"James, here's the order for the guest in the Gold VIP room. Take it to them," an elderly man, who appeared to be in his fifties, said to a young man, while pointing to two bottles of alcohol on a tray, on the bar counter.
"Yes, sir," James said, picking up the tray and walking towards the VIP section.
As James made his way to the VIP section, a lot of thoughts ran through his mind. He took a couple of glances at the bottles on the tray and sighed helplessly.
He found it very hard to understand how someone can afford to buy something so expensive — alcohol no less. And to make it a whole lot worst, this is isn't the second or third order from that particular VIP guest.
"The divide between the rich and poor kept widening with each passing day. How good it must feel to be able to spend more than $5,000 without a single thought about whatever struggles tomorrow is going to bring?" James mused to himself, shaking his head.
He finally arrived in front of the door of the VIP section and he knocked once, before he opened it and walked in.
Inside, James was met with a scene — one that he has seen way too many times.
Seated at the centre of the VIP section was a familiar young man who looks to be the same age as James — if not younger.
Around him were a group of girls dressed in skimpy and eye-raising outfits that would bring only one word, and thought to the mind of any man that saw them.
The girls surrounded the young man, running and rubbing their hands on his chest and face, caressing both locations sensually and slowly moving their hands towards his thigh.
One of them took it to the next level, climbing onto his thigh and grinding away to the music playing in the club.
James sighed internally when he saw this. He didn't need to be told to know that everyone in the room were beyond wasted and this could be seen from the empty, and half-empty bottles scattered across the huge table.
He sighed again as he walked toward the table, took the two bottles from the tray, and placed them on the table.
After he did that, he nodded to the guest but actually no one in particular, before making his way to a secluded corner of the room.
Whenever he's in a VIP room, attending to clients, James loves to make himself as invisible as he can, especially when he's serving guests like the young man.
He does this to protect himself and put himself far away from everything that might be going on in the room at that moment that he was in there.
Unfortunately for him today, the young man wasn't going to allow him to enjoy whatever little peace he can in all the chaos happening in the room.
"Hey, James. My man. Why standing there all rigid? Are you my bodyguard or what? Come here and take some sips, man," the young man said, gesturing for James to come join him.
James looked at him, putting up the best customer friendly smile he could muster, as he prepares to say no.
But before he could reply, the young waved at him with a frown and irritation visible on his face, before turning his attention back to girls surrounding him.
"Never mind. You will just say no anyway. I'd rather enjoy my life with my girls than allow someone boring like you to ruin it for me," he said, then looked at the at girl grinding on him.
He licked his lips lasciviously and spanked her buttocks, causing her to yelp with a very coquettish voice.
"Tania, get down and suck me off," the young man said with a smile, before turning to look at James with a mischievous smile.
One would expect the girl to at least try to maintain her dignity by refusing the young man's request. If not because of the other girls but at least, because of the other male — insignificant male — in the room, but she didn't.
Contrary to James' expectations, she immediately jumped down from the young man's thigh, and unabashedly started slowly unzipping him, while stimulating him from above his pants.
James saw this and he knew that this was his cue to leave, as he knew perfectly well what was about to happen next.
This was a mistake he made the first time something like this happened, and he was almost dragged into a full blown orgy.
If he hadn't ran out of the room at the moment he did, with the setup of those in the room, he would had been caught in a sticky situation.
Stepping out of the VIP room, James let out a sigh of relief and started walking to the bar.
The truth was that he would love to be able to spend money just like the young man in the Gold VIP section. But he can't because he's broke.
To James, the ability to spend an average of more than $14,000 every week just on clubbing was a concept he doesn't understand.
But if he had such amount and the same spending power, he wouldn't have to worry his head for anymore. He won't have to stay up all night, thinking of how to escape his perilous financial situation.
One might ask why he isn't taking the same route as his peers, taking the "financial freedom route", but the truth is that he has tried it and it didn't quite work out for him. It was actually one of the reason why he's in a debt of a more than $20,000.
