Monster Company Tycoon Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

I hadn’t even taken more than a few steps before I somehow found myself back at the exact spot where I’d first awakened.

It had happened so quickly that it was almost as if all that running and running until I was out of breath had been a lie.

The enormous black being and the flying dirt doll were still there, just as before.

I felt as though I’d been bewitched by a ghost. I approached them with a humble posture and stood before them.

“Oh, you’re back! You’re back! Where on earth did you rush off to?”

The moment it saw me, the dirt doll began chattering away incessantly.

“Don’t tell me you were trying to run away in the middle of your interview?”

Gulp.

“No, well… I, um, that’s….”

If I told the truth, I felt like it would get angry. As I hesitated and fumbled for words while gauging its reaction, the doll watching my expression suddenly let out a piercing shriek.

“Oh, honestly, Your Majesty the Demon King! You’re being so intimidating that you’re scaring this human! Just look at how their voice is trembling! I’ve advised you so many times to save that attitude for when a Hero comes looking for you!”

“Ahem. Is my appearance frightening?”

“A-a little…?”

I answered the question without thinking.

At that, the oppressive aura that had been weighing down the air all this time dissipated, and the black shroud covering the gigantic being gently slipped away.

What emerged was a bird resembling an enormous owl with ash-gray feathers.

It wasn’t merely chubby; it had a rather hefty build, so much so that its round eyes were half-buried in its downy feathers and plump cheeks.

The fact that it had four legs was a little grotesque, but from the waist up, it actually looked rather cute. Perhaps thanks to its adorable appearance, my fear of the being before me gradually began to fade.

“This form lacks dignity.”

“Is this really the time to worry about dignity in front of your prospective new employee? You’re the one who should be worried, Your Majesty!”

“Ahem.”

Perhaps the little doll’s words had served as a signal to relax, because the owl suddenly twisted its body and flopped down on its throne. Then it scratched its side vigorously with its claws and let out a long yawn.

“You’ve let your guard down way too much! Your Majesty, you have no sense of moderation! None at all!”

The dirt doll began scolding it again, but the owl didn’t pay the slightest attention.

Instead, it looked down at me with its round, bulging eyes.

“You understand now that this is reality, don’t you?”

Its expression seemed a little sulky, so apparently, it knew all about my attempt to run away.

“Y-Yes, sir…!”

I answered with every ounce of seriousness I could muster.

The strange oppressive feeling was still there, but watching the fat owl get bullied by the dirt doll gradually eased my fear.

As a result, my mind slowly began to work again.

I should just accept it now…….

I’d been transported to another dimension, and the outside world was frightening and dangerous. If I ran into another monster like the one I’d just seen, I might genuinely faint.

And what if there were more creatures like that out there?

Judging by the circumstances, I seemed to have survived thanks to sheer luck because I’d been near this place, in other words, near the dungeon.

If that was the case… it would be safer to look for a way to return to my own world from here rather than attempting to escape recklessly.

Which brought me to the question: why not try negotiating with that owl?

If the owl was the reason I’d ended up here, then surely it might be able to send me back to where I’d originally come from, right?

I swallowed nervously.

“Are you ready to sign the contract now? Yaaawn~”

Unlike when we’d first met, the owl’s voice was now filled with unmistakable annoyance.

“Your Majesty, yawning so blatantly is unbecoming!”

“I want to go to sleep right now.”

“You absolutely must finish the contract before you go to sleep! Just how long are you going to leave this dungeon unattended?!”

Think, think! I have to think of something, Gong Choi!

First, let’s figure out exactly where I am.

Come to think of it, this place had been called a dungeon.

Dungeon. It wasn’t an unfamiliar word. It was one I frequently encountered in games. PC games had been the only pleasure in my miserable working life, so I was familiar with the term.

Dungeons were usually places teeming with monsters and traps. They were dangerous locations, but you could defeat enemies and overcome traps to obtain the sweet rewards waiting at the end. They were also places people deliberately sought out to help their characters grow stronger.

I took a deep breath before speaking.

“Before joining the company…… this is my first experience of this kind, so I’m very inexperienced. I believe I’ll need more knowledge to compensate for my shortcomings. I’m sorry to trouble you, but would it be all right if I asked a few questions?”

“You have my permission.”

Despite saying that, the owl’s eyelids were drooping so heavily that they looked ready to close at any moment.

