# Chapter 86
As Fenil left the hospital room, something caught her eye. A dark red mark extending across the floor—she bent down to examine the red stain on the pristine white tiles.
Droplet-sized marks formed a dotted line stretching out. When she touched it, she could guess what it was.
“Blood stains…”
The sticky blood hadn’t completely dried yet. After thinking for a moment, she shifted her gaze in the direction the blood stains were heading. Coming here would be for receiving treatment. That made sense, as the 10th floor contained only facilities for treating the injured.
The blood stains continued toward the right. It was the direction of the treatment room. Having finished this thought, Fenil began to follow the marks on the floor.
Normally she would have ignored it, but somehow she had a bad feeling. As she had expected, the blood trail abruptly ended in front of the treatment room.
Sensing someone inside, she didn’t hesitate to push the door open. With a clatter, the door opened to reveal Boss. Their eyes met as he sat in a chair, bandaging himself alone.
“…”
She hadn’t heard about any operations that might result in injuries, so with this amount of bleeding, she’d thought there could only be one person. But the person Fenil had expected wasn’t Boss, but Kay.
Frowning, she strode over. Why was Boss injured instead of Kay? Her hand pressed firmly on his abdomen. Boss let out a faint groan at the sudden pressure.
“…That hurts.”
Seeing him speak through gritted teeth, she confirmed he wasn’t just pretending to be injured and withdrew her hand.
“You’re really hurt? Didn’t you go years without getting injured?”
“Circumstances arose.”
“But why the bandages? You could just use an ability.”
That was precisely why Fenil had doubted and checked the wound herself. Boss was human, so it was understandable that he could get injured. But with healing abilities, it should heal immediately. The organization also had Reina, an A-class healer.
Yet he had deliberately chosen this cumbersome method instead of using that. So it was impossible not to be suspicious.
In response to Fenil’s sharp question, Boss gave a troubled smile and shook his head.
“I sent Reina on vacation recently.”
“But there was hardly any need to use abilities lately.”
Sometimes they would send someone on vacation if they had severely depleted their energy using abilities. But such occasions were extremely rare.
Her suspicion deepened. Her narrowed eyes approached him as if pressuring him. Boss seemed to feel guilty about something as he subtly avoided Fenil’s gaze and reluctantly opened his mouth.
“…When I thought Kay was a researcher, I asked him for treatment.”
“You used Reina?”
“Such wounds won’t heal easily without an A-class ability user.”
She had thought it was strange. That his body was so perfectly fine despite just receiving treatment.
A-class healing ability users possessed such high-level skills that they could completely heal any wounds that occurred in a short time. That must be why Kay could be treated as cleanly as if it were his original body.
Fenil’s mouth fell open at this unbelievable fact. Even so, to use an A-class ability user to treat someone he had tried to kill.
“…I don’t know whether to call this fortunate or insane.”
At this point, perhaps Boss had unconsciously known that Kane was Kay. In the end, Kay hadn’t died and his body was fine, so it was fortunate. But if he had done it without any awareness, there was nothing to say except that he was truly crazy.
“More importantly, I have a favor to ask.”
Ignoring her sigh-filled words, Boss lowered his voice and spoke.
But Fenil wasn’t one to easily grant his favor. She raised an eyebrow, openly showing her dissatisfaction.
“Don’t I get a vacation? If we’re being fair, haven’t I worked the hardest?”
This was nothing more than a complaint about him, whose thoughts were incomprehensible. Of course, there was some sincerity in it too. After all, Boss had never given her a vacation.
To assign more work to someone who had been working tirelessly while giving others vacation—there couldn’t be a worse discrimination.
At her attitude, as if she’d already been granted a vacation, he said as if dumbfounded:
“Even if I gave you a vacation, you don’t have anyone to enjoy it with, nor places to go. Besides, aren’t you the one who hasn’t used any of your vacations so far?”
In fact, Fenil usually just stayed at home even on holidays. She’d say going outside only brought unnecessary thoughts, and her hobby on holidays was investigating others… She was the one who wouldn’t rest even when told to. So what wind had suddenly blown her way?
Fenil’s brow gradually furrowed at Boss’s irrefutable words. In an instant, she had become socially maladjusted.
“Can I throw those exact words back at you?”
“That’s why I never rest.”
“…Now that you mention it, that’s true.”
