First Bet

So this is where I’ll be working…

The Strategic Analysis Office. Only the elite of the elite could land a place here, they said, and only out of Hanguk University. Why talent like that would sign on with a Villain company was beyond me, but at a glance, one thing was clear enough.

The place was unbelievably busy.

While Yang Hayun and I stood there, overwhelmed by the sight.

“Im Taeseung and Yang Hayun, correct?”

— Click-clack.

A woman in a suit came walking out, a coolly severe beauty who looked like the very image of a businesswoman. Oddly enough, the dark circles under her eyes were exceptionally deep. When Yang Hayun and I only stood there in a daze, her brows knitted.

“You’re the new hires starting at the Strategic Analysis Office today, aren’t you?”
“Y-yes! That’s right.”
“I’m Yang Hayun!”
“…I’m Kwon Hyeri, team leader of Team 5 in the Strategic Analysis Office. Follow me.”

Kwon Hyeri spun on her heel and strode off, heels going click-clack.

…I could have sworn she frowned at me just then. Did I imagine it?

The air had gone cold, and Yang Hayun and I followed her without a word.

The moment we stepped inside the office, I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

“Whoa…”

A colossal screen filling the entire wall. CCTV feeds from all over the city and breaking-news bulletins streamed across it in real time. Along one wall, unidentifiable graphs and documents lay scattered in disarray. Staff hammering frantically at their keyboards, thrown in on top.

Yang Hayun and I were both too busy taking in the office to form a thought.

“The morning-commute attack just kicked off, so this is a busy stretch. Our company’s ‘Wake-Up Call Villain’ has been deployed around Gangnam Station.”
“W-Wake-Up Call Villain?”
“…A Villain who turns up on the morning commute. You don’t even know that? He’s right there on that screen.”

Team Leader Kwon Hyeri pointed at the TV screen on the left, her face still creased. On it was a Villain in a gas mask, setting off smoke grenades and throwing the citizens into chaos.

“Our department analyzes activity data for every Villain — not just Beyond Villain’s own, but the competition’s as well. We use that to raise operational efficiency and manage risk.”
“I-I see…”
“What should we new hires be doing? We’ll do whatever you tell us!”

Yang Hayun asked, eyes shining, both fists balled up tight. I could feel the enthusiasm coming off her.

…I ought to take a page out of that book myself.

“For now you’ll start with organizing documents and passing them along. Errands are part of that. Getting a feel for the floor is what matters. Hayun, Team 4. Taeseung… you’ll be working with Team 5.”
“Understood!”
“U-understood…”

The team leader assigned each of us a desk and went back to her own.

Organize documents and pass them along? Somebody had to tell me what was what first… I never imagined I’d be dropped somewhere without so much as a senior to show me the ropes.

“Rookie, go make coffee!”
“…Sorry?”

Just then, someone called out to me.

“You’re the only rookie on Team 5, aren’t you! Move it!”
“Y-yes! Right away!”
“Copy this for me, would you.”
“Why are you so slow? Staple these in sets of five.”
“Rookie! Where did the rookie go!”

Copying, filing, coffee runs, and so on. They hollered for me so relentlessly there wasn’t a spare second to park myself in a chair. Had they hired a capable errand boy rather than a new employee?

“Haah… haah…”

The morning passed in that frantic blur. Most of the Villains who had turned up on the morning commute were beaten back. Proof that the Heroes were guarding the city well. It wasn’t until a little past noon that the ‘Wake-Up Call Villain’ operation wound down.

Somehow… it’s gone quiet.

Maybe because most of the fighting had been settled. People moved at an easier pace now, and here and there I saw someone stepping away from their desk.

Just then, someone came over to me holding a coffee.

“Good work, Taeseung.”
“Ms. Hayun…”
“You can just call me Hayun. And drop the formal speech while you’re at it. Coffee’s all right, isn’t it?”
“Uh, sure.”

I was marinating in my own sweat, and she looked perfectly fine. …Did she work out or something? Somehow she seemed to be in better shape than me. The physical labor couldn’t have been any lighter on her end.

In any case, I took the coffee she held out, grateful for it.

“Thanks. This is brutal.”
“Right? I’d only ever heard about it, but the workload really is… hehe.”
“You don’t look like you’re struggling much, Hayun.”
“Me? I work out regularly. Do you like working out too, Taeseung?”

Yang Hayun rolled up her sleeve and flexed her arm. Honestly, there wasn’t much muscle to speak of. It just looked soft.

The truth was that my expression had stayed dark the whole time she was talking.

Working like this… can I really keep the promise?

Belia had demanded that I produce results in the Strategic Analysis Office. But if all I ever did was shoulder odd jobs like this, when was I supposed to produce anything? And even if I were handed a chance…

“Taeseung? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…It’s nothing.”
“There isn’t something on my face, is there? We’re in the same intake, so if there ever is, tell me right away!”

Watching Yang Hayun say it with that bright smile, I found myself shrinking back for no reason. Like looking into the sun and going blind.

I’m not personable the way Yang Hayun is, I don’t have an impressive academic pedigree, and I’m not as fit as she is. Even if I did produce results, could I do better than her? Honestly, I had no confidence at all.

Still turning over negative thoughts like that, I raised the coffee to my mouth.

“Cough, cough!”
“Taeseung! Are you okay?”
“This coffee… what did you put in it?”
“Huh? I just put coffee in… Oh, I did dump in a load of sugar to give you a boost!”
“…”

She’d dumped that much coffee and sugar into a cup that was only half full? On the off chance, I tilted the paper cup halfway over. Clumps that had never managed to dissolve slid into view in the coffee.

