The Boss Wants to Die

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The Boss Wants to Die

“……”

“That’s what you want. Answer me.”

“……Fine.”

At my threatening tone, Michael forced out a reply, looking utterly humiliated.

I beamed, as though I had never worn a stern expression in the first place.

“So. Will you cooperate, or won’t you?”

“What do I gain if I cooperate?”

“Gain?”

A laugh burst out of me before I could stop it.

As I elegantly covered my mouth with the back of my hand and giggled, Michael’s face contorted.

“Listen closely, kid. You’re not in any position to be haggling over gains. As long as I’m alive, you won’t get anywhere near Akt, nor will you ever figure out what you want. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

I continued with a sweet smile.

“It means the moment I catch sight of you, I’ll kill you on the spot.”

“……”

“……”

A heavy silence smothered the room.

By this point, I felt a twinge of pity for Michael, but I had enough problems of my own.

“How do you expect to handle an Evil God dead set on tearing you apart? Even subjugation squads formed on a national scale can’t do a damn thing against me.”

“……”

“Choose. Will you die by my hand, or cooperate and kill me?”

In truth, it was a deal with zero downsides for Michael.

He could come into contact with Akt in the process of killing me, and after the deal was done, he’d gorge himself on all the items and exp I dropped.

Wasn’t this truly killing two birds with one stone?

“I accept the deal.”

Just as expected, he took my offer.

“In return, you’d better set up the opportunity properly. Make sure I can definitely kill you.”

I had been planning to casually provoke Akt, get subdued, and then have Michael finish me off, so his words made me look at him in bewilderment.

Michael stood frozen in place like a stone statue, watching me without a twitch.

“There won’t be a second chance.”

“Why not? We can just make another—”

“Akt Hevgenia doesn’t tolerate making the same mistake twice. A leash?”

He shook his head.

“That’s cute compared to what he’ll do. If you don’t want to end up under far worse restraint than that, come up with a plan that cannot fail. That bastard is insane.”

‘……I already know he’s crazy, but…’

Hearing it come from another player gave me goosebumps for some reason.

“Akt is like a snake.”

Is he?

I fell into deep thought.

‘He seemed more like a dog to me, though. A massive, giant dog…….’

As if seeing straight through my thoughts, Michael put force into his voice.

“Don’t forget. He’s calculating and meticulous. Trying to deceive him will cost you dearly.”

“……”

“I doubt you can even fool him. Akt acts soft, but…….”

Trailing off, Michael furrowed his brow and shook his head.

He pressed a hand to his temple as if a migraine were setting in.

Shaking his head once more, he hastily wrapped things up.

“It seems our business here is finished, so get out.”

“You’re the one who called me in, you know?”

I let out an incredulous laugh.

“I’ll stay in touch through my familiar. Heart.”

“Yes, Master!”

Heart popped out of my shadow with a soft flutter of its cute little wings.

“It looks like this. Don’t mix it up.”

“I’m not stupid enough to mistake a bat with a heart-shaped eye.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Giving a light wave, I walked out of his room.

Until the door clicked shut, Michael watched me through the crack.

With a look fraught with anxiety, like a man who had missed something crucial.

---

“You’re very late.”

The moment I entered the room, I almost screamed at the sight of Akt.

“Why are you only coming back now?”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he rose to his feet.

Stretching out across from the window, Akt’s shadow reached toward the tips of my toes like creeping demonic hands.

I glanced out the window.

The deep amber sunlight dyed Akt’s pale skin and white hair a blood-red hue.

In the meantime, dusk had already fallen.

“Where did you go? I was so worried about you.”

As if those words were no lie, the shadows under Akt’s eyes had darkened in that short span of time.

I couldn’t understand his overreaction.

Just because I had vanished for a brief moment, he was clinging to me as though he’d never see me again.

“You’re not my paranoid husband, so why are you interrogating me like this?”

“We’re always together.”

“Being in a party doesn’t mean that.”

I sighed and crossed my arms.

“I want to rest, so leave al—… What are you doing?”

Approaching with a hurt expression, Akt bent down.

His long hair brushed against my bare shoulder in my off-shoulder mini dress.

It felt like a bundle of cold silk threads sweeping over my skin.

Before I could even shove him away in my fluster, Akt inhaled deeply, as if catching my scent.

