2026-01-27 19:37:16Mark Miller stood at the threshold of the rooftop, but instead of the open sky, he found himself plunged into a liminal space that resembled a gargantuan customer service hub, suspended over a burning residential zone. Before him, a new holographic display flickered to life—this time in a dull, uninspiring pale blue, reminiscent of the office software color schemes from the early 2000s.
[WELCOME TO THE LATEST FEATURE: HELPDESK SYSTEM & FIELD PARTNER]
[Your status has been upgraded from ‘Operator’ to ‘Customer Success Hero’.]
"Customer Success Hero?" Mark spat, his blood staining the translucent hologram. "You rebrand me after I’ve killed the man who tried to warn me? And what is that smell? Why does this place reek of old carpets and despair?"
[Helpdesk System: "That aroma is ‘Essence of Productivity,’ Senior Operator Miller. We apologize for the inconvenience. Based on your performance evaluation in Chapter 7, the Board of Directors has determined that you require stricter bureaucratic guidance to avoid ‘free-thinking’ that might be detrimental to the Company."]
"Guidance? You call life-extortion guidance?" Mark tried to step forward, but his mangled legs throbbed in protest.
[Helpdesk System: "Your next assignment: Clearing Residential Zone Sector 4-B. Below you lie the remnants of contract employees who failed to transform. They are an eyesore to the aesthetics of the New World. Instruction: Erase them. And remember, Mark... every interaction must conclude with a Customer Satisfaction Survey."]
Mark peered down through the glass floor. There, in the narrow alleys of the slums, wretched creatures that were once human—perhaps Mark’s own neighbors—crawled with distorted bodies, emitting cries that sounded like radio static.
"You want me to slaughter them?" Mark asked, his voice raspy. "They’re just victims, same as me!"
[Helpdesk System: "Correction: They are ‘Assets That Failed to Depreciate Properly.’ If you refuse, we will consider it a ‘Resignation Without Severance.’ You know what that entails, don't you?"]
Mark recalled the thousand-year sentence in hell. He clenched his fists, feeling the grinding of fingers that were still out of alignment. "Fine. I’ll do it. But I need a better weapon than this rusted iron beam."
[Helpdesk System: "Access to the ‘Black Market’ has been granted. This is an exclusive feature for employees willing to sacrifice moral integrity for the sake of efficiency."]
A menu appeared. It contained no legendary blades, but rather items that were as bizarre as they were lethal:
* Nerve-Nailing Stapler (Price: 200 Points)
* Empathy-Stripping Fluid (Price: Free, with additional contract)
* Budget-Cutting Chainsaw (Price: 500 Points)
"Budget-Cutting Chainsaw?" Mark snorted sarcastically. "The name is so corporate it hurts. I’ll take it. Just dock my points; I stopped caring a long time ago."
[Transaction Successful. Balance: -940 Points. You are now a Platinum-tier Debt Slave!]
Mark leaped from the floating platform, hitting the ground in the center of the residential zone with a heavy thud. The chainsaw in his hand roared—its sound wasn't that of a gasoline engine, but the collective screams of thousands of people forced into overtime.
A monster resembling a pile of flesh with a fax machine for a head lunged at him. Mark did not hesitate. With one horizontal sweep, he cleaved the beast in two. Blood and fax paper erupted everywhere.
[Helpdesk System: "Target Eliminated. Please request a performance rating immediately."]
"What?" Mark stood stunned in the middle of the battlefield.
[Helpdesk System: "Standard Procedure: ‘Thank you for using our elimination services. Please provide a 5-star rating for your satisfaction!’ Please recite the phrase now, or the session will be deemed invalid."]
"You’ve got to be joking! I just butchered that thing!"
[Helpdesk System: "Time remaining for rating: 5 seconds... 4..."]
"Dammit! Fine! Thank you for using our elimination services, please give me five stars!" Mark roared while decapitating another monster.
[System processing... Rating received: 1 Star. Customer Comment: ‘Messy work, blood got on my shoes.’]
"Wait, what—"
ZAPPP!
A bolt of neon-blue lightning struck Mark’s shoulder from the clear sky. Mark was thrown back, his body convulsing on the cracked asphalt. The smell of scorched flesh filled the air.
"Aaaargh! What the hell was that?!" Mark screamed, struggling to stand while fighting the tremors in his heart.
[Helpdesk System: "A 1-Star rating results in instant physical penalty as a form of ‘Retraining.’ Please improve your service attitude, Mark. Remember, the customer—even the ones you are killing—is king."]
"Customer?! He was trying to eat my head, you lunatic!" Mark rose, his chainsaw snarling once more. Two Elite monsters shaped like couriers, their legs replaced by metal wheels, streaked toward him.
