Naitmel’s headquarters lay underground.
The building on the surface was merely a property owned by the company, rented out to generate income and to conceal the true location of the headquarters from the general public.
Although ordinary people had no idea where Naitmel’s headquarters were, the hero companies definitely knew, and even the Hero Association was aware. But no one was foolish enough to charge straight into the enemy’s stronghold, deliberately picking a fight they couldn’t win—that would just be handing over performance metrics to the opposition.
Squirrel stood in front of the building but hesitated to go inside.
Knowing full well she was about to be fired, it took tremendous courage just to step through the company doors. She paced back and forth anxiously, unable to bring herself to enter.
“Mr. Squirrel? What are you doing here?”
A calm voice came from behind.
Turning around, she saw a tall, thin man in a suit, his body writhing with black fungal mycelium. He stood rigidly at the bottom of the steps, staring at her with a face devoid of any features.
If anyone else were being stared at by such a terrifying creature, their heart might just stop responding.
“Minister Mostima…”
Seeing him gave Squirrel a slight sense of relief.
“You still recognize me?”
Squirrel’s current appearance was a combat body generated from her original data, different from Magical Girl Clara. Although both were black-haired lolis, they didn’t look alike.
Even so, Mostima could still recognize her, which made Squirrel somewhat curious.
“Of course, your aura hasn’t changed.”
“Aura?”
Mostima pointed at his constantly writhing, faceless visage.
“We have no eyes, so we can only recognize others by their aura. Everyone’s aura is unique. No matter what form you take, we can still identify you.”
“Hm, a scent?”
Squirrel raised her sleeve to sniff, but she didn’t notice any smell.
“No, calling it a scent isn’t accurate. It’s more like the soul.”
Mostima bent down to examine Squirrel more closely, finally pressing his face against her squid-patterned tie at her chest and asked:
“So, are you in a rush because you forgot your employee card?”
“No, I have it.”
Squirrel pulled the employee card from her pocket and hung it around her neck.
Normal people check their phone, wallet, and keys before leaving the house. Salarymen add their employee card to the list. Even if she was here to be fired, Squirrel wouldn’t forget to bring it.
After all, without an employee card at Naitmel, you couldn’t even enter the headquarters.
“Then what’s the issue? If you don’t mind, you can tell us… if you’re not afraid of us.”
Mostima’s warmth was in stark contrast to his appearance, mixed with hesitation from wanting to approach but fearing to scare her. This made it difficult for Squirrel to refuse.
“Let’s go in first. If I don’t enter soon, I’ll be late.”
She sighed and reluctantly followed Mostima into the company building.
Mostima’s appearance wouldn’t look out of place even in a horror movie. He caused passersby to instinctively feel timid. Office workers kept their distance, and women caught off guard by him would let out sharp little screams.
Squirrel was used to weird people, especially after her previous experience in the Prison Department, so she was more accepting of Mostima’s looks. But while waiting for the elevator, she couldn’t help but ask:
“Minister Mostima, why don’t you get a mimicry surgery?”
“That’s a bit difficult.”
“Hm?” Squirrel didn’t understand.
Mimicry technology was already mature. Although Naitmel didn’t encourage its use, a minister-level executive could definitely get approval to undergo it.
Mostima pointed at the writhing contours of his face.
“Mr. Squirrel, the Mostima you know is not an individual entity.”
Squirrel paused before understanding his meaning.
“Oh, a mycelial network?”
Mostima was a fungus monster—a collective consciousness of fungi. Thinking about it, it made sense. She just wondered if he got injured, could he recover by simply washing up…
The tall, thin figure formed by countless fungi nodded firmly.
“For mimicry, there are still disagreements about which appearance to choose, so we decided to maintain this form.”
“Ah, seems even minister-level monsters have it rough…”
Squirrel sighed. The elevator arrived.
A normal elevator only went up, but to reach Naitmel’s underground headquarters, you had to enter the freight elevator and swipe your employee card to go down.
Only Mostima and Squirrel were inside. After a moment’s hesitation, she spoke:
“Minister Mostima, actually… I think I’m going to be fired.”
“Because you can no longer work in the Executive Department?”
“Yeah, maybe because of that incident in the Modification Department.”
At the time, Fran said that if she couldn’t stay in the Executive Department, she could transfer to the Modification Department as her assistant, but now she was on the firing list herself.
Judging by this, the Modification Department incident must have been quite serious.
“Do you want to come to the Prison Department? We can apply to Miss Maya for you… though it might not be approved since the Prison Department is rarely used.”
Squirrel remembered Mostima’s subordinates—the two prison guards she first saw standing behind him, their heads covered with mycelium, and she wondered if they still had any self-awareness.
Working in the Prison Department sounded a little scary.
“Thanks, but that’s probably impossible. The Modification Department incident caused heavy losses. To report to the board, the Boss needs someone to take the fall… sigh…”
The rapidly descending elevator finally reached the headquarters entrance.
“Exchange contact information. If you have any difficulties in the future, you can reach out to us. Even if you’re no longer with the company, it’s okay.”
Squirrel didn’t quite understand where Mostima’s kindness came from. It felt like they had been friends for a long time, even though they hadn’t interacted much.
“Is QTalk okay?” Squirrel asked.
“Yeah, no problem.”
After adding Minister Mostima as a friend, she watched him take the central elevator deeper into headquarters. Squirrel remained at the entrance, unsure of where to go next.
Standing still, she felt out of place among the busy employees.
Should she go to the Executive Department to pack her things?
Or report directly to Human Resources?
Or maybe first visit Fran in the Modification Department?
“Excuse me, are you Mr. Squirrel?”
Just as she hesitated, the receptionist approached with a greeting.
Squirrel looked up. A stream of data passed over the receptionist’s retina as she verified Squirrel’s identity.
“Yes, that’s me…”
It seemed Miss Maya had already made arrangements.
The receptionist continued, “Mr. Squirrel, please proceed directly to the Overlord’s office. The Boss has been waiting for some time.”
“The Overlord?!”
She was just a low-level employee getting fired…
Would such a trivial matter warrant the Overlord’s personal announcement?
This unexpected development made Squirrel feel that this dismissal…
Might not be so simple after all.