The Hero is Too Busy Paying His Rent!Chapter 4: Employee of the Month… or Ultimate Betrayal?!It had been one week since the Demon King and Princess Melodia started working at Burger Castle.

  And somehow, this was worse than the Demon King’s invasion.

  Meet the EmployeesMe (Rento Kazuma, Unwilling Hero & Burger Flipper Extraordinaire)Just trying to pay rent.Only here because my ndlord refuses to accept "fate of the world" as an excuse for te payments.The only employee keeping this pce together (which is why it’s falling apart).The Demon King (Assistant Manager & Ancient Dark Lord of Destruction)Too good at customer service.Speaks entirely in dramatic monologues.Once convinced an angry customer to leave a 5-star review through sheer intimidation.Princess Melodia (Cashier & Former Chosen One)Hates everything.Still refuses to acknowledge her job as "real work."Has threatened to "purify" at least four customers with holy magic.Kenji (Fry Cook & Professional Scker)Might be dead inside.Deep-fries everything (including the holy sword of destiny).Once disappeared for three hours, then came back with a pet turtle named Greg.A Dark Prophecy… and a Customer CompintAt exactly 3:00 PM, the Demon King burst into the kitchen.

  “Rento!” he bellowed. “We have been betrayed.”

  I sighed. “Please tell me this isn’t about the Employee of the Month vote.”

  The Demon King threw a crumpled-up flyer onto the counter.

  It read:

  EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH: KENJI.

  Beneath it was a picture of Kenji, asleep in the freezer, wearing sungsses and holding a frozen bag of fries like a pillow.

  Kenji, still half-asleep, raised a hand. “Yo.”

  The Demon King smmed a fist against the wall, cracking the pster.

  “This is an outrage!” he roared. “I have led armies! Conquered nations! I personally upsold a Dragon King Combo Meal with Extra Cheese!”

  I flipped a burger. “Yeah, but Kenji didn’t burn the restaurant down in a fit of evil ughter.”

  The Demon King frowned. “That was ONE TIME.”

  Princess Melodia, who had been gring at the register for the st two hours, snorted.

  “Honestly, you’re both idiots,” she muttered. “Employee of the Month is a meaningless corporate tool used to manipute workers into fighting for nonexistent rewards.”

  The Demon King gasped. “You mean it is… a deception?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  Kenji raised a hand. “I got a gift card, though.”

  Melodia turned bright red. “WHAT?!”

  “Yeah, man,” Kenji yawned, stretching. “Fifteen bucks. Free lunch for, like, three days.”

  The princess immediately tackled him.

  The Ultimate Betrayal (Or: How to Get Fired in Under Five Minutes)While Melodia was busy trying to pry the gift card out of Kenji’s hand, the Demon King sulked in the break room.

  I found him staring at the wall, his glowing red eyes flickering.

  “I was supposed to be a feared ruler,” he muttered. “And yet… I was defeated. Not in battle. Not by the forces of light. But by a man who forgets to wash his hands.”

  I sighed. “Dude, it’s just a fake title. Who cares?”

  “I care,” he growled. “A king does not accept defeat.”

  Before I could remind him that this was a fast-food restaurant, a portal to the underworld ripped open in the middle of the dining area.

  A shadowy Demon General stepped through, cd in spiked armor and malevolent energy.

  “O Great Lord of Darkness,” he intoned, kneeling, “your loyal servants beg for your return. We have assembled the Blood Army of the Abyss to conquer the mortal realm once more.”

  The Demon King took a deep breath.

  Then he looked at me.

  Then at the Employee of the Month poster.

  Then back at me.

  “…No,” he said.

  The entire restaurant went dead silent.

  The Demon General hesitated. “My lord?”

  The Demon King stood up. Slowly. Dramatically. The air grew heavy with dark energy.

  And then he said:

  “I refuse to return until I am named Employee of the Month.”

  I dropped my spatu.

  Melodia screamed.

  Kenji snored.

  The Demon General’s eye twitched. “I—what? My lord, you… you cannot be serious.”

  “I am always serious,” the Demon King said gravely.

  “But—but the mortal world is weak! Ripe for conquest! Surely you would rather rule an empire of darkness than—than flip burgers?”

  The Demon King nodded. “That is exactly what a loser who has never received a single workpce award would say.”

  The Demon General fell to his knees. “M-My lord… please…”

  The Demon King pced a hand on his shoulder. “Go. Tell the armies of darkness that I will return when I have won.”

  The Demon General burst into tears.

  “I—I understand, my lord. We shall wait. Forever, if we must.”

  Then, sobbing uncontrolbly, he threw himself back into the underworld portal and vanished.

  I rubbed my temples. “You know what? Fine. Sure. Whatever. I don’t care anymore.”

  The Demon King grinned. “Then let the campaign begin.”

  A Vilin’s Most Evil Pn Yet: Workpce PoliticsOver the next three days, the Demon King did the unthinkable.

  He actually tried at his job.

  He memorized the entire menu.

  He learned every customer’s name.

  He redecorated the break room into a throne room made of pstic chairs and ketchup packets.

  Worst of all…

  He started using corporate buzzwords.

  “Rento,” he said one afternoon, “we need to synergize our workflow.”

  I stared at him. “What.”

  He nodded solemnly. “If we optimize the register rotation, we can improve burger-per-minute output by 14%.”

  Melodia, who had been aggressively refusing to do any real work, froze mid-eye roll.

  “…Did you just use math?” she asked.

  The Demon King nodded. “Yes.”

  She paled. “Oh gods, you’re a manager now.”

  Kenji wandered in, eating a deep-fried soda can. “Hey, man, can I go home early?”

  The Demon King handed him a clipboard.

  “No, Kenji,” he said. “We have quotas to meet.”

  Kenji dropped his soda. “Oh no,” he whispered. “Oh no.”

  I grabbed him by the shoulders. “Stay with me, buddy. Don’t go into the light.”

  But it was too te.

  The Demon King had become unstoppable.

  The Final Showdown: Ultimate Darkness vs. Corporate PolicyAt the end of the week, the new Employee of the Month results were posted.

  We all crowded around the bulletin board. The air was tense.

  And the winner was…

  GREG THE TURTLE.

  A single dead silence fell over the room.

  “…Wait,” I said. “How?”

  Kenji shrugged. “I put his name on the ballot.”

  The Demon King clenched his fists. The sky darkened. A storm brewed. The ground cracked beneath him.

  “BETRAYAL.”

  Melodia nodded approvingly. “Tough break.”

  The Demon King turned to me, his eyes burning with pure hatred.

  “RENTO.”

  I backed away. “Hey. Don’t look at me. I didn’t vote for the turtle.”

  The Demon King gritted his teeth. Then he stormed out of the restaurant and ripped open another portal to the underworld.

  “Very well,” he growled. “If this world will not acknowledge my greatness, then I will take what is rightfully mine by force.”

  He stepped through the portal.

  It smmed shut behind him.

  I sighed. “Well. That’s probably bad.”

  Kenji stared at the empty spot where the Demon King had stood.

  Then he held up Greg the Turtle.

  “Yo, does Greg get a gift card?”

  Melodia kicked him.

  To Be Continued…