The Boss Wants to Die

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The Boss Wants to Die

“…….”

‘So that’s why Michael was certain Akt would subdue me.’

Michael killing an incapacitated Evil God.

At least in that scenario, Akt would be able to watch me die.

That was why Michael insisted he would subdue me.

‘What a strange mentality.’

Why was Akt going to such lengths just to stay by my side?

Just as Michael finished speaking, the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs echoed outside.

It was Akt, who had just left the inn, returning to the room.

‘Why is he back already?’

Akt, who seemed to be heading toward his own room, changed direction toward mine.

“Akt Hevgenia is coming.”

“He is.”

“What will you do? Shall we proceed?”

“If Akt doesn’t subdue me with the leash, things will get complicated.”

“Akt’s obsession is beyond your imagination. A useless worry.”

Michael was full of confidence.

His conviction was strong enough to completely suppress my anxiety, so I decided to pin my hopes on his words.

Akt stopped right outside my door.

“Then kill me the moment Akt uses the leash.”

Creeeak. The doorknob turned.

“If what you say is true, Akt will choose to subdue me and watch me die.”

And the door opened.

Suffocating tension enveloped the room.

Akt stepped casually into the room, only to spot Michael and me.

I swallowed dryly.

Akt stared at Michael’s face for a long moment.

“…….”

Then he looked at me.

Suddenly, Akt tilted his head to the side.

His brow furrowed, as if questioning whether he was hallucinating.

After staring at me for a while, he raised his hand and made a motion as if grasping something.

A soft metallic rattle whispered through the air.

The normally invisible silver chain gleamed with holy radiance, caught firmly in Akt’s grasp.

He stared at the leash for a long time before muttering,

“……It’s not a dream.”

It differed somehow from the reaction I had expected.

Akt’s response was, in a sense, excessively nonchalant.

Like someone who had experienced this countless times before.

‘Didn’t Michael say he’d lock me up right away?’

Sensing things going downhill, I glared at Michael.

He, too, seemed thoroughly bewildered.

‘What do I do now?’

Just as I was regretting having been so naive, the leash was yanked.

I flew toward Akt as if carried by the wind.

Landing as lightly as a feather to stand upright in front of him, I saw his face looking down at me intensely from inches away.

Though not a word had been spoken, he seemed to have grasped the entire situation.

Every last detail of my intention to lure the high-leveled Michael and die.

How did he know?

It wasn’t like he could read minds.

I crushed the rising questions and focused on the present.

I saw an opportunity.

If I provoked Akt this time, I felt I could truly make him furious.

‘Right. I haven’t failed yet. The plan is still in motion.’

I can die.

I can return to my life.

Forcing the corners of my mouth up, I began to act the part of the Evil God.

It was a persona I had played for six years.

A role so ingrained that I could no longer even distinguish if it was the real me or not.

“Nice expression.”

I said, pretending to savor the murderous aura rolling off him.

“Much better than your usual bland self.”

I grabbed him by the collar and dragged him close.

Akt didn’t resist; he was utterly submissive.

Just as he had always been.

“Feel awful getting stabbed in the back?”

“…….”

“I didn’t plan on getting caught like this, so things turned out a bit dull. I wanted to hurt you much more.”

How could I make Akt angry?

What words should I say……?

‘Don’t be sloppy.’

A faint tremor ran down my spine, slick with cold sweat.

‘Act perfectly. You’ve done well so far. Speak evilly.’

Please, don’t be stupid.

Don’t be half-hearted.

Consider Lee Rowoon dead.

It’s what I do best.

Clenching my sweat-soaked hands tightly, I glared with even harsher venom.

If only I could die.

If only I could log out!

“You didn’t humiliate me like this expecting everything to stay peaceful, did you?”

“…….”

“I never cared about your happiness from the start. I intended to die right in front of your eyes for you to see. That would be the real loss for you, wouldn’t it?”

Pressing my lips close to his ear, I breathed pure venom into it.

Wasn’t it said that the Demon Sword burrows into a person’s heart and destroys their soul?

I knew very well how it worked.

Because I was the Evil God.

No matter what one imagines, the original is always far more dreadful than a mere fragment.

“I only played along because I wanted to watch your pathetic face crumple when your trust was betrayed.”

“You don’t care… about my happiness.”

Akt murmured in a low voice.

I gave a patronizing smile.

“Right. Do you know how many players there are in this world? Even if I throw away someone like you, I have an overflow of fresh cards to play.”

