*Ding!
A notification had made itself known.
The glowing light that came with the notification lit up the dark curtained room.
Out of all the things there, the light illuminating from the phone felt the most out of place. As it seemed to be the only thing that was "awake", urging everything else to wake up too.
*You have recieved an update from
"Mhm...."
What is it?
I am pretty sure i had my phone set to 'Do not Disturb'...
A hand reached out, waving side to side to locate the light on the desk. Eyes still closed.
(Thud!)
'...?! Did i hit something?'
The figure hurriedly grabbed the phone on the desk and pointed the light to the floor. A glass cup had cracked and water had spilled where pieces of paper were left.
'...'
'Ugh..'
Slouching in dismay, the figure bent to pick up the now drenched papers, with most of the ink smudged and blurry.
Upon retrieving the pieces from under the glass shards, a headline caught the drowsy figures attention.
[The Final Ending]
It was the final chapter that the figure had written on a whim a few nights before. A long-overdue ending to their chaotic and lengthy webnovel.
....and that very ending, had just disappeared without warning.
'You have got to be kidding me..'
The figure flipped the phone to face him and checked the time.
<7:50 am>
He stared at the screen for a good while, before concluding that it couldn't be helped.
'.....i should get up.'
Thus, on a seemingly uneventful week, Nico, a 27-year-old, unwillingly got ready to attend another potentially useless interview while mourning the loss of his final-chapter draft.
...
<10:28 am>
"Sigh..."
"Whats wrong? You have been sighing since you got here"
Nico flinched upon hearing his friends voice.
Ah, right...your here
"Oh, i just..."
Nico fumbled with his thumbs before turning to look them in the eye.
The appareance of a tall, fit man with brown hair and light blue eyes was seen staring at him, with a worried look on his face.
Nico hesitated before opening his mouth "...remember the story i have been working on? The one i have spent years creating..."
The friend stared, slightly puzzled before widening their eyes "Oh! Yeah! I remember, you have been working on it for...what, 10 years now?"
"..."
"Why..? Did something happen?" His voice was half puzzled, half concerned.
"You could say that." Nico stared at the ground. "Last night, i had a dream that filled all the plot holes. The perfect ending to that jumbled mess!"
His friend's eyes lit up upon hearing the news, "Woah!! I am so happy for you, dude!" His friend patted him on his back. "Finally, that story needed an ending after all this time."
"Yeah...i thought so too."
"...but?"
"But...this morning, i accidently spilled water on the papers....and since i always use an ink pen to write down my ideas..."
They both halted to a pause.
"....oh. The words got blurred out."
'In other words, the draft was as good as erase.!'
"Yeah..." Nico managed a nod, then continued to stare at the ground, while his friend stared at him, trying to read the expressions on his face.
"Hey...its alright." He placed a hand on Nico's shoulder.
"Its still your idea, right? Plus, you wrote it down before it got erased! So maybe it will pop up in your memory when you write later. Muscle memory and all, you know?"
The friend gave a smile, but Nico couldn't find the energy to reciprocate. Instead, he lifted his head foward, staring at the railroad.
Perfect timming.
'I didn't know what else to say, anyway...'
As they both got onto the train, for the first few minutes they exchanged casual conversation, until they managed to spot 2 empty seats left and sat down. From then on, it was deafening silence.
'...'
'We can't spend the next 20 minutes like this.'
Nico turned to face his friend to ask a question, but before he could, his friend asked first.
"Hey. Do you think...we are gonna pass the interview today...?"
Nico blinked. "Well...i think atleast one of us should."
His friend looked unconvinced, head slightly tilted. So Nico continued, "Besides...it would be odd if a company makes you go through 3 interviews, and then not pass you" he affirmed.
"Haha yeah...i guess so" his friend gave a slight nod.
Feeling relieved, they continued to exchange casual banter until they arrived at the interview location.
...
<2:45pm>
"Mr. Edmond, please enter the office."
The voice of a senior male worker calling interviews, echoed throughout the plain and narrow halls of a company walkway.
"Ah...this is me!" Edmond turned to give a quick thumbs up at his friend, Nico, before disappearing into the room infront of them.
Nico gave a thumbs up too, maintaing it until the door fully closed, and then looked around. He was the last one to be interviewed.
'...this feels isolating.'
The day was already turning out to be doubtful, as he had heard a rumor before that they ranked interview numbers based on most likely to less likely to get the job.
'...this will probably be a waste again..'
15th. This had been his 15th interview the past 2 months, and still nothing.
'...I feel like i have wasted time. Maybe the job market just isn't right for me at the moment.'
Saddened, Nico took a peak at his phone to pass the time.
*You have recieved an update from
Ah right. This. The catalyst that led to the erasing of his story's ending.
Well, lets not forget the fact that it was mainly his fault anyway...
