episode_0011

011 – Black-Haired Nymph # 2

Since a new employee had been selected, the applicants needed to be sent away.

So, as I was dismissing the people, someone suddenly stood up and shouted.

“Manager Joy, why on earth did you hire the most useless-looking nymph as an employee, overlooking such strong applicants? There must be a reason everyone can understand!”

A convincing reason?

There’s no way such a thing exists.

Because, just as you said, I chose her because she seemed the most unskilled at work.

Now, rumors will spread about how foolish my discernment is, and the bubble of expectation for me will burst as if pricked by a needle.

“I, Magnus, came all the way from distant Elysium with great expectations after hearing Manager Joy’s reputation. After experiencing such humiliating treatment, I cannot simply go back!”

Crack, crackle, crackle-.

A giant man as huge as Sisyphus loosened his shoulders and muscles.

“I will show you my strength and secure a job! Even if I abandon the world, the world cannot abandon me!”

Is he trying to act tyrannically?

Soon, other waiting applicants also started to get angry, shouting “That’s right!” or “We can’t leave like this!”

In an atmosphere where a riot seemed imminent, I was rather pleased.

Because I thought if a riot happened here, I could take responsibility and get fired.

“Joy, that giant guy is Magnus, who was famous as a mercenary. They say he’s so great that he can last a few seconds even in an arm wrestle with Hercules.”

My colleague Markius, who moved his hand to the dagger at his waist.

“Of course, he might be a trivial opponent to you, who is called the ‘Devil of Happy World,’ but he seems just right for my warm-up, doesn’t he? Take a break for a moment. I need to raise my performance evaluation score too.”

It was then that Marki’s eyes sparkled like a thief who had found a gold nugget.

In this situation, the nymph, whom I least expected, trembled violently and then burst out in anger.

“Useless-looking nymph…? Such an act of insulting Melinoi is absolutely unacceptable…!”

A tightly clenched fist.

Soon, the strange nymph Melinoi charged at the fiercely-looking giant.

“Then just taste a tiny bit of my fist…!”

Thump-thump-thump-thump-.

“Aaahh~”

Crack! Crash!

It was a bizarre sight. The moment a tiny fist, no bigger than a cotton ball, touched the ground, the surface cracked like a spiderweb, and the massive man collapsed powerlessly like a doll torn to shreds by an enraged beast.

“Damn it, Magnus!”

“He defeated Magnus that easily? That nymph, what on earth is her true identity?”

What’s her true identity? I don’t know either!

But the real problem was something else.

Because due to what just happened, people’s gazes toward the strange nymph Melinoi had changed.

“Though self-proclaimed, to defeat Magnus, the mercenary king called Hercules’ disciple, so easily…!?”

“M-Manager Joy discerned the power that nymph possessed and hired her as an employee!”

“Indeed, what great discernment…. It sends shivers down my spine….”

“Joy, that new hire you picked. She’s really amazing, isn’t she? As expected, your discernment far surpasses the expectations of an ordinary person like me!”

“Stop it….”

“Huh? Joy, what did you just say?”

“That guy I dismissed….”

“Stop it?”

“That guy I was dismissing. Bring him back! I have to hire him!”

Of course, it was a vain and empty cry.

Because I had already sworn by the Styx to hire only this suspicious nymph.

That oath was something that must never be broken.

# # #

I took the newly hired nymph Melinoi and entered the office.

At the appearance of the figure as small as a child, everyone stopped what they were doing and showed interest.

“Huh? A nymph?”

“Manager Joy hired a nymph as a new employee?”

“Wasn’t what was written as ‘nymph preference’ just a joke?”

“A nymph, of all things.”

Everyone seemed surprised in many ways.

Krates, the ace of Team 1 and a deputy manager, also leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as if he couldn’t understand.

“Nymphs are naive and cheerful folk, aren’t they? Do they have the competence to work in an area where tasks must be handled strictly, like the Penal Enforcement Department?”

Indeed, it is Krates, the ace of Team 1.

He only speaks sense!

Krates even spoke clearly as if everyone should hear him.

“I won’t say who it is. But wasn’t becoming a manager in just two years after joining the company too much?”

Good, he’s very level-headed.

As he said, this new hiring would be a major disaster, demonstrating how terrible Manager Joy’s talent management capabilities were.

‘I’ll use this nymph to fail spectacularly.’

Could such a small and peculiar nymph survive in the Penal Enforcement Department, where she would have to manage fierce prisoners like Sisyphus or Kronos?

Of course, it seemed she had great strength, enough to defeat the giant Magnus, but our work isn’t something that can be done with strength alone.

Slam!

At that moment, Krates brought a stack of documents and placed them in Melinoi’s hands.

“These are 10 years of budget usage records that we need to review before the internal audit. But there’s an error somewhere, and we’re having trouble finding it. If you’re a nymph specially hired by the great Manager Joy, you should be able to find where the error occurred quickly, right? I’ll give you an hour.”

Krates’ eyes were directed at me as he said that.

It felt as if he was warning, “If the new hire you picked can’t even do this, your competence as a manager will also be doubted.”

“The transportation fee for Charon, written on the 22nd line of page 972, is incorrect…! It requires two gold coins per ride, so if it was ridden 20 times, 40 should have been entered…! It’s written as 42…!”

“What? You found that already? Huh? Only 5 minutes have passed!”

Krates, greatly flustered.

Nymph Melinoi proudly straightened her shoulders.

“Bring me more, then…! I, Melinoi, am determined to succeed all the way to ‘CEO’ of this Soul Society someday…! I am confident I can do any task well…!”

“Ugh… it’s a coincidence! A coincidence! Then what about this! What about these documents!”

Krates, who brought a huge stack of documents.

