“Is it lunch time already?”
Suzuki Byakuya had been staring blankly at his computer all morning, not getting anything done at all.
Seeing that he still had no intention of getting up, Fujiken comforted him:
“Captain, that's how it is here. As long as you patrol seriously when you’re supposed to, and don’t just go through the motions, no one will say anything if you slack off the rest of the time. Come on, let's go eat.”
Yamada, the security guard next to him, chimed in:
“Yeah, Captain, don't worry about it. We've all been there.”
Whoa, slacking off at work and getting paid anyway.
This kind of lazy work attitude… was awesome!
With the ‘assistance’ of Vodka, Suzuki Byakuya’s monthly salary had increased from 500,000 yen to 900,000 yen, which translated to about 30,000 yen per day. Although it was less than Dr. Agasa’s, the workload and stability were incomparable.
Only eight hours a day, weekends off, what kind of god-like job was this?
Suzuki Byakuya, filled with excitement and apprehension, followed the guards to the cafeteria.
It was located near Laboratory 1, not very big, about a hundred square meters.
The cafeteria chef had prepared eight meat dishes, four vegetable dishes and two soups, with free choice.
To prevent the guards from becoming bored in their monotonous work, there was an employee gym next to the cafeteria for them to let off steam.
It allowed everyone to exercise and sweat freely after work.
If you were hungry, you could grab a quick bite. If you were sleepy, you could go back to the employee dormitory. If you were tired, there was even a bathhouse.
This kind of welfare treatment was too good to be true!
Byakuya’s eyes were a bit… well, excited, he almost shed tears of happiness.
The job was really good. No wonder some of the guys wanted to squeeze him out!
He grabbed a metal tray at the cafeteria entrance, picked a few of his favorite dishes and sat down with the guards.
A relaxed atmosphere, a generous salary, a simple job, harmonious subordinates.
Suzuki Byakuya stared at the meat dishes piled high on his tray, at that moment, he fell in love with this place.
But there was one question that still lingered in his mind:
“Um… I wanted to ask, why did the previous security captain quit?”
Byakuya couldn’t understand. Such an easy job, even with a salary of 500,000 yen, there was no reason to resign.
Mentioning the previous security captain, everyone suddenly fell silent.
Byakuya sensed something was amiss and looked at Fujiken:
“What’s wrong, why isn't anyone talking?”
The crew-cut security guard on the left looked around and lowered his voice:
“The other day, there was a death at that place. He went to check it out. When he came back, he was depressed and kept saying he could hear strange noises. It was about ten days ago, he drowned himself in the lake.”
He only said it briefly, without elaborating.
The others all lowered their heads and ate, tacitly remaining silent.
The place the crew-cut guard alluded to was Laboratory 3.
This deepened Byakuya’s doubts. What was in there?
He pondered for a moment and decided to drop the matter.
Wasn’t it good to just relax and get paid? Why bother making trouble for himself?
If there was a problem, he could just avoid it.
Not long after they started eating, several researchers in white coats walked into the cafeteria.
Most of them were men, making the only woman stand out.
She had long, wavy brown hair and moon-shaped eyes similar to Ran Mori, giving her the impression of a mixed-race beauty.
She sat alone in the corner, with no one around, seemingly out of place among the other white coats.
Byakuya took a bite of his food and pointed his chin at her:
“Hey, who’s that?”
Fujiken glanced in the direction of his chopsticks and shook his head:
“That’s Miyano Shiho, the laboratory director. Captain, take our advice and don’t get involved with her.”
“Why?”
“This chick has a terrible temper and she can make cutting remarks without using any foul language. We brothers don’t really want to deal with her.”
“Alright, I got it.”
Suzuki Byakuya hadn’t withdrawn his gaze, and their eyes met.
Miyano Shiho frowned slightly and glanced at him with disdain and disgust.
Alright, she really wasn’t easy to get along with.
Byakuya buried his head and ate, no longer being a curious child asking questions.
He just wanted to slack off and wait for his paycheck at the end of the month.
Don’t look at what you shouldn’t, don’t ask what you shouldn’t, don’t talk about what you shouldn’t.
When he had saved up enough after a few months, he would build a good relationship with the police station.
He would accumulate points by solving cases, thereby strengthening his survival abilities.
Miyano Shiho saw that Byakuya was new and looked at him a few more times.
Just because he was tall and handsome, what was so great about that?
Seeing the guards defer to him, he must be the new security captain.
In the end, wasn’t he just a replacement for that guy?
As for herself, she was just a canary in a cage, trapped in the monotonous laboratory.
No matter how many caretakers changed, it seemed like nothing changed.
The newspaper about Kudo Shinichi’s defeat did not include Byakuya's photo.
This led Miyano Shiho to form a wonderful misunderstanding about him.
...
“Out of the way! Out of the way!”
While everyone was eating, four researchers rushed in from the outside.
They were pushing a stretcher together, covered with a white sheet.
Another death?
Suzuki Byakuya was very sensitive to murder cases and looked over.
He saw a scaly arm protruding from beneath the white sheet, sending chills down his spine.
From the outline, the person on the stretcher was human.
This dangerous human experiment would surely not have the proper documentation.
Hiss, what on earth was this pharmaceutical company researching?
Suzuki Byakuya looked away, but the image lingered in his mind.
Even though he repeatedly told himself not to meddle, he couldn’t help but ask:
“What happened to that person just now?”
“I don’t know.” Fujiken smiled wryly: “Maybe it was someone from the guard there.”
In public, no one wanted to mention Laboratory 3, as if it was taboo.
One of the guards had only eaten half his food but still put down his chopsticks:
“I’m full.”
The guard next to him also made a face as if he had eaten a fly, echoing:
“I’m full too.”
The number of people present was dwindling.
Seeing that Fujiken and Yamada had left, Byakuya quickly took a couple of bites of meat and then put down his tray.
Before leaving, he glanced back at Miyano Shiho and left the cafeteria.
...
At 3:15 pm, Suzuki Sonoko called.
“Hello, Sonoko, what’s up?”
Byakuya had the weekend off and if his cousin wanted him to be her playmate, he would gladly oblige.
“Do you have time on Saturday? I want to invite you to a party.”
“What kind of party?”
“Just… just a friend’s party. Are you free then? I have a guy I like and I want to give him some chocolate.”
So, his cousin had a crush on another guy.
Anyway, Byakuya had nothing to do, both as an employer and a relative, he wouldn’t refuse:
“No problem, I’m free. Where is it?”
“At the Aikawa residence. I’ll have the butler pick you up then.”
“Okay.” Finally, Byakuya added: “By the way, what’s the date of Saturday?”
He was speechless about the constantly shifting timeline. The seasons were changing like a game.
“Um, Saturday? It’s February 14th.”
...