I saw a dream.

A dream about an arrogant kid talking back to those who were older than him. 

Is it a boy? Or a girl? 

I don't know anymore, to me he looked like he was having fun, he was enjoying his life. Unlike me who were living a boring life. 

Office→ Home→ Office→ Home, this was my life, there is nothing exciting about it. 

.

.

"Everyone must attend today's party, it's a rare occasion and a nice way to know everyone." A man wearing brown suite adjusted his necktie and said to everyone in that room. After that he left and a women holding small bag followed him. 

"I'm betting 100 dollars that we will get overtime work without pay again after that party " Alan my colleague who were joined an year ago made a bet with the other coworkers. 

"I heard that our new ceo have an affair with his personal secretary, what do you think about it Aaron?" my senior by two years asked me, while taking a candy from the candy jar on Alan's desk. 

I shrugged at his question, not particularly interested in gossip. "I think it's none of my business," I replied, spinning my pen idly between my fingers.

Senior clicked his tongue. "You're always so boring, Aaron. Can't you at least pretend to care about the drama around here?"

Mia who joined the company at same time as me. Intervened, "Give him a break, Senior. The guy's a robot. He only have office and home in his mind—he doesn't have time for juicy stories."

"Exactly," I said flatly. "But hey, if the party's mandatory, I might as well go. Free food beats overtime work, right?"

Alan laughed, slapping the desk. "That's the spirit, brother you should definitely come." 

"Gossip all you want, and remember we didn't even completed the new project yet, it's been a day since we passed deadline" I break the fun atmosphere in the office, Mia's smile faded slightly at my words, and Alan's laughter died down. The room grew a bit quieter, as if the weight of the unspoken truth had settled in.

"Yeah, we should probably focus on that," Mia said, her voice carrying a hint of reluctance. "But hey, the project will get done, right? It's not like we've never worked under pressure before."

Alan muttered a half-hearted agreement, but I could tell that the tension had shifted. They both knew that the project was slipping through the cracks, but pretending it wasn't didn't make it go away.

I leaned back in my chair, resting my elbows on the armrests. "We've got to get our act together before the CEO has our heads on a platter for this delay."

"True," Mia said, sighing. "But let's be real—once we walk into that party, the last thing anyone's going to want to talk about is work. Especially the CEO. He's probably too busy with his personal secretary." She rolled her eyes, earning a chuckle from Alan.

"Well, whether he's busy or not, we're still on the hook for this project," I said, my tone firm. "We can't afford to drop the ball any more than we already have."

Alan leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk. "Relax, brother. We'll figure it out. One all-nighter and it's done. This party is the calm before the storm, so why not enjoy it while we can?"

I didn't respond. My eyes drifted toward the window, where the city skyline stretched endlessly. The view didn't inspire me anymore—it felt like a reflection of my life: vast, stagnant, and unchanging.

______

When the time became 6'o clock, the ceo and his secretary came in and they brought some others, they seemed like delivery workers and placed food and drinks on the company's meeting hall. 

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The secretary came out, she was a slender women with fair skin she then talked. "Everyone come in the party is about to start"

As the announcement echoed through the office, the usual hum of keyboards and murmured conversations faded. People began standing up, adjusting their ties, and smoothing their skirts. Some looked eager, while others—like me—seemed to move only out of obligation.

I grabbed my phone and followed the flow of people into the meeting hall. The air carried a faint, enticing aroma of catered food. Tables were laden with platters of appetizers, entrees, and desserts, along with bottles of wine and soda. It was extravagant, especially for a company that barely acknowledged employee birthdays and overtime pay.

The CEO stood at the head of the room, a tall man with an impeccable suit and a charisma that seemed to captivate everyone in the room. His secretary stood beside him, her professional demeanor masking whatever rumors might be true. She held a clipboard and smiled warmly at the attendees, her voice smooth as she welcomed everyone.

"Thank you all for joining us tonight," the CEO began, his voice commanding attention without effort. "It's been a challenging quarter, but thanks to all your hard work, we're pushing forward with great momentum. Tonight, let's put work aside and enjoy ourselves."

A round of polite applause followed. I clapped along, though half-heartedly. The CEO continued to speak, but his words blurred together, drowned by my thoughts.

"Put work aside? That's rich coming from a guy who's probably never pulled an all-nighter to fix someone else's mistakes."

I glanced around the room. Alan was already near the buffet table, piling food onto his plate. Mia was chatting with a group of coworkers, her laughter carrying over the murmur of conversation. Everyone seemed to be slipping into the party mood, but I felt out of place, like a puzzle piece forced into the wrong spot.

"You're not eating?"

I turned to see the secretary standing beside me, her clipboard tucked under her arm. Her tone was polite, but there was a sharpness in her gaze that made it clear she noticed more than she let on.

"Not yet," I replied, offering a faint smile. "I figured I'd wait until the crowd thins out."

She nodded, her lips curving into a knowing smirk. "Smart move. But don't wait too long— or else's other's might clean out the buffet."

