Ch.260This Year’s Outstanding Employee, Shota (7)

“Q-Quick, I need to dismantle the ability…!!”

Galaxyteen started stuttering again.

I’d pretty much learned this guy’s stuttering routine by now. Whenever he was in a hurry or at a disadvantage, he’d start stuttering.

Boing-!

An antenna suddenly sprouted from Galaxyteen’s forehead.

Flash-!

Soon after, light began to emanate from the antenna.

That antenna was the source of his ability. I could roughly guess that much.

“Do I look like a complete sucker to you?!”

I immediately used my Blazing Stance to close the distance to Galaxyteen in one breath.

“Wha…?!”

In the moment Galaxyteen was caught off guard, I grabbed a rusty sword that had fallen on the battlefield nearby.

“Hyaaah!!”

I swung the rusty sword right away.

Swoosh-!!

The rusty sword cleanly severed Galaxyteen’s antenna.

Splurt-!!

Blood gushed out from where Galaxyteen’s antenna had been.

“It’s a rusty sword, you know? Watch out for tetanus.”

I smiled as I held up the rusty sword.

“Kyaaaah?!!”

Galaxyteen screamed while clutching his forehead.

Anyway, with that, I had cut off Galaxyteen’s escape route.

Thud-! Thud-! Thud-!!

Taking advantage of the opening, my parallel world(?) self walked toward Galaxyteen. Rather than running, he closed the distance with steady strides. That was true horror.

“D-Damn it…!!”

Galaxyteen picked up his severed antenna and started to flee.

However, Galaxyteen was a fatty. There was no way he could move fast.

———

Whoosh-!!

Each time Galaxyteen ran, the surrounding background changed.

High fantasy, dark fantasy, then SF worlds, apocalypse—I existed in various dimensions.

And in each trauma world, I consistently slaughtered monsters. Galaxyteen also fell into the monster category, and I always pursued him the same way.

“Hmm. Let’s just set this to auto-hunt.”

I simply enjoyed watching the fleeing Galaxyteen from the best seat. It was like watching a horror game playthrough—pretty entertaining.

“Huff… huff… huff…!!”

In some mansion, Galaxyteen was hiding in a corner. He was trying his best to catch his breath and regulate his breathing.

He thought he was safe. Galaxyteen seemed convinced of it.

Just then, the wall near Galaxyteen’s hiding spot was smashed to pieces.

Crash-!

After calmly breaking through the wall, my parallel world self slowly walked toward Galaxyteen. Wait, is this the Tyrant from Biohazard? This was too much even from my perspective.

“Shit!! What the hell!! Seriously!!!”

Galaxyteen ran desperately with a tearful expression.

However, Galaxyteen reached a dead end. He was standing at the entrance to an elevator.

Click-click-click-!

Galaxyteen pressed the elevator button with all his might.

Ding-!

Only then did the elevator slowly begin to descend.

Horror game elevator special feature: moves ridiculously slowly.

“Damn it!!”

Finally, Galaxyteen aimed what looked like an alien weapon—a laser pistol.

Pshoooom-!!!

As ion-based smoke erupted, the laser hit my parallel world self directly in the head. With a clean headshot, my parallel world self staggered.

However, the stun time wasn’t long. My parallel world self simply cracked his neck and started walking again.

“Aaaaaaaaahhhhh?!!!!”

Perhaps sensing imminent death, Galaxyteen let out a tremendous scream.

Whoooosh-!!!!

My parallel world self swung a dull greatsword with one hand like a blunt weapon.

However, the sword didn’t cut Galaxyteen. It stopped right in front of him.

“Guhk…!”

Galaxyteen collapsed in place with his eyes rolled back. He had simply fainted.

Flash-!!

Perhaps due to Galaxyteen’s retirement, the trauma world he had created began to collapse rapidly.

My parallel world self slowly turned his head to look at me.

“You… unlike me, you seem to be protecting something precious.”

My parallel world self spoke to me.

“Yes. I did before, I do now, and I will continue to protect it.”

I said with a smile. Somehow… I felt glad. Despite talking for the first time, it didn’t feel awkward at all.

“I see… Don’t lose that heart.”

With those final words, the trauma world created by Galaxyteen gradually disappeared.

I returned to the original world.

——–

“Oh. How was the game?”

Kujo-san asked me as if nothing had happened.

It seemed that what I had experienced was something others couldn’t know about. It was an experience that occurred in my inner consciousness, something only I had gone through.

‘Galaxyteen… if he hadn’t been such a weakling, he would have been truly dangerous.’

I realized this and felt a chill down my spine.

Using the opponent’s moment of carelessness as a trigger, he could unilaterally drag them into an inner world. Then he could show them extreme trauma to break them mentally.

