"I'm all spent... You take over and make sure it gets done nice and hard. Don't stop until it's dripping... with results,"
That freaking 50-year-old man said with that annoying smile of his. Like he just dropped the hottest pick-up line in a retirement home.
Before Ethan could even react, the boss was already grabbing his jacket, whistling like he hadn't just traumatized his employee with a single sentence.
"Sir, this is a spreadsheet. Not your OnlyFans," Ethan muttered, deadpan.
And just like that, the office door clicked shut behind the man, leaving Ethan in the fluorescent-lit battlefield of deadlines and unpaid overtime.
Once again, he was the last one left behind, while everyone else had already gone home. All because he was the new guy. And single.
Damn.
He was seriously going to resign this month and start searching for a better life...
He fell silent for a moment, only to realize, again… That he'd said the same thing countless times over the past few months.
He turned his head slightly and caught the reflection of himself on his coworker's shut-off monitor. A really 'good-looking' guy with jet-black hair, dark circles under his eyes, and a life wasted at just twenty-two.
At this age, most of his peers were probably out drinking, hanging out, and burning through their meager salaries. Not that his own paycheck or savings were anything to brag about.
Ha! Screw them all.
Ethan let out a sigh and leaned back into his creaky office chair, which gave a reluctant groan as it rolled slightly backward under his weight. He rubbed his forehead as he glanced around the nearly empty office, rows of desks now deserted, the only sound coming faintly from a television still on in the corner of the room.
He glanced at the clock on the wall… 9 PM… and he still had no idea when this job would finally be done.
Like… hell! Was there never going to be a peaceful, joyful day again? Why did he even have to finish this tonight?!
Until… Just as he tried to catch his breath, hoping for even a sliver of rest, he heard something faint from the direction of the television… something like—
"…we repeat… all citizens are urged to evacuate… emergency protocol is now in effect…"
"…unidentified object… descending rapidly… estimated impact near the city center…"
"…this is not a drill… please remain calm and follow…"
Right after that, his smartphone started buzzing repeatedly on the desk, vibrating in quick bursts that forced Ethan to open his eyes again and glance at the screen.
"What the hell is going on? Why did it suddenly feel like the world was ending?"
Huh. A faint smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as that thought crossed his mind.
He reached for his phone and began scrolling. Strangely, his body tensed, suddenly more alert.
A flood of notifications was pouring in, news updates, government alerts, social media posts, all echoing the same message.
"Wait… is the situation really that critical?"
Then, faintly, he heard it, shouts, sirens wailing, car horns blaring from the streets below. His office was only on the fourth floor, so it made sense that the noise from outside reached him.
He stood up and walked over to the window, and sure enough, chaos had begun to unfold. People looked frantic, horns were blaring nonstop, a growing panic spreading like wildfire.
Then, Ethan frowned sharply as his eyes locked onto a car slamming into another on the intersection, followed immediately by the sharp wail of emergency sirens.
"What the hell?"
Ethan walked over to the wall-mounted television, eyes fixed on the screen as the satellite footage played and the news anchor's voice filled the room.
"…an unidentified object has entered the Earth's atmosphere. Estimated size: roughly that of a two-story building…"
Wait… what the hell? A meteor? Are you kidding me? Fuck!
"…and we're now receiving confirmation that similar objects have breached the atmosphere across multiple continents. This isn't an isolated incident. This is global."
Ethan grabbed the remote and started switching channels. One after another. Every network was broadcasting the same thing.
"Wait… is this actually the end of the world? Seriously?!"
He hadn't even recovered from the exhaustion of working nonstop today, and now this? This was how the night was going to end? No warning, no buildup, just cosmic doom dropping out of nowhere? Like… What could possibly be worse than this?
"…we urge all citizens to evacuate immediately from predicted impact zones. Collision is expected within the next few minutes…"
A few minutes? Evacuate? Are they fucking kidding?!
Ethan quickly grabbed his phone again, pulling up the latest data on the predicted impact zone. His fingers trembled slightly as he zoomed in on the map.
The collision point… was only a few blocks from where he stood.
He swallowed hard. Would the impact be strong enough to obliterate the entire building he was in?
His boss had gone home earlier, straight toward the crash zone. Well, at least one thing was certain: his boss was going to die first when that thing hit.
And what about him? Should he run? Damn it… as if he had enough time to do that now.
His eyes darted back to the television just as the feed changed. A view of the night sky split open, a massive object streaking downward, trailing roaring flames and smoke like some divine hammer of judgment, descending fast and merciless.
Fuck. Brace myself, I guess?
He opened social media, and the feed was chaos.
@nowayhome: "okay but if this is the apocalypse, can it wait till after i finish my ramen?? Pls."
@thenextstar: "REPENT. THIS IS THE SIGN. THE END IS HERE. JESUS IS COMING!"
