2019, December 19th, Thursday
In the freezing winter, a gloomy young man could be seen walking alone towards the subway station. When someone thinks of winter they may think of snow, the bitter cold, or meeting out with friends for a party, however for this young man named Shi Ye, winter marked a depressing milestone in his life.
It was today that his 50th job interview failed. Be it his lack of social skills or the fact that he only had a high school diploma, Shi Ye could not seem to find a single business that was willing to hire him. Because of this Shi Ye, as a 24-year-old, could barely manage to live in New York, even with the money he received from his parent's deaths and the meager amount of money he receives from the government. 'If I don't find a job fast I might have to cut down on my meals to pay off this month's rent' He thought to himself as he turned around the corner of the street to the subway station.
Sliding his subway card, Shi Ye grimaced, 'That's While he waited for his subway to arrive, Shi Ye started to look for job offers on his phone. "Hmm...creating furniture...no...waiter...no", Shi Ye continued to do this for 10 minutes until the subway he was boarding arrived. In the subway, he spent an additional 3 minutes scrolling through his phone until he found an offer reading:
「Help! Looking for someone willing to do some odd jobs. Accepting anyone. Pay: $20/hour」. 'This ad seems a little bit strange for some reason...' Shi Ye thought to himself. 'Eh, maybe it's just because of how it says odd jobs, anyways the pay is decent, so I might as well apply for it'. Shi Ye downloaded the job application and began to fill it in. After a few minutes, he sent the application to the email provided in the offer and exited the subway. Thankfully, Shi Ye lived close to the subway so he managed to walk home fairly quickly.
As one may expect from a jobless young adult, Shi Ye's apartment was quite pitiful; it only had one bedroom, a small kitchen, a single bathroom and a living room. Opening the door, Shi Ye took off his shoes and walked to his room. He sat down and booted up the old computer he found in the dumpster a few days ago. Determined to prepare himself for any job, Shi Ye began to start his research for skills he would need. Perhaps being hardworking was his only redeeming quality, but soon Shi Ye's eyes started to feel heavy. When he was almost going to fell asleep on his keyboard, Shi Ye received a phone notification. Ding! This loud sound snapped the half-asleep Shi Ye awake. "Huh!?! Oh, it was just a notification".
Startled, he opened the notification and found this message: 「Thank you for applying Mr.Ye, I appreciate it. I would like to tell you that you are hired and I wish to meet you tomorrow so you can begin your first job.」Shi Ye began to feel excited, he will now finally have a job! However, soon this happiness was crushed with the last sentence reading:「Please meet me at #%+=&$$&@!?*^%#.」
With the address being a bunch of scramble symbols, Shi Ye quickly realized he was pranked. "In the end, it was just a person messing around...", he sighed. 'Well, I guess I'll go look for a job again tomorrow'. With that, Shi Ye got out of his chair and fell onto his bed, falling into deep sleep.
06:00 A.M.
While Shi Yan was softly snoring, a lifeless, robotic voice could suddenly be heard in the middle of his room.
「Initiating World Transportation」
「World: Nine Stars Continent」
「Transportation Starting in 5...4...3...2... 1」
「Beginning Transportation」
A brilliant light suddenly flashed right after the countdown. It enveloped the entire room and lasted for a minute until it finally began to dim.
As the rays of the morning sun cascaded onto Shi Ye's face, he slowly woke up. When he opened his eyes, a completely foreign sight greeted him. Confused, Shi Ye got up and decided to examine his new surroundings. 'Mmm... I am definitely dreaming right now... there is absolutely no way I can be in a forest right now!' Shi Ye thought while pinching himself. Sadly, Shi Ye eventually realized that he wasn't dreaming, sure enough, he was really in a different world! Although it may have been Shi Ye's dream to be transferred into another world when he was a teen, right now, who would be happy transferring into a forest?
"Whoever brought me here...come! Tell me what I have done to deserve this!" he yelled in anguish.
Almost instantaneously, Shi Ye heard a loud ding and a voice soon replied with: 「Oh hero, you have awoken! Shall I answer your question?」
"..." Although Shi Ye did say for the person who transferred him to come... he really didn't expect someone to answer! Knowing that the voice who answered him was definitely not human, Shi Ye cautiously ask, "Who in the world are you...were you the one who brought me here...?"
