The Boss Wants to Die

Chapter 5

The Boss Wants to Die

“Didn’t you go through all this trouble to claim the reward for defeating the Evil God? Overflowing gold, silver, and rare treasures—don’t you need those?”

“…….”

“I’m giving you the chance, so take them. And stop doing this weird crap.”

Akt looked, well, rather subdued.

“Not really. I don’t need any of that.”

Akt rested his chin in his hand and stared fixedly at me.

His dark eyes clung to me like sticky gum, crawling sluggishly across my face.

It was an unsettling gaze, somehow uncomfortable.

The gentle tone of conversation, the persistent stare, the uninhibited demeanor.

Everything Akt did rubbed me the wrong way.

“Whether it was elixirs or whatever else, you must’ve spent an insane amount on potions. You ought to make back what you spent.”

Though I pushed through the discomfort to keep talking, it did nothing to ease my mind.

Because in those half-lidded, decadent black eyes, I felt like I caught a glimpse of a strangely glistening madness.

My chest tightened with rising anxiety.

‘I have to die to log out. I need to persuade Akt no matter what.’

Feeling my lips dry out a bit, I moistened them with my tongue.

Unlike makeup, the Polymorph appearance didn’t smudge or ruin, which was a plus.

“There’s no benefit to putting a collar on me. The Collar of the Beginning can only suppress me.”

“That’s enough. I don’t even like the fact that I have to suppress you in the first place……. I feel sorry……”

With that, Akt cast his eyes down gloomily.

If you’re sorry, why go so far to bind me?

It was utter bullshit that wouldn’t fool a soul.

I scoffed inwardly and continued.

“Being able to only suppress me means you can’t give me orders. Do you understand the difference?”

Right. He was just an ignorant novice.

He probably got lucky and stumbled into legendary weapons, completely clueless about the game.

I just had to teach him.

Teach him that this was truly a pointless endeavor.

If I properly explained the harsh rules of this game world, he might change his mind.

I constantly reassured myself.

“You expected that if you subdued me, you could use the Evil God like a weapon, right? Dream on. I’ll never do a single thing you tell me to.”

“I see.”

“Yes, exactly! All you can do is keep me docile at best—”

“I love it.”

“Wha—what?”

“That we can be together without you getting hurt. I love it.”

Akt’s lips curled up in a supple, gentle smile.

Trying hard to ignore the goosebumps prickling across my forearms, I stiffened my voice.

“I told you there’s no reward. There is nothing you can gain. Are you even listening to me?”

“Yes. I heard you loud and clear.”

“No, you haven’t! You don’t understand at all!”

I raised my voice, struggling not to let agitation consume me.

“You gain absolutely nothing, so why on earth are you doing something so pointless?!”

“Why would I gain nothing? You’re by my side.”

I stared at him with a look of utter incomprehension.

Akt gathered his disheveled white hair and swept it neatly over his broad, well-built shoulders.

Then he lowered his eyelashes with a pitiful delicacy.

Just that simple gesture exuded an astonishingly sultry aura—coming from a man of such massive stature.

I swallowed dryly and clenched my fists for no reason.

The unignorable atmosphere radiating from him kept making my throat run dry.

Akt murmured.

“Gold, silver, and rare treasures? You don’t know me. You don’t know me at all…….”

His husky, raspy low voice scraped down against my eardrums.

“But that’s all right. I’ll teach you from now on.”

“……W-what?”

“That I don’t need any of those things.”

He sat up straight and looked directly at me.

“All I need is you. That is more than enough.”

He leaned his upper body forward at an angle, bringing his face close.

Beneath the pungent woody scent, a thick, heavy aroma that was distinctly Akt wafted out.

It was a provocative scent, potent enough to make me resent having the heightened sense of smell of a monster.

A beast-like musk. That was the scent Akt carried.

He whispered into my ear in a voice that resonated like the toll of a bell.

“If you can’t believe me, I’ll show you until you’re satisfied.”

I sprang up from my seat.

Clatter!

The chair tipped backward, crashing noisily to the floor.

Akt widened his eyes in apparent surprise at my sudden movement.

Even so, his posture never faltered.

He was looking up at me like a devout priest.

Clutching the ear he had whispered into, I yelled.

“Y-you… you pervert!”

“A pervert? That’s harsh. I’m a priest.”

“Why do you even want me?!”

I realized with utter clarity that he wasn’t lying.

Just looking at his attitude made it obvious.

‘He’s insane.’

Words failed me.

‘He’s a complete lunatic!’

How was I supposed to log out with this crazy bastard around?

