karsev PART 1: WELCOME TO CHANGYE
A New Hire
I have a debt I had to pay for 15-months according to the bank who wrote and sold my contract. It is a contract that puts me in a state where I would be under someone’s control. It is 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 on.
You may think it’s unlucky, unfair, and horrible, but in CHANGYE, it is like a blessing since I only have to listen to what the task is and where my next employment will be in the case that my owner perishes accidentally by a shot to the head or to some company rivalry that ended in grievous tragedy. Paperwork is usually done by them. So that means I don't have to worry about processing it or worry about whatever happens to the company.
The debt I took has finally reached zero balance. The fifteen months of payment has finally ended. I can finally get out of the debt-cycle.
I think that was my happy thought before the OFFICE managing my DEBT got swallowed by a pit of flesh. The ground itself opened up and a giant mouth swallowed the building whole.
Because I survived the initial fall and tragedy. My first goal was to find the manager who was in-charge of my debt. I found him dead on the ground, head and neck pierce by loose rebar poking out of the concrete.
I cut off his thumb, stamped it on the contract, and released myself from the 15-month contract. Since everyone died. I gutted my way out of the flesh pit and climbed to the surface where the OB’s are already securing the pit of flesh for farming. One of the officers walks up to me.
“Are you an employee of this agency?”
“Yes.”
He reads the document.
“After the annihilation of this office. All assets of this company shall be transferred to its parent company.”
I think about where I’ll be assigned next. The man checks the documents for the answer to my question.
“Oh, you’ll be assigned to Miss Kei’s Office.”
He points his finger in a direction. Standing not far from the pit of flesh is my new boss. I approach the short haired woman and introduce myself.
“Oh, I heard that they had a debt-slave. Oh, what is that on your hand?”
I took the document out and showed it to her. Her face told me she knows how it usually goes, but is curious about why I’m approaching without worry on my face.
“So you need a job, then? Eta check him out.”
The tall woman standing next to her inspects me from head to toe.
“I think he’ll be able to keep up with us!”
Kei rubs her chin with her thumb in quick thought as she remembers my face.
“Okay. Sato did say we need an assistant anyway.”
We left the flesh pit. I told Kei about the situation and how it ended up like that.
“Asobe Street, 307. This is where our office is going to be.”
It is a 3-story building. In a street that I think shouldn’t exist in the maps sold in the tourist shops.
The office is small. Kei has the desk occupying the back part of the room. There is a door to the right that leads to what I assume is where Kei is sleeping. Eta sits me down and begins onboarding me on what they do.
After the onboarding. I learned that Kei’s office handles the anomalies as much as any OB-licensed office is. Their office is also affiliated with the Shichinin no Ken. The Seven Swords Association, a combat-oriented office that is known in Changye and Asia as a monster hunting collective.
“The flesh pit that you fell into. Anything you want to add?”
I thought back to the memories this body has, but I don’t recall anything that might be useful to Kei.
“None.”
I left the office and followed my head to go back to my old apartment. It is a small seedy room that has everything I need. I just sleep here most of the time. Place has no furniture. Just a lone mattress and some portable cookers and a small fan.
The next day I went back to the office to report for duty. Kei’s already browsing through her documents. I offered to help, but she told me to stay still and welcome anyone that might come.
“I’ll give you 3-month probation first. Then we might trust you in handing office paperwork that isn't data entry.”
Here in Changye, trust is equal to the time spent when you didn’t sell out your employers. I got no response for her so I sat back and did nothing. Didn't mind lazing around too. Eta joined us and went to help sort the documents for the Boss.
A client came in. Male. 173cm tall. Black hair and brown eyes. He wears an overall. He smells like factory grease and wears a tool belt around his waist. His work boots have steel toe protection.
“You believe that there is 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 make noises, Madam. Noises that a human mouth shouldn’t make.”
“Which Dock is this?”
He writes the address on a paper he tore from his notepad. It is in Dock 13. Should be located on the north-eastern side of the Docking Areas.
The dock worker leaves his details in the office.
“Let’s arm up, Eta. You too.”
She looks at me. I tap the pommel of my executor sword, castor and stood up.
