Surviving the Amazons #3
“So? What happened next?”
At Atalante’s question, Hippomenes recalled what had gone down at the office.
To Welfare Chief Hippolyte’s command of “Take responsibility,” Section Chief Jo had replied:
—I’ll take responsibility.
There wasn’t a shred of hesitation. His eyes held no tension or fear—only conviction.
What a man, Hippomenes thought.
Having worked in Welfare for so long, he’d dealt with plenty of female employees. They were all HQ elites, no doubt impressive. But none had shown the sheer presence that Jo did.
Jo Section Chief truly is a man among men.
Thump, thump.
Hippomenes felt his heart pounding inside him. Atalante turned to him and said,
“Honey, before you head to work tomorrow, could you throw in a load of laundry and run the vacuum? Oh, and if you have time, make some side dishes. Rub my legs too. Help me wash up, and wash my hair while you’re at it.”
Atalante slung her leg over his waist with a casual flick.
The old Hippomenes would’ve nodded right there. Anything for a smooth life—that was how the so-called “kept man” Hippomenes survived among capable women.
But today? Today, Hippomenes had felt something watching Jo Section Chief. Manly resolve.
“...No.”
“Huh? What’d you say?”
“That’s your job. Figure out your own face-washing and hair for yourself.”
Thump, thump.
Hippomenes was shocked at his own rudeness. Maybe Jo had inspired him.
For the first time in my life, I spoke my mind honestly.
Atalante stared at him, dumbfounded.
“What’s with you? Did you eat something bad? Why the sudden attitude?”
The old Hippomenes would’ve done whatever she asked. She even liked his thoughtfulness—that’s why she’d married him, rejecting all those other heroes. He seemed gentle and attuned to a woman’s heart, unlike the macho types in Greek myth.
But now he was asserting himself so strongly. It left his wife flustered.
Thump-thump.
Her heart raced. People’s emotions stir when faced with the unexpected.
“How dare you talk back, Hippomenes? Without me, you’d have no name in myth! You didn’t even beat me fair and square in that race!”
Atalante snapped to cover her fluster. She’d bite his side like a lioness, burrow into his arms—
But Hippomenes grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away.
“If I’m heading to work early tomorrow, I need to sleep early.”
“Wow, you’re too much. Way too much.”
Atalante felt genuinely hurt. At the same time, discovering this resolve in her husband stirred something new.
###
A week flew by in the blink of an eye. I hadn’t even adjusted to the new environment.
Honestly, I had no clue what I’d even done, but judgment day arrived.
“Jo Section Chief, it’s been the week we agreed on. You said abolishing the social clubs would boost efficiency by 100 percent and deliver over 300 percent performance bonuses, right?”
Welfare Chief Hippolyte crossed her arms, grilling me sternly. The performance graphs beside her showed numbers nothing like what I’d promised.
I had no choice but to bow my head.
“Well...”
“The numbers don’t match your promise. How do you explain that?”
“See...”
“Efficiency soared 1000 percent! Bonuses exceeded 2000 percent!”
Her lioness roar boomed.
Crash, shatter!
The office windows all shattered from it.
“Sis, you can’t keep breaking the office windows like that!”
According to Deputy Penthesilea, this happened often when Hippolyte yelled.
Of course, the real issue was my heart shattering like those windows.
Efficiency up 1000 percent. Bonuses over 2000 percent.
Impossible numbers—for real? In just a week!
What the hell happened?!
I couldn’t comprehend it. This week felt totally normal. Just your average office, right?
Except—
Chief Hippolyte was crossing her arms in awe.
“Before, collaborating with other employees meant routing requests through factions, looping endlessly.”
For example: Employee A needs help from B, but their factions hate each other. A asks mutual friend C to tell B, “Hey, photocopy these docs?”
But if C’s enemies with photocopy guy D? More problems.
“That tanked our efficiency. Abolishing clubs and normalizing factions fixed it.”
Welfare seemed decent before—a solid HQ pillar, no rough edges.
But if those results came despite 300 warring factions? Game-changer.
A grown man running 100m in 13 seconds? Normal. In 50kg gear? Extraordinary.
Freed from faction shackles, Welfare women crushed it. Edging out Audit and Safety—HQ’s powerhouses.
I never imagined ditching factions would boost efficiency this much.
Deputy Penthesilea snorted and clapped my shoulder.
“Honestly, memorizing factions was a pain. Tradition, everyone did it—that’s all.”
“Getting along with everyone’s better anyway.”
“So comfy. Way better.”
“Especially Section Chief Hippomenes—he’s changed a ton, right?”
Hippomenes’ name buzzed among the women. I glanced at his desk—
“This document’s full of errors. Page 22, line 3—the numbers are wrong. Redo it. No more mistakes.”
He was stern, cold, overflowing with dignity—like a lion.
“Section Chief Hippomenes is so cool lately.”
“Hey! Eyes off the married man!”
“Goalie or not, you still score, right?”
No idea why, but post-abolition, Hippomenes killed it at work, skyrocketing team efficiency.
This is a nightmare!
If only it were—I could wake up.
I sobbed internally as Chief Hippolyte patted my shoulder.
“Jo Section Chief, when Hotshan sent you here, I wondered his angle. Turns out he pitched a star reliever.”
Hotshan—Zagreus Prince’s runaway alias, right?
Even as a fake name, calling the prince so casually...
“Chief, are you Prince Zagreus’s third wife?”
“Oh, didn’t I mention?”
I knew she was married, but Zagreus’s wife?
Myth had Hippolyte crushing on Heracles.
“What about Heracles?”
“Another of Hotshan’s aliases. Guy’s got tons.”
Zagreus as Heracles too? This myth was way off my books.
“Jo Section Chief, I didn’t expect you to push business renewal in Welfare despite the hate. I’ll tell Hotshan about your talent.”
“Gasp.”
“Your deputy promotion’s a lock.”
Dizziness hit hard. I staggered; the beautiful, capable women steadied me.
“Section Chief Jo, Hedone talks about you tons!”
“We’re all friends with Hedone!”
“You’re single, right?”
What? Hedone? All these single women buddies with the chick-shaped disaster bull?!
I’d have never set foot here if I’d known.
“Employees, stand back!”
“He says stand back! Puhaha, Section Chief’s hilarious!”
“What do you do weekends?”
“Who’s prettiest here?”
Eyes once shooting resentment now sparkled. The sweet curses were gone.
“Girls, don’t mob Jo Section Chief! He’s uncomfortable! Speaking of—Jo, wanna hit the field with me?”
Deputy Penthesilea hooked her arm in mine.
“We’ll be fellow HQ deputies soon—let’s bond. Maybe start our own club?”
The beautiful women’s teasing continued. They giggled at my fluster. No wonder Welfare’s single-man hell.
Then Chief Hippolyte handed me a paper envelope.
“Jo Section Chief, for your stellar results, a commendation. I pulled strings as chief.”
“What’s this?”
“Two tickets for a surface trip. Great for couples. Day trip only, but exclusive to Welfare.”
...Surface?! Coming to Welfare was the best!
Problem: two-person tickets.
“Me, Section Chief!”
“Take me!”
Amazon warriors swarmed me. In that instant, Lady Melinoë flashed in my mind—then vanished.