Confetti poppers made me go deaf. A shower of brightly-colored streamers fell on my shoulders and one landed inside my store-brand punch. This was our corporate-sponsored alc, and in case we decided to get a little more wild, we had cream soda and root beer getting stale in the fridge.

Everyone was clapping and cheering while I stood silently against the counter, taking a fake-sip of my plastic-soiled drink.

“Glory to Glory!” exclaimed Manager Husk. He waved around a pendent of Glory Guild’s, its logo ironed onto the fabric: three broadswords crossed together with the rising sun in the background.

“Glory to Glory!” my colleagues shouted too out-of-tempo, but they had the enthusiasm, I’ll give them that.

Husk paced around the office and waved the flag around like the leader of a parade, and others got the memo. A dozen colleagues joined and marched in lockstep, goofily repeating those three words—”Glory to Glory!” “Glory to Glory!”—like we were in a cult. No, we were jokingly in a cult, but if Guild Master Archknell told us to lick his shoes, most of us would do it.

I whistled, blowing air on the plastic streamer still inside my cup. Yeah, time to get rid of that. I flicked it onto the counter and took another sip.

“Not joining the fun, Alex?” someone asked on my left. Martin—? No, Henry? No, not that—Jack! It was Jack. Late-twenties, acted my age.

I shrugged. “I’ve never been much of a fratboy—well, I’ve never been a fratboy in OU, period. All the parties I went to were either holidays or birthdays, and I only got plastered once.”

“I’d say if you didn’t loosen up in college, then you won’t loosen up at all. But c’mon!” Jack took one of the smaller Glory pennants and waved it around. “There’s gotta be something in your cold heart that’s excited about this! It’s Glory Guild! We’re trading items for Glory Guild!”

“We’re trading biomerch. Not exactly the most high-brow catalog.”

Jack’s pennant drooped like a frown. “I’m willing to trade literal feces if it means partnering with one of the Big Four.”

“I’m pretty sure we’re trading actual shit.”

“Exactly! It doesn’t matter what we’re peddlin’! We’re gonna be filthy fucking rich by the end of next quarter!” Jack playfully punched my shoulder several times while saying so. “This year, we’re trading biomerch. Next? Alchems. And the year after that—with you on the team?—expeds. By the time we’re done, I’ll have a big fucking mansion outside the city with three mistresses in the sheets.”

I scratched the bottom of my lip. “I think you had one too many drinks.”

Jack soured, pissed that I killed his vibe. “I think you oughta drink more. It’ll get your head outta your ass.”

“You’d need a crowbar for that, not shots.”

“God.” He threw the pennant onto the counter. It clattered against the paper plates and bowls. “Take your bonus and shove it up your ass. Maybe gettin’ your prostate pushed in will get you to crack a smile.” Jack used his middle finger to vividly paint that image.

The crudeness actually made me smile and laugh. I raised my punch. “Your three mistresses got that covered, but thanks.”

“Asshole.” Jack stormed off.

I toasted to myself and drank.

Eavesdroppers shuffled away from me, and their festive attitude quieted down to slanderous gossip. I could hear them now. “Alexander Shen, when will he learn to stop being a hardass?” “I wonder what happened to him? He used to be so nice.” “I just wanna crack his jaw open every time he flaps his lips.”

Ugh, I should’ve just stolen some snacks and left.

“Shen!” someone else called me. I looked around. “Shen!” There he was. Manager Husk, and he didn’t look too happy. He made the plastic streamers on his shoulders wilt. “Can you come with me for a sec?”

I sighed and put my punch down. This was the last time I’d be seeing it. “Yessir.”

Husk led me away from the party—wasn’t much of a happy party anymore—and we went straight into his office. Such a small and cramped space for our department head. “Disorganized” wasn’t strong enough to describe it.

I shuffled through the mess and sat in the guest’s chair, the door slamming shut behind me. He wiggled around his desk, wiping off streamers while doing so, and dropped into his worn office chair. It sank a good three inches.

