The Boss Wants to Die - Chapter 78

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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 78
I opened my eyes sharply and asked.
Though it hardly mattered whether the Water Deity was even looking at my face.
Judging by the long silence, I’d managed to strike a nerve.
‘This is a Legendary Item that Aktr brought.’
The Primordial Leash.
Aktr’s class was Primordial Priest.
When he fought me, he’d wielded the Primordial Staff.
‘Primordial artifacts. Tools the Creator used when shaping the world.’
It couldn’t be coincidence.
Aktr was lusting after Primordial power.
‘Aktr is hiding something from me. There have been suspicious details all along, but if that secret involves the Demon God, everything changes.’
I’d assumed I’d gotten caught up in Aktr’s final objective or destination.
But if his target had been the Demon God from the start, our relationship would shift entirely.
There was no way I’d carelessly overlook the thread that led to the ending.
‘Truth is, I’ve been forced to stick with Aktr, so I didn’t want to create problems by digging too deep.’
That’s also why I’d never fully pressed him whenever he acted suspicious.
I was already wearing a collar—why risk antagonizing him further?
‘And I didn’t want to, either.’
I recalled Aktr’s blind devotion, then shook my head.
Anyway, instead of provoking him and pressing him about secrets I didn’t even understand, I’d been looking for other methods.
Like Quests, for instance.
Raising his Affection Points to unlock hidden dialogue.
My other option was to draw in high-level Players.
So they could kill me whenever they wanted.
The final method was to make Aktr happy enough that he’d kill me himself.
‘But now I have one more option. Force Aktr to spill his secrets.’
“This collar—is it really that important?”
I touched the tattoo inscribed on my neck as I spoke.
“What’s so frightening about it that you can’t even talk?”
I’d deliberately poked at his pride, but the Water Deity remained remarkably composed—befitting a god of the sea.
— It is not fear. Merely concern.
“Concern about what?”
— Demon God, you do not know yourself, so you cannot grasp my dread.
Tiny bubbles filled the seawater around us.
The Water Deity had exhaled with a shudder.
— It is concern that this world itself may crumble.
“Wait, we’re just talking about a collar, and suddenly—”
I scoffed at the Water Deity’s words.
Yet the sea, pooled in the lowest depths of the world, merely kept its place with humble restraint.
Dull and unchanging.
— There. You know nothing of yourself.
……
— I am too old now to indulge in recklessness and topple a tower built with such care. I cannot defy that power.
I, who’d been ready to counter whatever came next, fell silent.
The Water Deity didn’t sound like he was boasting or lying.
What in the world was this?
I made a gesture near the tattoo, scrunching my hand slightly.
Then a chain caught hold.
A chain unnecessarily radiant and beautiful for its purpose.
The Water Deity whispered in a tone heavy with worry.
— I would appreciate it if you simply understood that even a humble deity of the sea cannot presume to interfere.
“……Then I’ll have no choice but to find out for myself. The master of this collar happens to be nearby, after all.”
— You should search carefully.
The Water Deity’s words carried weight.
— Finding the master will not be so simple.
“You didn’t hear me? I said he’s nearby.”
— What makes you so certain?
I furrowed my brow.
I looked out at the seawater trying to discern his intent, but there was no way to read his expression.
―You cannot even see the Water Deity, who stands far beneath your station. How could you possibly face him, let alone find your master?
I mulled over the Water Deity’s words, then narrowed my eyes.
‘Could it be……’
It wasn’t a mistake.
The Water Deity was subtly giving me a hint.
‘The Water Deity is telling me I won’t be able to see my master.’
I could see Aerial, Aktr, and Michael without any problem.
Only the Water Deity, the sea’s ‘god,’ remained invisible to me.
‘Then does that mean this object’s master is a god?’
Though its current owner was Aktr Hevgenia, this was a Legendary Item.
All items were products of chance—when a Player found them, they simply picked them up and used them.
But there might have been a true creator behind it all.
―The one you must find stands before you as an equal, yet back-to-back, as your opposite.
The seawater churned and swelled dramatically.
It was the Water Deity shifting his body slightly.
“How can I see a god?”
―……Faith is what matters for a god.
“Faith?”
―That is all I may speak of.
The Water Deity, who had been laying bare everything he could until now, suddenly drew a line and retreated.
