you know you used to shine so bright

The Intern was nervous. 

Breaking into the Game Industry was hard. 

Everyone knew that.

You made sacrifices. Long hours. Shit pay.

Some of their friends had already been through the grinder of working on pay to win facebook "games" preying on people with no impulse control.  They knew all the horror stories. 

Which is why they were nervous.

Eyedol Games seemed an impossibility. Too established.  Too legitimate.  Even though their newer games were kind of a joke, they'd still made ZAMPANIO for crying out loud.

And the Intern was nothing special.

Their grades were strictly middle of the road. 

Their connections were non-existent. 

But when they found what in all honesty had looked like a link to a screamer or a rick roll or something... and it INSTEAD lead to a puzzle that lead to a puzzle that lead to a puzzle? And THAT lead to an interview through a chat interface?

It had all seemed so obviously fake.  Like the CEO of Eyedol Games was ACTUALLY on the other end of that fake looking chat dialogue. 

So they'd shit posted. Not taken anything seriously.  The person (or was it a chat bot?) on the other end seemed to take it in a stride. Welcomed it, even.  Before the Intern knew it they were trading memes back and forth and talking about how bullshit the games industry was like old friends. 

And about the murders.

God, the Intern was so nervous.

How were they supposed to know it was a REAL interview? That when they showed up at 9am on the dot to Eyedol Games HQ like the chat had asked the receptionist was ACTUALLY expecting them, with a little laminated name badge and everything.

How long until their new manager came to collect them? The waiting was torture.

WHY!? Why had they brought up the murders!? 

Sure. Of COURSE they had thought it was a chat bot or a troll or something. They'd really just been on autopilot when the topic of rumors had come up.  And boy did the Intern have rumors.  Good ones, too. Not just friend of a friend stuff. 

Their best friend had gone missing.  

No one could connect anything to Eyedol, officially, of course.  But The Intern knew.  KNEW it was. Their friend had been OBSESSED with Eyedol, with proving they were behind the Eye Killer murders, somehow. 

The Intern remembered the sheer conviction in their eye as they walked them through the breadcrumbs. Down the rabbit hole, they'd called it.

That was... well.  A long time ago now. 

 A lot longer than the friend had been missing. They'd...gone weird, the further they dug. Stopped responding to messages. Stopped answering their door. And by the time the Intern broke down and called the cops they'd apparently been gone for a while. 

And the Intern, dumbass that they were, BROUGHT IT UP TO THE CEO OF EYEDOL GAMES. 

DURING A SECRET INTERVIEW!

It was taking all of their willpower to not tap out a staccato beat on the tile floor of the reception area just to try to drain off that nervous energy.

Was this their big break? (Did the CEO have a sense of humor?) 

Was this their last day on earth (Was the CEO going to tie up some loose ends?)

Was it all a big joke? (God at this point the Intern half hoped it was). 

Was-

"You must be our new hire!" a warm, friendly voice called out, interrupting the Interns thoughts. They shot up to their feet and stiffly shook the hand rising to meet them. 

"Yes! Um! I was told to report here? By.  A.  A. "  the Intern sheepishly scratches their head.  "By a chat window?"

The Manager is tall, with great hair and just LOOKS professional in all the ways the Intern does not in their t-shirt and jeans. God why didn't they take this seriously and dress up? The Manager laughs warmly and pumps the Interns hand once, firmly. Probably learned how to do it in Business Class or whatever it is managers do. 

"Ah, that sure sounds like our CEO!", they smile.  "Let me show you around, give you the Tour!"  The Manager gestures grandly to the front door and swipes their id card to get them through.  "We weren't sure you'd actually come, so we haven't activated your card just yet, but tomorrow at the latest, alright?"

"Uh. Sure.", The Intern says, feeling like the lamest person to ever exist. 

"So, over here we have our main cubicle area." The Manager grins.  They lean forward with a conspiratorial air.  "We tried out an open floor plan a few years back but the CEO said it didn't fit our "brand identity"." They pull back a bit and in a louder voice say "There just is nothing like an endless sea of identical walls breaking up your line of sight, am I right?"

The Intern peers around and it all looks very official and business like. And...confusing as hell. God they hope they never get lost in here.  "Uh. Yeah?"

The Manager steers them around a few nearly identical turns to a more open space along a wall.  "And here we have our Breakroom! Hey Tom, I'm just steering the new hire around!", they wave to a man with a generic haircut, dark slacks, a white button up shirt and a dark tie.  He seems to be pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Hey there John, working hard or hardly working?" he asks, smiling blandly at the Manager. 

"Not my name, Tom! But that's okay! How're your brothers?"

Tom pours the coffee down the sink mechanically. "Hardly working!" he declares, with a frown.  He goes back to the coffee pot and pours a new cup. 

The Manager quickly ushers the Intern far enough away they won't be overheard.  "Don't mind him, Tom's been with the company for YEARS.  Bit of an old guard you know? Indispensable, really. Not the best conversationalist, but you don't have to be when you're that valuable, you get me?" The Manager's grin is a bit strained, but undiminished.

"Yeah. Of course. He's uh. Senior. Gotcha." The Intern hates everything about this. Oh, god. They have NO idea what the Manager means at all. They've never even BEEN in an office building before. 

There's a loud crash and an indignant squawk from somewhere deeper in the cubicles. The Manager frowns and says "Excuse me one second? Just. Wait back in the breakroom for a bit?" and power walks towards the escalating chaos somewhere in the labyrinth of beige felt walls. 

The Intern awkwardly heads back towards the breakroom only to see Tom apparently having given up on coffee for water. Should...should they say something to him? Try to...bond? Aren't water coolers how office workers bond? Is there...some kind of right way to do this?

"Hey there John, working hard or hardly working?" a voice from behind startles the Intern. 

Behind them is...Tom? Still with a full coffee mug gripped tightly in his right hand.

But...

The Intern swivels rapidly and yup, Tom is still there filling a water bottle at the cooler. 

"Oh! I didn't know...you had a twin! Sorry about that. Tom, right?"

"Working hard!" Tom beams. 

"Hey there John, working hard or hardly working?" a third voice choruses. 

A new Tom is here. This one has a box of donuts.

The Intern is getting increasingly anxious about all of this. What kind of triplets all work for the same company? Why. Are. Are they hazing them? Is that why they keep repeating that phrase? Are-

The Manager once again proves capable of interrupting the Intern's thoughts before they get too far.  "Tom! and Tom! great to see you! Just showing the new hire around! Tell your brothers I said Hi, but I have to run!" their grip is tight as they steer the Intern away.

"Sorry about that!" The Manager says brightly "Just a bit of a kerfluffle that needed a Manager's attention. How did you like the Toms?"

"Are.. they triplets?" the Intern asks, not trusting themselves to say anything more complicated.

"No! There's 19 of them, actually? Technically that's undevicesuplets.  I think? Kind of a mouthful so we just call them the Toms."

That's. Not possible. The Intern is sure of it.  Equally, they're sure that bringing that up is NOT going to go well for them so they just nod. 

The Manager apparently excels at reading the room as well as they do at interrupting the Intern's thoughts and frowns.

"Look. We're thrilled to have you. You're safe here and there really is nothing to worry about. Is there anything I can do to ease your mind?"

"Why am I here?" the Intern blurts out and blanches.

The Manager thoughtfully taps their cheek. "I see, I see. Yes, we do have unconventional hiring practices.  Tell you what. Let me get you to your cube and then we can discuss expectations, okay?"

The Intern's cubicle is identical to all the rest, besides a copy of their favorite textbook sitting at the desk and a box of their favorite snacks. They are trying not to get distracted thinking about how anyone could possibly know about that.  They sit down on the surprisingly comfortable office chair.

"Now. Why are you here?" The Manager begins enumerating on their fingers. "You solved the puzzle. That's step 1. You made an impression on the CEO, well, that's step 2."  They pull up a chair from the corner of the cube and sit down on it backwards, facing the Intern.  "And then you decided to take the job offer seriously and actually show up.  And that was step 3."

"Look. We here at Eyedol Games are not.. exactly a fan of normal hiring practices. I'm sure you realized that when you saw the Toms."

"And the serial killer." The Intern curses whatever malevolent deity gave them the gift of speech but not the ability to control their dumbshit mouth.

The Manager's smiling facade finally cracks at this and a frown peeks through.

"We do NOT employ that animal."  They are firm on this. 

"But you ARE associated with them." At this point the Intern may as well ride this wave to shore. Either they're dead at the end of this conversation or they're not and they have no confidence in their ability to influence the outcome for the better anymore.

The Manager pinches the bridge of their nose. 

"Eyedol Games is NOT associated with them either. "  They sigh.  "But, I can neither confirm nor deny that our CEO, in a personal capacity, may or may not have claimed the Eye Killer is "cool" but "not cool on the murdering front". Whatever THAT means." 

They slump down.

"I'm not going to mince words here. This is a WEIRD job. It's borderline insane. The CEO just seems to have an infinite amount of money and MOST employees just show up to sit in cubes and repeat the same 3 lines and aren't even on payroll. We haven't even put out a game in decades. We just buy games from other people and release them at cost. For all I know this is a front for SOMETHING but for the life of me I couldn't tell you what."

They stare steadily into the Intern's eyes.

"But it's worth it. I've learned more here in two years than I have in all of my previous jobs combined. The pay's decent, and on top of that sometimes the CEO just. Tells people. "  their gaze drops. "You won't believe me now, and I don't blame you.  But if you stick around, you can see for yourself what I mean. The CEO tells us what to do to accomplish anything we want. Stock tips. Unnaturally timely health advice. You name it. "

"Is this a cult?" the Intern wonders, in a daze.

The Manager seems to take the question worryingly seriously and takes a solid minute before answering.

"I don't THINK so?".  They seem more confident as they go on.  "The CEO never asks us to do anything. Or believe anything. And people quit all the time. Usually after making a fortune. A few of us consider them a friend but its not...a company wide thing. Honestly, between you and me, I don't think they have the charisma to be a cult leader." 

They seem deep in thought.

"Though. I'm not as confident about their co-founder. There's definitely something...cult adjacent about them, at least. Never ask about their eye, by the by. I'm sure you have a good head on your shoulders but you'd be surprised how tactless people can be."

They stand up.

"It's up to you, if you want to stay.  If you do, your login is on the post it on the screen. Your job, all of our jobs, really, is to do guerilla marketing for Zampanio. Make puzzles, leave copies of it in hard to reach places. The Tech Department takes care of making sure only a few can be obtained from any one source, don't worry about that.  And they'll be monitoring everything so you don't even have to worry about documenting where you left anything."

They put a hand on the Intern's shoulder and stare intently at them.

"Think about it.  Sleep on it, if you need to. You can quit any time. What can one more day working here hurt?"

And with that, the Intern is left alone with their thoughts.

What could hurt, indeed.