The day couldn’t have started any worse.
Let alone the massive headache that I was experiencing due to the hangover. My very own team thought I had gotten dumped.
What nonsense!
‘I’ll make sure to work them to the bone if that’s the last thing I’ll do.’
I clicked my tongue before leaning back on my chair and staring at the performance report in front of me. Everyone present had already seen it, and they were all just looking at me, waiting for me to say something.
“Do I even need to say anything…?”
Everyone was quiet.
…Or it was more like, everyone was too ashamed to say anything.
I looked around the room and thought about saying something, but I decided that I didn’t need to.
Everyone here was aware enough of what had gone wrong.
There was no need for me to say anything.
‘In a way, this experience was good too. From this point forward, I don’t think they’ll protest my decisions as much. Or at least, they’ll take my opinion more into consideration.’
I could tell that the way they were looking at me was different compared to before.
In a way, I had proven my abilities to them.
That made me somewhat nervous.
While I had managed to clear this gate without too many issues, the fact was that I was still terrified of scary things. It was just that my tolerance had increased compared to the past.
However, if I were placed in a higher-ranked scenario, I’d without a doubt shit my pants.
‘I’m also worried about the fact that gates increase in rank when I go into them. What are they gonna think if they realize that all the gates I go in will increase in rank?’
That was surely not going to be a good thing.
Ugh.
My head hurt even more.
‘No, whatever. Let me handle this work in front of me first.’
I turned the performance report in front of me and flipped to the next page, where a blank section appeared. A Squad Leader’s role wasn’t just to guide the recruits through a gate and help them clear it.
No, they also had the unfortunate responsibility of writing down what went wrong, what could’ve been done better, and so on.
‘…It feels like I’m back in high school.’
Taking a pen, I started writing everything down on the paper.
It was originally supposed to be an easy task, but it turned out that the problems that were present were a lot more than I originally expected, as I ended up filling the page and even taking extra paper.
By the time I was done, it was already lunchtime, and as I raised my head, I realized that the office area was empty.
No, not quite…
“Are you not going to eat?”
Niel was still there, seated at his cubicle with his eyes fixed on the monitor. He paused briefly, then turned to look at me.
He adjusted his glasses.
“…I do intermittent fasting. I tend to eat later than the others.”
“Intermittent fasting?”
What the hell is that?
“You don’t know?”
Niel tilted his head slightly, then pushed his glasses up with his finger, a habit he seemed particularly fond of.
“Intermittent fasting is a dieting method where you eat during a specific window of time each day. Within that eating window, you can eat what you like as long as you stay in a caloric deficit. Once the window closes, you fast until it opens again. This cycle typically repeats every 24 hours.”
“Oh…?”
This actually sounded quite interesting.
However, I wasn’t really looking to diet. If anything, I needed to gain weight.
I was still curious.
“But looking at you, I don’t see why you’d need to do this. You look fit enough to me.”
“I am fit because I do this.”
Niel corrected as he started to go into another tangent.
“During my Academy days, I tended to be on the chubbier side. This is mainly due to my Decree. I’m sure you’re already aware, but I’m of the Hunter Decree. My ability allows me to—”
Niel paused mid-sentence.
As if realizing something, he looked at me and lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“….?”
Why was he suddenly apologizing?
Was he schizophrenic?
Raising his head again, Niel explained, “I actually tend to go on different tangents all the time. I speak too much for my own good. I’m sure I’m boring you with my talk.”
He stood up from his seat and grabbed his bag.
“Even if I’m not eating, I’m sure you have a lot of work to do. I’ll—”
“You’re not bothering me.”
I dismissively waved my hand at him.
Ding!
At the same time, I felt my pocket vibrate, but I ignored it.
“If anything, I was actually quite curious. As your Squad Leader, I’m interested in learning more about you and everyone else.”
I hated talking to people. I hated strangers more.
However, I knew how to be professional when I needed to be. Even though I didn’t want to socialize, I knew that this was part of my job.
“…..”
Perhaps not expecting such words from me, Niel stood in silence while staring at me.
His face turned complicated shortly after.
“…I’m sorry.”
I rolled my eyes.
This again?
“What—”
“I’m sorry for how I treated you before.”
I paused this time.
This caught me a little off guard. I didn’t expect him to apologize to me. In fact, he didn’t even need to apologize to me. His actions weren’t even wrong back then.
“I don’t thin—”
“No, I have to do it.”
Niel stopped me before I could get the words out of my mouth.
He pushed the strap of his bag higher.
“…I’ll admit. I wasn’t very satisfied with the fact that you were our Squad Leader. It wasn’t because of your lack of powers. I am fine with that. However, it’s mainly because of the rumors that I heard about you.”
“Rumors…?”
Ding!
I paused and frowned.
‘There are rumors about me?’
I always thought I was the type to lie low and not bother anyone. I didn’t expect there to be rumors about me. But thinking about it now… I guess there had always been rumors about me.
From how I carried myself during the time when I was developing my second game to my relationship with Kyle.
The fact that there were bad rumors about me shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
Ding!
I let out a sigh, about to speak, when Niel’s next words made my expression freeze.
“They said that you like to take credit from others, and that the only reason you managed to get into your position was due to your close relationship with one of the star members. I shouldn’t have immediately trusted the rumors. I probably should’ve come to you first and told you about them.”
“….What?”
I didn’t know what to say.
I just stared blankly at Niel for a couple of seconds.
However, in those few seconds, all sorts of thoughts crossed my mind as a certain figure popped up in my head, and my lips pulled into a smile. I didn’t even feel the need to be angry.
‘It’s him, isn’t it? He’s the on—’
“S-squad Leader..? Is everything okay?”
Snapping out of it, I raised my head to see Niel stare at me with a look of apprehension.
My brow raised.
“That…” He paused, pointing at his face. “You were making a scary face so…”
“Oh.”
I probably was.
But—
‘Just what in the world is going on?’
Ding!
Feeling my phone vibrate again, I finally took it out my phone from my pocket and checked what was going on.
However, the moment I did, my expression couldn’t help but change.
‘….!?’