Chapter 57: I quit.
'Heh, so this was the power of a reaper.'
I arrived in my boss' office as he was speaking on the phone. The discussion seemed heated as the man was gripping the office phone quite tightly.
"I don't care what you want. I am the boss. So? What if it could increase efficiency? I said we stick to pen and paper and that is final! … Look, you asshole.
You are being paid to process documents not to think."
Oh? It seemed like the bastard was up to his old tactics. The only reason he refused to modernize was he got hefty bribes to process documents discretely. If he made everything faster, he would have lost his hidden revenue stream.
"This is your last warning. The next time you submit a suggestion like that behind my back again will be your last day in the office as well! UNDERSTOOD?"
The fat bastard then slammed the phone onto the receiver and finally noticed I was at the front of his office. He waved his hands to welcome me in.
"Well, if isn't my favorite employee, John Smith! My man what can I do for you today?"
I didn't let the warm welcome faze me. On top of using me to cover for his office romance, I was the only one who knew of his bribes. You would think he would at least give me a cut from all the money he got. But supposedly my contribution was only worth a bucket of chicken from KFC.
"Boss, here is my resignation letter, I quit."
"HAHAHAHA! Good one! What a funny joke! If you have time to crack jokes just get back to work John," He retorted in amusement.
Unwilling to spare a second more in this room, I took a paper weight from his desk placed my letter below it and prepared to leave the room.
The boss quickly retrieved my letter and read it as I left. Despite working for him I only knew him as "Boss". As he treated me like a drone, I never bothered learning even his name.
Originally, I tried to work as hard as I could to get promoted. But this bastard took my idea and presented it while I was out sick. The idea led to him getting promoted. When I tried to tell the office it was my idea, they treated me like a madman.
After that day, I no longer bothered doing my best. If wickedness and dishonesty were what allowed one to push forward, then I didn't want to be part of it. But as Boss became the department head, I couldn't go against him, not unless I still wanted to get paid.
I literally became his slave, all because I needed the money. I swallowed my disgust, frustrations and anger all so I could continue to live quietly. Yet when I died, I understood it was all a mistake. By cutting myself to fit in, I tormented my soul. It was my decision not him nor my shitty officemates.
"JOHN! WAIT!!! THIS HAS TO BE A MISTAKE! YOU CAN'T QUIT! I FORBID IT!"
The loud shout called the attention of the entire floor. I turned around to see a red-faced angry man, in his hand my crumpled-up resignation letter. How odd… What power did this bastard thought he had over me?
As I saw no need to spare a reply, I ignored his childish tantrum and continued walking towards the door. The people watching all began talking in hushed tones, I could hear their words, but it wasn't particularly interesting.
Someone then tried to stop me by grabbing my arm. The boss was even shorter than me at around 5'7'' so he had neither the mass nor strength to dominate me even when I was human.
"JOHN! ARE YOU LISTENING? I SAID YOU CAN'T GO! WHAT ABOUT YOUR WORK? WHO WILL FINISH EVERYTHING IF YOU LEAVE! MANAGEMENT WILL KILL ME IF WE DON'T DELIVER!" The man shouted hysterically.
We? Since when did this bastard include me in anything? He simply used me just to get away with doing less work and even took bribes! There was never a "we", there was only him and me!
"I missed the part where that is my problem? There are 25 people on the team, find someone else. Maybe if you took less time fucking the office slut and kissing the ass of crime lords you would be able to deliver," I replied coldly.
Shrugging off his arm I turned and resumed my walk towards the exit.
"Why are you doing this? Is it the money? I will give you a raise! 5%! Just get back to work!"
When he noticed I didn't even look back he kept shouting offers to make me change my mind.
"10%! 15%! Alright 20! I will raise your salary by 20%! Just stay! I will even give you a week off!
Two weeks! Three weeks!"
I then heard the loud footsteps of an overweight man charging towards me.
"John! We are friends, right? I would get fired even killed if I don't finish those audits on time! You don't want that right? Come on! Have a heart!
Stop being so difficult!"
Hearing that he could get killed I stopped in my tracks.
"See? Thats what I am talking about, you are a good guy at heart John! Of course, you can't bear to see your beloved boss get hurt right? Right?"
How in the world was it possible for people to get so fucking delusion like this? Beloved boss? You? Holy fuck! I just felt like I got insulted by the highest order. The man approached me believing I stopped for him.
There was a desk beside me. I took a pencil on the desk and buried it upright into the flat surface in one quick movement. As I was still in {Thief}, right now not even all the security guards in this building combined could touch me.
I turned around and grabbed my ex-boss and smashed his head into the desk in one with a loud bang. I held him by the neck and twisted his arm at the shoulder. The sound of it popping meant I dislocated the limb.
"AHHHHHH!!!!! MY ARM!!!!! SOMEONE CALL SECURITY!"
Having felt as sense of happiness from getting revenge, I lifted his face and again slammed his face into the desk. Luckily the one I was slamming him against was entirely made out of hardwood, so it didn't collapse.
My boss turned quiet and began whimpering like a dog as his head started to bleed. I then moved my face closer as I whispered into his ear like a demon.
"Listen, Boss. You are the greediest dumbass bastard I have ever met. See the pencil in front of you? If I slammed you just a bit forward that would have entered your brain through your ear, just like in batman."
The man then looked at the pencil just inches away from his face. Probably scared to death, he started to shake and tremble while whispering what sounded like a hail Mary. A musty scent like dog urine began to stink up the surroundings.
'Well fuck he even pissed himself,' I lamented.
Not wanting a waste even a second longer I again came closer as I continued.
"You know all those deals you did under the table? Do you know I normally had to work three days straight just to finish those on time? It must have felt good lining up your pockets with money from criminals and drug dealers, didn't it?"
Just then loud ding's rang out from every computer in the office. Weird murmurs and hushed whispers began going around everyone. The boss who wondered why numerous people looking at him with eyes of disgust.
"Hear that? That was the sound of an email blast to the company directory. They just received a copy of your emails with known crime lords and drug kingpins. This is my final gift to you. I suggest for you to start running. If the authorities do not arrest you, your "friends" might put you in a box instead."
I then let go of his arm as I exited the office floor. This incident would mark my departure from real life. Even if they tried, they wouldn't be able to track me. After all I was already invisible to cameras and CCTV.
Like a literal ghost I did not know how my actions would appear on video, but I didn't care. My time as a human ended. Even if police tried, I was no longer someone they could control. Besides, the scandal of the corruption would drown out news of my disappearance.
Who would care about one disgruntled employee? Especially when the head auditor for the government has proven correspondence with known criminals in hiding. Drug runners and hitmen normally needed get away vehicles and the like.
As the ones in charge of approving licenses and vehicle registrations, we could get them clean ghost cars that could not be traced. Being on pen and paper made this process even easier to do.
In the future, the number of times I would interact with humans would be limited. So effectively this would be my last appearance as John Smith as far as the government was concerned. As I left, I heard loud voices probably from the employees and the weeping of my former boss.
Security came in force, yet they just passed by me without noticing my departure. They wouldn't understand what they saw in the security footage and couldn't know that the perpetrator was me.
Maybe that's why the lowest levels of reaper were called Wraiths. Unlike ghosts which only appear after one has died and haunt a specific place. A wraith was something shortly seen before someone died.
The only thing that would be left of me after today would be the faint traces of the man once known as John Smith.