The Boss from Hell
The franchise chicken shop was a ten-minute walk from my studio apartment. I’d started working there frying chicken three months before I was kidnapped to the other world. Standing over hot oil wasn’t exactly easy, but nothing in life ever was. The place was close to home, and the other part-timers got along fine, so the job itself wasn’t a problem. There was just one issue.
The boss was the problem.
As expected, the moment I stepped inside, a burly man in his mid-twenties with a nasty face shouted at me. It was the same boss I hadn’t missed even after ten years.
“What time do you call this?!”
Seeing him treat part-timers like slaves again made irritation surge up inside me. Still, I couldn’t afford to cripple someone right after returning from the other world, so I swallowed it down.
I glanced at the clock on the wall and answered calmly. “It’s 4:46. Fourteen minutes before my shift starts.”
From what I remembered, shifts began at five. The fact that the manager and the serving part-timer hadn’t arrived yet confirmed it.
My polite explanation only made the boss raise his voice again. “You think I don’t know that, you little shit? Did my order to come in thirty minutes early and clean go in one ear and out the other?!”
“You’re not even paying me for that time. Why should I?”
“W-what did you just say?!”
He’d clearly expected me to grovel and apologize. When I answered so casually, he looked genuinely flustered. A second later his eyes bulged and he glared at me like he wanted to hit me.
“Have you lost your mind? I ought to—”
He tried to intimidate me by scowling and looming closer, but it didn’t work. The old me might have been scared of a guy twice my size, but not anymore. I’d punched orcs and even ogres to death with my bare hands. A human who merely looked like an orc didn’t scare me in the slightest.
When I showed no reaction, the boss trembled and raised his fist—though some last shred of reason kept him from actually swinging. Instead he exploded.
“You little bastard! Clean the bathroom and the storeroom today! If I find even a speck of dust, you’re not going home!”
The boss stormed out, kicking the door on his way and muttering that he’d deal with me later. He wanted a spotless deep clean, yet the afternoon rush would start soon. It was obvious he was just looking for an excuse to harass me.
Should I kill him, Master?
No. Endure it.
—…What nonsense are you spouting to yourself?
Seria’s voice reminded me she’d been listening the whole time. I coughed awkwardly and ignored her.
Then I headed for the bathroom.
“[Clean]”
A soft glow filled the bathroom as Sex Power was consumed. When the light faded, years of grime, stains, and filth that would have required hours of scrubbing had vanished completely.
“Skills really are convenient.”
I never imagined I’d use one for this, though.
After finishing the bathroom, I moved to the storeroom where liquor and ingredients were kept and cast the spell again. I made sure every corner was spotless—nothing the boss could possibly complain about.
A deep clean that would have taken three or four hours without the skill was done in minutes. The boss had always treated me like a slave and clearly disliked me. Knowing he’d given me an impossible order just to harass me made my irritation spike again.
Why the hell was I ever scared of a guy like that?
He was just big—covered in fat, not muscle. Even without using Sex Power, I could beat him with my eyes closed. And even if he did have muscle, I couldn’t just start swinging in modern society. In the past I’d only obeyed his unreasonable demands because I was intimidated by his size.
I’d love to land just one punch on him.
—Should I kill him, Master?
…No. Endure it.
Seria immediately parroted my own words back at me, teasing. I really did want to kill him. But this wasn’t the other world, where you could do anything to villains and be forgiven. It wasn’t possible here.
—Then why not just quit, Jin? If you hate the boss that much.
The contract said I had to work at least three months.
Of course, as a part-timer I could just stop showing up. But the boss had shoved the contract in my face and threatened to make me pay back all the “training fees” if I left early, so I’d been stuck.
He loved contracts when they benefited him, but never honored the extra pay clauses.
He never gave me weekly holiday pay, overtime, or the extra thirty minutes’ wage for coming in early, yet he used the contract to torment me. He’d even said part-timers could eat whatever they wanted, then hurled insults at me whenever I did.
They say even dogs don’t bother you while you’re eating.
He was trash among trash. I wanted to quit right then, but this week marked exactly three months. Quitting now would inconvenience the other part-timers and I wouldn’t get paid properly—only the boss would benefit.
But if he caused trouble again after the three-month mark?
I couldn’t guarantee what I’d do then.
With the cleaning done, I sat in the storeroom and killed time. Leaving early would only raise suspicion, and there was nothing else to do, so I pulled out my smartphone and checked the files I’d collected back then.
I hadn’t just taken the boss’s abuse. My phone held recordings of his unreasonable calls, threats, and other evidence that would make the Ministry of Employment and Labor very happy.
“Not bad.”
After checking everything, I was about to leave the storeroom when someone knocked on the door.
Knock knock—
“Um, Oppa, an order came in. Are you busy?”
A soft, gentle voice. Baek Jina, the part-timer who handled the dining area, was calling for me.
“I’ll be right out.”
When I opened the door, a cute girl wearing an apron was waiting. Well, her face was cute. Even with the apron covering her front, the overwhelming volume of her chest was impossible to miss. Cute face, enormous breasts—an unbalanced yet perfect combination. When Baek Jina met my eyes she smiled brightly.
“Hello, Oppa.”
“Oh, Jina. Long time no— I mean, hey.”
She tilted her head at my near-slip, then apparently decided it wasn’t important and told me about the order before heading back to work. Thanks to her cute looks and bright personality, she was popular with both staff and customers.
I watched her retreating figure for a moment, then put on the hygiene gear and headed to the kitchen to fry chicken.
The store manager was standing with her back to me, fiddling with her smartphone.
“Hello, noona.”
“Yeah, hi.”
She glanced at me briefly before returning to her phone. Her tone was cool to the point of indifference—more like she was talking to a chicken fryer than a person. Since I’d started working here, we’d only spoken when I asked about frying or when we had to work together during busy times. She seemed like the type who ignored anyone she didn’t stand to gain from.
—Working with her must be uncomfortable.
Not really. I actually liked it.
—Excuse me?
She looked exactly like the kind of girl who chewed gum in school—the flashy, cheap-pretty type. Even now she wore a comfortable T-shirt on top, but below she had on leggings that showed off her hips perfectly. She knew exactly where my eyes went while we worked, yet she didn’t care at all. Like she was saying “look if you want.”
Dating her would be a no, but she was perfect material for other things. In the past, she’d been my number-one fantasy while working here.
—…That’s what you liked about her?
Cerer let out a weary sigh.
A cute, busty serving girl and a flashy-pretty manager. Aside from the trash boss, it wasn’t a bad workplace at all.