Eta arms herself with a two-handed sword. She is also wearing a power glove. I didn’t see it before, but the cybernetic linings on her arm, face, and neck means she’s gone through augmentation procedures.
The clothes she wears are also unique in a way that is light and durable. As for Kei, she holds a teleforce cane and walks with it. It's the kind of cane you don't want to be hit with. Teleforce-enhanced weapons are dangerous and expensive. Guess the office's doing well?
We rode a tram and then took the service train. I walk along the street with them. It is 3 PM when we arrive at Dock 13. The foreman who sent the worker greets us. He leads us to where the warehouse is and then leaves after hearing the noise inside.
The whole place smells like grease, oil, and salty air. There is an acrid breeze blowing once in a while from the city.
Eta pushes the door open. Something tries to hit her as she is immediately thrown backward.
The scratch on her two-handed sword placed in front of her means she was able to block it before it got her.
Eta shakes her two-handed and leaps in. The sword is bursting with electricity. She tears through the attacker, until it quieted down.
Kei enters the warehouse. She sees the workers tirelessly working. To me they are just repeating the task indefinitely without actual progress. Forgetting they already sorted the warehouse, they undo what they have done, and repeat the sorting process again.
I can see fleshy strings connecting them to this grotesque multi-armed creature with an appearance of a humanoid covered in gangrene skin with green pus leaking out of it mouths.
The distorted tool belt around the humanoid’s waist has people stabbed in the middle of the chest. They are all wearing suits and nailed on their head is an employee’s list. Flesh string is coming out of their mouths.
Eta stands in front of Kei like a human meat shield. It seems they are close. No one in CHANGYE would do that unless it is a close friend, family or lover. I wonder which are they.
“Boss, what do we do?”
“Let me think.”
The workers are repeating the cycle. The monster Eta cleaved in half is being sewn back to life by the workers with the cable they are using to hoist cargo containers up. I approach the workers and stop them from doing so.
“Eta can you bring me that checklist?”
Eta takes the check list. The foreman who is holding that is flattened on the ground like a meat patty. I picked up his wallet, removed the bills on it, and then kept the rest for evidence.
Kei wears the foreman hat and took a clipboard somewhere. She taps her ballpoint pen on the clipboard, clears her throat, and engages the anomaly in a bossy manner.
“What are you doing!”
The anomaly turns towards her.
“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 tilts its head. Eta’s blade is humming as the electricity strikes on the surface of the blade. She takes 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 stops. He alternates his gaze from Kei to the cadaver workers working ceaselessly. The anomaly seems to be thinking.
“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 that you can do this without the approval from a foreman? Hey, what’s your name? I want the Bosses to know about this behavior!”
The anomaly trembles. It tries to speak, but it has no normal mouth. And because it finally realized that it has no normal mouth and couldn’t scream that it also 'see' the gangrene covering its skin.
The anomaly trembles and holds its non-existent head. Kei signals Eta with a go ahead gesture.
“Okay, got it Boss.”
Eta jumps and cleaves the defenseless anomaly into two. The anomaly’s separate body parts are still moving around so Eta keeps on slashing and cutting until it stops moving.
The warehouse went quiet. The cadaver workers who are working without rest fall to the floor. I check their bodies. Most of them have broken forearms, cracked ribs, and their mouth is dry. Their eyes are dry. Their back is the most damaged. Spine completely cracked into fragments and is only held together by a gangrenous flesh that resembles the skin of the anomaly keeping them hostage. Forty-two of them are barely alive.
Eta checks the anomaly again, digging up to the core of the anomaly and placing it on a rucksack she then tossed to her dimenbag, a dimension bag. Kei tells me to write down the employee numbers in 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 down along with the wallet of the one in-charge of the Warehouse.
“These are all the workers who got afflicted by the anomaly.”
Kei taps 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 down 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 don’t want anomaly-susceptible workers if I was the dock manager too.
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 desk and place it near the door. The room is not that big, but I still have my own space in the corner by the entrance of the office. And honestly from the looks of it they are going to make use of me as a full-time assistant seeing the records I need to log. The thought of organizing all of this gives me a headache, but it has to be done. Besides, I'm quite motivated by the thought of a paycheck right now. Without my horrendous debt, I can actually spend it on something that isn'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 be able to live comfortably?
