A New Hire
I have a debt I had to pay for fifteen months, according to the bank who wrote and sold my contract. It was a contract that placed me in a state where I would be under someone's management. It was a typical Changye-style contract you can find everywhere in this city, where you abandon yourself for complete servitude to the owner of the contract you signed onto in order to pay your debt.
You may think it's unlucky, unfair, and horrible, but in CHANGYE, it was like a blessing, since you only have to listen to what the task was and where your next employment will be, if your owner perishes accidentally by a shot to the head or some company rivalry ends in grievous tragedy. They usually do the paperwork, so that means I don't have to worry about processing it or worry about whatever happens to the company after that point.
The debt I took had been paid as of late.
The fifteen months of payment had finally ended. I could finally get out of the debt-cycle and free myself from servitude.
That was my happy thought before the OFFICE managing my DEBT got swallowed by a pit of flesh. The ground opened up, and a giant mouth swallowed the building whole. There was no warning — just a splitting sound beneath the foundation, a wet groan, and then teeth. Concrete folded like damp paper. Steel beams snapped with a sound like brittle bones. People didn't even have time to scream properly before they were taken.
Because I survived the initial fall and tragedy, my first goal, once I had oriented myself from the disorientation, was to find the manager who was in charge of my debt. The inside of the pit was not like soil or rubble. It pulsed. It breathed. The walls contracted slowly, slick with something that wasn't quite liquid and not quite flesh. The air was humid, hot, and carried a smell that reminded me of opened meat left too long in a sealed room.
I found him dead on the ground, his head and neck pierced clean through by a length of rebar poking out of fractured concrete. His body had already gone slack, his eyes open but unseeing. I still needed to get my contract approved, so I cut off his thumb, pressed his print onto the contract, and released myself from the 15-month obligation. The ink smeared slightly over the blood, but the print registered well enough. Procedure mattered, even here.
Since everyone died and there were no survivors around me, I gutted my way out of the flesh pit and climbed to the surface, forcing my hands into yielding surfaces that resisted just enough to feel alive. The climb was slow, each pull accompanied by a subtle contraction around my arms, as if the pit itself objected to my departure but lacked the will to stop me. When I reached the surface, the OBs were already there, securing the pit of flesh for farming. They worked quickly, efficiently, like it was just another resource to process.
One officer walked up to me as I pulled myself free from the edge.
"Are you an employee of this agency?"
"Yes."
He read the document I had on me, scanning the contract with a practiced eye, unfazed by the state I was in.
"After the annihilation of this office, all assets of this company shall be transferred to its parent company. Hmm, you've already stamped it, however."
I thought about where I would be assigned next. The man checked the documents again, flipping a page with his gloved hand as if searching for the answer to my question before I asked it.
"Oh, you'll be assigned to Miss Kei's Office."
He pointed his finger in a direction. Standing far from the pit of flesh, beyond the perimeter where the OBs had set their barriers, was my new boss. I approached the short-haired woman and introduced myself, my clothes still marked with drying residue from the pit.
"Oh, I heard they had a debt-slave. Oh, what is that on your hand?"
I took the document out and showed it to her. Her expression told me she knew how it usually went, but she seemed curious about why I was approaching without worry on my face, without hesitation or visible distress.
"So you need a job after paying your debt, then? Eta, check him out."
The tall woman standing next to her inspected me from head to toe. Her gaze lingered not just on my posture, but on my hands, my stance, the way I carried weight, details that suggested she was evaluating more than surface-level traits.
"I think he'll be able to keep up with us."
Kei rubbed her chin with her thumb in quick thought, as if cross-referencing something in her memory. Her eyes narrowed slightly before she nodded.
"Okay. Sato said we need an assistant, anyway."
We left the flesh pit behind. I told Kei about what happened and how it ended up like that, though there wasn't much to say. The ground opened, the building fell, and something consumed it. There was no pattern I could recognize, no precursor I could identify.
"Asobe Street, 307. This is where our office is going to be."
It was a three-story building, placed along a street that I think shouldn't exist in the maps sold in tourist shops. The signage was faded, the windows uneven, and the surrounding structures leaned at subtle angles, like they had settled incorrectly over time. It felt like a place that had been overlooked on purpose.
The office itself was small. Kei had the desk occupying the back part of the room, positioned so she could see both the entrance and the window without turning her head too much. There was a door to the right that led to what I assumed was where Kei slept. Eta sat me down and began onboarding me on what they do.
Basically, they hunt down anomalies and check them out. Kei's office handles anomalies that are not recorded in the books established back when the Mayan Era's calendar ended. They also affiliated their office with the Shichinin no Ken — the Seven Swords Association, a combat-oriented office known in Changye and across Eurasia as both a monster-hunting collective and, more significantly, an intelligence-gathering organization.
