The Final Boss Has Returned 171

Chapter 171

An article about Mr. A’s controversy over relationship manipulation.

Elena had also seen the scandalous article about the controversy.

‘Is this, real?’

Relationship manipulation scandal.

Elena didn’t want to believe the content of the article, which was nothing short of sensational.

Like Sharp and Verda, Elena had truly loved Eugene for a very long time.

Even when Eugene patted her head, saying she was like a younger sister because she was younger than him, and treated her like a younger sister rather than a romantic interest, she had stubbornly maintained a positive outlook, thinking that someday he would understand her feelings.

But what if the relationship manipulation article was actually true?

What if he really knew everything and had been ignoring her feelings all this time?

When her thoughts reached that point, Elena got up from her seat.

Eugene.

She felt the need to see him.

The place where Elena had been was the break room.

It was the room right next to the CEO’s office.

As Elena opened the break room door with trembling hands and grabbed the doorknob of the CEO’s office, she heard Verda’s voice coming from beyond the door.

“……article…… is it really true?”

The question of whether the article was true.

The moment Verda asked the question that she had so desperately wanted to ask but couldn’t bring herself to, Elena hesitated.

Because she wanted to know the answer to that question.

And after a moment of silence, Elena finally heard the answer to that question.

“……It’s true.”

The answer that came directly from the mouth of Eugene, whom she loved more than anyone else, admitting that the article was true.

Elena’s hands began to tremble even more violently at the shocking answer.

Even after that, Verda and Eugene continued to talk to each other, but Elena couldn’t quite hear the content of their conversation.

The article is true!

That was the worst possible future she didn’t even want to imagine.

Like a younger sister.

She remembered him patting her head every time he said that.

He said it felt like he had another younger sister, that she was cute. The past Elena, who had naively enjoyed all of his compliments, felt unbearably pathetic.

Thinking that far, Elena shook her head.

No, she might have misheard since she heard the conversation from behind the door.

So, she had to hear the answer directly.

Thinking that, Elena opened the door and entered the CEO’s office, asking in a trembling voice.

“Oppa…… what I just heard, is it true?”

Eugene was flustered by Elena’s sudden intrusion, and Verda’s face hardened.

‘Of all times……’

Elena.

Ironically, Verda snapped out of her shock and regained her usual cold rationality at her appearance.

Verda, with a cool head, looked at Elena and bit her lip.

Truly, the timing of her intrusion was incredibly unfortunate.

Moreover, judging from her mentioning “what I just heard,” it was clear that she had overheard the conversation between her and Eugene.

It was a complete mess that was practically impossible to clean up.

‘Maybe Elena will leave too, following Sharp.’

Elena considered the worst-case scenario and her hands trembled slightly.

Meanwhile, Eugene was unable to gather his thoughts at Elena’s question.

“What you just heard?”

At Eugene’s foolishly questioning look, Elena took a deep breath and asked again.

“Is the article true……? Is it really true?”

Is the article true?

It was the third time he heard the question, but it still pierced his heart like a dagger.

However, just like with Verda, he had to answer Elena as well.

He couldn’t repeat the same mistake he made with Sharp.

Thinking that, Eugene prepared himself and slowly answered.

“Yes, it’s true.”

Elena’s cheeks trembled violently as she heard the answer.

The article is true.

The emotions that flooded Elena upon learning the unbelievable, no, the truth she didn’t want to believe, were too complex to describe.

‘It’s true?’

Elena’s hands trembled.

‘Really, Oppa, even though you knew my feelings?’

Like a younger sister.

Cute.

You’re my precious younger sister.

Actually, Elena didn’t really like those words from Eugene.

No, she rather hated them.

Because it meant he saw her not as a romantic interest, but simply as family.

Elena wanted to be remembered by Eugene not as a younger sister, but as a woman.

That’s why she had been constantly approaching him by his side until now.

But despite that, Eugene continued to call her his younger sister, and Elena blamed herself for not trying hard enough.

Sometimes, she felt resentful of Eugene for still not understanding her feelings, but she tried to stay positive, telling herself that her feelings just hadn’t been properly conveyed.

‘But……’

But that wasn’t it.

Eugene.

He knew her feelings, knew her unrequited love, and yet he unhesitantly uttered the word “younger sister.”

That fact was unbearably horrible for Elena, and at the same time, she felt miserable.

The uncomfortable truth that all her efforts to escape the shackles of being a younger sister had been digging in the air from the beginning made Elena tremble all over.

Tears streamed down her face.

“Oppa……”

Elena said in a trembling voice.

“What…… what am I to you……?”

Elena’s question.

Eugene stammered at her question.

Eugene’s feelings for Elena.

