episode_0032

032 – Ghosts and Clouds # 1

Admetus, before his second match.

He looked at his wife’s picture, carefully kept in his wallet, and prayed.

‘Alcestis. Please give me strength.’

Admetus was small and short.

Because of that, during his lifetime, he was often ignored or looked down upon wherever he went.

─”A guy without even a beard calls himself a man?”

─”Alcohol? What alcohol! Go drink more of your mother’s milk!”

That was also why he plunged into reckless endeavors without hesitation.

Admetus was always pressured to prove his masculinity and competence.

He lived every day intensely.

Then one day.

Admetus accidentally found a four-leaf clover near a flower garden he was strolling through.

Just as he thought it was something he wouldn’t normally see and was about to pick it up, someone chuckled.

─”You’re a man, but you seem to like flowers and grass?”

─”Th-this isn’t it. Don’t misunderstand. I’m someone who dislikes flowers!”

Admetus deliberately tried to keep a distance from flowers or cute things.

─”I detest small, cute things! Hmph! I’m a man among men!”

However, the woman laughed.

─”I like them! Flowers too! Grass too! Even lying in a flower garden like this and watching the clouds float by! I come here every day to watch the clouds!”

Every day? Clouds?

“What a truly carefree woman, unlike myself,” he thought.

That was what Admetus thought.

She really did watch the clouds every day.

She distinguished the names of grasses that looked like weeds.

Admetus often exchanged trivial conversations with her.

He fell in love as carefree as flowing clouds.

However, her father, Pelias, clicked his tongue when he saw Admetus.

─”Tsk, a small fellow like a nymph who hasn’t even evolved wants to meet my daughter? Fine, I’ll allow it if you come riding a chariot pulled by a lion and a boar! If such a chariot exists in this world, that is! Hahahaha!”

There was no way a chariot pulled by a lion and a boar could exist in the world.

Surely the lion would end up eating the boar.

But thanks to his connection with Apollo, Admetus was able to obtain a lion and a ‘boar that wouldn’t be eaten’.

He was able to proudly marry Alcestis, riding in the chariot they pulled.

That was the problem.

‘Of all things, that boar turned out to be Ares in disguise….’

Ares, the god of war, had his pride wounded by having to transform into a boar and pull a mere mortal’s chariot, even if it was at Apollo’s request.

So he cast a curse on Admetus, and Admetus was doomed to die.

The only way to survive was for someone to bear the curse and die in Admetus’s place.

At that moment, Alcestis spoke as carefree as a flowing cloud.

─”Admetus, I will bear your curse instead. Because I know how manly and wonderful you are. Please live long in this world and leave behind great achievements.”

─”Alcestis! No!”

─”Instead. Even if we didn’t live together for long, I hope you’ll think of me as a wonderful wife. At least until you meet another woman someday and start a new family….”

“The day I visited your house to take your dying wife to this ‘Soul Society’, your friend Hercules, who happened to be there, grabbed me by the collar.”

“…Thanatos nim!”

He bowed deeply.

Admetus, who had been recalling an event from long ago, prostrated himself at the sudden visit of the executive.

Thanatos showed his neck.

“The handprint from then is still there. Because of that, I couldn’t take Alcestis. I was humiliated. Though you were able to break the curse that hung over her thanks to that.”

“……”

Admetus and Alcestis were able to enjoy happiness thanks to Hercules, who happened to visit on the day of the funeral. This was because the ‘death’ that hung over her had retreated.

However.

Because of that, Thanatos did not think highly of them.

The reason Admetus, who had gotten a job in this ‘Soul Society’, tasted bitter defeat in the deputy manager exam every time was also because Thanatos disliked him.

“However, Manager Admetus. The handprint is slowly fading, so I will forgive you now. Rather, I’d like to make a proposal to you. It’s about Manager Joy.”

“Manager Joy, you mean?”

“I already know that you contacted Councilor Apollo and manipulated this match. But you won’t be able to stop Manager Joy with just that. I guarantee it.”

Admetus was confident he could outmaneuver everyone and clinch first place in the next match.

However, there’s always a ‘what if’ in the world.

‘What if I lose to Manager Joy….’

His wife would lose all her memories and become a ghost.

Because she was in an unstable state now, even a small injury might turn her into a ghost.

It was no time to be picky about means and methods.

But─.

“I will make sure Manager Joy is eliminated from this exam. Frankly, he is still too early to become a deputy manager. It would be difficult for a living body to handle that ‘authority’.”

Thanatos extended his hand.

“If you take my hand, everything will be yours. Don’t you want to save your wife? I hear her ghost transformation has progressed considerably. The winning prize would surely be able to save her.”

