episode_0042

042 – Feng Shui is also important

The morning after the shocking incident where Thanatos, the president of “Happy World,” betrayed them.

The office atmosphere was more chaotic than ever before.

“Well then, I bid you all farewell. I’ve been greatly indebted to you all this time.”

Wave, wave, wave.

Markius waved his hand to everyone.

To think that he, who came to work every day and just exchanged silly jokes, was actually a department head at headquarters.

It was truly astonishing.

I thought I had adapted to this “Happy World.”

There are still so many surprising things that my heart health is starting to worry me.

“Happy World” really isn’t a place to adapt to; it’s a place one must escape.

“Joy.”

“Yes, Department Head-nim.”

“Just call me Marki. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

He presented it.

He extended a business card to me.

【Safety Management】

【Department Head – Markius】

“Find me at headquarters. Our Safety Management Team has strict entry, so just anyone can’t enter. But if it’s you, someone I, Markius, acknowledge, there’s a high possibility you can.”

Enter directly under Prince Zagreus?

If I enter a place like that, I’ll never be able to leave this underground world.

It was truly a terrifying prospect.

“Well then, everyone, let’s meet again someday, somewhere!”

The stern-faced Markius packed his belongings and left the office like that.

The office employees murmured as they watched him leave.

“To think Markius ssi was a department head-nim at headquarters. I still can’t believe it.”

“It feels like a lie.”

“Did Joy Assistant Manager-nim know from the beginning? Is that why he treated her so well?”

“His caliber is different.”

Clap, clap.

At that moment, Department Head Bones clapped with his skeletal hand.

“Alright, everyone, back to work! ‘Happy World’ never rests, no matter the circumstances! Hedone, bring me the new prisoner catalog before lunch!”

Back to a normal routine.

Of course, there was no way that could happen.

“What’s going to happen to ‘Happy World’ now?”

“The president’s position is empty, isn’t it?”

“Will Melinoye nim become the president? Or will another executive be appointed from headquarters?”

The employees whispered amongst themselves.

I was just as curious about what would happen in the future.

Soon, Department Head Bones approached me and patted my shoulder.

“Joy Assistant Manager, let’s step out for a smoke.”

A cigarette?

But I’m a non-smoker.

Of course, I didn’t refuse.

A cigarette during work hours.

It’s a very good excuse to slack off.

# # #

“This situation is quite serious. A bloody chill wind is blowing through both headquarters and its affiliates. Countless people are losing their jobs and being driven out onto the streets. It’s as if a storm is coming.”

A storm, you say.

I had no idea.

Because my surroundings were so quiet that it was practically peaceful.

Why is that bloody chill wind avoiding only me?

Let me get hit by it too.

“Of course, that storm might become a tailwind for you. You already know that several departments at headquarters are keeping an eye on you, especially the Safety Management Team.”

It was Department Head Bones, puffing on a cigarette with his skeletal hand, which was just bones.

It was a mystery how he smoked cigarettes without lungs.

“The Headquarters Safety Management Team can be said to be Prince Zagreus’s direct department. If you go there, your life will truly blossom. It’ll be a smooth path, so to speak.”

A smooth path?

No.

I don’t wish for anything like that.

“Department Head-nim, I really like this Happy World and the Punishment Execution Department. I don’t want to leave this place. If I have to leave, I’d rather resign!”

“…Joy, your company loyalty and camaraderie are truly enough to bring tears to my eyes! But, we are not a vessel that can hold a fish like you. Turbulent times are coming. You need to play in bigger waters.”

No!

Don’t send me to headquarters!

I hate Safety Management even more.

Why?

Because Markius, who for some reason overestimates me terribly, is a department head there.

He’ll probably give me all sorts of strange excuses and reasons to rack up public achievement points for me.

Far from being fired, I might even get promoted repeatedly.

A situation that sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it.

Flap.

At that moment, Department Head Bones took out a sheet of paper from somewhere between his rib bones.

“I received an order to recommend you to headquarters. It’s an official document that came directly from the CEO. I haven’t told everyone yet, but… you must leave our side.”

The Chairman-nim personally?

No matter how strange a skeletal schemer Department Head Bones was.

He wouldn’t have been able to ignore the Chairman-nim’s direct official document.

“That’s right.”

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

At that moment, Princess Melinoye nim appeared, passing through the wall.

Every time she appears like a ghost like that, I feel like my lifespan gets cut by 10 years.

Melinoye nim elegantly touched her forehead.

“Joy, you’ll be going to headquarters, just like me.”

“Wait, Melinoye nim is going too?”

“Yes, this is an unprecedented situation where President Thanatos rebelled, isn’t it? A new management team is scheduled to be appointed to ‘Happy World’ to resolve this matter, each of them of Protogenoi level.”

Protogenoi.

This term refers to the 0th generation primordial beings, entities on par with Gaia, whom even Zeus, the king of the gods, could not control.

For reference, Nyx nim, the negative goddess of night, is also a Protogenoi.

“If they handle the cleanup, ‘Happy World’ will quickly stabilize. The problem is you, Joy. At headquarters, there are a lot of people and executives who don’t think highly of you.”

Being hated by terrifying superiors.

My motivation almost faltered for a moment…

…Wait, isn’t that actually a good thing?

Everyone will be desperate to find fault with me and fire me, won’t they?

That sounds really good, actually.

“Especially the ‘Night faction’ is holding a grudge against you, Joy. Because Apate, the director, was disgraced by this audit and Thanatos’s betrayal was revealed, their prestige has been greatly diminished.”

Headquarters’ Audit Team.

So that means they’ll target me even more passionately.

Good, I’ve decided.

