"Ahyahyahyahya!...Anyway, an idiot like you doesn't even know the meaning of 'retopology', right?"

One day, I was verbally abused in front of the president by experienced engineer Sueo Furuya.

(Huh...? Not only do I know what that is, I do Retopology work every day...)

I wanted to refute him, but held back since the president was there. Getting talked down to and treated like an idiot by a guy who just plays around with existing game models as a hobby doesn't sit right with me at all - it's infuriating.

Sueo, who has a Ph.D., was making fun of everyone except himself, but it's nonsense to talk about things that the other person already knows, assuming they don't. I wonder which one is "idiot"...

That company was a den of evil, full of monsters. Every last one of them only thought of looking down on others and kicking them aside.

Maybe because of that kind of environment, there was even an attempted suicide by a male employee in the men's bathroom. The bloodstains were intense - I remember it clearly. The company covered it up.

With sloppy security, there was even an incident of burglary within the company. Apparently someone came back to the office at 1 AM and stole promotional goods.

When I had done late overtime work past midnight to meet a deadline, part-timer Big-Dai had come back into the office.

In an ordinary office building you normally can't enter late at night to begin with, and after the robbery incident it was questionable behavior bound to raise suspicions, so as his senior I gently advised him "You shouldn't do that."

But for some reason I received 'power harassment' complaints over it. Why?

At the time, I didn't think it would 'come back to bite me' later.

It seems there were guys secretly plotting to crush me.

Then in quick succession more stressful incidents occurred.

Producer Yugo W., designer Daniel C. who wanted to kick me out, and Mahito H. collaborated behind my back, stealing and arbitrarily presenting concept ideas I had put long work into developing.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

This wasn't some paranoid delusion.

Because the other employees got angry along with me saying "But those are Takemi-san's ideas...", and the company president had given considerable approval to my concept designs as well.

That day, furious over my ideas being presented without permission, I confronted Yugo in the office hallway.

"Yugo-san! ...The ideas announced just now are mine...right?"

"Hahahahaha... As for ideas, the one who makes them come true wins. You were just having fun talking in the conference room, right? Huh? Did you submit a proposal?"

Yugo spoke with an loathsome expression that made me want to punch him in the face.

"The ideas approved by the president in the planning meeting were mine...right?"

I glared sharply at him. Daniel approached me yelling abuse.

"Pfft...what's with that look? Like some plan of yours would ever be approved! ...Because you're stupid!!"

"Hah?! Don't mess with me!!"

I shouted angrily in spite of myself and moved to grab Daniel's arm, but held back. Other employees were watching, and struggling further could only corner me worse.

Mahito mocked me in an even more condescending tone.

"Oh, how scary..."

Flashing hateful grins, Yugo, Daniel and Mahito walked off from the scene.

Then a few days later, I was summoned by the Director of Human Resources ? Umiko A., an unpleasant sharp-tongued career woman. Also there was the Vice President ? Shin M..

Even though Shin had sweetly told me "If anything happens you can talk to me..." I felt like I was being set up.

With an icy gaze Umiko snapped at me.

"Takemi-san, verbal abuse is unacceptable."

"...What verbal abuse? If anything I'm the one who's constantly being vilified...?"

"You're acknowledging you did in fact say those things...? That's clear-cut power harassment."

(Even though my position isn't senior enough for that...?)

I bit my lower lip. While my own words and actions might have been bad, this was hard to swallow. Still I protested.

"...But, wasn't it really Yugo, Daniel and Mahito stealing my ideas who were at fault...!?"

"Stealing...? Those are groundless accusations, Takemi-san. Any ideas discussed internally become company assets."

"But...!!"

Shin leaned forward eagerly.

"We've received multiple complaints about you. Even reports of power harassment against part-timers, right...?"

Shin's smile now looked devilish to me.

"Wha-...? If anything I'm the victim of harassment! I've been subjected to terrible verbal abuse so many times!"

"So...we would like to terminate the contract at the end of this month. Can you agree to that?"

I was a contract employee. But in truth, there were hardly any full-time employees at this company in the first place.

"What...!? I can't accept this...!! We just signed an annual contract!"

Umiko smoothly took out some documents.

"If you sign these forms, we will pay you an extra two months' worth of salary when we transfer your final payment. The company also has the option to terminate your contract immediately. What would you like to do?"

I was frustrated, and stared at the documents silently for a while. I felt like my eyes were bloodshot, and I could feel tears welling up slightly.

At that time, I was not able to make a calm, rational judgment.