The Life Of Normal-Taro

Chapter 20: Double Standards

After the Lonappan scare last night, for some reason the morning was weirdly refreshing. Maybe the fact that they escaped prison scot-free also made that morning slightly exhilarating. However, unlike the four aliens beside him, Thankappan was concerned. He had already forced Lonappan's hand into using the neuralyzer; he didn't want to do that a second time. Although Lonappan did say that he could make mistakes, he had to be careful from now on. Every mistake one makes as an agent was recorded and the more one makes mistakes, the fewer chances he or she had in their advancement in the MIB's corporate ladder. Therefore, he couldn't afford one anymore, even though he's one of the star rookies.

"What's up, my man!" Gibli patted on the back of surprised Thankappan.

"Huh? I'm fine. What about you?" He asked.

"Yea, I'm good too." Gibli smiled. Meanwhile, everyone else entered the fray as well. "So, shall we go?" Gibli stepped his foot out of the Holy Land.

"Wait." Someone called them. It was Lonappan. "I hope you remember what happened yesterday, right?" He asked.

"Geez, that was literally a day ago. There's no way we'd forget." Gibli shrugged. It wasn't like he was lying, though.

"Great! Then, I hope nothing like yesterday happens ever again. Understood?" Lonappan pierced into their souls with his gaze.

"Yes, sir!" They yelled simultaneously.

"Good, you're dispersed." Lonappan ordered as if he was a military general.

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Since the last gig was done the day before, they were obviously on a new construction site today. This time, they had to renovate two or three rooms of a fairly huge mansion. The guys started their 'hard work' just like before.

"What are you doing?" Francis, their boss, asked.

"Crap! Did I do it too fast?" Gibli thought and readjusted his pace yet again to a much slower rate.

"Again, what are you doing?" Francis asked, with a disgusted look on his face.

"Fuck, does he want me to go even slower? Is that possible? Well, might as well." With much difficulty, Gibli slowed his pace into one of a snail.

"Do you think this is a joke?" Francis asked furiously this time.

Gibli had enough of this. "Look, I can't any slower. I don't get what you want me to do!" He cried. The other three looked confused as well.

"Why the hell are you slowing down? Who asked you to do that shit?" Francis screamed to his face.

However, Gibli wasn't one to back down. "You did, remember? We were doing it fast, and you asked us to slow the fuck down." He screamed back.

"You numbnut! That was the other one! Do you even know whose this mansion is?" Francis shouted.

"Do I have to know?" Gibli asked.

"Well, if you'd have known, you wouldn't have talked shit like this." Francis sighed. "It's RKD's."

"RKD?" Gibli didn't know this slang; at least it wasn't updated in the translator.

"RK Dutta of the Koma Mall. He's super rich! So, we do this perfectly, we get paid handsomely and we might be called upon yet again. Get that in your thick skull and work hard." Francis explained.

"But!"

"No ifs or buts. Get back to work and do it fast." Francis ordered.

Gibli clicked his tongue. "Okay." He got back to his work. "I hate this!"

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Unlike last time, RKD's gig was completed that same day, without any delay. Taro and the other three were allowed to showcase their power this time, and it vastly helped in cutting down the workload for the others. And this time, their boss was pleasantly surprised by this development, since this benefited him too.

"Boys, we did it! One day for a one week renovation. This has to be some sort of record!" Francis, similar to the day before, stood in front of his handiwork and gloated. However, this time he had valid reasons to gloat about it. "Hmm, isn't anyone gonna get embarrassed this time?" Francis broke out into laughter.

However, no one laughed. They had no idea what Francis was talking about, since they did not have a clear recollection of the last day. Hell, they wouldn't have even known that the construction over the other place was over if Francis hadn't called them.

Francis gave out an awkward cough. "Never mind. Here are your wages." He gave it to the nearby one and quietly walked away.

Meanwhile, Vineeth yet again took it upon himself to distribute the cash. "Here you go, guys! Your share." Vineeth handed them a bit extra since they were of great help that day.