It seemed I’d touched a nerve, but I couldn’t fathom what it was.
―Now I shall tell you the purpose for which I summoned you.
The Water Deity hurried the conversation, eager to close our exchange.
It appeared he’d judged that we were growing dangerously close to hidden truths.
‘I can’t let it end like this.’
I had to draw out more information if I could.
“Wait. Just one more thing.”
―What is it?
“I’ve been awake for six years now. When you heard that, you said something terrible had happened. Do you remember?”
―……Indeed, I did.
“Explain it more specifically.”
―I was speaking of the Demon God awakening in an unstable manner. And if that is not a calamity, then what is?
‘Unstable……’
I rubbed my jaw, lost in thought.
‘Is he talking about the setting where I awakened by killing my kin?’
Unfortunately, that wasn’t a topic I was desperate to know more about.
I shrugged.
“Whether you or I, we’re both Monsters now. Does stability or instability even matter?”
―Monster?
“Yeah. Monster. There’s no way you’re a Player.”
Not with something so utterly inhuman.
The odds of being a Monster shot up dramatically.
‘Even if there were a Player with a monstrous appearance, this would be impossible.’
A single gesture conjures a tidal wave that swallows buildings whole.
The settings were too extreme.
How would anyone travel through a game world like that?
Besides, I had concrete proof.
“A Monster Hunting Party Quest appeared. Its objective was to kill you and put you to sleep. That makes you a Monster.”
―…….
“Still, aside from me and my Familiar, you’re the first Monster I’ve met who can actually speak.”
―This is a Temple, and though I am less mighty than you, I too am a god. The Water Deity whom the merfolk once served.
Suddenly the entire sea swelled and released a sound like laughter.
It was a tremor that resonated through my blood-formed body, shaking the world itself like an earthquake.
‘If I laugh twice more, something terrible will happen!’
The Water Deity spoke as though amused.
―Two gods reduced to Monster form, meeting like this—it is somewhat ridiculous. Demon God, it seems you too have become a Monster?
“I didn’t become one. The Demon God just is a Monster.”
―You are a god, yet how could you become a Monster?
‘This conversation isn’t working. Must be because he’s an AI.’
The Water Deity fell silent afterward, lost in thought for a long stretch.
I shifted my weight anxiously, then rubbed my weary face.
Beneath the sea, the air inside the Oxygen Bubble was bitterly cold, and of course, oxygen itself was running thin.
My clothes clung to me, wet and sagging, and the accumulated exhaustion made my mind feel drained and sluggish.
I needed to hear his business quickly—either kill him or find some other way to put him to sleep.
I pressed forward.
“My questions are finished. Your turn. Tell me why you brought me all the way here.”
— Very well. How much do you know of merfolk?
I glanced sideways at Aerial, who stood motionless as a trained soldier.
“Pearls, essence. That much?”
— Merfolk are children who share my power. They are born from water, return to water, and die thus.
The Water Deity continued, weighted with sorrow.
— Water that possesses will. Even though they have mixed with the sea, I can still distinguish those children.
“But?”
— I wish to bring those children back to life.
Aerial, who had been perfectly still beside me, suddenly jerked his head up.
He moved with such violence that the seawater displaced by his gesture warped the Oxygen Bubble itself.
“Y-y-you mean you can save them? Your Majesty!!”
— Yes. But the conditions are strict. The Demon God’s aid is absolutely necessary.
Aerial’s gaze fixed on me.
He set aside the memory of his arrogance toward me, even the memory of how he had pleaded so miserably for me to abandon him, and opened his eyes wide.
In this moment, nothing else mattered to him but reviving the people of the Water Ruins.
Splash.
Aerial slipped out of the seawater and into the Oxygen Bubble.
Dragging his mermaid tail across the floor, he crawled near and bowed his head before my feet.
The memory of our first meeting flooded back.
Aerial, who had been a Demon God worshipper, had bowed to me just like this once he learned my identity.
His bright red hair curtaining his face, bowing with such insolence.
Yet this time, the weight of sincerity was entirely different.
Shoulders trembling finely, skin flushed red where fever burned beneath.
And his body bent so far that his forehead nearly touched the sandy floor.
“Y-you said to think about how I could make you happy. I-I-I think I understand now.”
Aerial confessed, his tongue quivering so badly from tension it came out stuttered.
“I-I-I have to hold onto you.”

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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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