I Quit!
The city was packed wall-to-wall with towering skyscrapers. Their surfaces blazed with glowing neon signs and countless blinking devices. And right in the middle of those streets stood one particularly massive building. This was my workplace—the black corporation known as Rose.
It wasn’t one of the top-ranked companies, but if you grabbed any random person on the street and asked, more would say they knew it than not.
[The Constellation, Hymn of the God of Art, admires how clean it looks on the outside.]
“It only looks clean on the outside… just the outside…”
This place was suffocating. Every workplace had its problems, but this one was especially bad. Not only during work hours, but even during breaks—you’d never see a single smile. Sometimes I wondered if I was working alongside machines instead of people.
Even a real AI would probably feel warmer than this…
After taking a deep breath, I stepped inside the company building.
> Name: Adam
> Employee Rank: D
> Access Granted
The automatic doors slid open with a mechanical hum the moment I held up my employee ID. Inside, not a single coworker even glanced my way.
[The Constellations complain that this place is way too rigid.]
“It’s always been like this. Always.”
That’s just how this neighborhood worked. Still, there was at least one silver lining…
“Oh, Adam!”
Not everyone here was completely stiff, it seemed. At the sound of the familiar voice, I turned my head to see a beautiful woman with golden-blonde hair waving at me. It was Evelyn, the new hire who had started the same time I did.
“Good morning, Evelyn.”
“You’re here really early today, huh?”
“Well… yeah. I’ve got some things scheduled today.”
The world was full of all kinds of people. Some picked up dropped money and kept it, while others turned it in to the police. Some bought coffee for overworked firefighters, while others filed complaints because they found the sight annoying. And this cyberpunk world was no different.
Evelyn belonged to the same category of people as me—the mutants.
“Scheduled? What kind of schedule?”
“Uh, well… it’s…”
How was I supposed to explain this? I couldn’t exactly say I was quitting the company to make games. Besides, did she even know what a game was? Everyone here lived with their heads buried in the sand when it came to that stuff.
“Just… I found some personal work I want to focus on instead of company stuff.”
“Personal work…? Wait, don’t tell me you got a job with the criminals—!”
“What kind of wild theory is that?”
Evelyn’s imagination was running completely wild. …Well, I had briefly considered dipping my toes into the dark web, so maybe she wasn’t entirely wrong.
“If you two are going to keep chatting, could you at least take it outside?”
After she had spent quite a while spinning her theories, the voice of some nameless department head finally made her return to her seat.
[A few Constellations are disappointed there’s no pink atmosphere here.]
“…As if something like that would happen.”
I was already busy just trying to keep my sanity in this place. Romance? Please. Love, marriage—those were luxuries that only existed when people had room to breathe. That was why the birth rate had been so catastrophically low in my previous life. Young people were too busy trying to get a job and survive to even think about dating.
Ding!
Just as that thought crossed my mind, a message arrived on my phone.
“Wow, the approval came through way faster than I expected…”
Was resignation always processed this quickly? I’d only ever seen the dramatic resignation scenes in novels, so I had no idea how it actually worked. Then again, this was a cyberpunk world—anything was possible.
I headed straight for the Director’s Office.
“Director.”
“…You’re here, mutant.”
The moment I opened the door, a pair of cold eyes swept over me. She looked like a statue carved from every ideal of beauty in existence, with hair the color of amethyst. Her voice, completely devoid of emotion, struck me right in the chest.
“By the way, I believe your form of address is slightly incorrect. Could you fix that?”
“Ah, yes.”
She really is picky.
“Director.”
“Good. At least you can follow simple instructions.”
The woman standing before me was none other than the head of our company—the Director, Lilith.
What is this, some kind of delinquent biker gang…? Why not just call her President like a normal person? I couldn’t understand why she’d chosen such a weird title. This wasn’t a university or a motorcycle club.
“So. You wish to leave our company.”
“Yes.”
