Chapter 231: Job Experience Learning 1
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 231: Job Experience Learning 1
"Maybe it's because you take after your mother, but that uniform definitely suits you."
Seeing me in my custom-made police uniform, Tiria held up her phone and began snapping photos of me like crazy.
With anyone else, I’d be certain they were taking these to use as 'material,' but this trashy, perverted, corrupt Prosecutor Sister had a firm preference for people taller and older than herself. She was genuinely taking them to send to my mom and her friends.
"Since Iris said she wanted to be a prosecutor, it makes sense that Yong-hwan would look good as a police officer."
Tiria absentmindedly ruffled my hair and pulled some snacks out of her drawer. They were high-end cookies with a premium texture—the kind you only get when Mom’s friends bring them over—so I ate them in silence.
As far as I knew, they were both civil servants on the same meager salary, so this felt unfair.
At our house, we served cheap, factory-made cookies as snacks even when friends visited, yet Tiria was casually putting out luxury bakery cookies from a hotel. It was frustrating, to say the least.
Judging by the taste, they weren't quite on the level of the high-end hotel restaurants Hindel took me to, but they were similar to the ones I’d had at the hotel we stayed at during our trip.
"I’m not going to snatch them, so eat slowly."
That was a lie. Even though I had my mom—the head of our household—perfectly trained, I still couldn't control Gracia’s occasional habit of stealing my snacks.
The fear that Gracia might sneakily eat them if I didn't finish them now was always with me. That girl didn't even like meat that much, but she went wild for sweets, so we were always in a competitive, warring relationship.
Perhaps she’d matured a bit since she didn't hit me anymore, but the problem was that she’d become spiteful because winning by pure strength was no longer an option. She’d say things like, 'A man will get fat if he eats like that,' 'I only ate it because I was worried about you, Oppa,' or 'If you want some, try calling me Noona~!' Because of that, I suffered from a compulsion to eat any snack in sight immediately.
Rationally, I knew I could just buy some later or ask the other sisters to buy them for me, but the intensity of my hormones easily trampled over my reason and logic, driving me to act on instinct.
As I stuffed my cheeks until they bulged and savored the happiness of munching away, I watched the crowd of sisters observing me from behind the glass wall.
"...Ignore them. They’re just my subordinates."
Tiria let out a short sigh and began haphazardly organizing her documents.
Perhaps because she was the textbook example of someone who had to be competent to be corrupt, she actually looked quite cool while working.
"Can I go outside and watch the other sisters work?"
"No. Stay here. This is Job Experience Learning, not a field trip. Your job is to do what I tell you. Drink your milk, too."
Tiria filled a glass to the brim with milk and went back to her work.
As the Angel Prosecutor Sister had mentioned, I was visiting Tiria’s workplace today for my Job Experience Learning.
Usually, kids went to their parents' workplaces, but since Mom had gone off on some mission—I didn't know if it was an important secret or classified—I ended up at the workplace of my acting guardian, Tiria.
According to common sense, if it were a pseudo-parent, I should have gone to the workplace of that perverted lesbian—no, perverted bi dragon—who was dying to sleep with my mom.
However, watching the work of someone who was essentially an orphan (fact) and was called a thug, mafia, yakuza, social trash, or a parasite of the underworld was inappropriate for a school program.
That was why I chose Tiria, who looked socially respectable and cool on the surface.
"Is it really right to just eat cookies, drink milk, and play all day for Job Experience Learning?"
"It’s probably the same everywhere else. I’ll have a probationer write the report for you, so don't worry about it."
I agreed that if kids were sent to their parents' workplaces under the guise of 'experience learning,' it usually just consisted of looking around, eating delicious food, and being doted on by the older sisters.
Though in the case of males, they’d receive even more attention and affection!
"But I still want to see the other sisters working..."
"Those losers?"
Tiria looked disdainfully at the group outside the glass door. It was a three-tier formation: people crouching, people bent over with their hands on their knees, and people standing tall behind them, all staring in.
"They look like they’re posing for a graduation photo. Do you think people acting like that can actually get any work done?"
"You said they were your subordinates. Isn't that evaluation a bit too harsh...?"
"It’s because they’re incompetent. If people like Ame or Cassia were my subordinates, I wouldn't be saying this."
Tiria let out a long sigh. It seemed she had finished organizing her documents while talking to me, as she sat back in her chair and began typing away at her computer.
"I'm bored!"
"Enduring boredom is also the fate of a working professional. This is what real job experience is like."
There was no communicating with this Prosecutor Sister, who let my words go in one ear and out the other.
"I don't want to do this anymore. I'm going home."
"Stay right there until it's time to clock out. Your face gives me energy when I don't feel like working."
Just like Ame, Tiria added.
She wasn't thinking about sleeping with me, but since I’d inherited the beauty of my mother—who was called the greatest beauty in the world—I could understand why she wanted to keep me around like a totem.
