Chapter 147.


    <strong>Chapter 147. An Assassin’s and Friend’s First Interview for a Job (7/8)</strong>


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes. I… want to help my mother and relieve her of some of her financial burdens. She’s been working three jobs to raise me and my little brother for thest two years since our father died in a car ident. Two full-time jobs and one part-time job.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh? That’s quite noble of you. But do you have your mother’s permission to work?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Uhm… I’m working on that. I’ll definitely get her permission.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What? You mean you came to this interview without even bringing the written consent form signed by her?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Aren’t I able to provide it after the interview if you have an interest in hiring me?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Certainly, you can do it that way, but the odds are stacked against you when you do it that way. Whether I have it now or after can significantly impact my decision. There’s no guarantee you will get consent, as such, I must factor that into consideration when finalizing my choices on who to hire. If I think I’m hiring you, but it turns out your mother doesn’t give you written consent to work, it could put me in a spot where I’ve already turned down another candidate. I could contact them again to see if they’re still interested, but there is always the chance that they may have epted another job offer by then.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">This was hopeless.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That is-”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Haaaaaah.” I let out a long sigh. I’d held in my breath for quite a while now.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Alicia’s words were cut off mid-sentence when she heard the sigh. When she realized it hadn’t been the Owner who sighed, her eyes darted about the room for the first time since she entered and finally noticed my presence.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She looked surprised when she saw me and her eyes brightened up a bit. What? Did I look like an oasis in a barren desert to her or something?


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Owner, sorry to interrupt, but the truth is, as she’s close friends with my girlfriend, I actually know a bit about her circumstances at home. This girl''s mother is extremely against her working and there is zero chance she would ever consent to her daughter working..” My words which should havepletely shut down herst hope actually had zero effect on her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She didn’t believe for an instant I was trying to sabotage her. She didn’t get the slightest bit dejected. What’s with her blind trust in me?


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh? Is that true, Alicia?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, it is true. However, I will absolutely convince her to allow me to work no matter what. I have an ultimate trump card-”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“She doesn’t have any such trump card.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Alicia still wasn’t phased.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hmm… are you sure she doesn’t? Despite you calling her out and cutting her off, she looks so confident. Actually, from the moment you entered the conversation... it feels like this girl has suddenly be apletely different person.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s your imagination. Anyway, Owner, why are you wasting my time with this farce? You already told me you have no intention of hiring her from the very beginning and I’d like to get back to work. The way the conversation between the two of you has gone is more than enough evidence that you have no intention of hiring her either. You immediately interrupted her when she was greeting you and you didn’t even greet her back or introduce yourself. Is this how someone who should be a professional conducts herself during an interview?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Would you like to be fired?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Fired? Sure, go fire me. See if I care. I’ll just go live on the streets and die or something. It’s really not a big deal.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">When her threat didn’t have its intended effect she was caught off guard. Though caught off guard, she still responded to my bluff, “Hoooh. You sure you don’t want to take that back? I might really just fire you here on the spot.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Please don’t fire him!” Alicia stood up and mmed the desk.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Why not? Did you not hear what he said? I never had any intention to hire you from the very beginning. But… if I do fire him, another position for the time slot you want to work would open up, would it not? Wouldn’t it be in your best interest if he did get fired?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Absolutely not! I’m fine with not getting hired if it means him being fired because of me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Is that so? Then please get out and stop wasting my time. When trying to get a job, being nice isn’t enough. The job market is a dog eat dog world.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m not doing so to be nice. It’s because he is renting a room at my ce and has allowed my mother to quit her part-time job as a result. It would only trouble my mother now if he were to be fired.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Renting a room at your ce? Huh? Wait. When? Why? What! Ran, what the hell does she mean by that?” She directed her furious violet-colored eyes toward me and demanded an answer.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well, you remember how my girlfriend mentioned she moved in with a friend, she meant Alicia. Since they had another free room and they found out I lived alone, simr to my girlfriend, her mother offered to let me stay with them for free. I couldn’t ept simply living with them for free like my girlfriend, so I made the proposal to rent the room out instead. Doing so, I’m able to save a lot more money now.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What? You never told me you moved out. You’re supposed to update your address with your workce.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I only just recently moved in and haven’t had the chance to notify my… workce.” My pause was specifically to convey, ‘I’m not on the books, so why should I?’


    <span style="font-weight:400">“This no-good punk… getting cocky again,” the Owner grumbled under her breath just loud enough for only me to hear.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I see. I see. So it’s not out of the kindness of your heart that you can’t see him be fired. I understand now. In that case, how about we have a little wager? If you can win this wager I won’t fire this insolent employee of mine and I’ll even hire you. However, if you lose this wager, not only will you not receive this job, I will fire him on the spot. If you don’t ept this wager I’ll just fire him right here on the spot.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hah, fire me? You don’t need to fire me, I’ll quit before you can fire me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The Owner let out a furious breath of air through her gritted teeth as she stood up from her chair and mmed the desk. She was incensed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hahahaha! I see. I see! The little lost defanged puppy has regained its fangs and even remembers how to bite. Well, Alicia, do you ept this wager?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’ll ept it. I will not let you fire Ran.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh? You’re more concerned about Ran than you getting the job? What are you to Ran exactly? It doesn’t feel like you’re just his girlfriend’s friend or like your rtionship is just that of you renting a room out to him. If I didn’t know any better, I might think you were interested in him in a romantic sense.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well, that’s because I am. Is there a problem with that?” You idiot! What are you honestly confessing to her about that for!


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Huh? Wait. What? What the hell do you mean? He’s your close friend’s boyfriend, you know. Is it really fine for you to so easily admit you’re romantically interested in him like that?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“If I like him, I like him. I can’t help how I feel about him. He also knows I like him.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ran! You two-timing asshole! Since when did you be such a piece of shit! I don’t remember you being that type of lowlife scum!” The Owner was enraged to an extreme degree I’d never seen before. I shrunk back in my seat, terrified.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Scary. Owner was as scary as I remembered when she was truly angry about something. All sorts of PTSD surfaced in my mind. Like the time I ate the special pudding from overseas she put away in the fridge at my mother’s friend’s ce when paying her a visit one day.


    <span style="font-weight:400">That one experience made me never want to anger this woman ever again. She was just too scary. She upied my heart as a demon-king-level existence.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“He’s not two-timing. Rosa is also aware of my feelings toward him.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What? Huh? Wait. Hold on. What’s going on here? Now I’m just confused. How is she okay with this? I mean... he’s living with both you and her under the same roof.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s…plicated. But we’re actually… both his girlfriends.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hah! And you’re fine with that!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What about your mother? Does she know about this?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The Owner suddenly copsed back into her chair.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“How? How the hell are two girls fine with this? It makes no sense. No sense at all. If the guy was a super hotty I might be able to understand. But this is Ran, Mr. Gloomy Face Ran. The dorky little kid that was a bit good with fixing my electronics. That stupid little snot-nosed brat who ate my special pudding from overseas a little over a year ago.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So you were still holding that against me after all these years!” I couldn’t help but stand up and raise my voice.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Shut the hell up before I murder you. I’m not in the mood right now. I’ll deal with youter.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The courage I had to talk back to her instantly vanished as I immediately learned my ce and meekly sat down in my seat. As expected, she’s the only woman around me whose authority I can do nothing against.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Why do I even try to have a backbone in front of her when she’s genuinely ticked off? Am I an idiot? I mean, I know I did this all intentionally. But still.