"Hehe, I'm glad we can restore our relationship with everyone"
Jiang Ge looked at Nicole and Billy, who had quickly regained their usual authoritative demeanor in front of him, and felt somewhat helpless. But then again, this was better—it made it easier to discuss matters.
If they were to jump straight into business, it would only put pressure on them.
"Corin, take this plate of cookies to share with Ellen." Jiang Ge instructed Corin to bring the cookies to Ellen, who was dozing off against the wall. He then took out a tablet and placed it in front of an excited Nicole. "Nicole, let's discuss the first commission you completed at 'Good Enough'?"
"Huh?"
Nico, who had been floating on air from Jiang Ge's praise, was taken aback and looked down at the tablet.
On the screen was a picture of a Bumb. Nicole took a closer look and recognized it—it was the commission "Good Enough" had given them.
"What's wrong? Wasn't that Bumb already taken by Mr. Walt and sent back?"
A sense of unease crept into Nicole's heart as she quickly asked. Jiang Ge responded with a light chuckle.
"Before we discuss this, I should clarify that the client, the owner of this Bumb, is a young lady from a certain conglomerate—the type with plenty of money but little patience. Since the commission was completed too slowly, she gave 'Good Enough' a negative review, something we haven't seen in a long time."
"A-a negative review? That's not a big deal, right? Pro-probably?"
Nico thought a negative review was nothing—after all, Cunning Hares had received plenty of those. But as she watched Jiang Ge's half-smiling expression, her voice gradually trailed off.
"Boss, the kind of people who can leave a negative review for 'Good Enough' are probably different from those who leave us negative reviews, right?"
At that moment, Billy, who was nearby, whispered a reminder. However, even though he spoke softly, Jiang Ge still heard it.
"Shut up, Billy! As if I didn't know that!"
"Th-there's a difference between one negative review and another..."
Nico quickly told Billy to be quiet. Billy sighed, lamenting that even negative reviews could be ranked.
Jiang Ge leisurely took a sip of tea, watching Nicole grow increasingly restless, and smiled.
"Don't misunderstand, everyone. I'm not a petty person—a single negative review doesn't bother me too much. But if that's the case, why am I bringing it up?"
As he spoke, Jiang Ge swiped the tablet's screen, and a new image came into view. Nico gulped, and when she saw the image clearly, her eyes widened in shock.
"Isn't this the maid next to you...?"
Nicole pointed at the image and looked toward the person beside Jiang Ge.
Corin, because the image clearly showed Corin eating cookies in small bites, captured with a satisfied expression on her face.
"J-Jiang Ge, sir?"
Upon confirming the image was indeed of her, Corin blushed and looked at Jiang Ge in confusion. By now, Jiang Ge had started to break out in a cold sweat and quickly swiped back to the previous screen.
"Ahem, I swiped in the wrong direction. Pay no attention to that adorable photo—this is what I actually wanted to show you, Nicole."
Nicole examined it carefully. This image was a screenshot Jiang Ge had taken from a news webpage, describing exactly what the Cunning Hares had done yesterday.
"Cunning Hares Crack Major Case: Gangsters Engaged in Despicable Activities Inside Hollows—isn't this the media praising us for doing a good deed?"
Nicole was somewhat puzzled, as the news article didn't mention "Good Enough" at all.
"You did do a good deed, that's true, but Public Security Bringer would inevitably conduct follow-up investigations. And then, they uncovered a list," Jiang Ge explained, a trace of weariness appearing on his face. "They followed the trail and eventually tracked down the client, hoping she would allow them to inspect the Bumb."
"I-I see..."
"Although we had informed the client in advance and assured her that the rescue was timely, that her Bumb had not undergone any modifications, and that no one besides her and I would know the specific details of what happened to the Bumb, but...."
"Because of the media coverage about us and the Public Security Bringer interference..." Nicole spoke out starting to understand the implications
"Exactly. Now the client's family, friends, and even her enemies have found out about this. They're all mocking her for carrying 'such a thing' around and worrying about it no less, They are calling it improper. Congratulations, Nicole—you've successfully caused a high-society young lady to experience social death."
Jiang Ge's tone carried a hint of sarcasm. Nicole, sweating profusely, covered her face. She had never imagined things would turn out this way and would escalate to this extent.
"In short, the outcome of this matter is that I compensated with money, apologized, and lost a client. However, we all learned a lesson from it, which is somewhat acceptable."
"Somewhat acceptable?" At this point, Anby, who had been sitting silently nearby, suddenly spoke up, addressing Jiang Ge in a dissatisfied tone. "Logically, you should have explained the entire commission to us clearly. If you had, we wouldn't have made the arrangements we did later."
"Anby!"
Nicole covered Anby's mouth, urging her to stop. But Jiang Ge signaled for Nicole to let go. He looked at the somewhat angry Anby and smiled.
"If I recall correctly, at the beginning of the operation, I did remind you that no matter what happened during the process, you must prioritize the commission's content above all else and not take any actions beyond its scope, right?"
"W-well, maybe you did...?"
Billy let out an awkward laugh and spoke uncertainly.
"Although you all uncovered a lot of information, you were thinking that if the Cunning Hares rescued those Bangboos, you could gain a fair amount of money and reputation, right? So you planned a new operation?"
