Month-End Evaluation

“So, you got any money?”
“Luckily, I’ve got a bit.”
“A bit isn’t going to cut it.”

Scorpion gave me a dubious look, but I pulled out my phone. Not the one I’d been using all along; this was the burner he’d gotten hold of for me. Hero Gamble only needed an ID and a password to log in, so a change of phone made no difference.

…Wait, what?

It had been a while since I’d logged in, and the balance was wrong. There should have been nine hundred and eighty million won sitting in that account, so where had a hundred million gone? The answer was waiting in Hero Gamble’s notification window.

“…”

My hand tightened around the phone all by itself. Helping herself to a hundred million won without so much as asking. I was angry for a moment, but it was true enough that a single win on Hero Gamble would make a hundred million back.

“Did you… by any chance take money from Belia?”
“Hm? Didn’t I tell you that the first time we met?”
“Did you…?”
“That’s right. I got a hundred million won from Lady Belia. She asked me to look out for you the whole time you’re at the company.”
“…”
“Lady Belia showed you mercy, so work hard at that company of yours! Gwahaha!”

The money wasn’t Belia’s. It was mine. Where was the mercy in that? Absurd, but I didn’t bother saying so.

“So how do you get to this black market?”
“You head into the interior of the Villain Special City. Go on your own and you’ll vanish without a living soul knowing about it.”
“…”
“You know how the Villain Special City is laid out?”
“Not in any detail.”
“Hm, all right. Then I’ll make a special exception and tell you.”

The Villain Special City, Scorpion explained, split into three broad zones.

“The outskirts, where we are, is the Outer Zone. Petty crooks not worth mentioning, of course, but you’ll also see plenty of ordinary people who got hired into Villain organizations.”
“It felt safer than I expected — is that why?”
“That’s right. The real thing is the Middle Zone.”

I called up the layout of the city in my head. The Outer Zone had a fair number of people moving through it. Go even a kilometer deeper, though, and the high-rises closed in, shanty towns piled at their feet, blocking any clear view of what lay inside. From there on had to be the city’s true face.

“From the Middle Zone in, ordinary people must never set foot. The roads are laid out like a maze, and on top of that, real outlaws live there.”
“Don’t tell me the black market is…”
“That’s right, the black market’s inside the Middle Zone. It’s close to the Outer Zone at least, so you’ll be fine.”
“…”
“Gwahaha! Don’t shake like that. I’ve got things to buy myself, so I’ll go along with you.”
“Thank you…”

Scorpion clapped my shoulder, a wordless ‘you can relax now.’ With that fearsome face of his beside me I did feel safer, but my own face was out there for everyone to know now, and I found myself wondering whether I ought to put on a mask or something.

“Right, let’s make the black market a weekend thing.”
“Understood.”
“Hm? Where do you think you’re off to?”
“Yes…?”

I had made an awkward half-turn toward the dormitory when Scorpion caught me by the shoulder.

“I told you there were two things you needed to get stronger, didn’t I.”
“Yes, training gains and gear gains…”
“That doesn’t mean you get to skip the training!”
“!”

— Bzzzt—!!

Footage flashed up in front of my eyes in an instant. In it, Scorpion threw a punch out of nowhere. The fist must have caught me in the stomach, because my field of view lurched and then pitched straight down onto the floor. As though one punch had laid me out cold.

What is this…

The moment the footage ended, I instinctively brought my arms together and guarded my stomach.

— Thunk!

“You’ve got to train yourself up or an attack like this’ll… hm?”

A heavy impact came through my arms.

“He blocked that?”
“What was that for, all of a sudden?”
“Live-combat education, Squirt. Taking a hit is a skill too!”
“You’re insane…!”

— Whoosh!

The attacks kept coming. There was no real intent behind them; he was swinging in a loose, lazy sort of way. But he was a big man, and even a graze left the spot throbbing.

“Use your words! Words!”
“Where does anybody learn to fight with words? Head down, or your jaw’s coming off!”
“Uwaaagh!!”

In the end I locked up my guard and took my beating. Wasn’t he just working off his own stress under the pretext of teaching me to fight? Only when I’d collapsed to the floor without the strength left to lift my arms did the training finally end.

“Are you all right? You’ve looked worn out lately…”
“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

I rolled my stiff shoulder and brushed off Yang Hayun’s concern. In truth Scorpion’s brutal training had left me wrung out. Even so I was in a good mood, because tomorrow was Saturday.

Tomorrow already…

Tomorrow, Saturday, I was going to the black market with Scorpion. Beyond Villain had excellent benefits, and a five-day week was one of them. And today was the month-end evaluation.

The Wake-Up Call Villain had swept through once again that morning, and now the announcement rang out across the whole Strategic Analysis Office.

“Ah… fuck.”
“It’s month-end evaluation already?”
“This is driving me crazy. No bonus this time either.”
“Worry about not getting fired instead.”

The Strategic Analysis Office filed out like cattle to the slaughter. The month-end evaluation, oddly enough, was held in the auditorium. I trailed along at the back with Yang Hayun.

