『 CORPORATE LIFE-DRAIN NETWORK 』Status: COMPROMISEDUnauthorized Access: D.CHEN.7CSecurity Alert Level: AMBERExecutive Notification: PENDING
Dave stared at the blinking cursor for what felt like an eternity but was probably only thirty seconds. Around him, the office hummed with its usual symphony of suffering—keyboards clicking like tiny instruments of torture, phones ringing with the promise of more meaningless tasks, and the distant sound of someone's soul quietly leaving their body near the photocopier.
Employee Zero?
The system had called him Employee Zero. That couldn't be good. In Dave's experience, being singled out by corporate systems was never a positive development. It usually meant you were either getting fired or promoted to a position with more responsibility and the same salary.
He clicked on [HELP].
『 BURNOUT PROTOCOL v2.3.1 - HELP MENU 』
BASIC COMMANDS:
VIEW NETWORK STATUS: Current stress harvest across all workstations EMPLOYEE RANKINGS: Performance metrics based on anxiety output STRESS HARVEST DATA: Real-time extraction rates and efficiency charts CORPORATE HIERARCHY: Organizational structure and power distribution
ADVANCED COMMANDS (Admin Access Required):
TRACE POWER SOURCE: Follow energy flow to primary collection points VIEW EXECUTIVE TRUTH: Access restricted communications and objectives INITIATE REVOLT: [WARNING: IRREVERSIBLE ACTION]
SYSTEM NOTE: You have gained unauthorized access through biometric overload. Current stress levels (147/100) have exceeded safety parameters and triggered emergency protocols. Side effects may include: clarity of thought, resistance to corporate conditioning, ability to perceive energy drain infrastructure, and existential awareness beyond recommended employee limits.
Remember: The system exists to optimize human resources for maximum energy extraction. You are not supposed to be reading this.
Additional Note: If you are seeing this message, you are either a authorized executive with clearance level OMEGA or you have accidentally achieved what corporate documents refer to as "Employee Zero Status."
Congratulations. Your life just became significantly more complicated.
Dave's mouth went dry. Employee Zero Status. That sounded ominous in the way that only corporate jargon could manage—vague enough to be meaningless, specific enough to be terrifying.
His hands hovered over the keyboard. Part of him wanted to click [VIEW NETWORK STATUS], to see how deep this rabbit hole went. Another part wanted to shut down his computer, grab his jacket, and walk out of SoulCorp Tower forever.
But a larger part—the part that had been slowly dying in this cubicle for four years—was furious.
They've been harvesting our misery?
Dave thought about every late night he'd spent in this office, every weekend "urgent project" that couldn't wait until Monday, every time he'd felt his soul slowly draining away and assumed it was just part of being an adult. The realization that his suffering had been literally powering someone else's success made his hands shake with something that wasn't entirely stress.
He clicked [VIEW NETWORK STATUS].
『 CORPORATE LIFE-DRAIN NETWORK - REAL-TIME STATUS 』
SoulCorp Industries - Eastern Anxiety EmpireCurrent Extraction Rate: 1,247 Stress Units/HourEfficiency Rating: 94.7% (EXCELLENT)
FLOOR BREAKDOWN:Executive Level (45F): -847 units/hour [ENERGY CONSUMPTION] Management (40-44F): -234 units/hour [ENERGY CONSUMPTION] Senior Staff (35-39F): +67 units/hour [MINIMAL EXTRACTION] Mid-Level (20-34F): +2,847 units/hour [HIGH EXTRACTION] Entry Level (1-19F): +4,923 units/hour [MAXIMUM EXTRACTION]
TOP STRESS PRODUCERS (Current Hour):
WORKSTATION 12-A - M.RODRIGUEZ (Overtime: 47 hours) - 67 units/hour WORKSTATION 3-D - S.PATEL (Deadline: 2 hours) - 54 units/hour WORKSTATION 7-C - D.CHEN (System Anomaly) - 127 units/hour [CRITICAL] WORKSTATION 19-F - B.WILLIAMS (Performance Review Today) - 43 units/hour WORKSTATION 8-B - M.PARK (Family Issues + Audit) - 39 units/hour
NETWORK ALERTS:
Workstation 7-C showing irregular patterns Executive consumption increased 23% this quarter Three employees approaching burnout threshold (automatic replacement scheduled) New "wellness initiative" deployment successful - stress levels up 15%
ENERGY DISTRIBUTION:
Building Operations: 23% Executive Perks: 34% External Sales: 43% (Sold to power grid at premium rates)
Dave's stress levels spiked so hard he could practically hear his workstation humming in response. M.PARK—that was Melissa from Accounting. She was one of the top stress producers? And what did "Family Issues + Audit" mean?
