The Boss Wants to Die - Chapter 55

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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 55
I’d stayed pressed against him for hours.
A light doze must have taken me.
When I opened my eyes, sunlight filtered through the dense canopy of leaves overhead.
The Cave was shallow enough that daylight reached all the way inside.
Waking up tangled together like this required a shamelessness I simply didn’t possess.
So before Aktr could open his eyes, I carefully lifted his heavy, thick forearm off me and extricated myself from our makeshift bedding.
The moment his warmth left him, Aktr stirred, muttering that he was cold.
“Huh?”
Aktr stared down at his bare chest in confusion.
I kept my face neutral, folded my arms, and fixed my gaze firmly on the Cave wall.
Fortunately, he seemed to be the type who sheds his clothes in his sleep—Aktr picked them up without suspicion and dressed himself.
‘Carefree bastard.’
“Feeling better?”
I asked curtly.
“Yeah. Better. Rowen? Looks like you slept next to me.”
Aktr glanced at our disheveled blankets as he spoke.
‘Next to you. I was practically wrapped in your arms all night.’
I bit back what I wanted to say.
“Well, I’m glad you recovered.”
Then, without warning, a spark of indignation kindled in my chest.
It wasn’t that I minded Aktr’s cold getting better.
It was something else that bothered me.
‘Why am I the only one concerned about this?’
Something was off.
Shouldn’t it be Aktr who felt awkward, not me?
We’d been sleeping in the same space for days now, someone I actually liked.
Sure, a Cave isn’t the same as a proper room, but we were right beside each other nonetheless.
How could he act so unbothered unless he was a eunuch?
Not a shred of physical contact beyond that.
“We’ve been sleeping this close for days, and you’re not even a little—”
I regretted the words the instant they left my mouth.
I should have kept quiet.
Aktr stared at me with wide eyes.
Damn it.
“Were you maybe hoping—”
“No, not at all. Not even a little bit! I was just… curious, that’s all!”
Aktr tilted his head and held out the Bowl that had been sitting near the campfire.
Our supplies had dwindled to almost nothing—the Stew was thin and watery.
I poked at the bowl pointlessly.
“If that’s the case, you shouldn’t say things like that.”
Aktr spoke coolly.
I puckered my lips.
“Why not?”
“Because I’ll misunderstand. What you just said, it’s like… a provocation.”
Aktr rolled his eyes.
“I can’t be sure I’d behave decently.”
So he was aware he was a beast.
That was oddly fascinating.
“It wouldn’t end up being what Rowen wants.”
“Like what?”
“Crude, greedy, base, lewd, repulsive, filthy—”
……What exactly was happening inside Aktr’s head.
‘Please don’t say that with such a debauched expression. You’re making it sound real.’
I shifted my gaze away, then glanced at Aktr’s Bowl with the Stew.
It was nothing but murky broth—not a shred of substance.
I stirred the chunks of meat floating in my own bowl with my spoon, pushing them around without purpose.
I wasn’t particularly hungry anyway…….
“Idiot.”
“Hmm?”
“What difference does it make to give the Demon God more meat? You’re the one eating this.”
“It’s fine. I’m happy just knowing you care.”
He rested his chin on his hand and looked at me.
In those watchful eyes, I felt warmth like candlelight.
My heart grew heavy all at once.
Because I couldn’t return what he was offering.
“Don’t like me.”
Aktr lifted his head at my abrupt words.
“I told you. I’m going to die. No matter how much we come to care for each other, that fact won’t change.”
……
“Stop before your feelings go deeper. You’ll regret it.”
“It’s fine.”
Aktr answered with a soft, resolute face.
“Rowen does what Rowen wants to do. And I do what I want to do.”
I raised my eyebrows as high as they would go and looked at him.
Aktr’s expression remained soft.
Yet I felt like I’d received a challenge more threatening than any Player could deliver.
“Let’s each do what we want.”
An unbreakable heart.
Even though Aktr had essentially declared he’d do as he pleased, I found myself oddly reassured.
It seemed he understood our situation well.
At least, his resolve to accept parting seemed genuine.
“Rowen.”
“What?”
“If I need to, I’ll do things you’d hate.”
……
“So don’t worry about me. I can be plenty selfish.”
……
“I’m curious whose selfishness will win. Don’t you wonder too?”
Aktr blinked slowly as he spoke.
I would have scoffed once, but I already knew his other side.
The you who woke from sleep and glared at me with hatred.
That’s when I learned he wasn’t always gentle—that something dark and rotten lay hidden beneath.