He gestured at me.

I shrugged.

He scoffed. “Every time, Shen! Every time! Every time something nice happens—something good for the company—you always have to be a contrarian. A pessimist. A… A…!”

“An asshole?”

“I wouldn’t use that language.” He wasn’t denying it. “But others think so. Yet none of us can deny your effectiveness. You’re one of the reasons why System Articles is partnered with Glory. Since January, you consistently produced the best numbers.”

This flattery was raising red flags. I leaned forward in my seat. “Your point is?”

“I’m trying to understand you.” Husk rested his arms on his desk, crumpling papers and a folder. “You graduated a semester early, magna cum laude. We brought you from items to expeds. You know why? C’mon, ask me why.” (“Why?”) “Because you’re too good for items. So good that I thought I’d be packing my things in a few years. You seemed unstoppable.”

“I’m guessing I didn’t quite meet your expectations.”

The look on his face told me I hit the mark. “You’ve changed. You were happy working as an intern here, happier when we officially hired you. Then, after that little incident in March, you completely flipped on us. Once the hour hand hits five, you’re out of here. Any office events or after-hours, you’re a ghost. Talking with your colleagues, it’s all work. And most of all, there’s no passion for System Articles. We talked about the last part a lot, Fujimura and me. You lack dedication, drive, loyalty.”

I sat back and crossed my arms. “We see things differently. Everything I do within these walls is for a paycheck every two weeks, plus any bonuses and commissions that come my way. That’s it. Nothing more. Other than signing a birthday card every now and then.”

“That’s not how it works, Shen.” Husk stood from his chair and papers fell to the cluttered floor. “You’re not a team player. Not anymore. Where’s your passion? Your gratitude? We brought you to expeds! Us! We! Do you know how many times I fought for you when complaint after complaint were thrown onto my desk? Huh? Because I believed in you?

“You don’t understand how good you have it. Kids like you, they’d kill for this kind of set-up. Kill! Play your cards right, and you’ll be an exec for a castle or Taeyang (태양) even. But you aren’t playing at all, you aren’t even at the table! Start thinking about your future, Shen! You’re twenty-three! You’re not in Ordo University anymore, you’re not a child! If you wanna work in this business, act like it. This is the real world with adults, and adults work and adults certainly don’t act like entitled brats. If you don’t fix your behavior soon—what are you doing, where are you going—?!”

“Home,” I said after standing, doing my best to not step on any of the stuff on the ground.

He thrusted a finger at me. “We’re not done talking, Shen—“

“I need to cook dinner. I wasn’t planning on staying long for the party anyway.” I started for the door.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Husk stomped around his desk, damned the mess in his way. “I said we’re not done talking—!“

I left his office before he could reach me. I’d already packed my things, so all I had to do was gather my shit at my cubicle.

From the corner of my eyes, Husk stood at the doorway to his office, glaring hell into me. Everyone watched like we were good TV. “If you leave, you’ll regret it, Shen! I’ll—“

I threw my bag over my shoulders. “You won’t do anything to me. Said it yourself, Husk, I produce the best numbers. And…” I picked up a small pendent of Glory Guild and waved it around. “I’m the only one here who knows how swords actually think.”

Glory Guild went straight into my trashbin. “Glory to Glory.”

I walked out, but not before stealing a few cookies for the road.

***

“Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey—“

“What, what, what, and what?” I put my chopsticks down for a second.

Althea stared across from me, amused and curious like a juvenile cat. I could see the cat-ears wiggling on her head. “Bad day at work again? That why you came home late?”

I grabbed my chopsticks and shoved a piece of beef in my mouth. “Something like that. My bosses surprised us with good news: we’re officially partnered with Glory. So naturally, they brought out confetti poppers and dollar-store punch to celebrate. Couldn’t ditch.”

