Ch.286[Chapter 286] Tycoon City

Sir Dominic pondered how to handle these workaholic lunatics.

And the difficult solution Sir Dominic came up with was… vacation.

“T-this is unacceptable! Instead of giving us more work, you’re giving us vacation?”

“Paid vacation! Paid vacation! At least make it unpaid!”

“Three nights and four days is too much! Let’s make it four hours!”

Sir Dominic’s approach would have been welcomed with open arms by normal people, but for the workaholics of Tycoon City, vacation was nothing short of torture.

High-ranking executives gave up their vacations claiming they needed to maintain their approval authority, and regular employees often dismissed vacations with a single line: “Employee XXX returned from vacation with improved morale.”

However, Sir Dominic had firmly issued a notice that everyone must take at least three nights and four days of vacation, and even more for those who worked too hard.

“This cannot stand. It cannot!”

The current labor union president, Farmer Juan, couldn’t contain his anger and gently pounded the desk.

Everything here was company property, so he couldn’t handle it roughly.

Nevertheless, the fierce gleam in his eyes revealed just how angry he was.

“Clearly, this is the boss’s scheme after discovering our labor union’s illegal encouragement of overtime work.”

“The boss is so cunning. Giving more vacation days to those who work illegal overtime, and reducing vacation for those who report such illegal overtime. Isn’t this completely a good cop, great cop strategy?”

“It’s, um, good cop, bad cop, General Affairs.”

The labor union executives each voiced their criticism of the boss’s behavior.

“But that alone doesn’t make the boss cunning. Giving vacations like this is standard company policy at other companies too.”

“The reason the boss is cunning is… the fact that our vacation destination has been designated as Gacha World, the amusement park in Gacha Land.”

“Oh my goodness.”

“N-no way!”

The union members couldn’t hide their shock.

Some of the more sensitive members turned pale with fear, while others fainted from terror.

Why did they react so extremely to the mention of Gacha World?

“G-Gacha World? Wasn’t that something that only existed in legends?”

“I thought it was an imaginary place my mother made up to scare me when I did something wrong!”

“Going to Retrograde would be better than Gacha World…!”

That’s right.

For these people, Gacha World was another word for hell.

What was Gacha World?

A jewel box containing all the world’s pleasures.

A place where one could shed all stress and pain, filled only with comfort.

A fantasy land that revives childhood dreams!

But for the workaholics of Tycoon City, Gacha World was:

A place where you have to wander around with nothing to do.

A place that corrupts people with seriously excessive rest and welfare.

The worst space that could only appear in childhood nightmares!

Union President Farmer Juan suddenly remembered the horror story his father told him about Gacha World when he was young.

‘Son, remember. You must never go to Gacha World. Look at me. I saw things I shouldn’t have seen at Gacha World, did things I shouldn’t have done, and that’s why I suffer so much.’

His father had said this while carrying Juan’s third younger sibling on his back.

For some reason, he kept glancing nervously at Juan’s mother who was standing nearby.

Having grown up hearing such words, Juan thought this countermeasure was a bit excessive.

The debate continued within the labor union.

“This is too extreme! No matter what, Gacha World crosses the line!”

“But isn’t following the boss’s orders also part of our ‘job’? The boss may be exploiting this clause, but even a bad law is still a law.”

“It’s also violating workers’ rights. We need to work more than we do now!”

The more experienced employees generally agreed they should comply with the boss’s orders, while those with less social experience argued they should fight for more work.

Of course, both groups of union members seemed to find even the time spent arguing wasteful, as they held calculators and laptops, organizing Excel files or correcting errors in accounting ledgers while debating.

Thus, the union members’ opinions were divided into two main camps:

The boss’s behavior is excessive, so let’s work more overtime to teach him a lesson.

No, we should yield and follow the boss’s orders. We can negotiate overtime after showing how hard we can work.

The hardliners and the moderates.

Somehow the proposition seemed strange, but one must not forget: this was Tycoon City, not Gacha Land.

“…Quiet! We’re getting nowhere like this. Instead of wasting time talking, we should be doing more work so we feel less uncomfortable about taking vacation. Do we really need to fight like this?”

