Seto travels to the Underworld — not to fetch Atem back, but to audit it. A few hours of KaibaCorp systems work reduces three thousand years of backlog to two days a week of button-pressing. But Priest Seto refuses the deal: what offends him was never the hours, it was a King who abandoned his office. So Atem is deposited in the Underworld to detoxify, and discovers that offline games still work. Months later, three of them sit down to negotiate a schedule.
This is a translation of an Artificial Intelligence work.
Original Title: 05 義務王
Original Author: Gemini with 葉人(@Hathor_yuki)
Personal site: https://prideshipping.sakura.ne.jp
Seto had never had the slightest intention of making him do steady clerical work — document sorting, or operating a till. This man's one unique aptitude was an absolute talent for games, capable of drawing the spirits of the cards themselves to him.
"Atem. I am assigning you as test player for the new game currently in development, and for the new Solid Vision."
A cutting-edge laboratory adjoining the president's office. Waiting there were a top-grade gaming chair, an enormous monitor spread out in front of it, and mountains of snacks and fizzy drinks.
"Ho… so I play this, and find the things called bugs. Heh, where games are concerned there is no man above me."
In his sweats, gripping a controller, Atem faced the screen in delight.
Seto turned to look behind him and spoke coldly to his brother Mokuba and Isono, the retainer who had served him for years.
"Mokuba. Isono. Do not let that man out of here by a single step. Do not neglect the resupply of snacks. I am… going on a short business trip."
"Leave it to me, Nii-sama! I'll keep a proper watch so Atem doesn't run off!"
"Sir! Take care, President!"
Having entrusted the pair with Atem's surveillance — that is, with attentive nursing care — Seto swept his white coat around and headed for the depths beneath head office. There, enthroned, was the device he had once completed through sheer obsession: the Interdimensional Elevator, built to cross between dimensions.
"Hmph… that I should be revisiting the Underworld I only reached by reaching out as far as space itself, and for a labour conditions inspection of all things."
Seto started up the system and stepped into a dazzling vortex of light. His destination was the country of the dead, ruled single-handed by that priest called Seto — the Underworld.
Beyond the golden doors, the palace of the Underworld, sand blowing through it.
There, as ever, surrounded by mountains of papyrus, was Priest Seto, tapping at a calculator with sleep-deprived eyes.
"…Who is there."
Priest Seto rose in astonishment at the man who had appeared, cleaving space itself. But on realising that the man before him was his modern self, he immediately let out a deep sigh.
"The modern-day whelp. And the Predecessor — what of him. Do not tell me he has escaped you as well."
"Set your mind at rest. That man is currently in our laboratory in a set of sweats, applying himself to test play."
Seto walked over to Priest Seto's desk and cast an eye over the heaped papyrus and clay tablets.
"More to the point. Let me see these three thousand years of outstanding administrative documents of yours. With the brain that pushed KaibaCorp to the top of the world, debugging the Underworld's system collapse will take a moment."
Seto opened a laptop and began reducing the Underworld's current administrative system to cold data.
What Seto did from there could only be called miraculous.
Analogue procedures inherited from ancient Egypt; the inefficient flow of judgement for the souls of the dead; the wasteful budget structure of the Underworld's urban development plans. Seto identified them one after another and centralised their management using KaibaCorp's newest AI algorithms. Every process that could be automated, he built into the system.
"…Extraordinary."
After only a few hours' work, Priest Seto stared at the desk in front of him, dumbfounded. The mountains of documents that had filled the room had vanished without trace, and all the data was consolidated onto a sleek holographic display.
"With this, every administrative duty in the Underworld is now efficient. There is no need for you to work overtime alone. …By calculation, the King's working hours amount to two days a week, of a few hours each, to complete every approval."
Seto closed the laptop and gave a snort.
