The Most Effective Treatment
Why! Why! Why the hell!
Why are you calling me in again!
What am I, huh! Some chatbot you ping whenever you get bored?!
Same déjà vu as before. The moment I clocked in, I dropped my bag at my desk and headed for the top floor, where the CEO's office was. The elevator chimed. I stepped off and followed the long corridor toward his door, past the secretarial office. Right. If I see Maurice today, I am not going to flinch.
I passed between the artworks and relics lining the hall. ...From now on, my bag is never snagging on anything. Ever. The collection was vast, drawn from every nation without favor, and it awed me every time I walked through. Then an antique ornament in a glass case stopped me cold.
Wait. This is—
......a cross, isn't it?!
"A cross does give me a bit of a tingle, but I'm perfectly fine! If anything, there's a stimulating edge to it—dopamine surging, you might say. Ah, rather like young people eating mala tang these days!"
Out of nowhere. Blaire had been standing behind me before I'd even noticed, and he had simply started talking.
I jumped, and my hand flew up to cover the nape of my neck before I could stop it. ...Is that going to look rude? I hastily turned the motion into an awkward scratch along the back of my neck.
And here I'd daydreamed about voiding the employment contract by warding him off with a cross. Clearly not happening. ...Would garlic work?
"Maurice is on annual leave today, so I brought the drinks myself! Come, let's talk inside."
Hm. A day without a headless corpse, then. A shame—I'd missed my chance to test my nerve. Nothing for it!
"Yes. What did you call me in for today?"
Blaire and I stepped into the CEO's office and sat. Waiting, as familiar as ever, was an iced americano—regular, paper straw.
"Lee-hyun, I see it's been a month since you joined us. How is the work?"
Only a month. That was the shocking part—not the span itself, but the fact that I'd already pushed through two major projects in so short a time.
"...It has been a valuable opportunity to grow through a wide range of experiences."
I could hardly look a vampire in the eye and yell Hey! You call that handing out work?! so I gave him the textbook answer.
"Hahaha, still so full of fire! Good, good. A proper new-hire attitude."
Blaire laughed, bright and pleased, and went on.
"The first quarter has wrapped, so I called you in for the regular review—and to go over your repayment results!"
Oh. Right. I still hadn't seen the results of the client evaluation the Minotaur had given.
How had it come out? I-if I'd failed, did that mean I was about to lose my left leg...?
"You wrapped up that labyrinth theme park commission nicely, I see? It's been a while since an A+ came in, after all!"
Whew...! Thank god. It had come out honestly, just as the client had reacted. Right—I'd even rebuilt the whole plan for them. Anyone with a conscience would've graded generously!
"Things developed such that we handled the consulting on our side as well, so we collected a handsome surcharge beyond the original quote. Thanks to that, you've safely repaid your first-quarter target. Congratulations!"
The CEO snapped his fingers, and the employment contract from before materialized once more in the empty air.
⊙ First Quarter — 30,000,000 won (Repaid)
Substitute collection: Left leg
⊙ Second Quarter — 110,000,000 won
Substitute collection: Left arm, right leg
⊙ Third Quarter — 110,000,000 won
Substitute collection: One kidney, half the liver
⊙ Fourth Quarter — 110,000,000 won
Substitute collection: Left eye
"Hmm. About forty percent of you was provisionally mine, but that's down to around thirty percent now."
Don't say something that gruesome like it's a joke....
Then again, with the tentacle monster last time, he'd at least told me how much extra pay had come in. This time his mouth was sealed shut. Which meant...
......I had a feeling I'd blown past the first-quarter target?!
"By any chance, did additional pay come in above the target? If so, I was wondering whether it applies toward reducing next quarter's debt."
"Regrettably, it does not carry over to the next quarter. Isn't that written at the bottom of the contract?"
At that, I stared hard at the paper floating in midair. ...Are you kidding me? It was written in practically 4-point type. How was anyone supposed to read that?
"Instead, we distribute it as a quarterly performance bonus! All right, let's move on to the bonus."
Oh. There was a performance-bonus system. I pricked my ears at the single most important subject in existence.
"Now then. You joined in early March, Lee-hyun, so we'll calculate the Brand Design Team's results from then... and we'll have to deduct the client property Pascal wrecked. Ah, and are you familiar with the bonus-point system?"
"Bonus points? No, I haven't heard of it."
"Pascal didn't tell you, I see! He looks after you well enough in his own team-leader way, but he truly never makes a show of this sort of thing. Secretly a shy one, that fellow!"
The blond man explained it in the same low, cheerful voice as always.
"Lee-hyun, ever since you joined, you've been the one presenting the final proposal in front of the client, haven't you?"
"Yes, that's right."
Ever since I joined—all of two projects, but still.
"Were you told that the top contributor to the proposal is the one who presents it?"
"Yes. That much was passed along to me."
"When we issue bonuses, we calculate team results and individual results separately. And the largest part of an individual evaluation is the final presenter."
Somewhere in the middle of this, Blaire had produced a calculator and started tapping at it. There was something quietly classic about a man who used a physical calculator instead of a phone app.
"All right, let's add the team results and your individual evaluation together. ...Oh. Your first-quarter bonus comes to ten million won in total, in Korean won. Congratulations—quite a high figure, considering only a month was counted!"
