Looking out into the eternal night sky, Elizabeth stood bored at her office window. Sipping from her cup of tea, her eyes followed the paths of the creatures flying through the sky. I wish I was out there. Hearing a knock on her door, she called out to let Kieran in.
He passed the papers to her, before waiting nervously for her commands.
Snatching the papers from his hands, she turned to sit back at her desk. “You can leave now.” The door closed behind her as Kieran was gone. Keeping her attention on the papers, she set down her tea and started reading. He may be a little defiant, but it also shows that he’s very well-composed. It’s rare for humans to be able to adapt to a new body so quickly, let alone be comfortable changing back after an entire year.
Continuing to read on, she looked through his traps with interest. Well designed and quite suitable for their targets, while still maintaining a nice balance of fear, violence, and hope. It’s not as fun when they just cut the people up without giving them a chance to redeem themselves.
With a smile, she nodded as she got to the next part. Smart. Much better than those brutes he is competing with. The other interns are all caught up having fun torturing people, they haven’t even bothered to question what’s going on around them. Let’s see what he’ll do with a bit more freedom.
“Buddie, I want to give Ed a bit more freedom with what he can design. Pass on a message to the person in charge of the new interns in the R&D department. I’ll write to HR for the go ahead on this.”
“Do you want me to send the message to HR for you? It will be faster this way.”
“No, it’s fine. I need something to do anyways.” The message will never get to the person I want to send it to if it goes through you. Writing out the letter, she sealed it before holding it out the window. “Send this to my friend in HR.”
Sitting back down, she waited to see what Ed would do.
~
Reappearing at his desk, Kieran wiped off his sweat before sitting down. Why did I have to be put under her? I feel like she’ll kill me if I do something wrong.
“Hey Kieran, how’s the new boss holding up. I heard that she’s from a different department, I wonder how she got this position?” One of the other secretaries walked up to his desk, passing him a glass of wine.
Drinking from the glass, he looked up at his friend and sighed. “If you want the job, you can have it. I can barely stand in the same room as that woman.”
“That bad, huh? I Heard that she was quite aggressive in her old job.”
“Yeah, I can feel that. She barely acknowledges my existence unless she needs something. She’s showing more interest in one of the interns than she even is in her work. She’s had me collecting information on this guy every few days.”
“That sounds rough. Well, I’ve gotta get back to my work. Take care, Kieran.”
“Thanks, you too.”
~
“Good morning, Ed. For your outstanding performance yesterday, it has been decided that you will be given access to an additional feature not normally available for interns.”
Waking up, Ed was mildly surprised hearing the news. Oh, a new feature? This could be useful, depending on what it is. “What is the new feature?”
“Now when creating your traps, you can include other humans in them, like how Larry existed in your first punishment.”
Other people? Why would I put innocent people through that. They would be terrified just seeing what the room looks like after the trap goes off, let alone watching it happen in front of them unless they’re also sinners. Does this mean that I have to punish multiple people at a time now? “Are you going to be sending in multiple files that are related to each other in some way, and then I’ll have to punish all of them?”
“No. These new people will be characters created by you and played by other employees. There’s no need to worry about their health, mental or otherwise, as this is their job and they do it on a regular basis, they also receive the same care that you do whenever they get injured.”
I’ll finally be able to see other employees, I wonder if I can meet them after the trap is over? Poor things, their job seems worse than my own. It’s like they’re being punished every day, but it’s their job. On the upside, I won’t have to worry about things being too much for them. “So, they’re like actors, and I’m the one writing the script and directing them?”
“That is an appropriate comparison, yes.”
I’ve already stood out in comparison to the other interns, let’s see if I can push for some more things for myself. “Then do I get to meet them beforehand, so that I can tell them what I want face to face?”
The room went quiet as Ed waited for a response. It seems like Buddie might be asking for permission from someone else.
“Yes, I can allow that. You will be able to meet them after the room is constructed, then when you come back the trap will begin.”
Yes! It seems that whoever Buddie was talking to agreed. Getting up out of his seat, Ed stretched his limbs, loosening himself up. “Thanks Buddie, I’m going to go on a run now, let me know when the file comes in.” Walking through the door, he jogged off down the hallway.
~
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Sitting back in his seat, Ed wiped off his sweat before opening the file.
Name: Claudio Patenza
Age: 45
Occupation: Owner of a casino
Biography: Born to parents Pier and Romana, Claudio was raised in a wealthy upper-class family. He graduated from university with a business degree, and during his time studying, he fell in love with gambling and casinos... After inheriting his father’s immense wealth, he decided to create his own casino, but unfortunately just before he got started, casinos were made illegal, and were forced to close. Unwilling to give up on his dream, Claudio created an underground casino, calling it the Noble Star Casino. The casino soon became an open secret between the wealthy and powerful individuals of the country, as it was a place where they could unwind and connect with each other... as a known gambler, Claudio would regularly bet and compete against other people, sometimes winning, sometimes losing, building up the reputation that his casino was fair and upright. However, the casino secretly ruined many families, rich and poor alike, all in attempts to keep the Patenza family at the top...
-End of document-
Okay, so he ran an illegal casino and ruined the lives of many families, taking them for everything that they’ve got. I already have an idea for this one, and I can make use of the new feature as well. I just have to run something by Buddie first. “Can we partially extend the employee benefits to Claudio, not enough to fully heal him, but enough that he won’t die no matter how bad the injury is? Like a temporary immortality while still having his body take all of the damage.”