Its expression was indifferent, and it was still vigorously scratching its side with its claws.

“This place… doesn’t seem to be the world I lived in. Where exactly am I?”

“A dimension with more possibilities than the one you inhabited. However, daily life won’t be all that different. Will you sign the contract now?”

“Ah, I’m still not entirely sure. Then, since you said this is a dungeon… are you perhaps something like the dungeon’s boss?”

“Pfft! A boss! Your Majesty, the Demon King, did you hear that? They called you a boss!”

The owl fell silent for a moment. Then, with its eyes half-closed, it stared intently at me.

Feeling uncomfortable under its gaze, I subtly looked away.

“I see. So that is how you understand dungeons? Very well, I understand. Inside a game, huh…”

Its muttering sent a slight chill down my spine. I hadn’t said the word game aloud, yet it seemed obvious that it had read my thoughts.

“You seem to need quite a bit of common knowledge about this world. Especially if you’re going to manage this dungeon properly. Brownie would be perfect for the role of instructor.”

“Brownie?”

“That’s me! Brownie, the resident fairy of this dungeon!”

I had thought it was just a moving, talking clay figurine with an oversized head, but it turned out to be a fairy.

It was so different from the fairies I’d imagined that I couldn’t help feeling as though one of my fantasies had been shattered.

“What should I teach you first? Oh! You just called His Majesty the Demon King a boss, didn’t you? Then I’ll start by telling you about His Majesty.”

Since more information was always better, I decided to listen for now.

“Half of this world is ruled by the Twenty-One Demon Kings! And among them, our Demon King’s rank is……”

Twenty-one Demon Kings? And they even had rankings. The worldbuilding was more elaborate than I’d expected.

I stared intently at Brownie’s tiny mouth, my expression serious.

“Our Demon King’s rank is second–”

“Huh?! Second place?! That’s incredibly strong…!”

“Twenty-first!”

“……!”

I barely managed to swallow the words So, last place…

Looking at the owl, I could somewhat understand why it ranked last.

Even now, it didn’t have a single ounce of motivation, and its face looked as though everything in the world was a bother.

Surely it hadn’t gotten so plump simply because it never moved around?

“All the Demon Kings own dungeons. Dungeons absorb the fear of their visitors, and that fear becomes the Demon King’s power!”

“I see… So Demon Kings operate dungeons. That’s unfamiliar knowledge.”

In any case, the being before me really was a Demon King?

But if it was a Demon King… wasn’t it supposed to be evil?

If the Hero was the embodiment of justice and goodness, then the Demon King was generally the opposite.

And of all things, my résumé had ended up in the hands of a Demon King.

“The more fear a dungeon extracts, the greater its notoriety becomes. That, in turn, leads to the Demon King’s authority. The more notorious the dungeon a Demon King owns, the higher their rank rises.”

“Now that we have a dungeon and will soon have a manager, your rank should rise in no time, Your Majesty!”

I had more or less understood how the dungeon worked. But I still had absolutely no idea how to return to Earth……

Was I really going to be kidnapped and forced to work in this dangerous place?

Just then, an idea suddenly flashed through my mind.

“Compensation! Right, the compensation has to be appropriate for me to work here! E-Even if you find it hard to believe, I’m actually a pretty high-level employee, and I used to receive a high salary!”

As ridiculous as it sounded, salary negotiations were a subject every superior dreaded.

No matter what kind of compensation the Demon King offered, if I kept rejecting it as too low, wouldn’t it have no choice but to give up on hiring me?

“I will give you one billion won every time my rank rises by one position. In the currency of your world.”

“……Pardon?”

The amount was far too large to refuse, and my mind came to a complete halt.

Had I heard that correctly?

I could almost hear the hallucinated sound of a money-counting machine rapidly flipping through banknotes beside my ears.

“One billion… won? Really?”

“We possess a power called causality, which allows us to create various possibilities. By using this power, we can generate any object of value you desire.”

One billion won…. It had said it would pay me every time its rank rose, and the Demon King before me was currently ranked twenty-first.

That meant its rank could rise another twenty positions in the future. In that case… two hundred billion won.

Even if its rank rose by just one position, I’d receive more money than I could hope to earn in an entire lifetime of working!

Until just moments ago, I’d been desperately trying to cancel my employment at the dungeon.

And yet, absurdly enough, I found myself wavering.