“Saw your records. How come you are always in debt?”
"Parental debt and my own doing?”
“That makes sense. They're gone?”
“Yeah.”
Eta unbuttons her coat. I can see her toned stomach and her bust covered in a sporty bra. Her eyes remained fixed on the documents she’s holding while mine was momentarily fixed on her bust. The AC of their office seems like it isn’t running.
“AC’s not working. Want me to check it?”
“You can? It’s on the back.”
I got to work and checked the AC. The power source, the filter, the condensate grain and the outdoor unit. The problem is the fuse that has been blown out. I told Eta about it and she told me that there’s a shop selling it. I buy the fuse and replace the fuse in the AC. After replacing the fuse, I turn on the AC and cool air is blowing from the AC again.
"Nice. You know how to fix an AC?”
“Had a lot of gigs.”
“Nice.”
Kei walks out of her room and turns her sleepy face to the AC. She gave me questioning look.
“Oh, you fixed the AC. Thanks.”
She walks to the coffee dispenser and carries a cup to her work desk.
“You can get one. Just don’t drink too much.”
She takes a sip.
“I wonder if you know how to brew something better?”
I brewed one from memory, measured the water ratio well, and then handed it over to Kei. She takes a sip of the coffee and smiles.
“Very nice. Okay, now you’re in charge of the coffee as well. Eta, never touch the dispenser again.”
“That’s very rude of you!”
Eta protests. She continue to sort through the documents. The Boss is reading through potential cases, and is taking a good look at the clients before agreeing to work on their case.
My previous office is large and packed to the brim. The cubicles are so crowded and the smell mixed together. The AC’s there, but the amount of people crowding in the office made it like it didn’t exist at all.
The office is small. But it is better than usual. Maybe I’m not used to this kind of atmosphere and Miss Kei Ma isn’t as overbearing as my previous bosses.
My first day in Kei's office as an Assistant was rather tamer than I expected.
Announcement New series.
karsev PART 1: WELCOME TO CHANGYE
A New Hire
I have a debt I had to pay for 15-months according to the bank who wrote and sold my contract. It is a contract that puts me in a state where I would be under someone’s control. It is 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 on.
You may think it’s unlucky, unfair, and horrible, but in CHANGYE, it is like a blessing since I only have to listen to what the task is and where my next employment will be in the case that my owner perishes accidentally by a shot to the head or to some company rivalry that ended in grievous tragedy. Paperwork is usually done by them. So that means I don't have to worry about processing it or worry about whatever happens to the company.
The debt I took has finally reached zero balance. The fifteen months of payment has finally ended. I can finally get out of the debt-cycle.
I think that was my happy thought before the OFFICE managing my DEBT got swallowed by a pit of flesh. The ground itself opened up and a giant mouth swallowed the building whole.
Because I survived the initial fall and tragedy. My first goal was to find the manager who was in-charge of my debt. I found him dead on the ground, head and neck pierce by loose rebar poking out of the concrete.
I cut off his thumb, stamped it on the contract, and released myself from the 15-month contract. Since everyone died. I gutted my way out of the flesh pit and climbed to the surface where the OB’s are already securing the pit of flesh for farming. One of the officers walks up to me.
“Are you an employee of this agency?”
“Yes.”
He reads the document.
“After the annihilation of this office. All assets of this company shall be transferred to its parent company.”
I think about where I’ll be assigned next. The man checks the documents for the answer to my question.
“Oh, you’ll be assigned to Miss Kei’s Office.”
He points his finger in a direction. Standing not far from the pit of flesh is my new boss. I approach the short haired woman and introduce myself.
“Oh, I heard that they had a debt-slave. Oh, what is that on your hand?”
I took the document out and showed it to her. Her face told me she knows how it usually goes, but is curious about why I’m approaching without worry on my face.
“So you need a job, then? Eta check him out.”
The tall woman standing next to her inspects me from head to toe.
“I think he’ll be able to keep up with us!”
Kei rubs her chin with her thumb in quick thought as she remembers my face.