"A two-day-a-week reduced-hours arrangement. On that basis, the indulgence this man calls overwork will no longer wash. …Well then, ancient ghost. I have compressed the business to this degree. There is, systemically, no longer any need for Atem to be stationed here. I take it there is no objection to leaving the man in my keeping in the living world?"
Seto's question was, in substance, a negotiation to take custody of Atem.
However, even as he gazed at the streamlined display, Priest Seto did not let the light in the depths of those sharp eyes go out. He shook his head slowly and looked back at Seto directly.
"…Modern-day whelp. I thank you sincerely for your extraordinary wisdom, and for the results of this improvement. But… you have mistaken the essential point."
"What did you say?"
Priest Seto stood and looked up at the empty throne where Atem had once sat.
"What angers me is not so trivial a matter as the length of working hours. …That man is a King. An absolute King, who commands the three Egyptian Gods and who ought to guide every soul of the dead in the Underworld. And that such a King should cast aside the sacred duty laid upon him, and — of all things — abscond to the living world out of the private greed of not wanting to work… it is that absence of a King's pride which I cannot, under any circumstances, forgive!"
In Priest Seto's words was the unyielding pride of a priest who had given his life for three thousand years to loyalty to his King and to the survival of his country.
"Two days a week, one instant a week, it is all the same. To abandon duty and drown in games is a desecration of the King's office. Whatever it takes, I will make that man remember what it is to be King, and drag him back to this throne at least once — otherwise I shall never be satisfied!"
"…Hmph."
The gazes of two men with identical faces struck sparks off each other once more, in the wind of the Underworld.
Seto understood, more thoroughly than he cared to, that this obsession of Priest Seto's was identical in kind to the fixation he himself held on Atem.
"Very well. Then let us see which way that man's soul tips — the entertainments of the living world, or his pride as a King. I shall test it thoroughly, on my own field."
Seto smiled fearlessly and vanished once more into the light that led back to the living world.
An Underworld made efficient, and a KaibaCorp in which the environment for a NEET life was being ever more perfectly appointed. The two Setos' battle for possession of Atem's soul was entering deeper territory still — entirely without the knowledge of the man himself, who was in his sweats, playing a game.
Returning to the living world, Seto went straight to the laboratory, where Atem had just defeated the new game's secret boss without taking a scratch and was surrounded by snack wrappers, celebrating: "Fuhaha! Total victory!"
"Atem. I went to the Underworld and spoke with that thing."
"What—?!"
The controller slipped out of Atem's hands. The instant he heard Priest Seto's message as relayed by Seto — that obsessive declaration that working hours are irrelevant; what is unforgivable is that he abandoned his duty as King and absconded — the knees of Atem's sweats began to rattle again.
"H-he means it…! He has no intention of giving up until he has dragged me back to that dark hell of papyrus…!"
"Hmph. Don't cower. I have debugged the entire operation for you."
Seto seized Atem by the scruff of the neck without mercy and marched him, allowing no argument, down to the Interdimensional Elevator in the basement.
"W-wait, Kaiba! Where are you taking me! I still have the rest of that video to—"
A dazzling light burst, and in the next moment the two of them had come down once more in the palace of the Underworld.
"Now. Look."
The holographic display Seto indicated showed the Underworld's newest workflow, simplified to its absolute limit.
"This is the total labour situation in the Underworld at present. Following my reforms, your work amounts to two days a week, and consists of pressing an approval button a few times. Calculated in total hours, the work here in the Underworld is shorter than the core time arrangement at KaibaCorp. On some days, all public business will be concluded in a matter of minutes."
"M-minutes…?!"
Atem's eyes went round. Wherever the old mountains of documents had gone, this was now at a level completed faster than clearing the daily missions in some minor game.
But Atem still frowned, and pushed his lip out in dissatisfaction.
"Even so, Kaiba… this is the Underworld. The palace Wi-Fi is not as fast as in the living world, and above all there is no delivery pizza here, no new games, no streaming services! Even if the work is finished in minutes, there is absolutely no content with which to idle away the remaining hours! I want to be a shut-in in the living world!"
