Starting with the Herrschers, I Cut Down All — Chapter 26

Their relationship as coworkers was good, sure, but not good enough to visit each other's homes...

Besides, he had no plans to look for a partner at the company. Aside from fresh graduates like Ling with four years of work experience, there weren't many people his age here.

"...Wow, you bastard!!!"

The envy on his coworker's face instantly turned into shock. Though he had been mentally prepared, hearing An Yu admit it himself was still quite the impact.

"You know that's illegal, right?!"

A high school student's exact age was uncertain, but two years ago, she definitely hadn't been an adult!

Faced with the jealous, envious pointing and whispering around him, An Yu didn't know what to say. He wanted to take out his phone and complain to his sister, only to remember that it was still with that "high school student."

"Wait, my 'wife,' Fairy Miss, is streaming!"

At that awkward moment, a sudden shout shattered the atmosphere in the office.

There were still five minutes until official working hours. The unexpected cry drew everyone's attention, and An Yu recalled that familiar ID: Fairy Miss...

Memory overlapped with reality, and a wordless sorrow welled up in his heart.

Sis, did you have to start streaming at a time like this?

Though things couldn't really get any worse now. After all, his right to choose a partner had already been stripped away.

"Oh, oh! I remember who that is now. That's my wife who hasn't shown up in three years."

"Wow, you're disgusting. She hadn't streamed for three years, and you still didn't unfollow her?"

An Yu silently saved his files on the computer, then sneakily prepared to slip away. He intended to find somewhere else to work.

"Wait... Why does this stream background and that school uniform look more and more familiar?"

[Hi, everyone~ Did you miss me?]

Miss Pink Elf suddenly appeared on screen in a limited high school uniform outfit. The girl smiled sweetly, looking exactly as she had when she graduated from college three years ago.

"Isn't that right downstairs from our company?"

After someone said that, nobody knew who was the first to fall silent.

The silence spread through the office like a plague, as if someone had hit a mute-all button.

Even the coworkers who had not been paying attention noticed something was wrong. They quieted down as well and looked around in confusion, unable to understand why the air had suddenly gone silent when an angel had descended.

"An Yu..."

A very soft voice rang out, gritted through envy and jealousy.

An Yu had already slipped to the doorway.

"Hi, Senior! Good morning!"

Ling pushed open the door at that exact moment with enthusiasm, her face wearing a bright, energetic smile. She had no idea what her senior was sneaking around to do.

The little girl did not hold grudges, much less over their previous playful scuffles. She was always full of expectations for life.

An Yu raised a finger, signaling for her to be quiet.

Ling understood instantly and fell silent. But when she looked up, she met the gazes of everyone else in the office, leaving her little mind somewhat confused.

This serious atmosphere... They couldn't be checking attendance, could they?! But she wasn't late!

Hadn't her sister said Reson Studio was like Anti-Entropy and didn't engage in pointless formalities? If work started at a certain time, it started then, and overtime always came with overtime pay?

"An Yu!"

Someone called out with a voice that sounded like a smile but wasn't one.

An Yu sighed. Nothing had been going right today. His luck over the past few days seemed to have been fluctuating wildly.

"If I said she was my sister, would you believe me?"

He made one last struggle.

He should never have taken the easy route. Now, just like in high school, he would have to wear the label of Elysia's boyfriend at work and completely lose his right to choose a partner.

"Stop trying to fool us! You two don't look alike at all!"

Someone immediately refuted him. One had pink hair, the other black; even their eye colors were completely different. Such visible facts were indeed rather convincing.

If Kiana heard this, she would probably nod vigorously. Exactly! Stop joking around! Sirin, with her purple hair and golden eyes, must have been picked up beside a trash can!

Ling looked around blankly, then very "considerately" shuffled one small step to the side, putting a little distance between herself and An Yu.

But after recalling her sister's evaluation that An Yu was "particularly petty," she quietly shifted back into place before An Yu could glance her way.

She understood the coldness of human relationships and the harshness of the world!

She was Mature Ling now!

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! It's exactly what you think."

An Yu completely gave up, leaning against the side in resignation. He had already stopped expecting anything from dating within the company anyway.

"Besides, Elysia and I grew up together. We're the legendary childhood sweethearts. We were in the same class in elementary school, middle school, and high school. Go ahead, be jealous, envious, and hateful!"

That was why he hated jobs that put people in the spotlight! Everything about someone in the public eye would be scrutinized under a magnifying glass.

Unfortunately, An Yu was different from Elysia. He was someone who hated trouble.

Street racing was still more fun. With the wind roaring past his ears at high speed, all he had to think about was accelerating and taking corners. If he messed up and flew off the road, then he could think about how to stay alive...

It would be nice if life were that simple too.

He had decided. Tonight, he would take a few laps around Void Mountain, then go home and cut down some grass. Come to think of it, the elite monsters in the game had probably gathered too.

"Damn it!!! Why does a damned normie winner in life like this have to exist beside me?!"

In the distance, some unnamed senior let out a defeated wail, pounding his chest and stomping his feet.

"A damned normie like that should just stay in fictional works!"

Watching that unnamed senior sink into low-pressure despair, Ling tugged at An Yu's sleeve.

She asked cautiously, "Aren't you and Elysia siblings?"

She had seen her sister's group chat and knew Elysia had a younger brother named An Yu, but that was all she knew.

