Monster Company Tycoon - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Monster Company Tycoon
Chapter 3
I’d barely taken a few steps before finding myself back where I’d first awakened.
The desperate running, the breathless flight—it all felt like a lie, happening far too quickly.
The massive dark form and the flying dirt puppet were still there, exactly as before.
It felt like being possessed by a ghost. I stood before them with the utmost deference.
“Oh, you came back! Finally! Where on earth were you rushing off to?”
The moment it saw me, the dirt puppet started chattering away at full volume.
“You weren’t actually trying to escape during the interview, were you?”
A pang of guilt.
“N-no, I… that is to say…”
Honest confession would only provoke anger, I feared. As I wavered nervously, the puppet suddenly let out a shrill squeak.
“Goodness, Demon King! When you carry yourself with such gravity, the poor human gets frightened! Can’t you hear his voice trembling? I’ve given you such thorough advice to only look like that when a hero arrives!”
“Hmm, is my appearance really that frightening?”
“J-just a little…?”
I found myself answering before I could think.
Immediately, the oppressive atmosphere that had weighed on the air lifted, and the dark veil shrouding the massive form slowly peeled away.
What emerged was an enormous owl-like bird with ashen feathers.
Not merely plump but genuinely rotund, its round eyes were half-buried beneath downy fur and chubby cheeks.
The four legs were somewhat grotesque, but viewing only the upper body, it bore an oddly charming appearance.
Thanks to this cute exterior, my fear of the creature before me gradually began to fade.
“This form lacks dignity.”
“Is this really the time to worry about dignity in front of a new employee? You’re the one who needs help here!”
“Hmm.”
Whether the small puppet’s words served as permission to relax, the owl suddenly twisted its body and flopped down onto the throne with a soft thump. Then it began scratching its ribs with its talons and let out a long yawn.
“You’re going too far the other way! There’s no middle ground with you, Demon King!”
The dirt puppet started lecturing again, but the owl paid it no mind.
It simply stared down at me with bright, piercing eyes.
“You understand now that this is real, yes?”
There was something slightly sulky about its expression—it clearly knew I’d tried to flee.
“Y-yes, absolutely!”
I answered with renewed determination.
Though the strange oppressive weight lingered, watching the chubby owl being harassed by the dirt puppet gradually eroded my fear.
And with that, my thoughts began to clear.
‘I need to accept this now…’
I’d been transported via Dimensional Transfer, and the world outside was dangerous and terrifying.
If I encountered another monster like the one I’d seen earlier, I might genuinely lose consciousness.
And what if there were more of those things out there?
It seemed I’d only survived by sheer luck, having been close to the Dungeon when this happened.
So perhaps… attempting a forced escape was foolish. I should focus on finding a way to return to my own world from here.
Which is why negotiating with that owl might not be a terrible idea.
If this owl was the cause of my arrival here, it could surely send me back to where I belonged, right?
I swallowed hard.
“Are you ready to sign the contract now? Yawn…”
Unlike our first meeting, the owl’s voice was now thick with annoyance.
“Demon King, if you yawn so openly, it damages your prestige!”
“I want to sleep right now.”
“You must complete the contract before resting! How much longer do you intend to neglect this Dungeon!?”
Think, think harder! Come on!
‘First, I need to understand exactly where I am.’
Come to think of it, they’d called this place a ‘Dungeon.’
Dungeon—a word not unfamiliar to me. I’d encountered it countless times in video games.
PC gaming had been my sole escape from the grueling corporate job.
Typically, dungeons were places teeming with monsters and traps. Dangerous, yes, but by defeating enemies and overcoming traps, one reached the sweet rewards at the end. They were places people deliberately sought out to strengthen their characters.
Before speaking, I took a deep breath.
“Before I start… I should be honest that I’m completely inexperienced with this sort of thing. To overcome my inexperience, I think I’ll need more knowledge. Would you mind if I asked a few questions?”
“Permission granted.”
