Linda was also facing a critical phase in her personal life. That year, Linda turned 39 years old. Her face was beginning to show wrinkles, due to daily fatigue, and her skin was losing its luster year by year. Even in Europe, it was thought negative for a woman to remain single forever. She would be seen as an unfortunate woman who couldn’t marry, rather than a strong independent woman who chose not to marry. For Linda, who was particularly concerned about her appearance, this was the biggest concern at that moment. There were many women who continued their careers and had no children, but even they tended to be married at least once, or in French terms, had a de facto marriage status. The slightest signs of Linda being a psychopath who could not love anyone would affect Linda’s official title as a kind HR Head. Hence Linda was tempted to get married, both to put up a defense against the public eye and to secure a handy person to take care of all the household chores for Linda.
For this vacancy, the most promising candidate was Taro, a Japanese man that Linda found on the Internet. Taro was Mr. Perfect for Linda to marry. He had a natural perfect fit to the role of househusband to take care of Linda. Of course, Linda never made this suggestion to Taro’s face. Once, she casually suggested that they could get married so that he could settle down where Linda lived. Taro, as usual, after a moment of silence, gave a dumb answer in small voice,
“Well, but I have a job.”
Taro’s current job was in a remote area in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, far from the city where Linda lived. Taro was working in the German-speaking part when Linda met him on a dating app a few years ago, but then his immediate boss, Andreas, started a new research institute at a French-speaking university. Taro, being in his research team for a long time, was assigned to the project and moved to a research facility in the mountains. Taro seemed to find it rewarding to be involved in a big and challenging project. For Linda, however, this change was the most annoying thing ever happened to their “relationship”. Thanks to this, her loyal pet Taro would spend weekdays away from his master and return to her on weekends only. Due to this, there was no one during the weekdays to do the housework for Linda, who was super busy with her “work” in the office. Linda, hating to cook, lived in a luxury apartment “Gate 24” with an indoor cafeteria. Also she would have lunch at the company cafeteria during the day, but when her pet Taro was around, he would serve Linda excellent Japanese food. Linda would have to sit at the table as a queen to be served. With all the factors considered, including the matter of appearance and practical gain, Linda made up her mind before she was to hit the big 40 year-old mark.
“I will make Taro marry me. This would allow me to devote all my energy to my career, which in turn would benefit Taro.”
Here, focusing all her energy on her career meant she would work even more on manipulations and deceptions in the workplace, and pushing even harder to terminate her rivals to increase her influence. She was certain that they would marry soon, even though Taro was not particularly willing to. Linda decided to buy a new apartment which was recently built in the neighborhood. That one, a good sized apartment for two people, didn’t have a cafeteria inside. But it shouldn’t be a problem any more, as Taro should be there to cook for Linda everyday.
Linda had skills that she had developed as an HR expert and as a certified career coach. Linda was convinced that she could help Taro move here. This didn’t actually mean that Linda would help Taro find a suitable new job near where Linda lived. Rather, Linda was to fix Taro’s mindset more fundamentally. As a career coach who knew Taro’s aptitude as a househusband, Linda should help him redraw the lines of his life. In other words, she was to make him realize that taking care of Linda should be Taro’s only option in life. It was absolutely impermissible that Taro left Linda to move to a middle of nowhere in the mountains, believing that the new project would be the key to his career. As per Linda’s favorite method, Linda should make him suffer in adversity and then offer him a helping hand when he was totally weakened. This was a technique called “shock therapy,” among Linda’s coaching techniques and it was Linda who developed this splendid method. Although she had not patented it, Linda thought she was a genius for coming up with such a brilliant technique and executing it so perfectly. No normal human would be able to apply this technique so coolly.
As if Heaven gave her a chance, a shocking incident occurred at Taro’s workplace. Taro’s immediate boss, Andreas, was a difficult man with tough attitudes to his subordinates. That was why Andreas liked the obedient, emotionless, and soft-spoken Taro so much that he put him in charge of all kinds of errands for this project. Louis, a colleague of Taro’s, however, couldn’t bear this boss and argued with him one day. This upset Andreas and Louis was offered dismissal on the spot. He was fired in the middle of his term of assignment, even though the budget for employing Louis was still in place, which was rather unusual. Since this colleague was from Europe, he could stay in Switzerland even without this job, but he would have to find another job.
As Louis had only experience in academic research in a special field and had not been employed in companies. So he would have a difficult time finding a new job in Switzerland. Louis couldn’t hope to find a job at related research institutes where Andreas had his connections. In this industry, letters of recommendation from professors would be key for any new placement. Taro was shocked to learn that his project colleague, with whom he had been relatively close, was suddenly forced out. Of course, Taro would never argue against Andreas as Louis did; so there should be no risk of termination. When Taro was telling this story to Linda, Taro had no idea that this would be the end of his career as a researcher. Taro was too naive to realize that the person who was listening to his recent horror experience at his workplace was actually a genius manipulator who could cause a lot more horrible nightmare for him.
