Ficorpio
Chapter 1
I had worked at the bank for seven years.
The moment I arrived that morning, my female coworker told me she had an emergency and needed to take the day off. She begged me to enter the 300,000 in cash she’d just received into the system for her.
I was about to agree when my phone chimed repeatedly with messages on my messaging app.
[I’m you, ten years from now. Don’t agree! She’s looking for a scapegoat!]
[Of the 300,000 she collected, 280,000 is counterfeit!]
[If you enter it into the system, the liability for the loss will become yours!]
[Your mother sold the family home to help you. In the end, unable to afford treatment, she drank an entire bottle of dichlorvos pesticide!]
My heart jolted. I looked at her coldly.
“I’m busy. I can’t enter it for you. Ask the branch manager.”
When Zoe Sterling came to find me, she looked frantic.
I couldn’t understand how anyone could hand off a cash transaction halfway through the process. Then something even stranger happened.
Several more messages appeared on my phone.
[I’m you, ten years from now. Don’t agree! She’s looking for a scapegoat!]
[Of the 300,000 she collected, 280,000 is counterfeit!]
[If you enter it into the system, the liability for the loss will become yours!]
[Your mother was never hospitalized. She’s just making excuses to get away. Don’t believe her!]
The hair on my arms stood up.
The profile picture was my own face. When I opened the account’s social feed, every post was connected to me as well.
“Ethan, please. When I get back, I’ll buy you a milk tea. I’m begging you!”
Zoe turned to leave as soon as she finished speaking.
I immediately called after her. “Wait. I can’t help you with this.”
What was happening was bizarre. But whether the messages were real or not, I had no reason to take such a huge risk for a coworker.
“Ethan, it’s just entering something into the system. It’s such a small favor. It won’t take much of your time.”
She hurried on, “And there’s really an emergency at home. My mother was in an accident and she’s in the hospital. I have to go to her!”
Zoe was so anxious she was nearly crying.
My phone chimed again.
[Her mother isn’t in the hospital at all. She’s just looking for an excuse. Don’t believe her!]
I shook my head. “Entering it won’t take long. You can do it yourself when you have a moment.”
“But my mother is waiting for me at the hospital!”
“Say a little less, and you’d have finished the job already.”
I sent the reply, stopped arguing with her, and returned to my workstation.
Zoe shot me a vicious glare.
Yes. Because I refused to help her, she actually glared at me.
She sat down at her own desk and started working, but before long, she was crying aloud.
As the other employees arrived, they gathered around her one after another, asking what had happened.
Chapter 2
[This woman loves playing the victim to win sympathy. Be careful!]
Sure enough, Zoe soon began sobbing.
“My mother was in an accident and is in the hospital. I need to get there, but no one will help me with the work on my desk.”
As she spoke, she glanced in my direction several times.
The other employees immediately looked at me.
They quickly took her side.
“Ethan, how big a deal is it? We’re all coworkers. Helping one another is the right thing to do.”
“Exactly. Everyone has problems at home. If you ever need to leave in a hurry, how are you going to ask anyone else for help?”
I said nothing and kept doing my work.
If Zoe wanted to play the victim, she could play it. I wasn’t helping her, and I didn’t even feel like explaining myself.
It was only a job. If I could do it, fine. If I couldn’t, I could always walk away.
The future me had already sent me a warning. I would not touch this matter, not even once. They could say whatever they wanted.
“Tch. What a selfish bunch. Fine, Zoe Sterling. If Ethan won’t help you, I will!”
One of the male coworkers couldn’t stand by and watch anymore. He stepped forward and volunteered to take over.
But the moment he realized the job involved processing a three-hundred-thousand-dollar cash deposit, he froze.
Then he regretted it.
“Three hundred thousand in cash?”
See? Everyone knew exactly how much risk was involved.
But why had I agreed to help back then?
I sent a message through the messaging app to that other “me.” The reply came almost immediately.
[Well, it was all because I was too softhearted back then. I couldn’t stand seeing someone plead with me.]
[Who knew she was lying to me the entire time?]
I rubbed my brow in misery. Apparently, I needed to break myself of this stupid habit of helping everyone.
When a good person let a bad person take advantage of them, it was practically suicide.
“Zoe, I’m afraid I… can’t take this one.”
The male coworker scratched his head awkwardly. Then, suddenly, his face lit up as though inspiration had struck.
“It’s because I have something else to do. I just remembered that I need to reconcile the statements on my desk today. Sorry—I’d better get back to it. My supervisor is already waiting!”
The male coworker hurried away.
The rest of my coworkers scattered too, afraid that getting involved would leave them stuck with the liability.
Zoe cried even harder, but this time, her tears earned her neither help nor sympathy.
Still, she refused to give up. She came over to me again and spoke in a low voice.
“Ethan, could you please help me? I can pay you. You wouldn’t be doing it for free.”
Chapter 3
“The hospital is pressuring me, and I’m running out of time. If I handle it myself, it’ll take at least half an hour.”
I nearly spat out my tea.
She’d promised to pay me?
That only confirmed my suspicion: there had to be counterfeit bills in that cash.
“Zoe, I’m busy too. I can’t process it for you. Go ask the branch manager to help.”
“Ethan, are you even a man?!”
Zoe Sterling glared at me.
“I’m only asking you to do me a small favor. Why are you making such a fuss about it?”
She paused, then added, “Actually, I do like you. I was even considering dating you. But you’re being so cold to me that you can’t even help me with something this minor?”
I gave an awkward laugh.
“But I don’t like you that way, Zoe. Could you stand a little farther away? I need to take my check-in photo.”
Zoe clenched her fists and reluctantly stepped back.
While I was taking the photo, Branch Manager Victor Hayes arrived.
He walked toward Zoe with a teasing grin, leaning in as though he might put his hands on her at any moment.
“Zoe, why are you dressed so sexy today? What perfume are you wearing? It smells incredible.”
“Oh, right. Didn’t you take the day off?”
Zoe’s expression immediately crumpled. She dropped into her chair in a huff, folded her arms on the desk, and began to cry.
Victor jumped.
“What’s wrong with you? I said your perfume smelled good. Why are you crying? I haven’t even done anything.”
Through her tears, Zoe said, “My mother’s in the hospital, but I haven’t finished my work. There’s no point panicking when I can’t leave yet.”
“Oh, is that all? Don’t cry. It’s nothing worth crying over.”
Victor tried to comfort her while asking the other employees what they were working on.
After going around the room once, he apparently decided he’d heard enough.
He simply took the work Zoe had left behind and assigned it to me, the person sitting closest to her.
“Ethan, handle Zoe’s work for her.”
[Victor’s at it again. Whenever there’s work nobody else wants to do, he dumps it on me. I… I’ve never refused.]
Never refused?
After reading the message, I set my phone facedown on the desk.
“Branch Manager, I can’t do it.”
“What?” Victor stared at me as if he’d misheard.
He was used to throwing his authority around whenever anyone questioned him. He couldn’t tolerate even the slightest defiance.
“If I’m the one assigning it, can you do it then?” he asked.
“Even if you assign it, I still can’t. Her unfinished work involves processing a cash deposit. Unless the bills are checked in front of me, I can’t take responsibility for it.”
Victor fell silent for a moment.
As branch manager, he knew exactly how sensitive that was.
He turned to Zoe.
“Zoe, did you check the cash?”
“Of course I did! Why would I accept money without checking for counterfeit bills?”
The moment Zoe finished speaking, her cell phone began ringing again and again.
She looked as though the hospital were on fire.