Chapter 481 |
New Company
When the promised Sunday arrived and I headed to the family restaurant where we were meeting, the Admiral had apparently gotten there first, because an old-model Jeep was parked in the lot.
So I parked my car too and headed toward the restaurant, when the Jeep’s door opened and the Admiral appeared from inside. It looked like he had been waiting in the car.
Then…
[Pishi!]
The Admiral stood straight with his chest out, stamped his right foot and snapped his heel, then brought his right fist to his left chest in a salute and turned his gaze toward me.
(Mmm… that’s, ha!)
[Pishi!]
So I answered the Admiral with the same salute.
A family walking from the parking lot to the restaurant kept turning back at us with puzzled looks, but that was a trivial matter.
"Jung… I offer my utmost respect for your brave actions. Thank you."
"S-so, then the Admiral is also…?"
"Yeah, I’m a kyun-pairer too, just like you."
"Oh."
(So that’s it… that’s how it was…!)
The mystery was solved. The salutes the Admiral and I had exchanged were the ones used by the Space Federation Navy in the 18+ game Kyun Kyun Pirates.
And in that game’s hardcore fan community, people like that were called kyun-pairers.
[Gashi!]
Then, as we quickly moved toward each other, the Admiral and I clasped hands with both of ours.
Who would have thought that two people who had become obsessed with Kyun Kyun Pirates, a title notorious even in the fan community for its outrageous content, would meet like this.
"Honestly, what a reckless thing to do… In front of that many people…"
And the Admiral, after shaking my hand, even had tears in his eyes from being moved.
"A, no… Haha…"
In response, all I could do was laugh it off.
Because if I said it had just been an accident, it would ruin the Admiral’s emotions.
That’s right, the Admiral right now thinks I chose Let’s Go! ☆ Assault Kyun Pai Heart as the entrance song for the skill tournament and, for the sake of its promotion, carried it out without shame or concern for appearances. So the truth stays zipped up.
"Heh… No, I showed you an embarrassing side of myself. I got excited and just acted on impulse. Come on, let’s go inside. Today’s on me, so order whatever you like."
"Ah, thank you, Admiral."
…
And so, the conversation flowed as we ate.
There was probably more than a dozen years’ difference between the Admiral and me in the zodiac cycle, yet our tastes and preferences were extremely similar. Well, the Admiral was probably youthful at heart too, and maybe I was a little too much of an old man. Come to think of it, this was the first time we’d ever talked one-on-one like this.
And then, an unexpected person came by.
"Hey there. Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Huh? Tadokoro-san!?"
"Hello, Egetsu-san. Thanks for always taking care of me."
The person who showed up not in his usual suit but dressed like a weekend dad was Tadokoro, who worked at Sana Pharmaceutical.
"Ah, the reason I called you here today to talk was actually about the dungeon matter, Jung"
"Yes, I was also very surprised to hear that the two of you knew each other. Still, I was also shocked that a dungeon had appeared at your family home…"
(Wait… so that means!)
"Yes. His older brother is a classmate of mine. That’s how we were able to borrow the airsoft site."
"I see… So, Tadokoro-san, your family home is in Chiba."
"Yes, that’s right. And right now, I’m having a bit of trouble with that matter…"
To sum up what Tadokoro-san started explaining, it seems that when they asked the government to report and destroy the dungeon that had appeared at his family home, an investigation revealed it to be a useful dungeon where materials for recovery medicine could be collected.
They wanted to manage it properly, but there were quite a few dungeons like that scattered around, and even the Self-Defense Forces could not keep up.
So if there were a capable person on-site who could respond there, they wanted to leave management to them with only a monitoring presence, and apparently they had made that offer to the Admiral and the others.
"…I see. So the Admiral, as both a capable person and the discoverer, also joined the discussions with the ministry."
"Mm. My friend was busy trying to turn around a failing business, so he couldn’t really get involved."
"Hmm…"
"That’s why we’d like Egetsu-san to take part in a sort of supervisor role."
No, Tadokoro-san made it sound easy, but commuting to Boso every day was a bit far.
"A supervisor? But going to Boso every day would be…"
"Ah, we’ll handle the day-to-day stuff with our own people. We’d like you, Jung, to regularly take care of eliminating monsters we can’t handle and cleaning the deeper parts of the dungeon."
"I see, I think I’ve got the general picture. So the materials we collect will be sold to Sana Pharmaceutical, but what kind of structure will the actual management and operation take?"
"I’m sorry about that part, but we’d like to establish a new company and have it operate as a subsidiary of my brother’s company."
"Ah, then in that case, could I be put in a position like an executive of that new company? If so, I’ll spare no effort and cooperate wholeheartedly."
When I asked that, the Admiral and Tadokoro-san looked at each other and nodded.
"Then I’ll take the position of business director, and the two of you can be executives. Pleasure to work with you."
"Yes, then let’s do it that way. Whew, I’m glad we were able to work things out so smoothly. Ah, I’ll talk with my brother about the new company and take care of the details."
"All right, then a water toast for now, and let’s at least celebrate with this!"
"Yes, then…"
"""Cheers~!"""
As the Admiral raised his glass of water, Tadokoro-san and I raised ours too.
From an unexpected turn of events, a new company was founded. And I would be able to slip into it in the position of an executive.
Well, what I’d be doing would stay the same as always, fighting monsters.
Even so, from unemployed to executive of a new company.
This might just mean my luck was finally starting to turn.