In this world, this city, beings named Concepts are the majority species of the C sector in the country known as Solara. They are a set of evolved human beings that resemble their predecessors, but gain abilities based on the ‘concept’ they were born as.
These can range between more simpler terms like “Burn” or “Freeze”. However, they could also be more complex subjects such as “Yesterday” and “Instruction”. Their power does not dictate by sheer luck, as with the right person. Even the most foolish of Concepts can have the potential to rule the world.
Our story does not focus on an underdog human being who wasn’t born a concept, thus became powerless.
Nor does it base itself around a shoddy person who would use his own abilities to gather a harem of women.
Rather, it would instead take place on someone currently seen losing what made him feel alive. Not a person they had cared dearly for, nor the loss of a great treasure.
It was simply a man who had his job taken away from him by an incompetent boss who had caused his company’s bankruptcy.
This man wasn’t a Concept, nor was he human.
He was simply a Clone.
★ Optiwave Office [Outside] [Tuesday, Afternoon]
“LET ME GO!! DON’T CHAIN ME UP YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!”
Said a black short-haired suited man in a delinquent’s cap, being bound by literal chains as multiple police officers forcibly drag him out of the office. His purple eyes with darker rings shaking in rage. He had a slender, very feminine like figure which wouldn’t help the general eyelashes he had.
Struggling desperately, the officers try to get him to continue to walk forward even with much resistance.
Tripping upon a rock, the man in chains fell and looked up to another officer standing in front of him. An expression that can only be described as apathy with a hand in his pocket. On his other, more dominant hand. A sheet of papers was seen flapping its way inside.
“Joker, because of your boss’s incompetence. We’re unfortunately going to have Optiwave filed for bankruptcy. From now on, the premises will belong to the Matsumura family.”
“DON’T SCREW WITH ME! I WORKED MY ASS OFF FOR 3 WHOLE YEARS JUST TO MAKE IT BY! I’M MAKING AN HONEST FUCKING LIVING AND YOU’RE JUST KICKING ME OUT LIKE THIS?!”
“We’re not blaming anything against you, Joker. This is just an unfortunate outcome that had to happen. We already put 20 thousand dollars into your bank account for compensation. Please, accept it.”
Joker's teeth began to grit intensely, looking deep into the eyes of the emotionless person.
“Then let me have one final conversation with the boss.”
“For the sake of preventing bloodshed and possibly some kind of involuntary manslaughter. We're adding him for protection.”
He began to scream various profanities at the man, foam bursting from his mouth while his attempts to move closer to the man were only resulting in the officers pulling and tugging on the chains.
“NOW YOU'RE TELLING ME I CAN'T EVEN SPEAK TO HIM?! I'LL FUCKING KILLLFJFLSNGKDKGKKTOYOORKGNCJSOEOOEFNO-”
Twhack.
That was the sound of Joker’s head being bashed by a baton, knocked out cold the moment his body landed on the floor.
“Why didn’t we just knock him out?”
“You kidding? You should’ve seen his face when we gave him that kinda treatment while the rest got handcuffed. Shit was fucking hilarious dude.”
A moment later, the man’s eyes opened. He wasn’t greeted with the familiar ceiling of his office’s roof. And rather, just the drops of rain dropping upon his eyelids. It’s raindrops slowly rubbing from his arms and eventually hitting the floor. It was a consistent feeling of coldness, perhaps exactly how he felt right now.
“..At least the weather gets it.”
Getting up, he finds himself inside of a city. It was blasted with neon lights all over its buildings. Holograms forming upon some of the windows. Its buildings were all black in color. It was like the city that he was in was filled with various black cubes.
He felt himself holding his own body, chattering his own teeth while vapor came out of his mouth with each breath. Cold. It was cold.
‘...How long has it been since I’ve last stepped foot here? I don’t even remember the way back anymore..’
Joker, slowly taking his steps through the pavement covered with wet puddles passed by different kinds of people. He made sure to move himself around if he didn’t want anyone else bumping into him. A confrontation is what he least wanted after all.
