Estimated reading time: ~9 minutes
Chapter 43
About a month after the protest.
「B-Boss. Here’s the report……」
「Let me see. Oh, it’s well done! Good job!」
Hidou, who used to find fault with everything his subordinates did, has now become so kind that he seems like a completely different person.
And his sexual harassment towards female employees has visibly decreased.
It was probably not driven by sexual desire, but merely intended as harassment.
However, this change is by no means due to a change of heart.
It’s behavior stemming from a desire to isolate Isamu by being nice to the other subordinates.
And Isamu, who is under concentrated fire from Hidou, has already reached his limit.
At first, he could endure it.
It was just being told he lacked energy in his face, or being nagged for hours about tiny mistakes.
However, about a week ago, the method of harassment changed.
Hidou, of all things, under the guise of 「developing subordinates,」 assigned all of Isamu’s responsibilities to his subordinates and only gave Isamu menial tasks.
This treatment was unbearable for Isamu, who loved his sales job and had confidence in his abilities.
As a result, Isamu’s mental state is now in tatters.
(If it’s come to this, I might as well…)
Eventually, Isamu sends an email to the Executive Director saying he has 「something to discuss.」
His plan is to report the Department Head’s harassment.
It’s clear that the Executive Director, who is friends with the President, will side with the Department Head, who is the President’s wife’s brother and thus family.
Therefore, he hadn’t been counting on it, but he thinks he’s contributed enough to the company.
So, maybe they’ll help him a little.
Isamu, at his limit, bets on this possibility as his last hope.
Two days later.
Having been given time by the Executive Director, Isamu goes to the meeting.
There, he reveals everything about the power harassment and sexual harassment Hidou has been doing, without hiding anything.
However, the response he gets from the Executive Director is the heartless words, 「He’s not that kind of person. You must be mistaken.」
Though it was as expected, the moment Isamu actually hears these words, his heart breaks.
He had been working overtime and on holidays without complaint, dedicating himself to the company.
In contrast, the company didn’t care about him at all and favored Hidou, who only slacked off and produced no results.
This fact completely stripped Isamu of any attachment he had to the company.
Afterwards, Isamu finishes his usual unproductive menial tasks and leaves the office at closing time, with Hidou’s snide remarks at his back.
He returns home where his beloved girlfriend is waiting.
「I’m home!」
「Ah, welcome back! You’re early again today!」
「…Yeah, well!」
Isamu responds to Yuka, who greets him, with an awkward smile.
They move to the living room and are in the middle of eating dinner while talking when—
「Hey, Isamu. Did something happen?」
Yuka suddenly asks, interrupting the conversation.
「Hm? No, nothing in particular?」
「You’re lying. Isamu, you’ve been down lately. And you haven’t been talking about work at all recently, even though you used to talk about it so happily.」
「…Well, that’s…」
「Isamu, I’m your girlfriend, you know? If something’s troubling you, tell me. Let me share that burden with you.」
At those loving words, the emotions he had been suppressing explode.
Not wanting to worry her, he had kept quiet about what was happening at work until now, but he tells Yuka everything.
「There, there. You’ve done well, Isamu.」
「…Yeah.」
「It must have been tough.」
「…Yeah.」
「You want to quit the company now, don’t you?」
「…Yeah.」
「Alright then, quit!」
「…Huh?」
At those words, Isamu looks at Yuka, blinking in surprise.
Yuka smiles and opens her mouth.
「I don’t want you to suffer anymore either. Besides, there are companies out there that are more suited for you! So quit!」
「Is… is that okay?」
「Yeah! And if you change jobs, we might have more time to spend together!」
After meeting with the Executive Director, Isamu felt from the bottom of his heart that he wanted to quit the company.
However, thinking about his future with Yuka, he couldn’t make up his mind to resign.
In the midst of this, Yuka, of all people, encourages him to quit the company.
With her push, Isamu decides to resign without hesitation.
The next day.
Isamu goes to work and hands his resignation letter to his immediate superior, the Section Chief.
