Chapter 62
"Don't misunderstand, Emma. You really mean nothing to me."
"..."
"...Ah, really annoying."
After not just rejecting but thoroughly crushing Emma's feelings, I sighed and went to the desk.
And while pretending to open a drawer...
Inventory.
I opened the one-slot inventory where I kept my money and took out the $200 Emma borrowed.
I had no intention of accepting Emma's feelings, but Emma was an essential existence to me.
Emma did so many things working under me.
Secretary work, paperwork organization, housework, etc.
If Emma disappeared, there would be no end to my troubles.
So I was planning to resolve Emma's debt for now.
If I paid the money back right now, even those Rush and Gold bastards couldn't add interest, no matter how much of a scammer they were.
Of course, I wasn’t giving it for free.
Emma's salary is $10... so she just needs to work without pay for 20 months. Ah... but I'll give her an employee discount and make it 19 months.
I was lending this money like this only because it was Emma.
I handed Emma a bundle of bills, thinking I should get this money back from Emma's future salary.
But...
"...I'll give you this for now, so use it to pay back the debt you got today..."
"..."
"...Emma?"
Emma, who had been frozen in silence until now, had an ominous atmosphere, and then...
Drip.
A drop of water fell on the office floor.
It had rolled down Emma's chin.
"...Ah."
Emma touched her face in surprise as if she didn't know she would shed tears herself.
And...
Drip, drip.
Tears flowed down Emma's flustered face like a faucet had been turned on.
Emma tried to stop the tears, but... it didn't seem to work well.
"...I'm sorry, Boss. I'll be going now."
"Huh? No, wait..."
Emma covered her face and ran out of the office.
"Oh dear..."
I tried to catch Emma, but I couldn't catch her as she desperately ran away.
Thud.
I could only stare blankly at the office door with the $200 I was going to give Emma still in my hand.
"...I made a woman cry again."
It was already my 17th year since entering this damn Western game.
During that time, I had made women cry for all sorts of reasons.
The daughter of Red Beard the bank robber cried because of me, and Django's lover Josephine cried because of me too.
I was that accustomed to women's tears, but...
"I didn't know Emma could cry."
Emma's tears, who was usually so emotionless, couldn't help but be a bit bewildering.
"Haa, it's a sin to be too perfect, it's a sin to be too perfect."
I laid down on the bed with a smirk and a self-talk that would make anyone who heard it suspect I had megalomania.
Lying on the bed, the events from just now came to mind again.
It felt strange to suddenly receive a confession from Emma, with whom I'd maintained only a business relationship for 3 years.
— Boss, please... help me.
Maybe because it was unfamiliar to see Emma blushing, it was quite stimulating.
Emma is certainly pretty.
Nevertheless, I rejected her confession.
Why?
Because I'm about to leave this world soon, and Emma is just an NPC in this world.
From the beginning, we were in a relationship that was never meant to be.
Then a question came to my mind.
If so...
What if this was the real world, not a world inside a game?
Would I have accepted Emma's confession?
If this was reality, I...
…
...I soon realized this was a useless assumption and shook my head.
No matter what, the fact that this is a world inside a game, not reality, didn't change.
But what was the point of making such useless assumptions?
Let's just eat and sleep quickly… Ah.
I got up from the bed thinking about having dinner, but then stopped.
Usually, Emma would prepare my dinner before leaving work.
But now Emma's not here... damn it.
Without Emma, inconveniences in daily life were already arising like this.
I thought about going to the Deaf Man's Bar for dinner but then laid back down on the bed.
Even though I was hungry, sleep came quickly when I turned off the lights and closed my eyes.
— Boss...
That night, I had one long dream.
I didn't remember exactly what kind of dream it was, but it didn't seem to have been a bad dream.
***
Emma ran straight to her log cabin after escaping from Noah's office.
Not even thinking of riding Bonnie, just on her own feet.
Thud.
As soon as Emma arrived home, she picked up the hand mirror on the small vanity and looked at her face.
Her eyes were red and the surrounding area was swollen from crying profusely even on her way home.
How embarrassing...
More than the sadness of being not just rejected but thoroughly trampled by Noah, she felt a greater sense of shame.
She ugly cried in front of Noah... in front of the person she liked.
How pathetically must Noah have seen her, who expressed her feelings with difficulty by even borrowing money, only to be harshly rejected and run away crying ugly tears?
Drip.
Thinking that way, tears flowed again.
Emma lost her parents in childhood she couldn't even remember.
After that, her aunt took Emma in and raised her like her own child... but her aunt also died of illness when Emma was 17.
When her aunt died, Emma was deeply saddened but not a single tear came from her eyes.
So Emma thought she didn't have tears at all, but...
Drip.
Drip drip.
...That wasn't the case.
Emma had to spend the night wiping away her endlessly flowing tears.