…I wondered whether she was trying to prank me, but her face was pure innocence.

“Don’t tell me you made this coffee for other people too?”
“Yes, I handed it out with a smile and nobody said a thing.”
“…”

Hearing that made my head swim. It had to be one of two things: either nobody could bring themselves to spit in a smiling face¹, or her coffee suited the palate of a sugar addict.

I was wondering how to break it to her when someone stopped in front of my desk.

“Im Taeseung, Yang Hayun. You’re the new hires who came in today, right?”

A young man with a cold look about him. His nameplate read ‘Assistant Manager Kang Taejun’.

Yang Hayun and I shot up from our seats and bowed deeply.

“Hello!! New hire Yang Hayun!”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. New hire Im Taeseung.”
“…Hmm.”

Even faced with Yang Hayun’s bright smile, Assistant Manager Kang Taejun looked the two of us up and down with frigid eyes. A blatant stare, as though sizing up our level.

…I already had a bad feeling.

“Being new doesn’t mean you just do what you’re told and nothing more. Handing in analysis on time and carrying out instructions exactly is the baseline.”
“…”
“And don’t take your breaks just because everyone else is. Analyze the intel on the Villains going into the next fight in advance, and analyze the Hero fights too. This isn’t school. If you’ve got no ability here, you’re culled on the spot.”
“Yes, understood!”
“Tch.”

Yang Hayun answered vigorously once again, but Assistant Manager Kang only clicked his tongue. Kang Taejun walking off just like that, as though displeased.

…There are people like that wherever you go.

“Phew… The assistant manager’s right. We can’t rest just because everyone else is!”

— Clench!

Even after Assistant Manager Kang’s venom, Yang Hayun balled her fists and fired herself up. I had cursed him out in my head and left it at that…

She was a formidable optimist.

“Hey, Hayun, that next-fight analysis the assistant manager mentioned… what exactly are we supposed to do?”
“Oh, that? One second.”

Yang Hayun fetched a tablet PC from her own desk and set it down on mine. An identical tablet was already sitting there. I’d assumed someone else had left it. Was it actually mine?

“Look at this. It’s a site our company runs itself, and on it you predict the outcome of the next fight. It’s a kind of… gambling, basically.”
“Gambling…?”
“Yes. Have you heard of Hero Gamble?”
“!!!”

Hero Gamble.

I’d never once imagined that word coming out of her mouth. Yang Hayun worked the tablet as though it were nothing. A familiar UI. The Hero Gamble site I knew, no question.

“Right. You guess whether the Villain wins or the Hero wins. Apparently it’s one of our company’s main revenue streams. Impressive, isn’t it? And if you go in with a staff account, you can pull all kinds of information.”
“Really? Anyway, signing up for this… how do you do it?”
“Your Hero Gamble ID should be on the back of the tablet. The password’s the six digits of your birthdate. Change it later!”
“…Is that so? What a relief.”
“Sorry?”

I let out a sigh of relief where Yang Hayun couldn’t see. I’d been afraid I might have to log in with my own account, but the company issued a separate one. When I logged in, the UI looked quite different from the account I’d been using. The staff login, presumably.

So this is that staff menu?

Just as she’d said, there was a separate menu with information on file for Villains and Heroes. So this was what they meant by analyzing the fights.

…I’d assumed the site was built purely to make money; I never imagined it had a setup like this.

“Just log in with that. There should be about a million won in there as starting funds.”
“A-a million won?!”
“Why don’t you head over to My Page first?”

I did as she said and pressed the ‘My Page’ button.

…There really is a million won in here?

Of course, this wouldn’t be a real million won. They’d simply entered a million won in there as a number on a screen. And what was this performance bonus?

As if she’d read my mind, Yang Hayun’s explanation continued.

“That million won can’t be withdrawn! It’s strictly there so you build a feel for fight analysis while you play Hero Gamble. Once the account balance goes over one and a half million, all of it is yours as a performance bonus!”
“A feel for fight analysis? A performance bonus…?”
“This place runs strictly on performance. In the Strategic Analysis Office your results are decided by your Hero Gamble numbers. Good results and your odds of promotion go up; bad results and… you can get cut.”
“Cut?!”

Her words startled me badly. Was a company in the Republic of Korea allowed to fire staff that easily?

…That thought lasted only a moment.

This is a Villain organization, isn’t it?

This was Songnang, Villain Special City, where the law didn’t reach. A lawless zone where just wandering the night streets meant staking your life. Cutting a few people loose was nothing.

“Yes, if your account balance is under five hundred thousand won at the end of the month, there’s a good chance you’ll be cut. They cut by ranking. And if you get wiped out, that’s a hundred percent.”
“…”
“Don’t worry. You just have to win, right? Hit the target amount of one and a half million and everything after that is your own money!”
“Then wouldn’t it be better to skip the job and just play Hero Gamble…?”
“When new hires get five million won a month after tax?”
“?”

A new hire’s salary, five million won after tax…? For a second it felt like my whole sense of normal had gone out the window. And on top of that, analyze the investments well and you could take home however much you liked as a bonus.

“How does that work?”
“Simple. You just don’t pay taxes. Five million before tax stays five million after tax.”
“…”
“The police can’t even get into Songnang in the first place. That’s why Hanguk University students will do anything to get into a Villain company. The benefits are great, the money’s great, and it’s a pure meritocracy!”

Yang Hayun threw both arms wide and giggled. Hehe. Cheeks cupped in both hands as though in rapture, smiling away.

…I quietly put a little distance between us.

The look on her face was crazed enough to convince me she hadn’t joined a Villain organization for nothing.