"The flesh pit that you fell into, anything you want to add? What happened? Why did a giant mouth devour that lot? Anything at all would do. I think some might be interested in what happened."
I thought back to the memories this body had, searching for anything that might be useful to Kei. There was nothing distinct — no warning signs, no anomalies leading up to it. The whole ground opened up, and we were swallowed. It was not special.
"None."
I left the office after that and followed the route back to my old apartment. It was a small, seedy room that had everything I needed. I just slept there most of the time. The place had no extra furniture, just a lone mattress, some portable cookers, and a small fan that rattled when turned on. The walls were thin enough to hear movement from adjacent rooms, though I never paid attention to it.
The next day, I went back to the office to report for duty. Kei was browsing through her documents, flipping through pages with steady focus. I offered to help, but she told me to stay still, welcome anyone that might come in, and handle some minor tasks.
"I'll give you a three-month probation first. Then, we might trust you with handling office paperwork that isn't just the usual data entry."
Here in Changye, trust was equal to the time spent not selling out your employers. I gave no response to her, so I sat back and did nothing. I didn't mind lazing around. Eta joined us and went to help sort the documents for the boss, moving with quiet efficiency.
It was then that a client came in.
Male. Approximately 173 cm tall. Black hair and brown eyes. He wore overalls, stained in places that suggested long-term labor. He smelled like factory grease and wore a tool belt around his waist. I noted that his work boots had steel toe protection.
"You believe that there was an anomaly in the warehouses?"
"Correct, Ma'am."
"Why think this?"
"Because they are working for free. In this city, no one works for free. They also made awful noises, Madam. Noises that a human mouth shouldn't make."
"Which dock is this?"
He wrote the address on a piece of paper he tore from his notepad. It was in Dock 13, located on the northeastern side of the docking areas.
The dock worker left his details in the office after that, placing the paper carefully on Kei's desk as if reluctant to linger longer than necessary.
"Let's arm up, Eta. You too."
She looked at me. I tapped the pommel of my executor sword castor and stood up.
Eta armed herself with a two-handed sword. She was also wearing a power glove. I didn't notice it before, but the cybernetic linings on her arm, face, and neck indicated she had gone through augmentation procedures. The faint hum beneath her skin suggested active systems, not dormant ones.
The clothes she wore were also unique, light and durable, designed for mobility without sacrificing protection. As for Kei, she held a teleforce cane and walked with it. It was a cane you didn't want to be hit with. Teleforce-enhanced weapons are dangerous and expensive.
I considered that briefly.
The office must be doing well.
----
We rode a tram and then took the service train. I walked along the street with them. It was 3 PM when we arrived in Dock 13. The foreman who sent the worker greeted us. He led us to where the warehouse was and then left after hearing the noise inside. His face looked bland. I guessed he was used to this kind of mess.
The whole place smelled like grease, oil, and salty air. There was an acrid breeze blowing once in a while from the city.
Eta pushed the door open. Something tried to hit her as she got thrown backward. The scratch on her two-handed sword, placed in front of her, meant she blocked it before it got her.
Eta shook her two-handed sword and leaped in, the blade bursting with electricity. She tore through the attacker until it quieted down.
Kei entered the warehouse. She saw the workers tirelessly working. To me, they were just repeating the task indefinitely without actual progress. Forgetting they had already sorted the warehouse, they undid what they had done and repeated the sorting process again.
I could see fleshy strings connecting them to this grotesque multi-armed creature with the appearance of a humanoid covered in gangrenous skin, with green pus leaking out of its mouths.
The distorted tool belt around the humanoid's waist had people stabbed through the middle of the chest. They were all wearing suits, and nailed to their heads were employee lists. Flesh strings were coming out of their mouths.
Eta stood in front of Kei like a human meat shield. It seemed they were close. No one in CHANGYE would do that unless it was a close friend, family, or lover. I wondered which they were.
"Boss, what do we do?"
"Let me think."
The workers continued repeating the cycle. The monster Eta had cleaved in half was being sewn back together by the workers with the cables they were using to hoist cargo containers up. I approached the workers and stopped them from doing so.
"Eta, can you bring me that checklist?"
Eta took the checklist. The foreman who had been holding it was flattened on the ground like a meat patty. I picked up his wallet, removed the bills in it, and kept the rest for evidence.
Kei wore the foreman's hat and took a clipboard from somewhere. She tapped her ballpoint pen against the clipboard, cleared her throat, and engaged the anomaly in a bossy manner.
"What are you doing?"
The anomaly turned toward her, flesh hanging from its face.
"This is inefficient! You are wasting company money! Do you realize how much DEBT will accumulate if you do this? Hey, are you trying to do something fishy?"