Nico pressed on the notification and was brought to his email, with one unread message.
...right. Now i remember.
...
< 5 days ago >
Nico was mumbling to himself as he furiously typed on the keyboard, relaying his most recent paper draft onto soft copy.
Halfway, he had to research a part for his story, and stumbled upon a pop-up ad, featuring a very popular contest that had been ongoing for over 3 years..!
The contest was first started by an unknown company called "Creations" that came out of nowhere and hosted a Novel writing contest, that allowed anyone in the world to partake as long as they obeyed the conditions:
「 Wordly Creations Contest 」
『Requirements:
>Must be an original Novel written by you
>One Novel per person
>By partaking in this contest, be aware that you, as the Author and Creator, will take full responsibility for your creation
>Consent to your creation to be viewed/experienced by third parties
[ I have Read & Agree to the terms above □]
{ Prize: Case-by-case basis }
Curious, Nico clicked on the ad and got redirected to the websites main page, where a pop-up timer made itself know.
< Wordly Creations Contest ending in (2) hours>
...!
Nico paused for a bit before his right hand moved its cursor to click on the pop-up. He was then brought to a Terms & Conditions page, and then a Sign-up page, where he had to upload an original work.
'What am i doing...'
His eyes turned to look at the right top corner of the screen
< Wordly Creations Contest ending in (2) hours>
'...'
"...What's the harm in trying?"
In the heat of the moment, Nico went back to his half-written document that was still open, and completed the latest chapters.
Once done, he checked the deadline time again.
Nico gulped as he nervously uploaded the full 12,189 chapters of his webnovel. Suprisingly, the website didn't crash and the entire novel was uploaded without compression.
He sighed in relief and paused, staring at the screen.
Nico fidgeted his fingers.
'...will it even be accepted? Its not even complete...'
Lost in thought, he stared at the screen. Until the screen displayed a urging countdown.
His eyes flinched with the sudden countdown.
There wasn't much time left.
Panicked, he moved his cursor and clicked "Confirm".
...but the screen was taking its sweet time to fully load the request.
'Come on....!'
'Come on...!!!!'
'Come o–'
*Ding!
His thoughts were interrupted by a notification from his phone.
*You have entered the W.C.C [Wordly Creations Contest] – we will notify you as soon as the results are decided!
Suddenly, the screen on his laptop changed.
[You have successfully entered the Wordly Creations Contest, you are now a creator!]
'Phew....'
Relief filled his eyes as he carefully turned off his laptop and laid back, fully exhausted, in his chair.
'...done.'
...
'...i am kinda scared to open this email, actually...'
This day has already been a let down, and its only 3pm. Imagine if they sent me an email just to say – 'haha Your story wasn't even finished, so this is an early rejection!'
Nooo!!
No way, right?
Maybe they are just giving a spam email to all the contestants or something..
Nico pressed his hand against his forehead while mumbling "if only i hadn't left that cup on the desk, or maybe if i had just opened by eyes abit..! The water wouldn't have spilled all over the ending..."
Nico clenched his knuckles as he looked at his phone.
*Click!
He pressed on the email and slowly read the contents inside.
「 Dear 〔 Nico 〕
It is our pleasure to announce that you
have become our highest voted winner
among our top contestants.
Congratulations! 🎉
You are now officially a [Creator]
Your story will now be publically displayed
and finalised.
Please press the button below to
confirm that you have read this.
[Accept]
」
'...'
'I...won?'
'Among...all the other contestants? Seriously?'
Bewildered, Nico stared at his screen.
Was this a spam mail? A scam?
Various thoughts ran through Nico's head, but there was an echoing thought that seemed to persist among all others.
'I actually won'
Nico clenched his phone.
'My.....story won.'
My story.
'There is no way this is happening.'
He quickly scanned the short email another 3 times before he finally realised that he was clutching his phone a bit too tightly.
Calming down, Nico tapped his right index finger on the screen and pressed 'accept', his palm starting to sweat from the nerves.
'I havent been this nervous since my first job interview...'
*Your consent has been noted. Your story will go live in a few hours. We will notify you when it does!
...what?
That was fast –
*click
The interview room door slowly opened.
His friend, Edmond, walked out with a pale look on his face. Eyes avoiding direct eye-contact with his.
'...?'
Whats with that look?
"Hey, how did it g–"
"Uh, it was alright." Edmond looked the other way as he quickly grabbed his suitcase on the chair.
"...really?" Nico stared.
"...yeah." Edmond's voice grew softer. "Hey....goodluck..."
Without blinking, Nico nodded. Allowing his friend to flee to the exit without looking back or saying another word.
'....'
Something must have happened.
But what?
*Click
The interview door opened again, this time, an older senior office worker walked out.
"Mr. Nicolas. Come in."
....i suddenly feel like running away.