Chapter 4
It was a gaze that held not even a trace of doubt, as if it were completely natural.
I felt the same way. I couldn’t understand why she was bringing this up now. Wasn’t it obvious?
The Boss was like the king of ‘Alice.’ Of course he’d be the King in terms of playing cards.
“…Yes.”
However, Fenil firmly denied Melia’s affirmative response.
“The King isn’t the Boss.”
The card she was holding sliced through the air and pointed at someone.
“The King is Kay.”
The person her finger pointed to was me. Fenil’s eyes, curved into an arc, fell on me.
“Why…?”
Melia tilted her head as if not understanding. Her light purple hair fluttered around her neck.
I felt the same way. I couldn’t make sense of what she’d been saying. Starting with the King not being the Boss, and now even claiming that I was the King.
“Surely you’re not saying this just because my name is Kay?”
I finally had to interject. My name, Kay, was derived from the alphabet letter K.
In playing cards, the King card is K. I couldn’t deny there was a similarity, but using that as a reason to call me King seemed ridiculously trivial.
“That’s right.”
But Fenil nodded casually. It was so trivial I almost let it slide.
Really? Just because my name matched?
“I cannot accept such a reason.”
How dare someone like me surpass the Boss and be called King. Even if it came from just one person’s mouth, I couldn’t accept it. I hoped Fenil would retract her words. But she simply brushed off my gaze.
“I can’t help that it’s the truth. And Kay, it’s troublesome if you mistake what you know for the truth.”
“…Why are you saying this?”
Melia, who’d been quietly listening to our conversation, grabbed the hem of Fenil’s clothes. She meant to ask why Fenil was saying these things.
This wasn’t a trivial matter to casually mention, and it was a puzzling statement. Fenil must have something to gain by saying this.
If not, she wasn’t the type to carelessly make such remarks.
In response, Fenil’s eyes turned toward the tightly closed meeting room.
Complex emotions appeared in her eyes and disappeared instantly. After maintaining silence for a moment, Fenil gently opened her mouth.
“Just… I think it’s time for everyone to find their own place.”
***
Kay left and the door closed. Once the presence of others had vanished, Alex, who’d been staring at the Boss, opened his mouth.
“Then we might as well select the president with that thing.”
Alex spoke sarcastically, looking at the cards. Since they were on informal terms in private, the Boss casually disregarded his remark.
“A lucky person would be chosen.”
Alex sighed at him, who wore a relaxed smile as his red eyes gently closed.
“I thought it was strange from the start when you specifically called for Kay.”
A supernatural ability that designates the most suitable person? He’d never heard of such an ability. If it existed, that superhuman would already be a billionaire.
Still, he’d thought the Boss wouldn’t lie. To think he’d deceive everyone like this.
Fenil probably pretended to be fooled, but it was quite elaborate.
Alex sighed once more at the Boss, who was smiling habitually.
He could immediately tell the Boss’s plan as soon as Kay drew the winning card.
“You intended to send that child from the start, didn’t you?”
Because he only did such things when it concerned Kay. The Boss had already decided that Kay would be the one to infiltrate. All the cards were probably winners.
His blue eyes didn’t hide his incredulity. And looking back at Alex’s eyes without concern, as if having nothing to hide, he said:
“Kay is the best candidate for this operation.”
“You should have just ordered him from the beginning.”
Alex couldn’t understand why the Boss had devised such a plan. Normally, he was as easy to read as a machine. But in matters concerning Kay, like now, even he often couldn’t understand him.
“It would be troublesome if there were misunderstandings.”
“Misunderstandings?”
Alex tilted his head at these incomprehensible words. After a brief pause, watching Alex’s reaction, he continued:
“I know what feelings he harbors for me.”
He had to know. That look in his eyes, as if he could throw away everything for him. It was a feeling far more noble than love, so he couldn’t help but notice it.
But—
“I can’t accept those feelings either.”
“So you came up with this troublesome plan because of that?”
Alex still couldn’t understand even after the Boss finished speaking. It was unlike him. Every executive already knew that Kay liked the Boss.