The following weekend, Linda informed Taro that Linda would be coming to Taro’s for the first time in a long time, as she was going to a place nearby for work. Normally, Linda would not feel like going to Taro’s village because it was in the middle of the mountains. It was a completely boring place to go, but that week she had a reason to go there. She asked Andreas, Taro’s boss, whom she had met briefly before, to take some time to talk to Linda about a very important matter she needed to have his attention on. Of course, she didn’t say anything about this appointment to Taro. She secretly called Andreas’ lab in advance and asked him to come to a place out of sight of other people, including Taro. Andreas had a stern look on his face and was apparently difficult. Linda told him that he had something important to discuss with him.
“I heard from Taro that one of your employees, Louis, recently quit his job voluntarily. He found a good position at a research institute in a French-speaking city where he should be able to resume his previous research before this project. Taro was very shocked about it, and at home he was really raged. He was telling, Andreas’ project is crazy and there is no hope of what was promised; building a whole new research center with the latest technologies from scratch. There is a real risk that they will run out of money without delivering much. If this project fails, it will hurt everyone’s career, everybody involved in this project including himself. Taro regrets that he got into this project. Taro had been doing research at a well-known research institute in a big city, but because of you, he had to abandon it and now he is stuck in a hopeless construction project in this boring mountainous area. This is never his expertise or career ambition.
He also says the professor doesn’t know much about building a research center; that is a different matter from conducting research. He feels that he was being forced to do the work of construction with bricks and mortars,far from his original research aspiration. What was the point of all his efforts to obtain a PhD from a Swiss university? His dream was getting a permanent tenured position as a researcher but now he is drifting off far away from this dream. Being stuck in this dumb project, he doesn’t have time for conducting experiments nor writing papers. So far still, thanks to Louis, the project has been able to progress even if the others haven’t done much. But now, with Louis gone, it won’t make any progress at all. If ever Andreas could bring a competent person as replacement for Louis and get the project back on track. If not, his future will be at stake. He was so depressed with this outlook but he can’t say anything to you as he is afraid of you. Being Taro’s partner, I know being a researcher is a tough path, but I’m afraid he’s going to have a serious mental illness if we don’t do something about it.”
Tears spilled from Linda’s eyes as she spoke. She choked back a sob and pleaded with an air of genuine concern for her partner.
She continued, “In fact, just last weekend, after Louis had just left, Taro tried to jump off our balcony to commit suicide. He scrambled up the balcony railing and was about to jump when I noticed him and yelled to stop him. I couldn’t tell how long he had been doing it; he seemed to have tried to kill himself impulsively while worrying about his work. I think if I had realized it five seconds later, he would have jumped off. After I rushed out to the balcony, Taro sat down on the floor and started crying. Then he told me the story I just shared with you. I remembered the name Louis as Taro said that he had a very good colleague at his work called Louis, but I had no idea he left so I was surprised too. I cried with Taro on the balcony for a long time because I knew how devastated Taro must have felt to lose such a nice colleague. Knowing Taro very well, I can tell you that Taro is in a very dangerous situation. He is so worried about his future as a researcher and he is losing his mind. Think about it, Taro is already 40 years old and he is still a postdoctoral researcher, a temporary position. He has only a temporary work visa L-permit of one-year, and if this project doesn’t work out, he will never be able to get a stable position anywhere else.”
“As I trust you as Taro’s boss, I beg you to find a replacement for the talented Louis as soon as possible. But if that doesn’t happen, perhaps Taro should leave the project. I don’t know if Taro has ever asked you for advice on anything. He’s not very good at expressing his opinions, so maybe he’s in even more agony because he can’t let out his concerns and frustrations. Taro is on the verge of burnout. I really wish it should be nothing more than a temporary sick leave due to depression. But in the ultimate event that he committed suicide, it would hurt both your career and this project, not mentioning my indispensable partner would be lost forever. I actually saw Taro on the way here today, and I secretly looked in his bag, and there was a sharp knife in it. As I fear, he may still be in his thoughts, and he may be willing to kill himself if he gets the chance. Or possibly he could hurt you or your colleagues. If that happened, there would be no way to recover. Please use your best judgment as the project leader and Taro’s boss.”
Andreas was stunned by what he was hearing for the first time, but some of the details of Linda’s story did ring a bell. The sudden dismissal of Louis, the fact that Louis and Taro were working together nicely, the fact that Taro was now forty years old and still held the precarious position of postdoctoral fellow. He judged Linda’s story was credible. The supervisor made up his mind.