It was for this reasons that he decided to take the safest and less risky method: go to college, get a degree and get thrown into the job market.
But with how the world and everything was looking right now, James feel like everything was just going to be a waste of time in the end.
He sighed and shook his head at his situation, before checking the time on his cheap, digital watch.
"My shift just ended. Time to go home," he said, with a wry smile.
He made his way to the staff changing room and on his way there, he was stopped by one of his colleagues.
"James, hey. The manager said that I should give this to you," he said, giving James one of the white envelopes in his hand.
James' eyes narrowed slightly when he saw the envelopes and the solemn look on his colleague's face, and a sense of foreboding settled over him.
He slowly reached out, collected the envelope and nodded at his colleague in appreciation.
He turned over the envelope and the line of words on it told him everything he needed to know.
"I'm fired?"
It took a moment for his brain to process what had just happened and for him to fully understand the gravity of it
With that realisation came shock and then, confusion. His hand shook slightly, as his head became clouded with multiple thought.
He didn't understand why this was happening. He has done his job to the best of his abilities and has never gotten any complaint from customers. Then why is he being fired?
James wanted to rush to the manager's office and confront him but he knew that he would only be barking up a wall with that. And considering his boss's attitude, he might even get trashed for it.
Left without a choice, James sighed and walked towards the staff changing room.
"I guess this is it for me," he said, with a wry and exhausted smile.
After he was done changing, James left the nightclub and made his way back to his dorm.
***
James opened the door to the triple room dorm he shares with some students.
Walking into the room, he saw that it was empty, indicating that his roommates had yet to return from their nightly activities.
And given that the quarter had just ended, he doubted they would even be coming back for the night — or even the next day.
James walked to his bed and collapsed face first into it. He slowly turned his extremely exhausted body over and gazed at the ceiling, deep in thought.
He thought of how his life has gone till now. How he lost his parents to two different accidents at a young age.
His father died in a plane crash and his mom died a couple of months later after she was hit by a drunk driver.
After he lost his parents, he came to live with his mother's divorced friend who has a daughter almost the same age as him.
And the family has taken care of him like he was one of their one. They were the reason why he didn't feel the loss of his parents and he loves them very much.
"Patty, Leslie, I really want to repay the two of you for everything you have done for me but nothing I've done has ever worked on out
Why can't I also be happy and have the good things my mates have? Why does it seem like everyone is making progress and I'm the only one stagnant?
It would had been understandable if my situation had regeessed and became worst, but it feels like I've been stuck in the same spot for eternity," James said to himself, pouring out his heavy heart in the empty confines of his room.
James sighed as he snuggled into his bed. The exhaustion from work had started to take its toll and his eyes was starting to close slowly.
"I hope to wake to a new and great reality tomorrow," he said, with the only genuine smile he has ever had for the day, before slowly drifting off to sleep.
.....
Unnoticed by anyone, a small white object, the size of a golf ball, hovered above the clouds for a few moments before it started descending at an incredible speed.
As it descended, its speed increased, doubling, then tripling, until it became a blur.
The object continued downward, phasing through the roof of the dorm building before and landing on James' head. It dissolved into liquid, seeping into his body through his ears.
***
Meanwhile in James' subconscious.
[Assimilating System....]
[Assimilation Completed]
[Generating Host's Information... Completed]
[System Activated.]
.....
[Host Info Screen.]
[Name]: James Zolomon
[Age]: 21
[Stats]
>[Strength]: 9
>[Agility]: 8
>[Intelligence]: 8
>[Charisma]: 6
[Financial Status]
>[Account Balance: $687.67]
>[Networth: -$20,568.89]
[System Resources]
>[Stat Point(s)]: 0
>[Lottery Ticket(s)]: 0
>[System Point(s)]: 0
[Mission(s): None]
[System Store]