levels where Leveling was fast, entering the stretch where progression slowed—a bottleneck that swelled the stagnant Player population and clearly supported a thriving commercial district.
I cupped my hand above my brow like a visor and fixed my gaze at a distance.
‘Found him.’
Akt was emerging from the Hunting Ground.
‘Earlier than I expected.’
There was still about an hour left before the massage would end.
‘Why is he back in the Village already?’
I began to tail him, as I’d originally planned.
By following Akt, I could figure out what he liked—that was the goal for now.
If I didn’t act convincingly enough, he’d keep suspecting me.
I needed to create an opportunity for Mikhael to help me die.
‘But to act convincingly, I have to know what he wants first.’
The conditions that made him happy?
Simple enough, but the problem was I didn’t know anything about him.
All I knew was that Akt liked alcohol.
If that alone could make him happy, the man would’ve been a walking bundle of joy long ago.
‘And what’s he been doing for the past hour…’
He stood before a shop with a serious expression, rifling through it.
Akt half-heartedly sorted through the garments displayed outside the building before stopping at a sleek Black One-piece Dress.
It was a design too bold for an ordinary Player to wear.
A smile bloomed faintly across his usually stern face.
It was a smile as tender and warm as a father thinking of his daughter left at home.
‘It’s ninety percent sure to be my dress, so why is he looking at it like that?’
It made me feel unsettled.
I followed behind him with furrowed brow.
A Tiara set with a red jewel that matched my eyes exactly.
A cute, soft New Accessory Item.
As I watched him quietly, a sudden realization struck, and a lightbulb flickered on in my mind.
‘Could he be wanting to experience romance?’
Akt and I were essentially strangers who’d only seen each other’s faces.
For such a shallow relationship—knowing nothing but his appearance—to bring forth such a tender smile?
Didn’t that suggest my face had captured his heart?
So he was buying clothes to his taste and wanted to play dolls with me.
By my standards, it was the most plausible deduction.
‘He even said he fell for me at first sight. Isn’t that why he dragged me out of the Demon Castle? Why he said his purpose was to be together with me.’
With my reasoning complete, it seemed remarkably convincing.
I returned to the Massage Shop.
Then I put on the uniform and waited, as if the massage had just finished.
Not long after, Akt entered the shop with a ring of the bell.
“Why are you so late?”
“I had a lot to buy.”
It was all my clothes, though?
I swallowed the question and accepted what he offered.
It was Squirrel-shaped Chocolate.
Knowing how he’d spent nearly ten minutes deliberating which animal-shaped chocolate to buy, my discomfort only deepened.
Sure enough, the squirrel appealed to me entirely.
‘I’m too precious to eat this…’
Like a hamster preparing for winter, I carefully stored the chocolate in my Inventory and rose from my seat.
Akt exchanged a meaningful glance with the massage shop attendant and stepped into the private room.
I’d perked up my ears, but the attendant must have been a skilled actor—they emerged without incident.
“Did you book us a decent inn?”
“It won’t be uncomfortable.”
“Actually, there’s something I’ve been meaning to say.”
I stopped walking and spoke.
Akt turned to face me.
“While I was getting the massage, I got to thinking…”
“Yeah? What is it?”
“You want to fall in love, don’t you?”
Akt tilted his eyebrow and said nothing.
I took his silence as confirmation and pressed on with newfound confidence.
“That’s it, isn’t it? That has to be it.”
……
“You spouted all that nonsense about falling for me at first sight, wanting to stay together—but we didn’t even know each other before. So it had to be something else. You were just so taken with my looks that you dragged me out of the Demon Castle. That’s what this is really about. You want to play at romance. Am I right?”
He shifted his weight to one leg and tilted his head, inviting me to continue.
“My appearance was just so perfectly your type that you couldn’t help yourself. That’s the whole reason you pulled me out. So what you’re really after is dating games. How’s that?”
“That’s a new one.”
“What?”
“Never mind.”
He shook his head, then suddenly his laughter came out deflated and hollow. He doubled over.
Heh-heh-heh…
With his hands in his pockets, bent at the waist, Akt looked absolutely infuriating.
