copperdin25
Level 1: Corporate Slave
Ilham thought getting his first corporate job would finally mean he had made it.
Fresh out of university, far from home and armed with a management trainee offer from one of Malaysia's biggest companies, he arrives in Shah Alam expecting glass offices, important meetings and the beginning of a very successful adult life.
Instead, he gets hot desks, terrifying managers, expensive rent, confusing acronyms, Outlook anxiety and responsibilities nobody actually teaches him how to do.
Then there is Adrian.
Another management trainee. Same age. Same first week. Except Adrian somehow speaks to senior management like they are old friends, creates systems people actually use, and seems completely at home in a world Ilham is still pretending to understand.
Suddenly, surviving his first job isn't enough. Ilham wants to prove that he belongs there too.
Between office politics, friendships, financial mistakes, embarrassing firsts, unexpected responsibilities and the quiet pressure of watching everyone else seemingly move ahead of him, Ilham begins discovering that adulthood isn't the confident, polished life he imagined.
Most people are just figuring it out as they go.
Some are simply better at pretending.
And Ilham?
Well...
Level 1 has only just begun.