“Department Head Bones-nim, with your influence, you could write a recommendation letter for me, couldn’t you? If I have to go to headquarters anyway, I’d like to choose my own path.”

“I can certainly write a recommendation letter. Is there a department you want to go to? If you want to go to Safety Management, it would be more certain to request it from Department Head Markius, not me.”

Someone asked.

If there was a place I wanted to go.

Someone answered.

A neutral country.

But I was different.

A battlefield.

# # #

I had a lot of luggage.

Gifts received from everyone when I was promoted to manager.

Gifts received from everyone when I was promoted to assistant manager.

Putting them into boxes one by one seemed endless.

“Assistant Manager-nim, even if you go there, you mustn’t forget us.”

Hedoen, sobbing and crying.

Soon, employees everywhere started sniffling and crying.

Did they hate parting with me that much?

“Fools. Why are you crying? You should be happy that I’m going to headquarters. Honestly, I’ve only been a nuisance to you all. I only ever intended to be. And I might continue to be in the future.”

“—Joy!”

“—Joooy!”

I looked around the office, full of hell wheels and suspicious departed souls.

Approximately two years spent here.

I thought I’d feel refreshed and relieved if I left this place.

But why doesn’t it feel that way in reality?

“Markius has left too. If even you, Joy Assistant Manager, leave, this Punishment Execution Department will become a bit lonely. Of course, new recruits will come in and new sprouts will grow as much as that.”

He placed it.

Department Head Bones placed a hand on my back.

“Joy Assistant Manager. Your heroic tale will be passed down and continued among our employees and new recruits like a legend and a myth for a very long time. It was truly an honor… to be with you.”

“Assistant Manager-nim!”

“Joy Assistant Manager-nim, please don’t go!”

Embrace.

People rushed to embrace me.

Surrounded by so many people, I felt suffocated.

Fools.

How much trouble have I caused you all, trying to get fired?

Of course, for some reason, all my strategies failed.

So many things really happened.

“The two years I spent here. I’ll never forget them for the rest of my life. Department Head Bones-nim. Hedone. Makari. Tartane. Markius and Krates, who aren’t here. Prisoners like Sisyphus and old man Kronos-nim—.”

How could I forget?

Even if I die and become a skeleton, or a memory-lost ghost, I will never forget.

It’s truly unfair.

Why did I, a normal human, suffer so much with everyone?

Is that why?

Tears welled up little by little from deep within my chest.

In the end, I couldn’t get fired.

A situation where I had to go all the way to headquarters occurred.

My tears turned everyone into a sea of tears.

“Joy Assistant Manager, why don’t you mention Krauser’s name? Actually, our houses are close, so we can see each other every day.”

“Farewell, Punishment Execution Department!”

“Visit often!”

“Goodbye!”

I left the office like that.

It was the tiresome “Happy World,” but…

In reality, thinking about leaving this place, I also felt a little regretful.

“Gasp!”

What’s there to regret?!

Anyway, going from “Happy World” to headquarters seemed like a pretty excellent idea.

‘There’s a saying that the location isn’t good, right?’

Happy World was exactly like that.

Because the location was bad, I kept getting promoted and prospering.

If it’s headquarters, it might be different.

You can’t ignore things like Feng Shui, you know.

I entered headquarters like that.

As I strongly opened the door to the office where I would be indebted in the future—.

All sorts of eerie gazes gathered on me at once.

“Your courage is impressive. To bravely enter what could be called enemy territory.”

Flap.

An executive with crow wings spread.

Alecto nim approached me and leaned her head so close that I could feel her breath.

“I’ll praise you just for not running away?”

I took a step back and sharply bowed my head to everyone.

“Please take care of me. Everyone on the Audit Team. I am Joy, who has been assigned from the Punishment Execution Department of ‘Happy World’ to the Headquarters Audit Team and will be working with you all.”

Audit Team.

A department famous at headquarters for its long history and high pride.

The middle of enemy territory, swarming with the ‘Night faction’.

Everyone on thin ice, like a candle in the wind, due to Thanatos’s betrayal.

My chosen battlefield.

That’s why it was actually good.

Because someone like me would easily be swept away by the raging bloody wind and fired.

“Hehehe, Joy. You have a connection with Melinoye, and you’re entangled with me in many ways, too. So I’ll especially cherish you.”

The Erinyes, rumored to be terrifying goddesses of terror.

Among them, the cruel Alecto nim is going to cherish me?

This undoubtedly meant I was marked in a bad way.

It must be irony.

“That new guy, to be marked by Alecto nim as soon as he arrived.”

“Ugh, is it starting again?”

“Honestly, he was so arrogant I didn’t like him, but… now I suddenly feel sorry for him.”

They think I’m pitiful?

Even better.

# # #

Alecto, the goddess of anger and revenge.

She didn’t know why the mortal Princess Melinoye cherished had come to the Audit Team instead of the Safety Management Team.

She had heard that Prince Zagreus’s direct department was aiming for him.

Of course, that didn’t matter at all.

If she kept Joy by her side.

She would be able to see many different sides of Melinoye.

Because Alecto found it very amusing to see the various expressions of that haughty and cold princess.

Also, it seemed Joy was heavily involved in the producing of the idol group “E&S,” which Alecto had recently fallen deeply for. So, in a personal sense, Alecto had many connections with Joy.

“Hehehe, Joy. You have a connection with Melinoye, and you’re entangled with me in many ways, too. So I’ll especially cherish you.”

Therefore, this was, to the fullest extent, her genuine sincerity, without a speck of deceit.

A fascinating plaything, like a hot potato.

Such a fellow had walked in on his own accord, and she absolutely couldn’t let him go.

‘I must treat him well so he can’t go to another department!’