She had intended to rebuke him, but come to think of it, Boss had never taken a vacation. Even though he had secluded himself in Kay’s house recently, it wasn’t really a vacation.
Thinking about it now, he had lived quite a rigid life too. The irritation in her eyes was replaced with sympathy.
Boss felt strange as Fenil suddenly looked at him with pity. If she was looking at him like that, his past life must have been quite unusual.
Back then, although it had been boring with nothing to do but work, he hadn’t thought it was abnormal.
Pushing aside the memories of mundane days not worth remembering, he looked at Fenil. He knew she wouldn’t agree verbally.
“I’ll double your salary this month instead.”
To entrust work to someone like Fenil, appropriate compensation was necessary. Although she didn’t have much use for it, money held special meaning for her. Unlike others who valued money itself, she found meaning in the accumulation of it.
Fenil tried to prove her worth by increasing her assets—money, land, buildings, and so on. She believed her value increased with her wealth.
He wasn’t unaware of her feelings, but sometimes it felt like a last-ditch effort, which occasionally made him feel sorry for her. But Boss skillfully hid such emotions. This was an area he couldn’t touch.
“What’s the job?”
As soon as she heard his words, her attitude changed instantly, just as Boss had predicted. Transformed into a docile lamb, her eyes sparkled brightly. It was unmistakably a look of being enchanted by money.
Indeed, Fenil always became compliant when it came to money. Thanks to that, it was easy to ask for favors. Boss slowly opened his mouth toward her, who was guessing what the favor might be. His voice, neither heavy nor light, lingered in the air.
“Please find a way for Kay to return to normal.”
“…Why not just live like this—”
It was meant as a joke, but as soon as she saw Boss’s face hardening, she quickly changed her words.
“I’ll do my best to find a solution.”
Can’t even make a joke freely. Fenil, inwardly criticizing Boss harshly, concealed her thoughts and smiled. Boss wasn’t unaware that her words were a joke, but he didn’t want to take anything related to Kay lightly.
“Kay as he is now is fine, but I prefer him as he was originally.”
His eyes curved gently, perhaps recalling Kay. No matter what, he had to restore him to his original state. Fenil’s eyes sharpened as she detected something in his voice, which was calm yet filled with firm resolve.
“You don’t think that if Kay returns to normal, he’ll just start loving you again, do you?”
She too preferred him as he originally was. But Boss’s attitude earlier had been somewhat strange. She couldn’t describe it precisely, but she felt for a moment as if he was trapped in a dream.
It was clearly avoidance, even if unconscious. Wanting to chase dreams instead of containing what he had done. Someone who wanted to gain peace of mind that way.
Boss couldn’t respond to Fenil’s words. She had hit the mark. He hadn’t thought that way, but he couldn’t completely deny her words. What came to mind was the image of Kay, who used to care for him in the past.
Unconsciously, he had equated the Kay who would return to normal and love him with the current Kay. Even if he returned to his own body, he wouldn’t love Boss anymore. A ripple appeared in Boss’s eyes.
“That would be greedy.”
Though it was brief, Boss didn’t mention the fact that he had harbored greed. He continuously reminded himself to prevent running away again. He shouldn’t avoid it. He had to face everything he had done. Even if it was something he unconsciously wanted to avoid.
Watching Boss smile bitterly, Fenil nodded as if in agreement. How wonderful it would be if Kay returned to normal. Then Boss could be happy as she had originally hoped. But they had committed too many sins against Kay to indulge in such greed. Perhaps even sins that couldn’t be washed away, more so than Boss’s.
“True, we can’t go back to that time anymore. And Kay’s wounds won’t disappear either.”
Though she forced a smile, the corners of her mouth trembled. Honestly, it was shocking. Seeing Kay so broken down. Although he was imprisoned in the underground cell, she had thought he would be fine in a way. Because Kay was a strong person. So she had been under the illusion that he would be okay this time too.
Yet even at that moment, Kay had been crumbling. He had been breaking down beyond repair. And she hadn’t known.
When she first saw Kay, his empty eyes seemed to say to her: Why have you come only now? Fenil still couldn’t forget those eyes that said everything was already too late.
She had simply assumed he was strong. So she hadn’t tried to see Kay’s true self. If she had made even a little effort to understand, Kay wouldn’t have crumbled to that extent.
Fenil felt resentment toward herself for not having done so.
