The stubby manager sat on his rotating office chair with his ogre like hands on his wide desk. He did not have an office of his own but rather a section of the open floor styled office dedicated to him, he enjoyed the setup as he could watch every employee with his beady little eyes. His toupee clung to his round head for dear life as he shifted his position, leaning on the desk and giving an intense stare. In front of him stood the salaryman, bowing so low his forehead almost tapped on the auburn desk.
“I apologise for my absence yesterday, sir, thank you for allowing me to see to my appointment. I will make sure that this does not become a regular occurrence!” The salaryman belted out without raising his head.
“I hope not. In any case, I sent a letter to head office; I will have my eye on you from now on.”
“Yes, sir.”
The salaryman sat at his workstation, it was part of a larger octagonal light brown desk and each side was its own station. He worked in the PR Department and all eight members of the work area made up the team. He turned on the desktop and glanced at the small clock on the bottom left on the screen; 7:54. He had a long day ahead of him once more, and what’s worse, it was Friday – meaning that after work he would be required to spend even more time with his colleagues, drinking and sucking up to the manager whilst pretending not to.
His day always started with searching for the latest news, making sure to note anything that may affect the company’s image, and then he would begin to put proposals together for ad campaigns. He began by firing up the search engine and gazing at the local and national news, a notification popped up, it so happened to be the day of a lunar eclipse. For a moment he remembered how he used to gaze up at the moon as a child, a sense of warm nostalgia gleamed over him but was quickly subdued as he caught the beady eyes of his manager staring at him.
He sighed; “It’s a shame that the Aizen Matsuri festival has just ended, combining the festival and the eclipse may have made for a good campaign.”
He scribbled some notes on a notebook beside him.
“Perhaps next ye-“
Next year, huh? He thought.
I wonder if I’ll even be here next year…I’ll probably have my last breath here, with any luck it will be right on the manager’s desk.
Memories of office politics flooded his mind; when he was the bud of the manager’s unfunny jokes, sent on fools’ errands for his amusement or berated for the slightest of errors.
No. He’d probably consider that a victory.
Lost in thought once again, he missed the moment at which the manager stood from his desk and made his rounds around the office like a warden stalking his prisoners. The manager was surprisingly light footed for such a round human being; he crept behind the salaryman and watched him for a moment, then looked at his wristwatch and then watched him again.
-Suddenly, he slammed his palm on the desk, sending a jolt through the salaryman’s body. He snapped around, facing his senior, who now stood with his arms crossed and a fierce frown. He lived for these moments; there was nothing more enticing for the chubby man than catching his employees doing something wrong. The manager knew exactly what would happen next, it had happened so many times before, every employee had the same expression – fear; then the apologies would ensue and he would make them work for it, squeezing every drop of remorse from their terrified souls.
The salaryman turned and bowed his head in apology, but there was a sluggishness to his response. A tiredness that the manager picked up on immediately, and he was not pleased!
YOU ARE READING
To Live After Life
RomanceKuroko Jurou finds out that he is dying. In truth that doesn't really mean anything to the Salaryman who has never truly lived to begin with. However, in the twilight of the young man's life, he meets Akatsuki Niko - who is determined to show him wh...