The anomaly tilted its head. Eta's blade was humming as electricity arced across its surface. She took a stance near the anomaly.
"Where are your ears? And what's with the skin? Are you trying to sicken the workplace? Are you? Hey, you're not listening to me. Do you want to get FIRED?"
The anomaly stopped. It alternated its gaze between Kei and the corpse workers working ceaselessly. The anomaly seemed to be thinking. I didn't know if that was bad or not.
"Hey! Like I said, are you not listening to me? That's it. You better stop now. Write me an apology and stop this nonsense! Do you think you can do this without approval from a foreman? Hey, what's your name? I want the Bosses to know about this behavior!"
The anomaly trembled. It tried to speak, but it had no normal mouth. And because it finally realized that it didn't have a normal mouth and couldn't scream, it also 'saw' the gangrene covering its skin.
The anomaly trembled and held its non-existent head. Kei signaled Eta with a go-ahead gesture.
"Okay, got it, Boss."
Eta jumped and cleaved the defenseless anomaly into two. The anomaly's separate body parts were still moving, so Eta kept slashing and cutting until it stopped.
The warehouse went quiet. The cadaver workers, who had been working without rest, fell to the floor. I checked their bodies. Most of them had broken forearms, cracked ribs, and dry mouths. Their eyes were dry. Their backs were the most damaged — spines completely cracked into fragments and held together by gangrenous flesh that resembled the skin of the anomaly, keeping them hostage. Forty-two of them were barely alive.
Eta checked the anomaly again, digging to the core of it and placing it in a rucksack. She then tossed it into her dimenbag — also known as a dimension bag. Kei told me to take the employee numbers on a note.
"Good job. We'll report this and take our pay."
We left the warehouse and reported the incident to the manager of the dock. Kei got the compensation and handed over the list I wrote, along with the wallet of the one in charge of the warehouse.
"These are all the workers who got afflicted by the anomaly."
Kei tapped her finger on the note.
"I see. You will get your pay."
On the service train back to the office, I asked Kei about the note I wrote and what it was for.
"They are going to fire the afflicted. They've been affected, so I doubt they can continue working there. Who'd want them?"
That made sense. I wouldn't want anomaly-susceptible workers if I were the dock manager either.
We got back to the office. Kei went to the other room to take a nap, while Eta told me to follow her downstairs first, where we got my table and placed it near the door. The room was not that big, but I still had my space in the corner by the entrance of the office. And honestly, from the looks of it, they were going to make use of me as a full-time assistant — judging by the records I needed to log in.
The thought of organizing all of that gave me a headache, but it had to be done. Besides, I was quite motivated by the thought of a paycheck right now. Without my horrendous debt, I could actually spend it on something that wasn't for payment or rent. Who knew that without the parental debt and the debt I got from buying a masterwork sword and pistol, I might live comfortably?
"Saw your records. How come you are always in debt?"
"Parental debt and my own doings?"
"That makes sense. They're gone?"
"Yeah."
Eta unbuttoned her coat. I could see her toned stomach and her bust covered in a sporty bra. Her eyes remained fixed on the documents she was holding while I momentarily fixed my eyes on her chest. The AC in their office seemed like it wasn't running.
"AC's not working. Want me to check it?"
"You can? It's in the back."
I got to work and checked the AC - the power source, the filter, the condensate drain, and the outdoor unit. The problem was that it had blown a fuse. I told Eta about it, and she told me there was a shop selling replacements. I bought the fuse and replaced it in the unit. After changing it, I turned on the AC, and cool air began blowing again.
"Nice. You know how to fix an AC?"
"Had a lot of gigs."
"Nice."
Kei got out of her room and turned her sleepy face toward the AC. She gave me a look.
"Oh, you fixed the AC. Thanks."
She walked to the coffee dispenser and carried a cup to her desk.
"You can get one. Just don't drink too much."
She took a sip.
"I wonder if you know how to brew something better?"
I brewed one from memory, measured the water ratio carefully, and handed it over to Kei. She took a sip of the coffee and smiled.
"Very nice. Okay, now you're in charge of the coffee as well. Eta, never touch the dispenser again."
"That's rude of you, Boss!"
Eta protested. She continued sorting through the documents. The boss was reading through potential cases and inspecting clients before agreeing to work on them.
My previous office was enormous and packed to the brim. The cubicles were so crowded that the smells blended together. The air conditioner was always on, but the number of people made it feel like it didn't exist at all.
This office was small, but it was better than the usual company I was in. Maybe I wasn't used to this kind of atmosphere, and Miss Kei Ma, so far, wasn't as overbearing as my previous bosses.
My first day in Kei's office as their assistant was rather tamer than I expected.
From a debt-slave to an anomaly investigator.
It seemed like my life was always changing.