‘Despite how he looks, he’s an idiot. Fucking funny.’
Evil said someone’s appearance was pretty twice…?
James said in a daze.
“Yes, that’s right. It must have been difficult. As you said, Director, since he has such a pretty appearance that it can’t be hidden just by covering it….”
“When did I say that!”
Evil suddenly erupted.
“Fuck, his skin color is dark, so dark that it can’t be hidden, it’s absolutely not that the refugee bastard has big eyes and pretty delicate lips, okay? You’re ruining my mood.”
“…I’m sorry….”
I think you just said exactly that though.
James swallowed what he wanted to say.
“Whatever, get lost.”
Evil gave James the words he most wanted to hear while accessing a video site.
James glanced at the orchid pots while leaving. It was regrettable that he couldn’t wipe the leaves of his beloved orchids in the chaos right after coming to work.
Anyway, you’ll leave early, so I’ll wipe and love them then.
James predicted that Evil might go home in the morning, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
***
Since he came early in the morning and waited so longingly, James thought he would rush over as soon as Cheche came to work, but Evil unexpectedly didn’t move from his office even after 9 o’clock. Every time James visited with documents, he was sprawled on the desk browsing video sites, fiddling with his phone, or staring blankly at the wall. There were also times when he quietly closed his eyes with one hand propping up his chin.
In case he exceeded the threshold of boredom he could endure, James diligently presented documents that required Evil’s approval. From James’s experience, Evil was quieter when he had a lot of work than when he was bored.
One of Evil’s main duties as Advisory Director of the Aura User Center was to review Aura User dispatch cooperation request forms.
He would review various matters requiring Users such as natural disasters, man-made disasters, large-scale construction, etc., and select which Users to dispatch where. If a Motioner approved it, complaints would come from the Souler side that someone who didn’t know their circumstances well approved it, and in the opposite case, complaints would come out accordingly, so Evil, who was a Multi-User, was the most qualified person.
For example, if the Advisory Director, who was a Motioner, deployed two Motioners and one Souler at a flood site, the Soulers would complain, ‘One Soul Aura User is insufficient to calm the hearts of flood victims suffering from the flood. As expected, since the Advisory Director is a Motion Aura User, he doesn’t understand our abilities and doesn’t consider us.’
However, since Evil was a Multi-User who understood both situations, such complaints couldn’t arise.
Also, Evil did the distribution work quite well. He was excellent at placing Users who showed talent in related fields in the right places to bring out the best effects. Although it wasn’t openly expressed due to Evil’s infamy, this was the reason Users who trusted and admired him existed.
“Fuck.”
James, who had been watching Evil check documents without complaint for the first time in a while (though with a very sulky face) both proudly and nervously, flinched in surprise, his shoulders jerking. Evil, who suddenly spewed curses as if there was a part he didn’t like in the documents, opened his red eyes sharply and glared at the wall. Only a frame hung on the wall.
“Director…?”
“Damn it, that sucker bastard….”
Evil, who had been glaring at the white wall or frame with boiling eyes, suddenly stood up. In the time it took James to blink once, Evil was already gone from the office.
James hurriedly went out to the hallway. The elevator showed no movement, and there was only one place he could guess. He immediately ran to the secretary’s office.
As expected, Evil was in the secretary’s office. More precisely, next to the refugee-origin secretary who was answering the phone at his seat.
“Yes, we sincerely apologize. I’ll convey that, sir.”
With a demon standing next to him with a face that said he’d kill everyone if anything went wrong, flashing red eyes, Cheche held the receiver with an indifferent face and only repeated apologies. All he gave Evil was a quick glance.
And the baby duck secretaries, who were certainly not as bold as James, pitifully trembled at their respective seats.
“Director, what’s the matter….”
“Some crazy bastard is suddenly cursing at him for no reason.”
It wasn’t something Evil, who was always in that ‘some crazy bastard’s’ position, should say.
“Cursing at Cheche-ssi? Who would….”
“Director, Cheche-ssi is currently taking a complaint call. About the recent… that… wildfire incident.”
