Chapter 29 – Intermission: Chief’s Funeral
"M-Ma'am, I am very sorry.... If I hadn't invited Keita out for drinks, he wouldn't...."
Hirose, a colleague of the same generation as Keita and a president of a subsidiary, kept apologizing while sobbing.
"It's not Mr. Hirose's fault. Do people die just by going out for drinks once in a while? This happens because of his own negligence."
Keita's wife answered with tears in her eyes.
"Besides, he came home in a really good mood."
"M-Ma'am........"
"I also.... If I hadn't told him to sleep in the living room, maybe...."
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"Father.... He passed away too soon...."
The eldest son talked to the second and third sons.
"Have you heard about his smartphone?"
"Yeah, I have. What the hell is Father doing when he was about to die? If he had had time to do that, he could have called for help instead."
The second son answered the first son's question.
"What are you talking about?"
The third son who didn't know the circumstance asked his two elder brothers.
"On the verge of death, it seems that Father removed the password from his phone and wrote down the PIN number for his bank account."
"Why would he do that?"
"Maybe because if Father dies, his bank account will be frozen and it will take quite time before we can withdraw the money. However, the procedure will be faster if we know his PIN number."
"Father, you are really.... Is there anything else?"
"There's something like a will but I haven't read it yet. I want the three of us to read it together."
"Then, shall we read it now?"
Three people looking at a note left on a smartphone.
To my sons:
- My pension money goes to your mother.
- The house goes to anyone who would life with her there.
- Divide the rest appropriately.
- Take care of your mother for me.
"What the hell is this!? It’s just a business memo, isn't it?"
The three sons read the memo while crying and laughing.
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The day of Keita's funeral.
"The friends’ representative who gave a speech earlier, he is the president of the largest subsidiary, isn't he?"
One of the new employees talked to the section manager beside him.
"Yeah, that's President Hirose. He joined our company at the same time with Chief."
"There are also the chairman and the president of our main branch company."
"Chief is some kind of a celebrity, after all."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you know that our company used to be very black company?"
"No, this is the first time I heard it."
"Chief, when he just joined the company, he told me that it was normal to work unpaid overtime or work on holidays. He also said that if he divided his salary by the number of hours he worked in a month, his salary would be less than 300 yen per hour."
"Is such a company allowed?"
"Maybe because our times are different, but that kind of companies are quite common at that time. That being said, it seems that our company was particularly bad."
". . . . . . . ."
"One more thing, isn't our company's evaluation system pretty fair?"
"Well, I think it's normal...."
"Listen, in the old days, no matter how good you were at your job, only those who were liked by their superiors or those who were graduated from the same university as theirs superiors, would be promoted."
"That's horrible...."
"It was Chief who changed that. Forget about unpaid overtime, we now rarely need to work overtime, right? He also made sure that those who were good at their job will be properly evaluated."
"How did he do that?"
“I heard he was in a lot of trouble back then. Many superiors didn't like Chief because of this, so he was repeatedly transferred to a deficit department."
". . . . ."
"He realized that the current system would ruin the company and corrupt more employees. Therefore, he brought this matter to the president directly and proposed some improvements."
"That kind of thing...."
"He brought back the deficit department to their feet, took care of the rotten employees, and improved the evaluation system so that those who had never seen the light of day would be recognized. He repeated this again and again throughout the years."
". . . . . . . ."
“I’m also one of those people.”
“Section Manager is?”
“Hey, Shibata. Did Chief ask you to be a project leader?”
"Yes, but I declined."
"That was Chief trying to give you a chance because he has a high evaluation of you. There aren't many people who can understand a guy like you, after all."
"I see...."
"There are still many people who can't do their jobs but in high positions because they were liked by their superiors. What do you think would happen if someone like that became your boss after Chief was transferred?"
"Transferred?"
"Yeah, I think Chief would have been transferred this year or next year. Before that, he wanted to raise your evaluation and put you in a position where your opinions wouldn't be ignored."
"Chief had never said anything about his transfer...."
"If someone who can't do the job comes in, there's a good chance he won't appreciate a type like you."
". . . . . . . ."
"You may not care about your position in the company. However, if an incompetent boss keeps telling you how to do your job without understand anything, that would be very frustrating, right?"
"Yes."
" Chief doesn't tell you what to do. He lets you do your job in your own way and wipes your ass if something goes wrong. He always said that one can grow from a success or a failure."
"Come to think of it, Chief sometimes gave me advice, but he left everything to me afterwards...."
"Hey, new hires. Has Chief ever invited you out for a meal or a drink?"
"Yes, he invited us out for dinner before."
"Did you go?"
"No, he said that we wouldn't get overtime pay, so...."
"Kah! Did you guys really say that?"
"Y-Yes...."
"So that’s why he looked so depressed.... Listen, Chief's youngest son is also a new employee just like you guys. Looking at you in low spirits lately, he must be worried and decided to invite you out for dinner to cheer you up."
". . . . . . . ."
"You know, I can't think of anyone in a high position like Chief who would worry about new employees and invite them out for dinner. But you guys..."
“. . . . . . . .”
“No, that was my fault.... because I didn’t take any action....”
“. . . . . . . .”
“I guess Chief was still wiping my ass until the very end, huh.”
The section manager's words drove a wedge in each of their hearts. After that, Keita was transferred to another world, not knowing how things would change.