“That would depend on what your idea is. He has to have a feasible way of dying. If you can have that, then I will allow it.”
Opening create a room, Ed quickly got to designing the room. “I want a private gambling room from his casino, with a poker table set up in the middle.” Watching the room come into being, Ed whistled at the extravagance of it. He really put a lot of money into this, didn’t he? “The rest of this is quite simple, I’m not going to have any trap, instead I want him to play a game of Texas hold’em against four other people. I also want a dealer and a guard, so please place in some models for all of these roles.” Models of six people appeared in the room, taking up the seats around the table were two women and two men. The guard appeared at the door, and the dealer stood at the other end of the table. I wonder if Buddie based these models after the employees available to work with me today?
“I don’t see how this can be considered a trap, nor how this will require extending benefits to Claudio.”
“I was just about to get to that part. The rules of this game will be simple. It will follow standard Texas hold’em rules, it will last for an hour, and instead of betting with money or chips, the players will be betting with flesh. To provide them with a bit of leeway, we will use pounds as our unit of measurement instead of kilograms. The guard will be there to make sure that Claudio follows the rules. As long as he doesn’t run out by the end of the hour, fully heal him back to normal and set him free, but if he can no longer bet, that will be the end of him.” I should apologise to the actors in advance for having to do this. “That should be all Buddie, you can get started on building it now, just make sure to tell all of them what they are getting themselves into, I would like for them to be at least somewhat informed before I chat with them.”
“Congratulations on completing another project, this one shouldn’t take too long to complete, I’ll make sure to let you know when the room is complete so that you can talk to the others. In the meantime, what would you like to eat?”
“Thanks Buddie, I’m feeling like a nice big lasagna today, with some water as usual.” Eating his food, he prepared himself for his first chat with the other employees. I guess I’ve already technically met some of them, Larry in the first punishment, and everyone in the third one, but this will be my first time talking to someone else outside of when they’re working. This is a big step moving forward. Enjoying his meal, he waitd for the room to be built.
~
“The room is ready, Ed.” Getting up, he stretched, preparing himself to meet them. I wonder what they’re like? Walking into the hallway, he came to the fifth door, opening it up to see six people waiting patiently in the room.
Breathing calmly, Ed introduced himself. “Hello everyone, my name is Edward, but you can just call me Ed. I am currently on my internship with the company, and this is my first time creating a trap that actively involves other employees. I would like to apologise in advance to the players today, as you will have to go through quite a bit of pain, I will try to make it up to you if I can.”
Seeing that they were looking at him with a mixed look of confusion and slight shock, he wondered if he said something wrong. Maybe they can’t understand me because I’m speaking English, they’re most likely from a different dimension, so they probably speak an entirely different language... No, the company wouldn’t be able to run efficiently at all if that was the case. They have to have some sort of multiversal translator just so that everyone can communicate.
Noticing the awkward silence, a charming young woman with long black hair stood up to greet him. “Sorry for our reaction, none of us have heard of an intern for the R&D department being allowed to do something like this. So, we were all just a bit surprised. My name is Avery by the way, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Shaking hands with Ed, the rest went on to introduce themselves.
“So, something like this doesn’t happen very often?”
Smiling gently, Avery responded. “Well, you’re the first time that I’ve ever heard of it, and I’ve been working here for five hundred years.”
Five hundred! She can’t be human, unless other realities have found a way to stop ageing entirely. “But you only look like you’re in your twenties, how have you been working here for so long?”
Giggling, she waved off what he said. “This is just the form I chose to use for this project today. Most of us in this job have the ability to transform somehow.”
Well, that answers that question. “What department are you all a part of? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“We don’t mind at all, most of us in this room are from the operations department, but he is from the HR department, as he is responsible for healing us when it’s all over.” She said, pointing at thin air.
“But there’s no one there.” Ed said, confused.
“Oh yeah, that’s right, you can’t see them. To be fair most people can’t tell where they are, I just have a very good sense of smell that lets me know where they are. The healers in the HR department are typically invisible at all times.” A hand appeared where she pointed, waving back at Ed and Avery.
Wait, that means it wasn’t Buddie healing me. Was there someone in my room the entire time? That's kind of creepy. “Thank you for enlightening me on that. I think we should get down to work today. As you would have already been told, today you will be playing a game of poker, more specifically Texas hold’em, that will last an hour. The sinner will be here shortly after I finish talking to you. The only difference between this and a normal game of poker is that you will all be betting with pieces of your own body. Your ‘wealth’ will be entirely dependent on how much you weigh, as you will be betting in pounds."
"I don’t have any particular restraints on how I want you to play. Just treat it as a normal game and play however you feel like. You will be cutting off however much you bet when you lose, however your body will still be able to function until it’s all over, then you will be fully healed back to normal. I apologise for putting you all through this much pain.”
“It’s okay, Ed. We are all more than used to dealing with a little pain. This is going to be a fun hour for us.”
“Well as long as you’re all okay with it we should be all done here. Last thing before we get started, I want you to act to match the setting. You can pretend that you are in the same situation as him, or just treat everything that is happening as normal.” Shaking hands with everyone, Ed left the room.