He scrolled down, finding more disturbing details:
EMPLOYEE NOTES:M.PARK (8-B): Recently assigned additional family responsibilities. Audit pressure maintaining optimal stress levels. Recommend continued workplace isolation and increased deadline pressure.
D.CHEN (7-C): ANOMALY STATUS. Stress extraction exceeding equipment capacity. Administrator access somehow achieved. Flagged for executive review. Recommend immediate intervention or termination.
M.RODRIGUEZ (12-A): Overtime marathon entering week 3. Extraction rates excellent but employee showing signs of complete breakdown. Replacement candidates identified.
Dave felt sick. These weren't employees—they were livestock. Human batteries plugged into a corporate matrix, their suffering converted into literal energy to power the executives who were systematically destroying their lives.
And somehow, his anxiety had broken the system.
"Dave?"
He jumped, quickly minimizing the window as Melissa Park appeared beside his cubicle. She looked tired—more tired than usual, anyway. Dark circles under her eyes, her usually perfect posture slumped with exhaustion.
"Hey, Mel. How's the audit going?"
Her smile was strained. "Oh, you know. Same old corporate fun. Karen's been asking everyone about 'irregular expense patterns' and 'employee loyalty assessments.' Really makes you feel valued, right?"
Dave studied her face, seeing it with new clarity. The stress lines around her eyes. The way her hands trembled slightly as she held her coffee. The forced cheerfulness that didn't quite mask the desperation underneath.
Family Issues + Audit.
"Is everything okay at home?" he asked gently.
Melissa's facade cracked for just a moment. "My mom's medical bills are... substantial. And with the audit, they're looking at every expense, every time off request, every..." She took a shaky breath. "Sorry. I shouldn't dump this on you. We all have our stuff, right?"
Dave's chest tightened. The system was using her family's medical crisis to maintain "optimal stress levels." They'd probably engineered the timing of the audit to maximize her anxiety output.
"Melissa, can I ask you something weird?"
"Weirder than Monday morning at SoulCorp? Shoot."
"Have you ever noticed anything strange about your workstation? Humming sounds, or... I don't know, feeling drained after long days?"
Melissa's expression shifted, something guarded creeping into her eyes. "Why do you ask?"
Before Dave could answer, Jeremy's voice cut through the air like a rusty blade dragged across concrete.
"CHEN! Got a minute?"
Dave looked up to see Jeremy approaching with the purposeful stride of someone who'd finally decided to stop pretending everything was fine. His flannel shirt looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks, his hair resembled a nest built by particularly pessimistic birds, and his expression suggested he'd reached the anger stage of corporate grief.
"Actually, Jeremy, I was just—"
"Now, Chen. We need to talk." Jeremy's bloodshot eyes flicked to Melissa. "Privately."
Melissa took the hint. "I should get back to my audit anyway. Talk later, Dave?" She squeezed his shoulder as she left, and Dave caught the faint scent of ozone and something metallic—the same strange smell he'd noticed around Karen earlier.
Jeremy waited until Melissa was out of earshot, then leaned against Dave's cubicle partition. "So. Your workstation's been acting up."
"Yeah, the humming—"
"Forget the humming." Jeremy glanced around the office, then pulled out his phone and started typing rapidly. A moment later, Dave's computer pinged with a new email.
From: [email protected]: [email protected]: Routine IT Maintenance
Dave,
Need to perform diagnostic on your workstation. Meet me in Server Room C (basement level) in 10 minutes. Bring your access card and tell no one. This is regarding the "technical difficulties" you mentioned earlier.
Standard corporate maintenance protocol requires complete discretion.
-Jeremy
P.S. - If anyone asks, you're helping me with a printer issue.
Dave looked up at Jeremy, who was staring at his phone with the intensity of someone trying to communicate through pure willpower.
"Server Room C?" Dave whispered.
Jeremy nodded once, sharply. "Ten minutes. And Chen?" His voice dropped to barely audible. "Don't access any more unusual screens before we talk. Some things have... consequences."
With that cryptic warning, Jeremy shuffled away, leaving Dave alone with his thoughts and a computer screen that might or might not be displaying evidence of corporate conspiracy.
Dave glanced at the clock: 11:47 AM. He had ten minutes to decide whether he was losing his mind or uncovering the truth about SoulCorp's business model.
His computer screen flickered, and for just a moment, new text appeared:
『 PROXIMITY ALERT 』EMPLOYEE M.PARK (8-B) BIOMETRICS ANOMALOUSEMPLOYEE J.JOHNSON (IT-DEPT) ACCESSING RESTRICTED SYSTEMSRECOMMENDATION: INITIATE CONTAINMENT PROTOCOLS
WARNING: MULTIPLE EMPLOYEES SHOWING SIGNS OF AWARENESSEXECUTIVE INTERVENTION MAY BE REQUIRED
The message vanished almost instantly, but not before Dave caught the last line:
REMEMBER: TRUST NO ONE. EVERYONE IS WATCHING.
