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1:52am.

Mark placed his phone none too gently back on the table, his hands coming up and running over his face. Jackson for making him take the graveyard shift again. The other did not even give him a warning. The little er just suddenly popped up out of nowhere and challenged him to a rock paper scissors game. Which he lost. Jackson then yelled around the corner to their boss that Mark would be covering for him tonight.

Mark wrapped his hands around his coffee mug as if it were Jackson’s throat. He had not received a single call from work yet. Graveyard shifts could be tolerable if there was actually work, but sitting in a café trying to fight off sleep was nearly impossible. He had accidentally smacked his head on the table several times already as he drifted in and out of slumber. The last time he did, the barista had come over with a huge mug of hot coffee and a sympathetic look on her face.

He took a sip of that coffee, staring out of the dark front window he was seated next to. All that stared back at him was his own reflection, his chestnut brown hair mussed up and dark circles already forming under his eyes. Mark hoped that the caffeine and the ten packets of sugar he had put in his coffee would keep him awake until his shift ended at 7:00am. Jackson would be in for it when he next saw him at work.

Honestly, though, if Mark were not working, he would be doing something equally boring at home. He did not have many hobbies and never made many friends. Jackson was the exception, but only because the other was too busy talking to realize that Mark only spoke around five words per day.

It had been this way since Mark could remember. Even as a child, he did his homework, exchanged terse pleasantries with his family, and went to bed. He never smiled much, never wanted to join any school clubs, never made friends with his classmates. Even when his parents would invite extended family or family friends with children over for him to play with, he was so unresponsive that they never wanted to come back again.

It was not that his childhood was bad. He grew up with a loving family, lived in a nice house, went to a good school and even college, and found a well-paying job after graduation. But throughout his life, he felt as if he were just going through the motions. He was not sad or happy, per se, just...existing.

The buzz of his phone brought him back to reality. The area manager’s name lit up the screen, and Mark let out a relieved sigh.

“It’s about time, boss,” Mark said as he answered his phone.

“I’m just as bored over here as you are. Probably more since I’m stuck in this ty office and you get to chill in a nice café,” Jaebum, the area manager, snarkily replied.

Rolling his eyes, Mark said, “Just tell me what the job is.”

As Jaebum began to explain the details, Mark jotted down the important facts in his work notebook. The altercation happened just a few subway stops away from where Mark was on a street known for the number of drunk businessmen that populate it late at night. A lady had been on her way home after drinking when two men cat-called her. She then used her mind manipulation specialty to make the men act like dogs, running up and down the street on all fours and barking like mad. Mark was to deal with the two dog-men, as well as the four other people who had witnessed the event. Additional details and directions would be sent straight to his company phone.

When Mark hung up, his phone chimed with an alert from the company’s mobile application. A map popped up with directions to the lady, as well as the names and locations of all the people who had inadvertently been involved.

He nodded to the barista as he stood up and put his suit jacket back on. He saw the words “good luck” as she waved goodbye. He nodded at her again as a sign of thanks before walking out the door into the chill night air, the typical black car waiting outside to take him to his job.

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Mark opened up the company app as he sat in the back of the car. He tried his best to memorize the faces of all the people he had to deal with. Luckily, all of them were within a couple blocks of each other, so he did not have to go far to finish this job.

As he looked at the map, his thoughts strayed to the person who was currently in charge of running it. The man’s specialty was knowing the name and location of everyone he met or