episode_0059

059 – Returning Home # 3

I first brought the squirrel home.

Seeing my appearance, Melinoye nim admired me.

“The small creature is docile in your hands. This must be because you became an ‘Honorary Nymph.’ Nymphs have a talent for quickly befriending small animals like honeybees, squirrels, and bluebirds, and Honorary Nymphs are the same.”

I never knew an ‘Honorary Nymph’ had such an effect.

Melinoye nim admired me even more.

“Joy, surely your becoming a funny existence like an Honorary Nymph isn’t just for today, is it…? Your thorough preparedness sometimes surprises even me, your goddess!”

“…….”

I don’t know what I should answer.

Anyway.

The squirrel Morose nim had hidden had rough fur.

Its struggling strength was also weak.

‘This creature doesn’t have much life left.’

At most, maybe half a month.

It didn’t come to the Underworld because it wanted to.

And to have to die there without being able to leave.

‘For some reason, it seems to overlap with me. That one is in a similar situation to me.’

That might be why.

The reason I stopped Melinoye nim’s hand.

I made a cushion by punching a hole in the doll I received as a gift from Hedone when I was promoted to assistant manager.

Then the squirrel quickly went inside, curled its body into a ball, and fell asleep.

It must have been tired from its long life.

Whoosh!

At that moment, the squirrel, which I thought was asleep, darted out.

—Bark bark…!

It made a barking sound like a dog.

It was perplexing.

But the surprising thing was what happened next.

—Grrr, grrr…!

—Grrrrrowl!

The Hell Wheels.

The creatures, which started to creep out again no matter how many cacti were planted, began fleeing as if their tails were on fire at that squirrel’s ferocious cry.

“…That’s truly amazing, isn’t it?”

My evaluation of the squirrel immediately rose.

The creature burrowed back into the soft doll and curled up its body.

Puff.

Puff.

Its breathing was gradually fading.

I became anxious that its breath might stop at any moment.

The squirrel often woke from its sleep and looked out the window.

It seemed to want to go somewhere.

Or perhaps it was waiting for someone.

“Since I saved you, I’ll need your help in return.”

A plan that was 100 percent destined for dismissal.

It starts right now!

# # #

“Morose. Where did you hide what? I’m asking as your sister. Answer me honestly.”

“…….”

“Haa, I don’t want to be harsh with blood relatives, you know?”

Nemesis interrogated Morose.

Morose maintained his silence.

His eyes saw the past.

─”A terrifying Morose.”

─”An executive famous for having neither blood nor tears…”

He was the inevitable god of destruction.

At the headquarters, he was in charge of disciplinary actions and layoffs.

─”Pl-please, just once, forgive me! If I’m kicked out of the company, my family will end up doing rough work and become ghosts who lost their memories! Please, just once!”

─”Morose nim! Please!”

Those who were dismissed each had their own circumstances.

But Morose did not care.

Morose was alone even after work.

His only hobby was going to the Elysium riverside and stacking bricks.

Clink, clunk-.

Today, two employees were dismissed.

The bricks he would stack were also two.

Clink, clunk. Clink─.

The bricks, stacked one by one like that, had somehow become a plausible house.

He discovered something strange when there were only a few bricks left until the house was complete.

‘A squirrel?’

A small animal.

It was a living creature.

It must have gotten lost due to a ‘rift’ opened somewhere and entered this underground world.

That happened often.

Morose lightly extended his hand.

It was to uphold the principle.

However.

Instead of twisting the small creature’s neck, he felt its warmth with his palm.

Warm and fluffy.

A very fragile heart was beating.

‘Such a small creature wouldn’t be an unwelcome guest to bring ruin to the Soul Society, would it? Compared to me, it’s a humble and insignificant creature. There’s no need to eliminate it with my own hands.’

It was a whim.

Small and trivial.

From then on, Morose lived with the small creature.

For quite a long time.

Yet, for a very short time.

—Bark…!

Unlike the immortal Morose, the squirrel grew old.

Its tail, which used to wag actively left and right, greeting Morose’s return from work, now hung down.

