Number 7

[We all live our lives, struggling to fulfill our desires.]

[Not a person in this world is free from this cycle of striving to obtain our own little paradises, whatever that may be.]

[However, among the people of this world... there are always differences in the starting points.]

[Some people have their lives set on easy difficulty, while others are set on insane.]

[We're here to set the entire world on nightmare mode.]

----

"Unacceptable."

With this single word, the man who sat in his desk before Marcus looked down at a report with disappointment evident in his tone.

The man wore the classy attire of a salaryman, a pressed, immaculate suit, and his styled hair combined with his stylish yet professional look gave him an air of authority.

Yet in those dark brown eyes, which sharply glanced down at the papers he held, there was nothing more than condescendence.

Marcus stood silently before the man, not uttering a single word in retribution - for he knew that doing so would only worsen his already bad position.

"Marcus, do you understand what it means to be a member of a company? What it means to be a member of a team?"

The man looked up to Marcus, thinning his eyes as his words pierced the air. Marcus stood at attention, slowly opening his mouth as he thought up his answer.

"Sir, with all due respect, I have been-"

"Excuses, excuses, excuses, excuses. Are you going to give me another excuse, Marcus? That seems to be all I ever hear from you these days. 'My team members refuse to listen to me.' or 'The work is too much for a single team to handle.' 'We've been overworked, therefore we are producing less than we should.' I've heard it all, Mark. However, whenever I hear these things, do you know what the first thing I think is?"

The man then threw the report in the air, causing all the previously organized papers to fly around the room, slowly fluttering to the ground as the man gazed into the eyes of Mark.

"This person blames their own failures on others."

"Sir, that isn't what I-"

Marcus tried to protest, however the man held up his hand, stopping Marcus before he could even so much as finish his sentence.

"One more word out of you and you are out of a job. Enough. Return to me once you've obtained the results that you were expected to achieve in the first place. Until then, I don't want to see you. You have one week, or you really are out of here. That is all."

Marcus promptly nodded, turning around to exit the office of his superior.

As he approached the door, he stepped out to leave, however he was stopped one final time by the voice of his boss.

"Ah, and Marcus. Do you think it would be acceptable of you to leave such a mess in my office like this? Clean these papers up."

Without a word, Marcus turned around and bent down to the floor, picking the papers up one by one.

Not a single emotion showed, neither positive or negative, and he kept a professional attitude the entire time, not once speaking back to his superior.

After cleaning up the papers, he neatly laid them down on the desk of his superior before quietly closing the door, leaving the man alone.

"Unacceptable. With employees who cannot produce results... our company will be dragged down. It is the duty of the employee to produce more profit than the resources the company invests in the employee. Yet we have spent far too much, and received far too little to continue funding such an employee. If he is unable to show his worth... then I truly will be forced to lay him off."

Pouring himself a cup of freshly brewed coffee, the man brought the steaming liquid to his lips as he thought out loud.

"However... if he is able to turn things around, then of course I would be glad to allow him to remain among our numbers. After all, there is one single factor which I weigh my employees by."

Placing the coffee at his side, the man fixed his tie as he smiled to himself.

"Results."

----

The feeling of cold water running down his face engulfed Marcus as he stared at himself in the mirror.

Marcus Trevor Coran.

27 years old, this man wasn't particularly special in any way.

After having graduated college with a degree in business, he entered the workforce at the age of 22, and was currently in his 5th year working for Marcel Incorporated, a rising megacorporation.

"Blergh.... urgh!"

As Chunks of his lunch came up , he ejected the contents of his stomach.

Marcus continued to use the flowing water of the sink to wash off his face, looking up into the mirror with a tired expression.

"Huff..” Marcus breathed heavily. “.. that... wasn't very professional of me."

Slicking back his black hair with his wetted hand, Marcus fixed up his tie and prepared himself to step out of the restroom.

"Not an issue... I merely have to gather the team and redirect them to meet the goals on time. I'll call for a meeting immediately."

Stepping out of the restroom, Marcus put on a confident grin - one which completely disregarded the weakness of the man who was just throwing up in the sink.

"After all... that's what it means to work for a salary. The boss..” Marcus took a deep breath. “.. is correct. If I cannot meet my goals on time... then I'm not worth the trouble. This much is... my responsibility."

The man stepped out of the bathroom, quietly voicing his thoughts to himself - perhaps in an attempt to make him believe the words he spoke.

"It is my duty."

----

Five people sat at a meeting table in an enclosed room, all of them wearing business professional attire.

