# Chapter 90
After a brief pause, Boss opened his mouth again.
“Back then, someone told me to live. But I didn’t need to.”
“Why?”
“Because everything was meaningless to me.”
It was especially true back then. No matter how hard he tried to find interest in life, he couldn’t, so he wondered if it might be right to just give up. The mere act of living felt burdensome. A world where he couldn’t feel anything was just full of obligations.
“But when I saw you, I felt a momentary attraction.”
Yet when he saw Kay, he didn’t feel those obligations. Normally, he would have made rational judgments rather than emotional ones, thinking: I should save him because he’s useful to the organization, or I should save him because saving people is the right thing to do.
But the moment he saw Kay, he found himself walking toward him without even realizing it. No other reason was necessary. He just thought, I need to save this child.
“Just because of that one thing?”
“That attraction was precious to me.”
It might be ordinary for others. But at least for him, it was the first time. That first experience created an inexplicable fluttering and became the reason he could continue living instead of dying. He didn’t know why this fragile child, who looked like he might die at any moment, could stir such emotions.
It was still the same now. He couldn’t understand why he had been drawn to Kay back then. He could only guess that perhaps this was what people commonly called fate. Boss’s smile deepened at his pleasantly beating heart. It was a sensation similar to back then.
“I thought if I took you in, I might find a reason to live.”
At the time, there was only excitement and interest, but later he thought that Kay would show him a reason to live. That’s why he saved Kay. This might not seem significant compared to what Kay wanted to hear. After all, it was something special only to Boss.
As expected, Kay looked at him as if he couldn’t understand.
“So you saved me because of that…?”
“Yes.”
Though he had received an answer to his question, somehow Kay felt more conflicted. His brow furrowed at the feeling of dissatisfaction.
“…And did you find it?”
“Fortunately, I did.”
Boss’s eyes curved toward him. Kay’s body momentarily flinched at the elegantly curved eyes. Seeing him look somehow happy, Kay cautiously asked:
“What is it? Your reason for living?”
Boss’s mouth, which was about to speak, closed before any words came out. His belief that Kay would help him find a reason to live wasn’t wrong. After all, Kay had actually shown him that reason. And not just that.
Kay had given him even more than that. So he wanted to honestly tell everything. But he couldn’t do that now.
“…Because Kay is here.”
Boss swallowed the sentence that had risen to the tip of his tongue and uttered a short phrase instead. The truth was that he wanted to be happy together with him.
Happiness had always seemed ill-fitting, like wearing clothes that didn’t suit him. Knowing this, he hadn’t wished for happiness.
But for the first time, Boss thought he wanted to be happy with Kay. He thought that with him, he could be happy. A more beautiful smile than ever before formed at the corners of his lips. In his mind, an excessively generous imagination unfolded.
“…That’s strange.”
“It’s okay if you don’t believe me. But it’s the truth.”
Kay looked at him with disbelief. Boss had expected that Kay wouldn’t believe him. But as much as he hadn’t been able to say it until now, he would continue to say it from now on.
The reason I’ve been able to stay alive until now is because of you, Kay.
Kay lowered his head, avoiding Boss’s words. He couldn’t handle the affection that seemed to overflow just by looking at him. For some reason, his face felt hot. Even if he tried to think it was just empty words, he could tell by looking at Boss’s face. At the very least, that those words were true.
“…You said you were curious about my identity, right?”
However, Kay didn’t know what words to say at times like this. So he chose avoidance. In the end, Kay couldn’t casually dismiss Boss’s answer.
“Yes.”
Boss knew this but went along with what Kay wanted. Today, just being able to say these words was enough for him. Kay, who had been unnecessarily clearing his throat, barely managed to speak.
“Simply put, I’m a kind of defense mechanism.”
“Defense mechanism?”
“Yes, I’m protecting Kay through this personality.”
“So does that mean you and Kay are different people?”
Boss still couldn’t quite grasp what Kay was saying. Kay thought for a moment before nodding. He chose his words carefully to explain as simply as possible.
“…Not exactly, but you can see it that way. I’m a state where certain parts of Kay’s personality and memories are maximized.”
