Job Offering

It is a sweltering hot summer day.

Linden is walking back from the nearby bus stop to his home. In his left hand is the suit that he wore in the job interview. His tie has also been loosened up.

Even though the sun has tilted to the side, the man still feels that the outside is too hot.

"A little more," muttered Linden.

The distance between that bus stop and his home is about 5 minutes walking. But even that short of time is enough for beads of sweat to form on his forehead.

"I am home," said Linden to no one when he opened the door to his house. He then put his shoes on the shoe rack nearby.

"Ah~ I am alive."

The air conditioning has been on since an hour ago. Linden put it in a timer so the building would be at the perfect temperature when he got home.

After changing his clothes and putting his bag in his room, he walked straight to the kitchen. To be more precise, the fridge.

"Ah…"

Linden is disappointed when he doesn't find any chilled drink inside. He forgot to put one inside before he went to the work interview this morning.

Luckily for him, there are a few ice cubes left over from yesterday. He quickly pours water into a glass and puts a few blocks of ice cubes inside before sitting at the dinner table.

Waiting for the water to cool down, he recalls the interview he had done today. He felt that he had made too many mistakes in that interview.

"Ah, I will let fate do its way. I have done my best.

"Also, I wonder why they were still doing an offline interview. Everyone else is doing it online nowadays," grumbled Linden. "Especially as that was the first interview. Was it not better to do it online instead?"

Linden plays with his phone. He checked his next scheduled interview. And looks like there is a bit of time before it comes. He decided to practice more tomorrow.

He also noticed that there was a message from his mom. [How did it go?]

Linden only replied, [Well, not too bad.]

Weeks have passed since he had come to this small house. This house is located on the edge of the big city. He has promised their parents that he could live on his own. He was confident he can snatch a job or two.

But too bad for him, the reality is different. Linden still didn't get any job. And the pocket money he has saved since a long time ago is becoming closer to the word none.

Anxiety started to creep up on him. He doesn't want to go back to his parent house, especially after only a few months. His pride will not allow him to. Even if he ends up failing, he only wanted to go back there only after a year or two. And not after a few months.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Only after shouting that did Linden feel his mind clear up a bit.

He then looked at his phone again. This time he opened a job listing website. He tried to find other job opportunities. Maybe he can find something.

And true to his wishes, he sees a job opening that matches his qualification.

"I only need to go to the site bringing myself with my identity and the application? Why is this so… uhm, weird?"

Linden feels that something is wrong with this job. Then again, it is not weird to see something like this get posted. There are many kinds of eccentric personalities in this huge world. Seeing some weird posts on a job listing website is kinda normal.

"But it is located on the other side of the city. Should I go there? And they open it only for tomorrow?"

If he wants to reach the place written on the listing, Linden will need to use the bus to the city terminal. Then he will need to use another bus to continue his journey to the east part of the city.

In total, it can take about two hours to travel one way. And that is not counting the time used waiting for the bus.

***

Early the next day

Linden is standing at the bus stop nearby his house. He is waiting for the first bus of the day. It will take him from the west part of the city to the bus terminal in the city center.

Linden has decided to take the opportunity. No matter how the chance is, it is always better than zero.

Also, he has nothing to do anyway.

It will be good if he can get a job today.

But if not, then he will only lose a bit of his money. Something that will be used one way or another.

…

When Linden arrives at the place, he only sees an empty building. Looking from the outside, it indeed looks like a small office.

Peeking inside, Linden can see there are office supplies in the building. But all of them have been packed neatly in the corner. It gives the impression of a recently abandoned small office.

"Weird, this should be the place. Did I go to the wrong place?"

Linden rechecks the job offer from the website. He also rechecks the address of this place.

"The address is not wrong. It matches with what is written," muttered Linden. "I will look around to see if there is another office in the area."

Linden started to walk around the area. He is wearing a suit complete with a necktie. It is still early morning, so it is not that hot. But even that didn't stop beads of sweat from forming on his forehead.