I raised a trembling hand and pointed a finger at him.

“Just when did you even see me to act like this?!”

“I fell in love the moment I entered the Demon Castle.”

“Do I look like a fool to you? You came determined to drag me out. You prepared everything from the Club of the Beginning to the Collar of the Beginning before coming here.”

“How sharp.”

Akt rolled his eyes and murmured with a hint of regret.

“In the first place, what kind of lunatic falls in love with a monster and drags it out?!”

“Do you hate me that much?”

“Why on earth would I like you?”

“You said my face was lewd. I thought you liked it.”

“W-what…….”

That face, which provoked a strange sexual tension, smiled harmlessly. That only made it more terrifying.

Appalled, I scrambled backward.

He was a man who knew how to use his body as a tool.

His expressions, his voice, even his conduct.

Watching him skillfully shift to whatever vibe he desired sent a chill down my spine.

Though the subtly submissive stance he maintained never changed.

“You don’t like it much. Is your taste more toward cute things?”

“Taste? Why are you even bringing that up between you and me?”

Swept up in his pace, I rubbed the stiff nape of my neck.

After spending six years alone, he was far too overwhelming an opponent to banter with.

“Of course it’s important. You have eyes, after all. If we’re going to travel together, it’s better if it’s pleasing to your sight. I’ll groom myself well so it’s not lacking.”

Akt clung to the idea, as if begging for even a little affection.

I almost hallucinated a tail wagging behind his back.

‘Am I going crazy too?’

He’s not a dog, so why a tail?

‘Get a grip, pull yourself together!’

I shook my head violently, trying to clear my thoughts.

“I mean, why on earth…….”

“Would ascetic be better?”

Akt subtly brushed past my fundamental question and fell into his own deliberation.

“That’s difficult, though……. I have quite a lustful nature…….”

Akt genuinely looked sorrowful.

“It’s already hard enough holding myself back because of it.”

My jaw dropped, left utterly speechless.

This guy really had a knack for making my jaw drop over and over.

As if seeing nothing wrong with what he had just said, Akt continued.

“Still, I’ll try. If you prefer someone modest and demure.”

‘I can’t handle this.’

I trembled all over.

‘He’s never going to kill me. Then I have to nip this in the bud right here.’

I had miscalculated completely.

He wasn’t someone who would listen to reason.

This bastard was a madman wearing the mask of a gentle priest.

‘To clear the path to logging out, I have to kill him and run!’

I tried to cast a skill to hurl him to the other side of hell.

Immediately, as if lying in wait, a hologram popped up with a warning message.

[Warning!]

[You are wearing the Collar of the Beginning! Powers that threaten your master cannot be used!]

‘Don’t give me that crap……!’

When I tried to summon an instant-death skill, my mana was sucked straight into the tattoo on my neck.

Standing stiffly in place, I attempted to strike Akt with physical force instead.

Yet I soon collapsed sideways, devoid of strength.

‘Dammit…….’

Akt lightly caught my waist with one arm and steadied me.

Then he touched my forehead, looking worried.

“Are you unwell?”

“What… do you… think I am……? I am… the Evil God……!”

“Do you want to sit on the bed first? Isn’t that position uncomfortable?”

He gently seated me on the bed.

His touch was delicate, as if handling fragile glasswork.

It was absurd.

I was hundreds of times more durable than him. He couldn’t not know that either.

‘It just seems ingrained in his body. Serving a master.’

I was the one wearing the collar, yet he was acting like a dog on a leash.

It was an incomprehensible situation.

“You tried to kill me, didn’t you? You might fall suddenly like that, so you need to be careful.”

“Bullshit…….”

With a sluggish tongue lacking strength, I cursed harshly.

“Stop fucking around…….”

Squeezing out every ounce of my strength, I shoved him over.

With a loud crash, his massive body tumbled onto the wooden floor.

I straddled his body and seized his throat, but no strength would gather in my hands.

To make matters worse, Akt’s neck was as thick as a tree trunk, making it hard to encircle with both hands.

“It happened again.”

Akt let out a sigh.

“What could the problem be?”

“You’re asking because you don’t know? Everything is the problem.”

Not a single thing was normal.

A player obsessed with a monster, and a boss monster dying to get killed.

‘It can’t end like this. I can’t be tied down so futilely.’

I gritted my teeth.

‘Even if only to find another way to die, I have to deal with this bastard.’

Dying.

Logging out was the one thing I could never give up.

That was everything to me.

Biting down on my lower lip, I cast a skill.

[The Evil God Hellroad has……]

“Don’t do that.”