Chapter 6

There are exactly two high-ranking executives working at Happy World.

“The President is arriving.”

One of them was the man who presided over Happy World—Thanatos, the God of Death.

With his pale skin and long, violet hair, he looked like he’d walked straight out of a funeral parlor.

Always clad in a black suit, he exuded such a gloomy aura that he might as well have been the Grim Reaper himself. I’d only ever seen him from afar, but now that he was sitting right next to me, it felt like Death itself had pulled up a chair. I could barely breathe.

“You must be Joy, last year’s Outstanding Employee. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He offered me a handshake with impeccable politeness. His eyes gleamed ice-blue. Chilling.

“I heard you were the one who successfully reformed the special prisoner Sisyphus. That news brought me immense satisfaction. Truly admirable.”

I immediately recalled the myth where Sisyphus tricked Thanatos and locked him in a basement, effectively cheating death and living longer. That same Thanatos was known to be immensely powerful—so much so that no god besides Heracles could physically restrain him.

And yet Sisyphus, a mere human, had overpowered him.

It made perfect sense that Sisyphus turned out to be a muscle-obsessed gym freak. That was destiny.

From Thanatos’s perspective, the whole incident must’ve been an enormous humiliation. Which meant he likely held a grudge—and now viewed me favorably for managing to reform Sisyphus.

Getting on the good side of an ultra-high-ranking executive?

A typical office worker would probably rejoice, but me? I was just... deeply unsettled.

“Sir, reforming Sisyphus was purely a matter of chance.”

“A matter of chance? How humble of you—just like Odysseus. I like that.”

No, seriously. It was dumb luck. If people keep overestimating me, my workload’s only going to balloon.

“The Vice President is arriving!”

And then, just like that, Nightmare herself entered the dining hall, accompanied by Manager Bones in full dramatic form.

I felt even more suffocated than when Thanatos offered me a handshake.

Rustle, rustle—

Melinoe, goddess of nightmares.

With a perfectly unreadable expression, she glided in like a ghost and took the seat across from me.

Then, in a cool and composed tone, she said:

“Bones, I’m not a ‘Vice Director.’ I’m the ‘Vice President.’ Please stick to the updated titles post-restructuring.”

She said it with the dignity of a noblewoman mildly scolding her servant. Even the ever-unflappable Bones bowed quickly and apologized.

“Ah! My mistake, ma’am. Old habits die hard.”

“Congratulations on your promotion, Vice President Melinoe.”

Clink.

Team 1’s ace—and now my fellow Assistant Manager—Krates, slid a beautifully wrapped golden bottle across the table.

“This is a liquor aged with surface honey and underworld pomegranates. A gift from our team to you, ma’am. I heard nymphs love honey?”

He said it with a smug glance in my direction. As if to say, “See? This is how you earn points.”

But instead of smiling, Melinoe’s expression turned colder.

“Thanks, but I’m not some small, silly nymph. I’d appreciate it if you stopped mistaking your goddess for one.”

The room froze. The jovial air drained out like someone had pulled the plug on a party balloon.

“Ah… y-yes, of course… My deepest apologies…”

Now this is the kind of atmosphere that truly matches a place called Happy World.

I wanted to escape. So, so badly.

Just then, Thanatos raised his glass.

“Well then. A toast—to the future of Happy World.”

Cheers—!

Clink, clink—!

And thus began the company dinner.

“When Joy dug that hole, he found a gold vein—”

“My Sisyphus Energy stock skyrocketed—”

Laughter erupted from various corners as employees scrambled to revive the mood, but I, sitting between top executives, was dying inside.

A single misstep here could mean “You’re fired!”… or worse, “You’re sentenced!”

Balance. Everything hinged on balance.

‘This feels just like when I was a new recruit and had to eat next to the division commander.’

Glance—

Thanks to my finely honed grad school survival instincts, I quietly scanned the room.

“……”

“………”

And that’s when I noticed it.

Vice President Melinoe hadn’t touched her drink.

She was staring straight at me.

Her eyes—glowing red like the flames of the underworld—looked as if they would burn right through me.

She didn’t even blink.

‘Why is she staring at me like that?’

In Greek mythology, gods didn’t need a reason to curse someone. They could crush you like a bug just for being annoying.

Being stared at by a goddess?

Yeah, that’s never a good sign.

‘She’s not thinking of turning me into a constellation or something, is she?’

I couldn’t take it anymore. I leaned over to whisper to Manager Bones.

“Sir, I’ve got some documents I need to finish by the end of the day. May I step out for just a moment to handle them in the office?”

I just needed some air. That’s all.

But Bones grabbed my arm.

“Don’t even think about it, Joy! Did you already forget what I told you? Never—never get up before the executives! It’ll tank your performance review!”

I know that!

That’s why I’m trying to leave!

Just then, the voice I feared the most cut in—calm and smooth as velvet.

“Assistant Manager Joy. Knowing your performance review could suffer, yet still trying to finish your tasks? Admirable. Truly, a model employee.”

“...Excuse me?”

“But in this Soul Society, rules must apply equally to all. Just as Sisyphus obeyed rest hours, our employees must respect work hours too.”

Where was this going?

I swallowed nervously.

“A top performer like you worrying about work even during a company dinner? That’s unacceptable. From now on, after-hours work is strictly prohibited. That includes after-hours calls. This is my first official policy as Vice President. I expect you all to follow it.”

