73
The Bet and Inheritance
“Did you submit your resignation letter properly?”
When I faced Sebastian at home and heard that question, I finally realized what I had done. So I went to submit my resignation letter, but then cheerfully said, “Well, I’ll wait a bit longer,” and came back happily? Looking at Sebastian’s face, I remembered what I had done at the company. And suddenly, I suspected that the deputy director and director might have been playing “good cop, bad cop” to persuade me.
“Armin?”
Sebastian asked with a kind face, and I couldn’t speak. He had polished me up so nicely, telling me to submit my resignation letter and live such a cool life, but I ended up stuttering there and concluding with “Then I’ll continue working.”
As I blinked frantically, he smirked.
“You couldn’t do it, huh?”
I swallowed hard. I looked at Sebastian’s face, but he was just smiling warmly like the Virgin Mary. I nodded once to answer that I couldn’t do it, and his smile became even gentler. With an ominous feeling, I was about to hurriedly make excuses, saying, “No, well…”
Sebastian suddenly held out one hand in the air. What, what is it? What does he want? But he held it out to the side, not towards me. Not understanding what it meant, I stared blankly at his hand, when Kouri grumbled, “Ah, he can’t even submit one resignation letter, really!” and placed money in Sebastian’s hand.
“Unbelievable!”
Efroy despaired. She also put money in Sebastian’s hand, and it looked like everyone was coughing up at least a month’s salary. What’s going on? As I watched with my mouth agape, everyone glared at me as if I was their parents’ enemy or the world’s biggest idiot. When Sebastian’s hand was overflowing with money after all the security team members had placed money on it, Nakaban stood up.
“I, overestimated, Schnieke, too much.”
Nakaban gritted his teeth at me and placed money on Sebastian’s hand, but the amount he put down, despite being the angriest at me, was just a single 10 Leed bill. Are you really doing this to me with just 10 Leed? Even beggars would curse you for giving them 10 Leed these days!
Then I heard the sound of something rushing towards us. It’s an ominous sound, I thought, and at that moment, the door flew open as if it was about to fall off its hinges.
“Armin Schnieke! Did you really fail to resign?!”
Mr. Becker burst in with anger. He was clutching a wad of bills in one hand. I glared at my fiancé.
“Just how many people’s fortunes have you swindled using me as an excuse?”
“Swindled is not the right word. I’m a benevolent person. I limited everyone to a month’s salary when they were going crazy wanting to bet their entire fortune.”
Their entire fortune…
It seems that the people who bet on whether I could resign or not even wanted to bet their entire fortune on me being able to resign. No wonder… Efroy’s ominous directing, and even the breakfast being especially delicious, it all remained in my memory. Wait, were these people trying to make a profit using me?!
“How could you fail to submit a resignation letter even after suffering such humiliation? Are you a pushover?!”
Efroy complained, and
“I had a bad feeling about this.”
Nakaban, who lost only 10 Leed, or just 10 cents in US dollars, gritted his teeth with a devastated look.
“Ah, could this be a slave state, I mean, brainwashing or something?!”
The second security guard, unable to accept it, raised an objection, and
“It’s possible! Such things happen in our industry! We should have a psychological examination done by a psychiatrist…”
The third guard seized the opportunity to add firepower to the second’s objection, but Sebastian quelled the rebellion with a face that said, ‘How cute you all are playing.’
“Didn’t we do a psychiatric and psychological examination last year? I obtained and checked it.”
Ah… You’ve already done it.
The two of them shut their mouths tight. Their eyeballs rolled to the right, then to the left. That’s when the youngest security guard asked.
“But, losing money aside, why didn’t you resign?”
Finally, everyone’s eyes turned to me. Sebastian poured the money piled on his hand onto the money already on the floor. Then he approached me.
“Yes, I’m curious too. What did your director do?”
He was certain that Andrea Dill had done something. He didn’t seem to consider the possibility that I might have changed my mind or that someone else might have offered me something. I scratched my head.
“Well…”
It’s a bit personal, but somehow, I felt like even my personal life wasn’t much of a secret here. After all, I know about these people’s personal lives too. They are all victims of Canaris. They are people who have bet their lives on revenge against them.
So it wasn’t difficult to speak. It was just a bit of a long story.
After hearing my story, Kouri summarized it in one sentence.