“Do you think we’ll be all right? Whether we’re going to get fired…”
“You said you hadn’t filled your quota yet?”
“Yes. I’ve made more than the principal, but it hasn’t even been a week, has it…”

Yang Hayun’s face crumpled as though she might cry. She had a point. The evaluation had landed before her first week was even out, and filling the quota in that time was impossible. In ordinary circumstances, anyway.

Up on the auditorium’s platform, Kwon Hyeri stood holding a microphone and looking worn out. I’d heard she was working nights; did she have to run the month-end evaluation on top of that? The dark circles under her eyes stood out more sharply than ever.

“The hell? Who are you, sitting there?”
“…Sorry?”

I’d taken a seat when somebody came at me looking for a fight.

“New hire Yang Hayun, Team 4!”
“New hire Im Taeseung, Team 5.”
“Wait — Yang Hayun? You’re the Yang Hayun from Hanguk University’s business school, aren’t you?”
“Yes… huh? You know me?”
“Of course! I came out of Hanguk University’s business school too. I’ve heard plenty about you.”

The man who had been scowling a moment ago broke into a bright smile. I wondered whether he and Yang Hayun knew each other, but her face was blank with confusion. The feeling that he knew her, and one-sidedly at that.

“This has to be fate — let’s get a meal together sometime.”
“Uh…”
“Coming into a Villain organization must be rough on you too. Later on, your big bro here’ll give you a few tips on how I got up to Team 2 so fast.”
“I’m sorry… Taeseung, let’s go.”
“Huh? Uh, right.”

Yang Hayun took my arm without answering him and steered us off toward a corner. When I glanced back, the man who was supposedly her senior was still watching, his gaze clinging to us. Unpleasant and faintly chilling at the same time.

She picked out the Team 4 and Team 5 people nearby and moved us over to them. What astonished me was that Teams 4 and 5 weren’t sitting in the auditorium’s seats at all; they were standing along the side. There had to be more than enough seats in the hall for everyone. And yet there they stood in a single line, as though nobody had granted them permission to sit.

Is this… discrimination by team?

The people sitting dead center were Teams 2 and 3. Teams 4 and 5 stood at the side of the hall and waited for the month-end evaluation. For those below it stokes the competitive spirit; for those above it feeds a sense of superiority. A Villain organization’s utter disregard for human rights came through undiluted.

“Somebody you know?”

The month-end evaluation hadn’t started yet, so I quietly struck up a conversation with Yang Hayun.

“I’ve seen his face a few times. But I don’t really want to talk to him…”
“Yeah?”
“Yes. He was a senior with a bad reputation, going all the way back to university.”

I nodded at what Yang Hayun said. Between the things he said and the way he carried himself, that tracked easily enough. Still, to have climbed to Team 2 so young, he evidently had ability.

Kwon Hyeri worked a remote, and a screen went up on the projector.

Ordinarily a company’s performance appraisal measures work results, work attitude, competence, and contribution to the organization. Beyond Villain’s was simple. Only one thing had gone up on the screen: ‘work results’.

— Clap-clap-clap—!

Perfunctory applause rolled through the hall, and one man shot up out of his seat to bow. Astonishingly, the Hong Jangwoo who had topped all of Team 2 was Yang Hayun’s senior. That greasy smile of his turned my stomach for no good reason.

Another press of the remote, and a bar graph came up for every member of Team 2’s staff. Hong Jangwoo sat in the top bracket with the rest of the team ranged in a row below him. Rank counted for nothing. Every result, from Staff to Assistant Manager to Deputy General Manager, was laid open to the decimal point.

One person clenched a fist and savored the delight; another clutched their head and cried out in pain. A mad personnel system in which a single month-end evaluation decides promotions and demotions. This was Beyond Villain’s month-end evaluation.

The mood’s about the same on the other teams.

The month-end evaluations for Teams 2, 3 and 4 rolled on one after another, and watching them go by in order turned up two interesting facts. The further down the running order a team came, the lower its average Hero Gamble return rate fell. And the more violent the reactions to the evaluation became.

“Fuck! Fired, me?! No way! Do you have any idea how much I’ve slaved away in this place!!”

Some of them frothed at the mouth over being fired as they were dragged out. This one was Team 4’s Deputy General Manager; according to Yang Hayun he’d bet recklessly under the pressure of the month-end evaluation and lost every last won. The security robot hauled him off without a flicker of emotion.

There’s no rule saying I won’t end up like that.

— Gulp.

Watching him get dragged away left me needlessly tense. Once the month-end evaluation is over, the performance bonus is paid out and the money in the company account goes back to one million won. What if I went all in with that million the way I had on my first day, and the situation rolled the opposite way from my Future Observation? That would be my life over, right there.

I shouldn’t be going all in early on…?

Even on a sure thing off a Future Observation, stake only half. And once the quota was filled, bet nothing but what was left over. That much on its own would be plenty to prove my ability come the month-end evaluation.

And just as I was making that resolution to myself.

Kwon Hyeri worked the remote and the next screen came up. A screen given over to the contents of Team 5’s month-end evaluation. And one person’s graph on it stood extraordinarily high.

…Hm?

A performance graph so overwhelming it turned every other staff member’s work results into ‘trash’.

“…Huh?”

Every eye in that auditorium turned on me. The man who had hauled Team 5’s average return rate above Team 2’s with a staggering record of 1,352.67%.

…And that was me.