Finally finding a bus-stop, he journeyed himself onto it and sat down. He wasn’t interested in going to a bus at all, he just wanted to find somewhere he could rest more easily.
Putting his palms upon his face, groans came out of him. He wanted to cry and scream as loudly as he could, but he was not able to bring it in himself to do so.
“Fuck… F-Fuck… What the fuck do I even fucking do now?! What the hell am I supposed to do with 20 thousand dollars?!”
“..I can’t even do this type of shit anymore, man. Why the hell did he have to leave us?! That fucking asshole! Making three whole years a fucking waste…”
He felt a tap on his shoulder, he looked at his right. What gazed upon his eyes was a curvaceous woman in a black fluffy jacket and camisole. Her short wolf-cut hair reached down on her neck.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“..F-Fuck you want?”
He tried his best to sound calm, but anger and despair was practically melting under his teeth.
“I’m really sorry, but could you sit somewhere else please? I’m sort of waiting for my boyfriend to sit there so-”
Joker felt growling on his stomach, looking down while he breathed out a sigh. Steam exited through him again.
“...”
He gets up and begins walking off again, hands in his pockets right after fixing his cap. Finally finding the closest place where he could eat. With even an empty bench too.
A hotdog vendor, without a line in sight. He went to the front of the isle. Handing out three dollars of cash. One more tip before the vendor began to work on it, taking out the sausage into the buns before squeezing the sauces onto the meat.
“Those flavors? You don’t have a preference or something?”
“Nope, I saw my friends like it so I think I’ll like it too.”
His hands holding onto the hotdog, Joker nods at the vendor and walks off onto the bench.
“Thank you, this looks delicious.”
Just as he was about to leave, he heard the vendor’s voice call out to him again.
“..Hey, kiddo. This is a dollar! Could you mind if you-”
“Oh, sorry. Let me fix that for you.”
Walking over momentarily, he snatched away the extra dollar then proceeded to walk back away from the annoyed vendor.
“Dick.”
He rested upon the bench, looking at the hotdog. It was amazing looking actually, he could see the oil dripping off the meat. And the sauces make the presentation look more amazing. But Joker didn’t feel the need to eat for some reason.
“...Sniff.”
Joker could feel water resting under his eyes. Perhaps the comfort of a more simple meal had finally let him feel something.
“..Sh-Shit… Everything co-could have been.. d-different…”
Just as he was about to burst in tears, he heard someone speak directly to him. A robotic voice, feminine to be exact.
“I didn’t buy a hotdog to watch you cry, boy. (´｡• ω •｡`) Your tears aren’t going to make my food more delicious.”
Said the girl, shorter than him, coldly started with a serious expression. She had a cute blue uniform with wavy medium length hair. Alongside a yellow headband and some part of her hair tied into a sharp ponytail that looked like grass.
Joker’s teeth gritted, he immediately barked back.
“Fuck off! If you were in my shoes you’d be crying your ass off too! Don’t you feel any kind of sympathy for me?! I worked my ass off an-”
“I’m not here to give sympathy, hit the bricks.”
She sits beside the suited man, beginning to sink her teeth into the hotdog while chewing slowly.
‘Tch, this bitch.’
“Om, nom nom nom.”
Joker blurted while eating his own food. It actually tasted great, probably one of the better hotdogs he ever had his whole life.
“You’re fired. That means you don’t have a job anymore. Right?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I mean, I do have a backup job I could do.”
“Okay then, good for you.”
She smiles in this reply, but Joker could clearly see her smirking arrogantly. He turned away from her with an even annoyed look.
“What? Did you sit here just to make fun of me? Fuck you, dude.”
“No, I came to eat. I have something better that isn’t sympathy though. That is if you’re willing to listen, I don’t mind it if I just leave your sorry ass crying here. You little baby. -w-”
Joker finishes his hotdog, now looking back at the woman with a look of interest. Who in turn had an almost stoic expression.
