3 posts tagged with "Surreal"

10:37 AM, Wednesday. Sunlight attempted to penetrate the thick glass curtain wall of the office building, ultimately dissolving into a uniform, characterless light that spread across the grey carpet of the 'Quantum Leap Solutions Inc.' open-plan office. The air was filled with the smell of caffeine, printer toner, and an indescribable metallic tang called 'efficiency'. I, codenamed K, like a silent screw embedded in a corner of this vast machine, my fingers moving across the keyboard as if performing some ancient, unquestionable ritual.

Then, Tanaka collapsed.

On a gloomy afternoon in April, I sat on a park bench, watching fallen leaves swirl in the wind. It was the 73rd day of my unemployment. I'd lost track of how many resumes I'd sent out, just like I'd lost track of how many pigeons were in the park.

Some strange things had been happening in this city lately. Manhole covers were starting to disappear inexplicably. The news said the police had launched an investigation, but so far, no clues had been found. The disappearance of the manhole covers seemed like some kind of metaphor, a sign that the city was collapsing, and I, too, was sinking along with it.

Old Wang has worked at "Fresh Express" for five years, his daily job is to stare at piles of cherries in a daze. He is responsible for "preservation," a position that sounds grand but is actually extremely tedious. His daily task is to unload batches of freshly arrived cherries from refrigerated trucks, place them in special cold storage, and then mechanically record their preservation data.