Thanks to Julia’s supplementary explanation from the side, James deduced this situation.
A complaint call about the previous wildfire incident came to the secretary’s office, and Cheche answered that call. Evil had rushed out after hearing the curses that suddenly burst out from the other end of the receiver. There was no other way to think about it.
“The Director… from his office… heard the phone conversation in the secretary’s office….”
Julia’s face, speaking with a stutter, turned paler than the grayish-white wall. As James signaled her to be quiet, Evil cast a cold glance with his red eyes at the same time. Julia gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. The secretary’s office instantly became quiet.
“I’m sorry. I’ll convey that.”
“……”
“I’m sorry.”
“……”
In the frightening silence, only Cheche repeated apologies in a dry tone. As if that mechanical apology made the other person even more angry, abusive language poured out so much it rang throughout the secretary’s office. James worried enough to wonder if he should press the emergency bell to call security. At another time, he would have called security right away. But the current Evil was different from usual.
Evil glared at Cheche with boiling eyes but endured unlike himself. Unbelievable but he was clearly enduring. Veins protruded bluely above his clenched fist, and his eyes became red like blood, but he was holding back with all his might.
Evil held out his right hand, which wasn’t clenched in a fist, to Cheche.
“Switch.”
“……”
“Fuck, I said switch with me.”
Cheche stared up at Evil. Emotionless golden eyes and fierce red eyes met, and Evil wore a cold sneer and snatched the receiver from Cheche’s grasp.
– What kind of hero are you? You became the devil’s dog for money, and you’re still a hero? Huh? Even though you clearly know what that bastard has done….
“What have I done?”
– ……!
“What have I done, you fucking crazy bastard?”
The middle-aged person on the other end of the receiver recognized Evil’s voice. Everyone in the secretary’s office heard him inhale as if frightened. Evil sat on the desk.
“I said tell me. You were throwing a fit at my secretary, but you can’t talk to me?”
– …E-Evil Devil….
“These kinds of people are all the same. They created all kinds of dirty curses with various words to my secretary, but in front of me their vocabulary becomes fucking childish. ‘E-E-Evil’ or ‘tra-tra-trash’—how can they all be so identically stupid?”
If you only listened to Evil’s voice, it sounded like cynical sarcasm, but in reality, there was no hint of laughter. His lips were firmly set and his red eyes held only coldness.
– You killed fifty innocent lives and feel nothing at all….
“It wasn’t me who killed those people, it was the wildfire, you idiot.”
– If you’d come a little, a little earlier, you could have saved them all… If you’d helped with that powerful strength….
“Why can’t no-Users’ heads work?”
Evil continued while still meeting Cheche’s gaze that was staring up at him.
“Why should Users help no-Users? Because you’re weak? How can you be so stupid? If you know you’re weak, you should be crawling around and it still wouldn’t be enough. Fifty my ass—if I just snap my fingers, five thousand people in an instant. You must see me as a sucker because I’m being nice, but just the fact that I don’t dominate you with force means you should fucking prostrate yourself three thousand times and it still wouldn’t be enough.”
– …….
“Got it? If you want help, first make me want to help you. I’m not a sucker, and I don’t have an obligation to protect you.”
Because he kept making eye contact with Cheche, it almost seemed like he was talking to Cheche.
“Hey, release an article.”
Evil jerked his chin at James. James, who had been holding his breath, instinctively answered immediately, “Yes, how should we release the article?” Evil said with the receiver at his lips.
“Unless this impudent no-User I’m talking to right now kneels in front of me and apologizes, I won’t help from now on. Whether there’s a fire, flood, or earthquake, I won’t rescue them. Release an article like that. Those who don’t know their place need to be buried to come to their senses.”
“…Yes, understood.”
Evil ignored the rapidly gasping breaths from the other side and put down the receiver. After the call ended, silence fell.
In the very cool and heavy silence, the phone rang again. James quickly pressed the mute button so the phone wouldn’t ring. It might be another complaint call. He worried whether it might upset Evil, but Evil himself remained motionless as if he would sit on Cheche’s desk forever.