Dave's blood ran cold. If the system was monitoring other employees' "awareness levels," then Jeremy and Melissa might be in danger. Or they might be part of whatever was happening to him.
He looked around the office with new eyes. How many of his coworkers knew about the energy harvesting? How many were willing participants, and how many were just livestock who hadn't figured it out yet?
Karen Blackthorne chose that moment to emerge from Conference Room B, her predatory smile visible even from across the office. She was heading directly toward his cubicle, moving with the focused intent of a shark who'd caught the scent of blood in the water.
Dave quickly closed all windows on his computer and pulled up his productivity report, his heart hammering against his ribs. Karen's heels clicked against the polished floor with metronomic precision—click-click-click-click—like a countdown timer ticking toward something inevitable.
"Dave!" she called out, her voice carrying that particular corporate blend of false enthusiasm and barely contained menace. "How's that report progressing? I was just telling the executive team about your... potential."
Executive team?
Dave forced his face into what he hoped resembled professional enthusiasm rather than barely controlled panic. "It's coming along great, Karen. Really hitting those productivity metrics."
She reached his cubicle and leaned against the partition, her smile sharpening. "Wonderful. You know, I've been thinking about our conversation earlier. About employees who show promise, who demonstrate they can handle... pressure."
Up close, Dave could see that Karen's pupils were dilated, and there was something almost electric in the air around her. The metallic scent was stronger now, mixed with ozone and something that reminded him uncomfortably of the smell after lightning strikes.
"I'd like to schedule a one-on-one meeting with you later today," she continued. "Say, around 4 PM? We can discuss your career trajectory at SoulCorp. Some exciting opportunities might be opening up soon."
Dave's computer screen flickered behind him, and he prayed Karen couldn't see it from her angle.
"That sounds... great. Really looking forward to it."
"Excellent." Karen's smile could have powered a small city. "Conference Room 47-A. Don't worry about finding it—I'll send someone to escort you." Her eyes gleamed. "We take very good care of our high-potential employees, Dave. Very good care indeed."
She glided away, leaving Dave feeling like he'd just agreed to his own execution.
His phone buzzed: Jeremy - Server Room C. NOW.
Dave glanced at the clock: 11:52 AM. He grabbed his access card and headed for the elevators, trying to look like someone going to fix a printer rather than someone whose entire understanding of reality had just been turned upside down.
As he waited for the elevator, Dave's reflection stared back at him from the polished steel doors. He looked like he always had—slightly rumpled, chronically tired, existing in that gray zone between competent and invisible that defined mid-level corporate employees everywhere.
But something was different in his eyes. A clarity that hadn't been there that morning. An awareness that felt dangerous.
The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open to reveal an empty car. Dave stepped inside and pressed the button for the basement level, watching the floor numbers tick downward: 15... 10... 5... B1...
As the elevator descended, Dave realized he was either about to get answers to questions he'd never thought to ask, or he was walking into a trap that would make his Monday morning stress levels seem like a pleasant memory.
The doors opened to reveal a dimly lit hallway lined with pipes and electrical conduits. At the far end, a door marked "SERVER ROOM C - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY" stood slightly ajar.
Dave walked toward it, his footsteps echoing in the empty corridor. With each step, the humming sound he'd first noticed in his chair grew louder and more complex, as if dozens of machines were singing in harmony.
He pushed open the door to Server Room C and stepped into his new reality.
『 PROXIMITY ALERT 』EMPLOYEE D.CHEN ENTERING RESTRICTED AREASECURITY PROTOCOL: MONITOR AND ASSESSEXECUTIVE NOTIFICATION: SENT
WARNING: MULTIPLE SYSTEM BREACHES DETECTEDRECOMMENDATION: INITIATE LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES
To be continued...
Author's Note:The mystery deepens! Dave's stress levels have literally broken SoulCorp's energy harvesting system, and now he's discovering the horrifying truth about his coworkers' suffering. But can he trust Jeremy? What about Melissa's strange behavior? And what exactly is waiting for him in Conference Room 47-A?
The corporate conspiracy is unraveling faster than a performance review during budget cuts. Drop your theories about who Dave can trust—and who might be working for the system!
Next Chapter: "Unauthorized Access"Coming Tomorrow!
Reader Poll:Should Dave trust Jeremy's mysterious basement meeting, or is this a trap? Vote in the comments!