They were much closer to the feelings of an older brother looking at his younger sister than romantic interest.

But he couldn’t bring himself to say those words.

Sharp.

He was afraid that if he opened his mouth carelessly, he might lose Elena as well, just like he lost her.

“A younger sister…… is that it?”

Eugene’s hesitant look.

Seeing that, Elena felt even more miserable and uttered the word “younger sister” that she didn’t even want to think about.

Eugene still couldn’t answer, and Elena watched him and laughed hollowly.

Because she already knew that in this situation, Eugene’s silence was a clear affirmation.

It was just a question she had asked to convince herself because she didn’t want to believe it.

“I guess so.”

I guess so.

Yes, I guess my love meant nothing all along.

That man, even though he knew her feelings, only treated her as a younger sister, a pseudo-family member.

The moment Elena realized that damn reality, she bit her lip.

“Th-that’s……”

Eugene belatedly opened his mouth, but there was nothing he could say.

All or nothing.

If she wasn’t a younger sister, then she was someone he loved.

He couldn’t say that.

Not only could he not lie, but Verda was also present.

If he chose one of them, he knew he would hurt the other’s feelings, and Eugene couldn’t bear that.

Seeing that, Elena quietly spoke in a cold voice.

“……I’ll…… I’ll go think about it.”

I’ll go think about it.

Leaving those words behind, Elena left through the open door of the CEO’s office.

The moment Eugene saw that and jumped up from his seat.

“Eugene-nim.”

Verda’s voice stopped Eugene in his tracks.

“Verda……?”

Eugene’s trembling gaze, his mentality completely broken, met Verda’s.

Verda looked at Eugene and closed her eyes, then opened them again.

The current situation was truly the worst.

Not to mention Sharp, who left saying, ‘It doesn’t matter who wins,’ Elena, who said she would ‘think about it,’ was also unlikely to return.

Verda thought so.

Because she understood Sharp and Elena’s feelings better than anyone else.

‘Now that he’s touched the sensitive topic of being a younger sister, the probability of Elena leaving as well, like Sharp…… is high.’

Verda bit her lip.

Being a younger sister was Elena’s complex and her sensitive spot, and now that Eugene had touched that spot, the relationship between them was as good as over.

The division of the Lightwing Guild.

Verda finally had to admit the horrible reality that the worst-case scenario she had envisioned had unfolded before she could even react.

Verda squeezed her eyes shut.

She felt dizzy.

Elena and Sharp.

Although the three of them were rivals for Eugene’s affection, they had been colleagues for over six years.

Even Verda, who wasn’t interested in anyone other than Eugene, couldn’t deny the bond she had formed with her fellow guild members.

Verda had also been unknowingly influenced by the happiness that stemmed from the “everyday life of the Lightwing Guild” that Eugene so desperately wanted to protect.

Of course, Verda had mixed feelings about the fact that her rivals for Eugene’s affection had disappeared, but she immediately shook her head and erased those thoughts.

‘I can’t, I can’t lose my mind too.’

Verda barely managed to hold onto her sanity.

In this urgent situation, she couldn’t afford to turn away from reality.

No matter what anyone said, the one who was supporting the order of this Lightwing Guild, no, beyond that, the order of Ard World, was none other than herself.

In order to protect what was left, to protect Eugene, she had to keep her wits about her.

Thinking so, Verda whipped herself mentally and quickly racked her brains.

There’s a saying that when something happens, the person who benefits the most from it is the culprit.

And the person who would benefit the most from this situation was none other than Drakan.

‘Drakan…… was it his doing?’

Drakan.

The thought of him made Verda feel nauseous.

From the beginning, he had consistently not only interfered with her schemes but also launched counter-schemes.

And this time was no different.

She thought he was making himself a target by unifying his forces, but he had struck her from behind in a completely unexpected place with a scandal.

Of course, it could have been a tabloid article written to catch someone, and the possibility that it was an unrelated incident to Drakan couldn’t be ruled out.

And the real problem in this situation was Eugene himself, who had manipulated the relationships.

But Verda shook her head and erased the thought that Eugene was the real problem.

Eugene.

He wasn’t a bad person.

He was the reason she continued to live, and the person she still loved.

So the only bad person was Drakan.

Only that man.

Thinking so, Verda spoke to Eugene.

“Pull yourself, pull yourself together.”

Pull yourself together.

Eugene lowered his head at those words.

Because he felt the emotions he had been suppressing all this time surge up at once.

Eugene’s shoulders, which had always been held high, slumped.

And seeing that, Verda slowly approached Eugene with trembling steps and embraced him.

But neither Eugene nor Verda knew yet.

That Elena was watching them embrace.