Mark evaded with a painful, acrobatic maneuver. He slashed the wheels of one, sending it tumbling, before driving his saw into its chest. "Eat this! And don't forget... to give me... five stars, you bastard!"
[Rating received: 4 Stars. Comment: ‘Fast, but the operator was too aggressive.’]
[System: "Close call, Mark. A 4-Star rating doesn't trigger lightning, but it doesn't grant a healing bonus either. Keep up the hard work!"]
Mark laughed maniacally. "This is insane. The world ends, and I’m trapped in the most toxic Customer Service simulation in the universe."
He continued the slaughter, moving through ruined homes. David and Sarah remained on the platform above, watching in horror as Mark transformed into a killing machine that incessantly screamed customer service slogans with a tone of pure hatred.
"Why are you doing this, System?" Mark asked, wiping blood from his eyes. "Why the bureaucracy? Kenapa the ratings? Why not just let me kill?"
[Helpdesk System: "The emotional energy from frustration and forced compliance is a far purer fuel than mere fear. You aren't just killing, Mark. You are ‘Producing.’"]
Mark stopped in front of a residential door that was still intact. Inside, he saw a small monster—perhaps once a child—clutching a mangled teddy bear. The monster's eyes stared at Mark, hollow and vacant.
[Helpdesk System: "Residual Asset detected. Clear this zone now to meet your daily quota."]
Mark lowered his saw. His hands were shaking. "This... this is too much."
[Helpdesk System: "Warning: Indication of insubordination. If the target is not eliminated within 10 seconds, we will automatically issue a 0-Star Rating. Penalty: Immediate Execution."]
"Mark, don't!" Sarah screamed from the platform. "Don't do it!"
Mark looked at the small monster. Then, he looked toward the sky, toward the mechanical eye of The Auditor that was surely still watching him.
"System," Mark said in a deep, frigid voice. "Open the Black Market. Now."
[Menu opened. What are you looking for?]
"Is there anything that can silence a ‘Helpdesk Voice’ like yours?"
[Helpdesk System: "Hahaha. Very funny, Mark. Such an item costs 1,000,000 Points. You couldn't afford it in a hundred lifetimes."]
Mark grinned. A mad idea took root in his half-shattered mind. "I don't need to buy it. I just need to give a one-star rating... to myself."
[System: "What do you—"]
Mark spun his chainsaw and slammed it into the holographic projector platform hovering beside him, intentionally wounding his own arm in the process.
[System: "ERROR! Self-Harm detected! Self-Evaluation: 0 Stars! Commencing maximum lightning penalty—"]
"Come on!" Mark challenged the sky. "Hit me with everything you’ve got! If I die, your quarterly quota is ruined! The Auditor will fire you, you bureaucratic bot!"
The sky turned a deep, bruised red. Thousands of lightning bolts gathered at a single point, directly above Mark Miller's head. Mark stood tall, letting Sarah and David witness him defying this mad new god.
Just before the lightning struck, a new notification—colored a dark, bruised purple—erupted across the blue screen of the Helpdesk System.
[NOTIFICATION FROM ‘THE UNDERGROUND’: Secret Acquisition Offer Detected. Wish to hijack this penalty into a counter-attack?]
Mark laughed amidst the storm. "Click ‘Yes,’ you idiot! Click ‘Yes’!"
The lightning struck. A blast of light blinded everything. But instead of a death rattle, the sound that followed was the explosion of a system undergoing a massive short circuit.
Had Mark successfully hijacked the system, or had he simply plunged into an even darker contract within 'The Underground'?
