Chapter 1: SELECTION

<p>After his 99th Public Service Commission (PSC) examination, Hari returned to his small room, which he had rented a few years ago after completing his degree. His dream was to become a government employee. Unlike private jobs, government jobs provided a good salary, enough holidays, and most importantly, the work hours were limited to 10 AM to 5 PM with no extra time, no pressure, and no risk of dismissal. It was a dream job for many young people. However, after his 99th exam, Hari realized that his dream was shattered. Most government jobs required candidates to be under 28 years old, and for those with a 35-year age limit, the competition involved hundreds of thousands of applicants. He decided to go back to his village and work for a small company from now on.<br/><br/>After deciding to return to the village, he called a few friends who, like him, had come from the village to find a job or study at the local tuition center for government exams. They lived cheaply near his apartment. He invited them for a last drinking party.<br/><br/>He bought a bottle of Jawan rum (a low-quality rum, costing around $5 per liter) with shared money from his friends. They always shared the cost equally because they came from poor backgrounds and didn't have stable incomes. Hari told them about his decision to go back to the village. As they started drinking, emotions ran high. Hari, the main character of the party, drank a few extra rounds and became quite drunk. After a few more rounds, his friends said their goodbyes and left.<br/><br/>"Splash."<br/><br/>"Who..."<br/><br/>"Splash."<br/><br/>"Who poured water on my..."<br/><br/>Hari couldn't finish his sentence; his lips felt glued together. Terrified, he opened his eyes and found himself not in his small room but in an exam hall that stretched indefinitely. Millions of people were sitting in chairs, preparing for exams. Everyone was checking the others around them. Hari tried to look at the people near him, but what terrified him was their faces were blank—no eyes, no nose, no ears, no lips. Feeling frightened, he touched his face and realized, like his beer belly, his face had also turned into a round ball like the other examinees.<br/><br/>"What is happening to me? God, at least in my dreams, give me beautiful girls and wealth, not exams..."<br/><br/>"Anyway, I'll attend this exam. At least I can become a government employee in my dream."<br/><br/>Hari waited a few minutes, but there was no movement in his dream. Time passed slowly. Sitting in a chair doing nothing felt like torture. The minutes felt like hours.<br/><br/>After 15 minutes, the people around him started to shatter like mirrors, and a white light flowed out of them.<br/><br/>"DING."<br/><br/>"CANDIDATES WITH LOW MENTAL STRENGTH ELIMINATED FROM EXAMINATION."<br/><br/>Hari looked around, confused about where the sound came from. Suddenly, a transparent screen formed in front of him, displaying a message instructing him to place his hand on the right corner of the screen where a hand symbol was shown. Hari did as instructed, knowing he had no choice but to comply with the mysterious voice. After a few moments, nothing happened.<br/><br/>"DING."<br/><br/>"CANDIDATES WITH LOW DECISION-MAKING SKILL REMOVED."<br/><br/>A few minutes later:<br/><br/>"DING."<br/><br/>"DEAR CANDIDATE, THE EXAMINATION WILL START SOON. AFTER READING THE QUESTIONS, PLACE YOUR HAND ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SCREEN AND THINK ABOUT THE ANSWER. YOUR ANSWERS WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY RECORDED BY THE SYSTEM. THE EXAMINATION WILL START IN 10...9...8...1...0."<br/><br/>"QUESTION NO 1: ARE YOU INTERESTED IN WORKING IN A DISTANT PLACE?"<br/><br/>Hari found the first question amusing but answered seriously. He had never cared about the location, only about getting the job.<br/><br/>"DING."<br/><br/>"YOU ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE SECOND QUESTION."<br/><br/>"QUESTION NO 2: HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU IN MANAGING YOUR EMPLOYEES?"<br/><br/>From then on, Hari faced questions about management skills, psychology, science, and history. He answered casually, as these were not his degree subjects. After the 15th question, he started to doubt the nature of the questions. They began to delve into fantasy novel concepts like:<br/><br/>"How would you develop your village into a kingdom?"<br/><br/>"Do you prefer a normal hero or an anti-hero?"<br/><br/>"What would you do if you discovered slavery in your world?"<br/><br/>After a few hours:<br/><br/>"DING."<br/><br/>"THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING THE EXAMINATION."<br/><br/>"A TOTAL OF 138,967,432,689 CANDIDATES ATTENDED THE EXAMINATION. 125,000 CANDIDATES HAVE BEEN SHORTLISTED FOR THE NEXT EVALUATION."<br/><br/>"REMOVING UNDERAGED CANDIDATES... 98,000 CANDIDATES LEFT."<br/><br/>"REMOVING CANDIDATES IN MARRIED/COMMITTED RELATIONSHIPS... 97,000 CANDIDATES LEFT."<br/><br/>It hurts...<br/><br/>"REMOVING CANDIDATES WITH JOBS... 80,234 CANDIDATES LEFT."<br/><br/>Do you want to kill me...<br/><br/>"REMOVING CANDIDATES WHO HAVE NEVER DREAMED ABOUT TRUCKSAN... 53,476 CANDIDATES LEFT."<br/><br/>I do, I dream about it every day...<br/><br/>"CREATING SENIORITY BASED VIRGIN WIZARD LEVEL... 25,000 CANDIDATES AGED 25+ SELECTED."<br/><br/>You can kill me but can't defeat me... Please don't do this to me... I want to become "Brahmachari"... It's true... I don't care (I do) if girls like me or not...<br/><br/>"LUCKY LOTTERY INITIATED."<br/><br/>"EVERY CANDIDATE SHOULD WRITE A 6-DIGIT NUMBER FOR THE LUCKY DRAW."<br/><br/>Hari wrote the number "385649."<br/><br/>"REMOVING 7,643 CANDIDATES WHO DIDN'T WRITE A NUMBER IN 5 SECONDS. NO SPACE FOR INDECISIVE PEOPLE."<br/><br/>"REMOVING 4,563 CANDIDATES WHO WROTE THE SAME NUMBER IN 6 DIGIT SPACE. NO EASY WAY FOR LUCK."<br/><br/>"REMOVING 9,748 CANDIDATES WHO WROTE THEIR CARD NUMBER, VEHICLE NUMBER, SOCIAL MEDIA PASSWORD, OR IDENTITY NUMBER. THOSE WHO CAN'T KEEP THEIR PRIVACY ARE DEAD PEOPLE."<br/><br/>"SELECTING 3,046 CANDIDATES FOR THE LUCKY DRAW."<br/><br/>Hari was confident he would be the winner; it was his dream. He was part of the last 3,046 candidates. He even thanked the "Jawan" rum for his good dream.<br/><br/>"God, thank you. At least I got a job in my dream... Are you trying to tell me to write exams in real life again through these dreams?"<br/><br/>Hari's thoughts started to get wild. He began thinking about getting a real job, buying a car and house, and marrying a pretty girl...<br/><br/>"DING."<br/><br/>"THANK YOU FOR WAITING. THE LUCKY DRAW IS COMPLETE."<br/><br/>"CANDIDATE ZHANG WEI SELECTED FOR THE JOB. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION."<br/><br/>"LUCK IS ALSO A STRENGTH."<br/><br/>"DING...DING...DING..."<br/><br/>"YOU TOO, 'MY DREAM'... WHY? WHO THE FUCK IS ZHANG WEI?"</p>