Nymph Melinoi found all errors in all documents perfectly in less than an hour.

“This much is as easy as licking cold honey…!”

“This is ridiculous…!!! Only great subordinates, or executives, would be able to handle work to this extent. But a nymph who seems only half my size…!?”

Krates slumped into his chair as if in shock.

And I was equally shocked, so I also slumped into my chair.

‘Why is the person I randomly picked so good at work?’

“Manager Joy’s discernment is truly amazing. Being recognized by Kronos was certainly no coincidence!”

“Honestly, I was a bit displeased that you became manager in just two years. But if it’s like this, I have no choice but to acknowledge it!”

“People destined for higher positions are different no matter what they do!”

No!

The internal staff’s evaluation of me is rising even higher!

I looked at Krates, feeling as if I was clutching a lifeline.

Krates, the ace of Team 1.

You, if anyone, would say something sensible about this crazy situation!

But when Krates felt my gaze, he trembled as if terrified.

“W-Why are you looking at me like that? I just… um… I need to go have a smoke.”

What? You don’t smoke!

Even you, Krates, whom I trusted!

Not yet.

Not yet.

Just in case, I extended the documents of the tasks I needed to handle to Melinoi.

Everything from the miscellaneous tasks that piled up after being promoted to manager, to important documents like human resources management and new projects.

This was an extremely irresponsible act.

Because it was dumping work on an employee who had just started their first day today.

It wouldn’t have been strange if other employees criticized me.

But—.

“Mhmhm, I’m all done…! I’ve even added comments based on my personal opinion…!”

Melinoi said she finished tasks that would have taken me at least three hours, in just one hour, and even kindly added comments.

She must have done it carelessly, right?

Harboring such hopeful thoughts, I began to meticulously review her work, determined to find even the slightest flaw and scold her thoroughly.

‘…It’s perfect. Regarding the new project, she has accurately measured several directions and the budget to be used as well.’

It was to the extent that I couldn’t find any fault.

Even I, no matter how hard I tried, couldn’t forcibly criticize such perfect work.

“Mhmhm…! I, Melinoi, have studied statesmanship since a very young age…! These trifling tasks are easier than licking cold honey…! Therefore, I am qualified to do even greater things…!”

I despaired.

If the new employee I haphazardly picked is this good at work, my performance evaluation will just keep soaring.

Then what should I do?

The answer was simple.

“Melinoi, I understand you’re good at your job. But there’s a proper order in an organization. No matter how well you work, you can’t be assigned important tasks right from the start.”

“……?”

“Everyone has to start with small tasks and gradually work their way up. In that sense, Melinoi, for the time being, you’ll be assigned to General Affairs. Let’s start with tasks like cleaning and organizing supplies.”

“Organizing and cleaning are trivial tasks…!”

“Trivial, you say? Small and minor tasks are precisely the most important ones.”

First, let’s put this unnecessarily competent nymph in a quiet place so she can’t do much work.

Because tasks like cleaning and organizing supplies have a limit to how well they can be done, no matter how good you are at them.

They arrived at the supply storage room.

It hadn’t been organized for a long time, so it was full of cobwebs and dust.

“Joo-ji.”

“Joo-ji!”

There are also a lot of cockroaches.

“Manager Joy, what is that…?”

Nymph Melinoi looked at a box placed in the corner, her red eyes shining like rubies.

Wondering what it was, I saw it was a box of candy.

It said “Honey Candy.”

“Oh, this?”

Hearing that the new executive would be a nymph, I had bought a lot of honey candies, which nymphs are said to like, and then just stored them away in the supply storage room.

Because Princess Melinoye nim, the executive, seemed to intensely dislike being treated like a nymph.

“Honey candy. Eat it if you want.”

“The trend of nymphs liking honey candy passed a long time ago…! I, Melinoi, do not like honey candy at all…! I will discard this…!”

Melinoi held the candy box high and disappeared somewhere.

About 10 minutes passed after that. When Melinoi didn’t return to the supply storage room no matter how long I waited, I wondered what was going on and walked around near the storage room.

“It’s delicious…!”

Chomp-chomp-chomp-chomp!

In a secluded corner near the supply storage room, Nymph Melinoi frantically tore open the candy box and, holding round ball-shaped candies full in both hands, was shoving them wildly into her mouth.

I’ve seen a cat eating bread in an internet meme, and Melinoi’s expression, gripping the candy with both hands and shoving it into her puffed-out cheeks, was exactly like that bread-eating cat.

‘She said she’d discard it, but she’s putting it all into her own mouth. Did she mean discarding it into her own mouth?’

So nymphs really did like honey candy.

Now that I think about it, I also wrote about that in my first thesis.

Suddenly, I became curious.

What was the reason I chose nymphs as the topic of my first thesis…?

“Joy, what are you doing here?”

“Oh!”

I was truly surprised.

Because Melinoye nim, wearing a red laurel wreath on her head, had already come right next to me and was looking at me.

“What are you doing?”

What was I doing, you ask.

I was training a new employee.

But strangely, Melinoi was nowhere to be seen.

Where did she go in such a short time?

There are many dangerous things in this supply storage room, so she might get hurt if she wanders around carelessly.

“Melinoye nim, by any chance, have you seen a nymph? A nymph with red eyes and black hair like Melinoye nim. But her height is short, coming up to about my waist. Her name is Melinoi.”

Flung back slightly!

Princess Melinoye nim trembled as if a cold icicle had suddenly been pressed to her neck.

“I haven’t seen her.”

On the princess’s lips, as she proudly shook her head, there was, for some reason, something like golden, glistening syrup. As if she had secretly eaten candy when others weren’t looking.

“And what were you doing here, Melinoye nim?”