Yet despite the professional attire which each of the people here wore, the expressions of all but two were anything but professional.

Sitting at the head of the table was none other than Marcus, who sat with his hands folded, patiently waiting for the attention of the room to be focused on him.

Closing his eyes, the man let out a sigh of irritation, as if he knew that such a situation would come about, yet had told himself otherwise.

Before him on his right and left were four people - two men and two women.

One man sat on his phone, his legs propped up on the table. He was a young man with a number of hoop-like earrings, and an eccentric hairstyle - an appearance which would make one question how he was hired for such a company.

Without a care in the world, this man tipped his sunglasses to peek at his phone's screen as he texted at the speed of light with one hand.

A grand grin covered the man's face, as if he was successful in whatever endeavors he was pursuing.

Next to this man was another young man - however this one appeared to be a thug. With shaved head and tattoos covering his entire head, the professional attire which he wore made him give off the appearance of a mafia member more so than an employee of a business.

This young man puffed on a cigar, not so much as paying attention to his surroundings as he stared off into his own world.

Sitting across from these two men, on the right side of Marcus were the two women - both of which were also dressed in business attire, wearing the suits with thin skirts that so many businesswomen would commonly wear.

The first woman had long brown hair, and an appearance which was excessively well kept up. Her makeup appeared to be applied without flaw, and even now she was tending to her nails.

The other woman had black hair which was tied into a bun, and she gave off a tired appearance as she coldly glared at the people around her. Her sharp eyes shot daggers into anyone who met their gaze, not allowing for even the slightest amount of approachability.

"Ahem... if you will all allow me, I would like to begin the meeting."

Marcus spoke up, gathering the attention of the four who gave him mixed reactions.

The man who sat on his phone merely continued his typing, and with the nonchalant wave of his free hand, he motioned for Marcus to speak.

"Whatever you say, boss. Go right ahead and give us the orders.", he stated without a hint of concern.

The man who had the appearance of a punk glared at Marcus in an intimidating manner, smashing his cigar on the clean table to put it out.

"More work for us? Sorry boss, but I think I've already been doing more than what I bargained for. I don't get paid enough to deal with another assignment. Don't you agree?"

The man looked towards Marcus with an intimidating glare, to which Marcus merely sat up straight, slowly breathing in.

"I was not here to bring you all a new assignment, but rather to reorganize our efforts on the current one."

"Are you telling me that my efforts haven't been good enough?"

Tension filled the air as the man's words caused all chatter to cease, and Marcus was left to face the thug with nothing more than his own confidence.

"Can you two like... not fight like that? It's totally like... uncool for guys to fight all the time."

The brown haired woman didn't so much as look up from painting her nails as she made this statement, however this garnered the glare of the thug, taking it away from Marcus.

"You got something to say to me, woman? Eh?"

"Ok, ok! I think that's enough of that! Frederic, this is why you aren't popular with women. Even though you have the looks too... you gotto change that bad personality of yours or you'll always stay unpopular. Isn't that right, boss?"

The prettyboy with eccentric hair broke up the tensions between the two, then turned to Marcus enthusiastically.

"Ah... that must have been insensitive of me to ask! After all, the boss has no experience with women either, even at 27."

"Can we skip these formalities and get straight to the point? I'm losing precious time for every second that I remain in this fruitless meeting."

Speaking up was the woman with the cold glare, and that glare was directed towards Marcus, who nodded promptly.

"Yes... I agree. That's enough of these pointless conversations. Thank you, Sylvia. Ahem... Frederic, I understand your concerns with work, and I can assure you that I won't overburden you - yet that doesn't mean that you are exempt from work, nor are you exempt from the ‘no smoking’ rules of the office. As for your comments, Ivan, I have nothing to say except please refrain yourself from making such comments in the future, and take your feet off the table already. And could you put your phone away?”

Turning his attention to the brown haired woman, Marcus finished with “And Anna, would you please refrain from doing your nails during the meetings?"

Marcus sighed as once again, he had to berate the three who were clearly troublemakers among the company, to which he was met with a simultaneous rolling of eyes, as if it were practiced.

"But boss…”, the prettyboy whined. “I just helped you out... shouldn't you be like, thanking me? Heck, if you want I can give you some advice and find a good woman for you-"

"Enough."

While the prettyboy known as Ivan tried to escape having to bend to the rules, Marcus cut him off.

Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, Marcus wiped the sweat off his brow as he continued.

"Now then... the meeting for today was called because the upper management is very displeased with the work that our team has performed. We're going to need to up our performance if-"

"Hah!? What the hell do you mean 'displeased'? I haven't done anything to be displeased about, damn it!"

