The Boss Wants to Die - Chapter 53

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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 53
There are people who fall in love with cartoon characters, novels, or dolls.
They’re called peculiar, but they exist nonetheless.
Which means Aktr could genuinely love me.
Especially inside a game.
If the artificial intelligence were sophisticated enough to be indistinguishable from a human, it seemed entirely possible that he could truly love.
‘Besides, I’m an actual person. Everyone thinks I’m artificial intelligence, but…’
I don’t understand.
Why does he like me?
What could there possibly be about the Demon God to like?
“Did you sleep well? We’ll have a long walk ahead of us.”
Aktr asked gently.
With his large frame nearly blocking the narrow corridor, he leaned his shoulders—broad as a thick log—against the wall.
White threads of hair spread densely across his black priest’s garb.
The fabric clung and wrinkled around his crossed arms, revealing the sinister contours of his bulging muscles.
Forgive me, but your manner of speech and your physique are completely at odds.
Where’s the kind and gentle body? Only the beast remains.
I hurriedly averted my gaze.
“You’re all packed?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
Before we set out on our journey to the Dungeon together, Aktr eagerly initiated conversation.
To ease the awkward tension.
“Since we’ll be climbing a mountain, I bought you some clothes. Dresses are inconvenient, right? Wear these.”
I accepted the garment he offered.
Hiking clothes that fit perfectly—neither too large nor too small.
A sudden question crossed my mind.
‘How does Aktr know my size?’
He’d even brought undergarments for me before.
I’d deliberately told him to buy some as a prank once.
He’d said a shop assistant recommended them, so I let it slide, but now it struck me as odd.
How would an assistant know my measurements?
‘He brought them without a shred of embarrassment…’
I recalled Aktr’s face, smiling as if he knew nothing.
He’d looked genuinely innocent then.
Now I wondered if perhaps I was the innocent one.
“Mountains get cold at night. Does the Demon God feel the cold?”
Without looking at Aktr, I shook my head.
“No.”
“Then there’s no real concern.”
……
“But Roun. Why won’t you look at me?”
The low, clear voice that had been coming from above suddenly rang right in front of my forehead, resonant and playful.
I hunched my shoulders and lifted my head.
Aktr’s face was inches from mine.
Fearing our lips might touch, or worse—that he might catch my breath—I covered my mouth with the back of my hand.
His pale hair brushed my cheek, rustling softly.
Heat flooded my face.
Aktr merely smiled gently, making no move to close the distance.
“Why do you keep avoiding my eyes?”
“You… you…”
I hesitated, then spoke.
“Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“Because of what Michael said?”
I bit my lip.
“That’s not something that embarrasses me.”
Aktr laughed softly, his throat rumbling.
“It’s only natural that I love you.”
“Natural?”
“How could I not?”
Aktr’s face was serious.
“She’s adorable and lovable, isn’t she?”
“I’m sorry, but did your eyes cross? Or have you finally lost your mind?”
My own face was no less grave than his.
“I’m perfectly fine.”
I didn’t believe a word of what Aktr said.
“You really have gone mad…….”
“You’ve fallen too deep to think straight anymore.”
Soft and matter-of-fact, Aktr tilted his head to the side in agreement.
His smiling face looked innocent as spring blossoms.
“I like you, Roun.”
I had no idea how to take this.
“A Boss Monster, truly?”
“What do you think?”
Aktr’s smiling face didn’t waver, as if it had been carved that way from the start.
“It matters more to me that you’re not hurting than whether you hate me.”
……
“That’s how much I care for you.”
“……And exactly how much is that?”
At my question, Aktr laughed.
“Why rush? Wouldn’t it be better to understand little by little? You like things at a slower pace anyway, Roun.”
Once again, he spoke as though he knew me well.
It was true, so I had nothing to say.
“Love has its own kind of joy to it.”
With that, Aktr returned to the original topic as if nothing had happened.
“I bought several kinds of Food Items.”
He spoke plainly, as though he’d never expected his feelings to be returned.
He simply loved me purely, without expectation or longing of any kind.
No selfish desire to fulfill, just a confession of affection and nothing more.
Was such a thing even possible?
I knew how desperately people craved affection.
Only a god capable of selfless love could truly care for someone without reservation—the kind of love that asks nothing in return.
‘Is he merely hiding his hopes?’
Burying deep the expectation that I might love him back.
Or perhaps he’d abandoned that hope altogether.
After countless failures.
‘But Aktr only just told me he likes me for the first time.’
Besides, if he’d been disappointed, wouldn’t he have turned bitter?
I peered into Aktr’s dark eyes.
