6 Co-Workers

Chapter: 6

"Co-Workers"

Zen had been keeping his ears flat on the bathroom door while listening to his co-worker's bickering tone. He was as silent as a rock and as intrigued as a toddler seeing their parents' faces for the first time.

Spontaneously, a familiar voice that came from another co-worker replied to Joel. The guy who Zen knew was named Walter sounded like he was trying to de-escalate his friend's frustrations while also sounding like he was making a benign joke out of him.

His voice had a saccharine tone to it which Zen recognized, causing him to feel slightly happy. It had the same fruity and deep British accent with a tint of slang like an English adolescent walking amongst his workplace, brightening the mood every time he spoke.

"Calm down mate! your coffee's gonna go stale." Walter said.

There was a slight pause before Zen could hear a small guttural noise like a tiny grunt made by Joel. He then heard Joel taking a deep breath before replying. "You're right, you're right. I shouldn't let it get to me. What a shame... Your advice was flawless, too."

Hearing this part of the conversation, Zen thought about what kind of 'advice' Walter gave to Joel. Joel is the funny and talkative guy who's depicted as a hammer, breaking all ice in its path. "Why would he need relationship advice in the first place?" Zen instinctively questioned with a whisper only meant to be heard by himself.

"It's alright, mate. The most important thing is that you're calm now..." Walter said before sighing. Afterward, Zen could hear the sound of Walter leaning on his waist and stretching his chest forward despite those sounds being as silent as two fabrics rubbing against each other.

"Of course my advice was flawless! If I were in your shoes, I would've been on a desk all night, last night." Walter continued orotundly.

"What do you mean?" Joel spoke, showing an interest.

"Aight mate, hear me out, okay?" Walter hesitated a bit as he tried to pump himself up for a quote. "If I were you right now, I'll take her to the 'fanciest' restaurants I could find and order the best of foods I could afford, even buying her a gift or two in addition to all of that. That way, she'll see how truly determined I am to have her back."

Hearing what Walter had said, Zen became worried and puzzled at the same time while Joel was fascinated as he gave an 'awe', showing his utmost aspiration and attention.

Zen's immediate reactions were either Walter was taking advantage of Joel's insecurities or unknowingly giving Joel bad advices from the start. In his own conclusions, he began hoping for the latter as this way, he didn't have to interrogate Walter later.

Zen also wanted to intervene in this 'conundrum' but couldn't as his eavesdropping skill was still active. In addition to that, he was eavesdropping on them which was as worse as taking advantage of a person. "Jimmy! Take the hint, god damn it!" He screamed in his mind with cringing irritation.

"You're right!" Joel's tone suddenly changed but not to answer Zen's plead. "I didn't give her enough of my attention. Maybe that's why she left." He continued while sounding a lot more excited causing Zen to want to eat a block of sulfuric acid if that was a thing. "Tonight will be my night for sure." He kept going.

With that said, the eavesdropping state was over and Zen had obtained two precious hints from his juniors. Afterward, two textboxes appeared right in front of him showing that he had indeed gotten their hints and that he was able to leave with an ability called 'Oblivion'.

*ding!*

〚※〛 〚※〛

[Eavesdropping over!]

[Initiating Oblivion...]

[Tip: You can now leave the eavesdropping area without looking suspicious in the next 10 seconds!]

〚※〛 〚※〛

"How many times will the system going to let me off the hook?" After reading through the text, Zen subconsciously whispered in a distrust manner. He knew the system had never lied to him before and had even shown proof that it could turn people into mindless vegetables. But this one just sounded too ridiculous like your typical kindergartener common sense.

On the off chance that oblivion wouldn't work the way he had expected, Zen began discreetly twisting the metal doorknob to its maximum edge before slowly pulling it open by a spec, enough for him to peek through. Suddenly, he saw Walter standing in front of him, having his hand on the other side of the doorknob, ready to push forward.

Zen let go of his side and stepped back before there wasn't a door blocking him from his co-worker anymore. Seeing Walter stare into his eyes sent a shock throughout his body, he had no choice now but to believe in his system and hope that Walter would be an uncommunicative carrot.

With an awkward smile curving to only one side of his face, Zen stuttered with a broken British accent as he was sweating and praying. "H-hey there Walter, h-how's it goin' my jolly good pal?"

Subsequently, Walter ignored him before sitting on the ceramic toilet at the back center of the room, facing the door. The guy then sat on the toilet bowl before reaching his hands out to grab the doorknob, aiming at Zen.

After seeing where Walter was aiming at, Zen quickly bolted out of there in a panic with unsettling nervousness. He was panting but also smiling in relief. He then glanced at Joel who was busy starting up the deep fryers, not eyeballing him one bit.

"What's up my man!" Zen yelled but Joel seemed to ignore him which he had never done before.

This simple act was enough proof to our protagonist that the 'oblivion' ability was indeed working as he had expected. His expectations were that they would become clueless NPCs not noticing his existence at all and they actually did.

Subsequently, Zen got up to the counter before the ten-second mark hit and turned around. With a deep breath, he yelled again. "Joel, you there man?"

There was a slight pause in the air before Joel replied. "Ye! I'm here dude. Just busy starting up the burner right now, wait a sec will ya?"

"Aight!"

Afterward, Zen started working as the first customer stepped in. He began taking their orders and bills before returning any extras with a quick and swift motion on the cashier machine. Even if he was somewhat faster than before, he didn't notice it at all. It just felt like his calculations and communicative skills were on point today. Like he was in the zone.

In that span of time, he would also find what words to say to customers to get their attention more and what they were thinking depending on their facial expressions. It seemed that the increase in his intelligence had already affected him this much, what would happen if he got more? Would he become the next Albert Einstein or William James Sidis?

"What is up with me today?" Zen thought while smiling.

***

A few hours had passed and it was time for a lunch break. Zen didn't bring any food with him so he decided to go grab some from a nearby convenience store, about a few blocks away. As he was traveling along the white sidewalk, he would cross paths with an alleyway that was similar to the one he was in last night.

Cold sweat ran down his throat, dripping from his chin. The sudden imagery of himself in that dark cascade of pain caused his breath to hasten. Zen turned away from the alley and continued towards his destination.

"I don't feel so good," he thought, "That bitch..."

Zen entered a convenience store and bought a ham sandwich from one of the isles before noticing a person waving at him. Initially, he thought that this man was calling someone else but as no one was behind him Zen approached him. The tall figure stood there and spoke quietly and in a slow manner.

"You should leave this place."