The Boss Wants to Die - Chapter 9
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
The boss wants to die.
Episode 9
I refused outright.
“I already have Party members.”
I was trying to move past him while recalling the exact taste of the Strawberry Milk I’d drunk earlier, but Archer clung to me persistently.
“Really? That’s even better! What’s your Party member’s job?”
“They’re a Priest.”
‘I suppose I could call them a genuine Priest.’
Archer’s mind had already soared into a flower garden without knowing what I was thinking.
“A Priest means they’re a healer!”
In any game, healers were precious.
What luck! Joy shone from Archer’s eyes.
“Where is the healer?”
“Right behind me.”
When I pointed to the space behind Archer, he spun around with eager excitement.
“Gah!”
And he leapt back in shock.
He was startled by Akt’s massive frame, and then shocked once more by an entirely different problem.
“Wh—why is there a Slime……?”
Akt’s face had contorted dizzily, sweat pouring down as he balanced a Slime on his head.
“Boing-boing?”
The green Slime wobbled like pudding atop Akt’s white hair, making a stupid sound.
Regardless of its low level, a Slime was still a monster and quite large.
As a result, Akt looked as though he might suffocate any moment from the Slime’s body dripping across his face.
“Would you, perhaps, need some help?”
“No. I put it on my head on purpose.”
‘That makes it even stranger.’
Though he saw me shake my head, Akt—whose skin was thicker than steel—asked casually.
“Is there something you need from my Party member?”
With that, he dug through his inventory with one hand and pulled out Strawberry Milk.
“Want some more? I bought two, just in case.”
Honestly, I wanted to pat his head and tell him he’d done well.
I barely restrained myself and quietly snatched the milk.
I examined Akt’s face as I inserted the straw, but he didn’t seem to be mocking me at all.
I felt relieved and took a sip of the milk.
Mmm.
It really was delicious!
“Ah, well, I was hoping to form a Party…….”
Archer retreated further as he spoke.
Akt was breathing heavily like a minotaur, the Slime—a horrifically heavy blob of liquid—balanced on his head.
“Ugh…….”
Archer seemed completely terrified by his strange behavior.
But perhaps thinking he couldn’t waste such a good opportunity, he gathered his resolve and attempted to continue the conversation.
“Ahem, well! Your levels are similar—how about hunting together?”
“Sorry, but I won’t be hunting Slimes anymore.”
“What?”
“It’s too hard to hunt while carrying a Slime on my head.”
Then why are you carrying it at all?
Archer, feeling this fundamental confusion, asked carefully.
“May I ask the reason……?”
“I need to carry this one around if I want to get what I’m after.”
“What?”
“Unlike the others, this one’s core is bright lime green.”
“But……?”
“It’s a marker.”
What nonsense was he about to spout now.
Archer’s face clouded with confusion.
“I walk around carrying this thing and when I cry out ‘Come and buy rice cakes, I’m out of stock!’ twenty times, a Hidden Monster appears…….”
“Ha-ha! My apologies!”
Archer, now certain he was dealing with a madman, fled hastily.
I had no idea how fast I could move when using the Wind’s Wings skill to boost my speed.
“And after I explained it all to you.”
Akt looked at me with a pallid expression, and I worried his neck might snap from the strain.
I would have hidden in any hole I could find, but the Meadow stretched open on all sides—escape seemed impossible.
“If you don’t like it, just say so. Why embarrass yourself like that?”
“Hm?”
“Why are you lying?”
“Does it seem like a lie?”
He laughed and wiped the sweat trickling down his neck.
It was a rather rough-looking face.
‘So he can make expressions like that.’
His already decadent features grew even more elusive as his sweat-dampened hair clung to his skin.
Is this the power of a face?
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s nothing.”
I waved my hand dismissively and turned away.
Fortunately, Akt headed into the field without comment.
He walked across the field with a Slime balanced on his head, drawing strange looks from every player around him.
To make matters worse, he started muttering “Buy some rice cakes, buy some rice cakes,” and the terrified beginners fled en masse.
From a hundred meters away, he looked completely unhinged.
The field emptied out in moments, not a soul in sight.
“This is seriously the worst kind of disruption… Huh?”
I rubbed my eyes as I saw something shimmer into existence like a mirage right in front of Akt’s face.
“Is that a tiger?”
It was a tiger.
A real tiger!
[Warning! Hidden Monster ‘Hungry Tiger’ has appeared!
― Summoned by: Akt Hevgenia]
‘Wait, it’s real?!’
Why is this actually real?
And rice cakes, no less—way too Eastern for this place. Isn’t this supposed to be Western-themed?
Even as I struggled to believe my eyes, the tiger raised both paws high and growled menacingly.
“Give me one rice cake and I won’t eat you!”
‘No matter how I think about it, this doesn’t make sense!’
