Chapter 01 Jake Carrack

"Welcome to Woahnald! Your order please!"

Inside a fast food chain restaurant with a red theme and a half-bald clown face as the iconic logo displayed, on this Saturday night the place was filled with people of all ages, from children to the elderly, from employees who had just come home from work to high school students who were chatting with their group of friends.

"Uhm... Big Tasty menu, one"

"Drinks? Tea or Loca?"

"Loca, the big one"

"Yes! All in all, 35 dollars, thank you for waiting!"

"Welcome to Woahnald! Your order please!" Maintaining his best business smile, Jake kept repeating his usual sentence that scared him for being so used to it, inside the crowded restaurant, Jake wiped his sweat under his hat after finishing the last order from the queue in front of the counter.

"Gahh..." glanced at the clock on the wall with dead fish eyes, Jake letting out a zombie-like sound under his breath, the round clock showed 8:45 p.m.

Looking at the ticking clock, Jake felt a hope in his heart, his shift would soon be over, just a little more, really, just a little more...

a little more, a little more, a little more, a little more a little more a little more

a little more, a little more, a little more, a little more a little more a little more-

his face was smiling but his heart was not, Jake struggled to maintain his mask while glancing at the clock as if he wanted to kill it before the next customer came "Welcome to Woahnald! Your order please!" and repeated the terrifying words again.

###

Exactly fifteen minutes later His shift should have ended, with some light returning to his dead eyes, Jake looked left and right, no? Looking around in confusion, Jake decided to wait a little longer, trying to be patient and still serve the customers who came, but even after ten minutes had passed after that, none of his coworkers had come, someone should have replaced him a long time ago, no, he shouldn't have stood here all day facing the onslaught of the cruel weekend night, but because they were short of hands so Jake was forced, but this was still too much that he should have gone home since four in the afternoon...

The orders had calmed down and Jake could finally catch his breath, letting out a tired sigh, Jake peeked into the kitchen but he couldn't find anyone, thinking back it should be break time, did they go on break? and leave him here?

Furrowing his brows in annoyance, Jake walked back towards the staff room next to the kitchen, standing in front of the cheap wooden door, Jake could hear the laughter of men and women from inside, sighing, Jake turned the doorknob.

Inside the room with a long table and lockers, three guys and two girls were sitting chatting happily until they noticed Jake's presence.

"Ayy! Jakie!" A man with blond hair, tan skin and ear piercings greeted casually while stretching his legs on the table, his name was Felix, with sharp eyes and a fairly handsome face, holding a drink in one hand, he asked "How are ya Jake?"

Not amused by his friendliness, Jake looked at a shiningly bald middle-aged man sitting with his belly fat on the edge of the table.

"Manager, my extra shift should have ended half an hour ago," Jake said flatly before glancing at a girl with long brown hair who was chewing a biscuit in her mouth "Sana should have replaced me"

Hearing her name mentioned, Sana's shoulders jerked as she looked at Jake with an innocent smile "Ehehehe, I'm late"

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

But Jake just stared at her with a cold face, seeing that, the manager straightened his back before speaking "Well Jake, Sana hasn't had dinner yet, she's busy with her college assignments"

"I haven't even had lunch" Jake answered immediately, but the reactions from the others were different.

"Yeah, this and that are different, you're a strong one, but Sana has a stomach ulcer" A man with curly black hair and a rather plain face named Clark spoke to Jake in a tone asking for understanding.

"That's right, Sana can't be late for meals Isn't that right Sana?" added the shoulder-length blonde-haired girl named Sofia who was sitting next to Sana who looked at Jake with sinism in her eyes.

"Y-Yes! I'm really sorry Jake!" Sana apologized in a guilty tone and lowered her head.

"That's right Jake, after all we are all family here, so we have to help each other, am I right?" The Manager said and looked at Jake like he was the one who was at fault.

"...." Jake wanted to say something but he swallowed it and could only nod.

"Okay then! I'll be the one guarding the counter!" Felix cheerfully stood up from his seat and walked out the door "You can take a rest brother!"

"I think it's time to get back to work, keep up the spirit Jake" Clark patted Jake's shoulder before walking out.

"Then me too, come on Sana, let's get to work now the boss is getting angry" Sofia stood up before glancing at Jake with a sharp gaze.

"Ah! Y-yes! Please wait for me! Excuse me!" Sana bowed her head to him once more before following Sofia out of the room.

Seeing their behavior, Jake could only stare back at them with indifferent eyes and hold back his anger.

"Well you know Jake, you shouldn't be like that" The Manager got up from his seat and walked towards Jake "I know this work environment is full of pressure, but we should encourage each other and create an atmosphere so that we can give our best performance, that way there will be a sense of satisfaction in our hearts, don't you think so?" The Manager smiled proudly.

Gritting his teeth, Jake looked the Manager in the eye before replying briefly "I understand"

"You know Jake, you're doing an amazing job, usually new hires only last a few months but you've been here almost a year, unlike those snowflakes you're strong, you know, you're doing really well, I'm sure will recommend you to become a permanent employee," The manager patted Jake on the shoulder in a friendly manner before walking out.

When the door closed and he was left alone, Jake clenched his fists tightly and his eyes were full of irritation.

"Self-satisfaction, helping each other, best performance, bullshit, and don't call me brother, damn it" Muttering those words quietly, Jake opened his locker and started changing clothes, in the mirror that was hanging on the wall, reflected a man in his early 20s with black hair and fair skin, his face could be said to be quite good if not for his sharp eyes that looked cruel with dark eye bags underneath.

Packed his things into his bag, Jake walked toward the back door without greeting the others, more precisely he deliberately avoided them.

Waiting for no one to notice, Jake slipped out the door into the night, feeling the cool night air on his cheeks, Jake put his hands in his jacket pockets and walked away from the back of the store.

"Hahhh..." Walking along the urban streets Jake enjoyed the pleasant sense of freedom as his shoulders felt a lot lighter, but he could feel his body screaming, coming in at half past six in the morning and going home at nine at night... just thinking about it, he wondered how he could survive, without pay for his overtime, without any compensation, day by day his workload just kept increasing.

Damn it, if they were short of people why didn't that fat fuck hire more!

Remembering his Manager, Jake really wanted to punch his punny face who always had a smug expression while arbitrarily ordering things around, Jake this, Jake that, he refused to hire more employees to cut costs while chasing unreasonable targets, all so that the reports he made would look good in front of upper management.

Instead, he keep adding terrible workload and overtime, Jake place of work was not a good company from the start, because since he started working, they expected "Loyalty" from him, but even the burden was worse than in other places, he regretted doing his best because that damn Manager saw him as an easy target to throw responsibility on, what's worse, his other co-workers actually sucked up and tried to get on the Manager's good side.

In other words, he was made a scapegoat, his manager saw him as a worker ant who could be treated however he wanted, while his coworkers sacrificed him to make their lives easier... and it seemed like someone was spreading bad news behind his back...

Ahh... this is the worst...

Walking with heavy steps, Jake thought again about getting out of that dumpster, but he wasn't sure he could survive looking for another job quickly... he was still young after all... but the fear of uncertainty stopped him, sighing once again, something he had done a lot today, Jake's thoughts began to turn to the aching painful feeling in his stomach.

"ugh, my ulcer, I need to eat"