ONC 2026, Prompt 78: You begin to realize that nothing is quite what it seems ONGOING! Couture Magazine: the most prestigious fashion publication in the world, where hemlines are sacred, deadlines are deadly, and the coffee runs are... surprisingly literal. Every intern who walks through those gleaming Manhattan doors dreams of landing a full-time position-complete with vision, dental (including twice-yearly cleanings), and an endless supply of designer clothes fresh off the runway. Sure, the demands from editors, photographers, and even the notoriously temperamental writers can be exhausting. But an intern's day at Couture is pretty ordinary, right? WRONG. Alcide Lancaster is about to discover that his summer internship working for the iconic-yet-terrifying Ellen Montclaire comes with a few... unexpected job requirements. Like why he and a select few employees-including the formidable Editor-in-Chief herself-are the only ones taking mandatory two-hour lunch breaks. Why his thirty-to-fifty-something coworkers look suspiciously athletic, eerily youthful, and are borderline obsessed with eyewear that definitely isn't just a fashion statement. And why A-list celebrities who stop by the Couture offices seem less interested in the magazine's latest cover shoot and oddly fascinated with Alcide himself. But most importantly... What does any of this have to do with Alcide's late family, their disturbingly narrow worldview, and the real reason they wanted him out of their lives forever? All excellent questions for a young man trying to survive a summer packed with Fashion Week chaos, superpowered coworkers who treat the office like their personal runway, and a boss who's less Anna Wintour and more fierce-but-loving grandmother. Between navigating new friendships, an unexpected romance, and enough secrets to fill an entire September issue, Alcide is about to learn that in the world of high fashion... Not everything is just an illusion.

Rue Domínguez, a twenty-seven-year-old unemployed woman struggling to cure her boredom and at the same time earn some good amount of cash, learns about an app 'ZombieRush' which on winning, promises to reward with $10.5 million. That seemed too good to be true, but with a competitive streak to beat this almost impossible game, Rue decides to test her fate. After conquering the game, she realises it's only the 1st half of the game, and 2nd half is still waiting out there. Rue won $10,000 on completing the 1st half, winning the rest of $10.5 million after completing the 2nd half---now that seemed not too far. But willing to participate in this game that appeared too easy before would have such a horrific result, that Rue never expected. Being forced into a zombie apocalypse while attending a high school reunion and learning that the apocalypse might just be the next half of ZombieRush, Rue realises she very much is 'cooked.' And now she is officially a player, with no way out.