Anonymous
March 15, 2026 at 10:24:18 AM
Mahjong Madness
Eric gripped his ID card as he turned the corner of Lónghuā Lù St. His palms were damp, his pulse quick but steady, heart lodged somewhere between throat and chest. He needed this job. It was the next step in his path. Every choice he had made, from school to internships, had nudged him here, but now the path seemed to ripple, unpredictable and dangerous.
“Hello,” said the elderly clerk behind the curved desk. Her white hair was pulled into a messy bun, but her eyes gave off the impression she had done this a million times. They pierced his face in a way that made Eric’s nerves twitch. “What brings you into Crimson Dragon Enterprises today?”
“I’m looking for a job,” he said, his voice firmer than he felt.
She extended a hand. Eric passed over his ID, his eyes glancing at the tile in the corner of the plastic card.
She slid the card beneath the scanner. A low beep, then a longer pause soon followed. Perhaps a trick of the light, but Eric thought he saw a glimmer of excitement dance across the clerk’s face.
“Interesting,” she remarked. “Your file was updated this morning.”
Eric’s stomach clenched. “Updated? By whom?”
“The Development Division,” she said with an unnervingly even tone. “Your profile has been.. reassessed.”
He blinked, feeling his heart crawl up his spine. “Is that a good thing?”
“That remains to be seen.” she remarked, “But we don’t make mistakes. Usually”
She took his ID out of the scanner and reinserted it into a small printer. The soft whir of the machine was violently drowned out by Eric’s heartbeat, but now it was a little lower down in his body. His photo emerged from the plastic. Name. Employee number. And then the small square in the corner. But different now. A dragon. Red. No, Crimson.
“What happens next?” he asked.
“You’ll report to the 144th floor,” she said. “They handle the system. Allocation.”
Eric’s heart started again, but this time his eyes, previously wide with fear, were now focused and analytical.
“I’d be helping decide other people’s careers?”, he asked, only the slightest trace of fear left on his words
“Yes,” she answered. “And improving the system. Making it more.. Accurate.”
Ding!
The dragon gleamed in the overhead light. Somehow that 2.5 x 4cm square on the corner of his life suddenly felt much bigger. All his life, the square on his ID had thrown him to wherever he “needed to be”. Now he was the one rolling the dice.
If he stepped inside, he would climb faster than he’d ever dared to hope. He would be able to relocate, reassign, reimagine.
“You better hurry”, the clerk urged with a slight smirk, “The elevator won’t stay open forever”.
If he refused, he knew he would stay down at the bottom, live a simple life. A good life. But Eric wanted an exciting life. And as the city below him blurred, for the first time Eric felt truly awake.
