Family Bonds

I Quit

When Zarc woke up the next day, he had made up his mind. He didn't want to spend another day working for his current boss. He still had several more job offers and tours for other agencies, and he knew that he was better off just quitting his current agency ASAP. He knew he would have a better job very soon. But he would still have to call his current boss and let him know he was quitting. Might as well do that now, while the babies were still sleeping peacefully. He picked up his phone and called.

It took about seven tries to reach his boss. Zarc was a bit annoyed that his boss wouldn't pick up the phone the first six times. He was about to give up and just send him an email. Luckily his boss finally answered on the third ring of the seventh call.

"Hello?" his boss growled. Zarc rolled his eyes. "This is Zarc."

"Are you the one that's been calling my office non-stop?" his boss snarled.

"Yes," replied Zarc.

"God, what is SO important that you just HAD to keep calling me?!" his boss snapped. "I haven't even finished my coffee! You're really on thin ice right now! You better have a good reason for calling me a million times. But I doubt it! Whatever it is couldn't possibly be so important that you couldn't wait until you came into work to tell me! Not to mention you're already fifteen minutes late! You could have been in by now if you hadn't wasted so much time trying to call me! So go on! Say what you wanted to say!"

"I quit, effective immediately," Zarc said. There was silence on the line, then his boss asked in a small voice, "What?"

Zarc rolled his eyes. "I said I quit. I've gotten over forty job offers from Duel Agencies all over the city, and I checked some of them out yesterday after work. They're all pretty impressive. They're cleaner than your agency, and the environments are a lot nicer. The pay is higher than what I currently make at your agency too, and that's just the starting pay. Plus, most of them have on-site daycares so I won't have to leave my kids home."

His boss was silent for a few moments. Then, "What can I do to make you stay?"

"Nothing," Zarc said. "I've already made up my mind. I deserve better. And so far, all of the agencies I've toured are better."

"Look, Zarc, you've always been like a son to me," his boss wheedled. "And you're the most popular duelist in the agency! If this is about money, I'll give you a pay raise! How does an extra 1,000 yen sound?"

"It's not about the money," Zarc said. "And even if it was, all of the agencies that contacted me have offered me way more than an extra 1,000 yen for my starting pay."

"Is it about your clones?" his boss asked. "Look, we'll pay for them to go to a daycare or something! C'mon Zarc! Work with me!" He sounded pathetically desperate.

"Sorry, but like I said, I've already made up my mind," Zarc replied. "I quit. Goodbye!"

He hung up the phone, and Odd-Eyes cheered. "Yay! No more horrible boss!"

"Have you decided which agency you want to sign with?" Clear Wing asked. Zarc shook his head. "Not yet. I've still got offers from a lot more agencies. I want to check out all of my options before I decide."

"Smart," Starve Venom nodded in approval. "For all we know, there might be an even better one than the ones we've seen so far!"

Suddenly one of the babies started crying. Followed immediately by the other three, as usual. Zarc sighed and got up to make them their bottles as the dragons checked on them. Taking care of four newborns was very hard. Zarc made a mental note to rule out all of the agencies that didn't provide on-site daycares. There was no way he'd be hiring a babysitter for the kids. He didn't think one person would be enough to take care of all four babies.