A chill crept over me and I shuddered, and Aktr murmured something.
“Sometimes I want to force everything.”
“…What?”
“Sometimes I get the urge. Then you’d only look at me. You couldn’t think of anything else. Pathetic, isn’t it?”
His black, mineral eyes—cold and inorganic—gleamed with a faint, fevered light.
Affection twisted into corruption in an instant, then righted itself just as quickly, and he spoke.
“Still, if it’s something I can avoid, I won’t do it. How could I do such a thing? That would be presumptuous.”
Was Aktr actually a bit dangerous?
I opened my mouth while genuinely worrying about his mental health.
“Just don’t commit any crimes.”
Aktr answered calmly.
“I’ll try.”
‘He’s really not in his right mind……’
That’s right.
A man who likes monsters couldn’t possibly be sane.
‘Like Aktr said, I just need to do what I have to do.’
That was the most ideal approach.
And Aktr seemed to know it too.
Treating him comfortably without awkwardness, keeping a certain distance we wouldn’t cross.
I brushed myself off and stood to leave the Cave when Aktr extended his hand.
“You said I could hold hands whenever I wanted.”
“Are you still holding onto this lover’s game?”
Aktr was a man who showed persistence from unexpected angles.
“Of course. We’re still lovers. You have to make me happy.”
The deal was: if I made Aktr happy, he’d kill me.
It was a bargain we’d struck from the beginning.
Even dividing the Contract Token between us.
I took Aktr’s hand and stood.
***
By the time the sun began to set, we’d discovered a secret passage connected to the Dungeon.
In truth, it hadn’t taken much effort to find.
The Quest guided us to it.
“You’re going in right now?”
“Yeah.”
Aktr nodded and entered the Dungeon of the Worshippers’ Den.
That’s where things fell apart.
[You are currently progressing through the Dedication of Justice to Evil Quest.
You cannot directly assist with Aktr Hebrenia’s Job Quest.]
‘What?’
The Dungeon teemed with Worshippers and Monsters around Level 60.
If I didn’t lift a finger here, Aktr—a mere Level 50—would just get pulverized and die like a dog.
I’d been planning to clear the Dungeon for him, so I was genuinely rattled.
‘Wait…!’
I pulled up the Quest log to check the details again.
And there it was—something that made my blood run cold.
[Dedication of Justice to Evil.
― Completion Condition: Assist the Primordial Priest ‘Aktr Hebrenia’ in completing his Job Quest by utilizing your Retainers.]
‘By utilizing my Retainers.’
Why hadn’t I seen this before?
That meant I couldn’t help Aktr by cutting through the Worshippers myself.
‘Michael won’t travel with us anymore…’
Once he’d made up his mind, he was stubborn as stone—summoning him a hundred times wouldn’t change that.
My only Retainer besides Michael was Heart.
And Heart was barely Level 30…
‘Damn it.’
And so, here we were.
“You’ll die if you mess up. No decent items to speak of.”
Aktr muttered while poking at the campfire, checking his dangerously low HP.
He’d insisted on clearing the Dungeon alone without my help, and this was the result.
What kind of state was this, exactly?
Parasitic Monsters had carved into his flesh, and Worshipper NPCs had beaten him black and blue.
I held my head.
I wanted to believe it was a dream.
“Should we leave the Dungeon?”
I wrapped my head in my hands, trying to puzzle out how to navigate this impossible situation.
No brilliant solution came to mind.
“Why was the recommended Level lowered in the first place? You can’t clear it without hitting 60 anyway.”
Aktr’s Job Quest had been adjusted down from Level 60 to Level 50 when he accepted it.
But at this rate, you could take the Quest but never complete it.
Aktr would have to either level up to 60 and come back, or find another way.
“Not necessarily.”
Aktr replied.
“If you’ve got plenty of items, you might get lucky and clear it anyway. And if you ask someone you know for help, you’re guaranteed to succeed. Then, since I’d have cleared a higher-level Dungeon, I’d grow rapidly.”
Aktr shrugged.
“The problem is, I don’t have enough Gold.”
Money was always the issue.
Even in a game, that cursed truth never changed.
“I can’t hire mercenaries or buy items. The fastest way forward is to farm some Gold and come back later.”
Aktr muttered bleakly about his paltry Level 50.
“Leveling all the way to 60 would take forever.”
The Quest had bound me—I couldn’t help him directly—but his intentions seemed suspicious, so I decided to probe.
“Why don’t you just ask me to clear the Dungeon for you? That would be easiest.”
“Because I didn’t bring you along just to covet your strength.”
My eyes widened.

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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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