Smashing his fist on the table, the thug known as Frederic immediately cut Marcus off once more, shouting out in irritation with veins bursting in his forehead.

"Yes, because you haven't done anything at all.", the cold woman known as Sylvia whispered under her breath.

"What did you just say, bitch? You wanna say that to my face?"

"I just did, did I not?" Said Slyvia simply, raising her gaze to lock eyes with Frederic.

The two who sat across from one another now stared off with one another, causing Marcus to feel an immense sense of hopelessness.

'Will I ever be able to convince these four to actually properly work with one another without causing an argument every few moments?'

"Then why don't we take this outside!?", Frederic shouted as he stood up from his seat, violently kicking the chair behind him.

"That would be quite the pain, no? I have no reason to follow your demands and 'go outside'.", Sylvia responded without the slightest sense of intimidation, not a bit of fear in her eyes.

"Hey hey, calm down big guy!! No need to get so worked up! Here, have a light on me. Come on."

Ivan pulled out a cigar from his coat, lighting it as he handed it to Frederic, who grabbed it and took a puff.

"Tch... whatever."

Picking up his chair, the man sat down once more, taking a deep puff of the cigar as he blew the smoke all around the area.

"Cough cough!! All this smoke will ruin my complexion! Boss, won't you do something about this? This is unbearable!", Anna said while waving the smoke around.

However it was then that a fist came slamming down onto the table.

"I'm the one who can't bear any of you!!", Marcus shouted.

Standing up from his desk, Marcus threw his hands in the air as he began to lay into those around him.

"I work every day and night trying to make sure that we hit our goals! Each and every day I work overtime just so we can barely hit the minimum requirements on each project, and yet you all sit here each day fighting and quarreling and getting absolutely nothing done!" Marcus growled.

Pointing to Frederic, Marcus’s stomach turned with irritation as he shouted.

"You! Always acting like some sort of delinquent!”, Marcus spat with distaste evident in his tone. “We're not little kids anymore! We're supposed to be salarymen, working proper jobs for society! Why then, are you sitting here getting into fights like it's nobody's business? You never do your work, you use threats to get everyone else to do what you want, and you've never done anything that you don't feel like doing!! Are you a child, or are you a working adult? Pick one already!"

Turning to Anna, Marcus continued his rant.

"And you! Always doing your nails, always fixing your hair, always doing whatever you need to do to make yourself look good. Why don't you make your WORK look good, eh? You spend so much time focusing on yourself that you're always doing a half assed job at whatever you get done, if you get anything done at all!”

Letting out a few pants as he regained his breath, Marcus then turned to Ivan, his eyes squinted and red and his forehead covered in veins.

"And you! Always on your phone, always talking to the 3rd or 4th woman on your damn list! If you've got so much time to be flirting, then get your damn shit done!! I've let you keep that wacky hairstyle and I never comment on those damn hoops, but I've had enough of this! How can the CEO, who assigned me this damn team of misfits, expect me to get ANYTHING done? HAH!? There are only two competent damn people on this team, and one of them is ME!!"

Marcus found himself panting and huffing as he finished his rant, out of breath with rage, however when he looked up to the four, he saw a few expressions which he couldn't possibly have expected.

All four of them were completely unfazed.

"Well, I guess I'mma call it for today.", Ivan said as he stood up, grinning slightly at his phone.

"Yep. That's that.", Anna agreed.

"What an asshole... I'm done working under you.", Frederic stated as the three filed out together.

"Wha... where the hell are you three going? Quitting? Hah! Fine then. If you all quit, maybe the CEO will assign me a better team-"

"What are you talking about? Don't you understand your position?"

Marcus was cut off by Anna, who looked back at him with disgust, her perfect lips twisted up in a sneer.

"My... position?” Marcus wondered aloud. “What the hell are you all-"

The door slammed shut, and Marcus was left in the room with Sylvia, who merely looked straight forward, not so much as making eye contact with the man.

"Boss, or should I say former boss... you're quite an idiot, aren't you? It was very unprofessional of you to blow your top on them like that."

Marcus looked to Sylvia with surprise, who talked as if it didn't concern her.

Sitting down in his own seat, Marcus held his head, massaging his temples as a migraine began to form.

"Yes... well... I suppose you're right. Perhaps I did get a bit too emotional there, and I said some things that shouldn't have been said…” Marcus paused, before jerking his aching head up. “Wait, what did you just call me?"

Marcus looked up to the woman dumbfounded, to which she looked him in the eyes.

