The Boss Wants to Die - Chapter 56

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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 56
“Shall we head out?”
[Aktr wishes to escape the Demon Worshippers’ Den (Rank D). Will you escape together?
Time remaining until escape: 10 seconds]
9 seconds.
8 seconds.
“Yeah, sure.”
I nodded.
‘If he dies here, I won’t clear the quest either.’
Whoosh—!
My vision flashed white.
A moment later, we emerged through the dungeon’s secret passage.
Aktr wiped his forearm—still dripping with blood—against his shirt without much care.
“Let’s go.”
Aktr said this as he parted the low branches ahead of us.
I asked bluntly.
“The branches will jab at your wounds. Why do you insist on doing this when you’re hurt?”
“Because I can move?”
Aktr replied with apparent bewilderment, deftly pushing through the foliage.
‘He really doesn’t plan to lean on me at all.’
I bit my lip, watching the leaves catch against his scars from the corner of my eye.
‘It must hurt…….’
I’m a Demon God, but every time I take a Player’s skill hit, the pain is so overwhelming I can barely keep my wits about me.
Now I’ve learned some tricks—I can dodge most attacks—but just a few years ago, I fought like a fool.
Taking every blow.
Yet Aktr seemed incapable of feeling pain, even with life-threatening wounds.
‘He seems more accustomed to pain than I am.’
Did he get hit so often……?
I studied Aktr’s face.
His pale skin glistened with cold sweat, but not once did he utter even a small gasp.
Every time like this, I can’t help but sense just how formidable his willpower truly is.
‘If I just had one more Subordinate who obeyed my commands like him, I could clear dungeons like this in no time.’
Ding!
A new notification chimed suddenly.
I opened a Hologram Window.
‘Impeccable timing.’
I clicked my tongue and checked the message.
[Need more Subordinates?!]
What the—
It’s like the System was talking directly to me.
I raised an eyebrow with a peculiar expression and read on.
The System had dropped its bombastic tone, returning to its usual calm, businesslike manner.
[The Demon God may search for talent suitable to become a Subordinate when needed.
Shall I proceed with the search?
I will guide you to the nearest talent first.]
‘That would be a godsend.’
I followed behind Aktr and pressed the search button.
An arrow—invisible to Aktr—appeared on the upper right of my vision.
The arrow glowed blue, indicating the talent was quite close.
‘The problem is, Aktr won’t let me leave his side…….’
Aktr, barely out of the forest, caught his breath on the rough sandy path.
The Village was about twenty minutes’ walk away.
I ventured the question carefully.
“That thing about not being able to stray far from you—it’s still in effect, right?”
Aktr’s pitch-black eyes rolled down to look at me.
“Is there somewhere you want to go?”
“No, it’s not that. I just hate being confined.”
“……Sorry. Don’t go far. Stay close to me.”
He orders me around—the least he could do is drop the pleading tone.
You end up misunderstanding things.
As if I’m being magnanimous by staying at your side.
I tried not to be swayed by Aktr’s words, tightening my grip on the hand I’d been holding slack.
“Even though I hate this so much?”
“Rouen.”
Aktr’s voice carried something both sorrowful and resolute.
“I’ll do things you hate too.”
…….
“That’s what I said before. ……I meant it.”
Aktr extended his hand.
“Let’s go.”
I stared at his hand before speaking.
“If you’d acted more arrogantly, you’d have gotten nowhere with me. Your tone is unnecessarily kind.”
“You feel that way? That I’m kind?”
Aktr’s eyes lit up like someone who’d found hope.
“Really?”
“Y-yes, that’s what I’m saying.”
His intensity was overwhelming, so I tilted my head back sharply—and Aktr softened the sad sharpness in his eyes, breaking into a smile.
“Thank goodness.”
Aktr clasped my hand with a joyful expression.
I looked down at my hand, held by him and swinging gently with affection.
‘I’m captured, but strangely… it doesn’t feel bad.’
The Collar.
This hand too.
Maybe it’s because Aktr clings to me so constantly.
‘Really, it’s not bad.’
We descended the mountain hand in hand with such tenderness that we might have been real lovers.
“Once we leave this Village.”
Lost in thought, I snapped back to attention belatedly.
“What did you just say?”
“Once we leave this Village, I’ll give you more freedom then. As soon as we clear the Demon Worshippers’ Den Dungeon, we’ll depart.”
I couldn’t understand his belated consideration.
“Why?”
“Because I’m scared. That while I have you like this, you’ll wriggle free like a loach and slip away.”
His fingers pried into the spaces between my delicate fingers, locking them together tightly.
“It’s just a precaution. A way of saying don’t abandon me and leave.”
Rather than force, it’s cunning, he said, his eyes widening as he grinned with an eerie charm.
Ugh.
This devious puppy of a thing!
Just pick one—either a docile large dog or a cunning fox!