Wait, what?

I can’t even use work as an excuse to step out?

And I got… praised for it!?

Flop.

I collapsed into my seat.

Around me, the rest of the staff erupted in celebration.

“Workaholic Joy actually made it happen! Guaranteed on-time departures, baby!”

“No more late-night messages from the manager!”

“Joy, you’re an absolute monster of corporate loyalty. This Markius salutes you!”

Woooooo─!

—Clink.

In the middle of the cheers, Melinoe extended a delicate crystal glass toward me.

“Well then, Assistant Manager Joy. Thanks to me, you’ve been freed from all those annoying after-hours tasks. In return, won’t you pour me a drink?”

…This doesn’t count as after-hours work, does it?

Drizzle—

I poured her drink as if I were pouring out my own silent tears.

# # #

The company dinner dragged on, even as the clock struck 8 PM.

Didn’t she say after-hours work was forbidden now?

I guess dinners don’t count as “work.”

And here I was—stuck right next to the executives—unable to speak freely, tense like a misplaced sack of barley at a royal banquet.

One wrong move here and I wouldn’t just get “fired”… I could be “punished” or even Orion’d.

Because of that, I couldn’t help but overhear the nearby conversation.

That’s how I ended up catching what Thanatos said to Melinoe.

“More than anything, I’m surprised. Weren’t you the one who was most opposed to this corporate overhaul, Vice President Melinoe? I never imagined you’d descend upon Happy World in person.”

“I’m simply where I need to be.”

“Princess, there are rumors among the executives. That you were demoted to this remote Happy World after losing out to Prince Zagreus. What do you think of that?”

“It’s true. It was my brother who strongly pushed to rename Tartarus to Happy World. And many of the executives took his side over mine.”

Zagreus.

If I remember correctly, he’s the CEO’s eldest son and rightful heir to this Soul Society.

Of course, he doesn’t have much presence in traditional Greek mythology—but that’s because myths usually spotlight gods and heroes of the surface world. The underworld? Not so much.

I’d only heard his name in passing.

But at this very moment, Zagreus officially became my mortal enemy.

He’s the one who rebranded Tartarus as Happy World, throwing off my job search with a misleading name!

All this chaos from the “corporate restructuring”? All his doing.

“And Thanatos, you sided with my brother during the executive meeting too, didn’t you? I thought, of all people, you’d oppose something as absurd as Happy World. Were you... bribed?”

“Princess, I happen to enjoy amusing things. And nothing’s more amusing than sudden change.”

Ugh. I wish I could plug my ears.

The more I hear the gods speak, the more my fragile mortal brain starts to spiral.

Getting tangled in their affairs means I’ll never make it out of this underworld.

Melinoe spun her wine glass with a lazy swirl.

“Amusing, huh. So that’s why you brought ‘Time’ into Happy World’s operations. Thanatos, I heard you’re preparing a position for Chronos. Is that just a rumor?”

“It’s not a rumor. His Hourglass invention has significantly boosted efficiency. We learned about its effectiveness thanks to Assistant Manager Joy, actually. We’ll be pursuing a formal collaboration.”

“But Chronos is a stubborn, cantankerous old god. He’s not exactly the cooperative type. Get too close, and you might just be sipping from a poisoned chalice.”

“Well… I suppose ‘Time’ will resolve that problem eventually.”

Did he just make a pun?

Thanatos followed up with a perfectly straight face:

“How was that joke? You see, Chronos is the god of time, and I said that ‘time’ would solve the issue—so it’s funny because… you know, wordplay.”

“Pffff-haha! Time will solve it!”

“President, that’s hilarious!”

“That joke is to die for!”

“Shall I tell you another? What happens when an almond dies? It becomes… Die-amond. You know, die as in death—”

“Kyahaha!”

“Gigglegurgle!”

“President, your sense of humor is divine!”

……

The sudden burst of laughter that echoed through the hall made cold sweat run down my back.

Happy World, my foot.

This was pure black comedy.

And in that moment—amid the chuckles and cheers—I had a sudden flash of inspiration.

“I apologize for interrupting the executives’ conversation, but regarding the matter of Chronos…”

“Oh? A mere mortal employee daring to speak without permission from a god? Interesting. But since it’s you, Joy, I’ll allow it. Go on, let’s hear what you have to say.”

“…Joy?”

The eyes of Death and Nightmare turned to me.

And not just theirs—every employee around us fell silent. The room went still as if death had claimed even the sound.

“Regarding our approach to Chronos—”

It felt like a private first-class soldier speaking out in a meeting of generals, but I stood my ground.

“—Please, leave it to me.”

“J-Joy! You can’t! That’s too dangerous, even for executives! If anything goes wrong, you could be stripped of your position at Happy World!”

Manager Bones nearly leapt out of his skeletal frame, teeth clattering in panic.

But I just smiled—confidently.

“That’s fine. I’ll take that risk.”

“…What? Take it off?”

Princess Melinoe raised a perfectly arched brow.

I looked her dead in the eyes and declared like a valiant knight:

“If I, Assistant Manager Joy, fail to secure a successful collaboration with Chronos, I’ll take full responsibility.”

Clatter—

In that moment, the dice were cast!

A roll of fate… with only one side.