“Director Dill is truly an amazing woman. She’s capable of controlling the Rotman Security Bureau.”
She’s amazing, but it seemed like there was some amazingness that I didn’t know about, so I stared at him. Then Nakaban sighed on the other side.
“She brings out the biological father card here? She’s insane.”
“I wonder how long she’s known about the existence of that biological father?”
When Efroy asked Nakaban, he answered with a face that suggested it was obvious.
“She probably looked into it right after joining. She’s ruthless, truly ruthless. To have kept that hidden until now and use it at this moment. Anyway, Mr. Riegel was right.”
“What did Sebastian say?”
What was Sebastian thinking when he bet on the opposite side while everyone else was betting their entire fortune? Hearing about the contents of the bet, Sebastian apparently matched the amount of money that people bet. In other words, if I had submitted my resignation letter, everyone except Sebastian would have won as much money as they bet. They clamored that they could bet their entire fortune, but Sebastian restrained them to a month’s salary, saying, ‘I’m facing all of you alone, so take it easy.’ The gist of this bet was that everyone except Nakaban bet a month’s salary. However, Sebastian was confident that I wouldn’t be able to submit my resignation letter, and it seemed that he limited it to a month’s salary because he couldn’t take the entire fortune of the people he works with.
“He said Director Dill would have a joker or two up her sleeve.”
“Is that why you bet 10 Leed?”
“No. I just didn’t trust Mr. Schnieke. Watching his back as he left for work, I had a bad feeling.”
But because everyone else was in the mood to bet on my resignation, he shrugged, saying it would be awkward not to bet at all, so he bet the minimum amount. However, Nakaban was the only person among those who lost money who directly expressed anger towards me. Surprisingly, he seemed to be the type who values money quite a bit.
“You thought the director wouldn’t let me go?”
When I asked Sebastian, he hummed and smiled. That meant yes.
“Why?”
I was curious why he thought the director would have a joker even for an employee like me, why he thought she would try to dissuade me from resigning. Then Sebastian smiled.
“You’re one of the employees with a high mission success rate in the security bureau. Of course, there are employees with higher success rates than you. But you’re number one in the speed of completing missions successfully. As Kouri said, if one thing is perfect, the other uncertain elements can be compensated for. It’s hard to find a person who’s perfect in everything. You lack perception and can’t do office politics worth a damn, but you’re perfect when it comes to work. Above all, there have been no casualties or traitors from your team. It shows your ability to control your team. When such a capable employee leaves, the manager has to fill that hole. Employees like you are hard to find. That’s the first reason. Secondly, your fiancé is me. It’s not only hard to find an employee like you, but it’s impossible to find an employee like you who has a chaebol heir boyfriend like me. As long as you’re tied to that workplace, I’ll inevitably be favorable to the security bureau. How convenient would it be when they want to borrow a chaebol’s connections? Thirdly, she’s Nina Volkari’s lover. She wants to pass on the director position to Volkari. Of course, she’d want to pass it on in the best possible form. The security bureau is already in a mess. A Canaris spy was found in the upper ranks. Of course, the director will try her best to resolve this situation, but what if we deal a significant blow to Canaris? She’ll be promoted, and she can’t pass up that opportunity. In that case, Volkari must absolutely become the director, but would she want her to clean up the mess she made, or inherit something she’s made perfect? Human greed is all similar. For that, you’re an essential inheritance element.”
I remembered Nina Volkari’s eyes looking at the director. Those eyes full of aspiration. However, I couldn’t recall anything particular about the director’s gaze. That’s because Volkari’s gaze was so intense.
But it seems Sebastian had been observing the director’s eyes as well.
“It’s strange.”
When I said this, Sebastian asked with his eyes what was strange, so I answered honestly.
“I knew there were people who liked the same sex, but I didn’t think they were people I’d see often. My father is also a priest… Anyway, they weren’t people who caught my eye much. But after getting into this relationship with you, I suddenly feel like I’m seeing a lot of homosexuals.”
“Humans naturally only see what they’re interested in. Some people say this shows that human nature is selfish, while others say it’s good at selection and focus.”
“Which side are you on?”
“The side that thinks those who believe the nature of billions of people can be explained in one line are idiots.”
Hahaha, I burst out laughing. It was so typical of Sebastian.