Thea squinted deeply with her silver eyes. “That’s, like, the opposite of a bad day. That’s fuckin’ Christmas, but like always, you gotta be the Grinch. ‘Boohoo, nobody understands my pain.’” (“Mhm.”) “‘I’m not happy until I’m unhappy.’”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t blame me for doing my job: trading exped rights and apparently my colleagues’ happiness too.”

She went back to eating like a savage, but I wasn’t in a mood to scold her. Not tonight. “Whatcha trading anyways? With Glory, I mean? How does that work out?”

I popped a clump of broccoli in. “Biomerch. Glory gives us the goods, we find buyers, and we get rich off the fees. We haven’t officially spoken with the agents yet, but we know it’s biomerch because that’s what trading partners start with.”

“I thought you’re doing expeditions,” she said, mouth half-stuffed with rice and beef and veggies. At least she was cleaning her plate.

“I am.” I split a mound of rice in half. “We still have our other departments. Functionally, Glory is no different than our other friends, but the partnered sticker says they trust us. There’s more nuance, but the fact that we have it opens a lot of doors that’d normally be locked.”

“Lucky you. Sounds like you’re gonna enjoy some extra cash in your wallet, and do you know what we do with cash?”

I mumbled vaguely.

“You’ll kindly give your little sister the best graduation gift in her life.” (“You can only graduate high-school once—”) “Shaddup, I’m talking.” Chopsticks, as their name implied, chopped a few inches away from my nose.

Despite her intimidation tactics, I kept eating.

She showed mercy and put down her weapon. “After you spoil your little sister rotten, you’re gonna take her to Korea for a month-long summer vacation. Or three weeks, she’s willing to compromise.”

If I had to pay a dollar for every time she asked something ridiculous of me, I’d be bankrupt. I aggressively started stabbing my dinner, wood smacking against ceramic. “We promised Uncle—”

“—that we’d visit him in Maryland or wherever he’s hunkered down. Yeah, I know. But let’s be honest to ourselves, Uncle is perfectly fine going anywhere as long as we’re there. If we ask him to visit us in Ordo, he’s booking the next flight. Cirropolis? Hell yeah, we’re taking a first-class airship to the clouds. So why not Korea?”

I chewed long and hard about that question. I swallowed. “That’s a lot of work. And it’s dangerous.”

“We’re not going to the Jianghu (江湖), dipshit.”

“Unless we’re traveling to North Korea.”

“We’re not gonna visit the Demonic Cult either, but that’s besides the point. I’ll literally do everything: book us a few beds, create an itinerary, even translate!”

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “I can’t believe you actually learned Korean just to watch K-dramas and read webtoons. That has to be the worst excuse I heard.”

“Languages are languages.” She held up three fingers. “And I got three under my belt. That’s one more than you.”

“Your Mandarin’s pretty terrible, so I wouldn’t count that as one—”

“I’m sorry, who here was born in China? Yeah, not me. I communicate just fine in Mandarin.”

“But your accent’s horrible. Anyone can tell you’re American.”

Althea sat up from her chair, livid. “We’re both fuckin’ American, you moron! You’re more American than me, and I was born there!”

“Uh huh.” I motioned her to sit down and she did. Begrudgingly, but she did. “I’ll think about Korea.”

“You better think fast. It’s the beginning of May, and we don’t wanna get stuck with a crappy place.”

“I know, I know. First of all, I’ll ask Uncle and see what he thinks. Remember, he was against the idea of Ordo at the beginning.”

“Until you convinced him, yeah.” Thea stopped eating for a second and looked out the window.

Just beyond the glass was a gentle sunset drooping below the cityscape, bringing a curtain to yet another ordinary day in the Slayer Capital, Ordo. It was the largest city in the world, the proud home of the Big Four, and was founded by Primordial himself during the Emergence, on a quaint artificial landmass in the South China Sea. All fun facts and trivia that made you feel like you were living in history, and I was pretty tired of living through history.