They were too dark to see anything at all.
“Gold was tight, so I couldn’t buy as much as I wanted.”
Aktr checked through the provisions with a rueful expression.
“That makes sense. You always spend too much buying me gifts.”
“I can’t help it when I see something. You’re happy when you receive it.”
I froze in place.
“……Does it show?”
I thought I’d hidden it.
If the Demon God liked cute and sweet things, it would ruin my dignity entirely.
I hated when the Players teased me about it.
“That’s exactly why I can’t stop buying them.”
“Why?”
“How you try to hide it but can’t help showing through—like a pearl found in sand, so lustrous and precious.”
My face flushed red.
“I want to keep discovering more.”
Aktr’s voice dropped low, like something scraping.
“When you’re flustered. It’s lovely.”
“Your taste really is…….”
Completely twisted.
For someone who doesn’t look it.
Aktr laughed innocently.
I no longer mistook Aktr’s smile for innocence.
Once I’d put some distance between us, he continued.
“From the midpoint on, we’ll have to hunt and gather our own supplies.”
I nodded in agreement.
We gathered our things and began climbing in earnest.
Aktr was a skilled conversationalist.
Even someone like me, with little talent for such things, could keep the mood light and warm simply by playing along.
Yet my doubts refused to fade, and they kept gnawing at my attention.
I couldn’t help but ask the question that had lodged itself so firmly in my mind.
“Aktr. You know I’m a Monster, right?”
An Artificial Intelligence.
Well, not exactly an Artificial Intelligence, but from your perspective—AI, yes.
You know that.
Aktr rubbed my pointed, glossy black nails with his thumb and let out a soft laugh.
Not understanding what he meant, I stared at him blankly; then he lifted my hand and pressed his lips lightly against my palm.
Against Aktr’s pale white face, the Monster’s nails gleamed dangerously.
He whispered in his hoarse voice.
“I know. I like it.”
“Like what?”
I curled my fingers back slightly as I spoke.
I couldn’t fully retract them for fear of scratching him with my nails.
My fingers trembled faintly, caught in that awkward half-tension.
He rubbed the soft flesh between my fingers gently against his nose as he spoke.
“That you’re a Monster. That you’re dangerous. The tension is exhilarating.”
A chill ran down my spine.
This one’s tastes are far too reckless!
I yanked my hand back and huffed; Aktr laughed.
“If Roun enjoys that sort of thing too, just say so. I can accommodate whatever you like.”
“I don’t need that!”
My spirits crashed, and I belatedly realized that wasn’t what my question had been meant to ask.
Talking with Aktr always seemed to derail the conversation somehow.
“Do you not know what a Monster is? You’re a Player. You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?”
Aktr persisted in merely stroking my palm in response to my question.
“Does Roun hate it?”
“Hate what?”
At this point, I was almost afraid to hear what he’d say next.
I braced myself mentally.
“A Forbidden Relationship.”
That didn’t help matters.
Aktr’s eyes grew narrow and curved.
“Doesn’t the thrill make it taste all the sweeter?”
I was too exasperated to answer.
‘This won’t do. He’s insane…….’
I gave up asking any further and walked on in silence.
Noticing that I had no desire to continue the conversation, Aktr followed quietly behind me.
For some time, we moved without much speech, motivated solely by our shared purpose and obligation.
We slept rough under the open sky, foraged for food, and when the nights grew too cold, we piled blankets atop us.
Then the event happened.
You know, the sort of event that tends to occur when a man and woman have been camping outdoors for an extended period.
Rain fell, and we took shelter in a cave—and then one of us fell ill.
Typically it’s the physically delicate woman who falls sick, but in Helord, the Demon God knows nothing of illness.
It was Aktr, the muscular giant, who began to suffer.
“Sorry for the trouble——”
“Don’t talk.”
I poured a Potion down the throat of the delirious Aktr.
‘This is trouble. There’s still quite a distance to the Dungeon entrance.’
A Status Ailment like illness didn’t fade quickly no matter how many Potions one drank.
We had no choice but to wait out several days of his sickness.
“Consider yourself honored to be nursed by the Demon God.”
Aktr smiled, his white face flushed with fever.
In fact, his complexion was alarmingly pale.
I furrowed my brow and peered outside.
A cold, driving rain poured down, scattering its chill through the air.
‘Sleeping like this will be far too cold for him.’
Aktr shivered, his teeth chattering.
His lips had turned a ghastly blue, and I couldn’t bring myself to leave his side for even a moment.
‘I built a fire, but it’s barely making any difference.’
Which left me with only one option remaining.

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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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