At her question, I snapped back to attention and answered.
“Reason?”
“It’s nothing special. I just don’t think corporate life suits me…”
What I wanted to do was make games. I had no interest in becoming another cog in a corporate machine. No matter how secure a retirement it promised, what was the point of a life where you could never touch the one thing you truly wanted to do? I didn’t see any meaning in that.
“I see. It must be because you’re a mutant as well.”
“Yeah… I suppose so.”
The word “mutant” had been popping up constantly since earlier. At first glance it might sound like she was discriminating against or insulting me… but surprisingly, there wasn’t a trace of malice in it.
In a world that pursued only progress, concepts like hatred and discrimination—things only used when tearing each other apart—had been among the first things discarded. Because of that, it was perfectly fine to openly tell others you were a mutant in this society. The usual response was something like, “Oh, you’re a mutant? Well, that’s none of my business, so go do your work. We’re really behind schedule today.”
Of course, if you really didn’t like it, you could just keep it hidden. Lilith was simply stating a fact, which was why she called me a mutant. So hearing it didn’t bother me at all.
“I will make sure to pay your severance in full.”
“Whoa, I’d really appreciate that.”
Honestly, since I was basically a bottom-rung employee, I’d expected them to just toss me aside. To actually receive severance pay on top of everything else was an incredible benefit, considering how broken this world’s labor laws were. Just thinking about how much work we had to do in a single week made that clear.
“Then I’ll be going now. Thank you for everything, Director.”
“Yes. I wish you the best of luck.”
With those words, I left the Director’s Office. My next destination was my desk. I immediately started packing up my things to resign.
“Hmm-hmm-hmm…”
[The Constellation, God of Stringed Instruments, asks why you seem to be in such a good mood.]
“Come on, isn’t it obvious?”
My mood was at an all-time high. And why wouldn’t it be? I was walking away with a generous severance package and the freedom to do what I actually wanted. Was this heaven? Maybe my good mood was boosting my efficiency, because even organizing the desk felt strangely quick.
“Aha! Found you!”
Just as I finished cleaning up my desk and was about to leave, that familiar voice rang out behind me again. A golden-blonde beauty came striding toward me with her cheeks puffed out. It was Evelyn.
“Ah, Evelyn…”
“What the heck! Why didn’t you tell me you were actually quitting?!”
“Well, what would telling you change?”
It wasn’t like announcing it would make any difference, and I didn’t want to distract her while she was working, so I’d kept quiet.
“Did someone bully you?”
“No, it’s just that there’s something I really want to do…”
“Hmm… Really? That sounds suspicious…”
Evelyn didn’t seem to fully believe me. Honestly, if I were in her shoes and heard that someone was voluntarily kicking away a job that guaranteed a comfortable retirement, I’d probably react the same way. In a world like this, not many people would chase after something more important than a secure future.
“Hng… I’m gonna be so bored all by myself…”
“Well, there’s not much I can do about that.”
It made sense. Losing the one other mutant around would probably feel lonely. Still, since it was Evelyn, I figured she’d adapt somehow. The only thing that worried me was…
“Still, you should probably tone down how much you talk from now on.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Because other people won’t look at you kindly. You might even get officially disciplined by the company.”
In a village of one-eyed people, the two-eyed man is the freak. By the standards of my previous life, Evelyn was already pretty chatty. It was obvious how she’d be perceived here.
“Well… I don’t think it really matters…”
“What? What did you just say…?”
“Ah, no! I’ll keep it in mind! Yep…”
Huh. I could’ve sworn she said something. But if she was brushing it off like that, it probably wasn’t anything important. Besides, I was quitting now, so I wouldn’t be around to get involved with her anymore. As long as any problems that came up didn’t involve me, it was fine.
“Then I’ll be going now.”
“Ah, okay! Take care of yourself, Adam!”
“You too, Evelyn.”
After saying my final goodbye to Evelyn, I stepped out of the company for the last time.