There wasn't a trace of expression on anyone's face. Every single person was staring blankly at their computer screens, as if their emotions had been stripped away, like puppets, or lunatics.
These people didn't care whether it was time to go home or not. They just kept working nonstop. Although Arashi only saw the surface of this scene, he could clearly feel it, the resentment coming off them was extremely heavy.
They obviously didn't want to work overtime, yet they kept doing it like crazy. Psychologically, they hated it to the extreme, but instinctively, their bodies just kept working, as if driven by some unseen force.
It sounded contradictory, but that was the reality. These people seemed to have their minds dominated by something, causing their bodies and hearts to be in complete conflict.
"Is there anything I can help you with?", A calm voice sounded beside him.
Arashi turned his head and saw a neatly dressed man wearing square glasses smiling at him.
"Oh, no, I'm just here for a visit," Arashi smiled back. He had already noticed the badge hanging around the man's neck. It read Manager, XX Department, 'So, he is a higher-up.'
The manager gave Arashi a once-over and smiled politely, "You must be a recent university graduate, right? You could come intern at our company. Look at this wonderful work atmosphere!"
The manager gestured proudly toward the employees working themselves to death.
But the more Arashi watched this guy smile, the more uneasy he felt. None of the people here seemed normal to him.
"No, thanks. I'm just looking around. You can get back to your work," Arashi smiled and declined. With his height, it wasn't surprising that others mistook him for a college student, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that this company was clearly not right.
"Of course. You can look around as long as you like. If you change your mind, come find me anytime."
The manager didn't look offended. He simply nodded with another smile before leaving.
Arashi found a spot in what was called the rest area to observe the employees. But despite its name, not a single person actually rested there. Even people coming by to get water were rare.
He watched as time slowly ticked by, and the sky outside turned completely dark. From six-thirty to eight o'clock, only three or four people had gone home. The rest, dozens of them, were still working hard, pushing through overtime.
And this was only one department. Arashi suspected the other sections were the same, all probably working overtime as well.
Just then, a middle-aged man with a weary expression walked into the rest area. Arashi thought he was finally taking a break or getting ready to leave. But after drinking a single cup of water, the man immediately turned back to continue working overtime.
"Wait a second!"
Arashi called out. The middle-aged employee suddenly froze and blinked rapidly, clarity flashing in his eyes.
"I don't want to work overtime anymore. I have to get out of here, I don't ever want to work overtime again!", The man's face twisted with fear as he spoke.
"What happened?", Arashi had already guessed this wasn't normal voluntary overtime, but even he didn't expect this.
What kind of job could push a person into such a state? That wasn't working. That was being a beast of burden, breaking your body to make money for the boss.
"I need to get out. Quick, I have to get out…", the man mumbled, terror etched on his face. Without listening to Arashi, he bolted out of the rest area.
But what happened next shocked Arashi even more.
The moment the man left the rest area, his eyes went dull again. Stumbling slightly, he returned to his desk, and started another round of overtime as if nothing had happened.
At that instant, Arashi felt it: the aura of a curse. Around that man's body, a faint, swirling layer of purple-black energy was rising.
"Looks like I'll be seeing results tonight."
Arashi didn't disturb the man further. He remained in the rest area, quietly watching.
.
.
.
Time flew by. It was already past ten o'clock. Compared to eight o'clock, the number of employees had dropped by about thirty percent.
Of the remaining seventy percent, most were at least in their thirties, and all looked mentally exhausted.
As time went on, the resentment in this environment grew stronger and heavier.
By midnight, only about thirty percent of the original employees were left working. And their hatred, their resentment, had reached its peak.
Arashi didn't even know what to say anymore. Working overtime until midnight? That wasn't just working overtime anymore, that was suicidal.
If they did this every day, no one's body could withstand it. And Arashi knew that even working until midnight wasn't the end. Most of these people wouldn't get any rest until two or three in the morning.
On the office wall, there was a big green sign in plain view: [Voluntary Overtime.]
Those words had never looked so ironic.
"It's here."
Arashi's eyes sharpened as he stood up. In his vision, a faint blue figure appeared beside one of the employees working late.
As it drifted past each person, it opened its mouth and sucked in their resentment and vitality. One by one, the workers weakened until the last one collapsed at his desk.
His eyes were wide open. His cheeks had sunken in. His pupils were unfocused, filled with terror and unwillingness. He slumped over his keyboard without a sound, motionless.
He looked no different from the others who had "died at work" here before. Even a coroner would probably conclude the cause as "death from overwork," without suspecting anything else.
Just as the blue shadow was about to leave, Arashi stepped forward.
"A curse spirit that feeds on a company's resentment… truly despicable. With so many employees here, if you feed every night, how much negative energy and life force have you absorbed?"
"You can see me?"
The blue shadow grew sharper in form, turning a deep violet. It was a humanoid cursed spirit, yet it had no eyes, nose, or ears. Only a single mouth, crudely sewn shut with thick black stitches.
Its body, however, was powerfully built. Muscles rippled across its frame, and its eight-pack abs stood out clearly. If it had a different head and skin tone, it could've been a bodybuilding marvel.
The contrast between its physique and the exhausted office workers around it was like heaven and earth, two completely different species.
"A jujutsu sorcerer, huh?"
The purple curse spoke calmly, its voice surprisingly articulate, "You're not the first. Many have come before you. But after they all disappeared, fewer and fewer came. Two months since the last one, you're the first since then."
Arashi's brow furrowed tightly. The pressure radiating from this cursed spirit was immense, this was no first-grade curse. This was special grade level.
"No wonder. You've been here so long, in a company of thousands. Feeding every day on resentment and vitality, your growth must've skyrocketed. It's not that no one came to deal with you, it's that no one could."
Arashi had originally come here hoping to gain something, but now it seemed impossible. He'd thought it was just a second- or first-grade curse causing trouble. Who could've guessed it was special grade?
'A cursed spirit this powerful, and no one has exorcised it yet? With several employees dying here every month, what are the higher-ups thinking?'
Normally, it would take at least three or four first-grade sorcerers, or a single special-grade one, to take something like this down.
But in reality, there weren't many special-grade sorcerers left, and each had their own duties to handle. They couldn't be everywhere at once.
Still, this kind of powerful cursed spirit had to be eliminated soon. Otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.