Putting a towel beside her, she didn't sleep at night and just wiped and wiped her flowing tears.
— ...Haa, I'm really dumbfounded.
— If you want to make a request to me, bring money, Emma.
— Why? What are you to me? Did you think you were someone special to me?
— I played with you a few times because I was bored, and now you're being annoying… I'm already dying with too much work, what kind of nuisance is this?
— Don't misunderstand, Emma. You really mean nothing to me.
As she ruminated on Noah's cold words to her, tears came again and she wiped those tears again.
"...I should have done nothing. I should have just liked him alone."
She regretted her foolish choice and wiped away more tears.
Repeating this cycle of self-blame, getting hurt, and wiping away tears, morning came before she knew it.
"...Ah."
Emma raised her head at the sunlight shining through the window.
Though she hadn't slept at all, she wasn't tired.
Instead... her heart hurt so much.
"Haa..."
Still, she should go to work.
Honestly, Emma wanted to avoid Noah for even a few days, but...
She felt anxious that if she disappeared after causing this situation, she might never be able to be by Noah's side again.
So she had to go to work, if only to salvage the situation.
Thus, Emma began preparing for work early without sleeping.
Of course, work preparations took much longer than usual.
Washing her face with cold water to somehow reduce the swelling.
Emma pondered what to wear among her few clothes.
Were these... all the clothes I had?
For over 20 years, Emma had never once been interested in clothes.
But today, her clothes looked too plain and unfashionable.
Emma sighed softly and changed into clothes that looked somewhat decent.
And before leaving the house, she muttered to herself, "As normal as possible... don't be conscious of the boss... don't cry..."
This was a necessary measure because she felt like she might cry as soon as she saw Noah otherwise.
Emma finished her mind control like that and went outside.
And...
"...?"
As soon as she opened the door, she noticed unfamiliar shadows in front of her.
To be precise... two unfamiliar men with large builds and guns holstered on both sides.
"..."
Both men had gang marks resembling “$” on their jackets.
It was the Rush and Gold gang.
Realizing this, Emma immediately erased the expression from her face and said, "...I thought interest was to be paid starting next week."
"Ah, we didn't come for interest today."
"Then why?"
"We'd like you to come with us for a moment."
"..."
Emma immediately recalled where her gun was.
First drawer of the vanity.
Whoosh.
And the moment Emma moved carefully towards the vanity...
Grab.
"...Ugh."
"I knew you'd do that."
The gang members gripped her wrist strongly.
"Come along while we're asking nicely. Before we raise our fists. Okay?"
"..."
Emma couldn't guess why the Rush and Gold gang members suddenly wanted to take her away.
But...
"...Alright."
She had no choice but to follow them for now.
...Boss.
Even at that moment, Emma thought of Noah.
***
Flash.
"Water... waater..."
My throat was always dry when I woke up.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I called for Emma out of habit while lying in bed, "Emma... water..."
"..."
But no answer came.
So I raised my head to look out the window and...
"...Did I wake up early because I fell asleep early yesterday? No... Emma didn't come to work."
I realized Emma hadn't come to work despite it being her work hours.
Certainly... it wouldn't be easy to come to work as if nothing happened the next day after running out of the office like that yesterday.
"Ah damn. This is why they say not to date coworkers."
I was annoyed at Emma for not coming to work just because she dared to confess and got rejected, but...
I decided to let it slide this time and went to the kitchen to get water myself.
But...
"...Huh? Ah... there's no water."
The water that was drawn in advance in the kitchen was all gone.
In the West, where water pipes didn't exist, one had to draw water from the well to use and drink water.
Originally, one of Emma's morning routines was to ride No Name to draw water from the well, but with Emma gone, there was no water left.
"Ah... what a bother..."
I was too lazy to go to the well myself to draw water, so I just collapsed onto the sofa.
Growl.
As I sat on the sofa, my stomach which hadn't eaten anything since yesterday evening rumbled.
Unless it was time to have breakfast at the Deaf Man's Bar, Emma usually prepared breakfast for me too.
But today, there was no Emma to make breakfast for me.
"Ugh... I'm hungry..."
So I stretched weakly and my leg touched the laundry basket.
Laundry had piled up in the basket as it was time to do laundry.
Usually, Emma would take the laundry to the stream every few days to wash it, but...
Today there was no Emma to do laundry either.
"...Oh dear, this is a disaster."
It had only been a few hours since Emma didn't come.
Already my quality of life had plummeted into the mud.
It was like the feeling of living well eating meals made by mom at home and suddenly having to live alone, struggling to cook for oneself and do housework.
"...Emma is really essential to me after all."
I couldn't accept Emma's feelings, but... the capable all-around secretary Emma was an essential existence to me.
So I waited endlessly for her, but no matter how long I waited, Emma didn't come to work.