It spent more time curled up by the warm fire, sleeping.

If things continued like this, the small creature would surely become a resident of the Underworld.

Without vitality, eventually becoming a ghost who lost its memories…

The small creature often looked out the window.

Perhaps, because it didn’t have much time left to live, it was longing for its hometown─.

Morose guessed so and wanted to allow it to at least spend the end of its life in its hometown.

However.

Morose was arrested.

He sat uncomfortably in the interrogation room, thinking of his friend.

The life whose breathing would gradually fade in the narrow drawer on the floor.

Burning the candle of its remaining life.

His friend, who would be waiting for Morose like that.

Indeed, he couldn’t stay like this.

Morose decided to resist.

Even if he had to use ‘force’ here.

“Morose, I hope you’re not thinking any foolish thoughts. If we fight, the hard-won peace will be broken too.”

Nemesis noticed Morose’s intention.

In an instant, tension began to fill the air─.

—Bark bark…!

“……!”

Morose was surprised.

Because that barking sound was familiar.

Soon, the interrogation room door burst open—and a small furball came in.

“What, a rat?”

Nemesis was greatly flustered.

And she quickly realized that the furball was a living creature.

“Morose, so that’s the creature you were hiding.”

“Why here?”

Morose was just as perplexed.

The small animal had come following Morose’s scent.

Forgetting it was tired and sick, it ran with all its might.

Scamper, scamper-.

The squirrel wagging its tail left and right.

—Bark bark…!

# # #

I took the squirrel and went to the interrogation room.

“That squirrel is mine. It’s the creature I hid. I was raising it without reporting that it came from the surface. Because I am a living person, you see. The warmth of the surface was bound to make me long for it.”

And I falsely confessed to my crime.

If this claim were accepted, it was certain I wouldn’t be able to escape responsibility.

Even if my claim wasn’t accepted, it was a situation where I was sure to receive disciplinary action for false testimony.

My winning strategy.

It was a checkmate.

It was truly 100 percent dismissal probability itself!

So what was the reaction?

“You raised the squirrel? Don’t lie. Anyone can see it’s following and liking Morose. Joy, I don’t know why you’re suddenly taking Morose’s side, but how dare you lie in front of an executive?”

Nemesis nim clenched her fist with a crackle and thrust it towards my face.

If I were hit by this fist, my head would be punched through like a donut.

Because what I wanted was dismissal, not death, I had no choice but to hastily bow my head.

“In that case, how about we act as if nothing happened? There’s nothing more ridiculous than a war breaking out between executives just because of a dying rat.”

“Joy, you fellow. Don’t you know what principles and rules are? You’re telling me to pretend not to know that someone hid a creature that came in as it pleased?”

“It’s not entirely impossible. A single creature can be allowed to stay in this Underworld if it has the guarantee of a safety manager. We can officially issue residence documents.”

Morose nim’s inner light flared up with a purple glow.

He spoke those words like approaching doom, quietly.

“However, Prince Zagreus’s permission is needed. He is solely responsible for safety management and entry/exit. If we get his permission, a single squirrel can be overlooked.”

“…Hmm.”

Nemesis nim opened her narrowed eyes.

Perhaps feeling dissatisfied about something.

Let me deliver a decisive word.

“I heard Prince Zagreus has three wives. Two of them are said to be from the surface and still alive. I heard the Prince granted them the right to stay.”

If an unwelcome guest is the problem?

Then it would be a matter of not being an unwelcome guest.

However, in that process, I would owe Prince Zagreus a debt.

The Prince’s motive for digging into Morose, who raised the squirrel, must have been to make him part of his faction through this kind of process.

A smart man, indeed.

Nemesis nim closed her mouth.

She seemed to be tapping her foot on the floor and then got irritated.

“Ugh, it’s complicated and difficult. Wait here! I’ll contact the Prince and be back. That fellow will take care of these issues himself!”

A short while after that.

Prince Zagreus appeared in person.

He untied the handcuffs on Morose’s arms and spoke with a playful air.

“It’s not a good look for the safety management team to make such a fuss over just one rat. Morose, why didn’t you just say so? If it’s residence documents for one squirrel, it’s just a matter of stamping a single seal.”

