“─So, that’s what you an?”
“Yes, Boss.”
Oga, the leader of City Z, let out a murmur while listening to his subordinate’s report. He had just obtained new information about the musician he had t at a recent corporate exchange party—the partner of Regalia from Evilus.
This miraculous artist had captivated the corporate giants of various cities with just a single performance. The genius pianist, descending from the moon like he was dancing.
Cling cling cling
‘That guy was kidnapped once, and Evilus spent over a hundred million dollars to get him back…’
This was confird through villains trapped in a containnt facility and a bank employee who witnessed the transaction in real ti. No matter how powerful Evilus was, they couldn’t hide everything perfectly. Especially not from soone of a similar stature.
Spending a hundred million dollars to rescue a hostage was quite a shocking matter. Sending that amount of money to a kidnapper without any guarantee of getting the hostage back was nearly a gamble even for a corporate CEO.
The fact that he sent that kind of money despite lacking any assurance of recovering the hostage, and that the amount was indeed a staggering hundred million dollars—a sum that was difficult to manipulate even for a CEO—hinted at one undeniable truth.
The true identity of Raemon.
“…I see. That guy is—.”
Evilus had recently been making nonsensical scientific achievents. A circuit the size of a palm that boasted processing power superior to any modern computer, and a hover device rumored to have already secured a win at the ABC Awards.
Previously, Evilus was already a cutting-edge corporation in City E, but nothing to this level. Oga had thought there must be a reason behind it—until this missing link fell into place.
“That was the developer of that technology.”
The scientist that Evilus was keeping closely guarded.
Realizing Raemon’s identity, Oga lightly smiled.
“─He showed a flaw! Finally!”
The gap that Regalia had failed to conceal in her frantic attempts. A coincidence revealed by a series of fortunate events that Oga had managed to identify and seize.
The first thing Oga did upon grasping this fact was to block any information from leaking to others. Ideally, he wanted to eliminate those young villain witnesses and the bank employee, but he couldn’t, knowing there were ‘detective’ types who could piece together the truth from a series of deaths.
“Erase the witnesses’ mories.”
“Yes, understood, Boss.”
“And set up an appointnt with the mayor of City E. An official visit.”
“Got it.”
In an instant, Oga organized the schedule, eagerly anticipating the mont he would et that man and bring him to his own city.
*
“Eh? Is that Eight-nyaa~?”
“Levitan?”
“Call Levi-chan!”
As I was taking a break in the lobby of the evil organization’s headquarters, I tilted my head at seeing Levitan arriving for work. She held a part-ti job as a police officer and typically didn’t venture into the evil organization’s HQ.
“What brings you to the headquarters today?”
“Eh—! So an! As if I only show up when I need sothing… I’m on vacation!”
“Ah—so you’re on vacation.”
Levitan waved her fingers in a V sign, announcing she could co to the evil organization for the next week. I couldn’t help but silently marvel at her dedication.
Who works seriously during their vacation? Even if she kept it quiet and rested at ho, no one would know she was on vacation!
Bam!
There wasn’t a workaholic as devoted as this one. As I gaped at her, Levitan bead, her trademark rabbit ears perked up.
“Are you surprised to hang out with , Eight?”
“I’d love to, but… it won’t be fun if I go with you, right? Vira has to co along as backup too.”
“In that case, Vira can join us for fun, nyaa!”
Levitan seed utterly unbothered by spending her precious vacation ti hanging out with soone like . Truly, she was one of the insiders in the organization.
Refusing an invitation from a woman so eager to spend ti with felt wrong. I nodded, agreeing, and inford Vira of the news.
Naturally, Vira was thrilled at the prospect of escaping the stuffy evil headquarters to soak up so sun.
“With Levi-chan? There’s no problem!”
They both headed straight to the changing room and quickly switched into outfits for going out, while I remained in the lab coat I’d been wearing.
A mont later, the two erged, and imdiately, their expressions soured at the sight of my outfit.
“Eight. Are you really going out looking like that?”
“I just thought I’d ask, do you have any other clothes?”
Nodding in response to Levitan and Vira, they exchanged glances and agreed.
“It’s not a ti for dressing casually.”
“Let’s head to the departnt store first.”