If even he knew, there was no way the Boss wouldn’t know.
But Alex couldn’t understand why he went through such trouble just for that reason. If he couldn’t accept Kay’s feelings, he could simply ignore them.
“Just get rid of him instead.”
Yes, this would be a much simpler solution.
“Kay will listen to whatever you say.”
It wasn’t pleasant for him to say this, knowing Kay’s feelings. After all, the Boss was Kay’s only reason for living.
But setting aside his own feelings, this method was indeed better.
That way, Kay would no longer show his feelings to the Boss. If you can’t accept them, reject them. Wasn’t this much easier than ridiculous methods like the cards?
But the Boss slowly shook his head. Something unusual flickered in his red eyes. His empty gaze stared into space.
“That would be too cruel.”
It was a statement so light it could float away, yet simultaneously so heavy its depth was unfathomable. Despite such words, his lips wore a mismatched smile.
Alex frowned at the Boss’s expression, which gave him an odd feeling.
“And your actions aren’t cruel? You’re deliberately being harsh to Kay. To avoid giving him any hope.”
It was beyond just being harsh. He was so severe it made Kay seem even more extraordinary for liking the Boss despite it all. Even as a mere observer, Alex felt sorry for Kay. The person directly involved would feel it even more intensely.
He looked at Alex. Harsh, was it? From Kay’s perspective, it certainly could be. But right now, he wasn’t talking about Kay.
“No, I’m talking about me.”
Himself.
Alex, who’d naturally assumed he was referring to Kay, froze at the Boss’s next words.
“What?”
Although the Boss noticed the crack in Alex’s expression, he paid it no mind. He continued, almost muttering:
“It’s fascinating. How can someone harbor such intense feelings for another person?”
Though his words were directed at Alex, he was questioning himself. He simply couldn’t understand how Kay could have such feelings for him.
They were complete strangers, not related by even a drop of blood. True, he’d saved Kay, but that wasn’t reason enough to love him. Yet Kay was in love with him.
“Currently, those feelings are my only enjoyment.”
That fact delighted him. Amused him. He wanted to see the end of those feelings. Would Kay crumble, or would he become a solid fortress?
It was an outcome that even he couldn’t predict.
“Wouldn’t it be too cruel to me to eliminate that?”
So he couldn’t reject Kay. Because then the conclusion would remain incomplete. Whether Kay became a fortress or crumbled, there had to be an end.
For that, he mustn’t reject him, but he also mustn’t accept him.
Severing or connecting those feelings was all up to Kay.
He would merely observe where that endless affection would lead.
Alex revealed a disgusted expression toward him, who was smiling as if genuinely pleased.
“…I feel sorry for Kay.”
He meant it. The Boss was a good person as a boss. A boss should always know how to make the best decisions anywhere, anytime.
Those decisions shouldn’t involve personal emotions. That’s why he was well-suited for the position of boss. His judgments didn’t even include his own emotions.
But as an individual human, he was the worst.
“How did Kay fall for such a trash of a human?”
From the beginning, the Boss couldn’t empathize with others’ emotions. Everything in his eyes was merely a chess piece. That’s why he viewed life itself as nothing but a game.
To have one’s heart captivated by such a person.
The end could only be despair.
Alex had thought the Boss cared quite a bit for Kay, but it was for this reason? It was no different from treating Kay as a toy.
Well, he’d thought it wasn’t affection based on the Boss’s actions so far.
Looking at Alex’s increasingly crumpled face, the Boss wore a bitter smile.
“I feel the same way. Why did Kay fall for someone who doesn’t even understand love?”
He simply couldn’t deny Alex’s words. He thought the same thing himself.
“I can’t give him what he wants.”
Whatever one should possess as a human had been erased long ago, since that day. When he lost everything, he also lost his emotions.
In the past, it seemed like he knew what it felt like to like someone. Now it was just a meaningless, faded memory.
Now everything was an act. He was just pretending. Understanding every situation and acting accordingly.
Smiling when he should smile, being sad when he should be sad. That was how he’d lived.
But even for someone like him, there were emotions he couldn’t fabricate.
