The Boss Wants to Die - Chapter 68

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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 68
It was an abrupt question.
As I stared back in confusion, Aerial grew impatient and pressed me.
“Answer me. Why do you help someone like me?”
“I already told you.”
I replied, a little flustered.
“When I’m in pain, I’ve always wanted someone to be there for me.”
…….
“If I ignore you, I feel like I couldn’t forgive myself. Turning away when I know that suffering exists — that’s cowardice, isn’t it?”
“You are…….”
Aerial’s head dropped low, both hands clenching into fists.
Cheeks flushed sickly from fever glistened with tears, contorted by sorrow.
“You are a Demon God, so why…….”
“……?”
“Why do you act so kindly?”
“I’m not being kind. I’m just——”
Aerial’s jaw clenched so hard the muscles stood out, then he lashed out at me with sudden venom.
“If you’ve got your own problems, don’t concern yourself with another person’s circumstances. That’s why you only get used — brutally, shamefully — by wicked creatures!”
Then he turned away coldly and left the cabin.
I stared blankly at the door as it slammed shut, then let out an incredulous laugh.
“Ha! Here I was, worried about him, and suddenly he’s throwing a tantrum?!”
The more I thought about it, the more absurd it felt. I raised my middle finger toward the closed door.
“I’ll remember this the next time you need help!”
I snorted and turned my head away sharply.
***
‘Damn it.’
Aerial crouched outside the Demon God’s cabin door, burying his face in his hands.
‘Damn it all……!’
Was this what Siris had been worried about?
That he’d fall into a degraded, filthy soul, blinded by the thirst for revenge?
Aerial yanked at his hair — reddened with disgust at himself.
‘The Demon God’s death was an illusion. I never caused her pain. That’s how it should be…….’
Rationally speaking, what Aktr had said was utterly nonsensical.
That I had already killed the Demon God?
What kind of talk was that.
She was alive and well.
I’d just spoken with the Demon God moments ago.
‘Then why does it hurt so much?’
Aerial couldn’t even understand himself.
He clung to nonsense and ignored it, yet tormented himself with it.
‘It makes no sense. Why believe it. I should just dismiss Aktr’s story!’
But he couldn’t.
Unable to dismiss it, he tried desperately to make sense of Aktr’s words somehow.
Of course, even that was difficult.
He had no clues — never having shared anything deep with the Demon God.
‘To be precise, I simply didn’t care.’
Her circumstances held no interest for him.
When she spoke of wanting to die, he’d never wondered why.
His own troubles had always mattered most to him.
In the illusion, Aerial and the Demon God had spoken far more with each other.
Though it was mostly Aerial’s one-sided threats and mockery, born from his hunger for power.
‘What if all of it was real……?’
Those conversations where he’d killed her in agony, where he’d wounded her countless times?
Aerial was already in no position to see her as merely a monster.
An evil monster that should be erased from the world.
If he’d only thought of her that way, he wouldn’t regret it like this…….
‘We are alike.’
Wanting to die, yet unable to — suffering in that limbo.
Resenting the world while clawing desperately to survive nonetheless.
The Demon God had suffered far longer than Aerial, and might still be suffering even now.
It was only after the Shell Pendant—the last bastion she had left—shattered that he understood this, and that realization was despair itself.
Only after becoming completely alone.
Only now.
Could he begin to see the Demon God’s sorrow.
‘How narrow my vision has been.’
The Demon God’s desire within the illusion—to pull Aerial free from the swamp of hatred—had been genuine.
Just as her heart in reality had been sincere when she nursed the ailing Aerial, hoping he might improve even a little.
Perhaps she had simply wanted to spare Aerial from living in pain the way she did.
‘Fool.’
Aerial berated himself harshly.
‘Aktr was right. I am an idiot.’
Did it matter whether the illusion was real or not?
Aerial already knew the answer.
That it was all something that had ‘already happened.’
He couldn’t explain why he believed the illusion was real.
But he did believe it.
As though some inexplicable force had granted him a trust he could not refuse.
Aerial recalled the chains and white space that Aktr had wielded.
‘That power.’
Beneath Aktr’s overwhelming force, Aerial had been unable to use any Skill whatsoever.
If Skills had been blocked, a notification window should have appeared saying so, but both the hologram and the System had gone silent.
‘I thought it was my mistake, but it wasn’t. If that wasn’t an illusion, then Aktr definitely prevented the System from interfering.’