# # #

“What do you think of my proposal? I will take responsibility for ensuring Manager Joy’s failure.”

Admetus fell into thought at Thanatos’s proposal.

Joy was a vividly living human.

Why was he, in such a body, plunging into all sorts of reckless endeavors to earn merits in this ‘Soul Society’?

‘There must be a reason for it. A desperate reason why he must do so.’

Thinking of Joy made Admetus recall his own efforts to prove his manliness.

He also thought Joy was similar to himself, someone who would stop at nothing and jump into danger for his wife.

“It’s a proposal you’ve thoughtfully made, but may I refuse it?”

“Oh, why is that?”

“Although I did change the match event to my advantage. I know that alone is cowardly enough. But I don’t want to take away the opportunity given to that man itself….”

“Even if that means incurring my resentment? You, of all people, should know how fearsome my resentment is.”

“…Even so. I believe that man also has a desperate reason. I don’t want to trample even a man’s resolve. Please do not forgive my greed.”

He bowed deeply.

Admetus prostrated himself, bowing his head to the ground.

Watching him, Thanatos unleashed a burst of blue eye-light.

“How dare you refuse an executive’s proposal─.”

“……”

“─I want to say, and be angry. But I don’t dislike it. Such a manly ambition. I vaguely understand why Apollo and Hercules liked you. I’ve grown to like you too.”

Ding-ding-ding-.

At that moment, the waiting room’s alarm rang.

It meant the next match was about to begin.

“This will probably be the final match. If Manager Joy wins this match too, he’ll gain enough points to make the third match meaningless. That means his promotion to deputy manager will be confirmed.”

“That won’t happen. I will definitely win.”

Admetus strengthened his fighting spirit and stepped onto the arena.

“The second match is to retrieve the flag directly from the headquarters’ rooftop!”

“Only one winner!”

“The methods are left unregulated!”

The headquarters was located in the deepest part of this ‘Soul Society’.

To get to such a place, even free-falling would take 9 days.

What’s more, there were many terrifying evil spirits and monsters, making approach impossible.

‘But I have a chariot.’

A chariot pulled by a lion and a winged squirrel.

Admetus had been confident in chariot driving ever since he borrowed one from Apollo.

Since he, who had been so confident, was now riding a chariot he had saved gold coins for over a long time.

It was then that he thought he would unconditionally win this competition.

“Player Joy has appeared!”

“Wh-what is that?!”

Fluffy-fluffy-.

Manager Joy arrived riding a strange cloud-like object.

Admetus, who normally worked in the transport team and had a great interest in vehicles, recognized what it was.

“A ghost carpet…!?”

A miracle vehicle that could not only outrun his chariot but also protect him from being attacked by the evil spirits guarding the headquarters.

He heard it was an object that the Goddess of Ghosts created with all her might, through a miracle stemming from her 10 percent share.

Manager Joy was riding that.

“Start─!”

Huh-!?

Admetus, flustered by the unexpected variable, was late in starting.

However, even if he had started properly, he would have been late.

Because Joy flew like an arrow shot towards the deep bottom far away.

“He brought the flag! The winner of this match is Manager Joy!”

“Manager Joy! Who knew he had such a trump card prepared!”

“Where on earth did he get that?!”

Everything happened in an instant.

“Manager Joy, in terms of points acquired, is far ahead of second place by a large margin! Two first-place finishes in two matches is unprecedented!”

“Even if other competitors win the 3rd match, it would be practically difficult to catch up in points.”

“It’s the moment the deputy manager’s promotion is confirmed!”

Admetus’s vision went darker than when he experienced death.

Deep despair enveloped him.

‘Is it all over….’

Floating-floating-.

At that moment, Joy, riding on the ghost cloud, floated into the air.

He shouted to the people.

“I heard the winner’s prize is bestowed by the ‘CEO’! But what I wish for is a slightly different prize! Esteemed CEO! Please have pity on this small ghost!”

A round ghost was held high in Joy’s hand.

Admetus couldn’t tell who the blurry, round ghost was.

But he could definitely recognize the ‘Hell Clover’ clutched in its hand.

‘Alcestis…!’

CRACKLE-!

Then, with a noise like thunder striking, burning letters were etched in the air.

【You want something else instead of the prize I personally prepared?】

【A mere subsidiary manager, yet you’ve lost your nerve.】

【Even if you get dismissed because of that small, round ghost, you won’t back down from your claim?】

Dismissal.

At those words, Admetus felt even dizzier.

Being dismissed from this ‘Soul Society’ was more terrifying than death itself.

At that moment, when everyone was murmuring, Joy, on the contrary, shouted calmly.

“I am not afraid of dismissal.”

He even smiled.