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CHAPTER 12: BLOODY MERGER AND THE UNION OF THE DAMNED
The world was like a piece of paper being crumpled by a giant hand. The thunderous roar of concrete grinding against other realities created a deafening symphony of destruction. The Debt Collection Headquarters, which had just been Mark’s battlefield, was now merely a tiny cell in a growing, gargantuan organism. Through the cracked windows, Mark saw skyscrapers from various corners of the globe—some appearing to be from a flickering neon future, others like medieval castles infected by digital circuitry—colliding and merging into one another.[MERGER PROCESS: 88% COMPLETE][NOTICE: REGIONAL RESTRUCTURING IN PROGRESS][Executive Voice: "Miller, congratulations. You are no longer a big fish in a small pond. Welcome to the Corporate Ocean. 10,000 Operators from the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Near-Galaxy sectors have been merged into a single server: 'THE GLOBAL OFFICE'."]"Global Office?" Mark spat, wiping blood from his lip. He stood atop the ruins of the 50th floor, which was now forcib
Chapter 11 - Termination Without Severance
The lift to the 50th floor hurtled upwards at a speed capable of leaving an ordinary human’s stomach behind on the ground floor. Inside the polished, chrome-plated metal box, Mark Miller stood rigid, unmoving. His reflection on the lift wall was no longer that of an exhausted man in a crumpled office shirt, but a predator with a dark aura shimmering faintly around his body.David leaned against the corner of the lift, gasping for air. He stared at Mark with a look that bordered more on fear than admiration. "Mark... you... are you alright? You haven't blinked since we left the lobby."Mark turned his head slowly. His movements were calculated and highly efficient, as if every inch of his muscle had been calibrated by an algorithm. "A low blink rate increases visual focus by 12%. I am currently performing asset optimisation, David. You should also learn to regulate your oxygen intake. You’re wasting breath.""Wasting breath?" David gave a bitter laugh. "Mark, you’re talking like a poss
Chapter 10 - Bloody Audit on The Liquidation Floor
The Billing Headquarters stood tall like a gargantuan tombstone amidst the city’s ruins. Its brutalist architecture—composed of windowless grey concrete on the lower floors—exuded a cold, predatory aura of authority. As Mark Miller stepped through the creaking revolving doors, he was greeted by a scent he knew all too well: the smell of aged paper, cheap printer ink, and the cold sweat of desperate workers.[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: YOU ARE ENTERING THE 'DEBT COLLECTION' RED ZONE][Status: Delinquent Debtor (Category: Total Default)][Helpdesk System: "Mark, as your career assistant, I strongly advise you to turn back. Entering this area without additional collateral is considered an attempt to evade debt. Consequence: Forced Soul Seizure."]"I’m not evading anything, you idiot," Mark growled, tightening his grip on the 'Contract Termination' Hammer he had purchased on the Black Market. "I’m here to perform a counter-collection. Tell your boss Mark Miller wants to close his account... per
Chapter 9 - Minimum Service Standards
The lingering static from the "system penalty" still prickled Mark Miller’s nerve endings as he landed on the scorched asphalt of Residential Sector 4-B. Smoke curled from his charred shoulders, but Mark only grunted, rolling his neck with a sickening crack. Thanks to the mysterious "hacker" from The Underground, the lightning meant to incinerate him had been diverted to recharge the Budget-Cutting Chainsaw in his grip.[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: HELPDESK OPERATIONAL][Status: Reboot Complete.][Message: "Operator Miller, baiting lightning is a severe violation of Workplace Safety SOPs. This has been noted in your behavioral conduct report. Now, please resume asset clearing."]"A conduct report? Am I back in high school now?" Mark spat, his blood mingled with soot. "I nearly died, and you’re worried about SOPs? Where’s your corporate empathy, huh?"[Helpdesk System: "Empathy has no exchange value on the galactic stock market, Mark. Efficiency, however, is at a premium. Before you lies a cl
Chapter 8 - Helpdesk From Hell and The One-Star Rating
Mark Miller stood at the threshold of the rooftop, but instead of the open sky, he found himself plunged into a liminal space that resembled a gargantuan customer service hub, suspended over a burning residential zone. Before him, a new holographic display flickered to life—this time in a dull, uninspiring pale blue, reminiscent of the office software color schemes from the early 2000s.[WELCOME TO THE LATEST FEATURE: HELPDESK SYSTEM & FIELD PARTNER][Your status has been upgraded from ‘Operator’ to ‘Customer Success Hero’.]"Customer Success Hero?" Mark spat, his blood staining the translucent hologram. "You rebrand me after I’ve killed the man who tried to warn me? And what is that smell? Why does this place reek of old carpets and despair?"[Helpdesk System: "That aroma is ‘Essence of Productivity,’ Senior Operator Miller. We apologize for the inconvenience. Based on your performance evaluation in Chapter 7, the Board of Directors has determined that you require stricter bureaucrat
Chapter 7 - Termination of Speaking Right
The silence within the opulent room was more suffocating than the dust-choked air of the spiral staircase. The man behind the executive desk exhaled a cloud of cigar smoke that smelled of expensive vanilla—a sickening contradiction in the midst of a rotting world.Mark Miller did not move. His hollow eyes were locked onto the man’s throat. In the periphery of his vision, a crimson system notification pulsed incessantly, demanding execution.[System Order: EXECUTE TARGET NOW][Status: Priority SSS][Delay Penalty: Erasure of Self-Awareness in 60 seconds...]"Mark, wait!" Sarah screamed from the doorway, her voice trembling. "He said that contract is a suicide note for humanity! We have to hear his explanation!"The well-dressed man offered a thin smile, as if Sarah’s plea were nothing more than insignificant background noise. "The System is afraid, Mark. It fears I will tell you that you aren't saving the world. You are building a much larger prison for—"WUT!Without warning, Mark lun
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