At this thoroughly degenerate pronouncement from his King, Priest Seto came walking over from the back, too exasperated for speech.
"Predecessor…! How far has the poison of the living world—"
"Kaiba!"
Sensing Priest Seto's approach, Atem made one last desperate attempt and flung himself, gripping hard, against Seto's chest.
"I am not going back after all! I truly, from the bottom of my heart, love you! So take me home to the living world! A world without you in it is—"
A confession of love of surpassing slapdashness. The second one.
Seto, however, wearing an expression of absolute ice, peeled Atem's arms off him with astonishing strength and threw him, without mercy, onto the floor before the throne.
"The waste of our servers ends here, Atem. Five days off a week and a few minutes' labour — an environment tailored to your idleness with a precision that cannot be improved upon. Detoxify yourself of this thing you call a King's pride here, at your leisure."
"K-Kaibaaaaa!!"
"Hmph. If I feel inclined, I shall bring a new game evolved beyond all recognition and come and Duel you on one of your five days off. …Until then. Turn end."
Seto smiled fearlessly, swept the long white coat around him beautifully, and vanished into the light between dimensions.
"Modern-day whelp… quite superb work!"
Priest Seto's voice rang out in delight, while Atem, left behind alone, remained collapsed on the floor, dropped into the very bottom of despair.
Afterwards.
Atem did, as promised, begin performing the Underworld's public duties two days a week — duties that took a few minutes. The duty as King that Priest Seto had demanded was being fulfilled at the minimum level, and public order in the Underworld was maintained perfectly.
Once the duties were over, however, Atem—
"Heh… today's work is done." The button-pressing. "…Then if you will excuse me."
Switching off his aura as King entirely and changing into his favourite KC sweats brought over from the living world, Atem shut himself away in his private chambers deep in the palace at the speed of light.
There was no Wi-Fi environment here as there was in the living world.
But he did not give up. Connecting the storage terminal he had brought from the living world — onto which he had downloaded videos and offline games right up to its limit — to the newest portable console, he spent his days alone in a dim room, playing through games in steady silence.
Occasionally Priest Seto would look in — "Predecessor, would you not go out and get some air—" — and find Atem with his headphones still on, saying:
"I'm on what is effectively the final turn of the secret boss, don't speak to me. Turn end."
And nothing else, gazing at the screen with no fighting spirit whatsoever, but with the eyes of a craftsman.
Duty as King fulfilled; private life a matter of perfect offline shut-in.
And so Atem, balancing ancient pride and modern indolence in a miraculous equilibrium, went on enjoying a second repose deep in the Underworld — the most luxurious and the quietest of any man's, and thoroughly that of an otaku.
Several more months went by.
At first Atem had shut himself in his room and glared at nothing but offline game screens; but there is, it seems, a limit to how long a human being can go on devouring crisps in the same room.
From a certain day onward, Atem began, little by little, to walk about the palace.
Wandering it in sweats was evidently more than the memory of three thousand years ago and an elite education would permit; what he wore instead were the white robes he had once appeared in, and dazzling gold ornaments. The spiked hair that had been all bed hair was now dignified and immaculately arranged.
"Heh, the corridors of this palace… encounter rate along the straight route is zero, but the weight of the background music is really not bad at all."
His brain remained thoroughly infected with a serious case of game-brain, but even so, the figure who appeared twice a week at public business that took a few minutes was precisely the noble King who guided his people. He would run a fingertip smoothly across the holographic plans Priest Seto held out to him, sharp-eyed, and complete his approvals at speed.
Priest Seto watched from the shadows as his lord, having recovered his self-awareness and pride as King, came to fulfil his office admirably.
"…Predecessor. You have remembered the heart of a King at last…!"
This should be all right now.
Having reached that conviction, Priest Seto drew from his robes the online communication terminal his modern self had quietly given him — contact me with this if anything happens — of an ultra-dimensional specification that functioned even in the Underworld.