An Yu wore a helpless expression. "Do you think they believe it?"

Ling looked at the gloomy senior, who seemed possessed by a drama queen as he "wept" while pounding the floor, then at the group of coworkers happily watching the show. She nodded as if she somewhat understood.

"Our Reson Studio really knows how to put on a show."

She said it from the bottom of her heart.

At the same time, she somewhat understood why Anti-Entropy was always a step behind Schicksal. But this relaxed yet slightly chaotic atmosphere... wasn't bad!!!

Company Culture: Concise and Clear

The showmanship was plentiful, but the work itself was anything but leisurely.

Ling's fingers kept tapping across the keyboard, yet she could not figure out why this code would not run. If it ran and produced all sorts of problems, she could accept that. But run already!

While waiting bitterly for her sister's reply, she spotted the seniors in the distance collectively skipping work from the corner of her eye.

"Huh? What's going on?"

Ling tilted her head curiously and looked at Senior Xiao Li, who had been assigned to guide her at the neighboring workstation.

This older sister, whom she had only met yesterday, neatly closed her laptop, grabbed her phone, and prepared to join the "escaping army."

"Company meeting."

Xiao Li tossed out four concise words as an explanation.

"You can go too?!"

Ling was immediately shocked. "Sister Xiao Li, could it be that you're some executive secretly hiding among the employees?"

"What are you thinking?" Xiao Li laughed at her and lightly patted her head.

"You can go once you become a full employee too. At the moment, there are only so many official employees at Reson Studio, even if you count them all."

Otherwise, they would not have fallen so far as to need another company's cooperation just to start a new project.

No matter how much people mocked that useless duck, her works were nominated every year.

Ling nodded as if she understood, quietly planning to use Ghost Possession once the seniors had all left and solve the code that sat there as motionless as a rock.

Just then, An Yu came over and patted her shoulder.

"Come with us. If your sister let you come here, becoming a full employee is only a matter of time."

Besides, An Yu truly had quite a few things he wanted to know about that thirteen-person family.

Ling looked at the code that still would not run, then at Senior An Yu beside her, and suddenly realized that perhaps her sister was the one who had lied.

Was Senior An Yu really petty?

Actually, he was a little petty. The only reason he had come to call her over was because he had had enough of his coworkers' endless questions and wanted a seat near the back.

"Senior, although I'm touched, I still need to emphasize that I didn't get in through connections."

Ling first activated Ghost Possession and summoned her sister to operate things remotely, then leisurely left her workstation.

She had four years of work experience! And she was a fresh graduate blessed by the "family legacy" bond! Ling's three-star form!

In other words, Two-Star Ling!

If a small company started with a Two-Star Ling, it should secretly be laughing! And she even had the noble Fresh Graduate Bond.

There were not many people at the meeting. Excluding departments that did not need to come and employees who could come or skip it, there were just over thirty people in total. For a studio that had only recently split off... it was already rather bleak.

Come to think of it, who would turn down the generous offers at Anti-Entropy headquarters and follow Bronya out on a whim to build something from scratch and prove themselves?

An Yu did not count. He came because the pay here was higher, and he knew that if the boss could not make it work, she would obediently crawl back.

He skillfully found a seat near the back.

"By the way, is it really okay for me to be here?"

Ling also squeezed in beside him, curiously looking around and constantly examining the surroundings.

Just then, she saw the chief producer, Bronya, enter the meeting room last and stop a little girl with purple hair and golden eyes outside the door.

She knew this one! That child was the brat rumored to have been beaten up by Senior An Yu yesterday!

"Letting everyone know you got in through connections will be good for your future work."

An Yu's casual yet realistic words made Ling's cheeks flush red. She! Did! Not! Get in through connections!!!

Even if he said it ten thousand times, she had not gotten in through connections!

Ling tried her best to calm down. "Senior, do you know what children hate hearing the most?"

An Yu froze at the abrupt question. How had the topic jumped to this?

Instinctively, he thought that children hated hearing things like, "Go back to bed already!" or "If you don't behave, we won't want you anymore!"

Ling stressed solemnly, "It's: 'You were a free gift with a phone bill,' or 'We picked you up beside a trash can,' or 'Keep causing trouble and we won't want you anymore.'"

"Words like that can easily make children sad. So even if I know that getting in through connections is a joke, hearing that can still make me sad."

Faced with Ling's unusually serious, earnest little face, An Yu fell silent for a moment.

"Didn't you hate hearing that when you were little, Senior?"

Ling froze. She had hated hearing those words when she was young, yet her parents had thought such jokes were amusing.

An Yu's tone did not change much. "I'm an orphan. My sister and I depended on each other."

Ling: ...

The air fell silent for several seconds.

Ling rubbed her nose, her voice becoming softer. "Although I should probably stay quiet at a time like this, I've also depended on my sister for a long time now."

So those words would not make Ling sad, nor did she need to worry about hurting anyone else's feelings, because she and her sister were orphans now too. They were the same.

An Yu immediately realized something. Had his sister spent her college years huddling together for warmth with someone like Sakura, who shared the same misery?

If that was true, An Yu's opinion of Sakura dropped even lower... Since their circumstances were so similar, why had she not brought her own family into it?

She had insisted on leading his sister astray!

He shook his head, casting those thoughts aside. "But I really did hear things like that before."