The Boss Wants to Die

Chapter 13

“……”

“Our purposes are simply different. So there’s no need to ask why I’m doing this after all this time.”

“You didn’t have to go this far. I can’t get away from you anyway.”

Seeing the fangs glinting past my red lips, Akt straightened his back.

With his heavy weight gone, I could finally breathe.

I glared at him in irritation.

Treading perilously along the line without ever stepping over it—Akt was as insufferably sly as a fox.

“You’re making zero effort to make me happy. Aren’t you? That means you’re looking for another way to die.”

Akt’s pitch-black gaze drifted upward.

Directly on the floor above was the room of Michael, the man I had made a deal with today.

A chill ran down my spine.

“So how could I possibly rest easy relying on a leash alone, Rowoon-ah?”

“Now that I fully understand why you were interrogating me, back off.”

Rubbing the goosebumps on the back of my neck, I shoved his shoulder.

Akt yielded obediently, smoothing down his disheveled white hair.

He was the very picture of a modest, immaculate priest.

It suddenly struck me as utterly absurd.

How he tried so desperately to appear like a righteous priest in front of me.

I bared my teeth and growled.

“From now on, don’t come closer than a certain distance.”

“Understood.”

Akt nodded with absolute submissiveness.

He must have sensed my suspicious gaze, but he smiled as if he actually liked my wary attitude.

Then, in a dry, casual tone that seemed impossible for someone who had just shared such a secretive exchange moments ago, he spoke.

“We’re moving to another village tomorrow.”

“Already?”

“I’ve hit the level cap for what I can gain here.”

“What level are you?”

I asked, still rubbing my neck where it felt like the tips of his fingers still lingered.

“Level 40. We’re going to skip one village and head straight to the next.”

“You raised ten levels in a single day?”

Leveling wasn’t some instant-curry packet; you couldn’t just whip it up in minutes.

This was a virtual reality game, no less.

Even if the system allowed it, a player’s fatigue made it no easy feat.

“Did you clear another hidden quest or something?”

“If you’re curious, you can just stick by my side the whole time.”

Akt spoke softly, a lingering smile playing on his lips.

To dismiss it as cute pouting, the words he had spewed earlier were far too terrifying.

I recoiled in disgust.

“Anyone would think I came home at dawn.”

“High-level player griefing is a very serious issue.”

Akt’s expression turned dead serious.

“Especially when you run into high-level players in low-level villages like this—most of them are rotten to the core. Don’t wander around late at night.”

Naturally, the Lv. 230 Michael came to mind.

‘He couldn’t possibly be talking about Michael, right?’

I scrutinized him with suspicious eyes, but not a single hairline crack appeared on Akt’s rock-solid smile.

‘No way.’

“I think you forget sometimes, but I’m an Evil God. Telling me not to wander late at night? I’m not a child.”

“There’s such a thing as psychological attacks, too.”

Akt countered nonchalantly.

“Aren’t you surprisingly prone to getting hurt? They say most people who act tough are like that……”

Just as I was about to be distracted by his picture-perfect smile, he struck as if aiming for an opening.

“Did nothing unpleasant happen today? No one tried to kill you, treating you like just another monster?”

Staring up at him with wide eyes, I belatedly felt my ears burning and took a swift step back.

“You’re the one who treated me like a boss monster just a moment ago.”

“If I hadn’t explained it like that, you would’ve kept pressing me, saying you didn’t understand. I won’t do it again.”

“Well, it’s not like it’s wrong. What’s the problem with treating a monster like a monster……?”

I recalled Michael, who had drawn his sword without hesitation the moment he learned my true identity.

My nerves frayed, and the Evil God inside me awakened, whispering for me to shatter and destroy everything.

I was sick and tired of having to suppress and endure it.

I furrowed my brow and clenched my fists.

Driven to the brink by mental fatigue, my eyelids trembled faintly.

“If they come at me like that, I can just deal with them as a strong and wicked Evil God.”

“I knew it.”

Akt’s voice dropped low.

“Something did happen, didn’t it?”

I froze stiff.

“Stop hovering and annoying me. Just go back.”

“But—!”

“I told you to go back!”

At the Evil God’s urging, a crack finally fractured my reason.

I shoved him hard.

Akt slammed into the wall with a heavy thud.

He was so massive that dust rained down from the wooden ceiling.

Rubbing his lower back, Akt let the corners of his eyes droop.

“Ugh, please handle me with care, like fine glassware. If you’re this rough, I’ll break.”

“Just break already, you lunatic!”

My face flushed crimson, I shrieked and pointed toward the door.

“Get out!”

***

Ever since that day, my eyes had flown wide open.

That insane conversation with Akt had whipped my complacent plans right into shape.

