Chapter 232: Literary Association!

Josh couldn't help but feel great. He had all he needed for his plan to succeed. All that remained was execution.

With the recent visit to the Boss, the leader had been under a lot of pressure. At least, Josh was highly productive character-count-wise. He still hadn't managed to 'luckily' create a new fantastic manuscript, but hopefully, it would happen once more. 

Josh made it a point to praise his new drugs whenever the leader passed by, frustrating him to no end. He had evidently tried getting some from the monkey doctor but had been refused. This could be seen in the greed he looked at the pill container with. 

For a bullshit typer, this was the perfect drug, but for an executive, it wasn't such a great idea. There was no way they would be given trance-inducing substances. Who knew how many errors they would commit then? 

That's how Josh slowly eroded the man's willpower until the leader began asking the supervisor to take over. At first, the man was super grumpy, but then Josh talked to him, and they 'bonded'. 

For that, Josh invented himself a super sexy wife. He knew some monkeys sent money outside and were married. He was ignorant about the outside world, so he reused the old monkey's stories and always made them as vague as possible.

Josh would describe in ample detail how full her ass was or how well she knew how to use her tiny hands and her wet tongue. Then he would comment on how luscious her hair/fur was. 

He had no damn clue how, but somehow his rendition of the perfect monkey wife really impressed the supervisor. 

That kept going until Josh 'inadvertently' mentioned that he would have loved to send her mail asking for 'nudes' (the black and white version) but that it was a shame that he couldn't. 

The supervisor went wild! As a good friend, he would personally authorize Josh's package to leave the compound! Yep, as a good friend. He obviously had no bad intention! Josh even asked if he could send a copy of his work to show her what he did. It was all good! 

The next day, Josh called for the leader. At first, the man didn't want to see him at all. But, he still came out of duty. That's when Josh shared his 'problem' with him. 

"Leader, I have great news! I have finally found a way to enter a state of writing trance by myself! I can't explain it, but I can somehow do it!" He excitingly confided. 

"That's great! But, why do you need me for that?" the leader asked, confused.

"Well, since I don't need the pills anymore, I want to ask you to dispose of them. We don't have garbage bins in our cubicles, and I need to be writing so…" Josh explained. 

"I understand! You can count on me!" Never had Josh seen someone so happy to take care of garbage! The leader was smiling resplendently, clutching the pill bottle to his chest as if his firstborn, and even left skipping. 

What happens when one asks a pill addict to dispose of drugs? Well, that answer should be obvious. Then what happens when one also changes the dosage prescription from 1 pill to 7 pills? Also obvious. 

The leader was soon completely out of it, unconscious thanks to the pills. This forced the supervisor to take care of the whole damn Floor! This task that the leader usually handled was obviously too much for the useless man. 

The supervisor began having a mental breakdown, just in time for Josh to request meeting him. That is how he soon entered the cubicle fuming. "What do you want? I'm so fucking busy!" 

"Ah, sorry. I'm ready to send the package to my wife. I just wanted to—" Josh meekly replied. 

"Ah! All good! I'll take care of it right now!" The supervisor said, already imagining with glee the pictures that would come back. 

It just so happened that the friendly paper monkey would be the one taking care of mailing at that time. The supervisor approved it, not even bothering to check all the content of the package since he was overwhelmed. 

That is how a small package soon left their place, heading for the Literary Association. It contained a few presents:

1. A nice recording of a certain Boss with very colorful language. He admitted on tape to not being the author of the manuscript he had sent, even calling the writer a lowly monkey that had just been lucky. There was even a long tirade about how serious writing was idiotic. 

2. The sequel of the Tower Climb novel. It had the exact same writing style as the first one, and that in itself was very telling. There was also a small note at the beginning: this was the second novel out of a series of 10. 

3. An ultimatum. If they had any power at all, they would have to use it and get Josh out of that ridiculous job as well as find and help the kind, old man. As for the other monkeys, he wanted an improvement to their situation. 