Aerial couldn’t make sense of it.
‘How is such a thing possible? The System isn’t something a Player can tamper with…….’
As he turned over his thoughts about Aktr, something struck Aerial and he held his breath.
If my killing the Demon God was real.
Then what of Aktr Havbegnia?
He witnessed his companion’s death, and yet he bore witness to the killer of his companion standing before him, and still he endured?
How?
How could he remain so composed?
How many years must have passed?
“You really only think of yourself.”
Aktr’s words pierced his chest like a blade.
Aerial pressed his burning forehead against his knees, biting his lip.
“……I’m pathetic.”
He had never felt so stupid in his life.
***
The voyage toward the resort proceeded smoothly.
I helped Aerial with his meals, but I did nothing more to care for him beyond that.
It wasn’t because I held a grudge over his abusive outburst.
Though on the first day, I was certainly angry and my irritation hadn’t faded…….
‘It’s hard to keep hating someone who’s already suffering.’
Watching him groan in pain, I thought—maybe a person can make mistakes when they’re hurting that badly.
So I tried to help, but he was visibly uncomfortable with my care.
“Don’t you have any sense? You heard what I said—why did you come back?”
“You’re sick.”
You’re in pain.
When I answered that way, Aerial grew even more furious.
“What do you mean by that? I told you not to concern yourself with other people’s affairs!”
I laughed aloud.
“Aerial. I’m not petty. I’ve already forgotten whatever you said.”
Cool and impressive.
Do you understand?
I tried to posture that way, but it didn’t land at all.
I realized I needed to be more sincere.
“You didn’t say that to deliberately insult me. I’m not kind-hearted enough to take words I don’t believe to heart. You know that, right? I’m the Demon God.”
At my words, Aerial’s red eyes wavered as though tears were about to spill over.
“How can a Demon God act the way you do…….”
I gave a slight shrug.
“Why does it bother you? I simply have time to spare.”
It was an imitation of Aktr’s manner of speaking.
When I said things that way, it somehow carried a peculiar persuasiveness.
“There’s nothing else to do, so I’d rather put the time to good use than let it go to waste.”
“You could spend that time on your own amusement instead.”
“There’s nothing to do aboard a ship.”
Aerial released a pained sigh.
I spoke to him as if coaxing a younger sibling.
“Since you’re in pain, I’ll simply stay nearby. I won’t be in your way.”
‘His necklace broke because he was helping me, after all.’
If that were the case, it was only right that I care for him at least until we reached our destination.
Besides, I knew all too well how lonely it felt to be alone when you were hurting.
That was all there was to it—staying by his side.
‘It’s really nothing.’
Surely I could manage attending to him while he recovered. I had hands and feet, didn’t I?
It wasn’t as though I were helpless.
“When your throat is parched, how will you drink? And the lavatory—how will you make it there? What about food?…”
“Leave.”
Aerial pointed toward the door.
“Go. Now.”
And so I was cast out.
‘He’s quite sensitive, isn’t he.’
Aerial seemed to regard my nursing as though I were committing some unforgivable sin.
Though I couldn’t quite understand it, there was no way to press an ailing person for answers.
So I simply left him be.
For his sake as much as anything, it seemed the wiser course.
With this awkward distance settled between Aerial and me, we drifted swiftly toward our destination.
The ship sailed without pause and arrived safely at our intended destination—Undine Island, where the Water Ruins lay.
“Oh my!”
I bounded from the ship and took in the vista of Undine Island as it finally spread before my eyes.
“Autumn’s ending on the mainland, yet it’s warm here?”
Undine Island, blessed with perpetually mild weather, was an island of pristine waters.
The salt-kissed wind carried a briny scent—unpleasant but not harsh—that perfectly evoked the feeling of a holiday.
“First time on Undine Island? Do visit our local specialties before you go!”
“These are the most famous snacks on Undine Island!”
The Harbor was crowded with merchant stalls, buzzing with calls and commerce.
I approached one of the merchants—someone who seemed to have been established here longest.
“Excuse me.”
“Ah, yes, yes. Looking to browse our wares?”
“Actually, I wanted to ask—where is the Water Ruins?”
Aerial’s fever had indeed worsened.
Though Aktr had carried him down on his back, it seemed unlikely he could guide us until his condition improved, at least a little.
We would have to gather information and find our way ourselves.
“The Water Ruins, you say?”

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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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