"Hm? Ah, you mean former boss. Right?"

"What do you mean former boss? Even if I yelled at them, that's no reason to fire me. Furthermore, the words of those misfits won't mean anything to the CEO-"

"But won't the words that YOU said mean something?"

Sylvia grabbed the hairpin, letting her hair down as she stood up, causing Marcus to follow her with his eyes in confusion.

"Hm? What do you mean what I-"

"They got you on tape badmouthing the CEO. Please be a bit more careful with your words in your future job. That is, if you can get hired anywhere else. You worked very hard to make deadlines even with such a team, so it was nice working under you. But it looks like that's over. Therefore, I'd like to wish you the best."

It was then that Marcus realized his error.

'Ah... I... I said that, didn't I?'

Sylvia left the room, and the door shut behind her, leaving Marcus in silence.

A few moments later, a man entered the room, calling out to Marcus.

"Marcus Coran. The CEO wishes for you to report to his office... immediately."

----

"And with that being said... I would like to wish you the best in your endeavors. We will never forget the contributions you made towards this company, and we are terribly saddened to let you go, however we believe that in the long run, this will be beneficial for both parties."

The CEO sat at his desk with Anna, Frederic, and Ivan all standing behind him as he made this statement.

Marcus was unsure whether or not he should be angered, saddened, or concerned.

However right now, as he was overwhelmed with the sudden developments, Marcus merely breathed in a sigh.

"I see. Then, I will take my leave."

He didn't feel like arguing. He didn't feel like pleading his case, or potentially escalating matters to court.

He wanted nothing more than to get out of there.

With that, Marcus went to his office and began packing his things, and when he had finished doing so he headed out of that high rise office building for the last time.

As he entered the elevator, bags in his hands, a woman entered with him, pressing the button for the bottom floor.

"Sylvia."

"Marcus."

The two merely had this slight interaction, saying nothing more than each other's names as they rode downwards in an awkward silence.

"There is one thing that I am quite curious about, Marcus. While it is true that this workplace was not ideal, and there were many issues with the people you had to work with... was it actually worth what you're about to go through?"

Sylvia looked to Marcus with an inquisitive expression.

It was not that she held the slightest concern for him, but rather that she was curious as to his reasoning from a purely psychological standpoint. She was curious about how his mind worked, not how he felt.

"I said before, did I not? I shouldn't have lost my temper as I did. However, even so, I won't say that any of the things I said were.... incorrect."

"You are a fool to give so much up over a moment of emotion. However..."

As the elevator opened, the two stepped out and turned to head in opposite directions.

"I will not say that there have not been times in which I, too, have wanted to let my anger out like that."

With a slight smile, Marcus chuckled to himself as the two walked away from one another, one keeping her job shamelessly and the other jobless.

"I see. Perhaps I truly have been selfish... and I was only seeing my own troubles. If I ever see you again, perhaps I'll take you out to lunch sometime."

"I will hold you to that. Of course, you would be the one paying - correct? Ah, but without a job that might be quite difficult. Even so, you've just said that you will do so, therefore I WILL hold you to it, whether it is reasonable or not."

Marcus returned to his home that night as an unemployed man.

"Sigh... I suppose I have some savings, so I should be able to survive for a few months until I get a new job, though it will be quite difficult after having left my former company on such a bad note. Even so..."

As he sat in his bed that night, Marcus spoke to himself, believing that he was alone.

"Hm? My ear... it feels a bit strange? Am I getting an infection? Ah... I guess I'll go see a doctor tomorrow."

Laying on his back and facing the ceiling, Marcus let out a sigh.

It was at that moment that something happened.

'A flash of light? Did something strange happen with the electricity?'

Blinded for a moment by the strange electrical impulse which flashed for just a second, overtaking everything within his vision, Marcus soon after found his bearings as he blinked his eyes a couple of times, the desire to sleep overcoming him.

"It's quite difficult to survive in this world, isn't it? After all... almost everyone is out to get you. And even those who aren't... are merely struggling to survive."

It was as he whispered this that a voice resounded in the ear of Marcus.

[You call that struggling?]

Marcus widened his ever drooping eyes as the raspy voice seemed to rattle his brain.

"Wha... who was that!?"

Looking around in a panic, Marcus checked underneath the bed sheets, and glanced all around the well-kept room to try and find the source of the voice, which seemed to be ever so close to his ear.

Yet even as he looked, drowsiness seemed to overwhelm him.

[You know nothing of what it means to struggle. Goodnight, human. I look forward to seeing your expression when you wake up.]