IRVB 12💖

Chapter 12

In the end, Padrid failed to drive them out.

He had hoped at least Gembil would show up and drag them away, but apparently he had an external schedule today.

There’s not a single normal person here.

Faced with this hopeless reality, Padrid felt his vision go dark.

Still, what could he do?

Just as he had endured countless trials until now, he would have to endure today as well.

Meanwhile, Ekision, Halo, and Horace, having heard the situation from Jin, all settled in and insisted on teaching Rody how to write.

“So how much did you get when you opened the vault?”

“This much.”

Rody drew a circle about the size of the pile of gold coins he had gathered the day before.

Ekision frowned at that.

“That’s it? You should’ve gotten more. Later, go ask Iklis for a hundred times more. He’s basically ripping you off.”

“Please choose your words carefully.”

Padrid pointed out.

“Oh, right. Got it. Then… he’s scamming you?”

“It would be better to phrase it more gently.”

After being corrected twice in a row, Ekision rolled his eyes.

“Ugh, this is hard. Horace, you teach him instead.”

Having been scolded by Padrid, Ekision passed the baton to Horace.

But Horace only taught him the very first letter of the imperial language before the conversation drifted off-topic again.

Since Rody was the youngest recruit—and his reason for joining was extraordinary—satisfying their curiosity came first.

Watching the now chaotic administration office, Padrid had already half given up.

Questions poured in—how his first day was, whether this place was better than before, and so on.

Rody answered earnestly, determined to adapt, but Ekision spoke so fast that his head felt like it was spinning.

He was confident about adapting, but…

Did surviving here mean becoming a cool Cheils?

“Oh, so you call Iklis ‘boss’?”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t I think of that? I should call him that too. But wow, that’s harsh. Scamming such a tiny kid.”

“…Hey. Hey.”

Horace nudged Ekision.

The room suddenly fell unnaturally quiet.

Ekision brushed off Horace’s hand and grinned at Rody.

“Hey, why do you keep poking me? Anyway, right? When you call him ‘Iklis-nim,’ it feels respectful, but calling him ‘boss’ makes him sound like some street thug. For some reason, I like it.”

“You like it?”

A low voice suddenly cut in.

“Of course! When else would I get a chance to talk back like—”

Only after finishing his joke did Ekision realize who was behind him.

With a work-ready smile plastered on his face, he slowly turned around.

At some point, the door had opened, and Iklis had entered.

In his hand were the shredded documents, which he was holding out to Padrid.

At Ekision’s pleading glance, Padrid simply shook his head.

Cold sweat trickled down Ekision’s back.

When did he come in?

He had been so focused on talking to Rody that he hadn’t even noticed Halo had already run away.

“Hahaha—haha! That was nonsense. I’ve recently taken up eating dog food as a hobby, you see. Please understand, Iklis-nim.”

“If you’ve got extra years to live, let me know.”

“Haha, not at all. I may not have enough time to preserve my talent and good looks, but I’m quick with calculations. Killing me and finding someone like me—or better—would take time, so you’d probably just let me off once. That’s why I dared to act up.”

“Oh, really? Seems like you didn’t calculate that the brat could replace you. Then should I start preparing to kill you?”

“Oh dear, such terrifying jokes.”

Ekision laughed shamelessly.

After all, he had worked the longest alongside Padrid, so he knew Iklis tolerated him—unless he was genuinely angry.

Of course, reading the room was always essential.

As the situation settled, Iklis lost interest in Ekision and handed the papers fully to Padrid.

After telling him to rewrite the shredded documents, Iklis turned to leave—

But Rody, who had been buried among the executives, popped out and grabbed him.

“Boss, where’s Lexiard?”

“He left.”

“Already?”

Rody’s eyes drooped.

If he had rabbit ears, they would’ve flopped down.

“You got close pretty fast.”

“Lexiard is kind.”

At that, Iklis scoffed.

“Yeah, right.”

“It’s true! Oh! Boss told me to adapt here, so I’m learning letters too.”

“Yeah? Then learn well.”

He tried to walk past again, but Rody grabbed him once more.

“Um, Boss.”

“What.”

After calling him, Rody hesitated.

“I’m busy. Spit it out.”

“When I learn all the letters… can you pat my head like before?”

“…What?”

“Like this.”

Rody placed his hand on his head and rubbed it.

Since Iklis didn’t understand at once, he demonstrated.

The executives froze completely at the sight.

Iklis stared at Rody, then tilted his head.

Only then did he understand.

“You want praise?”

Rody nodded quietly.

From the side, people were clutching themselves, whispering things like “Damn…!” and “That’s insane!” but Rody didn’t notice, focused only on Iklis.

Seeing those sparkling eyes directed at him, Iklis let out a small laugh.

Then he placed his hand on Rody’s head and ruffled it.

“Fine. Let’s see it. Work hard enough to replace all those idiots.”

“Okay!”

Rody beamed.

Everyone smiled warmly at the scene—

But no one realized that Iklis meant his words seriously.

After assigning work to Padrid, Iklis left and walked down the hallway—

Then suddenly stopped.

He had remembered the small head he had casually ruffled earlier.

A faint smile formed without him realizing.

“Bold little thing.”

Then, as if nothing had happened, his expression returned to normal and he continued walking.

The next day, Rody’s temporary imperial language lessons began.

The problem was that his temporary teachers were Cheils’ executives.

“Good, that’s it.”

“Hey, the newbie’s smart. As expected of a special recruit.”

There were more teachers than student, so things kept going off track—but still, Rody managed to learn how to write three words on his own.

“But does the newbie only need to learn writing?”

“Yeah, shouldn’t he learn other things too?”

Ekision and Horace both turned to look at Padrid.

Without even glancing at them, Padrid continued working and signed a document calmly.

“We’ll take it slowly. For now, it’s basically a probation period.”

“Even special recruits have probation?”

“Dunno. If Padrid says so, then I guess it exists.”

In truth, Padrid didn’t place much importance on the training.

Age didn’t matter, but it was the first time such a young child had entered—and he expected Rody wouldn’t last long here.

Ekision, Horace, Jin Jane, as well as Gembil and Halo who were outside—all thought the same.

Even if they might part soon, they had heard he was a pitiful child, so they wanted to treat him well while he was here and teach him whatever they could.

None of the executives gathered here had ever lived an easy life before joining Cheils.

That shared past created a sense of sympathy.

He might eventually toughen up after being tossed around here and there—

But there was no reason for this little kid to walk such a dirty path.

They hadn’t had adults in their own pasts.

But Rody had at least five or six now.

Even if their hands were usually stained with blood, in front of this child, they wanted to act like proper adults.

Even if each of them was lacking, together they might make at least one decent adult.

Of course, only for however short his time here might be.

“Like this?”

Rody looked up after carefully writing.

The paper, blotched with ink where he had lingered too long, looked like worms crawling across it.

“Oh, yeah. You’re really smart, kid.”

“I’m not a kid.”

“Oh, sorry. Was that rude? Our newbie is smart. Want to learn another word? I’ll teach you anything.”

“Hmm… a name.”

“A name?”

“My name.”