“I didn’t know that was going on. Taro never said anything like that to me, nor did he show any sign of it, so I was completely unaware of it. Communicating with reserved people is difficult, but especially so with Taro. If he was so concerned, he could have told me at least a bit. But if his mental condition is that bad, it would be better for him to leave the project. For his future, he should take some rest now. Taro’s employment contract is limited, but we have budgeted for him to remain on the project staff for the foreseeable future. But under such circumstances, it is unavoidable. Even if he were to leave in the middle of the project, it would not be impossible to find a replacement. We could hire a PhD student. It is true that his work visa was renewed every year according to the Swiss system, which may have made him feel uneasy. As long as you support him, Taro will be able to take a rest in a big city that he is used to. After a break, he may be able to continue his research again. I will email Taro this weekend to inform him of the change of circumstances. Taro will not have to come to work here on Monday next week. He should stay in the city with you.”
Andreas was afraid that in case Taro committed suicide, his career would be damaged. It would be terrible if this was reported even if it was due to harassment caused by his boss’s harsh treatment of Taro. In fact, Andreas had some idea of what Linda was talking about Taro’s worries and frustrations. There were times when Andreas pushed Taro to do all sorts of troublesome chores, and when Taro didn’t manage them, he would harshly criticize him. Louis and other Europeans sometimes rebelled and retorted, but Taro didn’t do that. Taro would listen silently to any harsh comment and say a small “yes” at the end. Perhaps Andreas had taken advantage of Taro’s obedience and overdone it. Still, it would be too much to try to commit suicide. Such a troublesome person should be cut off from this glorious project as soon as possible. It would be better not to talk to Taro about anything. It would be a disaster if he were to take out all his frustrations on Andreas finally. Linda says Taro is carrying a knife. It is a miracle that no trouble with Taro has happened so far this week. Let’s terminate Taro’s contract as soon as possible before he explodes.
Linda, who had read Andreas’ mind, said, as if she were relieved.
“Thank you, Professor. I believe that’s the best thing for both of us. Let’s not provoke Taro. Please don’t ask him anything about what we just talked about. I don’t want to give him any chance to attack you. I will take him back to the city with me today and make sure he never comes back here. I know this may be hard for him, but Taro’s life as well as yours are the most important. Please write in your email to Taro that it is now a done deal to terminate his contract and that he should never contact you again except to send you an email confirming that he saw your notification. Either by phone, email, or in person. You will provide him with a job reference letter in a due course so Taro should just wait for that. If you write that thoroughly, Taro will accept it. It will hurt him a bit, but once he cools off, he’ll be okay and move on.”
Thus Taro’s self-serving boss, Andreas, also danced to Linda’s manipulations and decided to fire his long-time loyal subordinate, Taro. Of course, as Linda had advised, Andreas avoided all communications with Taro so as not to provoke him. As a matter of fact, Linda’s story was entirely fabricated: Taro was not so desperate about his future. He had never tried to kill himself, nor did he have any sharp metal objects other than the tools he used at work. One of the reasons Andreas avoided talking directly to Taro at this point was that Andreas had never had casual human conversations with him. But normally, if Andreas sensed that his subordinate was unhappy about something, he would have tried to extract information from him by talking directly. But Linda’s information that Taro was carrying a knife came as a total blocker to Andreas. He had never thought that Taro might act in such a psycho way. Fearful, Andreas just wanted to end his contact with Taro as soon as possible.
After Linda left her boss, she killed time and met up with Taro at the train station after his work. Linda pretended that she had just arrived from a distant city by train. They had dinner at a nearby restaurant and asked Taro how his work was going, pretending to be curious sincerely. Taro blabbered on, but Linda was only interested in whether there had been any contact between Taro and Andreas since Linda talked with him. Andreas had apparently left for home without speaking to Taro. That was exactly what Linda wanted. Andreas got scared of Taro, who was prepared to stab him, and ran away with his tail between his legs. Linda’s genius manipulation technique worked again.
Linda sat cuddled up with Taro on the train ride home, her mind dancing with the expected news of Taro’s dismissal from Andreas, which would come on the following day. At that moment, Taro would be frozen in front of his PC. Linda should pretend that she had no idea why this happened. Importantly Linda should have Taro never contact his boss again. Taro would try to call Andreas and ask him why, but he must be dissuaded. Linda would coax Taro into accepting his dismissal by telling him that keeping silence should be the best long-term strategy here. If he accepted without asking anything, Taro would likely get a good job reference letter from this difficult boss, and he would be able to get a job at another research institute. There were so many ways to put it plausible to the poor victim.
Linda chuckled while watching the cold moon that appeared outside of the train window.
“I am going to let you go to the bottom of your misery, and then I’m going to play the role of your savior. I will offer Taro, who was grieving after being laid off, marriage as his next job. If he signs a marriage contract with Linda, a German citizen, as his next employer and promises to take care of the queen Linda, Taro will automatically receive a B permit to stay in Switzerland. B permit is a lot better than L permit. Let me share this important information with this Asian slave man. There are so many paths there, Taro? Let’s be flexible.”
This story is fictitious and is not based on any real persons or organizations. Copyright: Kunoichi4You 2024
Psychopath in the Next Office 