Since she told me I couldn't leave the room, I walked up to the glass wall and started communicating with the sisters on the other side.
When I gave them a light wave, their eyes went wide, and they all started excitedly waving back at me.
Tiria paid no attention and just silently did her work. I appreciated her letting me relax since I was her friend's son, but looking at the other kids outside wandering around in the sweltering heat under the guidance of police sisters, I felt like I was doing something wrong.
"Auntie Tiria! I need to go to the bathroom!"
Tiria took her eyes off the screen and stared at me. I slightly averted my gaze, knowing she could tell I was up to something.
She was a piece of trash who took bribes from corporations, never turned down entertainment, and turned a blind eye to the illegal acts of high-ranking officials—all while hogging the spotlight in cases the media cared about. Perhaps because of that, she was incredibly quick-witted.
The only thing I could do here was try to charm her with my handsome face. I had no choice but to open my eyes wide, ball my fists like a cat under my chin, and look at her with the cutest expression I could muster.
"...Don't leave this floor."
"Thanks! I love you!"
"A man shouldn't say things like that so easily."
Tiria let out a short sigh, and I boldly opened the door and stepped out toward the group of Prosecutor Sisters who were dying to dote on me.
What greeted me wasn't applause, encouragement, praise, pocket money, or affection, but rather the blank stares of the sisters.
I was hoping they’d rush over, stroke my hair, and maybe sneak in some subtle harassment, but they all just stood there staring.
I figured I had to break the ice first.
"I was curious about what you sisters do... I wonder if someone could tell me~?"
I clasped my hands behind my back, looked away, and twisted my body shyly.
"Me! I'll tell you!"
"No, I'll tell you!"
"Move it! Where do you think you're cutting in with such a low rank!"
"Hmph..."
"I'm currently investigating something related to a celebrity! Aren't you curious!?"
"Hey! That's cheating...! Hey, kid! You know 'Luinal Sil,' the sister who filmed with you last time? Yeah? I'm investigating her for tax evasion! Aren't you curious!?"
This was it. This popularity. This courtship. This was the environment I wanted. Not being used as a doll by Tiria, who just gave me food and stared blankly with a silly grin whenever she got bored with work!
I was interested in Luinal Sil—the minor actress who had gained sudden popularity as the lead in a movie that succeeded by riding on my looks—but I suppressed my curiosity. If I fell for that kind of temptation (?) here, they might think I was easy.
Acting like a fool here would be no different from spitting in Tiria's face. Actually, I didn't care if I sprayed semen on Tiria's face, but it would be no different from spitting in my mother's face, so I had to answer carefully.
"I want to see the work of someone who is investigating recent economic crimes, or someone handling thug companies that walk the line between legal and illegal! I want to hear from someone in charge of new types of fraud or intelligent crimes!"
"...."
They all started glancing at each other, eventually looking at the one sister who had been whimpering after being pushed back by her seniors.
"I am handling those... but are you really okay with me...?"
Despite her seniors glaring at her, the sister—who seemed to have traded her social awareness for dog food—stepped forward, unable to hide her joy.
"Yes! Pretty Noona!"
"Hehe... I'm not that pretty... hehehe..."
I wasn't sure if she was just weak to compliments or if she was the type who lacked tact and was so used to being scolded by her seniors that she rarely heard praise, but I clung to the Prosecutor Sister who was grinning foolishly.
"No, you're super pretty!"
"Really?! Ahem, our cutie is super cute, too! How did you get that outfit custom-made?"
"My homeroom teacher made it for me!"
"That person must have quite an eye~!"
While other kids went to their job experience programs in ordinary, neat clothes, I was wearing a gift from my homeroom teacher, who favored me—an outfit made to look like the regular police uniform of the United Kingdom.
By the way, she had started becoming close friends with my mom. I was beginning to wonder if there was anything that suspiciously talented pervert couldn't do, but my pride wouldn't let me show interest in a mere 'mount' who was just talented without money or power, despite her decent looks. So, I ignored it.
The Prosecutor Sister, her short silver hair fluttering, led me to her office and pulled out an impressive-looking white board.
"Look, this is what I'm investigating lately! Isn't it cool?"
"Prosecutor! Please give me a case briefing!"
"Ah, right! Then... ah, it would be better to go and hear it in person! Just follow me! I happen to have to go to the scene right now. I—no, this Prosecutor—will show a future police investigator how an investigation is done!"
It sounded like a great idea, but I didn't think Tiria would allow it.
"Auntie Tiria told me to stay on this floor..."
"Wait here! I'll go persuade her!"
"I mean, even if you say that..."
"Ahem, do you know who I am?!"
The Prosecutor Sister confidently put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest. She seemed to have very high self-esteem.
"The name's Rhea Dupre!"
As she had boasted, Rhea Dupre was granted permission to take me to the place where the investigation team was set up.
At the time, I didn't know that she had achieved this feat by going into Tiria's office, lying down on the floor as usual, and refusing to leave until she got permission.