053 - Joey Noi
“There’s a man who illegally boarded the ship heading to the surface! We need to stop the ship right now!”
The ship bound for the surface came to a halt. Just as I’d planned.
Of course, it seemed like people had misunderstood and thought there was a terrorist on board.
But hey, the ship had stopped, at least. I climbed back aboard the vessel docked at the pier. And there I faced a greatly flustered Narcissus.
“Assistant Manager Joey! Is there really a terrorist on this ship?”
“No, I just said there was someone who illegally boarded. Assistant Manager Narcissus, the ticket you have for the surface is expired.”
“What?”
Assistant Manager Narcissus looked shocked. He stared at his ticket, clearly unable to grasp the situation.
“It’s expired?”
At that moment, I flashed back briefly to when I’d stormed into the Safety Management Team and negotiated with Paranoy.
“It still reeks of something suspicious, dat…! Loving a demotion to the surface that much is just weird, dat…! We’ll pretend this never happened, dat…! The tickets we gave you are invalid too, dat…!”
Was my attitude toward heading to the surface too obvious? Zagreus’s secretary, Paranoy, had straight-up canceled the surface demotion itself.
It wasn’t exactly what I’d intended, but in some ways, it was for the best. Why? Because it stopped Narcissus from going to the surface.
If I can’t have it, no one else can! I couldn’t go to the surface myself. If someone else did, I’d be so jealous I wouldn’t sleep for days.
“Assistant Manager Joey, did you really go toe-to-toe with the Safety Management Team for my sake?”
Narcissus seemed to have gotten the wrong idea. I averted my gaze from him as he stepped off the ship and picked up a fruit from the ground. It was a squished and bruised cactus fruit.
“It wasn’t for you, Assistant Manager Narcissus. I just properly paid for the cactus fruit I got as a service.”
“……?”
Narcissus didn’t seem to understand. But his eyes turned toward a woman whose skin was scraped and bleeding in places. She limped toward Narcissus as well, holding out the cactus fruit in her hand like it was a precious treasure.
Narcissus accepted it. Neither said a word.
“…….”
“…….”
But sometimes, words just get in the way of sharing hearts. After a few seconds like that, Narcissus broke the silence first, sniffling like he had a runny nose.
“The truth is, Echo, I’ve wanted to be with you for a long time. I even thought about asking Assistant Manager Joey to take responsibility in my place several times. But…I couldn’t do it.”
“…….”
“To change myself from being so selfish, I had to take responsibility for this myself. I wanted to come back to you as that changed person.”
To stay by her side, he had to leave? What an ironic situation. As I thought that, Crowzer, who’d sidled up next to me, was dabbing at his eyes with his sleeve.
“In the end, the two lovers reunited. What a fine outcome. Worth all the dog biscuit I ate for it.”
Crowzer’s entire body was ragged like a worn-out rag. I had no idea what had happened, and I didn’t particularly want to know.
Right then—
“You bastard, Joey! Interfering with Pirate King Magnus’s ship hijacking again!”
“How the hell did you figure it out?! Who leaked the info?!”
“Argh! No choice now! This ship belongs to our Tartarus from here on!”
Pirates emerged from the surface-bound ship, now empty of passengers due to the commotion. More precisely, the Tartarus rebels.
Seeing them, Crowzer was aghast.
“Joey! Did you foresee and thwart the rebels’ activities again…!?”
This was driving me insane. Why were these rebel bastards hiding on every ship I approached?
I was losing my mind.
Pew—!
Something streaked through the air like a comet. Then it slammed into the ship with a thud-boom.
I thought someone had launched a missile. Booom—!
Rumble rumble rumble—.
The ship split in two and sank. Soon, a wet arm slapped—smack—onto the pier.
“Damn it, I’m soaked. What a pain.”
Chief Risk Officer
Managing Director of Risk Management
It was a woman with crow wings, like Director Alecto from the Audit Team. The difference was her solid build, giving off competent bodyguard vibes. Her wings were a bit smaller than Alecto’s too.
“Who’d have thought rebel remnants were aboard a ship to the surface. We almost had a disaster. You mortals! Thanks to you, we averted a catastrophe!”
Goddess of Retribution and Karma – Nemesis
Nemesis, Goddess of Vengeance and Retribution
When it came to fearsomeness, she outdid even Melinoë in achievements and rumors.
Narcissus’s face drained to a pale blue.
“You’re from the Safety Management Team…”
In this utterly surreal situation, he couldn’t even speak. Lady Nemesis wrung out her wet dress shirt—squeeeze—without a care. Her toned, muscular figure stood out starkly over her undergarments, but she didn’t seem bothered.
Oddly, even seeing the goddess half-naked stirred no lust in me. Maybe because she was such a terrifying executive handling karma and retribution—I didn’t even dare think it.
“That punchable face—is it Narcissus?”
Director Nemesis scowled fiercely. Then she added,
“You little shit. Looks like you’ve cleared a ton of karma lately. At this rate, my curse is basically lifting itself. Tch, boring!”
Flap—.
She spread her small wings and shot off into the sky again—pew—.
Only then did Crowzer gasp for breath and make a fuss.