After that, he would just have to wait. Was this the most optimal clear method? He had no idea. As the days passed, he slowly came to realize that perhaps all his masterplan wasn't that masterful after all. 

But then, one day, an inspector for the Literary Association came. All the workers were told to write slowly for once and to fake being in deep thoughts. This was the complete opposite of what it usually was. 

The inspector monkey came into the room: "Who was it that wrote the Tower Climb novel?"

"It was all me! I used my unique literary technique for it!" The Boss happily claimed all the credit. 

"Is that so? What enemies would you put on Floors 11-20 for a sequel then?" He patiently asked. 

"You guys are waiting for the sequel? That's great! How about Goblins, Zombies, Imps, maybe even some turtles?" He mentioned forgetting that most of these appeared in the first novel. 

"Let me ask your employees then." The inspector added. 

"Ask them? There is no need to ask the lowly monkeys. Most are doing their best, and I'm proud of them, but they don't have the academic level to participate in such a masterpiece for sure!" He 'explained' 

That is when Josh raised his hand to answer. The Boss monkey turned red in the face, but the inspector ignored him: "You, what would you suggest?" He asked with expectation. 

"In order, I'd go with rats, spiders, mushrooms, gnolls, gnoll + spiders, ghouls —" Josh began naming the things appearing in the second volume in perfect order. 

"I think I've heard enough," The inspector chuckled before taking out what seemed to be a mighty brick phone...but touch screen?! 

"Don't get mad! I know these ideas were bad, but I'll tell you mine in detail, and we'll be able to make this work, so please—" The Boss didn't realize that he was digging his grave. 

The inspector monkey ignored him and proceeded with his call: "Yes, we really have a cheat on our hands. The chances are that the first manuscript this man submitted was one too. Yes, I'll take care of it." 

"W-what are you talking about? What is happening?!" The Boss asked worriedly, finally noticing that something was wrong. 

"That young monkey over there is the real author of the Tower Climb novel. In fact, we received his second novel already. You're banned from publishing, we'll take back the prize you cheated to get, and the monkey authorities are already on their way." 

The Boss was completely finished, it seemed. His evil methods were out in the open, and he had no value to bring to the table once the thievery was exposed. The stern inspector then turned to Josh, completely ignoring the monkey shouting in the background. 

"T-this is impossible. There must be some sort of mistake! I'm the one that created the Tower Climb novel! It was my technique! Mine! Even if he had written it, it would have been on the job!" 

"How about you come with me, young man? We'll agree to all your demands. You have a bright future ahead of you!" The inspector offered. 

Josh went along. If this didn't count as a clear, he didn't know what would! Plot twist this was only a prologue, and the actual mission was to dominate the world.

Surprisingly, the security system seemed to obey the inspector. That's when Josh understood that it had probably been purchased using the Association's backing in the first place. 

They went out of the typing room, the way opening by itself for them. What awaited them there were two elevators, one as rusty as earlier. The inspector entered the nice one and gestured him to follow. 

Josh was almost tempted to do so to find the old monkey and thank him for helping with everything. But he knew this was pointless. Still, part of him had gotten attached to the illusory being. 

This all came back to that one sentence once again, eh? The illusory could become real. It had been nothing but a game, but the emotions had been real. Josh chuckled, realizing how silly he was being, and resolutely entered the rusty elevator. 

From floor 420, he rose up to floor 2. Why? Because the usual order was overrated, this was his friend's world and he could do whatever he wanted!

As the elevator doors opened, tons of golden sand began pouring inside the cage along with extreme heat.  Crap, he had to hurry up, or he'd die suffocated!...

Creator's Thought

This moment was oddly satisfying for me. Evil getting their just retribution, the good receiving what they were owed and me thinking over the experience. Perhaps it is so interesting because the real world often advantages the crooks? Later on, I would hear a lot about this Floor. It was amazing in its own way.