“Okay. Sato did say we need an assistant anyway.”
We left the flesh pit. I told Kei about the situation and how it ended up like that.
“Asobe Street, 307. This is where our office is going to be.”
It is a 3-story building. In a street that I think shouldn’t exist in the maps sold in the tourist shops.
The office is small. Kei has the desk occupying the back part of the room. There is a door to the right that leads to what I assume is where Kei is sleeping. Eta sits me down and begins onboarding me on what they do.
After the onboarding. I learned that Kei’s office handles the anomalies as much as any OB-licensed office is. Their office is also affiliated with the Shichinin no Ken. The Seven Swords Association, a combat-oriented office that is known in Changye and Asia as a monster hunting collective.
“The flesh pit that you fell into. Anything you want to add?”
I thought back to the memories this body has, but I don’t recall anything that might be useful to Kei.
“None.”
I left the office and followed my head to go back to my old apartment. It is a small seedy room that has everything I need. I just sleep here most of the time. Place has no furniture. Just a lone mattress and some portable cookers and a small fan.
The next day I went back to the office to report for duty. Kei’s already browsing through her documents. I offered to help, but she told me to stay still and welcome anyone that might come.
“I’ll give you 3-month probation first. Then we might trust you in handing office paperwork that isn't data entry.”
Here in Changye, trust is equal to the time spent when you didn’t sell out your employers. I got no response for her so I sat back and did nothing. Didn't mind lazing around too. Eta joined us and went to help sort the documents for the Boss.
A client came in. Male. 173cm tall. Black hair and brown eyes. He wears an overall. He smells like factory grease and wears a tool belt around his waist. His work boots have steel toe protection.
“You believe that there is 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 make noises, Madam. Noises that a human mouth shouldn’t make.”
“Which Dock is this?”
He writes the address on a paper he tore from his notepad. It is in Dock 13. Should be located on the north-eastern side of the Docking Areas.
The dock worker leaves his details in the office.
“Let’s arm up, Eta. You too.”
She looks at me. I tap the pommel of my executor sword, castor and stood up.
Eta arms herself with a two-handed sword. She is also wearing a power glove. I didn’t see it before, but the cybernetic linings on her arm, face, and neck means she’s gone through augmentation procedures.
The clothes she wears are also unique in a way that is light and durable. As for Kei, she holds a teleforce cane and walks with it. It's the kind of cane you don't want to be hit with. Teleforce-enhanced weapons are dangerous and expensive. Guess the office's doing well?
We rode a tram and then took the service train. I walk along the street with them. It is 3 PM when we arrive at Dock 13. The foreman who sent the worker greets us. He leads us to where the warehouse is and then leaves after hearing the noise inside.
The whole place smells like grease, oil, and salty air. There is an acrid breeze blowing once in a while from the city.
Eta pushes the door open. Something tries to hit her as she is immediately thrown backward.
The scratch on her two-handed sword placed in front of her means she was able to block it before it got her.
Eta shakes her two-handed and leaps in. The sword is bursting with electricity. She tears through the attacker, until it quieted down.
Kei enters the warehouse. She sees the workers tirelessly working. To me they are just repeating the task indefinitely without actual progress. Forgetting they already sorted the warehouse, they undo what they have done, and repeat the sorting process again.
I can see fleshy strings connecting them to this grotesque multi-armed creature with an appearance of a humanoid covered in gangrene skin with green pus leaking out of it mouths.
The distorted tool belt around the humanoid’s waist has people stabbed in the middle of the chest. They are all wearing suits and nailed on their head is an employee’s list. Flesh string is coming out of their mouths.
Eta stands in front of Kei like a human meat shield. It seems they are close. No one in CHANGYE would do that unless it is a close friend, family or lover. I wonder which are they.
“Boss, what do we do?”
“Let me think.”
The workers are repeating the cycle. The monster Eta cleaved in half is being sewn back to life by the workers with the cable they are using to hoist cargo containers up. I approach the workers and stop them from doing so.
“Eta can you bring me that checklist?”
Eta takes the check list. The foreman who is holding that is flattened on the ground like a meat patty. I picked up his wallet, removed the bills on it, and then kept the rest for evidence.
