[Next up, please add it to your favorites!]
Chu Fu has a strange illness.
Her brain is constantly drowsy and her limbs are weak. She has to carry an oxygen concentrator with her just to breathe.
To treat her illness, Chu Fu worked herself to the bone for a low-level position on the fringe of the organization. She thought she could take advantage of the health insurance benefits and lie flat for good, but the day before she was due to start, she spotted a gigantic alien creature in the sky above the city.
The next second, the city was overrun by alien creatures.
Chu Fu: ...
The harder I try, the unluckier I get.jpg
After surviving, Chu Fu accepted a reassignment and was sent to the combat division of an equivalent agency.
But the combat division not only had to fight alien creatures, its health insurance coverage was also extremely limited, nowhere near enough to cover her treatment costs.
Looking at her long medical bills and the range of medical reimbursements available to the clerical staff next door, Chu Fu resolved to work herself to the bone once more.
Coworker A: Have you heard? A total workaholic just joined our agency. She insists on training even with a breathing aid.
Coworker B: Yeah, yeah! I heard she doesn't even rest after work. She's either learning to repair weapons and equipment or challenging alien creatures in the combat simulator.
Coworker C: Holy crap, submitting insect molts and eggs actually earns points? How did she know that? Did she really read that 200-plus-page employee handbook all the way through?
Ignoring the chatter around her, Chu Fu compiled the alien-creature data she'd just obtained into a report and uploaded it to Central Command. While she was at it, she submitted an application for the next field mission to exterminate alien creatures.
Watching her work ranking shoot up on the points leaderboard, Chu Fu felt that her future was looking bright.
She had studied the combat division's job regulations over and over.
The more alien creatures you exterminated, the greater your contribution and the higher your personal score.
Those who ranked near the top in the points assessment could choose which department to join full-time after their internship.
As long as she worked hard enough, she could get a full-time position in another department, get her medical bills reimbursed, and lie flat forever!
The lazy-fish plan is working out perfectly ✓
Cover art courtesy of @Tu Mahu (Mihuashi)
Reader's Guide:
1. Plot-focused, with possibly lots of fight scenes.
2. Lazy-fish heroine × slippery-fish hero. One-on-one throughout, happy ending, official male-female pairing, no role reversal or breaking them up.
3. The heroine is extremely laid-back, so much so that she can seem a little inhuman. If points aren't involved, she'll lie flat whenever she can. She's a lazy fish by nature, but can summon a burst of effort when it means she can lie flat afterward.
4. My take on a cyberpunk setting. Please don't apply it to real life or imitate the characters' behavior.
Theme: What is real?