It was an ability specialized for giant killing. No matter how physically superior an opponent might be, it’s difficult to train mental strength. It was a terrifying ability that exploited such weaknesses. Moreover, once trapped in the mental world, the victim was defenseless in reality. If Galaxyteen had allies, they could take advantage of that opening. This was seriously messed up.

‘What a waste of ability…’

Honestly, even filtering out any bias, it was enough to rank him among the strong in this world. If only this guy’s main body hadn’t been such garbage…!!!

By now, everyone at the scene seemed to finally notice the anomaly.

“Huh? This guy is the one we saw before.”

At that moment, Taiga looked at something sprawled in front of me.

It was Galaxyteen. He was lying face down with his eyes rolled back.

“When I was playing the game, this guy invaded and attacked me.”

I said with a shrug.

“Shota. That must have been dangerous. You worked hard, didn’t you?”

Eri-maman immediately hugged me tight.

“Hueeeeng…”

A languid voice naturally escaped from my mouth.

But… I didn’t really do anything special. It felt like Galaxyteen had self-destructed. Still, wanting to be pampered by Eri, I kept my mouth shut.

“Should I kill him?”

Umi made a violent statement befitting her violent chest.

“No. I don’t think that’s necessary.”

At that moment, Kana looked at Galaxyteen with cold eyes. As a swordswoman, Kana was quite sensitive to auras. I had just sensed it too.

“He’s dead.”

Kana said.

The cause of death was… probably shock. In other words, he died from fright. Even his end was pathetic.

Anyway, with that, the incident related to the game show was more or less resolved.

———-

The new console, Kunacom, continued to be a hot topic. The stock price of Kunami Company had noticeably skyrocketed because of it.

“Arigiri Shota… you won’t believe this, but… despite your insane policies, people are all rushing to convert to plus accounts. Honestly… it doesn’t make sense.”

Kujo-san said in disbelief.

“What can you do even if you complain? There’s no other augmented reality console.”

I said. This was the pleasure of monopoly. The very fact of being unique becomes power.

“Anyway, those alien guys are working pretty hard. They’ve developed several devices to improve the augmented reality experience.”

Kujo-san handed me something.

“This is Motion Ultra. It implements all the motion capture technology that can be realized in the current era!! It provides an experience identical to real physical movement in the game.”

Kujo-san had me test it roughly.

It was a program at the demo stage where I simply swung a sword to kill enemies. But… it really felt like I was swinging a sword. Moreover, when hitting something hard, there was a feeling of recoil, and when cutting something softer, the resistance was transmitted to my hands. It was exactly like cutting a person with a real sword.

“This is Feeling Ultra. It’s equipment with enhanced tactile sensors.”

Anyway, Kujo-san demonstrated various accessories.

“But… if we combine all of these, the unit cost of the device will be too high. That’s what I’m worried about. It’s not a good strategy to adopt a premium approach for a new console.”

That seemed to be Kujo-san’s concern.

This won’t do. I need to teach him something again. I was unknowingly filled with such a sense of mission. I decided to become an apostle of greed in this moment.

“Why sell it as one package? Just sell the base unit to the general public. If you only sell the base unit, the price looks reasonable, right?”

I looked at Kujo-san with profound eyes.

“No…! No matter what, making people pay extra for upgrades is…”

“It’s just enhancing the sensors, right? Who’s holding a knife to their throat forcing them to buy? Sell Motion Ultra separately, and Feeling Ultra separately. Add a premium.”

Who forced anyone to upgrade their device? No one. People who want to buy will buy anyway. I had lived in such a greedy world.

“Ah, fine. We’ll get criticized, but… And about increasing the device capacity as you suggested… even the aliens say that’s difficult. They say they’re modifying it to accept our device-specific SD cards… but we should at least provide the SD cards as a service, right?”

Kujo-san mentioned the next issue.

“Then let’s sell the exclusive SD cards separately too. The important thing is that they only work with our device. Who held a knife to anyone’s throat demanding more capacity? No one’s forcing anyone to buy.”

I immediately pursued the extreme of greed. The “who’s forcing you” argument works in any world.

“…Even so… such unethical business practices…!”

Kujo-san said, staring at me intently.

“………”

I stared back at Kujo-san just as intently.

————

The last week before final exams.

‘Outstanding Employee Who Brought Glory to Kunami Company’

‘Arigiri Shota’

A framed picture of me hung prominently in the lobby of Kunami Company. My approach had worked. People complained but still spent money on the full set of the greedy gaming console. I heard that pre-orders were flooding in to the point of crashing servers. Yes, this is right. Those who want to buy will buy. Those who don’t want to buy won’t buy no matter what.

“Big brother!! You’re so cool!!”

Madoka happily rubbed her cheek against mine.

“Yes, yes. I’m glad you think I’m cool, Madoka.”

I smiled and hugged Madoka.

And so, I successfully completed my work helping Kunami Company. Getting a huge incentive from Kujo-san was just a bonus. With this money… let’s all go on a trip together. I found myself thinking that.