When X regained her focus, she was still in the Manager's room. It seemed she hadn't moved at all; nothing had changed. But as she lifted her head, she noticed a difference: the monitors, which were previously normal, now displayed a scene of chaotic crimson chaos.
The status message for Safety Department Dean Netzach was constantly flickering in the lower right corner of the screen. Meanwhile, the meltdown alarm sound, coupled with the rioting, synchronized into an ineffable piece of electronic punk music.
[A...? Manager, the Safety Department employees are acting strange. Can you check the situation for me?]
[The employees' behavior is very odd, Manager. Have you noticed the situation here... Never mind, there are plenty of strange things here anyway.]
The chibi figures on the screen moved frantically within the Department. The containment unit doors were wide open, not even shut. Because of this, another employee who had turned into a monster waited inside the unit without escaping.
The remaining Safety Department employees were attacking employees from other Departments... They were fighting with the Control Department employees.
When an employee loses control, the best method is to awaken them. However, under normal circumstances, the employee's weapon would kill the unbalanced employee before they could regain clarity.
Eventually, the Control Department employees wiped out all the Safety Department employees. The Safety Department fell into complete silence, with only a few scattered clerks cleaning up the corpses in the hallway.
[Safety Department employees... Ah... They are all dead already? Manager, is this what you promised me?]
[The entire Safety Department is wiped out... What else can you say? I'm listening, Manager .]
Sentence after sentence of sarcastic, harsh words came from the bottom-left corner of the screen. X desperately wanted to say something, to respond, and also wanted to resolve this situation, but she could do nothing; she could only watch.
What has happened cannot be undone...
She had ignored those warnings, disregarded the Deans' ridicule, and continued to command the remaining employees to perform Repression work on the contained items. After successive Repressions, they obtained PE-BOXes to satisfy the energy needs. The intelligence about the Abnormalities was gradually unlocked.
With massive employee casualties hanging over her, she completed today's energy quota herself.
Was all of this... worth it?
[I... perhaps my expectations for you were too high... Manager .]
[Malkuth, you should have known long ago that this fellow only sees energy... Ah, all my employees here are dead. What choice did I have?]
Even Dean Malkuth, who usually encouraged her and believed in her ability, wore a disappointed expression. Although the energy quota was met, no one showed any sign of happiness.
X wanted to speak up and explain something, but she was in her own simulation; she couldn't change the actions she had consciously taken.
Commanding employees from the Manager's room while facing the screen: although she offered no rebuttal to the Deans' sarcasm, she remained stubborn. She didn't listen to advice at all, and after collecting the energy for the day, she clocked out immediately, not sparing even a moment for overtime.
What followed was the development seen in the simulation: she was reported by the Deans, abandoned her duties, and the AI Secretary, after 'listening' to the Deans' opinions, locked down the Manager's room and decided to 'educate' the Manager.
Under her peculiar perspective, it was just like the first moment she opened her eyes to find herself tied to a chair in the Corporation. She was bound to the chair by Angela using red ribbons.
The red ribbons were doubled over, wrapping around her neck, then knotted below her collarbones, around her sternum and waist.
They then circled her waist down towards her back, tied off slightly to the side.
The red ribbons passed behind her neck where the collar was, then were pulled to the left and right, adjusted in position while being tightened, before finally being tucked into her waistband.
[Manager, are you truly reflecting on your actions?]
The intelligent AI asked this, but... whether she reflected or not, it shouldn't matter to her.
[Employees are important assets and resources of the Corporation. For such simple assimilation to result in so many employee casualties, you clearly haven't put your heart into your work.]
The intelligent AI's slightly cold hands rested against X's chin, forcing X to lift her head to face her.
[You should know that if a Manager fails her duties, she deserves to be punished.]
With her knees braced, her already unstable center of gravity became even more precarious, further restricted by the chair.
Her golden pupils dilated due to some anxiety. X stared at the increasingly large intelligent AI that was touching her so casually, and fear began to race through her mind.
Anxiety... worry, perhaps mixed with more complex emotions.
What she absolutely did not want to experience was that so-called punishment. It was an indescribable feeling of loathing. She genuinely, utterly detested these things; she absolutely did not want to experience them, nor could she allow the intelligent AI to do such a thing.
Her hands touched her sleeves: the buttons on the black shirt were finely fastened, though the position was slightly wrinkled due to the constraints of the ribbons.
But this increasing closeness... X hated this feeling.
Perhaps it was this intense feeling of disgust that triggered some form of self-preservation mechanism...
The simulation snapped. X recoiled from the replay scene. Besides breaking out in a cold sweat, nothing seemed to have happened, as if it were just an illusion. Time was still paused at the moment the Secretary was preparing coffee.