Watching him hide his face behind that flowing white hair while continuing to laugh, my mood soured.
His laughter rang with something almost ridiculous.
“If you’re denying it, just say so. What’s with all the laughing?”
My complaint only made him laugh harder.
“Stop laughing. I mean it!”
“Don’t be angry.”
He finally lifted his face, eyes glistening with tears from laughing too hard.
His pale cheeks were flushed, a rare sight.
“That’s a kind idea. You were actually trying to make me happy. I’m so grateful.”
“Right! And it was all for your sake! So why are you being so uncooperative about it?”
“I’m sorry.”
He wiped his eyes with his index finger.
“I like it. I really do think it’s a good suggestion.”
“So?”
He took a step closer to me.
The world went dark.
My entire body dissolved into the broad shadow he cast over me.
“Even if you pretend to be my girlfriend?”
Akt’s soft expression, lit by a quiet smile, gazed down at me.
“Would you still be okay with it?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
I let out a scoff.
“I’d do anything for the sake of surviving.”
“Anything?”
Akt doubled over again, seized by fresh laughter.
I’d answered seriously, only to stand there rigid with cold fury, my fists trembling.
“Do you want to die…?”
Akt laughed so hard he started coughing.
He looked happier and more alive than anyone else in this Village.
His hair, normally arranged with inhuman precision, tangled and fell loose. His unchanged, gentle face crumpled with pure delight.
A laugh so clear it held no trace of pretense.
The characteristic, weary air he carried was gone without a trace.
‘And he claims he’s not happy?’
The moment the Contract’s conditions were met, the Contract sitting neatly in my Inventory would activate on its own.
Yet the Contract lay dead, rendered in lifeless grey.
‘Did they sell me a defective item?’
The anger that had been rising in me suddenly curdled into unease.
The moment I realized he wasn’t happy, his laughter—gasping and desperate—struck me as pathological.
“You can do everything?”
He shook his head.
“No, Roun. You won’t be able to.”
“Why not? It’s nothing special.”
“If I treat you as my lover, you’ll hate it.”
As suddenly as Akt had laughed, he grew calm again.
He spoke quietly.
“Skinship is what makes a romantic relationship special. How far are you comfortable going?”
…….
“Is holding hands all right? What about embraces?”
His fingers traced the ends of my black hair, which hung loose at my waist, with delicate precision.
He maintained a knife-sharp distance, barely making contact at the very tips.
Yet that austere restraint only deepened the charged atmosphere between us.
‘He’s incorrigible, that’s for sure…….’
The low register of his voice, pale lashes cast downward in melancholy, the heat burning in his gaze…….
Everything about him seemed calculated to blur the line between us.
My lips had gone dry; without thinking, I ran my tongue across them—and Akt’s dark eyes lifted to meet mine.
“As you said—everything. Should we do it all?”
His gaze settled on my lips.
“Starting with a kiss.”
The heat that had been churning in my stomach surged upward all at once, a molten wave.
My face flushed as crimson as a tomato plunged into soup, and I felt myself crumble.
I couldn’t hide my alarm; my hand flew to cover my mouth.
He looked ready to kiss me right then and there.
Slip…….
I stepped back, and the strand of hair that had been resting on his fingertip fell away.
His gaze tracked its descent with relentless intensity.
My heart hammered against my ribs.
The pounding was so fierce I could hear it reverberating in my throat.
I lost all words and simply stood there, frozen.
Mercifully, his shadow fell across my face, concealing the shameful flush that had taken over.
He didn’t press further, but left the distance between us as it was.
‘Why am I so flustered?’
I wiped my clammy palms on my skirt and bit down on my lower lip.
‘Is it because I haven’t had a real conversation with anyone in six years?’
I couldn’t keep pace with the speed of his words.
Once I’d collected myself, I knew what I ought to say—but my mouth wouldn’t obey.
The heat in his gaze was overwhelming.
‘I’m not a kindergartener struggling to make friends!’
I wanted to respond with composure, but my mind was a fog.
It would take a long time to find myself again.
Unable to bear the silence any longer, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

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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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