6

I was more bewildered than angry.

‘It’s not even a difficult document, and yet she passes it off to a subordinate and takes the credit for it?’

I downgraded my opinion of the senior even further.

‘If it were the usual, they’d have helped during work hours and everything would have been fine.’

Like someone deliberately choosing the hard path as penance.

The issue wasn’t the document’s difficulty.

‘You want to give a document meant for managers to a trainee? Even reading it could be problematic, and you’re asking them to draft it. What if I make a mistake?’

I’d never entrust that to any subordinate, no matter how competent they were.

“So snap out of it, you! Don’t just meekly accept everything she gives you.”

Pinea got worked up at my lack of reaction; Nicola said “whoa whoa” to calm her.

“Coco won’t come up with a fix right away. We’ll help as much as we can for now.”

Nicola… he really needs a reality lesson about how harsh the world can be.

Unfortunately, Pinea and Nicola’s help that day was both the first and the last.

“You said those two helped you with overtime yesterday, right?”

It was what the senior said after calling me down to the basement storage as soon as I arrived at work.

‘Damn.’

I stayed silent. It’s better not to give them anything to latch onto. No matter what I answered, they’d already be ready to be furious.

“What a lovely friendship you’ve got there.”

The senior sneered, full of sarcasm.

“If I hear this kind of talk one more time, those two who helped you will be doing overtime every night. Got it?”

“Yes.”

She glared at me as if she disliked me, then spun and left.

‘But I heard everyone had left—how is this happening then?’

I wondered if someone had stayed behind as I climbed the stairs and saw that tough girl who always shadowed Pinea standing against the wall, looking down at me—the one who said I was marked.

“I told you not to stir things up.”

Her bristly, pig-like hair and spiteful expression were a perfect match.

‘These guys.’

The answer was obvious; no need to ponder. I glanced once and walked past without replying. Then a loud voice came from behind as if I had hit some trigger.

“You’ll regret this!”

‘She didn’t like me from the start and seems determined to hate me to the end.’

Can’t we just try to get along decently? I seem to have escaped the dead-weight label now.

When I was new to society I’d have been anxious about this, but not anymore. Overthinking only causes stress.

Back in the workspace, Pinea and Nicola hurried over.

“What did they say?”

“I’ll be the one doing the overtime.”

“What? You got found out? How?”

Pinea covered her mouth to stifle a sound. I gestured at the snitch following behind.

“I’ll just—!”

Pinea almost lunged at her, but I hurriedly stopped her.

“Hold back. The senior seems to have our backs on this.”

“How could that be?”

Nicola’s droopy eyes widened in surprise, then lifted slightly.

“No, Coco—what did you do to make everyone act like this?”

‘Huh? He can get mad, huh?’

I watched, amused, but Nicola’s eyes quickly returned to their usual droop. Pinea clicked her tongue.

“It’s jealousy, I guess. With nothing better to do, they’re jealous of a trainee… sigh.”

As customers started coming in for real, the conversation was postponed and everyone returned to their posts.

‘What should I do about this.’

Originally overtime wasn’t a big burden, so I planned to just do what they assigned. I didn’t intend to stay here long anyway, so quietly finishing it seemed better.

‘Of course, it’s so fucking annoying.’

Forcing overtime when it’s not urgent is unacceptable to any employee. But if this could backfire onto the colleagues who helped me, that’s a different story.

‘Telling the branch manager directly about the unfairness is a last resort.’

The senior had worked here far longer than I had and was a much more senior employee than a trainee. If I spoke up, they’d probably call me insolent and fire me—99.99% chance.

And not long ago, I was still dead weight.

‘Troublemakers aren’t wanted anywhere.’

Even in the modern world, companies can freely fire during probation.

‘I’ll build up my position first.’

I don’t want my career to start off on the wrong foot either.

Overtime continued almost every day.

The late afternoon just before the busiest evening hours.

“Excuse me, I’ll take one of these!”

“Is there no more stock of this?”

“One corner of this basket is asymmetrical!”

It was chaotic, exactly like the phrase ‘a cattle market’.

