Chapter 101
The Labor Union Struggle was ultimately met with Suppression by the Dragon President's meticulous stratagem.
But the game wasn't over yet.
After that... yeah. It was closer to the pure, original Truth or Dare that the Dragon President had insisted on.
Not the kind where we formed an Alliance to fight, but a game for socializing and bonding where everyone laughed and chatted.
All sorts of things really happened over those few hours.
In fact, rather than Truth or Dare, it felt like watching a Show of Rare Skills by masters.
Sey, who had just recently shown the unimaginable skill of doing a One-Finger handstand,
was ordered by the Dragon President, “Show us your amazing Bartending Skill!” Surprisingly, she poured Tommy Jones's cheap beer, wine, and sake into a large glass without any proper tools, mixed them around, and succeeded in creating a bomb shot with a terrifying visual that looked like it contained the Yellow Springs (underworld).
A murky, dark purple alcoholic liquid was swaying and spewing bubbles... How terrified I was seeing those swirling currents.
Is this the Dragon's Lair Head Bartender? Even her knack for making a People-Soaking Cocktail was top-tier.
At that point, it wasn't an exaggeration; it was literally Poisonous Liquor.
I don't think she needs to be this good at everything!
If it becomes My Turn, I must absolutely choose truth, even if it means revealing information that might endanger my personal safety, because if I drink that, I might go straight to the afterlife with no secrets or anything...
I was having those thoughts, but the Next Target was, amazingly, the Dragon President.
This time, it was a pure coincidence without any manipulation whatsoever.
They say karma comes back around, and the person who ordered the creation of the Yellow Springs (underworld) bomb shot earned the glorious right to taste it first.
[Wa-wait. No matter how I think about it, it doesn't seem glorious─.]
"One shot! One shot! One shot! One shot!"
We were all Unanimous as we poured the bomb shot into the resisting Dragon President's Mecha Snout,
and our Iron Man, Mr. Sasha Dragon, surprisingly managed to chug it all at once and succeeded in holding out without losing consciousness!
[Kkeuhaaaaaaah! What does not kill me only makes me strongerrrr!]
...Though his condition seemed to have gotten a bit weird.
He was already weird to begin with, but now that he was completely drunk, he became twice as weird.
Should I say he wasn't an ordinary Sasha Dragon, but a 5-star Awakened Transcendental Break-Through Sasha Dragon?
He just went around committing all sorts of bizarre acts.
In his tipsy state, he abruptly ordered Tony to hack into the Tommy Jones restaurant.
And Tony actually went and pulled it off...
He took his terminal and jack, connected them to the wall in the corner, fiddled around a bit,
and seeing how he plastered the Kitchen Display with hundreds of the mascot dragon characters to match the Dragon President's request made my head spin.
Just what is the true Identity of these people!
After that, as if he had some sort of grudge involving handstands, he ordered me to Do a handstand following Sey.
Of course, he didn't order me to Do a One-Finger handstand; it was strictly a normal Two-Hand handstand, but even that is hard for me.
Honestly, I wasn't confident.
But surprisingly, I managed to do it too.
I was a bit drunk, and since I'm not on the flexible side, I honestly thought I couldn't do it, but it worked.
The suit's Combat Mode was turned off, but I just placed my hands on the Ground as the Dragon President taught me, supported myself with my upper body, and succeeded in raising my body.
My body felt so light that I even managed to balance in midair with just my own strength, despite having no wall behind my back.
"O-ooh...!"
I was bewildered myself even after doing it. The Dragon President's shouting while smacking my back, “See! You can do it if you try!”, felt so unrealistic.
I've been rolling around working hard lately. Did my body get better thanks to that?
Even so, does it Make Sense to succeed on the first try without proper practice?
Anyway, it was a truly bizarre company Dinner. It felt like I was in a dream, not reality.
Just looking at the current scene...
"Ugh, please stop with that nonsense! I asked what your gender is, and you're bringing up that sexless Red Dragon story again."
[Honto (Really)? I sincerely consider myself a sexless being. Huh? Did you just ignore my Gender Identity?
Should I file a report right now to the Dusk lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender Pride Coordinator Association (Dusk Association of LGBT+ Pride coordinators) that works day and night for the human rights of the Sexual Minority?]
"Th-that's the one thing you can't do! Last time, some Customer was affiliated with them, and I had a really hard time. No, more importantly, where is there such a Gender Identity in the first place! Sexless, my foot."
While I looked away for a moment, the Dragon President and Tony were bickering again.
From what I heard, Tony asked what his gender was, and like some legendary Pokémon, he brought up that he's a dragon and, unlike humans, has no gender.
[There is such a thing! A greenhorn like you wouldn't know, though.]
"What do you mean there is! Hurry up and Tell me your Biological Sex, not your Gender Identity. I asked you!"
[Yeah, Chigauyo (No). If that's what you wanted, you should have clearly said Biological Sex. Chance over. Your question is already gone. It's My Turn.]
This is the highly politically correct 22nd century Cyberpunk Future City!
If you say one wrong word about a sensitive topic like gender, you end up with nothing to show for it like that.
