Free Web NovelChapter 1: Corporate Hell
The office was a nightmare, workers rushing everywhere, managers stressing over deadlines and shouting on the phone, and the floor scattered with both papers, and tired human corpses, and then there was her.
A woman with long black hair, slumped over her desk and sleeping as light as a feather through the noise of what was their office room. Her chest rose and fell with every elated breath, a fat stack of papers neatly lined up from either sides of her head.
Either they were there to show that she had completed her work, or that she was using them to hide herself from watching eyes.
It would become very clear soon enough, as a woman wearing black a black and white suit scoured the area, walking through the crowd of rushing men and fatigued corpses, eyes searching for a certain individual.
Her eyes landed on a desk that appeared to have no one present at it, but the work was neatly lined at either sides of the computer, a frustrated sigh escaping her lips as she strides towards that spot, shaking her head vehemently as she approached.
"Misha Ravens...." Her name left the managers lips in a slow, threatening tone, the tension thick enough to cut through steel. Misha woke up with a fright, almost jumping from her desk as her eyes landed on the furious manager, a chill running down her spine.
’Great...’ She thought, sighing as she stood up from her desk, already preparing herself mentally for the bullshit she was about to endure at HR.
"You’re slacking again, I’ve already told you plenty of times before that sleeping while on the clock, is against company policy." Her manager spoke, berating Misha with the company rules and so on and so forth.
Not like she hadn’t heard these rules thousands of times before.
"But I’ve already completed most of what I needed to do, I just took a quick nap as I was feeling tired." Misha explained, yawning as she threw her head back.
"Rules are rules, whether you complete your tasks or not, you’re not permitted to sleep at work. It promotes bad behavior and sets a bad example for people that wish to invest in our company."
’.....’ Misha remained quiet, silently glaring at her manager as she thought of how stupid these rules were.
While sleeping at work is a bad thing for most jobs, it wasn’t fair that they weren’t allowed much time to relax and unwind, even after work.
’Well you damn bitch, how about you try working 14 hours a day instead of looking sexy for our god damn boss.’ Misha thought inwardly, clutching her face in her hands as she groaned under her breath.
This job was nothing more than hell for her, as she had to work 14 hours a day, from morning to late evening, and she was left with about 2-3 hours to recuperate, before she had to go to bed and prepare for another day at hell.
’If the pay wasn’t so great, then I would’ve left this job a long time ago. I don’t want to live like this, but unless I want to go homeless, I have no choice but to endure until I get a promotion or something.’ She thought, focusing her attention back to where they were headed.
"I mean, look around you, these people are literally lying on the ground with all these papers scattered everywhere, everybody’s yelling, do you think an environment like this won’t tire you out?" Misha asked, gesturing around her.
The manager let out a small smirk, looking over her shoulder at Misha, a smug look on her face. "Well, I don’t have to worry about that. As your manager, all I have to do is supervise you and organize the major stuff, I don’t have to go through the hell you people have to."
’This...this...’ Misha’s eyebrow twitched involuntarily, visibly annoyed by what she heard.
’Is she even allowed to say that?’ She pondered, wondering if this didn’t violate some rule of any kind. Perhaps she could even exploit her words and use them against her, but she knew she’d have a hard time convincing them.
I mean, who would believe the words of someone "slacking off" more than their manager. Nobody, such was the corporate life she found herself in.
The walk to HR was a short, but mentally charged one. As she entered the room, Misha was immediately berated and yelled at for her laziness, threatening to get her replaced once they gave word to their boss, this scene was nothing new to her as she had already been through this multiple times in the past. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
’Maybe I’ll read some manga or play some video games after I go home tonight.’ She thought, her gaze drifting towards the ceiling, her lazy blue eyes devoid of any spark, the heavy bags visible underneath her eyes, the weight a mental luggage she had to carry.
"Are you even listening!?" The angry shout of one of the staff snapped her back into reality, slamming their hands down onto the board table.
"Mhm, got it. Anything else?" Misha replied, seemingly unphased by their demeanor.
The room went quiet for a moment, as if the world itself was holding its breath. The staff member’s brow twitched, shock written all over her face as to how Misha couldn’t even grasp just how much trouble she was in.
"You think this is a joke to you?" She questioned, the words coming out as more of a threat than an actual question.
"Nope, I just want to get this over with as I still have a lot to go do." Misha said, her eyes wandering to a nearby steaming up of coffee, the aroma hitting her nostrils and making her consider getting one for herself.
’That does look awfully good right now.’ She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to drink it for its taste, or to alleviate the lack of hours she had managed to get last night. But she still wanted it regardless.
"Get out!" The command was simple, and Misha obliged without any resistance, excusing herself and closing the door behind her as she made her way back to her station.
A few hours passed, and work was finally starting to come to an end.
[Time: 9:58 PM]
"Just two more minutes, I’m practically done here." She muttered, sipping on her warm cup of tea, the flavor fatigue hitting her tongue as she had already consumed more than what she was used to, a few empty cups resting on her desk.
With a small grunt, Misha was up from her desk and slumping her bag over her shoulders, her feet already moving about and making their way to the exit.
She didn’t even bother to organize the fat stack of papers at her desk, as she knew that it wasn’t gonna stay upright for too long, not in a chaotic environment like this anyway.
The cold night air bit into her skin as she walked down a sidewalk, her hands automatically wrapping around herself to keep preserve some body heat as she already started shivering.
"Shit...when did It get so cold?" Misha said through chattering teeth, "I suppose it is that time of the year after all." She remarked, rubbing her hands against each other to generate heat, blowing some warm air into the cup of her hands.
Her gaze drifted to the night sky, the stars twinkling and winking at her as she walked, how she admired their beauty and radiance.
She thought back to her ever since she started working her job, how happy she was, how determined she was to push through and strive to be the best among her co-workers, but effort was barely acknowledged inside a place.
After all, why strive to be the best in an environment where your best is barely enough to even make it through the day?
’....I don’t want this...’
The thought echoed in her mind, her focus drifting. A low rumbling noise starting to approach her.
’Do I really wish to live my life like this? Slaving away at some shitty job just to survive?’
The blaring lights were next, blinding her for a moment as she finally snapped out of her thoughts, her eyes widening like a dear in headlights as the world seemed to slow down, her heart stopping and the last thing she saw being a truck speeding right at her.
’Is It really too much, to wish for a different life?’ fгeewebnovёl.com
The loud horn finally reaching her ears like a signal of death.
HOOOOONK
Before everything, faded to darkness.
..
....
...
[Ding! You Have Died]
