T Corp. Class 2 Collection Staff: Rodion's Story
T Corp. Class 2 Collection Staff Rodion
A restaurant in T Corp.
By the - Behold this glorious piece of steak! 'Tis practically dripping with juice!
The child's coworker cheerfully chomps a mouthful of juicy steak and savors its flavor.
I've got to say, we really chose a great place for lunch.
The other coworker appears just as jolly as he happily wipes his mouth with a napkin.
The food here was, going by the reactions from everyone else, nothing short of delicious.
But... the child was glaring at the piece of steak at the tip of her fork as though she was eyeing something that wasn't even food.
This sucks...
She probably knows that the steak is, if she could bring herself to bite into it, very delicious.
It was simply that the sickly yellow-brown color of the steak did nothing to excite the child's taste buds.
The sepia-monochrome steak inspired nothing but disgust...
... which was very apparent from her repulsed expression.
After staring and poking halfheartedly at the piece of steak, the child let out a deep sigh and put down her fork.
What is it, Rodya? Thou appeareth quite miffed today.
It's nothing. I just... I guess I just don't have the appetite today.
Mm~ That is quite the conundrum! Thine work-related stress must be relieved in some way, no? That is why we have chosen this delicious meal to be our vehicle for joy!
Now, now! Lift thine wine glasses! 'Tis a toast!
... Like, now? It's only midday, though.
A dash of alcohol in thy bloodstream may help with work efficiency, indeed!
She's not wrong. It ain't like we get a chance for this kinda outing very often, yeah?
Her coworker was right. T Corp. employees of different Classes rarely dined together.
Because they all lived varying hours in a given day, most T Corp. employees preferred to dine with those living in similar time scales.
To dine together without making each other uncomfortable, their only choice was to go to a restaurant under the TT4 Protocol...
... and those restaurants were usually out of low-ranking Staffs' budget ranges.
They chose a place that serves colorless food in hopes of saving a bit of money while indulging as much as they can afford to.
Because this restaurant isn't adorned with the expensive color-returning lamps, its prices are on the more affordable side of things.
Ugh, fiiine. Cheers, alright? Cheers. Let's do a toast.
The child hesitated, then raised her glasses for a toast. She did not want to be the one to ruin this cheery mood, after all.
The brown contents of the wineglass disgusted her still.
She nevertheless tried her best to suppress that look of revulsion from being too apparent.
Of course, it took a lot of effort to maintain that level of composure...
... and the child couldn't stand being there anymore. She rose from her seat.
Her food was still untouched.
Leaving already?
It's the illegal inventions crackdown period, y'know~ I gotta get back to work or I won't make my time quota.
Hm hm, I did hear that we have been redoubling our regulation enforcement efforts. Try not to overwork thyself!
Ha ha... who knows, maybe I'll nab that promotion soon?
Anyways, see ya around.
Umm, yeah. See you around.
The child departed the restaurant for the Backstreets of T Corp.
Her job today consisted of conducting on-site report verification, contacting the Technology Administration Agency with her findings, and retrieving any and all unregistered inventions.
Alright, we'll be confiscating all of your unregistered inventions. As for your fines...
... According to the updated manuals... aha, it'll be eight hours for each item, which adds up to forty hours. Now cough it up.
... Forty hours?! Wasn't it seven hours per item last time?
The higher-ups raised the fines and tax rates in general, what can I do? ... What's with that look, huh? What, ya wanna take this to the Collections Office and go through each and every single one of these items? Is that what you want?
Well, no. But...
In truth, there weren't any changes made to the Time Tax rates.
The child was just giving him an inflated number to skim a little bit off the top for her personal use.
Embezzlement is a common practice among the lower-ranking, underpaid Collection Staff at T Corp.
They fine people for more than they owe, and take the surplus time for themselves.
Most Citizens of T Corp. already know this, but they simply allow it to happen because they don't want to risk beefing with a Collector, which is usually more trouble than it's worth.
Besides, you should consider yourself lucky that it's me you're dealing with. The other guys would've tried to rip you off for ten hours per item or something ridiculous like that.
…….
Hey, hands off the timepiece.
The child quickly stopped the inventor from reaching the timepiece hanging from his waist.
Even the time-rich can't immediately make use of the abundance of time they have within the same day...
But... if they've already readied and stored enough time the day before, they can accelerate themselves merely by touching their timepieces.
But it wasn't his watch that the inventor was going for.
Is that a tool?!
Well, you know what? You can sod right off. I ain't got the time to spare for one of you Collectors anyway.
That may have been a signal; people holding all kinds of construction equipment slowly emerge from the alleyways of the Backstreets.
Clearly, he wasn't planning to pay the fine anyway.
Oh my! You're a popular one, aren't you?
You take forty hours from me, and I've got to live four-hour days for an entire week. That ain't living at all, lass.
You should be grateful that the four-hour policy even exists.
The child flinched as they began to surround her, but she soon regained her composure and slowly started turning the clockwork on her watch.
The clockwork rattles and turns - and her body begins to shimmer with afterimages.
The T Corp. Collectors' standard issue watch.
Once she depletes all the time that is assigned to her for the mission, she'll have to resort to using her own time.
But the child decided to spend it anyway.
I don't want to waste my precious time on people like you, but... looks like I haven't got a choice.
There is no response.
Well - to be more precise, their response was too slow for her to understand.
The attackers crowd around her, wildly swinging their weapons and tools in her direction, but it's all futile.
Moving in condensed time, even for a brief moment, was more than enough for her to casually avoid every sluggish haymaker, every wild swing her enemies attempted.
With every rapid step she takes, the greater the fear grows on the faces of her enemies.
I know ya can't hear me, but I gotta say my piece.
You'll pay dearly for wasting my time. Oh, just you wait 'till I'm done with ya.