"Eeeek! You're a man, right? Considering you asked Sey for her Three Sizes earlier, you're definitely a man!"
[I'm not? What's the big deal about Three Sizes? I can ask for your dick size anytime! How many centimeters is it?]
"Kkieeeek! The boss is sexually harassing even me!!!"
Hahaha.
Let me correct myself.
It's not just bizarre, but everyone just seems Crazy.
I really seem to be working with amazing people in many ways.
* * *
And more time passed.
By this point, I felt I clearly understood the reason the Dragon President brought out Truth or Dare.
At first, because he was running wild like Crazy and turning the company Dinner upside down, I thought he just wanted to play a game he liked, but that wasn't it.
Through a simple system of asking and answering each other's secrets, we could Confess what we had hidden.
*At the same time, by choosing dare instead of truth, it was also possible to hide sensitive secrets that shouldn't be revealed.*
On top of that, the Dragon President himself acted as a sort of Boss Monster, making the employees join forces to find out his secret, thereby playing a role in creating Intimacy and Bond.
As he said, it was the perfect solution for the current situation.
Of course, I still hadn't properly heard the information about what I was really curious about, but apart from that, I felt like I had gotten closer to everyone through the company Dinner.
And now...
"Gurgle."
Surprisingly, it was a sound coming from a person's mouth, and from right next to me, at that.
Tony dropped his head, making a sound that a beast might make.
In front of him, Sey was holding a beer glass, constantly blinking her eyes as if she were tired.
Because she was beaming with a smile she didn't usually show, it was somehow hard to look at her.
That's right. Everyone was drunk.
Because the game dragged on, later on, we ran out of things to make people do for dares, so we made them drink instead of giving unusual commands.
After passing around Sey's special bomb shot a few times, everyone ended up in this state.
Not just those two, but honestly, I'm not normal either. While those heavy drinkers were collapsing, I also drank quite a bit myself.
Still, since everyone somewhat knew that I was a lightweight, after Pretending to Gag a few times, they let me drink at a leisurely pace.
Thanks to that, I survived. If I had drunk even one more glass of this tasteless Synthetic Beer, I might have actually thrown up.
Swish-
Lifting my head and looking forward, I saw the Bright Red Giant Metallic Doll heavily sunken and lying face down on the floor like a frog.
Every time he hiccuped, Strange Sleep Talk slipped out in his drunken state.
[Nikola, we're Tomodachi (friend), right, aren't we...]
Naturally, it was the Dragon President. No matter how much of a drunkard Dragon he was, his liver had its limits.
Having chugged Sey's People-Soaking Cocktail of the Yellow Springs (underworld) all at once, and then having drunk various alcoholic beverages as penalties after that, he couldn't endure it anymore and collapsed.
Considering the amount of alcohol he drank, it was almost a miracle that he collapsed just now.
“Did everyone not get the Liver Support cyberware Procedure, or did they get it but turn it off...”
Or maybe the cyberware couldn't handle too much alcohol and broke down.
Haha, there's no way that's the case.
Beside me, shuddering at the ominous imagination, Tony let out a “Kkuek!” sound and lifted his head.
Grabbing his forehead as if his head hurt, he opened his mouth.
"Ah, I almost dozed off for a second... So whose turn was it again?"
He's looking for the Game Order in the midst of all this. He's relentless, truly relentless.
Seeing him ask with a hoarse voice, I extended my finger and pointed downward.
[What, it's My Turn? Has the war finally reached its final stage? Good. I'll sortie. Did that bastard Thomas say anything?]
Tony looked in the direction I was pointing, then frowned at the sight of the Dragon President sprawled out and spouting nonsense.
"Well, he's completely gone. Yeah. Let's skip the boss's turn. Everyone seems to be reaching their limit... let's make this round the last one and go home."
"Let's do that. We have to Go to Work tomorrow, but it's already dawn..."
And it was a whopping 2 AM at that.
Since the meeting time was 6 PM, we had been eating, drinking, and chatting for a whopping eight hours.
It was normal to be exhausted and tired. Even playing gets tiring if you keep doing it for eight hours straight.
I don't know if we'll even be able to Go to Work properly tomorrow. It's a good thing everyone is on the Night Shift.
"Sey? You're after the boss, so it's you. Truth, dare... choose whether you'll drink or reveal a secret."
Tony said so while yawning.
Having enjoyed the game multiple times, I realized the rules had long since changed.
Without the cumbersome Process of the questioner randomly choosing a target,
it just became the passing of the turn in order, and the person whose turn it was would either reveal one of their secrets or drink alcohol.
"My Turn? Got it. Hmm..."
Having sobered up a bit in the meantime, Sey stopped blinking, placed her elbows on the table, and rested her chin on her hands.
She looked like she was contemplating whether to drink or tell a secret.
"What are you thinking so hard about? It's the last one anyway, so let's just choose truth, all of us. If not now, when would we Ever spill it out so openly?"
Tony says, tapping the table next to her.
Sey smiled softly.
"Shall I?"
With truth held in her eyes.