Everything was fine, everything was fine...
[Manager, here is your coffee. I added milk and sugar according to your request. If you need more, you can add it automatically.]
The terrifying AI Secretary from the simulation was now brewing coffee. The richly milky, fragrant coffee was placed in Manager X's hand. On the surface of the brown liquid floated an exquisitely beautiful latte art, just as before.
This should have been a relaxing moment, but X didn't even dare to look directly at the Secretary. Her gaze was fixed only on the coffee and the screen, pretending that her entire attention was focused on her work, leaving no room to pay attention to trivial matters or the Secretary beside her.
She dared not look; she feared that looking would invite disaster. Just hearing the Secretary's voice, indifferent yet deceptively gentle, made X's skin crawl. The rich aroma of the coffee now felt more like a lethal Poison.
The screen still displayed a stable scene. There were no flashing red triangular Warning icons, no piercing Alarms, and no alternating bombardment from the Deans triggered by management failure.
The official Workday had only just begun. X knew she could still salvage this. No tragedy had struck yet; everything could be reversed—both the loss of Employee lives and her own Reputation.
"Netzach, notify the Employees to swap their weapons for Tactical Batons while guarding the [F-02-44] containment unit. Find an Employee with enough Courage and strong Mental Fortitude to perform Repression work on [F-02-44]. If anyone loses control and breaches, suppress them instantly."
Drawing from the Simulation's lessons, she first ordered the equipment change, replacing standard gear with E.G.O. gear that packed far more Lethality. This would minimize casualties during internal combat and make Suppression far easier.
The Abnormalities currently held in the Control and Safety departments were the docile types. They wouldn't riot; they just waited quietly in their Containment units—the easier ones to handle. The real threats to guard against were mentally unstable Employees and the Rule Contamination that followed any violation of Abnormality protocols.
The faster one chases a Quota, the easier it is to fail. Although the Corporation's energy Quota was urgent, it wasn't impossible. Without the pressure of immediate deadlines, prioritizing Employee status and allowing them to work only after sufficient Rest was the safest play.
Forcing Employees into non-stop labor just to chase meaningless Achievements would only degrade their status and kill Efficiency, eventually leading to a total Collapse and secondary incidents.
Treating Employees with kindness was a necessity. X was beginning to realize this wasn't about Pity; rather, it was the most effective Management method to hit the Quota.
Benevolent governance builds a solid rule and wins Loyalty. As a rookie Manager, X had no guarantee that the Deans would listen to her or even respect her Title if she didn't project Authority. Otherwise, her rank would be nothing but a pathetic formality.
"Malkuth, have the new Employee perform Attachment work on [One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds] three times, then cycle to the next one."
Harvesting energy from a single Abnormality was too slow. The Control Department entity, [One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds], was almost entirely harmless. It was currently the key for training Employees in Attachment work to sharpen their specific Skills.
The Corporation harvested Energy by grinding down Abnormalities, and the only way to do that was by deploying Employees. They were the most vital components, and their individual Stats were everything. Only by training Employees to possess superior Stats could they survive dangerous Abnormalities and harsher tasks.
Under [Pause] and [Double Speed], she repeatedly juggled tasks, monitoring both the physical and mental states of her workers. If she saw any decline, she immediately ordered the Employee back to the Lounge to recover.
The [Regenerator] provided by the Corporation could wipe away mental Fatigue and heal physical Damage, bringing strained or contaminated nerves back to a stable state. From the Manager's perspective, this took very little time before they were ready to resume.
When she saw a Safety Department worker finish with [F-02-44] and hit an [Excellent] result, X finally let out a small sigh of relief, letting her golden eyes drift from the screen for a moment.
She opened the sugar jar and dropped two more cubes into her coffee, stirring. The milky sweetness finally drowned out the bitterness in X's mouth—it was a silky, comforting flavor. The hit of sugar made X feel much better.
One Employee entered the Safety Department lounge to recover, while another was assigned to step in and take over the shift.
X noticed on the monitor that [F-02-44] had pressed its body low against the floor of the containment unit. Its hideous form looked like a grasshopper with shattered legs. The way it constantly shook its head while its insectile suckers twitched seemed to convey a single, desperate message to X.
After the employee finished the [Repression] work, the object was visibly damaged; it couldn't hold out much longer.
Despite the monster's revolting appearance, it wouldn't lash out at employees. It simply bled mental contamination through its repulsive shell and sickening aura. Perhaps it had a twisted preference, specifically craving the pain of [Repression] work.