“…What?”
At the ntion of “departnt store,” a dreadful thought crashed over . As I had anticipated, they dragged off to the mall, where I had to be their life-size dressing doll.
Ding ding ding
I played dress-up, changing outfits again and again until they were finally satisfied with my appearance.
“Still not enough!”
“Hmm… but I think this is just about passing.”
They systematically inspected my appearance, customized to their tastes, before finally smiling in satisfaction. The shopping hell was finally over, and freedom was on the horizon.
“Well then, off to ho…”
“What are you saying? We’ve co out to have fun, so we should enjoy it! Right?”
“Ah…”
After hours of rely trying on clothes, I had almost forgotten the reason we had left the headquarters in the first place. Today was Levitan’s vacation, and we had co out to bond with her…
This torturous ordeal had nearly made lose sight of my objective. Sighing, I asked where we would go next, and Levitan insisted since we were at the departnt store already, we should also buy clothes for themselves.
“It’ll be such a pain to co back later! Let’s shop for our stuff while we’re here!”
“Oh—Levitan, you’re so smart!”
“Ugh…”
So, I watched the won shop, comparing clothes that I couldn’t tell apart and complinting them, returning to stores we had previously visited. I ran around until my feet felt blistered…
After a few more torturous hours, I was finally freed and collapsed at a cafe table. People would think I was having a great ti with two stunning beauties, but I couldn’t say it was enjoyable. Not at all.
Crash
“Thanks to Levitan, I finally went shopping after so long. This guy just refuses to leave the lab!”
“Really? So, we co back tomorrow?”
“Maybe?”
“…Tomorrow too?”
“Yep! My vacation lasts a week!”
Realizing that I was going to have to endure this Hellish schedule again tomorrow and the days to co, I sank into despair.
I half-wished I could get sick just to escape… but of course, that wouldn’t work either. If I feigned illness, Boss would just call that scarred-faced doctor from the other world again, and he would recognize right away that I was faking it.
Haa…
“Ah…”
At that mont, a man appeared and casually took a seat right in front of . He did so so naturally, as if it was his original seat, catching an delayed reaction from Vira and Levitan.
“─Eight!”
“Phew!”
As Vira hugged up, simultaneously, Levitan kicked at the guy sitting opposite us. However, the bespectacled man nonchalantly blocked Levitan’s kick and dug his hand into his inner pocket.
I braced myself, expecting that man in a suit to pull out a gun—my hand instinctively moved towards my wrist device—but instead, he pulled out a business card and handed it to .
“Here’s who I am.”
【Oga Industries】
「Director w」
That’s what was written on the business card.
“…Oga Industries?”
Levitan flinched at the na, while I accepted the card from w and took out the card for my cover.
[Fix-It-All Repair Shop]
Raemon
T.0X-XXXX-XXXX
“Here’s who I am.”
“I know who you are, Mr. Eight.”
“…Who is that?”
“No need to hide. Everyone already knows. That you are the legendary pianist Raemon and also the scientist behind Evilus.”
w said this while fiddling with his glasses.
The sun’s reflection danced on his glasses, illuminating his face.
With a sun-like bright smile, w made his proposal.
“─Mr. Eight. Would you care to join us at Oga Industries?”
“Is this a recruitnt offer?”
“Yes. Indeed. We offer the best conditions in the industry.”
“For example?”
“Hey! Eight!”
As I spoke, Vira shot a look of shock, and I shrugged towards her. It wasn’t like I was going to accept their offer; I just wanted to hear the number, right? After all, every employee dreams of evaluating their market worth.
And of course, I was an employee too. I wouldn’t just ditch Evilus to jump ship to Oga Industries, but I could at least brag to the Boss about whatever amount they offered, couldn’t I?
Noticing my positive attitude, w grinned and took out his smartphone. He jotted down a figure on it and held it out to .
When I checked the amount displayed on the screen, my expression froze.
Seeing my reaction, w thought I was shocked and smiled even more.
“How does that sound? Much better than your current treatnt, isn’t it—”
“─It’s not sufficient.”
“…What?”
Surprisingly, the amount w offered as the best in the industry was so far above what I was currently receiving that it was on an entirely different level.
And it involved several digits.
End of Chapter
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