The owl said as much, but its eyelids were already so heavy they threatened to close at any moment.
Its expression was utterly listless, claws still scratching away at its ribs.
“This world… it doesn’t seem to be where I come from. Just what is this place exactly?”
“It is a dimension with far greater possibilities than the world you came from. Though your daily life will likely not differ much. Will you accept the contract now?”
“Ah, I’m still not quite sure. So you are… since you mentioned the Dungeon… could you be something like its boss?”
“Pfft! Boss, he says. Demon King, did you hear? He called you a boss!”
The owl fell silent for a moment. Then, with half-lidded eyes, he stared through me as if boring holes.
His gaze made me uncomfortable, so I shifted my eyes away.
“I see. So that is how you understand the Dungeon? Well understood. Since this is like a game…”
A chill ran down my spine at that murmur. I had never said the word “game”—it was clear he had read my thoughts.
“You will clearly need considerable knowledge about this world. To run the Dungeon properly, no less. Brownie is perfectly suited to teach you.”
“Brownie?”
“That’s me! Brownie, the bound sprite of this Dungeon!”
I had taken it for a mere walking, talking soybean golem, but it was a sprite after all.
It was nothing like the sprites I had imagined, which somehow made the fantasy feel deflated.
“What should I teach you first? Oh! You just called the Demon King a boss. Let me start by telling you about him.”
Information was never wasted, so I decided to listen.
“Half of this world is ruled by the 21 Demon Kings! And among them, our Demon King’s rank is…”
The 21 Demon Kings? And ranks, no less. The setting was more elaborate than I’d expected.
I fixed my eyes on Brownie’s small mouth with a serious expression.
“Our Demon King’s rank is 2…”
“Rank 2!? That’s incredibly strong…!”
“21st!”
“…!”
I barely swallowed the word “last place.”
Looking at the owl’s form, I was beginning to understand why he ranked last.
Even now, he showed not the slightest hint of motivation, his face suggesting that everything under the sun bored him.
Could all that fluff actually be from sheer lack of movement?
“All the Demon Kings own Dungeons. A Dungeon absorbs the fear from its visitors, and that fear becomes the Demon King’s power!”
“I see… so the Demon King runs the Dungeon. That’s unfamiliar knowledge.”
In any case, the creature before me was a Demon King.
But if he was a Demon King… wasn’t that supposed to make him evil?
If the hero was the symbol of justice and goodness, then the Demon King would naturally stand on the opposite side.
Of all things, my resume had ended up in the hands of a Demon King.
“The more fear extracted, the higher the Dungeon’s notoriety. Which in turn raises the Demon King’s authority. The more notorious the Dungeon he owns, the higher his rank climbs.”
“With the Dungeon running and a manager coming aboard soon, your rank should shoot up in no time, Demon King!”
I grasped roughly how the Dungeon worked. But I saw no path back to Earth…
Was I really being kidnapped and hired like this?
Then a thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
“Compensation—that’s it. Compensation is what I’d need to work properly! Even if you see me this way, I’ve commanded quite a high salary, so I’d need a generous offer!”
Absurd as it was, salary negotiation was a topic all superiors dreaded.
If I rejected whatever compensation he offered as too low, wouldn’t he have no choice but to give up on me?
“Each time my rank rises one step, I will give you one billion in your world’s currency.”
“…Excuse me?”
The sum was too staggering—my thoughts ground to a halt.
Had I heard correctly?
I could almost hear the hallucination of a counting machine rifling through bills in my ears.
“One billion…? Really?”
“We possess a power called Causality, which creates diverse possibilities. With this power, we can generate anything of value you desire.”
One billion. He said he’d give it each time his rank rose, and he’s currently ranked twenty-first.
That meant his rank could still rise twenty more times. Which meant… two hundred billion.
Even a single rank increase would bring me more wealth than I could earn in a lifetime of work!
I, who had just been fighting to cancel my Dungeon employment, found myself wavering like an fool.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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