As I glared sidelong at the rippling muscles of a massive carnivore, Aktr let out a breath laced with laughter.
The exhale was husky, carrying a pleasant warmth.
I was losing my mind too.
Even after hearing words like that, now every word from him felt tender regardless of content.
“No matter how foxlike you act, I won’t fall for it!”
Though I wasn’t convinced even as I spoke, I ended my words with false confidence.
I lowered my flushed face and twisted my wrist.
Aktr’s hand, which had been clinging to me like an octopus sucker, finally came loose.
I burst through the Inn door as if to tear it from its hinges and pressed the innkeeper to hurry, snatching the worn key.
“Quickly, please!”
I spun around to dash up to my room.
The ticklish atmosphere with Aktr had become unbearable.
Yet Aktr walked in perfectly fine, and now he was whining about pain—just playing victim.
“My wounds are throbbing.”
“You walked fine all this way—don’t start playing tricks!”
“My back is somewhere I can’t reach.”
Aktr’s brows drew together pitifully.
“Could you… apply the Salve for me……?”
I almost turned him down, telling him to do it himself, but I closed my mouth.
I remembered the monster’s claws that had torn open his back were quite large.
The Demon Worshippers’ Den is a dungeon where monsters huddle in darkness like cockroaches swarming across filth.
Aktr’s entire body was covered in claw marks.
‘I thought a den like this would be some kind of pleasure house dungeon.’
It turned out the Demon Worshippers’ NPCs had converted a brothel into a place where they sold monsters.
Not dead ones either — live, breathing creatures, and I had no idea what they were meant for, but apparently they sold quite well.
I found my eyes drawn to Aktr’s wounds.
Blood had dried black across his back, which was as wide as a door, flaking away in brittle pieces.
I finally admitted to myself that I couldn’t ignore his injuries.
“Come on. I’ll treat it for you.”
“It would be an honor, Demon God.”
“If you annoy me, I’ll jab my fingers right into those wounds.”
“How cruel.”
Aktr made a whooping sound and followed me into the room.
“Make it not hurt.”
With the natural instincts of a beast, he muttered something laden with misunderstanding in a way that worked like brainwashing, then immediately stripped off his shirt.
I stopped him in surprise.
“You’re taking it off right now?”
“Why? Should I take it off slowly?”
Aktr laughed playfully.
With his upper half half-undressed, he exposed the front of his chest openly, running his tongue across his swollen lips.
Pale skin, white as snow, showed through the gaps of his black priest’s robe in brilliant contrast that stabbed at the eyes.
The color contrast was indescribably provocative.
I even had the shameful thought that his body looked like it had been designed specifically to wear that robe.
I frowned to steady myself.
‘No, don’t get bewitched. Don’t get bewitched.’
I made a show of grumbling as I stole a glance at his chest.
A mad thought crossed my mind — I wanted to slip my hand into the gap where the robe hung open.
It would feel good to run my palm across that marble-like chest…….
“How do you like a little teasing exposure?”
Now that I thought about it, Aktr was the kind of madman who’d asked me about my preferences within a day of meeting.
“Shut your mouth, would you?”
“But if I know, it might help—ow.”
Aktr rubbed his forehead where I’d flicked him.
“Help with what.”
He was usually docile, but when the impulse to tease took hold, he became mischievous.
Well, thanks to that, Aktr felt more human somehow.
I sighed and tapped his nose lightly.
“You’re hurt this badly and you still have the energy to joke around?”
“It’s nothing serious.”
“Nothing serious? But you’re bleeding this much.”
I examined Aktr’s priest’s robe, which hung partially on his shoulders.
The blood had congealed with the fabric, sticking to his wounds.
“The wound’s too deep. This won’t do.”
I spoke matter-of-factly.
“I’m going to tear the robe, so steel yourself.”
“Steel myself for what?”
I answered with as much nonchalance as I could muster.
“To take off your upper half completely.”
Aktr burst out laughing as if I were amusing.
“You don’t need to prepare yourself for just that.”
“You’re pushing it again.”
“Rouen always treats me like I’m just a child.”
Is that so?
I fell into thought.
Now that Aktr mentioned it, I supposed it might be true.
“Tearing it seems wasteful, though. Repairs for work clothes are expensive.”
“Then you can endure the pain of wet fabric scraping against your wound instead.”
“Let’s tear it.”
I laughed at how quickly Aktr changed his mind.
Still giggling, I sharpened my nails to points.
He carefully cut away the cloth without touching the skin, then discarded the scraps of fabric on the floor.
“Can you fix this? It’s basically fallen apart.”
“If you take it to a professional NPC, they can restore it. Even burnt ash—they can restore that.”
“That’s not restoration, that’s creation.”
“That’s what the System does.”
Aktr murmured as if reciting something well-worn.
“Creation.”
Meanwhile, I was staring at the wound now completely exposed.
I had no words.
“Rouen?”
……
“What’s wrong?”

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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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