“I trust you’re familiar with our institution?”
The briefing and interview took place in an office building across the street from the train station closest to my house. I wondered if the person interviewing me had foreign parents. She had seemingly beautiful blonde hair that didn’t look to be bleached or colored at all, but also black-colored eyes. Her facial features seemed more like those of a Japanese beauty than not.
“Yeah, it’s an institution that’s aimed at building public projects,” I replied.
I was wearing my business suit that I had grown so used to. The institution in question built community buildings, libraries, and even auditoriums for events. They used tax money to do so though, and it resulted in fighting over who was going to pay for maintenance costs.
“Yes, that’s right. We are generally in charge of the management and property maintenance in regards to the community projects our company develops.”
—I see. They would even manage a community building despite problems related to its use and maintenance costs. Interesting.
“So I was wondering... What does this have to do with preferring people with stamina, or those good at games?” I asked.
“Well, since there are a good amount of properties in remote places, having good stamina is beneficial in being able to reach their locations. Now, in relation to games, our company doesn’t just go out to perform general maintenance; we carry out managerial duties as well. We’re well aware that hiring management experts for our projects won’t improve some aspects of our business, though. That’s where the proficiency with games comes in. Wouldn’t a person who is good at games be more adept at improving our management? That’s the idea the company’s President came up with, at least.”
—Remote places? I guess it was dumb of me to assume it would be something more local just because it was in the advertisement stuck in the middle of the newspaper. Nonetheless, if there’s internet and home delivery you can still play all the same.
“I don’t have really anything to lose by giving management a try, but would I be able to move beyond that if things went well?”
“Yes. At the end of the day, the job you’ll be performing is maintenance and management of the location you’re assigned to. If you think maintaining the status quo management-wise is too difficult, then you can change things around as you see fit. And if the situation of the operation improves, you can expect it to be reflected in your salary.”
It wasn’t a bad offer. The fact that I’d be in charge of administration duties on top of the management was surprising, but I wouldn’t mind a salary raise if it went well. Although... it may be a bit presumptuous of me to expect much since they weren’t hiring a professional.
“The trial period before official employment is three months. Salary will be paid out as per the exhibited conditions, but please think of this as your trial period.”
The employment conditions weren’t bad, and it seemed like the interview was a success after some easy questions, so I decided to sign the contract on the spot. As far as formal employment went, this seemed a bit easy to get in, but since they had this trial period thing to test people, I guess that’s how they truly verified applicants.
“There, my signature... and my stamp. Is this the last document?”
“Yes, that’s fine. We’ll be colleagues from here on out. Let me introduce myself, I’m Karumi. We’ll be counting on you, Kousaka-san.”
—Ah, getting hired means we’re colleagues now. That makes sense.
My first condition with people was that they were gamers as well, so I never had this kind of opportunity before. But it wouldn’t be so bad to share a workplace with a beauty like her, even if it meant I needed to cut out any untoward feelings. Her last name was the same as the company name. Maybe it was a family-run management business. That was rather common among smaller companies.
“Thank you very much. Let’s get along together.”
I shook her hand and returned her smile.
Gamers generally had a bad image as far as personal relations went, and to be honest, I was like that too a long time ago. But there was a vast amount of multiplayer games with player-to-player interaction nowadays; not to mention all the clan or guild events that happened inside them, so I did my best to improve my communication skills.
I hadn’t really read any of those how-to books or anything about it. I just had a lifetime of experience meeting and talking to a lot of people. It really came in handy for job hunting and everyday life, so I figured it was a nice skill worth having, even if you didn’t like it. But, well, it still didn’t help much to overcome the hurdle of dealing with a pretty lady as a healthy young man.
“Well, then. Let’s introduce you to your workplace at once.”
Karumi-san led the way and we walked to the door opposite the room we were just now.
—Was that the entrance on the other side? Maybe it leads to the parking lot, the stairs, or even to an elevator.
The door squeaked as she opened it, and in came an unusual wind from the other side. It smelled of overflowing vegetation that reminded me of a time I had traveled to the mountains. A second ago I was walking over hard ceramic tiles, but all of a sudden it felt like I was stepping on soft soil.
—Huh...?
Before I had even noticed, I was met with an awe-inspiring view from the bottom of the ravine.
“It looks like you’ve been assigned to Labyrinth #228, Kousaka-san. The conditions may prove to be somewhat harsh, but please do your best. Well then, we’ll meet again when your training period is over.”
“Eh? Labyrinth? Excuse me, can you repeat that?”
When I turned around, the only thing I managed to catch was the door getting slammed shut behind me. Upon closer inspection, all that was left in its place was a rugged wall of solid gray rock. There weren’t any traces of the door or the office I had come from mere seconds ago.