I followed her through the nightclub, trying not to look nervous, but it was hard not to be.
The music was loud, lights flashing, people dancing, but as we walked past them, I noticed something strange.
Some people moved out of her way without her saying anything.
Some people looked at her and then quickly looked away.
And a few people looked at me, then at my hand, then back at me again.
I looked down at my hand.
The ring.
Then I noticed something else.
One of the bartenders had a ring too.
A waitress walking past had one.
Even one of the bouncers near the hallway had the same ring.
"…So everyone here wears one?" I muttered quietly.
The woman walking in front of me heard it.
"Staff members," she said without turning around. "It's an employee ring. Shows you belong here."
Belong here.
I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
We walked past the bar, past the dance floor, and toward a hallway at the back with a black door and a small sign that said:
STAFF ONLY
She pushed the door open and walked in. I followed.
The hallway behind the club was quieter. The music was now just a dull thumping through the walls. There were several doors along the hallway—office, storage, staff room.
At the end of the hallway, we stopped in front of a large black door.
She turned to me.
"Before we go in," she said, "some advice."
I swallowed. "What advice?"
She looked straight at me.
"When you go inside, don't talk too much. Don't try to act smart. Just answer what she asks."
"She?" I asked.
She didn't answer. She just knocked twice.
A voice came from inside.
"Come in."
She opened the door and walked in. I followed.
The office inside was big and dimly lit. There was a large desk near the window, a leather sofa on one side, and a glass table with expensive bottles.
Behind the desk sat a woman.
She was wearing white pants and a blue shirt, and she had purple sunglasses on even though we were indoors. The top three buttons of her shirt were open, so her cleavage was clearly visible, and I could see a black tattoo starting below her collarbone and disappearing between her breasts. It looked like a dragon or some kind of traditional tattoo, the kind you see on yakuza in movies.
She was also smoking a cigarette, leaning back in her chair like she owned the entire building. On the table in front of her was a black cigarette box that looked expensive, definitely not the cheap kind.
She took a slow drag from the cigarette, then looked at me.
Smoke slowly left her mouth as she spoke.
"So," she said calmly. "You're the new hire."
I blinked. "New hire?"
She looked at the woman next to me.
"You didn't tell him?"
The woman shrugged. "I thought you would."
The boss looked back at me and then lifted the cigarette box slightly.
"Want one?" she asked.
I hesitated for a second, then nodded. "Yeah."
She tossed the box across the desk to me and I caught it. Definitely expensive cigarettes.
"Thanks," I said.
I didn't light it yet. I just held it.
She leaned forward slightly, resting her elbows on the desk.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Noah," I said. "Noah Walker."
"How old?"
"Twenty-four."
"Job experience?"
"…None that would impress you."
She smirked a little at that.
"Honest. That's good."
She leaned back again in her chair.
"This place is called Eclipse," she said. "On the outside, it's just a nightclub. Inside, it's a business. And everyone who works here has a job. Starting today, you work here too."
I frowned. "I don't remember applying here."
She looked at my hand.
"You filled out the application online yesterday," she said. "That was enough."
Right. The QR code.
So that wasn't a scam after all.
"What kind of work?" I asked.
"You'll start with basic work," she said. "Bar work, cleaning, carrying drinks, watching customers, listening more than talking."
She paused, then continued.
"And sometimes host work."
I frowned. "Host work?"
She nodded and took another drag from her cigarette.
"You sit with customers. Talk to them. Drink with them. Keep them company. Make sure they enjoy their time here. The more they drink, the more the club earns."
So basically, getting paid to talk and drink.
"That doesn't sound too hard," I said.
She smiled slightly.
"It's harder than you think. You need to read people, understand what they want, how they feel, when to talk, when to shut up. If you're good at it, you'll make a lot of money."
"If I'm bad at it?"
She shrugged.
"Then you'll just be cleaning toilets."
Fair enough.
"Do I get paid?" I asked.
She smiled again.
"Yes. You get paid."
"Then I guess I'm employed," I said.
She opened a drawer and took out a black card and slid it across the table to me.
"Employee access card," she said. "Don't lose it."
I picked it up and looked at it. It just had the Eclipse logo and my name printed on it.
"Starting today?" I asked.
She nodded.
"You start now."
I blinked. "Now?"
She looked at the woman next to me.
"Lena, show him the staff room and get him a uniform."
So her name was Lena.
Lena nodded. "Come on, new guy."
I turned to leave, but before I reached the door, the boss spoke again.
"Oh, Noah."
I turned around.
She lowered her sunglasses slightly and looked at me over the top of the frame, cigarette still between her fingers.
"Work hard," she said. "People who survive here either become very rich… or very useful."
That didn't sound very comforting.
I nodded slowly and left the office with Lena.
As I followed Lena down the hallway away from the boss's office. The music from the club got louder again as we walked, the bass vibrating through the walls.
She opened one of the doors and walked inside.
"This is the staff room," she said.
I stepped in and looked around.
There were lockers along one wall, a long table in the middle, some chairs, a couch that looked like it had seen better days, and a vending machine in the corner. A few people were inside changing clothes, checking their phones, or just sitting around talking.
When they saw Lena walk in, most of them looked up.
Then they saw me.
"New guy?" one of them asked immediately.
Lena nodded. "Yeah. New junior."
Suddenly the room got a lot more lively.
"Finally, we got another one."
"About time."
"Hope he doesn't quit in a week."
"He looks normal at least."
I just stood there awkwardly while everyone looked at me like I was a new transfer student on the first day of school.
Lena pointed at me. "This is Noah. Starting today. Don't dump all the work on him immediately."
A tall guy with dyed blond hair walked over and stuck his hand out.
"I'm Ryan. Bartender."
I shook his hand. "Noah."
Another guy sitting on the couch raised his hand lazily. "Security. My name's Marco."
A girl near the lockers waved. "Waitress. Emily."
Then I heard someone giggling from the corner.
I looked over and saw a guy about my age leaning back in a chair, spinning a pen between his fingers. He had messy hair and a lazy grin on his face.
He looked at me like I was something interesting.
"Ohhhh, new junior," he said, still grinning. "We should prank him."
Lena immediately turned her head toward him.
"Dylan," she said in a warning tone.
He raised his hands slightly but was still smiling. "What? I haven't done anything yet."
"He just started," Lena said. "Don't do anything stupid."
Dylan leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, still looking at me.
"I'm a host," he said. "You'll probably be doing host work too. Stick with me, I'll teach you how to survive here."
I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
Lena crossed her arms and looked at him.
"Dylan."
"Yeah, yeah," he said, waving his hand. "I won't break the new guy on his first day."
"Not funny," she said.
He just grinned.
I was starting to realize something.
This place might look like a fancy nightclub on the outside, but the staff inside felt more like a group of people who had been through a lot together.
And now, somehow, I was part of it.
Lena walked over to one of the lockers and opened it, then took out a black shirt and vest.
"Uniform," she said, handing it to me. "Go change. You start on the floor in ten minutes."
I took the clothes.
"Ten minutes?" I said. "That's fast."
She looked at me.
"This place moves fast," she said. "You'll get used to it."
I looked around the room again at everyone.
New job.
New place.
New people.
And somehow, my life had completely changed in less than two days.