Unemployed, Unlucky, Unexpectedly in a Game

Wednesday, 3 p.m. Maeve sat in the farthest corner of the café, an empty coffee cup by her side. She hadn’t moved in over an hour—and had no intention of doing so. Jacob firing her kept looping in her head like a stubborn ad you couldn’t skip. “Maeve, you don’t need to come in next week.” The office AC had been freezing that day. All she remembered was sitting there, hands cold, throat too dry to speak. She was never good at expressing emotions. Faced with an unexpected goodbye, all she could do was nod—like a toy with the batteries quietly taken out. She was used to it by now. No one ever asked her to stay. No one ever tried to stop her from leaving. “Hey, why are you here all alone?” The voice cut through her thoughts. Maeve looked up, startled, and blinked at the man standing in front of her. Jace. Her best friend’s boyfriend. Back in university, her impression of him had been: handsome, smug, and always grinning like life was one big inside joke. After he started dating her best friend Clara, he seemed to care only about two things—Clara and the game company they co-founded: Gaia. “Hey… just having some afternoon tea,” Maeve replied, trying to sound casual. She failed. Jace didn’t press. He simply sat down across from her and set his iced Americano on the table. “Anything Clara and I can help with?” “…I lost my job,” Maeve said quietly. “I haven’t told Clara yet. I don’t want her to worry.” “Worry? Nah. She’d be thrilled,” Jace chuckled. “She’d probably book the next flight and drag you off on a vacation. She’s been waiting for you to get time off for, what, a year now? You’re top priority in her life—higher than me, honestly.” Maeve couldn’t help but laugh a little. “A vacation actually sounds great… but now that I’m unemployed, she’d have to pay for everything.” She glanced at her phone. Still no replies to any of the resumes she’d sent out. Just the same empty silence. Jace watched her for a moment, then said, “If you’re looking for a job, we might have something at Gaia. A new project. We’re short on people.” “Game development? I don’t know anything about that,” Maeve frowned. “Unless you need a professional receptionist.” “Not development. Testing.” Jace grinned. “We’re launching a new MMORPG—fully immersive. Like, mind-link level immersive. Players can explore the world however they want. Be a sword-wielding hero, a potion seller, a café owner, a farmer. Even date NPCs or other players, if that’s your thing.” Maeve blinked. “…So what would I be doing?” “Testing how fun it is. Seeing how the NPCs react. Doing a few quests. Writing short reports. That’s it.” He shrugged. “Twenty grand a month. Free food and lodging. Just five hours a day. You choose the time.” She stared at him. This sounded way too good to be real—but it wasn’t like she had a long line of offers to compare it to. After a few seconds of silence, she nodded slowly. “…Okay. I’ll give it a shot.” And that was how Maeve’s story in another world began.