Farmer Juan gently pounded the desk to focus everyone’s attention.

“For now, let’s both take a step back on this issue. I’ll go negotiate… I mean, talk to the boss about reducing the vacation period, and meanwhile, let’s cut back on overtime for a while. Got it?”

Farmer Juan, unable to contain himself any longer, switched to a more commanding tone and unilaterally ended the situation.

Of course, the union members didn’t have major objections and both sides backed down.

Farmer Juan was the union president they had elected, and as such, his abilities were proven.

“Now it’s my turn to step up, isn’t it?”

Juan stood up and began walking.

Of course, he had a bundle of hay in his hand.

“Where are you going?”

The general affairs officer looked at Juan with surprised eyes.

Juan’s action was that sudden.

“Since we’ve talked about it, I need to go negotiate. The sooner we do it, the sooner we’ll get a decision.”

That’s right.

Juan had stood up to go negotiate with Sir Dominic about the vacation period right away.

He was holding a bundle of hay because he needed to move it to the hay storage on the way to the boss’s office.

“Everyone wait while working. Isn’t it time I show you why you elected me as your union president?”

Juan said this and immediately burst through the door.

Watching him, the general affairs officer sighed and dismissed everyone.

“Alright, I’ll contact everyone through the company messenger when Juan returns, so wait while working.”

People heard the general affairs officer and disappeared from the spot instantly.

Everyone returned to their departments immediately.

The expressions of those returning to their departments showed faith in Juan, but somehow their faces weren’t exactly bright.

Still, because of their fear of Gacha World.

…

“I cannot understand.”

Mayor Meyer, the mayor of Tycoon City and owner of the tallest building currently, was signing documents while holding a wine glass.

Opposite Meyer was a secretary who continuously passed documents to him. The secretary held a tray with wine and cheese in one hand and a high stack of documents in the other, with various office supplies stuck in his hair so that he could immediately provide whatever Meyer needed.

Despite this, the secretary was relaxed enough to speak to Meyer.

“What don’t you understand?”

Meyer was analyzing and predicting hundreds of charts on no less than sixteen monitors, his eyes darting around like someone in a dream.

Nevertheless, Meyer casually sipped his wine with the composure befitting the mayor of Tycoon City.

This was the result of strictly adhering to his personal motto: “Rest is sufficient even while working.”

“The amusement park, sir. Is there really a need to build such an abhorrent facility in Tycoon City?”

The secretary shuddered as if the mere thought of an amusement park was horrifying.

Yet the wine in the bottle he held remained perfectly still.

This showed how much bone-grinding effort he had put into becoming a secretary.

“Even though it’s in the outskirts, public opinion isn’t favorable. There’s also the recent issue with the farm built downtown—”

“That can’t be helped. When people are pushed too far into a corner, they tend to go crazy. Even if they return to normal later, they’ll feel guilty about the time they spent resting while crazy. It’s fine to relieve stress to some extent. However, the amusement park…”

Mayor Meyer deliberately left his sentence unfinished.

Just in case there were hidden listening devices planted by other companies.

As the CEO of Tycoon City’s top company, he had quite a few enemies.

“It’s fine. I just checked, but couldn’t find anything suspicious.”

The secretary lifted his leg to show the bug detector attached to his thigh.

It seemed unrealistic that it could detect ‘only’ bugs, but this was Gacha Land, Tycoon City.

Reassured by the secretary’s words, Meyer closed the chart of a recently delisted company and opened a new one, then said casually:

“As you know, amusement parks are perfect facilities for exile.”

“That’s right. That’s why the citizens of Tycoon City oppose… Wait, could it be?”

The secretary was competent.

Judging by how he deduced the conclusion from just one statement from Mayor Meyer.

“C-could it be… you’re planning to find fault with competitors and send them to the amusement park? And meanwhile, we’ll leap further ahead?”

The secretary asked Mayor Meyer with a trembling voice.

If this assumption was true, Mayor Meyer was truly a ruthless businessman.

Whether Mayor Meyer understood the secretary’s feelings or not, he simply smiled enigmatically.