Chapter 213: Haunting [2]

"I’ll give you some time to review the documents. Please let me know if there’s anything missing or if you’re not okay with the terms that we’ve established. In that case, I’ll have to excuse myself. There’s a lot of work that I must tend to."

—...I understand. I will give you an answer after I review the document.

"Great. I hope to receive a positive answer."

With a smile, Matthias ended the call.

The smile quickly wiped off his face shortly after that as he checked his watch.

’That lasted longer than I anticipated.’

In general, he was somewhat satisfied with the new recruit. He looked docile and someone who would listen to orders.

He always appreciated such pushovers.

It made his job easier.

With that being said...

"The fact that he got laid off by Nightmare Forge Studios is quite worrying. Perhaps he might not be as talented as I anticipated."

He suddenly felt that the decrease in terms was more fitting now

The new recruit was going to see them soon, when he reviewed the contracts, and he was probably not going to be happy about them.

But it didn’t really matter.

Matthias smiled while thinking about his reaction.

’In the end, he’ll still end up joining the company.’

Matthias was confident about that. His game was no longer doing well, and his subsequent games were also going to fail.

Of course, this may come as a result of their actions.

Nonetheless, Matthias was going to make sure that he’d have no other choice but to enter their company. And the more he delayed, the lower the terms were going to be.

’I do hope he drags a little bit longer. This way we can pay him even less.’

Chuckling to himself, Matthias closed down the laptop and stood up.

It was just as he stood up that he noticed something hitting his foot, and as he lowered his head, he noticed a small red ball.

"Hm?"

He bent over to pick up the ball.

It was squishy, with a long line tracing the middle.

Squishing it a couple of times, he tossed it in the bin next to him.

He shook his head as he did.

"Looks like the cleaners aren’t doing their job properly."

He proceeded to head to work right after that.

This was going to be a busy week.

***

"....."

I sat in silence, staring at the long contract in front of me.

It wasn’t like I didn’t expect it, but reading the terms that were presented in front of me, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of anger.

"This is even more ridiculous and exploitative than my previous company!"

Not only was the salary reduced by half of what they had originally offered, but I was now required to work a minimum of twelve hours every single day with only one day off.

What sort of contract was this?

"In fact, how is this even legal?"

The worst part of it all? This was actually still a little bit better than my previous company.

"...It’s a good thing that I’m not desperate enough to join."

If not for the system, I had a feeling that I’d be forced to take an offer like this.

Closing down the laptop so that I wouldn’t see the contract for any longer, I leaned back on my chair and sighed.

My anger didn’t just stem from the fact that the contract presented to me was extremely exploitative.

No, that didn’t piss me off that much.

I had more or less guessed that something like this would happen.

The part that truly pissed me off was something else.

It was the fact that the CEO had blatantly ignored me despite the promise in the mail. For a brief moment, the entire interview felt like a total waste of time. As though I were being toyed with by the company.

I could feel my blood pressure slowly rise with each passing minute that I spent on the interview.

Thankfully, I was able to remain rational enough and found a new target.

"In hindsight, I may have chosen the best target."

Like Matthias said, the CEO was only in charge of gathering sponsors and managing the company. The one who was truly in charge of the entire ordeal was Matthias.

In that case, he was the best fit for the haunting.

"...I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait for the haunting to take effect, but I’m sure it won’t be long."

I looked at the notification in front of me.

[Matthias: 10%]

[Do you wish to send Mr. Jingles?]

▶ [Yes] ▷ [No]

It didn’t explain much, but somehow, I understood.

’The percentage indicates the level of hypnosis, while the second part is self-explanatory. The greater the percentage, the more hypnothized he will be.’

I pressed [No] for now and looked at the other items on the box. Touching the wig, I tried to send it over, but right as I did, a new notification popped up.

[Cooldown: 23:59]

"So there’s a cooldown."

I should’ve seen this coming.

Nodding my head, I put the wig back into the box before tucking the box under my desk.

"I’m in no hurry. I can wait a couple of days until I can increase the percentage to a level where I’m satisfied."

Checking the time and seeing that I still had some time, I decided to check my phone and answer any questions that the freelancers had for me. In the end, I spent the next two hours like this before it was finally time for me to head back to the dorms.

As I packed my laptop into my bag and left the office, I was greeted by the sight of the Section Chief.

"Oh, good timing."

It looked like he was looking for me.

"...You should’ve received the money by now. In any case, you said that it will take about a week for you to program the game, correct?"

"Yes, about that much."

If everything went well, yes.

"Good, good. In that case, there’s a perfect opportunity for you to showcase the ability of your game."

"Hm?"

I paused for a moment.

What did he mean?

"The Guild has recently hired a batch of new recruits into the department. There are not many, about ten, but considering how we’ve lost quite a few, this might not even be enough."

"....."

"Well, either way, they’re all quite talented. I’d like to use your game to train them. If all goes well, we might start using your game to train the recruits. Oh, and..." The Section Chief paused, looking at me with an ambiguous smile.

"A special guest will be coming."

A special guest?

"Who?"

"...That’ll be a surprise."

The Section Chief chose to remain on the ambiguous side as my leg twitched.

’He’s not a little ghost boy. He’s not a little ghos—wait, no. That’s wrong too.’

"That’s all from me. I just wanted to tell you this before—"

"Wait."

I stopped the Section Chief before he could leave.

"Hm?"

He looked at me curiously.

"You need something else? I thought the budget was—"

"No, it’s not that."

I cut the Section Chief before he could go on a tangent.

"Not that? Then...?"

I took a deep breath, trying my best to suppress my rapidly beating heart.

’It’s worth asking. It’s not like he’ll fire me for asking...’

Staring directly at the Section Chief, I asked,

"Is it possible for me to enter the gates by myself? Or at least, with some supervision, or just look at the general operation? I... I’d like to gain more experience."

I tried my best to hide the trembling in my voice as I asked the Section Chief for this request.

I was somewhat afraid that he’d reject me, but as I slowly raised my head to look at him, I found a large and creepy smile marring his lips.

In that moment, I shuddered.