"Thanks." Kunjan smiled back as well; however, Vineeth had no way of knowing that.

"Damn, I hate it." Gibli muttered.

"Shoot, if you hate money so much, gimme that! I'll make use of it." Thankappan tried grabbing the money out of Gibli's hand.

"Wait, why do you even need that money, anyway?" Kunjan took the money off Thankappan and handed it back to Gibli. "Now, what is bothering you?" He asked.

"These crazy double standards! I can't handle it." Gibli sighed.

"What are you talking about?" Kunjan asked.

"Can't you see what's happening? When it's an uber rich guy, they do stuff fast, and when it's a poor guy, they leech every single dime out of him. What's up with this?" Gibli asked.

"Well, isn't that just the power of money in this society? Look, rich people are rich for a reason. They got ample money. That means doing stuff for them is beneficial for people since there's this possibility of them giving a tip or asking for further help and stuff. However, that's not the case for the poor. If they are spending money to build something, that's a thought out stuff they've decided and saved money for the longest time. That might just be the last one in their tank. Therefore, there's no next time for us workers. So, as to get the maximum out of them, we drag it out as much as possible." Kunjan explained and took a deep breath.

"Damn, that's sad." Gibli sighed.

"That's the sad case of this money driven society. People are driven on this insatiable greed once they know that being earnest gives them shit. That's what Glomerans have been using for centuries now, am I right? Greed in the minds of individuals." Kunjan spoke.

"But we did not harbor such greed inside us. We were a peaceful community!" Gibli spoke about Ark.

"True. But in your case, they took advantage of individual greed of your world leaders. They gave them stacks of cash and your asshole leaders betrayed you. Even when one has everything, he always longs for something more. That's the cycle of life, I guess." Kunjan explained.

"Well, that sounds deep to say the least." Thankappan nodded along.

Meanwhile, Vineeth came running towards them. "Hey, guys!"

"Hey, Vineeth!"

"By the way, the guys out there are going out for a party. You guys coming?" Vineeth asked.

The guys totally knew where this conversation was leading to.

"Aw man! I don't think we can do that. Since we're near Koma Mall and all, we planned to watch a movie tonight. So, no party, I guess." Kujan took the helm of the conversation and replied.

"Oh, if that's the case, no problem. Have fun watching the movie!" Vineeth wished and turned around.

However, Thankappan stopped him in his tracks. "Vineeth, wait! I suggest you don't go to this 'party' as well."

"What do you mean?" Vineeth looked confused.

"Well, you did see what happened with Tyagi, right?" He asked.

"Yea, you're right." Vineeth nodded his head.

"Well, why don't you take your wife and children to the movies too?" Thankappan suggested.

"Might as well do that." Vineeth laughed.

"By the way, tell the others too. It'd be fine that way." Thankappan spoke.

"Will do! Bye, guys." Vineeth headed back. That night Vineeth went for a nice matinee movie with his family.

Thankappan turned towards Kunjan and asked. "So, which movie are we gonna watch?"

"Dude, you're supposed to fool people with me, not get fooled by me." Kunjan shook his head.

"Wait, we aren't watching a movie then?" Thankappan asked.

"Hell no! We don't even watch TV even when we have it. Why'd we even spend money on a movie then?" Kunjan asked.

"Yea, we got a TV in the room, huh? I wanna watch something now!" Taro interjected and spoke. He missed primetime television.

"It's not like we don't want to either! It's just that we can't watch that stuff because of our work and since sleep is essential." Kunjan replied.

"Well, it's not like I sleep the entire time." Taro said to everyone's surprise.

"What?"

"I can't sleep for more than one hour. My body automatically wakes up." Taro answered.

"So, don't you feel tired?" Thankappan answered.

"Well, yeah. Just not sleepy." Taro replied.

"Wait, you were faking your sleep this entire time?" Kunjan asked.

"Yea."

"Are all Wadorians like this?" Thankappan asked.

"Not that I know." Taro replied.

"Well, we gotta turn up the TV at night then." Thankappan announced, which made Taro happy.

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