It was almost as if it were begging for the end, pleading with the employee to kill it and liberate its physical body from existence.
"Netzach, order an employee to perform Insight work on [F-02-44], then immediately follow up with Repression work. Keep alternating between them."
"Do not initiate Repression when [F-02-44] is pressed down; find another way."
X watched the status of the Abnormality with a cold eye, trying to decipher the monster's condition and the rules governing it. Although X didn't know the exact punishments within the simulator, she remembered the lethal consequences of mismanagement.
The most disturbing fact was that continuous Repression would kill the monster, but the employee who delivered the final blow would be pulled into the unit to replace it, becoming a New Monster.
It was an endless, spreading curse. The monster died, but a New Monster always rose to take its place, desperately begging the next person to grant it the same bloody release.
However, Subject Number [F-02-44] only responded well to Repression. The success rate for anything else was abysmal, almost guaranteeing a disaster for the current staff.
The energy output was pathetic, barely enough to be patched up by the mercy of [One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds] to cover the deficit.
Compared to [F-02-44], which could slaughter an employee for a single rule violation, the Control Department's[One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds] was a relief to X. It required far less effort to manage.
It was one of the few Abnormalities that would never harm a soul while delivering positive results. If every monster in this hellhole was as docile as [One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds], the world would be a much simpler place.
But that was a fantasy. Everyone knew the truth. If Abnormalities were this tame, why was the employee turnover rate so goddamn high? Perhaps even the Manager turnover rate was just as bad.
What number was X in the long line of Managers at Lobotomy Corporation? She didn't know, and she didn't ask. Angela wouldn't give her a straight answer anyway. The AI was a wall of mystery, only speaking when necessary and only feeding X the scraps of information she needed to survive.
The only thing X knew for certain was that her AI Secretary had a warped sense of humor. Angela would find amusement in X's struggles whenever she was bored, constantly inventing excuses to 'punish' her unworthy Manager.
The thought of those punishments made X shiver, a chill colder than a can of ice-cold Coca-Cola. Even a flat, room-temperature Coca-Cola ruined by shaking would be better than facing Angela's wrath.
"Netzach, that employee's mental state is redlining. Get him to the lounge and send a replacement. Watch the situation closely; [F-02-44] cannot take any more Repression."
"Malkuth, the employee who received the headband gift from [One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds] is done. Send in the next one; everyone without a gift needs to get in there."
Commands were barked out one after another. Under the crushing pressure from the AI Secretary and the Deans, X poured every ounce of focus into her work, trying to block out the intrusive thoughts.
If she did her job perfectly, she gave the AI Secretary fewer excuses to hurt her, and the defiant Department Deans would have less to complain about.
That gnawing anxiety drove X to perform exceptionally well today. Not a single error. She handled Assimilation warnings instantly. No mental breaks. No deaths.
No employees died in the halls, and no one died in the units. They weren't devoured by monsters, and they weren't beaten to death by the Suppression gear of their own colleagues. Peace—a word that didn't belong in the Corporation—had somehow appeared in the reports.
After working overtime to ensure every employee was geared up from the Abnormalities, X finally called the end of the shift.
She hadn't just met the energy quota; she had cleared the tasks set by Malkuth and Netzach.
X had kept the Abnormalities stable, and the employees had achieved [Excellent] work ratings. Best of all, there were zero casualties—even the Clerks in charge of cleanup had survived the day.
It was a miracle. The cracks in the walls weren't stuffed with minced meat, and the floors weren't slick with blood. The hallways were silent, devoid of screams or roars.
The atmosphere wasn't exactly warm, but it was harmonious. Today was a rare day of unity. The lounges were safe. The halls were safe. Nothing exploded into chaos.
X didn't know how many cups of coffee she had drained, but when she finally looked away from the screen, the cup on her desk was stone cold. It matched the freezing air of the Manager's room.
She didn't care. She reached for the cup to finish it, but Angela stopped her.
[Manager, cold coffee is to be discarded. I will brew a fresh cup for you.]
Angela took the cup and poured the cold liquid down the drain. X heard the hollow SWISH-SWOOSH of the running water.
"What a waste," X muttered. She reached for the sugar jar instead and popped a cube into her mouth, crunching down on it.
She didn't really want the coffee; she just wanted the sugar hit. Sugar dissolved the anxiety and let her overworked brain slide into a moment of relaxation. Directing from behind a screen wasn't as easy as it looked.
It was a job that drained the soul. You had to catch every tiny detail, track the monsters' moods, guard the employees' lives, and satisfy the impossible demands of the Deans.
But at least today was perfect. No one died. The quota was met. The Deans were satisfied. For now, the Corporation was still.