The Scumbag's Guide To Heroism novel Chapter 305

Chapter 305: 305 | Percy Is Home [PS BONUS]

"She currently operates as an independent hero at Rank C in Portland. She has not recovered her previous ranking and likely never will, because agencies in the Portland market are aware of her management history and refuse to affiliate with her. When you burn your reputation in this industry, you burn your career. The market remembers."

Castillo returned to her end of the table and picked up her mug. The gesture felt deliberate, as if she were giving the room time to absorb the point before she moved forward.

"The hero you become depends on the agency that supports you. The agency that supports you depends on the contracts it negotiates, the insurance it carries, the sponsors it maintains, and the internal compensation structures it establishes. None of these things are glamorous. All of them are essential. This course teaches you to understand the machinery that keeps heroes operational, because heroes who do not understand the machinery become its casualties. Some of them loud casualties with property damage lawsuits. Others quiet casualties who realize at thirty-five that their agency has been taking forty percent off the top for ten years and they have nothing to show for it."

She sipped her coffee.

"I am here to prevent both outcomes."

"Now. Page two of your folders contains a simplified agency budget template. You have fifteen minutes to identify three structural vulnerabilities in the budget and propose solutions. Work in pairs. I don’t care how you pair up. I care about the quality of your analysis."

The room reorganized. Percy had already opened the budget template before Castillo finished her sentence, his pen moving across the page with a speed that suggested Analyze had identified all three vulnerabilities in the first four seconds and Percy was now trying to decide which order to present them in. I leaned over to look at his work.

"Insurance premiums are twenty-three percent of total expenditure," Percy said without looking up. "Industry standard for a mid-tier agency with six heroes is between fifteen and eighteen percent. The excess represents either inflated premiums from a claims history that suggests frequent property damage or a broker who is overcharging because the agency failed to shop competitive rates."

"That’s one."

"The equipment allocation line item has no depreciation schedule. They’re treating gear replacement as a lump-sum annual expense rather than amortizing costs over the expected lifespan of individual items. This creates artificial budget spikes in years when multiple heroes need simultaneous upgrades."

"Two."

"And the hero compensation structure uses flat rates rather than performance-scaled incentives. A hero resolving thirty cases per quarter receives the same base compensation as a hero resolving twelve. This destroys motivation and rewards mediocrity."

Percy set his pen down and looked at me with brown eyes that held none of their usual anxiety. In moments like this, surrounded by structured problems with quantifiable solutions, Percy wasn’t nervous. Percy was home.

"Three," I said.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify