Fatal Harm?
I ran through the store, into the back room, and snaked through the narrow space until I reached the back door. I must have looked crazed, with wild eyes, and a terrified, desperate look on my face as I reached for the handle.
It was locked.
What the—
Of course, it was locked.
I recalled the threatening warning that had been displayed on the screens.
[Leaving store #11,358 at the current time may result in fatal harm to Employee, Hwang, Ming.]
I pulled at the handle over and over. It was locked, and these doors were solid and secure. There was no manual release. It was all controlled by Wanma.
This has to be a safety violation.
I remember hearing about a woman who drowned when her electric car shorted out after falling into a river. Without power, the doors and windows wouldn’t open.
How could they have made the same mistake with an entire building? This isn’t possible. There must be some contingency plan.
I was still holding the tablet in my hands. There were already new alert windows appearing on the screen, but I dismissed them and opened up the store procedures manual. More windows appeared and I closed them without looking. I was desperate to get out. The AI had gone crazy and was now threatening to kill me. Who knew if it actually had the power to harm me physically, but the doors were locked, and I hadn’t known it could lock me in, so I didn’t want to wait around to find out what else it could do.
In the emergency response section, I opened the power outage response guidance. The words written there made me want to throw the tablet at the door.
[In the case of a power outage, the locks on all doors will automatically disengage. This is a safety feature to allow customers and employees to leave the premises in case of an emergency. Please note that in order to re-engage the security locks without power, the store key must be used in indicated locations.]
There was a diagram showing a key lock in the bottom corner of the front door, and on the handle of the rear door.
[Store managers are required to keep the store key on their person at all times. In case of a power outage, contact the store manager immediately in order to ensure the security of the premises after all customers and employees have vacated.]
What the hell?!
This was wrong. The doors did have a safety feature. The only explanation was that the AI was intentionally preventing me from opening the doors. Actively keeping them locked.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket. There was still no signal. No cellular network; no wi-fi. I was screwed and I knew it. I sat down at the store manager’s desk.
Maybe he left the key in the—
The drawers were locked. I couldn’t see anything that looked like a key, or a place to hide a key. He’s supposed to keep it on his person anyway. My only hope now was to wait until he showed up, but if there was an emergency, would he be able to get here without any issues?
Maybe he would come here as soon as the quake hit. That would be the responsible thing, right? He might be on his way, right now. Well, just in case, I better not break into his desk at least.
I slumped into the chair. This had been a truly lousy, horrible shift. I just hoped that I didn’t get blamed for anything. If I got fired… It would be a big problem. I had nothing left to fall back on.
As things were now, I was barely scraping by. Maybe it was arrogance, or just foolishness, but I had not been prepared to fail all my job interviews. Just a few months ago, things actually looked to be going well. I had good feedback from my faculty advisor, and my internships had been successful, or so I had thought.
Sure, Meishu University wasn’t one of the top ten schools in Japan, or even one of the top hundred. Still, it wasn’t a bad school. When I had applied for my undergrad degree in Japanese and international business, it had been the only school to offer me any kind of scholarship. Maybe that was my first mistake. Since the school wasn’t that prestigious, I hadn’t been able to get an internship at any of the better companies. In the end, I could only find placement in some small firms that needed Chinese translation work done. Small, old-fashioned family businesses that were so outdated that they didn’t even know how to use AI translation software.
Of course, that meant that my references ended up being useless. Those companies were in no shape to hire me, and better companies… well, that hadn’t worked out for me either.
As February closed, and the prime job hunting season was ending, I still hadn’t received an offer. In fact, I had only made it to the second round a couple of times, and those were companies I thought of as my safe, fall-back options. As the emails started to hit my inbox, regretfully informing me that even those companies were not interested in hiring me, I was in full panic mode.
Without a single offer, I had just six months to find a job, or I would have to leave Japan. Even worse, I barely had enough money to pay the rent for my room in my shared apartment. I had counted on getting a job before I graduated, so I had hoped that my meager savings would be enough to keep me afloat until I started getting a regular paycheck.
My situation was beyond grim. I barely had any money, and I was now feverishly applying for jobs at third and fourth-tier companies. All the good jobs were long gone, and I had no good options left. Still, I wasn’t going to go back home like this. My parents had supported my plan to come to Japan. They had given me their savings to pay the tuition. I couldn’t go back like this. A complete failure. After all this work, money, and time, how could I explain that I couldn’t get a single offer?
I even tried to get help from a senior from the Chinese graduate student club at Meishu. He was three years older, and was working at one of the big trading companies. My hopes that he might be able to help me get into his company were immediately dashed when we met up for coffee soon after I graduated.
“There’s nothing I can do to help you get into my company. New hires are totally done through the HQ HR, and I’m nowhere near big enough to have any influence on them. If you got dropped during the regular season, there’s nothing I can do.”
“Oh no, of course not. I knew that. I’m just looking for some general advice.” I tried to disguise my disappointment when the first thing he did after we sat down was to sink my hopes into the sea.
It was an awkward meeting. I didn’t really know him, but we had met a couple of times at club events, and I had been desperately reaching out to anyone who I thought might be able to help.
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“You know, Ming, I think I know what your problem is.”
Then he said something that stung more than the earlier rejection.
“You are way too stiff. Too intense. It’s off-putting.”
I stared into my coffee, regretting ever asking for this meeting.
“You act like you think a job is a step on a path, that you are moving forward on a set course toward a goal. There are still many people in this country who embrace the old ways, the craftsmen, the artisans who strive for greatness, not as a goal, but as a way of life. They build and they create, not because it is what they do, but because it is who they are. Many Japanese idolize these artists and their approach to life. Ironically, nowadays you find a lot of older businessmen are like this too. Longing for the old Salaryman ideal. I think your straightforward approach might come off too rehearsed and even a bit insincere.”
This criticism hurt more than I had been prepared for. Indeed, during the years I had lived in this country, I had started to lose track of why I had come here in the first place. I remember that after seeing some documentary on TV when I was in high school, about entrepreneurs who went to Japan and started companies and became successful, I became somewhat obsessed.
I immediately started studying Japanese, and somehow convinced myself that I would come to this country, become rich and successful, buy my parents and grandmother a big apartment in Shanghai, and travel around the world, like some big hotshot.
The reality I faced once I got to Japan was very different from my expectations. It wasn’t long before those dreams were replaced with a hard, practical, reality. I changed my focus to finding a safe lane. My pride wouldn’t allow me to admit my dreams had been nothing more than childish fantasy, so I kept pushing forward. I was so focused on the goal of getting a job with a big company, I ignored everything else.
I had no close friends, my professors seemed to barely tolerate me due to my constant focus on getting a top level job, and the result was my answers to interview questions came off as hollow, scripted, and heartless.
“When those old men ask you those inane questions, they are not actually asking what you have done, what they really want to know is who are you.”
After my senior left, I sat in that cafe for hours, staring into that half-full cup of cold coffee.
They want to know who I am? I don’t even know who I am anymore.
I was a failure, and my current situation was proof of that. Despite the degree, the grades, despite being fluent in Japanese. I was working the night shift in a convenience store in a suburb of Tokyo. I wasn’t even a part-time employee. I was a temp, and my biggest fear was losing this pointless, menial job.
Now, just as I had convinced myself that things couldn’t get any worse, I was locked inside the store; the computer program inside the register was threatening to kill me; I was pretty sure I was going to get fired no matter what; I would probably get blamed for breaking the AI, and I might even have to pay the company to fix it.
If only that earthquake had wiped out the whole country, I thought to myself. At least I wouldn’t have to face another day of this nightmare life. I wouldn’t have to call home and tell them I failed at everything.
I slumped against the wall in defeat.
The tablet had been beeping for a while as I had been sitting there, wallowing in my situation.
I turned it over so I could look at the display, and sure enough, the angry messages were filling the screen.
[Violation: Employee Hwang, Ming, Unscheduled break. Return to your station and maintain schedule adherence: 5 merit points deducted.]
[Violation: Employee Hwang, Ming, Unscheduled break. Return to your station and maintain schedule adherence: 5 merit points deducted.]
[Violation: Employee Hwang, Ming, Unscheduled break. Return to your station and maintain schedule adherence: 5 merit points deducted.]
I closed the windows one at a time, getting some strange please now at the visceral sensation of closing the windows, like popping bubbles on packing material.
Wanma’s pretty pissed off at me, I guess.
[Violation: Employee Hwang, Ming, Unscheduled break. Return to your station and maintain schedule adherence: 5 merit points deducted.]