“My name is Vivian, I’m the CEO of a delivery service. (︶︹︺) We call ourselves the ‘Outsiders Association’. Outsiders because we don’t question what we deliver, and just let those packages be sent regardless of content. As long as we get a good price.”
“Wouldn't the customers be outsiders then? Frankly, I think you came up with that meaning on the spot. I bet that name was just because it sounded cool, was it?”
The girl glanced back at Joker, her face changing a bit. Her mouth contorting to an annoyed frown instead, now the man was the one giving off the confidant smirk.
“Come on now, there’s nothing wrong with being unimaginative. I’m sure people would love that you feel the need to give your company a cute nickname.”
“......As I was saying. (￣□￣」)”
She closed her eyes, inhaled some oxygen then continued to speak.
“We’re simply a delivery company who gives without asking any other question.”
“Then what makes yours so special other than that then? What’s stopping me from going to work somewhere else?”
“In this city, if you’re some foreigner. Or something similar to that, nor if you had never attended school. Trying to find a job is as difficult as it gets, I’m practically giving you something under a golden platter. (ง ื▿ ื)ว We’ll even provide you a free home with your co-worker. Complete with a kitchen, two bedrooms. And a living room. ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ”
“You’re talking far too much about the positives here, you know. I heard all sorts of job recruiters do different tricks like this, and you know what? I’m not impressed by any of them, at all.”
Joker puts his hand under his chin, getting himself closer with the girl while she maintains her stoic look. Her hands crossed themselves.
“Tell me, there must be something costly. Something dangerous about the job, be as direct as possible. My bladder’s practically filled with piss right now.”
“(×﹏×) ..When we say we deliver everything and anything, we truly mean it. No matter how vile, dangerous. We will do whatever it takes to reach its owner without asking for their motives.”
He smiles, nodding his head along with the answer. Something the girl had been finding insanely irritating. They didn’t even notice that the rain had already stopped, while the clouds had covered Joker, the sun had enveloped the woman.
“I see, I see… Don’t you see how a little honesty could have helped? If only you were as truthful as your comments on me compared to your way of recruiting your mooks. You’d be surprised with the amount of guys who-”
“Would you be quiet and answer already?! (`皿´＃)”
Her voice raised, birds that were standing upon the bench had flown away with fearful chirps from her direct question. Joker raised an eyebrow in a surprised manner, before giggling playfully at her.
“Jeez, man. First honesty and now patience? You gotta go follow your client’s pace if you want em’ to like you more. Back in my office, the girls were more soft-spoken and always nice to me. The guys were nice too, but you know.”
He lazes at the bench, resting his arms behind the chair while the sun’s light slowly grows upon Joker.
“Meanwhile you’re like, probably the grumpiest chick I’ve seen in my life. Besides, what’s with the funny voice you have? You sound like someone with a lung disease.”
“My voice is none of your business. (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄) And once again, I’d like it if you would answer. Or just ask an actually useful question.”
“Useful question, huh…..”
He makes his hand into a finger gun, resting it under his chin while humming to himself. The girl’s legs shaked intently from impatience.
“How much do we get paid a month?”
“Approximately 25k a month due to our lax rules.”
Joker nodded again, rubbing the bottom part of his chin as if he was coming up with some kind of devious plan.
“And the house isn’t some rundown shack right? No pests, no dirty toilets. All nice and brand new, right?”
“That is correct. ┐(￣ヘ￣)┌ Everything will look like the average home, for the average person.”
The man sat quietly, his hands holding his own knees tightly. He didn’t seem to find much wrong with the job, but at the same time… something about him doesn’t want to take it.
“So how about it, would you like to work with me?ヽ(o＾▽＾o)ノ”
“…”
Next time, Next time, JCM:
"Eh? A cyborg?"
“The package will be delivered to the prestigious Start family. (♥_♥)”
"Give me the fucking wheel before you kill the two of us."
"I am the hero of justice, Junkaiser!" Said the man as he posed eccentrically.
A mysterious figure, wrapped in a brown hood concealing their face slowly approaches the van. "Have you... worked for... Optiwave?"
"Alright, allow me to deck your face."