The Boss Wants to Die

Chapter 14

The Boss Wants to Die

Lost in thought, I opened my skill window.

Because I had only ever spammed attack skills, I had no real idea what kind of abilities the Evil God possessed. There had never been any use for them.

Browsing through the skill window with a conflicted look, I spotted something surprisingly decent and let out a low whistle.

[The Evil God Sees Everything!

Scans the target for any active status effects.

— Search Level: 10 (Max Level)

— Currently Interacting Target: NPC Manager of the Sticky Massage Shop]

‘Not bad at all.’

The moment the thought crossed my mind, a holographic window popped up.

[Would you like to activate the search skill ‘The Evil God Sees Everything!’?

The activated skill will remain in effect until you change locations.]

‘This will do nicely.’

I swallowed a laugh that threatened to burst out.

Akt wouldn’t dream in a million years that I had a skill like this.

Information about the skills I used was shared across the entire world.

After all, putting their heads together to devise a raid strategy was the best way to kill me.

And so, as one year passed, then three, then six, they came to believe that the skills I used were ‘all’ I had.

It made sense, considering every subjugation force that came after me reported the exact same abilities.

The reality was simply that they were all far too weak for me to ever need anything else.

‘Who knew a day would come where I’d actually be grateful to those gnats? Thanks for spreading the false hope that the Evil God barely has any skills and can totally be defeated.’

[You have activated the search skill ‘The Evil God Sees Everything!’]

The status to the right of the skill flipped from OFF to ON, and a tiny icon indicating the active skill appeared at the bottom of my vision.

I looked at the NPC once more.

Something caught my eye that hadn’t been visible before.

A small icon of swirling mist spun sluggishly above his head, indicating he was under a mental restriction.

[‘NPC Manager of the Sticky Massage Shop’ is bound by a Memory Concealment Contract.]

[Memory Concealment Contract.

After forging the contract, it causes the target to forget the very fact that a contract was made for a certain duration.

Forgetting you entered a contract can sometimes be a tremendous help.

Especially when someone happens to suspect you.

You can put on the most innocently aggrieved act imaginable without even realizing it!]

“Whoa…”

It was insidious beyond imagination, drawing an involuntary murmur of admiration from my lips.

‘Akt, you little bastard, you’re way darker on the inside than you let on!’

Feeling goosebumps prickle across my skin, I attempted to dispel the Memory Concealment Contract.

[Failed to break the contract!

You are not a contractor of this agreement. Please bring the contractor and try again.]

‘Is there another way?’

I began rifling through the skill window once more.

Meanwhile, I planted my foot firmly on the back of the NPC, who was attempting a stealthy escape.

Where do you think you’re going?

With just a single, warning twitch of my brow, the NPC tucked his tail right back in.

‘This is a downright treasure trove.’

The skill window had just about everything imaginable. I even spotted a skill tailor-made to resolve this exact situation.

[Nightmare Snatcher.

Overwrites the target’s mental status effect with a mental status effect of the Evil God.

— The target’s Mental Defense skill must be Level 5 or lower.]

‘Will it work?’

Worrying slightly, I cast Nightmare Snatcher, and thankfully, it sank right in.

It seemed he had no mental defense to speak of.

I completely overwrote the mental restriction with pure terror.

Though the Memory Concealment Contract hadn’t been broken, the NPC began trembling like an aspen leaf, as if his lost memories had flooded right back.

“Looks like you finally have something to say, hmm?”

I smirked.

“P-Please spare me. Please spare my life. NPCs don’t resurrect when they die. That’s the end for us. Please spare me, Player-nim…”

I looked at the NPC with a strange expression.

Akt’s voice, explaining how NPCs and players didn’t get along, faintly drifted into my mind.

‘What a bizarre setting to give the NPCs. Saying they don’t respawn when they die… now I feel needlessly bad for them.’

On top of that, the NPC actually recognized players.

‘What an unusual game.’

I shook my head, moving to reassure the NPC.

It was information I needed, not an excuse to torment him.

“I’m not going to kill you. You just need to let me peek into your memories. Easy, right?”

“B-But if I do that…”

“Akt won’t notice. The contract isn’t broken, after all. You just have to play along when the time comes.”

When I crouched down and explained it gently, the NPC lifted his face, looking surprised.

Offering him the faintest smile, I extended my hand.

With a visibly relieved look, the NPC took it.

[The Evil God Hellroad has used Hook of Memory.

Infiltrating the memories of the NPC Manager of the Sticky Massage Shop.]

Startled, the NPC flinched.

I squeezed his hand firmly.

“It’s alright. It’s no big deal. Just accept it.”

“I-I accept entry into my memories.”