「Indeed I am! I am your employer, Infinite Pillar! I am in charge of managing different worlds! A pleasure to meet you, Mr.Ye!」
'...Employer my ass! In charge of worlds my ass! I don't remember ever having such an otherworldly employer!' thought Shi Ye. Annoyed with the fellow that claimed to be his employer, Shi Ye asked, "Hey...can I punch you in the face for a second?"
「Certainly not! It would be quite rude to punch your employer, don't you think?」
"..." Shi Ye's shoulders shook. "Your mother is an employer! Your ancestors are employers!" shouted Shi Ye. "Just who the hell are you, suddenly bringing me here and claiming to be my employer?!?! What kind of name is Infinite Pillar? What's your purpose sending me here?"
「...*sob sob*...how could you be so terrible to your employer? My name has been Infinite Pillar for as far as I can remember...*sob*...you clearly signed an application for the job...and I clearly gave you a response saying you were hired...」
'Wait... I was sent a response saying I was hired?' Shi Ye then realized that the job offer he was hired into was not a prank. "The hell? Why am I being summoned to another world for some odd jobs? Am I really going to be doing odd jobs and not something else?"
「Why that's a pointless question! Haven't you read the Terms and Conditions of Service I included in the job offer?」
"Wait...Terms and Conditions of Service?" asked Shi Ye. 'Sh*t! I didn't bother reading it and just clicked 'I accept the Terms and Conditions of Service'!'
Curious to see what in the world he agreed to, Shi Ye asked: "Hey...can you let me look at it one more time?"
「Sure thing my trusted employee!」
Right after that, a scroll fell from the sky. Opening it up, Shi Ye read it out loud "I agree that by signing this document, I show my consent to work under Infinite Pillar. I acknowledge that if I am transported to another world or lose my life, Infinite Pillar will not be responsible for anything..." Shi Ye didn't read on, right after he reached this part he immediately started to rip the scroll up. "Consent your sister! How can this even be considered a Terms and Conditions of Service?"
「Hmm...I don't have the slightest idea! The most important thing is that you work for me now!」
"...": Shi Ye. 'Haaa...I give up...I seriously give up trying to argue with this person...' With a tone of defeat, Shi Ye asked, "Hey...can you send me back...I don't think I can work in another world..."
「Hmm...that would be a problem, you see, just by sending you here I've already used up more than 75% of my remaining energy!」
Given this response, Shi Ye almost coughed out blood. "Are you serious? Is there a way for you to recover energy?
「Ah, yes there is a way! It's actually related to your job!」
"My job? What is my job anyway?", asked Shi Ye. He did not necessarily know what kind of "odd jobs" he could do in an alternate world.
「Your job is pretty simple, help me fix some worlds! As long as you successfully fix some worlds my energy is bound to be replenished!」
"...Oi, tell me you're just joking...what kind of common sense do you have to think fixing worlds is easy? I'm just a normal person... how do you expect me to do that? Answer me!", yelled Shi Ye.
This time, there was no answer from Infinite Pillar, and Shi Ye stood there and waited for a response. Only moments later, a book fell from the sky in a similar fashion as the scroll from earlier; the title being「Fixing Worlds For Noobs! By Infinite Pillar」. "..." At this point, Shi Ye was already too tired to question the title of this book. Because he didn't know what in the world to do and had no idea where he was, Shi Ye decided to sit down and begin reading in hopes the book provided better answers than Infinite Pillar.
「Hello new Intern! In this first volume of "Fixing Worlds For Noobs". I, Infinite Pillar, will explain the history and concepts of the worlds and then go on to explaining about fixing worlds! Enjoy~」
"..." Shi Ye. 'Intern your sister!'
Hello everyone, I’m guessing you probably have many things to say about this first chapter. Things like “This setting and events is so generic and cliched” or “This main character is seriously an idiot”. I understand that there may be many plot holes and generalities, however, I will try to fix that as I learn to write better. (Sigh...even this Author’s Thoughts sounds half-assed....)