Several days later.
Cleaving the wall between dimensions, KaibaCorp's young president descended once more upon the palace of the Underworld.
"Ancient ghost. To summon me all this way — has that man committed some fresh outrage?"
"No, modern-day whelp. First, I would have you look at this."
Where Priest Seto directed him — in the throne room — Atem sat with his back straight, listening with an air of imposing dignity to the reports of the Underworld's officials. Of the man who had stood behind Seto in sweats, clutching his coat and shaking and shouting I don't want to work, there was no trace whatsoever.
"…Hmph. Your face appears to have returned to something marginally more respectable."
"The Predecessor has reflected deeply, and now performs his duties as King to perfection. …Now then. Let us discuss the future with the man himself present."
Three assembled: Seto, Priest Seto, and Atem. The curtain rose on an unprecedented summit conference, with the highest authorities of the ancient and modern worlds gathered in one place.
"Well then, Atem."
Seto folded his arms and fixed his rival with those cold blue eyes.
"With this, your detox period is concluded. What is it you intend to do from here."
Asked the question, Atem pulled a slightly awkward face — but he looked back at the two of them straight away, and squarely.
"…I want to be in the living world after all. The time I spend with my partner and the others, and the air of that city, are irreplaceable to me. …And I won't deny that I miss the entertainments of the living world, either."
At the honest confession, Priest Seto nodded deeply.
"If you will engrave the self-awareness and the pride of a King upon your heart and swear not to neglect your duties… then I shall raise no further objection to the Predecessor remaining in the living world. …However!"
Priest Seto's eyes flared and he turned his gaze on Seto.
"If this man is returned to the living world outright, I foresee a future in which he drowns once more in that infinite loop of videos and pizza and, in the blink of an eye, becomes one with a set of grey sweats!"
"Indeed," said Seto, and snorted.
"I have no intention of allowing a worthless freeloader to swagger about on my field. Atem — if you wish to be in the living world, the terms are as before. Perform a core time arrangement of a few hours a day at KaibaCorp. Only to one who does that will I grant use of the finest room in Kaiba Manor and unlimited settlement on the black card."
The living world's gruelling shift: five-plus days a week of ultra-short core hours.
Priest Seto, however, was not to be outdone. He drew from his robes the calculator that had by now become his partner.
"Predecessor, hear my terms as well. If you say you will fulfil a King's duty, then I am no demon. Of the Underworld's public business, now made efficient, I shall continue to take one day a week upon myself as before. That is to say — you need only return to the Underworld one day a week and finish a few minutes' business, and your standing as King of the Underworld is entirely preserved!"
Seto's offer: ultra-short hours in the living world five days a week, plus a comfortable NEET environment.
Priest Seto's offer: a return to the Underworld one day a week, with the remaining duties covered by a substitute.
In Atem's head, a sophisticated modern equation — the work-life balance — was computed.
"…Very well."
Atem declared it with a fearless smile, and one that was somehow clear.
"I choose this path: one day a week I return to the Underworld and fulfil the duties of a King, and the remaining six days I work at Kaiba's company in the living world while idling with everything I have!"
"Hmph. A reasonable choice. To keep your idleness moderately in check, that is about the right schedule."
"Splendid. This way the King's pride is preserved, and everyone's stomach pain is kept to a minimum."
The Setos of ancient and modern smiled with satisfaction at the same moment.
And so Atem's unprecedented double life was settled.
On Tuesdays he presses buttons divinely upon the throne of the Underworld; from Wednesday to Monday he wears a leather jacket in modern Domino City, debugs KC's newest games, devours pizza with his friends in the evening and sleeps like the dead until past noon.
Having drawn, from both the swell of the living world and the duties of the Underworld, precisely the parts that suited him, Atem set off again today with the latest smartphone in one hand, into a NEET life more fulfilling than anyone's. And slightly busier.