@yourtrustedstalker: "i'm crying rn idk where to go. mom's not answering. Is this real???"
@s4tanicvibes: "honestly iconic that the world ends on a tuesday. what a mid-ass week to die."
@jkt_gov_alert: "EMERGENCY: ALL CITIZENS WITHIN THE RED ZONE MUST EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. IMPACT IN MINUTES. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
The feed kept updating, the lines blurring between panic, prayers, and punchlines. The end of the world, delivered in likes and retweets.
Ethan swallowed hard as the object finally made an impact. He didn't need confirmation, he felt it.
A split second before the blast, an intense white flash lit up the night sky, flooding the office through the windows like a sudden sunrise made of fire.
"Shit!" he hissed and dove beneath his desk, just as the thunderous roar of the explosion rolled in like a crashing wave.
The building shook violently, the floor beneath him trembling as if the earth itself was trying to shrug him off.
Windows shattered in a deafening burst, glass sprayed across the room, raining down on the desks.
The overhead lights flickered, then cut out completely. He curled in tighter, arms covering his head, breath caught in his throat as the shockwave slammed against the building.
Dust poured from the ceiling tiles, mixing with the acrid smell of scorched metal and broken concrete. Somewhere down the hall, something heavy collapsed with a gut-wrenching crash.
The roar outside continued, followed by a low, bone-deep rumble that seemed to vibrate straight through his spine.
It was chaos, pure, furious chaos, and all Ethan could do was hold on and pray the building stayed standing just a little longer.
What felt like an eternity… finally came to an end. He knew something heavy had slammed into the desk above him. But… somehow, unbelievably, he was still alive.
Hell… the building had actually held. Despite the blast, despite the shaking, the office hadn't come down on him.
So… was this it? Was this officially the beginning of a post-apocalyptic life?
Ethan panted, trying to steady his breathing, heart still pounding against his ribs. He reached for his phone, his fingers stiff and slow, and pulled up YouTube to check for any live broadcasts.
The moment he found one and the footage came into view, he had to brace himself.
The city… flattened. Entire blocks reduced to rubble, buildings gutted like hollow shells. Fires flickered through the dust, and smoke curled into the sky like black veins in the night.
The impact zone had been massive… but somehow, it hadn't reached as far as where Ethan was.
Was that something to be grateful for? Or was it worse?
Was it better to have died instantly… or to be left alive to face whatever the hell came next?
At the center of the crater, the camera zoomed in. What was supposed to be a meteor… wasn't.
Ethan tilted his head, narrowing his eyes. It was a massive, perfect cube. Pitch-black. Smooth and featureless, as dark as the night sky itself.
There was nothing natural about it. No meteor had ever looked like that.
"…We're back with a live update from the main impact site, and what we're seeing here is truly… astonishing."
"…the object that hit the city isn't a typical meteor…"
"…as of now, the nature of the object remains entirely unknown, and there's no clear indication of where it came from."
A graphic slid onto the screen, listing preliminary casualty estimates.
"...This is far beyond a local catastrophe. This… might be a global event…"
Then… suddenly, something flickered into Ethan's vision, lines of glowing text, not on his phone, not on any screen… but right in front of his eyes. As if the air itself had become a display.
[Initiating next phase of planetary evolution.]
[Global Trial Protocol activated.]
[Survival rate: to be determined.]
Fuck…
"What the fuck is this?" Ethan whispered.
It wasn't just him. His phone buzzed again, lighting up with tweets and social posts flooding in.
@realisticeyes: "did anyone else just get that weird SYSTEM MESSAGE in the air? I'm not hallucinating right??"
@xenogirl97: "this isn't a meteor this is some fucking alien evolution test WTH"
@jkt_gov_alert: "We are aware of the visual system messages reported globally. Please remain calm as we investigate."
@nowayhome: "bro we just entered a goddamn video game i swear 😭😭😭"
Video game?
Seriously? These people really didn't know when to tense up and when to joke, huh?
Had they all just given up on life so completely that even this felt like something exciting to them?
Ethan glanced around. The office was cloaked in heavy darkness, the power still out. He exhaled slowly, steadying himself, and began to crawl out from under the desk. His limbs ached, his body sore, but he had to see what was going on outside.
He moved carefully, dragging himself forward, trying to lift his weight with shaky arms. Every movement felt like dragging himself through mud.
Then.
CRASH.
A brutal sound. The desk that had shielded him earlier suddenly gave way.
It tipped hard. And slammed down squarely onto his back.
"Damn! Fuck!" he gasped, but it was too late.
He hadn't even had time to react. It wasn't some minor bump, it was crushing, a heavy slab of wood and steel slamming him to the floor with all its weight.
Seriously… Am I going to die now? Right as the world begins some twisted 'evolution'?
And then. Everything went black.
[Delivering Starter Pack to registered host...]
[ERROR: Host status - Deceased]