Librarian's Handbook

Librarian's Handbook

Those were the words that Jian Shi saw upon opening the desk drawer. There was no internet connection, or even a laptop that was not connected.

In the drawer was what appeared to be a textbook. It was entirely black with gold lettering. The letters glittered as the light from above reflected off them.

Jian Shi grabbed the book in the drawer and picked it up. He looked to see if there was anything else in the drawer but there was nothing. He even used his other hand and placed it in the drawer. He moved it left and right.

'There really is nothing in here.'

He was unrelenting. He lowered his head until it was right on top of the open drawer. If he could have stuck his head inside of it, he would have.

Without knowing what this cheat actually was, he was still so insistent on finding his laptop. Once he realized this thought, he stood up straight.

'It's scary how quickly you can lose your calm.'

Now that he had recomposed himself, he focused his attention on the book in his hand. The hardcover was all black other than what he could only assume was the title of the book:

Librarian's Handbook

He looked on the back and on the book's spine, but there were no other words.

'I was expecting an author or a synopsis or something.'

He opened the cover to see what was inside. He saw a Table of Contents on the first page. Rather than read it, he decided to quickly flip through all the pages. He always did this with every book before he read it.

The first couple of pages were normal. However, very quickly the pages had become blank. All the way until the end of the book, he found nothing.

Going back to the beginning, he looked once again at the Table of Contents. Now that he was paying closer attention to what he was looking at, he noticed a few new discoveries.

The first thing Jian Shi noticed was that most of the chapters on the Table of Contents were empty. There were numbers on the left side of the page demarcating each chapter. Next to the number one, there was the word "Introduction". Every other number had nothing after it.

He flipped past the Table of Contents and went to the next page. At the top of this white sheet, he saw big, bold, black letters spelling out 'Introduction'. He continued to read the page:

'Welcome to the Library of Knowledge. If you are reading this, then congratulations. You are now an esteemed librarian for this great library. What makes this library great? You will soon find out. I won't ruin the surprise for you.

Instead, let me explain your duties and responsibilities for this new job.

First of all, this is a library…

Surprise.

Second, your job is to make sure there are books on the shelves. Look around. Are there any books there now?'

Jian Shi lifted his head from the words he was reading. He looked at the bookshelves around him and saw that they were still as empty as they were when he looked at them earlier.

He moved towards the chair and sat down. Then, he shifted his eyes back down to the handbook in his hand. He continued reading from where he left off.

'Did you look? Actually? HA! I can't believe it. Did you think books would magically appear on the shelves?

SMH

Kids nowadays are so gullible.

Let me tell you something. The room you are currently in is only ONE of the many rooms that make up the Library of Knowledge. And in case I have not made myself clear yet, YOU are that room's librarian.

Of course, not everybody who becomes a librarian is smart. In fact, most of you are incredibly stupid. For that reason, this handbook exists. Here, everything you will need to know to execute your duties will be explained and noted simply.

You may have noticed the blank pages of this book. Those exist because your puny little brain might not be able to handle even the knowledge of your job itself. For that reason, we have installed a failsafe into the book. The words of the following pages will remain invisible until you are deemed fit to read them.

For now, there is only one thing you should focus on. As the sole employee in a library, it should be obvious, but your job is to collect books. As you roam the world, you are bound to come across books. Collect them into your room and they will appear on the shelves.

After a section of the library had their employees unionize, we are also legally obligated to inform you of the following employee benefits.

One, every book you collect will be inserted into your memory. So, congratulations. You no longer need to read anything. Just collect the book into the library and all the knowledge within the book will be ingrained into your memory. *(1)

It will be like riding a bicycle. Even if you do not use that knowledge often, it will all come to you the very moment you need it.

Two, the library can only be entered when you sleep. Therefore, the regrettable occasions of librarians entering their room mid-battle and being killed by their foes are hereafter to be eliminated.

Three, employees have the benefit of being able to sleep on command. In conjunction with the second benefit, a need for the librarians to enter their rooms was required. Thus, we gave them this skill. *(2)

Well, that's it. This ends the introduction. Go out there and earn your paycheck. Oh, you are not getting paid. Sucks for you, intern.

LOL'

Jian Shi reached the end of the chapter. He flipped the page and saw a large number two on the next sheet. However, there were no more words after that. The entire rest of the book was empty.

He flipped back to the Table of Contents and saw nothing had changed. Then, he read the first chapter again. He wanted to make sure that there was nothing he missed.

A good thing that he did. At the bottom of the last page of the first chapter, there was some very small fine print. It read:

'*(1) Knowledge will not be immediately implanted into the memory of the designated librarian. The librarian will only have access to the books that were already on the shelves the last time they entered their library room.

*(2) Falling asleep on command does not guarantee remaining asleep. The librarian's quality of sleep will still be the same as if they had slept naturally.'

Jian Shi looked around the room from where he was seated in the room's center. There was not a single book in sight other than the handbook in his hands.

He sighed.

'I was hoping for instant gratification, but it looks like I need to put in some work to take advantage of this cheat.'