Things couldn’t go on like this.

Just as Michael had advised, I needed to act far more meticulously.

Akt acted like a gentleman, but there was no telling what lay beneath the surface.

Even the brief tip of the iceberg he had shown yesterday was unspeakably insidious, wasn’t it?

Just how much darker was the hidden side of him?!

He didn’t even seem to have any intention of hiding it.

‘Luring me out while pretending to be so sweet!’

I regretted snapping up his hand and walking out of the Demon Castle.

I should have thought it over more before leaving.

‘If I’d stayed in the Demon Castle, intruders trying to kill me would’ve kept coming in steadily. What a waste.’

Regret was washing over me in waves.

Yet, on the other hand…….

‘I hated being trapped in the Demon Castle that much.’

Which only proved how wicked he was.

Akt Hevgenia was a true devil of a bastard.

In the blink of an eye, I had ended up as an Evil God completely swayed by sweet whispers.

‘Either way, this won’t do. I have to use any means necessary.’

And so, this was the method I came up with.

“You want to get a massage?”

Akt turned around.

I tilted my chin up with deliberate haughtiness.

“Yeah. They say the massages here are amazing, don’t they? Apparently it’s because there are plenty of gentle Slimes near the beginner village.”

I lifted the glass bottle and dangled it in front of him.

“This is the famous ‘Smooth Skin Slime Essence’ I’ve heard so much about.”

Inside the suspicious, hot-pink glass bottle, a green fluid shifted viscosely.

Akt’s reflection in the glass clouded with suspicion.

“I see.”

“You said you’d do anything for me. I want to get a massage here. You go level up in the meantime.”

I held out my hand boldly.

“Money.”

Though he looked puzzled, he obediently handed over 1 silver.

Along with it, he held out a squishy Rabbit Keyring.

“This isn’t money.”

“I saw it and bought it. Cute, isn’t it?”

“I don’t need……”

The stuffed rabbit on the keyring twitched its ears back and forth.

I shoved the keyring into my inventory as naturally as I could.

I peeked at Akt’s face from the corner of my eye, but sure enough, he wasn’t mocking me.

It would’ve been normal to say something like, ‘Why does an Evil God like things like that?’

Instead, he was just watching me with a pleased look.

‘Damn it.’

This was embarrassing in its own way.

I should’ve just taken it right away when he gave it to me.

My face grew hot.

‘Why is everything he gives me so completely to my taste?’

So embarrassing, so embarrassing!

……Still, I didn’t want to give the keyring back.

‘Akt knows my taste way too well.’

Plotting to secretly fiddle with the rabbit keyring’s ears later, I cleared my throat.

“Ahem! *Khmm!* I’ll make the massage reservation myself, so you……”

“No need. Just relax comfortably. I’ll take care of all the troublesome parts.”

Akt smiled brightly and walked into the massage shop.

Then, he even finished the reservation himself.

Was it because of what Michael had said?

The gesture didn’t look entirely pure; it felt like a calculated move to quell my suspicions.

‘Hmm…….’

Perhaps for a consultation, Akt entered a private room, had some sort of conversation with an NPC, and came back out.

‘What did he talk about?’

“This is the therapist who will be giving you your massage.”

I narrowed my eyes and examined the plain-looking, brown-haired NPC.

“Will you be starting right away?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll be back soon.”

Handing me a carton of strawberry milk, Akt took his leave.

Stabbing a straw into the milk carton, I smirked wickedly.

‘Nice!’

Phase one was a success.

While I swallowed nervously on the inside, the therapist guided me into a room.

The room was dimly lit so that one could receive a relaxing massage.

I stared indifferently at the neatly made bed, and the moment the therapist closed the room’s door, I pounced.

Thud!

Pinned against the wall, the therapist tried to scream.

I clamped my hand over their mouth instantly.

“Mmph, mm—mmph!”

“Shh. Quiet.”

I drew out long, black claws.

The NPC broke into a cold sweat, looking terrified enough to faint.

With the passive skill Threat of the Evil God activated, their terror-stricken eyes lost all semblance of sharpness.

Leaning close to the NPC’s ear, I spoke with deliberate clarity.

“Just answer quietly when asked. Nod if you understand.”

Trembling from head to toe, the brown-haired NPC nodded.

I eased the strength in my hand and took a step back.

Sliding down the wall into a heap on the floor, the NPC clutched their throat and coughed painfully.

“What did you and Akt talk about in that private room? Confess every single detail.”

“*Cough*, ah, hah, j-just business details……”

The NPC pleaded through tears.

Judging by the expression, it didn’t seem like a lie.

‘I doubt Akt would have just walked away like that, though.’