No Overtime Pay? Guess I’ll Find a New Job

[First-person synopsis, third-person story]

My name is Hanyu Xunchu. I'm a corporate drone, a lowly wage slave.

Whenever people try to make awkward conversation with me, they bring up my name. They all say that Xunchu has a beautiful meaning: seeking one's original aspirations.

All I can do is maintain my cold exterior. I'm too embarrassed to tell them that I lost my aspirations long ago, lost in this world of luxury and indulgence.

Sorry, but as a cold-blooded assassin, nothing can move me.

Well... except money.

.

I work for a black-clad organization whose members all use liquor names as codenames. Sigh, I chose this path for the money, and I regret it so much. This lousy job doesn't even offer health insurance or a pension, and they keep forcing us to work unpaid overtime! It's infuriating!

But I'm too aloof to say it out loud, so I just complain to myself and roll my eyes. Unfortunately, I'm far too polite to use any filthy language.

Even my boss has a screw loose. There are no missions, but he still insists on taking me everywhere in his free time, claiming he wants to go with me. I've seen right through those evil capitalists: he makes me stay late so he can have fun, using me as his bodyguard.

Hah. Crappy job and crappy boss.

His boss is even scarier. If it weren't for the money, I'd have switched jobs ages ago. Hmph!

.

But I never expected an opportunity to come so soon. A certain mafia executive, whom I'd met a few times but barely spoken to, arrested me along with a bunch of nameless "brothers" from the organization.

They were locked in a room, while I was hauled out to meet the executive.

He asked me to switch jobs.

As if! You arrest me and expect me to work for you? Keep dreaming!

What? Health insurance and a pension? Overtime pay, too? Paid vacation!?

And company outings!

Well, I'm not actually interested in company outings, but the mafia pays better than the black-clad organization, and it offers health insurance, a pension, overtime pay, and all that.

Sorry, boss. I thought sadly. Maybe I really have fallen in love with money. The moment I see it, I can't move, and I want to gather it tenderly into my arms. When that executive tossed a bundle of cash at me, I knew: I belonged to it!

.

Switching jobs feels great. My new boss is very considerate, checking in on me now and then and even bringing me things. Unfortunately, I'm too aloof to do more than nod.

Then one day, my boss gave me nine roses. They smelled wonderful. They'd make delicious flower cakes! I told him as much, hinting that if he wanted to give me a gift without giving me money, he could bring me flower cakes instead.

But my boss seemed furious and kept calling me a blockhead.

I didn't understand what he meant, but I earnestly explained that I was a person, not a block of wood.

My boss got even angrier and stormed out, slamming the door.

Heh heh ^_^

That's when I realized my boss had something wrong with his head. Otherwise, why would he mistake me for a block of wood?

.

One day, someone else suddenly tried to poach me. The benefits were about the same as the mafia's, but I still changed jobs.

My new job was teaching.

Let me tell you about my childhood dream: I wanted to become a teacher and serve the people. Unfortunately, reality was too cruel.

Now I have the chance, and the pay isn't bad either. If I don't pursue my original aspiration now, I'd be doing my name a real disservice.

.

Life went on like that until one day, someone suddenly appeared and confessed that they liked me.

I was a little curious. "Miss, who are you?"

They fell silent for a long time, then laughed and said I had a short memory. But I'm not an important person.

How strange.

The protagonist is a blockhead: blunt, quiet, and secretly lovestruck, with a love of money bordering on obsession.

There are many one-sided crushes, and the CP is undecided! Open ending, with a couple in the bonus chapter.

Message: A wage slave's life matters too.