Chapter 1 (1/2)
There’s a trap there
Feisha Shi was about to lose it.
The so-called Christmas feast only had vegetarian food, he could only tolerate it.
His office lights flickered so much that the entire room was like a disco; he tolerated that as well.
The need to knock back a few pills for heartburn after every company dinner; he tolerated it.
But when his receptionist came to him crying with a flaming red hand mark, he really, really couldn’t tolerate it anymore.
To hell with his monthly salary of a thousand dollars.
To hell with his chance of a promotion after a year.
To hell with his vacation to Hong Kong in three days.
There was only one thought in his mind right now – he was going to stomp on that despicable son-of-a-bitch’s face.
Zhenjian Wu just happened to be thinking of ways to spend less on his employees when the office doors were kicked open. To be honest, he was very annoyed at how every employee could eat a whole 50 cents worth of food every meal.
“Fucker!” In the second it took for him to look up, Feisha had already shot through the office and slammed his palms on his desk.
“Huh?” Zhenjian managed after a period of blank staring.
“Do you know what Christmas is? It’s Jesus’ birthday! Jesus isn’t Buddha, so why do we only have vegetarian food!? Tell me, you bastard.” All the blood rushed to Feisha’s head as he violently fisted his hand in Zhenjian’s collar.
Zhenjian looked at him like the answer was obvious. “Because it’s cheap.”
“Did you know that our offices light bulb has been broken for a month now? I’ve had to work under that stupid flicking light for a total of three hundred and sixty-something hours. Do you know how much overtime I’ve had to do, and how much my eyesight has decreased, bastard!?”
“Oh. We’ve already gone over the repairs budget for the month, but I can put your light bulb down for next month’s repairs.”
“Did you know about that lunatic from the marketing department who hit my receptionist!? My receptionist! Just because she’s slept with you doesn’t give her the right to hit my subordinates. Do you get it, you bastard!?”
“I’ve been hit before as well. Except it was on my bum, I’ll show you next time.”
“I can’t believe that you’d sleep with someone like her, that hag from marketing is old enough to be your mother. Can you not see the gigantic, pitch black age spots that look like they’re eating her face!?”
“But she’s free.”
Feisha released his grip on Zhenjian’s collar and calmly said, “I quit.”
“You have to give three months’ notice so that I can find a replacement,” Zhenjian said without pause.
“I don’t need this month’s salary,” Feisha emotionlessly answered.
Immediately, Zhengjian responded. “Approved.”
Feisha stared at him, continuing, “Did you know that you’re a bastard?”
“…You’ve told me many times today.”
“You’re also a fucker.”
“You told me that when you opened the door.”
“Aren’t you even slightly bothered by my swearing at you?”
“I am a man of discipline and self-control.”
“I’m leaving.”
Zhenjian waved at his back. “If you want to open a room, feel free to come back. I’ll give you a discount, group prices!”
Feisha paused before closing the door, turning back to give Zhenjian a last apathetic look. “By the way, I trashed the office room. Smashed everything that could be smashed. I think it might be worth a bit more than this month’s salary.”
At this, Zhenjian rushed out of the room, screaming into the hallway, “Get back here, you asshole! Pay me back! Feisha Shi, I order you to come back here right now!”
“…At least pay me back a couple of dollars,” Zhenjian sobbed.
The result of his outburst was that Feisha was now unemployed.
And then, just as he was about to find a new job, all the positions on the newspaper evaporated due to a sudden financial crisis, much like his dreams.
After that, Feisha watched the zeros in his savings disappear until there was only a zero left…
Even after that, he realized that what was important wasn’t whether or not the hotel was an international chain business, nor was it whether or not the salary was at least eight hundred dollars, or even if the position was counter management or not. The most important thing was…whether or not the job provided food, ideally three meals a day.
“Oh god, please give me a job that provides accommodation,” Feisha cried to the sky.
“Here.”
A newspaper appeared in front of him. Feisha looked at the old man in front of him who honestly looked worse off than he did.
The old man jabbed the newspaper into his face. “Didn’t you want a job that provides accommodation?”
“…” Feisha unwillingly took over the newspaper. Now that he looked at it properly, all four sides of the newspaper had the exact same thing on it. Basically, it was an ad that looked extremely like a newspaper. He didn’t have time to dwell on that specific detail, however, because a certain recruitment ad drew all his attention–
Counter Manager wanted at Hotel Noah
Monthly salary: $1700