I chuckled despite myself, watching as Alan loaded his plate.

After talking a bit she returned to the side of ceo and I walked towards alan, I looked around the building it was quite an old one we were saying them to do some renovations and the higher ups didn't bother to do that. 

"How is the food" I asked to alan, at that moment there was a storm brewing outside. 

Alan looked up, his mouth half-full, and grinned. "It's actually pretty good. Not what I expected for a company party, but hey, free food is always a win, right?"

I glanced out the window, noticing the dark clouds gathering on the horizon. The storm seemed to be approaching fast. The sky, once bright and clear, was now a heavy shade of gray, and the wind outside rattled the windows.

"Yeah, guess so," I muttered, my attention drifting back to the scene in the meeting hall. Everyone seemed oblivious to the storm, caught up in small talk and laughter.

"Hey, you look like you're somewhere else again," Alan said, eyeing me with a raised brow. "What's up? Brother you really don't enjoy these things, do you?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Just... don't feel like I belong here. It's like everyone's pretending things are fine, but we're all just covering up the mess that's really going on."

Alan took a long sip of his drink, his expression softening. "Brother, I get it. But sometimes you've got to just let go for a bit, even if it's just pretending. Life's too short to always be stuck in the grind."

Before I could respond, a deep rumble of thunder cracked through the air, shaking the windows. The lights flickered, and for a moment, the entire room seemed to hold its breath. Then, without warning, a deafening crash echoed from above us.

I looked up just in time to see the chandelier above the hall swing violently, the gusts of wind from outside sending it crashing toward the floor. The room erupted into chaos as people screamed and scattered, but in that split second, my instincts kicked in.

I shoved Alan hard, sending him stumbling away from the impact zone. "Get down!" I shouted, but it was too late. The chandelier plummeted from the ceiling with terrifying speed and came crashing down onto the floor with an explosive sound.

Pain erupted across my body as the chandelier's weight hit me instead of Alan. The floor seemed to tilt beneath me as the world went black for a moment, and I felt the coldness of the metal digging into my chest. My breathing became shallow, the weight pressing on me was unbearable.

⟨Host Found....⟩

"Brother! Brother, stay with me brother! Someone please call an ambulance". I heard Alan's cries and others gasps and panicking. 

"It's okay Alan it's not like I'll die from this injury, I'll be healed in a week or two" I tried to cheer up Alan. 

⟨Attempting Healing. Error...Error, Action can't be performed due to extreme damage to the body.⟩

"Alan! Did you decipher the code that I gave you a few days back? If not bring it to me I'll show you how decipher it." I was saying things that happened about an year ago, in our company we had tradition of handing difficult codes to newbies, it was like a puzzle to crack down and Alan didn't able to decipher the code for 3 months, to me at the dying moment it were all happening like yesterday."

⟨Trying to initiate Decipher. Skill not available, creating unique skill Decipher.⟩

⟨Unique Skill Decipher has acquired⟩

"Just you wait you greedy bastards, I'll drain you all just like how you all drained my money and energy" I dedicated my life for this hell hole for years and the only thing I got in return was debts, many resigned from the company and some of them even had illnes and other work related disease from working so much. 

⟨Trying to Drain the energy from others, Skill not available. Creating unique skill Drain.⟩

⟨Unique Skill Drain has acquired⟩

"Is this blood? Why am I bleeding so much, I'm going to die if I bleed this much. It's painful I can't bear this pain" as I said that in my mind, the pain become more and more intense. 

⟨Confirmed. Creating a body that doesn't need blood.⟩

⟨Confirmed. Pain Tolerance has added⟩

"Why is it hot? No why is it cold" I was feeling my body is burning up and at same time freezing. 

⟨Creating Heat Resistance⟩

⟨Heat Resistance Acquired⟩

⟨Creating Cold Resistance⟩

⟨Cold Resistance Acquired⟩

⟨Merging Heat and Cold Resistance.⟩

⟨Merging Sucessful.⟩

⟨Thermal Balance has added⟩

"Why is it keep talking?" I asked to myself, slowly I started to lose my consciousness. And everything began to turn into dark. 

•

•

I was conscious, But I couldn't see anything, but I could feel the that I was in some sort of liquid. 

"Is it hospital?"

"Where is doctor and nurse? Don't they know I'm awake."

I tried to speak but I couldn't utter any words, it was like I didn't have any vocal cords to begin with. 

I then noticed something strange, my limbs have increased. There is more than four of them now and my body had a wierd shape to it. It was like a small umbrella. 

"What the hell? What happened to me? Can anyone hear me?" I screamed even though my voice didn't come out. 

⟨Host has awakened. Initialization process complete.⟩ 

A robotic female voice echoes into my mind, it was cool yet somehow calming. 

⟨Body reconstruction successful. Welcome, new form: Medusozoan Variant.⟩

"Medusozoan? What the hell does that mean?" I thought. Panic surged through me as I tried to recall what little I knew about the term. Medusozoans were... jellyfish?

"No. No, no, no. This can't be real. I'm not a damn jellyfish!"