Marius "Narrow Road"/Rewards

Story Summary

This story takes place in Year 1. Marius is not yet in a relationship with the MC.

Marius asks to spend a day of a holiday weekend with the main character, who suggests they go to a popular dessert shop with a limited edition cream puff flavor. At the dessert shop, the MC finds it difficult to enjoy the special dessert as Marius has used the fact that Pax owns the dessert shop to bypass the long queue of jealous customers. To escape the stares from the lineup outside, the two go to the park. As they chat, an unknown assailant suddenly pelts the MC with small rocks.

The attacker is revealed to be a boy aged about 6-7 years old standing in a nearby tree. After a lengthy discussion about how to deal with the boy, he finally shouts at Marius for getting his father in some kind of trouble. The child is so desperate to hit the pair with his rocks that he moves in a way that breaks the tree's branches, falling in the lake; Marius immediately jumps in to save him, as the boy begins to drown quickly.

The MC calls emergency personnel to the scene and delivers CPR to the boy when Marius rescues him. She then leaves to buy the two dry clothes at a new clothing store nearby, overhearing gossip about Pax while at the store. The gossip claims that Pax used hazardous plastic in children's tableware and shifted responsibility to the whistleblower who discovered the issue to avoid blame, and that his fate as a scapegoat was exposed by his child -- the boy in the park. When the MC returns, she asks Marius if it's true; he knows of the hazardous plastic issue but seems unaware of the followup. The ambulance arrives with the boy's father, who goes from gratitude to rage when he finds out Marius is the one who saved his child.

The boy's father, named Martyn Campbell, enraged at what Pax has done to him, immediately launches irrational accusations at Marius; the MC mediates, and Martyn leaves in peace but says Marius will face consequences for what he's done. When the MC asks Marius whether there could have been a misunderstanding in Martyn's scandal, he encourages her to investigate. The two go to the hospital to check on Martyn's son and ask about what happened; Martyn says he's the one who discovered and reported the hazard, saving Pax's reputation and potentially children's lives, but that Pax's handling of the issue -- publicly placing the blame on him -- caused him and his family to be doxxed and harassed.

The next day, Marius calls two upper managers of the subsidiary for which Martyn had worked to his office; they claim to have been acting for the good of the Pax Group, but Marius fires the pair and blacklists them from Pax and all its subsidiaries. At the hospital, the MC questions Martyn again, gaining his trust by convincing him of her objectivity as an attorney. Through detailed questioning, she discovers most -- but not all -- of the responsibility for the situation lies with Martyn's superiors. After Martyn leaves, Marius calls the MC, and the two exchange status updates; Marius says she'll see the results of his investigation in five minutes.

Pax releases its statement while Martyn and the MC are still at the hospital: the two fired upper managers switched the manufacturing materials to lower production costs and pocketed the difference, then made Martyn their scapegoat, using Marius' name without authorization. Martyn repents for his slander against Marius, and in the following days, he deletes the video blaming Marius for the situation and apologizes. A few days later, Marius takes the MC back to the dessert shop from the story's beginning; having realized she didn't like the limited-edition flavor because it was too sweet, he's asked the shop to develop new flavors just for her and closed the shop so she can try them in peace.

Illustrations

None

Video Call

Video Call		Marius: Narrow Road (After Story 6)

Video Call script

Marius: What's with that look on your face? Surprised that I'm video-calling you?

Marius: Oh, it's the shirt... I told you that I'd cherish it.

Marius: Actually, I want to go see you, but I was afraid that going out would mess up your schedule.

Marius: How about we set a time and I'll treat you to cream puffs? You still seem to like 'em.

Marius: This has nothing to do with going into the food industry.

Marius: They were originally free desserts for Pax employees, but they gained popularity after employees gushed about them online.

Marius: Amazing? Heh, I've always been a perfectionist.

Marius: What? What're you suddenly laughing at? I don't think I said anything weird...

Marius: My tone just now reminded you of those domineering president types in romance novels?

Marius: No one's ever told me that before. Woman, are you deliberately trying to get my attention...?

Marius: Hey, I was just joking around! Don't give me the cold shoulder, Miss...

Marius: Even if this doesn't work on others, it's okay if it works on you, yeah? Besides, there's never been any "others."

Marius: Thanks for choosing to believe in me and for investigating this matter.

Marius: I won't let you down.

Story Locations

Misc
Dessert Shop

Main Character's Residence

Stellis
Park

Misc

Stellis Public Hospital
Hospital Corridor

Pax Group
Pax President's Office

Stellis Public Hospital
Hospital Entrance

Stellis Public Hospital
Hospital Ward

Main Character's Residence
Your Residence

Stellis Central Business District
Central Business District

Story Characters

Marius von Hagen

Marius von Hagen

Marius von Hagen

Martyn Campbell

Boy

Store Clerk A

Store Clerk B

General Manager