No sooner had he given permission than the world crumbled into pitch blackness.

Before long, the interior of a private room came into view.

Viewing through the eyes of the NPC Manager in the memory, I was looking at the back of Akt’s head as he quietly shut the door.

“Um, what was it you wanted to discuss…?”

“Let us make a contract. Refusal is not an option.”

He was as impeccably neat as ever, but there was not a trace of a smile on his face.

His expressionless visage carried an intimidating weight that made one completely forget his trivial level.

The manager’s heartbeat spiked rapidly.

A towering frame, pitch-black priestly robes, and white hair draping neatly over them.

Akt exuded an eerie, chilling presence all around.

Having discarded his gentle cadence, Akt’s voice remained clear as a tolling bell, yet frigidly cold.

In a tone that seemed to reverberate straight through the listener’s entire body, he commanded,

“Take it.”

He didn’t seem at all like the Akt who did nothing but cling to me with a humble, subservient attitude.

He seemed like an entirely different person.

Forced to accept the contract scroll, the manager checked its contents and choked back a sob.

“I-If the companion you came with notices…”

The moment the NPC mentioned me, Akt’s eyebrow arched upward.

“Then you will have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“B-But…”

“I believe I told you refusal is not an option.”

I was so stunned that words failed me.

Strange and a bit perverted though he was, fundamentally, he had always been a gentle and polite person.

My dominant impression of him was someone who hadn’t acted roughly even while pinning me down.

That was why I had taken him so lightly.

A spineless pushover is easy to use, after all.

‘I thought he was just naturally kind to everyone. Did I jump to conclusions?’

He looked as if he found this entire process an utter nuisance.

Persuading the manager, explaining his own circumstances—his expression was bored, thoroughly drained of patience.

I knew that feeling well.

It was the exact face I used to make whenever I swatted away the gnats that wandered into the Demon Castle.

Yet seeing that same look on Akt felt completely surreal.

“All you have to do is report to me if she leaves midway without receiving the massage. It is a simple task. I will compensate you handsomely.”

“Is that truly all?”

“Just remember the exact time she leaves her seat.”

Pulling a black fountain pen from inside his coat, Akt signed the scroll.

There was a certain crisp precision to his movements, born of sheer familiarity.

Not a single strand of his neatly arranged hair shifted an inch.

“A-A Memory Concealment Contract Scroll must be exceedingly expensive… You could just order me, and I would obey.”

“No.”

Akt’s decadent, black eyes curved in a dizzying, dangerous squint.

The manager’s heartbeat quickened. This time, it seemed to pound for an entirely different reason.

I had learned quite a few new facts today.

‘Can NPCs actually fall for players? I guess it’s possible since there’s an affinity system…’

In this game, one could even romance NPCs.

Having such highly developed AI and not creating a romance system would have been a loss for the game company, after all.

‘Then again, I’ve never heard of an NPC falling in love first.’

Akt let out a long, quiet exhale.

“…I don’t want to be stabbed in the back anymore.”

“…”

“I’m tired of getting angry. So prevention is the best course. Not that explaining this to you does any good. Does it?”

“T-That is true. I have no idea what you mean…”

“Then stop asking and sign.”

The manager’s hand reached forward and took the scroll.

The memory ended right there.

***

Leaving the Sticky Massage Shop, I leaped up onto the roof of the building.

I had thoroughly silenced the manager so that no word of my departure would reach Akt’s ears.

Even so, my mind felt utterly restless.

For the past few days, my head had been completely consumed by Akt Hevgenia.

‘I have no idea what he’s thinking.’

Perched on the edge of the roof like a cat, I looked up at the sun as it began its race toward high noon.

“I don’t want to be stabbed in the back anymore.”

Had he been deceived a lot?

When he found me, his level was a mere 10.

To a player, their level is their history.

There was no way he could have wandered the world at level 10, so the breadth of his experience should have been narrow.

Yet listening to the way he spoke, it sounded as though he were a veteran player who had been around since the very launch of the game.

‘I’ve got my own problems to worry about, but… I can’t help being curious about what kind of life he’s lived. His story seems complicated.’

Musing over the mystery, I took out a footwear item.

[Cursed Red Shoes of Eternal Dancing.

A pair of dainty shoes, said to be so wicked that an angel personally confiscated them from humankind.

Makes you as light as a feather.

Do you wish to snatch a bird out of the sky with nothing more than a light hop?

Do you wish to walk as though dancing all day long?

Then you just might need these shoes. If, of course, you wish to move like that for eternity.

※ This is a cursed item! Once equipped, it can never be removed until death!]

Then again, what if the wearer happens to be the Evil God?