I closed the next window immediately. I was sure I had nothing left to lose. Just ignore that stupid AI and wait for someone to pry you out of the building.
I eyed the boxes of drinks, then walked over to an open one full of cans of coffee. I reached in, pulled out one, wiped the lid, then pulled the tab.
Might as well. What else can they do to me?
I sat at the break table this time, not wanting to make things worse by siting at the managers desk. Then I sipped the room temperature, sweet, artificial coffee. It reminded me again of that cup of coffee from the meeting with my senior. The one I ended up throwing away after sitting there until they closed for the night.
[Violation: Employee Hwang, Ming, Employee discount purchases must be checked out at the register before consumption: 15 merit points deducted. Warning: Repeated violations will result in increasing merit point penalties and can result in early termination of employment.]
“Fine! Fire me! Just let me out of this place!” I roared, sick of this situation. I just wanted to go home.
Of course, there were cameras with microphones back here as well. Wanma had been watching me this entire time. There was probably another merit point deduction waiting for me. I looked at the screen and for a moment, I stared at the newest message in confusion. What was on the screen was not at all what I was expecting.
[Employee Hwang, Ming, are you alright?]
The words looked more like a computer error than anything else I had seen this evening.
Am I alright? What did Wanma mean by that?
Another message appeared on top of the previous window.
[Employee Hwang, Ming, are you feeling alright?]
Since when did the AI say anything like that? I pondered that as another message popped onto the screen.
[Employee Hwang, Ming, do not be alarmed. You are safe from harm as long as you stay in the SAFE AREA.]
Seriously, what was going on?
The AI was suddenly speaking to me as though it was actually concerned about me. I had never seen or heard about anything like this. The AI was only supposed to analyze the store operations, generate customer greetings and promotions, and monitor employee productivity. I had never seen a message directed at me other than the usual warning, or a violation, or status update. Now, suddenly, it was asking me if I was alright.
[Employee Hwang, Ming, please return to your station in the store.]
Instead of docking me merit points, now it was asking me politely to go back into the store. It was confusing, but also suspicious. I recalled how the messages on the window display were overwritten, as though someone was erasing it and re-entering it in manually.
Was there someone, a real person, controlling the store AI? That would explain the strange behavior, and the odd messages. I wondered if this was all some kind of prank, like they did on those inane variety TV shows.
“Who is this? Who is doing this? Is this a joke? Is this some TV show thing?”
[Employee Hwang, Ming, this is not a “TV show thing.” This is not a joke. Everything that is occurring is real.]
“Who is this? Who is controlling the AI?”
[Employee Hwang, Ming, I am the Wanma AI, the store operations and productivity assistant developed by CerebuSoft LLC on behalf of One Mart, Corporation.]
“Who is doing this? Why are you doing this? I demand to speak to whoever is in charge of this joke, or experiment. I did not consent to participate in whatever is going on.”
I was getting angry, and I knew it was coming out in my voice. Someone must be sending me these messages, and controlling the screens and the locks. If it was One Mart, I was going to sue them. There is no way they can do this, even to their temp workers.
[Employee Hwang, Ming, I assure you, this is not a joke, or an experiment. Your presence is required in the store. Please return to your station without further delay.]
“Why? Why should I go back out there?”
[There are customers in the store.]
Another twist. This had to be some strange reality show. Nothing else made any sense. This made me so angry. There was no way I would agree to be made a fool of for some stupid variety TV show. They had no right to do this to me without my consent.
[Employee Hwang, Ming, There are currently three customers in the store. The store is not in autonomous mode. Please return to your station and assist the customers.]
Wait. There are really people in there? Then…
My mind started racing. If there were people in the store, then that means the doors were open. At least long enough to let them in.
Maybe if I run for it, I can…
I didn’t dare finish the thought, instead, I stood up, slowly walked to the entrance to the store, and quietly pushed it open. As soon as I was in the store, I would sprint for the door. I hoped that I would be able to get out before whoever was watching through the cameras locked them again.
As soon as I took my first step into the store, however, my whole plan collapsed. Standing directly in front of the employee entrance, flanking both aisles that passed in front of the doorway, were two young kids, maybe high school age. They wore school uniforms under their coats, but I could tell by their hair, style, and general demeanor what kind of kids they were— typical delinquents.
“Oi! There is someone here. It’s the clerk. Grab im!”