Chapter: 37
While Ayle was growing increasingly irritable from academic stress, and Vira and Levitan were lazing around in my lab like they were unemployed, our daily routine continued on.
The boss summoned an executive meeting. Unlike the previous gatherings, this meeting saw an abundance of executives attending for the first time in months. All sorts of evil organization heavyweights, including the Four Demon Kings, Seven Deadly Sins, and the Six Realms of Hell, were gathered together for this meeting.
With a total of six high-ranking members assembled in one place, the boss let out a satisfied hmmm sound.
“Is everyone here? It’s been a while since we had so many together.”
“There are only six of us, right?”
“Didn’t more than half of the eight executives show up?”
“No, only five showed up…”
I scanned the faces of the executives present. Galm was already yawning as if bored out of his mind, Ayle was dozing off because she had crammed all night studying, Vira was wide-eyed and alert at the boss’s words, and Levitan was fidgeting beside me as if she couldn’t care less about this meeting.
Honestly, I had to wonder if this was an executive meeting or a daycare, but whatever the case—
Among the eight executives, a surprising five were gathered here. If you consider that each one of them could probably take the position of leader in any city or organization easily, it was a truly astonishing sight.
“—So, the topic of today’s meeting is the report on the recent attack in City Z.”
Regalia said this and activated the beam projector behind her. A screen descended from the ceiling, displaying details about the spoils obtained in City Z.
They’d confiscated all sorts of goodies from projects in City Z, local products found only there, real estate, bonds, and stocks that belonged to Omega Industries – in doing so, it was revealed that Evilus Corporation had swallowed up 70% of the businesses Omega Industries was running.
From an Earth perspective, it all sounded like utter nonsense, but surprisingly, everyone here seemed to treat it like a mere detail. They glossed over it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
But my curiosity couldn’t be contained, so I cautiously raised my hand.
“What is it? Scientist.”
“Uh, no matter how I think about it, I really don’t understand… I get that we took down those Omega guys, but what does that have to do with real estate, bonds, and the like?”
“What does it have to do with anything? Aren’t we villains? Is there something wrong with villains doing robbery?”
With such a confident declaration, and on top of that the fact that my coworkers seemed completely unaware of how strange that sounded, all I could do was nod along, unable to really engage in any further discussion.
I mean, even on Earth, there are wealthy conglomerates and corporations that change systems to carry out legal robbery, so it made sense that Evilus Corporation wouldn’t hesitate to do the same.
Figuring there had to be some complicated mess behind it, I let it slide as the boss continued explaining as if to say, “Is that good enough?”
“We didn’t touch the illegal businesses spread throughout City Z, but we couldn’t just sit on our hands, so we dismantled it piece by piece and broke it up by organization unit. Galm, you’ll check in periodically to manage this later on.”
“Got it.”
“And with Evilus Corporation growing after absorbing Omega Industries, we’ll need to expand our workforce. We’ll need three people to act as interviewers.”
“I pass. Leave stuff like that to someone else.”
“Uh, me too…”
“Hm. In that case, I guess I’ll have to assign it to the scientist, Vira, and Levitan.”
As I sat quietly listening to the boss, I found myself puzzled. When a company grows and needs new hires, isn’t it usually the responsibility of a manager or HR department?
I was left scratching my head over why they wanted us to handle it, so I raised my hand again to ask, and Regalia looked at me as if to say, “What kind of nonsense are you asking?”
“Of course the hiring at a corporation is left to experts in that field. Do you think we’d hand it over to you guys?”
“Then what’s this all about?”
“This is about expanding the evil organization. What else could it be?”
“…Wait, are we actually interviewing other villains?”
“Of course.”
As I caught Regalia looking at me with a dismissive expression, I couldn’t hold back a bitter smile.
From where I stood, it felt odd to say this, but our evil organization was basically seen as the chairman of Evilus Corporation’s little playground.
And I soon realized that assessment wasn’t completely off the mark.
*
“Is Evilus Corporation hiring now?”
—Well, since it is, I figured I’d post this haha.
〈Evil Organization’s Official Recruitment Schedule for the Second Half of Year XX〉
Anonymous: Oh man, I’m excited!
Anonymous: Why is this Evilus Corporation?
ㄴ Come to Hero Association: Info) The evil organization is a villain group sponsored by Evilus Corporation, and it’s said to be basically the hobby of the chairman of Evilus Corporation.
Anonymous: I’ve heard this place is great. They often look for folks with good physiques but questionable superpowers.
ㄴ Anonymous: But there’s no future, right?