“That was the Goddess of Causality and Karma, Nemesis! First time seeing her in person for me too! But seeing the Goddess of Karma in her underwear—hope I don’t get divine punishment for that karma…”
This guy, Crowzer. Spouting nonsense.
# # #
“Rebels Wiped Out Thanks to Assistant Manager Joey’s Heroics!”
“Safety Management Team Director Nemesis Praises His Exploits—.”
“Collaboration Between Rival Teams Brings Winds of Reconciliation?”
The company newspaper blared about yesterday’s events. Just as Director Alecto approached me, she slapped my back—whack whack.
“Whoa, Assistant Manager Joey! Not only did you go head-to-head with the Safety Management Team alone and nullify our department member’s demotion, you even put them in your debt! Impressive!”
Debt? My stomach hurt just thinking about it. Then Manager Hector chimed in excitedly.
“The Safety Management Team had no clue about the rebels’ movements! But our Audit Team spotted it first and stopped the hijacking!”
The official story was that Safety Management and Audit had collaborated to reduce rebel hijacking damage. But during my ship-stopping ploy, the ‘terrorist incident’ misunderstanding had passengers jumping into the river. And unluckily, real terrorists were hiding there, so no casualties.
Still, I planned to share credit with Safety Management. The credit was too great for me to take alone. From their perspective, they hadn’t even predicted the hijacking, yet they got shared credit—pure debt.
“This puts our Audit Team back on top with Safety Management. With this much debt, even they’ll behave for a while!”
Flap—.
Director Alecto spread her wings wide and raised her fist high.
“This battle is our Audit Team’s victory, thanks to Assistant Manager Joey’s fierce exploits!”
Woo—!
Cheers erupted everywhere. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t pour cold water on the funeral-turned-party vibe, so I stayed quiet. Director Alecto patted my shoulder.
“Joey, my sister Nemesis praised you. She’s as stiff as muscle and never compliments anyone. How about I recommend you for the ‘Night Faction’?”
Inviting me to Soul Society’s power clique? Their influence rivaled a military junta’s secret society.
“Joining means promotion’s a given. Even becoming an executive as a mortal might not be impossible anymore.”
Climbing to executive? I’d rather be a janitor at affiliate Happy World!
So my answer was set.
“It’s a great offer, but I’ll pass.”
“Not an opportunity for just anyone. But I figured you’d say that. Melinoë said you find meaning in succeeding without help.”
“Haha, not at all. Really!”
“You want to do it on your own power. In some ways, we’re alike. But we can’t live owing debts. At the next executive meeting, we’ll stay neutral.”
“Neutral?”
“We’ll retract decisions favoring Prince Zagreus. It’ll give Princess Melinoë a shot. Thanks to you. You can hold your head higher.”
“Heh heh, heh heh heh… heh heh heh!”
I laughed. Now I’d score points with Lady Melinoë. Nothing went my way—it was hilarious.
“Everyone, early dismissal today!”
Woo!
“Long live Assistant Manager Joey!”
“You’re our hero!”
Lunch and straight home. Amid this sweet deal, I left the office feeling glum. Assistant Manager Narcissus patted my shoulder.
“Joey, I haven’t thanked you properly. Thanks to you, I didn’t have to part with Echo. And no terrorist chaos. So, a small token of thanks.”
Flap—.
He handed me a paper ticket. I shook my head.
“If it’s your photobook, I’m good now, sir.”
“Not that. It’s a ticket. To visit our place anytime. Echo’s grateful too. So… come whenever you feel like it.”
I hadn’t done anything to deserve their thanks, but…
Slip—.
I pocketed the ticket. Heading to the familiar snack house, there were already guests.
“Joey, right on time.”
Rilke, the current idol from the siren lineage. Next to her was Carnoy, who loved smacking things.
“This Carnoy thinks banging chopsticks on the table is fun…!”
“Muhuhu, everyone’s here…? Then this Paranoy will commence the 3rd Nymph Alumni Meeting, dat…! Today’s agenda is a vote on Joey’s admission to the alumni association, dat…!”
The Nymph Alumni Association. A group for nymphs living in Soul Society.
I’d opted for this shady club over the ‘Night Faction.’ Know your enemy and know yourself—victory. I wanted to learn more about the nymphs screwing up my life.
“But traditionally, only superior nymphs can join…! Joey isn’t a nymph, dat…! How should we resolve this…?”
“This Carnoy doesn’t get it, but how about appointing Joey as an Honorary Nymph…!”
“Honorary Nymph! Sounds good. Joey perfectly countered Paranoy’s nymph skill recently, so he qualifies. And he’s got favor from lots of nymphs, right?”
“Then we bestow the title of Honorary Nymph on Assistant Manager Joey, dat…! As an Honorary Nymph, he shares our name…!”
And so, Jo Iseo became an Honorary Nymph.
Me, a nymph—the thing I hated most. Utter humiliation.
But flip it: opportunity.
Lady Melinoë despises nymphs. If I’m an Honorary Nymph, her expectations and favor toward me might crash.
—Joey, becoming a lowly nymph? I’m disappointed. You’re fired.
Perfect plan!
“He’s finally here…! Joey Noi…!”