Anby lowered her head and responded, though she also felt somewhat puzzled.
"But if we didn't take action and only focused on rescuing the commissioned Bangboo, what would happen to the other Bangboo? Should we just ignore them or hand them over to the Public Security for free?"
"Exactly—hand them over to the Public Security, but not for free."
Jiang Ge picked up the tablet, tapped on it a few times, and then placed it back in front of Nicole. This time, the screen displayed a map of New Eridu, marked with over a dozen Public Security brunch locations.
Nicole looked at the map, feeling confused.
"Though I'm not particularly talented, I do know some officers in the Public Security."
"Among them, there are always a few who would be very happy to have such freely given information fall into their laps. At that point, they would certainly continue to seek my help. And since they can be careless, they might accidentally send some internal information to me."
Accidentally?
Under what circumstances would it be "accidental"?!
Nicole wiped the sweat from her forehead, feeling that Jiang Ge was gradually becoming more and more dangerous.
"Don't be nervous. In the future, if any of you accidentally get into trouble, they'll be willing to do you a favor. Now, it's time to move on to the final topic of today." As he spoke, Jiang Ge retrieved the tablet and began wrapping up the meeting.
"'Good Enough' has three rules"
Jiang Ge stood up and had Corin distribute a sheet of paper to each member of the Cunning Hares. Nico picked up the paper and saw three lines of text written in the center.
First: Those who complicate things—"Good enough" doesn't use them, because such people never complete commissions and always bring troubles beyond the commission.
Second: Those who talk too much—"Good enough" doesn't use them, because such people always ask too many questions about things beyond the commission and don't know what should not be inquired about or spoken of carelessly.
Third: Those who eat beef— "Good enough" doesn't use them, because he doesn't eat beef.
"Umm... doesn't this last one feel a bit out of place compared to the others?"
Nicole looked at the last line and couldn't help but comment.
"What?"
Jiang Ge took the paper from Nicole's hand, glanced at it, then quickly walked over to Corin and asked in a low voice:
"Little Corin, was this exactly what was written on the original document I asked you to photocopy?"
"Y-yes... Mr. Jiang Ge."
"Oh no, I was too drowsy and forgot to change it. Ahem!"
Jiang Ge coughed lightly, drawing everyone's attention back to himself. "In short, remember the first and second rules. I believe we can achieve perfect cooperation."
"Okay." For some reason, Jiang Ge, who had seemed very dangerous just moments ago, now struck Nicole as somewhat unreliable. "What about our commission fee?"
"There is no commission fee. Do you know why?"
"I know... it's because we messed up..." Nicole lowered her head dejectedly, but this only elicited a light chuckle from Jiang Ge. She looked up, puzzled, thinking he was laughing at her. "You're not making fun of the Cunning Hares, are you?"
"Of course not. Because when working for 'Good Enough,' as long as you put in the effort, I won't treat you unfairly. The previous meal expenses, plus this amount, will be considered my investment in you. I look forward to your future performance."
As Jiang Ge spoke, he tapped a few times on his tablet. Shortly after, Nicole's phone chimed. She froze for a moment, then took out her phone.
"A message from the bank... Huh? Wha—?!"
Nicole's hands trembled violently as she held her phone. Anby and Billy, curious about what she had seen, leaned in to look. However, when they saw the message on the screen, their expressions turned identical to Nicole's.
"O-one million!?"
...
After leaving the bookstore and walking along the streets of tenth Street, Nicole felt an overwhelming sense of disbelief, as if she couldn't distinguish between reality and illusion.
Beside her, Billy was especially excited.
"Such a huge sum of money, and we don't even have to pay back the previous meal expenses! Boss, Jiang Ge is truly a great guy, isn't he?"
"Yeah, but we still need to be careful," Anby said. Though she was also shocked by Jiang Ge's generosity, she hadn't let her guard down against him. "There's no such thing as a free lunch. Who knows what kind of dangerous commission he might assign us next? Nicole, what do you think?"
Hearing Anby call out to her, Nicole glanced at the excited Billy and the calm Anby, then looked back at the bookstore behind them, finally snapping back to reality.
"Whatever! Anyway, from now on, we are the agents of 'Good Enough'!" Nicole stepped forward, putting her arms around their shoulders, and said with a laugh, "We're on par with those legendary agents now!"
"On par... is that so?"
For some reason, after Anby said this, the three of them fell into silence.
After leaving tenth Street and standing on the wide main road, they simultaneously looked up at the distant sky.
There, a black scar cut across the sky, stark and conspicuous.
Two and a half years ago, at Lumina Square, a large-scale Hollow had erupted, trapping countless people inside. For a time, no one knew what to do.
However, a day later, the Hollow vanished for unknown reasons...
...and was replaced by that scar in the sky.
According to the official investigation report released afterward, it was said that a single person had cleaved the Hollow open with just one slash.
And that person was none other than the legendary agent of "Good Enough"—
Acheron
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A/n: While I am a new translator, I have a Patreon! While it may be a bit empty right now both this and the other book on my page has advanced chapters posted on patreon. Set up for my web novel will be 2 chapters for every book a day and if you go to my patreon you'll see the set up there.
patreon.com/deadlygoober