ㄴ Anonymous: So it’s better to just live here unemployed? ㅋㅋ Smart people usually study here for a few months to make some cash, then move on to better gigs.
On the internet, the reactions to the evil organization’s official recruitment didn’t seem particularly surprised. On the contrary, it seemed like some people were viewing it as a golden opportunity.
I mean, honestly speaking, isn’t it a level of welfare, salary, and work environment you won’t even find on Earth? Among the villains, Galm was the only one who effectively led us into action. Most of the combatants spent their time training or self-developing within the headquarters.
Those who finished their self-development then worked as combatants while showing off their new qualifications and test scores to land better jobs. It was essentially a form of job support welfare for the citizens of City E.
‘This should really be a task for a government agency, not a corporation…’
So if an ordinary corporation is handling such duties, it’s somewhat understandable why the assessment of the evil organization is relatively positive. With how embedded they were in everyday items and activities, it’s hard to speak ill of them.
After searching casually online about the assessments of the evil organization, I came to realize what it meant to be an interviewer. This wasn’t about picking someone suitable to be a combatant in the evil organization, but rather considered part of their welfare.
“Ten years since graduating high school with no experience?”
“Yes, yes! But I applied to the evil organization to try something out!”
“Accepted.”
Those who had once crumbled and fallen but were now trying to rise again were accepted.
“Lots of records of violence, robbery, and a violent past, huh?”
“Yep. Well, it’s an evil organization, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“Out.”
Not screwing around and accepting applicants clueless about what they were applying for.
As I proceeded with the interview like that, Vira and Levitan, who were also serving as interviewers, looked at me with astonished expressions.
“Eight. You seem quite familiar with this, huh?”
“Eh? Well, yeah, I’m accustomed to the role of an interviewer. I’ve had many friends ask me to help out.”
“Oh? I want to meet your friends sometime. I’m curious if they’re as strange as you.”
With Vira’s words, I just let out an awkward laugh before quickly calling in the next person. The next candidate who walked in with a disciplined demeanor greeted us cheerfully.
“I’m Sten! Nice to meet you!”
“Yes. Nice to meet you.”
As I checked Sten’s resume, my expression slightly hardened, and I looked over at Vira. She looked back at me, puzzled.
Leaning in closer to Vira, I pointed to a part of Sten’s resume and whispered.
“…This guy used to be a Hero, you know? With five years of experience.”
“What? Where does it say that…”
Hearing he was a former Hero, Vira was taken aback and glanced over the resume, her eyes skimming through the details. Then, as if it didn’t matter much, she shrugged.
“He’s E-rank, right? E-rank heroes are fine.”
“Is that so…?”
“Yep. Plus, he’s not from City E. So it’s unlikely he’d have fought us.”
Vira explained that while heroes are public figures, they ultimately do not have the value of public figures. She disdained the ridiculous structure of the profession where people are promoted through popularity contests.
In that sense, saying he’s a five-year E-rank Hero simply means he has less recognition than the average owner of a local hardware store, and re-hiring him in the evil organization is probably more beneficial for the company than anything negative.
Realizing that being a former Hero didn’t change much, I began the interview with Sten.
“Sten, what led you to leave being a Hero and decide to join our villain organization?”
“…I’ve aged quite a bit, and they said I can’t be a Hero anymore.”
“I see.”
“Honestly, my only ability is that my body becomes tougher. So I took this opportunity to retire from the Hero scene. But for my wife and child, I still need to earn money, and the only thing I can really do is work with my body…”
“So your skill only beefs up your body. Can we see that in action?”
“Here it is.”
Sten replied and solidified part of his body like metal. If he could remain mobile after toughening up, it could be a decent offensive skill, but due to its heavy weight, he couldn’t even move as he wished.
Hearing that he only became a lifeless hunk of metal, I nodded, as if I got the gist of it, and then dismissed him. I mentioned that the result would be communicated via text message.
After sending Sten off, Vira, who had been standing beside me, cautiously tapped my shoulder.
“…Eight, right?”
“Yes? What’s up?”
“You— you looked awfully excited when you saw that guy, huh? You weren’t thinking of tearing off some flesh pieces to make something, were you?”
“…Do you think I’m a psychopath or something?”
“Aren’t you kinda similar?”
I shot her a disappointed look. Did she think I found someone with the ability to turn their body into metal and then started thinking about using it like some mad scientist?
That was really something only a mad scientist belonging to a villain organization would do. As a decent scientist, it was incredibly unfair for me to be labeled that way.
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