Kei wears the foreman hat and took a clipboard somewhere. She taps her ballpoint pen on the clipboard, clears her throat, and engages the anomaly in a bossy manner.
“What are you doing!”
The anomaly turns towards her.
“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 tilts its head. Eta’s blade is humming as the electricity strikes on the surface of the blade. She takes 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 stops. He alternates his gaze from Kei to the cadaver workers working ceaselessly. The anomaly seems to be thinking.
“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 that you can do this without the approval from a foreman? Hey, what’s your name? I want the Bosses to know about this behavior!”
The anomaly trembles. It tries to speak, but it has no normal mouth. And because it finally realized that it has no normal mouth and couldn’t scream that it also 'see' the gangrene covering its skin.
The anomaly trembles and holds its non-existent head. Kei signals Eta with a go ahead gesture.
“Okay, got it Boss.”
Eta jumps and cleaves the defenseless anomaly into two. The anomaly’s separate body parts are still moving around so Eta keeps on slashing and cutting until it stops moving.
The warehouse went quiet. The cadaver workers who are working without rest fall to the floor. I check their bodies. Most of them have broken forearms, cracked ribs, and their mouth is dry. Their eyes are dry. Their back is the most damaged. Spine completely cracked into fragments and is only held together by a gangrenous flesh that resembles the skin of the anomaly keeping them hostage. Forty-two of them are barely alive.
Eta checks the anomaly again, digging up to the core of the anomaly and placing it on a rucksack she then tossed to her dimenbag, a dimension bag. Kei tells me to write down the employee numbers in 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 down along with the wallet of the one in-charge of the Warehouse.
“These are all the workers who got afflicted by the anomaly.”
Kei taps 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 down 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 don’t want anomaly-susceptible workers if I was the dock manager too.
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 desk and place it near the door. The room is not that big, but I still have my own space in the corner by the entrance of the office. And honestly from the looks of it they are going to make use of me as a full-time assistant seeing the records I need to log. The thought of organizing all of this gives me a headache, but it has to be done. Besides, I'm quite motivated by the thought of a paycheck right now. Without my horrendous debt, I can actually spend it on something that isn'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 be able to live comfortably?
“Saw your records. How come you are always in debt?”
"Parental debt and my own doing?”
“That makes sense. They're gone?”
“Yeah.”
Eta unbuttons her coat. I can see her toned stomach and her bust covered in a sporty bra. Her eyes remained fixed on the documents she’s holding while mine was momentarily fixed on her bust. The AC of their office seems like it isn’t running.
“AC’s not working. Want me to check it?”
“You can? It’s on the back.”
I got to work and checked the AC. The power source, the filter, the condensate grain and the outdoor unit. The problem is the fuse that has been blown out. I told Eta about it and she told me that there’s a shop selling it. I buy the fuse and replace the fuse in the AC. After replacing the fuse, I turn on the AC and cool air is blowing from the AC again.
"Nice. You know how to fix an AC?”
“Had a lot of gigs.”
“Nice.”
Kei walks out of her room and turns her sleepy face to the AC. She gave me questioning look.
“Oh, you fixed the AC. Thanks.”
She walks to the coffee dispenser and carries a cup to her work desk.
“You can get one. Just don’t drink too much.”
She takes a sip.
“I wonder if you know how to brew something better?”
I brewed one from memory, measured the water ratio well, and then handed it over to Kei. She takes a sip of the coffee and smiles.
“Very nice. Okay, now you’re in charge of the coffee as well. Eta, never touch the dispenser again.”
“That’s very rude of you!”
Eta protests. She continue to sort through the documents. The Boss is reading through potential cases, and is taking a good look at the clients before agreeing to work on their case.
My previous office is large and packed to the brim. The cubicles are so crowded and the smell mixed together. The AC’s there, but the amount of people crowding in the office made it like it didn’t exist at all.
The office is small. But it is better than usual. Maybe I’m not used to this kind of atmosphere and Miss Kei Ma isn’t as overbearing as my previous bosses.
My first day in Kei's office as an Assistant was rather tamer than I expected.
Announcement New series.