A Bitter Job Interview

“……Can I ask again? How old are you, exactly?”

“Twenty-four. To be precise, if the clock above your head is accurate, I have exactly four hours and twenty-three minutes until I turn twenty-four.”

The girl—or rather, a young girl with waist-length hair—stated this flatly.

Her features, not yet fully matured, were already delicate, evenly spread across a small face that still held a hint of baby fat. Her bright, amber eyes stared unwaveringly at the man before her with a sharp, determined gaze.

“Although this appearance might be slightly deceptive, I am genuinely, truly an adult.”

—*Slightly? Yeah, right!*

Still, the interviewer knew that if he kept harping on her age, the conversation would never move forward.

“Um… Then, Miss Samuel, the company you listed on your resume as your previous workplace is ‘World-Devouring Serpent Tech.’ Can I ask what kind of company it is? It seems related to that infamous evil organization, the ‘World-Devouring Serpent’…”

“It’s just a coincidence of names.”

“Just a coincidence?”

“Truly, just a coincidence.”

“I… I see…”

Sensing the hardening tone in Samuel’s voice, the man took the hint and decided it was better not to pursue the topic. “Then, may I ask what position you held at your previous company?”

“Chief… of Staff.”

“Chief of Staff? Ah, like a planning role?”

The interviewer nodded knowingly, scribbling notes on the paper as he tried to convince himself that *this is normal* and *there’s nothing suspicious here.*

Samuel sat upright in the chair across from him—a chair clearly too large for her—with her hands neatly on her knees and her back straight. If one could ignore her apparent age, they might actually think a corporate elite was sitting there.

Still, upon hearing the word ‘planning,’ her doll-like face twitched involuntarily.

“…You could put it that way.”

She paused, then added, “But the planning I handled was usually more macro-scale. For special projects, I occasionally handled unexpected situations personally.”

—For example, when every combat leader sent out had failed, the Chief of Staff would go to the front lines themselves to ensure mission success.

“Oh! So you were a high-level project manager!”

The interviewer’s pen quickly wrote *’experienced in large project management’* under ‘Past Performance.’ He flashed a delighted smile, his face practically screaming that he had hit the jackpot.

“Then, if I may be so bold, may I ask why you left your previous company?”

“…”

Samuel fell silent.

Her amber eyes drooped slightly, her eyelashes trembling as if she were recalling something unpleasant.

About five seconds later, she spoke in an unusually calm tone. “The company headquarters suffered a… force majeure event.”

“Force majeure?”

“Yes. A group of thugs equipped with magic and magical weapons broke in and caused an enormous explosion of unprecedented scale. This should have been impossible; the coordinates of the headquarters were top secret. Aside from me, at most four… No, including my direct superior, only five people knew the exact coordinates of the headquarters…”

“Head… headquarters? Wait, why did only five—er, including you, six—people know the exact location? How did the other employees commute to work?”

“…We generally didn’t clock out.”

“…”

The interviewer’s smile froze on his face.

“By the way,” the young girl continued expressionlessly, “I was in the top-floor office at the time, working overtime to approve next month’s combatant provisions and procurement lists, so I was unfortunately caught in the blast. The shockwave blew out the floor beneath me, and the tremendous force threw me out a window on the forty-seventh floor…”

Samuel paused, as calm as if she were stating a trivial detail. “Luckily, I reacted in time, adjusted my falling posture mid-air, and, as expected, landed in a nearby river. However…”

She glanced down at her fair little hands, then touched her chest—flat, barren, and utterly lacking any feminine charm. Biting her lip, her voice trembled slightly. “Even falling from such a height couldn’t damage my well-tempered body. Still, the immense impact upon landing caused some disorientation. At that moment, I encountered a malicious fairy with ulterior motives. It took advantage of my distraction and used cunning tactics to forcibly form a contract with me, turning me into this.”

“…So you mean you weren’t originally…”

“My original form was a healthy adult male, 1.87 meters tall, weighing 85 kilograms, with a body fat percentage consistently at 12%.”

Samuel—the former Chief of Staff of the evil organization ‘World-Devouring Serpent’—spoke without inflection, as if stating an indisputable fact like ‘the weather is nice today.’

“…”

The pen slipped from the interviewer’s fingers, rolled twice on the desk, and fell to the floor with a clatter.

He didn’t move. He didn’t pick up the pen, nor did he even look at it. He just stared straight at the cute little girl sitting in a chair whose back she couldn’t even reach, her little legs swinging gently in the air, searching for even a hint of a joke on that delicate face.

But those amber eyes were completely serious.

A sense of foreboding churned in his heart.

“Of course,” the girl abruptly changed the subject, “I fully understand that in my current form, returning to my original industry is impossible. Magical Girls are far more vigilant about ‘suspicious little girls’ than ‘suspicious adult men.’ I learned that the hard way during my escape. To avoid suspicion, I must minimize my time in public.”

She leaned forward slightly, her small hands on the edge of the desk, her clear eyes meeting the interviewer’s. “So, right now, I just want a stable job—one unrelated to combat, that doesn’t require me to be in the public eye, and that provides a legal income. We can discuss the pay later; even if it’s below minimum wage, even if it doesn’t comply with labor laws, as long as I can solve my immediate housing and food problems, I can accept any position!”