It was just like a dog running out to greet its owner, sniffing out an unfamiliar scent clinging to them.

“Ngh…….”

As his hot breath brushed against my sensitive neck, my body shrank back involuntarily.

Akt’s thick eyebrows arched upward.

“It’s not like you have anyone else to meet here.”

“……”

“It’s a small village, so we must have seen everything there was to see when we came back from hunting together…….”

Those pitch-black eyes, bottomless as an abyss, locked onto me.

“I don’t smell alcohol, nor the scent of sweet desserts. Were you inside the inn? In which room?”

Akt’s suspicion tightened its net around me.

His pitch-black eyes stared as if ready to swallow me whole like a black hole.

It was utterly chilling.

Perhaps because of what I’d just done behind his back, my heart hammered loudly against my ears.

Nitpicking his behavior, I tried to defuse the suffocating tension.

“You know how weird you’re acting right now, right? We’re not dating. No, even if we were, you shouldn’t do this. It’s a crime. Someone would report you on the spot.”

“When I get anxious, I turn a little strange……. I’m sorry. I can’t seem to control myself anymore.”

You can get even stranger than this?

When I stared at him with that exact look, Akt straightened his posture.

I rested my hands on my hips.

“Be careful from now on. Getting interrogated like this is unpleasant.”

Offering no answer, Akt dragged a chair over, sat down, and abruptly changed the subject.

“Do you remember what you said? Rowoon-ah.”

“What?”

“You said that after going through so much trouble to catch you, I ought to get my money’s worth.”

It came completely out of nowhere.

I looked at him, bewildered.

“To be honest, you’re right. I suffered huge losses farming like a dog.”

Casually tossing out vulgar words, Akt wore that usual neat smile of his.

Even if he was slick or playful at times, he wasn’t a foul-mouthed man.

Yet seeing him use such coarse language so unfazed felt entirely out of character.

It caught me off guard, leaving me a little startled.

Actually, more than a little.

“What about it?”

Startled, my voice cracked slightly.

Akt didn’t smile in the slightest.

“But I don’t need your exp, nor your items. My only goal is to be with you. That’s why I farmed that legendary item. Like a cheap slave.”

“……”

“That dog collar you despise so much. I dragged my level 10 body all the way through the Demon Realm just to put that on you.”

“……”

“For someone like me to get his money’s worth, what do you think I should do?”

To keep you by my side, what would make it worth my while?

He whispered in a raspy voice, sounding just like the serpent tempting Eve.

I blinked.

My mind went completely blank from shock.

Without filtering through his brain, Akt smoothly recited words that sounded far too meticulously thought-out.

“For starters, locking you in my room so we can spend all day together could be one way. Even I’d hate doing that, but…….”

Akt continued with a pained look.

“If things get so bad that I have no other choice, I’ll tie your hands and feet so you can’t move an inch.”

His somber, dark voice cracked dangerously.

“So that you have no choice but to rely on me for everything.”

My mouth fell open, but not a single sound came out.

I was too stunned.

What’s more, his explanation was strangely specific, as if it had already happened once before.

“That’s what getting my money’s worth means to me.”

“You cr……”

“Crazy bastard?”

He chuckled deep in his throat. It was a sorrowful laugh.

“I thought you already knew I was out of my mind.”

“I didn’t know it was this bad.”

“Even if you get tangled up with a lunatic like me, you can’t report it. You’re a boss monster, after all.”

“……”

“But I won’t lock you up. That’s not what I want. It’s far too presumptuous.”

“Presumptuous?”

“How could I dare force the Evil God?”

Akt replied resolutely.

“In that sense, confinement is far too one-dimensional and brings only pain.”

“So what are you trying to say?”

I lowered my voice, taut with vigilance.

Akt rose from his seat and answered.

“I’ll get my money’s worth from you through a different method. I know having to deal with someone like me is the sorrow of being a boss monster.”

Stepping closer, he planted both hands on the bed beside my thighs and leaned down.

Creak—

Taking on Akt’s weight, the mattress sank beneath us with an agonizing groan.

Just that alone made me feel trapped within his massive frame.

“That’s why I didn’t want to do this. Forcing you like this. But I have no other choice.”

Haha…….

A faint, lifeless laugh drifted like a ghost.

“To you, all players are sick bastards and criminals. Because all they want is to kill you on sight.”

“……”

“In the end, I’m no different.”