That way, Morose nim and the small squirrel became free.

Freedom. Was it truly freedom?

As I pondered that concept, Morose patted my shoulder.

“Joy, I owe you a debt. Thanks to you freeing my friend, things were resolved smoothly.”

“Even if I hadn’t come, it would have turned out this way. Isn’t that what fate is?”

“Even fate sometimes makes absurd mistakes and errors.”

“Really?”

“And I have no knack. I just diligently do the work given to me. This creature was the first deviation I ever indulged in. But now, I must let it go. Let’s go to the passage leading to the surface.”

Morose nim seemed to be planning to release the squirrel.

Near his home.

A rift connected to the surface.

When the squirrel was released there, it sniffed its nose.

Perhaps noticing that its hometown was ahead, it even wagged its tail left and right.

That creature was me.

A creature like me, wanting to return to the surface.

“Creatures with not much life left long for their hometowns. Perhaps it’s because they can’t stop the approaching doom, so they try to choose the best option they can.”

Slide-.

Morose nim stroked the squirrel’s back with his palm.

And he spoke lightly.

“I had planned to go on a business trip to the surface and secretly release it. But now there’s no need for that. Go. To where you were originally supposed to be.”

Dart!

As if it had been waiting, the squirrel leaped into the rift.

Watching that scene, I was a little surprised.

I thought the creature would hesitate a little.

Because from what I heard, it seemed to have grown quite fond of Morose nim.

But there was nothing of the sort.

‘Is that natural?’

If I could leave this Soul Society, I was confident I would walk away without looking back.

In other words, that squirrel was me.

I’m envious.

However, Morose nim’s inner light flickered faintly, like a water-soaked bonfire, unlike usual.

“In the end, it never looked back once. It seems I was the only one who thought it had grown fond of me.”

Now Morose nim spread his palm.

“…I will reclaim the share of miracle residing in the rift.”

He must be intending to close the rift.

It was at that very moment.

—Bark bark…!

Scamper-.

The squirrel, wagging its tail left and right, reappeared through the rift.

The creature was holding a wild flower stem in its mouth.

It put that into the eye socket of the skull placed on Morose nim’s head.

As if decorating a flower vase.

—Bark…!

“…You.”

It was astonishing.

To think that the creature went outside not to close its eyes there, but because it wanted to show Morose nim the flower it brought from there.

“It seems that creature’s true home was Morose nim.”

To think it would personally throw away the chance to go home.

It was a foolish creature.

# # #

“Joy Section Chief! Congratulations on your promotion!”

“Hiyah, to think you’d become Section Chief before even Narcissus! You’re truly amazing! Amazing! Narcissus here acknowledges you!”

The day after the incident that occurred because of the squirrel.

I had to suppress the urge to bolt out like a wild animal.

“When Morose nim was caught by the safety management team, I thought a war might break out. Section Chief Joy, I heard you mediated well, so it passed without any damage, didn’t it?”

Skull Manager Hector patted my shoulder vigorously.

It hurt.

Alecto nim also patted my shoulder vigorously from beside me.

“If Morose had gone wild, the damage would have been enormous. The safety management team fellows wouldn’t have been safe either. Since you reduced such damage, promotion to Section Chief is only natural!”

I was gradually losing confidence.

The confidence to escape from this hell…

“Oh, it’s the squirrel.”

“It’s really a squirrel.”

“Cu… cute. Morose nim looks less scary too!”

At that moment, people were making a fuss.

When I raised my head, Morose nim, with the squirrel on his head, approached me with his hands clasped behind his back and his back straight. And then he spoke.

“Joy, Princess Melinoye was looking for you. She said she has something to discuss regarding a reward for successfully completing this matter. Because she also received great benefit from this incident.”

What benefit did Melinoye nim receive from this incident?

As if Morose nim had read my mind, he foretold a terrible doom.

“That reward item. I took a peek, and even as an executive, I found it truly amazing. You’ll be the first Section Chief to possess such an item since the creation of the Soul Society.”

—Bark…!