It clashed so violently with the game’s aesthetic that it practically screamed of incongruity.
Unlike me, who stood shocked, Akt reached forward without hesitation and offered the Slime to the tiger.
“Ooh! Mugwort rice cakes, delicious!”
‘But that’s a Slime! Just because it’s green doesn’t change the fact it’s transparent sludge!’
The gleam-eyed tiger eagerly snatched the Slime and swallowed it whole. Then—
“Hack! Hack, hack-hack! Squawk.”
It choked and collapsed.
It was an absurd sight that defied belief.
What came next was even more ridiculous.
[Congratulations! Akt Hevgenia has unlocked a Legendary Job!]
“What?!”
[Achievement Acquired! The One Who Revealed the Slime’s Secret!]
“What in the—”
[For defeating a Hidden Monster, your level rises dramatically.]
[Akt Hevgenia’s level has increased by 1.]
[Akt Hevgenia’s level has increased by 1.]
.
.
[Akt Hevgenia has reached level 30. You may now perform a Second Job Advancement.]
My jaw hung open as system windows cascaded before my eyes like a bug log.
The mental chaos only worsened when a special window bloomed in iridescent pink.
[Akt Hevgenia has performed a Second Job Advancement and become a Primordial Priest!]
[Primordial Priest.
A Priest who maintained the world’s balance in the Creator’s stead. Purges the byproducts spawned from creation itself.
Progress is locked until the First Byproduct is removed.
― First Byproduct (Bug): The Hungry Tiger that mistook a Slime for rice cakes
― Bug Code: ‘—‘ Consciousness
― Debugging Complete]
‘Huh?’
I’d been reading through the game description when a strangely realistic bug report suddenly appeared, and my eyes widened in surprise.
Reading more carefully, it seemed Akt had fixed a bug.
Though it was hard to believe he’d fixed it simply because he was a programmer—the issue read far too much like game content.
‘Is it just a job characteristic?’
A job concept inspired by bug-fixing, perhaps…….
I was completely in the dark.
‘No matter how I look at it, Akt doesn’t seem like someone from the administration.’
I shrugged, deciding it must be a Legendary Job trait after all.
‘The bug code is strange too. It’s probably just part of the job concept. It’s weird, sure, but…….’
This really is a broken game, isn’t it.
‘Even so, wasn’t this made way too hastily?’
I narrowed my eyes and fell into thought.
It was suspicious how Akt knew the conditions for unlocking the Legendary Job.
‘Did he buy it from the Information Guild?’
Information about obtaining a Legendary Job seemed like something even the Information Guild wouldn’t sell.
They’d keep it for themselves instead.
Ding!
[A Legendary Job Quest has arrived!]
[Akt has accepted the Quest ‘Enlighten the Worshippers of the Evil God.’]
[Quest details cannot be confirmed. Please accept the Quest directly from the NPC to view the details. Guiding you to the relevant NPC.
― Guide Navigator: Akt]
I was too exhausted to be surprised anymore, staring at the Quest window with the hollow eyes of someone whose soul had fled.
“What’s the point of asking enlightenment from someone in a Party with the Evil God…….”
This game was definitely broken.
‘Still, I’m already level thirty. At least that’s a good sign.’
Pushing aside my lingering worries, I approached Akt, who lay sprawled on his back on the ground.
“What are you doing? Get up from the ground. Rise. Let’s level up more.”
“Sorry. I think I’m about to fall asleep.”
“What?”
Akt didn’t respond to my desperate call and quietly closed his eyes.
He looked as though he were drifting into eternal sleep.
“Wait, hold on! Hey! Wake up!”
[As a condition for obtaining the Legendary Job, Akt’s Stamina is temporarily reduced to 0.]
[Akt loses consciousness.]
“Why are you passing out here, you massive lump? Don’t you dare lose consciousness! Snap out of it!”
The Evil God didn’t lose consciousness even with zero Stamina, so it seemed regular players worked differently.
I grabbed Akt’s shoulders—the shoulders of a man built like a bear—and shook them, even tried covering his nose, but he remained unconscious and wouldn’t open his eyes.
“Should I just leave him?”
A powerful urge swept through me.
But I couldn’t abandon him here—he was the only possibility left that might be able to kill me.
“Heart.”
“Yes, Evil God!”
The bat Familiar darted out from the shadows and answered sweetly, scurrying up onto my shoulder.
“Heart. Stop calling me the Evil God. It’ll draw attention.”
“Then what should I call you?”
“Just Master. It’s natural—I’m your summoner.”
“Yes, Master! I’ll correct it! What can I help you with?”
“Grab the collar of this guy’s clothes.”
Heart blinked his heart-shaped single eye several times, then swallowed hard as he looked at Akt’s bulky frame.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————