IBVSM 04

Chapter 04

‘Should I run away with this… or not?’

Even while changing clothes after receiving the sudden notice that I’d been hired, I must’ve gone back and forth on the question hundreds of times.

But in the end, none of that worrying really mattered.

“Why are you still here, Director?”

“Ah, well, there are some documents they asked you to bring over. You’ve only just arrived in the capital, so you don’t really know the area yet, right? Since I’m already here, I’ll take you there myself! Hahaha!”

Because the employment agency director’s nosiness exceeded anything I’d imagined.

At this point, I wasn’t even sure this counted as kindness anymore.

‘Did Aden tell him to do this on purpose so I wouldn’t try to run off?’

And so, trembling nervously the entire way while accompanying the director…

“…Hello, I’m Ilian Gresia. I look forward to working with you. Cough.”

Before I knew it, I was standing inside for my first day of work.

To think I’d see this pitch-black office again.

“Miss Ilian Gresia.”

And to think I’d face this pitch-black man again!

Without even glancing at the employment documents I’d submitted, Aden simply placed them on his desk and called my name.

His voice was so low and cold it made me feel like confessing crimes I hadn’t even committed.

“Y-Yes, Director—”

“As stated in the recruitment notice, the probationary period lasts one month. Whether you are retained afterward will depend on your performance.”

“Yes, I underst—”

“You will receive work instructions from your senior, Jeremy Sand. The tasks won’t be difficult.”

“I’ll keep that in mi—”

“So.”

‘Could you stop cutting me off for one second? Do you not know what a conversation is?’

He’d done this during the interview too. Apparently it was an actual habit.

What, my answers were so worthless they weren’t even worth hearing? And if I didn’t answer, he’d probably go, “Miss Gresia, your response?” and criticize me for that too!

I was silently seething when Aden’s next words stopped me cold.

“I expect to see better results than I did during your interview, Miss Gresia. I’ll be watching.”

“……”

“You may go.”

Objectively speaking, it wasn’t even anything particularly unusual.

But hearing those words in Aden’s voice somehow sent chills down my spine.

“Director! We need to leave now.”

“Yes, let’s go.”

Apparently they had business outside the company, because Aden and Luther left the building immediately afterward.

Standing awkwardly in the middle of the hallway, I first searched for my desk.

[Probationary Secretary]

There was still no nameplate with my name on it.

As I idly touched the blank tag, I glanced around the bleak office.

For a trading company, it was strangely empty.

Other than me and my supposed supervisor, Jeremy, there was no one else around.

An impulsive thought crossed my mind.

Should I run now?

I pulled out a sheet of paper and began scribbling out a resignation letter—then abruptly froze.

‘…No. If I’m going to run properly, I’d need to leave the capital entirely. But where would I find a new place to live? And what about this month’s debt payment?’

I’d sold my old home and moved to the capital because there were more job opportunities here.

All because of debt.

But the problem was that my house back in Sirena still hadn’t sold, leaving me with only about two million gold on hand.

‘Well… technically, there is one way left to get money.’

Selling the belongings my mother had left behind after she died fourteen years ago.

But I firmly shook my head.

‘No. Absolutely not. The whole reason I worked myself half to death juggling two and three jobs all this time was so I wouldn’t have to touch those things.’

I was mentally running calculations over and over with no solution in sight when—

“Hm?”

An unfamiliar envelope sitting on one side of the desk caught my eye.

What’s this?

I absentmindedly picked it up and checked inside—

then immediately shot to my feet.

“Um, excuse me, Mr. Jeremy?”

My supervisor, Jeremy, answered without even looking my way, sounding thoroughly annoyed.

“What.”

“There’s a huge stack of money sitting on my desk. What is this?”

Even while asking, my instincts automatically estimated the amount from the thickness alone.

This was exactly three million gold.

Combined with the money I already had, it totaled precisely the five million gold needed to pay this month’s interest.

‘Is this money meant to be transferred somewhere? Even so, who casually leaves this much cash with a probationary employee without explanation…?’

Unlike my racing thoughts, my senior answered irritably as though the question itself was stupid.

“That? Your hiring bonus.”

“……”

“And for the record, your salary, performance bonus, and appearance maintenance stipend are all paid separately at the end of the month.”

“……”

“What? You think it’s too little for a celebration bonus? Pretty ambitious for a probationary employee. That amount is one month’s salary, so if you’ve got complaints, take them up with the Director.”

I stared back and forth between the three million gold and the half-finished resignation letter in my hand.

Just moments ago, I’d been thinking I needed to escape immediately.

‘Maybe… it doesn’t have to be immediately…’

So this was what people meant by financial therapy.

‘What if Aden actually isn’t the mastermind villain?’

Would a true villain casually hand three million gold to a probationary employee? And pay their salary separately on top of that?

Sorry for cursing you out for interrupting people all the time. Clearly I was wrong.

“The probationary period lasts one month. Whether you are retained afterward will depend on your performance.”

As I fiddled with the money, Aden’s earlier words suddenly echoed in my ears.

Continuing to work at long-term was absolutely out of the question.

I knew the tragic ending awaiting these people.

I had no intention whatsoever of becoming tied to Aden by fate.

‘But maybe… working here for just one month would be okay?’

I knew it sounded like textbook self-justification, but I had my reasons.

‘Thinking about it rationally, if I fail to pay my debts, my life is over anyway. And besides… I still need to find my father.’

The father who’d left me drowning in gambling debt was currently missing.

Because debt collectors had taken him away.

‘They said they’d only tell me where he is once I pay everything off.’

It wasn’t because he was my “only family” or anything sentimental like that.

‘After everything that’s happened, I don’t exactly have the luxury of worrying about the father who dumped all this debt on me.’

There was something I absolutely had to get from him.

And until I could face him, I had no choice but to stay dependent on the loan sharks.

‘If I save up this hiring bonus along with the salary they said I’d receive at the end of the month, I might finally have some breathing room.’

With no guarantee of when my house in Sirena would sell, I desperately needed this money just to put out the immediate fires.

Besides—

‘If I suddenly disappear without any good reason, there’s no way Aden would just let me go.’

Honestly, that was the real issue.

Aden was destined to become the villain who would dominate the entire Empire one year from now.

And right now, all my neatly organized personal information was sitting directly in the hands of that future mastermind.

‘It’d probably be best to avoid a situation where both debt collectors and the world’s worst villain are chasing me down.’

So the conclusion I came to was simple.

‘Make Aden fire me!’

I clenched my fist.

‘I just need to act like a mediocre screw-up! Annoying enough that they can’t stand keeping me around!’

Today’s meeting had confirmed it even more clearly.

Aden didn’t particularly like me.

So why hire me anyway?

‘The other interview candidates must’ve been so awful that he reluctantly picked me as the least terrible option.’

Which meant that if I gave him a reason to fire me, wouldn’t he happily throw out a probationary employee he already disliked?

Then I could safely leave this shady villain company without worrying about being hunted down afterward!

‘Surely they won’t demand I return the hiring bonus. I’ll earn money and resign!’

It felt like I could finally see a path forward.

‘Still, I can’t act too obviously incompetent. That’d just make me look suspicious… Though, to be fair, I am hiding something.’

Aden seemed like the type who’d throw me into the ocean and feed me to sharks if he got annoyed enough.

So my ultimate goal was to become “moderately irritating and moderately unpleasant dead weight.”

But even this seemingly perfect plan had one tiny flaw.

‘…Wait. How exactly does one become incompetent on purpose?’

Who in the world enters company life with that as their goal?