What?! I'd worked a single month. Salary came out separately. And the bonus was that much?!
Whoa... Pretax, something like seventeen million won was about to hit my account this month. A sudden fortune that size, and I couldn't get my head around it.
...And that wolf bastard. I'd thought he just shoved the newbie onto the presentation out of nowhere, but it had been his version of looking out for me. For this, I was a little grateful.
"Hahaha, bravo! I do like to announce bonuses in person, for the pleasure of this exact expression. Of course, quarterly reviews are a CEO's duty as well!"
The CEO brought his leather-gloved hands together in a clap and went on.
"Right, let's do the interview now. Any inconveniences in your life at the company?"
Uh... I was pretty sure I'd had about ninety-nine complaints about this place. The shock of that sum seemed to have wiped every one of them.
"Nothing major at the moment. If something comes to mind later, I'll reach out separately."
"Among the other humans, there's someone who makes a list for every review and recites the whole thing straight through, but you're wonderfully modest, Lee-hyun! Yes, it may not be easy yet for a new hire to put forward an opinion."
The truth was, I'd been worried I'd stuck my neck out too far for a mere newbie. I didn't even want the attention....
"In time, using your own voice will get easier too. We'll conclude this quarter's review here, then. I ought to call in the next person— well. Hardly a gentleman. Already here."
With those words came a knock. Knock, knock. The genteel tapping turned, almost at once, into a rough bang—! and the door flew open.
......He didn't kick that open, did he?
"Welcome, Pascal! Impatient as ever. I meant to message you once the review ahead of yours finished, and here you are already!"
"A good hundred years you've been calling me in every quarter, not one missed, and you still make a fuss of it. You even got anything left to say?"
Whoooa. A team leader talking down to the company CEO. Faced with a sight more unreal than the world of Greco-Roman myth, I tried to read the room and slip quietly out of the office—already praying I wouldn't be the one crushed between them.
"Hahaha, over a span of a good hundred years, an employee's grievances can change, so regular reviews are essential! All the more so for the team leader of a Brand Design Team whose results hit the jackpot this quarter."
"The kid raised all of it. Talk to him."
Pascal pointed straight at me.
...Aaagh. Please do not drag me into this terrifying conversation!
I'd been easing my chair back to creep out when the eyes pinning me froze me in place.
"A team member's credit is the team leader's credit too, is it not?! The evaluation came out so well—do brag about the project a little!"
Mid-sentence, Blaire added on, as if something had just occurred to him.
"Ah, speaking of which, I have something to pass along. Lee-hyun, since you're here, you may as well stay and hear it too!"
Ugh. I did not want to remain in an atmosphere like this. But I had none of the nerve to talk back to the CEO the way a werewolf did, so I quietly did as I was told.
"I heard the Brand Design Team took a large hand in the planning on that last theme park project as well. You even made a counterproposal to the client, I understand? Truly remarkable results!"
...Why the sudden praise? At a company, there is no omen as ill as being complimented on your competence.
"With the Planning Department gone, I've given a great deal of thought to how that work ought to be handled. As you know, the nature of our agency makes it difficult to bring in new people."
Tense for reasons I couldn't name, I swallowed hard and waited for whatever came next.
"And then the design team took on the planning as well, and the work seemed even more complete! Now that we have such a fine precedent, I don't intend to restaff Planning for the time being. We'll maintain a system in which each design team handles the Planning Department's duties alongside its own!"
Classic upstairs. See? You do it just fine when you're told! A polished way of saying he didn't care if our workload grew—labor costs were down, which was lovely, so we could figure the rest out ourselves.
......
Wait. Hold on. That would mean......
The Research Team stays gone too??!! I have to set off on my own two feet for a grand expedition through monster worlds??!!
Hey! Is this because I turned down the transfer to Research last time??!!
"...Brand Design's already overloaded. And you want more. All that talk about being short-staffed—in one ear and out the other, was it."
Yes. This once, I fully support Team Leader's outburst. Please fight. Please win!
"Which is precisely why we hired you, Lee-hyun. The employee on extended leave will be back soon as well, so a roster of four is hardly insufficient!"
...It didn't take. Not one bit.
Having dropped that bombshell, the bastard announced he'd be holding Pascal's one-on-one now and finally let me go. I left Pascal behind—teeth grinding—and shut the door of the CEO's office on my way out. You've got this, Team Leader....
Haa...
I sank back into my seat with a heavy heart. Henna looked as cheerful as ever today; I wasn't about to ruin her morning with news this grim.
Anyway. The one on extended leave is coming back soon?
I rose a little and peered over the partition at the seat beside mine, empty for a month. A desk its owner had abandoned, crowded with miniatures. Fairly cluttered.
And then—
"...sir, it's been a while..."
"...really been ages..."
A bustling murmur drifted over from the team next door. The partition muffled it, but I caught a word here and there.
Step. Step.
Whoever was causing the fuss traded a few short greetings with the neighboring team, then walked our way. He stopped in front of our desks and spoke.
"Has everyone been well? Haha, it feels awkward, coming in after so long. Ohh—there's a face I haven't seen before."
A tall man with the top half of his hair tied back smiled as he offered the greeting.