I drew on my various part-time jobs from college to assist customers. The colleague next to me, finishing a customer’s checkout, said:

“If you weren’t here, we’d have been in trouble. I didn’t know you were that good with customers—your smile brightened my mood. Maybe we should’ve assigned you to sales from the start.”

“No, it’s fine. I missed work when I was sick and was late a lot, and you all put up with me. I’m really sorry. I’m glad I could help even a little.”

I waved a hand, saying not to worry.

“Still, can a person change this much? You’re doing well now, so that’s what matters.”

“Thank you! I will do my best!”

“Oh my, how admirable!”

He smiled warmly, and once the line of customers thinned out a bit, he cautiously spoke to me.

“… It’s tough these days because of the overtime, right?”

“W-what? H-how did you know?”

I was genuinely caught off guard and my mouth was covered with both hands.

“It isn’t like the first time the senior has been like that. But this time, this is going a bit too much.”

Surprised, I shook my head slightly and bowed.

“N-no, it is probably all for my own good.”

“For your good? Pfft, you are so naïve.”

“Cough! cough! Ah, sorry.”

“You are tired, right? Make sure to take care of yourself.”

I just smiled weakly, pretending to be fine.

All the while, in my head, I laid one more brick for the bigger picture.

“Pinea. Wait a moment.”

I don’t usually call people first, so when I motioned, Pinea tilted her head and came over.

“What’s up?”

“You’re close with the staff and the assistant manager, right?”

Pinea shook her head like that made no sense.

“Close? No. It’s just that they send me on errands a lot, so I get chances to talk to them.”

‘They give it to you because you’re dependable.’

Unlike me, who started as dead weight, Pinea had been passionate and diligent from the start, so everyone trusted her. Regular staff and managers were unusually likely to ask her for errands.

How would they know the overtime I did was work meant for managers? Pinea had the trust of others as a trainee, so she had the opportunity to see it.

“Can you check this for me?”

Pinea read the few items on the note and nodded readily.

“It’s not hard. I can do it today. Why do you need it?”

“It’s never bad to know in advance.”

I smiled slightly; Pinea made a reluctant face, said she’d handle it, and headed to the second floor.

And a few days later.

“Do me a favor.”

Julie and Marcella turned their gazes to me.

Their long-awaited memories hadn’t returned, but following Marcella’s suggestion to speak casually since we’re family, I dropped honorifics. It was awkward, but I was getting used to it.

“Tell the store I’m sick and can’t come in today.”

Marcella, who had been eating toast, jumped up in surprise.

“What? Are you sick? You’ve been doing so much overtime lately…”

I nodded.

“I think so. Feels like the flu. Please do it.”

“Okay. But will this be a problem? You took a long break when you were really sick last time.”

It had only been three months, so he seemed worried it might affect my attendance record. Understandable.

But today the absence was necessary.

“Don’t worry, they won’t fire you.”

I pulled the blanket over my head and slept in for the first time in a while.

“Oh my, I thought something terrible was going to happen.”

“Exactly.”

Daijo staff and trainees clicked their tongues at the news Marcella brought.

The task wasn’t at all a burden for Coco, but it was difficult and time-consuming for others. In their minds, Coco was the girl who stayed late every night and went home exhausted.

Then the senior came rushing down from the second floor.

“Where’s Cornelia?”

“What?”

“I asked where Cornelia is!”

She yelled as she searched for the employee she’d been scolding. Hearing about the absence, the senior’s pupils dilated wildly. One of the staff asked:

“Isn’t today the day the branch manager has the morning briefing? It’s almost time; shouldn’t you go up…?”

“I know that!”

When the senior snapped again, everyone shut up and exchanged glances.

‘What’s going on?’

‘I don’t know either. Like she is fucking crazy?’

That exchange passed in looks. Pinea finally realized how the information she’d brought was being used and was horrified.

‘I knew it wasn’t a normal request.’

Cornelia had deliberately not done overtime and called in sick on a day with an important report.

The next day, Cornelia was summoned by the senior as soon as she arrived at work, yet she still had the leisure to wink at Pinea when their eyes met.