“I see.”

He let out a soft laugh, his voice so quiet it was barely audible.

“You never cared about my happiness, Rowoon-ah. It’s always been that way.”

Our gazes locked at a distance where our breaths intertwined.

Akt’s black eyes, once hollow like an abyss, were now churning, filled to the brim with some unnamed emotion.

Like a vortex in seawater turned pitch-black from its sheer depth, Akt’s eyes spun, devoid of reason.

His dark eyes were glistening wet with surging sorrow, yet what surfaced on his face was raw, unbridled fury.

To think he could make a face like this.

Because Akt had always been endlessly gentle, I was startled.

A rage forged from accumulated wounds burst through every contorted furrow around his eyes.

Akt hated me.

With a depth that made me wonder how he had ever hidden such an emotion until now.

‘But it’s strange. If he hates me this much, why was he so sweet to me?’

Besides, why does he hate me to that extent?

I merely ignored our contract.

To claim he was hurt after placing his trust in me—wasn’t our relationship too shallow for that?

“Since you’ve bared your true feelings, I suppose I should bare mine too. Hmm? Rowoon-ah.”

Akt spoke gently in a low, growling tone.

“Truth is…”

Akt looked down at me sweetly with eyes glistening with unshed tears.

“I hate you, Rowoon-ah. I hate you so much…….”

His voice melted thick and heavy, caressing my ear.

It sounded just like rich dark chocolate.

So intensely sweet that it made my ears ache.

When I shrank my shoulders to ward off the creeping goosebumps, Akt’s large hand gripped my cheek.

Against my skin, turned icy from extreme tension, Akt’s searing heat flooded in as if to scorch me.

“Enough to make me want to devour your lips, your eyes, every last bit of you. That’s how much I hate you.”

Why?

Why do you hate me that much? What are we to each other?

As my face filled with pure questions, his thick thumb tenderly stroked across it.

“Enough to make me want to hold you down with my own hands… so you can’t move an inch, when all you do is try to die.”

He was singing of hatred, yet his voice was affectionate and his touch was tender, leaving me at a complete loss.

Should I confront his fury head-on and glare defiantly?

Or should I urgently flee from the hand lingeringly caressing my face?

While I hesitated between the two, his burning fingers slipped into my ear.

The hand that had once walked on eggshells to respect boundaries now moved without hesitation.

He knew my body inside and out.

It was as though he were reading a map.

Where I was especially sensitive, what spots I disliked—his fingers were bold, as if they had eyes of their own.

Tapping my twitching lips with the tip of his fingernail, he smiled decadently.

He who had pretended to be neat, pretended to be devout, hiding a vulgar aura behind buttons fastened to the very top of his throat, had now discarded even that pretense.

In doing so, a suffocatingly sensual atmosphere radiated from him.

‘What is this? It’s like he’s a completely different person.’

Unaccustomed to human warmth, I bit my lower lip.

To be honest, his creeping touch, sweetly flaunting affection, did not feel unpleasant.

He was far too skilled.

He uncannily kept right on the line of what felt good.

Just as an unfamiliar arousal leaked out in a hot breath, he asked,

“What should I do? It seems the contract with you has become entirely useless.”

“…….”

“You dislike me, and I hate you, so is the end already set in stone?”

Then shall we die?

Hmm?

Shall we?

Akt tilted his head over my face.

His white hair spilled down, casting the surroundings into shadow.

‘Should I dodge?’

His chapped lips drew closer and closer.

My heart was thumping so hard against my brain that I couldn’t think straight.

Akt’s black eyes held me firmly, like a noose.

‘Michael is watching, but I can’t move…….’

He tilted his head, his lips nearing my red ones.

From his chapped lips came the faint scent of blood and whiskey.

It was a scent uniquely his.

“Kill us together.”

At a distance where our lips almost touched, Akt suddenly commanded.

My senses snapped back in an instant.

“What?”

Ignoring my question, Akt looked at Michael standing behind us.

Flustered by the unexpected turn of events, I tried to push him away, but I couldn’t move an inch because of the leash.

Grabbing my shoulders, Akt turned me around.

As Akt and I stood facing Michael, the atmosphere sharpened like a honed blade.

“You’re dying with me, Rowoon-ah.”

“You crazy bastard…….”

I gritted my teeth, tugging at the leash.

“Aren’t you wasting the legendary items you farmed? You’re going to die together with me like this?”

“Don’t worry. Now, even in death, you won’t be alone.”