By doing this, he could escape from this reality, if only a little. Although this was merely a temporary measure, it was the only way to escape from this situation.
His personality had changed so much that sometimes even he wondered if he was really himself. His current self seemed like a different person because the characteristics of the full moon were prominent. Strictly speaking, he wasn’t a different person.
Just like when he had transformed into a wolf pup, like Kane, he was still himself. Only his personality was distinctly different.
After a few exchanges, Boss could roughly understand Kay’s current situation.
“Then what happens if you return to Kay’s original personality?”
He had clearly said he was a defense mechanism. That meant Kay was in danger. A normal person wouldn’t try to protect themselves like this. Boss carefully asked, hiding his anxiety.
Kay looked at him for a moment before speaking nonchalantly. His tone was calm, but Kay’s eyes wavered slightly as if hiding his emotions.
“He’ll probably commit suicide. Right now, I’m suppressing the desire to die, but honestly, it would be strange to be okay after going through something like that.”
“…Then will you remain in this state until Kay is okay?”
His expression hardened, unable to hide his seriousness. Seeing Boss’s face of disbelief, Kay lowered his eyes. It was strange that Boss was shocked when he himself didn’t feel anything.
Looking at Boss with an unreadable gaze, Kay slowly nodded.
“If I don’t break down further… then yes.”
“…I see.”
His face sank in a complicated expression. With those words, a heavy silence enveloped the room.
* * *
The man who had been tapping the armrest with his hand, as if something displeased him, opened his mouth after a long silence.
“…The incident.”
“It’s been wrapped up well. It seems Zenon successfully killed Kane.”
The woman standing a few steps away from the desk in front of him bowed as she answered. Her long black hair fell like a waterfall. There was no vitality in her slowly blinking eyes.
Her transparent glass-like gaze, as if an emotionless machine was speaking, turned toward the man.
“Whether he really killed him, or just pretended to kill him…”
Various pieces of evidence regarding Kane’s death were scattered on the desk. But even with this information, the light of doubt did not disappear.
Rather, it only deepened. But thinking coldly, Kane’s life or death wasn’t important.
All he needed was the fact that Kane was dead. There was no need to know the hidden details behind it.
But for some reason, the unpleasant feeling wouldn’t go away. The wrinkle between his brows deepened further. The man with narrowed eyes gestured to her with his chin. Taking this as a signal, she handed him a file.
“The incident will be publicly attributed entirely to Kane’s responsibility, and we plan to conclude that Kane committed suicide.”
“The response is good.”
He skimmed through the edited article after opening the file. Public opinion was favorable. This was because they had changed the cause of Kane’s suicide to benefit Peace.
Currently, people perceived Kane as a brutal murderer. And they thought of Peace as heroes who had naturally guided this murderer to disappear from the world by making him fear himself.
With this, Peace’s status would be elevated even further. But the man’s grim atmosphere showed no signs of improving.
He knew that while Peace had benefited if you looked at the results, if you looked at the process, Peace had been completely defeated.
“…Originally, ‘Alice’ should have been held responsible, and I should have been the hero.”
But everything had gone wrong. He exhaled repeatedly, trying to calm his anger. His hands had already clenched into fists as if about to crush something.
“He definitely shouldn’t have been able to break free. Is he in a state far beyond S-class?”
It was a trap that even an executive of ‘Alice’ had fallen for. Barriers that nullify superpowers are usually created by barrier superpower users. Peace’s headquarters was of that kind. But in the end, barriers are also a type of superpower.
As long as something that nullifies superpowers is created using superpowers, vulnerabilities inevitably exist.
He wanted to remedy that point. And recently, he had finally been able to develop a new superpower nullification zone.
While most people who want to use superpowers would create a barrier where superpowers can be used inside a barrier, even such tricks wouldn’t work in that zone.
The moment anyone enters that place, all superpower users become ordinary people. The walls and structures all around are designed with materials harder than diamond, so even weapons like guns and knives don’t work.
Once someone enters that zone, they should be trapped like a helpless mouse caught in a trap.
That’s why the man hadn’t thought the nullification zone would be useless. If anything, he would have worried about it becoming a poison to himself.
But that man’s abilities were beyond expectation.