“…”

“I am proficient in fourteen different office software programs, speak six languages, and am skilled in data analysis, resource allocation, and risk assessment. I can elaborate on all of this later with a PowerPoint presentation! If I support your company, I am confident that we can significantly increase your revenue within a few months!”

The interviewer was silent for a long time.

His gaze moved back and forth between that delicate face and the ‘exaggerated’ resume on the table, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

After hesitating, he slowly spoke. “Um… Miss Samuel? Er… whatever address is fine. Anyway,” he took a deep breath, then squeezed out a bitter smile, “I’m sorry, but for this position… I’m afraid we can’t hire you.”

“…Why?”

The girl’s voice remained calm, but her slightly widened eyes betrayed her inner turmoil.

“First, as you’ve seen, we’re just a micro-enterprise.” The interviewer produced a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I may not fully understand all those experiences you mentioned, but I can roughly tell… You’re in a very difficult, even unspeakable situation right now.”

“And speaking from my perspective, I do want to help you, but…” He paused, as if making a decision. “You probably don’t have a legitimate ID card right now, do you?”

“…”

Samuel’s mouth twitched slightly.

How could she? Before the transformation, he was a high-ranking member of an evil organization; the World Government was more likely to issue a warrant than an ID. After the transformation, she hadn’t even set foot in a police station, let alone obtained proper identification.

“…I understand.”

In the adult world, some things don’t need to be said aloud.

She jumped off the chair, straightened the non-existent tie at her chest, then bowed respectfully, thanking him for the opportunity to interview. Everything flowed naturally, but in her melancholic eyes, a layer of mist seemed to form.

“Then, I’ll take my leave.”

“Wait…”

The interviewer suddenly called out to her. Samuel paused, a faint hope rising in her heart.

“Um…” The interviewer pulled a crumpled 50-yuan bill from a drawer and handed it to her. “This is your tea money for today. Please… go easy on me.”

“…”

Samuel stared at the bill for a moment, falling into a brief silence. Then, expressionlessly, she took it, folded it, and quickly stuffed it into her skirt pocket, as if afraid he might change his mind.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Um… I hope you find a job soon.”

“Thank you for your kind words.”

She opened the door and walked out without looking back.

***

By the time she walked out of the office building, it was almost dark.

Samuel looked down at the crumpled 50-yuan bill in her pocket, then up at the beef noodle shop across the street advertising a bowl for 18 yuan. Finally, she silently walked into the convenience store next door.

A bread roll, a pack of cookies, a bottle of water. Thirteen yuan.

The remaining 37 yuan was all she had to survive tomorrow.

Squatting on the steps outside the convenience store, she nibbled the bread bite by bite. Her amber eyes reflected the pedestrians passing by.

This kind of crisis wasn’t new. Justice and evil, the organization and Magical Girls—just as the organization had repeatedly destroyed Magical Girl headquarters, the Magical Girls had repeatedly destroyed the organization’s bases. Being reduced to a stray dog like this wasn’t uncommon.

To deal with such extreme situations, Samuel had once proposed establishing a temporary command center to serve as a base when the main headquarters was unavailable. From architectural design to guard arrangements, Samuel knew every detail of those emergency protocols by heart.

But…

“I still can’t sense any curse power.”

Looking at her slender, soft hand, completely devoid of strength, Samuel frowned.

‘Evil Executives’ could use a negative energy called ‘curse power,’ which was the polar opposite of the ‘magic power’ used by Magical Girls. Curse power came from hatred and malice, fundamentally opposed to the ‘love and hope’ that Magical Girls advocated. Normally, Curse Power users could easily sense a Magical Girl’s location by detecting a sense of ‘foreignness.’

But ever since her body changed into this form, Samuel could no longer sense the presence of curse power within herself. In other words, even if a Magical Girl happened to be among the passersby on the street right now, she couldn’t distinguish them.

If she recklessly activated the temporary command center while there were Magical Girls nearby… not only would her last hiding spot be exposed, but it might also bring disaster to any other survivors of the organization seeking shelter. Then, the hope of a comeback and her ambition to conquer the world would become empty words.

Compared to that risk, suffering a bit was insignificant.

She still had a whole day. With her years of experience as an executive, finding a fairly stable job shouldn’t be too difficult. Besides, much as she hated to admit it, the organization had way too many ‘idiots.’ Hoping those guys would remember the details of a meeting from years ago was wishful thinking. She might even have to find them and help them out financially.

“Ah, not good. I’ve been here too long.”

It wasn’t just Magical Girls; even ordinary people paid far more attention to ‘cute little girls’ than to ‘ordinary adult men.’ This appearance was far more conspicuous than she had imagined.

She noticed several people glancing at her as they passed. If any “Good Samaritan” decided to call the police or contact the Magical Girls because they saw a child alone at night, it would be a disaster. She had to move immediately.

With that thought, Samuel wiggled her little feet and stood up from the step.

With a stomach that was barely half-full, she disappeared into the depths of the night.