บท 7: Job Opening: Grunt Position

"ATTENTION TO ALL GRUNTS! QUICKLY GATHER TO THE DESIGNATED AREA!"

The intercom blared throughout the room where I and the rest of my fellow grunts had been staying. I tried looking for the source of the sound, but I couldn't find any sort of sound devices in the room. It felt like the sound came from all around the room as if I were in a movie theater. I was slightly startled by the sudden announcement, but when I looked at the other grunts, they weren't fazed by it. Especially the two fellow grunts near me.

"Ah, finally~," commented Grunt No. 711 on the announcement with a hint of excitement in her voice.

"It's about time, huh?" added Grunt No. 704, his tone one of relief.

What were they talking about here...? Were they already expecting this announcement? I looked at the other grunts, and they all started to prepare themselves. Those who had been lying or sitting on their "beds" stood up from them. Those who had been discussing with each other also stopped their conversations. They all soon began to gather in the middle of the room, forming a crowded long line. If I could describe this scene, they looked like they were lining up to exit an airplane.

"Well, let's get going then~," said Grunt No. 704 to No. 711 and then to Grunt No. 702. I hadn't noticed before, but No. 702 had been hiding behind the bed frame, away from my vision. It seemed that when I had my previous outburst, his first instinct was to hide away from me...

Yeah, I really had messed up with the first impression department... But...

"Hey, big guy," someone called out to me. I looked at the source of the voice and found it was Grunt No. 711. Grunt No. 704 and No. 702 were also with her, preparing to join the other fellow grunts in the middle of the room.

"Come on~," she urged me, waving her hand for me to join them. I couldn't see her expression, but I imagined she had a huge smile behind her full-face dark mask.

Grunt No. 704 also raised his hand, beckoning me to come with them. No. 702, however, remained hidden behind No. 704, still scared of me.

Once again, I was taken aback by their hospitality. I had imagined they wouldn't be friendly with me because of that bad first impression of mine. But, they didn't seem to mind much.

Except for Grunt No. 702, of course. When I glanced in his direction, he instantly went into hiding from my vision.

I paused for a bit, still unsure of what to do from here on forward. While I couldn't exactly believe it, I was most likely transferred or reincarnated into this supposed world of superhero comic books.

The current evidence supporting this wild idea was the confirmation that I was currently inside the secret underground lair of the popular supervillain character, Max Brain, and my body had been altered into some kind of super soldier... or super grunt in this context. I was here in this lair of his, surrounded by my supposedly fellow grunts.

The question was... 'Am I... the only "otherworlder" here?' I asked myself.

Where did these fellow grunts of mine come from? Were they also like me that had died and then got transferred or reincarnated to this world? I would have to ask them myself... while also not revealing that I came from another world. Just in case, of course...

"Yeah, coming…" I finally replied. I approached them, already gathered in the middle of the room along with the other grunts. As I got closer to the crowd, I noticed some had different reactions toward me. While some didn't really care much about my presence, others were wary, averting their eyes (especially Grunt No. 702, who tried to hide behind another fellow grunt). Only a few of them took interest in me, particularly of course, Grunt No. 704 and No. 711.

When I finally reached them, they both welcomed me warmly. "Yo, big guy. Feeling nervous?" Grunt No. 704 greeted me, also asking a question.

"A-ah, yeah. A little bit."

"Don't worry about it, No. 703. I would be too if my memory was as fuzzy as yours," No. 711 added with understanding, though I wouldn't say my memory was "fuzzy."

"Yeah, thanks," I thanked them for their hospitality, but then I realized this was a good opportunity to ask. "Eh, sorry to ask you guys, but where are we going?"

"Ah, of course, you wouldn't know," Grunt No. 704 said with realization. "You were still sleeping back then, but we were all woken up at the same time by one of the lieutenants," he continued, explaining what had happened before they woke me up, "The Lieutenant said to prepare ourselves to move out as we would be going to some orientation or something."

"Orientation...?" I repeated the word he just said, confusion evident in my voice.

"Yeah, like those work orientations that companies have for newcomers like us," he briefly explained.

"Uh, I see... I guess...?" I replied with uncertainty. That wasn't the answer that I had expected, unfortunately. I was more confused by the idea that a supervillain would organize some sort of work orientation as if this were a company culture. I would like it to be explained further, but another thing came to mind about what he had said before, "Lieutenant?" I wondered about the usage of military rank that I heard from No. 704.

"Yeah, they are grunts, just like us, but more elite and senior," No. 704 explained. "We aren't exactly the first batch of the Grunt Program, of course," he said, pointing at the number label on his left chest, implying the large number of grunts that had already been inducted into Max Brain's grunt army.

"Yup," No. 711 agreed. "Max Brain has been offering employment opportunities for grunt positions for a few years now, so of course we are going to have seniors above us," she added to Grunt No. 704's explanation.

"Ah, I see," I nodded at the information they gave me. "Wait, 'employment'?" I just realized something from what she just said. Employment? For grunt positions? "You guys applied to be grunts?!" I asked them, shocked at the notion that both of them had willingly applied to be a villain's grunt.

"Jeez, big guy. You even forget about that?" Grunt No. 711 responded with disbelief. "Those scientists must have messed with your head really bad."

"Yeah. Are you sure you're okay, man?" He asked with concern. "Not only do you not know we are in Max Brain's lair, but you also don't remember applying for his grunt position too? Those damn scientists…" He cursed at the end.

"Eh... no, sorry. I honestly don't remember anything," I excused myself to them. They both looked at each other before showing a concerned look toward me (at least that's what I imagined from the movement of their eyes). I wasn't sure either whether I had ever applied to become a grunt or not. But... then I remembered something.

"Hell, I might even do grunt's work."

"Oh...! A Grunt, you say?"

The memories of that meeting with 'The Witch' crossed my mind. I remembered quite vividly of that event... before then I woke up inside the test tube with this new body of mine. I had jokingly said that I would work as a 'grunt' to her... and it seemed that she had "granted" that joke of mine.

"Hey..." I called for their attention, which they did, "Did you guys... apply to this grunt position to a strange woman inside an alleyway?" I asked them directly, referencing my bad experience with the "Witch". My quite specific question got them a bit surprised. They then looked at each other again, trying to understand what I was talking about. Then they both looked at me with a confused expression.

"Uh, no?" No. 711 replied with uncertainty. "I'm not sure what you're talking about," she commented on what I had just said.

"Yeah," No. 704 also agreed with her. "I'm pretty sure that we all had to apply to an official Max Brain's employment center," he explained, retelling the experience of how he had applied.

'Official Max Brain's employment center'... Was this really a thing...? A supervillain opening an employment center...? I was quite perplexed at the very notion. I honestly returned to believing that all of these shits were some major elaborate pranks the more I heard about the explanation from these two fellow grunts of mine.

"Dude, are you really, really sure you're okay?" Grunt No. 704 asked me the same question before, but his tone now was less concerned and more bewildered.

"Uh... Well..." I honestly didn't know how to answer his question now. I was about to think about how to answer his question, but...

The sound of an automatic moving door could be heard from the edge of the room. Everyone's attention was directed to the source of the sound, and there we saw a lone but tough-looking grunt enter the room.

"Alright, you grunts! We are moving out! Follow my lead!" Ordered the tough grunt to all of us here.