“Why here?” Thea asked out of the blue. “You coulda gone anywhere else: London, Germany, China even—actually, not China—but y’get what I mean. You got really good scholarships everywhere. Why Slayer paradise?”

I smacked my lips together, tasting honey and spice on the roof of my mouth. “Honestly? I was thinking about you more than anything. Me and uncle were. We wanted you out of the States, and shit, I wanted out. Ordo was the best choice for us. It’s a complete reset. We could start over in a familiar environment, and hopefully, we don’t fuck it up this time.”

She laughed, but her eyes told me she didn’t find this funny. “Even with the risks?”

“There’ll always be risks, Thea. Zenith Jin Junjie (金君捷) is as dangerous as the Encampment and the Union and every big name who filters through the city. But like I said, Ordo’s a clean slate and we’d have zero trouble readjusting. You’ll have zero trouble. That’s worth its weight in gold.”

“Heh. Sure.” That was all she said in response.

Dinner ended not long after that, and we shuffled to our rooms, ready to let the next day kick in.

Before I secluded myself in my room, Thea saluted me. “Night, jackass.”

“Sure.” Before she shut the door, there was a certain look in her eyes. The conversation was still lingering inside her head. Call me a telepath, because I knew what she was thinking.

I know I made the right decision, Thea—we did, me and Uncle. I’d kept a close eye on you since we moved here four years ago. Watched you spread your wings and fall and fly and fall again. And at the end of the day, you collapsed on the couch, tangled with a dozen blankets and pillows, sleeping soundly as horns blared from the street below. Look at you now, about to graduate high-school and ready to take some time to figure things out.

The world’s your oyster.

You can be disappointed in me all you want. Tell me I should be doing “more” with my life, tell me that going corpo was the wrong move; we had this conversation a thousand times before. I’ve tasted an unhealthy dose of “more.” You can jump off cliffs and rescue orphaned puppies, I don’t care, but when you come back home, I’ll be doing the same thing I’m doing tonight: putting your favorite meals on the table.

Funny thing, though… As much as I insisted on keeping our heads out of trouble, trouble kept finding us. Kept finding me. Your big brother was not only an asshole but also a massive hypocrite—those two things go together, anyway—so do as I say, not as I do.

In my room, I opened my closet. In front of my shoe rack were stacks and stacks of binders, folders, clipped and stapled packets. Receipts, records, transcripts, anything I could get my hands on without arousing suspicion. More than I already had, though my superiors think I was depressed or something.

They weren’t wrong. Looking at all this evidence of fraud could make a man depressed. It took many late-nights to compile this bullshit (and many more laying in bed thinking I was crazy). In this world, evidence was security. Reassurance. System Articles was a mid-sized corp. They didn’t have the biggest skyscraper in town, but they had connections especially in government and agencies.

So if you want to blow the whistle, you’d better blow until your lungs shrivel into raisins. More importantly, you’d better know who you were whistling to and whose wandering ears might catch the tune. Trouble traveled fast, justice traveled slow, but something good happened today. System Articles, thanks to their honorable reputation, was now partnered with Glory Guild. Castles were several things, but most of all, they hated getting fucked with—and the government had to listen.

This, though, was a one way ticket. I was going to be out of a job very soon, and word got around quick. Once my name passed through enough channels, I’d be marked. Employers would think I had too much baggage, might threaten the company, or afraid that I might dig up their dirt too. The reason didn’t matter. Simply put, nobody wanted to deal with a problematic employee with a history of drama. Only a saint or someone stupid would hire me.

Fine by me. This little consequence was just that: little.

I checked my texts, seeing a message that I’d been anxious to read all day.

> Unknown Number

>

> Hello, Alexander Shen. This is an automated message from the Partnership Center of Glory Guild. Thank you for reporting potential fraudulent activities regarding SYSTEM ARTICLES INC. Please respond to this message whenever possible so you can discuss further details with an agent.

[Start: Part 1 - For Peace]