All that Linden saw was a calm and tranquil suburban area. Similar to where he is living now, the western part of the city. Along the way, Linden also saw that a few houses were waiting for buyers.

…

"I know it. I should not have come to this place," said Linden.

He is standing in front of the abandoned office building again. He finished circling the area but found no other office building.

"What should I do now? The bus only comes once every two hours. There is still an hour before the next bus comes."

Linden found no place to sit. He looked at the empty office building. Inside, there are a few chairs that he can sit on.

Looking from the outside, the building doesn't look like it has been abandoned for a long time. There should not be that much dust inside.

Linden decided to try opening the door. Who knows? Maybe it is not locked? If that is the case, he can rest his leg inside for an hour.

"No way this is not loc— Eh?"

Linden is the one that is the most surprised. The door opened right away without any resistance.

He shrugged, decided not to think too much, and walked inside the building.

But as soon as his step landed inside, Linden see a different scenery.

The building that should have already been abandoned is lit brightly by numerous lamps on the ceiling. There are also a few people inside the building.

Linden rubbed his eyes before looking again. But the scenery didn't change a bit. The building is still used, and there are people inside.

"What!?" exclaimed Linden.

He tries to walk back to where he comes from, but he gets stopped by an invisible wall. He hits it, and a weird noise comes from his mouth, "Uguh-"

"Please don't make any commotion inside the building," said a girl that is a little above Linden in age. "Manager, your guest has come."

She has short and straight silver hair which contrasted with the black suit she wears. She also chuckled a little when she heard the weird noise Linden made.

"Eh, ah, I'm sorry," said Linden. He still didn't understand anything and just apologized.

Not long after, a man that fits the manager stereotype comes out from the inner side of the building. He has a head with a few strands of hair left. He also has a big belly, typical of a manager with high standing in a company.

"Ah, you have come. Linden Smithson, right?" said the man called as manager. "Come here to my room. We will discuss your job."

Linden followed the manager to his room. He can see a few other people working inside the office while walking.

"Take a seat there. What do you want to drink?" asked the manager while pointing to a sofa. "Tea? Coffee? Juice?"

Linden followed the manager's instructions and sat down on the sofa. He then replied, "Ah, tea is alright. Thank you."

Looking around, Linden sees that there are many monitors in this room. Many things are displayed, but he doesn't understand anything.

Not long after, the manager comes back with two cups in his hands. He put one cup in front of Linden and the other in front of his chair.

"Thank you," said Linden.

"You are welcome," replied the old man manager. "So, let's talk about the job.

"But before that, let me introduce myself. I am Mike. Everyone here just calls me 'manager'. I want you to do the same.

"This place is an Interdimensional Management Office. Our job is to check the connection and boundary between different dimensions. We also regulate it so that connection and boundary stay safe."

"Interdimensional Management Office? Different dimensions?" muttered Linden.

Linden tilts his head. Not even a lick of what the manager said goes inside Linden's head.

The manager, on the other hand, smiled knowingly.

"Do you know about different worlds?" asked the manager.

Linden replied with a nod even though he is not sure.

The manager continued, "Sometimes, the border between different worlds will collide. When that happens, a passage between worlds will be created."

"Passage? Like a road? Road to another world?" asked Linden.

"That is right. As expected, you can understand it fast.

"One of our jobs is to confirm that whenever the incident happens, it will not impact the world. But sometimes, something will happen. We also work on resolving those."

Linden asked, "What do you mean by resolving? What kind of problem need to be resolved?"

"Well, things like spirited away. You know, when the passage between dimensions is opened, someone unlucky might wander to the other side.

"We are the ones that bring that unlucky person back to their original dimension."

Linden's arm moves to his chin. He always does this whenever he is thinking about something.

"Wait, does that mean I am in a different dimension now?" asked Linden.

Linden remembers that when he went inside the abandoned office, he got transported to this place.

"Sharp intuition! That is right. This place is in a different dimension from your 'world'," said the manager while smiling.

The manager then explains more about the work. But all of that just pass through Linden's head.

...

"So, what do you think? Want to do the job?" asked the manager.