Evil’s secretary team consisted of eight people total. The four working in other offices were secretaries exclusive to the Aura Center and there was no need to see their faces except during external events (so they saw each other often during the two weeks), and the personal secretaries on the 201st floor of the center, right here, were the people he would work with every day.
They pitied Cheche in the beginning. After a few days, they treated him like a celebrity, holding out paper asking for autographs or requesting photos, and later they found Cheche, who was dry no matter how they spoke to him, a bit difficult. Since the person who treated Cheche most comfortably was Julia, Julia also became Cheche’s mentor. Julia treated Cheche like a younger sibling. That was understandable, as even the youngest secretary was ten years older than Cheche.
The eldest of the secretary team was James Hogrant. Having practically raised Evil since childhood, he turned thirty-nine this year. And in order of age, Vera, Julia, Seven. All were Evil’s personal secretaries who had served the Endem family for over ten years.
“Then I’ll go to the young master. Teach him well.”
“Yes, don’t worry.”
As soon as James left after entrusting Cheche’s education to Julia, Julia pulled over a chair and sat next to him. She was a bright person with a warm personality.
“First, try logging in now. Let’s see if it connects.”
Cheche placed his hands on the laptop keyboard. The posture was very awkward.
“I don’t know how to log in.”
“Huh? ……”
“I’m sorry.”
“Ah, no. There’s nothing to be sorry about… Click here and enter your employee number and password.”
He meant he didn’t know how to click or enter… Just in case, Cheche brought his finger to the monitor screen that Julia had touched.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s not touch screen.”
“…You have to bring the cursor with the mouse.”
Julia taught him how to use the mouse with a dumbfounded expression. Cheche carefully held the mouse and succeeded in bringing the cursor to the ID input field of the login window.
“Right, now enter your employee number and password.”
“Yes.”
Cheche entered the numbers and letters Julia had written down one by one. It took over a minute.
While Cheche struggled to bring the cursor to the attendance check button, Julia, Vera, and Seven exchanged glances among themselves.
‘What in the world is this situation?’
‘What do you mean what? It’s a ruined situation.’
Julia asked carefully:
“Um, do you know how to… use OA… Excel?”
Excel, Cheche blinked once and answered:
“I’ve never learned it.”
“…Word?”
“If you teach me, I will study hard.”
“How many words per minute can you type?”
He couldn’t understand what the question was. Seeing Cheche not understanding the question, Julia made an “oops” face and soon smiled brightly.
“Never mind. Since attendance check is also possible with an ID card, just don’t even log in, and when you come in the morning, just swipe your ID card well.”
“If you teach me, I’ll try.”
“It’s fine. It’s not like we called you to give you real work anyway.”
Julia waved her hands and left, telling him to just use the internet. Seven and Vera, who had been watching this side, also chimed in not to teach Cheche-ssi such things.
“Don’t worry. You don’t need to know things like Excel. Julia, don’t burden Cheche.”
“Right. You’ve lived well without knowing things like Excel until now. You just need to know how to use chopsticks—what do you need Excel or Word for in life? Right, Cheche?”
Cheche took his eyes off the laptop screen and looked at them.
“I want to be helpful for work. If you teach me, I will learn diligently.”
“I’m telling you, you don’t need to learn it. Just coming here was a big help.”
“You can live well without knowing such things. Really, don’t worry about it.”
No one frowned or showed distaste. They were being considerate of the Tar refugee who had lived without knowing things like Excel. They didn’t pressure or mock the boy lacking common sense, told him it was okay not to know anything, and were proud of their own consideration and thoughtfulness. In the harmonious atmosphere, only the Tar refugee who had lived without knowing things like Excel was alone.
Cheche bit the soft flesh inside his mouth.
It would be nice if they taught him. He could work hard.
If he could learn… if only he could learn.
But he knew wanting such things was a luxury. A company wasn’t a school, and it would be annoying to teach an ignorant person like himself everything from the beginning.
Laptop and computer, neatly organized post-its, a scheduler with his name on it. Would there ever come a day when he could use these things? A daily life of skillfully tapping the keyboard, sticking post-its with notes on the monitor, and sighing in annoyance while checking the schedule.
Cheche’s eyes darkened as he imagined things that someone would find childish and pathetic.
***
Evil Endem’s secretary office wasn’t usually busy enough to need five secretaries. The existing four were sufficient, and Cheche had two things to do. Sit still like a potted plant on the desk, or show his face when external guests visited.
When not going outside, he mainly spent time practicing typing, and although he quickly memorized the keyboard layout, the speed didn’t increase even after a week. Not because Cheche lacked quick reflexes, but because his boss harassed him with phone calls at all hours.
Originally, it was uncommon for Evil to call the secretary office. Usually, he called James’s cell phone directly, and only called the secretary office when James couldn’t answer, and each time the secretary office staff would take turns answering with bug-bitten faces. They wanted to avoid Evil’s calls but couldn’t delay them, and it was unfair for only one person to answer… So they had considered it unavoidable, but now the situation was different. Because a newcomer had arrived.
On the second day of Cheche’s official work, Julia, who was on phone duty, brought it up first.
“Shouldn’t Cheche also answer the Director’s calls now?”
“Right. We should teach him. He’s a proper employee.”
“What have you been doing not teaching him until now?”
They hadn’t taught him other work, but only at this time did Cheche receive treatment as a regular employee. Julia told him about the call pickup and transfer buttons and said:
“Since you need to get used to it, let’s have only Cheche answer for a while.”
“Yes.”
The seniors were satisfied with Cheche’s obedient attitude, and Cheche had no complaints either. As soon as they decided, the secretary office phone rang. Looking at the screen, Julia clicked her tongue and whispered softly:
“Wow, I thought it was a tiger. Truly devil-like. Cheche, answer the young master’s call.”
“Yes.”
Cheche picked up the receiver.
“Yes, Director. This is Cheche.”
Before he could even finish the short greeting, Evil spoke first.
– Fuck, why are you answering?
“Who shall I connect you to?”
– Never mind. I won’t talk with an ignorant refugee who doesn’t even know Excel.
Evil just hung up the phone with a thud. When Cheche put down the receiver, the seniors asked what he wanted.
“I don’t know. He just hung up.”
“Really? He’s someone who doesn’t call unless he has business.”
While they were puzzled, the signal rang once more. The seniors told Cheche to answer the phone again.
“Yes, Director. This is Cheche.”
– …It’s you again?
“Who shall I connect you to?”
– I get it now. Hey, refugee. Those people are pushing it onto you because they don’t want to take my calls. How childish for old people.
“……”
– When you left yesterday, those bastards were saying what would they have someone so uneducated do. They said to think of you as a life-sized billboard for a year while making you do work they hate. Isn’t that fucking childish behavior?
“……”
– You didn’t know? Surprised?
“Yes, I didn’t know.”
Evil’s voice was somehow excited, and Cheche calmly acknowledged it. However, he acknowledged a different part from what Evil wanted.
“You can hear all that?”
Evil’s office was at the end of the corridor around the corner. The secretaries believed that if they spoke quietly it wouldn’t be heard, but it meant the abilities of an SSS motion aura user were superior to what they thought.
– Fuck, is whether you guys’ conversation is heard or not important right now?
“You must be tired. That everything can be heard.”
– …What?
“It must be tiring that it can be heard even from this distance.”
– …….
“What do you mean it can be heard?”
“What can be heard?”