「…I see. Yeah, I understand. …I’m sorry I couldn’t help you.」
「No, it’s not like that. You just had a baby, Section Chief, it can’t be helped. If anything, I should be the one apologizing.」
「No, Taida, you don’t need to apologize at all. …I’ve received this. Take care for the remaining month, okay?」
「Yes, you too.」
☆
A month later.
Isamu leaves the company, regretted by everyone.
At the same time, Hidou is transferred to an overseas branch.
It seems even the Executive Director didn’t think Isamu would go as far as to quit, and Hidou was made to take responsibility for losing the ace of the sales department.
Though, on the surface, it’s in the form of becoming a headquarter director.
In any case, Isamu left the company relieved, knowing that the harassment wouldn’t be directed at his subordinates or the Section Chief.
After that, because he had been working non-stop until now, and because Yuka had told him to 「take it easy for a while,」 Isamu decides to enjoy being unemployed for a short time.
So he spends fulfilling days playing with friends and visiting his parents’ home for the first time in a while, for about a month.
One day, Isamu receives a call from the police on his smartphone.
When he answers the phone, what he hears is about his beloved father and mother, who were in good health until recently and had given him kind words when he quit his job.
The two of them had been in a traffic accident and passed away.
Upon hearing this news, Isamu collapses to his knees.
☆
From the day after the funeral, Isamu becomes like an empty shell and starts to shut himself in at home.
It’s understandable, as he was already damaged from being betrayed by the company when suddenly both his parents died.
Yuka desperately supports Isamu in this state.
Thanks to her efforts, by the time three months pass, he completely regains his spirits.
However, Isamu shows no signs of returning to society.
Yes, he had gotten too used to the lazy life he led while recovering mentally, and ended up degrading as a result.
The main cause was that he had plenty of money, with his considerable savings, severance pay, and his parents’ inheritance on top of that.
Moreover, Yuka’s approach of being gentle instead of pushing him had the opposite effect, and Isamu had completely become a worthless person.
Of course, he had the thought that he should look for work for the sake of his future with Yuka.
He had the thought, but he kept putting it off, thinking he’d start looking tomorrow, he’d definitely start next week, he’d absolutely start next month. He continued to lead a sloppy life for another three months.
One day, Yuka left a note saying 「If I stay, Isamu will just keep getting worse」 and left the house.
Normally, this would be where he’d contact Yuka, immediately bring her back, reflect on his actions, and then return to society.
However, Isamu didn’t do that.
He had fallen so low that he made excuses to himself, thinking 「Yuka would be better off finding another man than staying with someone like me,」 and tried to continue his unemployed life.
People can fall in an instant.
On top of that, he had cut off contact with his friends since becoming a shut-in, feeling inferior to them.
In this situation, even the only person he was still in contact with, his girlfriend, had left, and Isamu became completely isolated.
Days pass where he doesn’t talk to anyone, and Isamu becomes more and more negative day by day.
☆
Before he knows it, it’s been three years since he became a shut-in.
Having lost his family, lover, friends, and job, Isamu, unable to find meaning in living, just spends his days in a daze.
One such day, a new generation of game console is released.
It’s a VR hardware that allows you to play games in a virtual space indistinguishable from reality.
Although he hadn’t played recently, he had liked games since he was young, so Isamu buys it out of curiosity.
After trying out a few games, he becomes immediately hooked on one of them, a VRMMO, and eventually finds his reason for living in the game.
After a year of being absorbed in gaming day and night.
Although he had been economizing by moving to a shabby apartment after Yuka left and cutting down on food expenses, he finally starts to run out of money.
So, in order to continue playing the VRMMO, Isamu finally musters up the energy to start job hunting.
However, due to the impact of the gap in his employment history, finding a new job proves difficult.
As he’s about to completely run out of money without finding any work, Isamu decides to at least take a part-time job at a nearby convenience store as a stopgap measure.
Being surrounded by young students is uncomfortable for the gloomy, middle-aged Isamu.
But, it allows him to somehow make ends meet.
Feeling relieved by this, Isamu gives up on job hunting and continues to work part-time while escaping reality through the VRMMO.
This is the story of one man’s downfall.
This was Isamu before starting Dream Fantasy.
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