Age of Summoner

“You get good grades and constantly participate in university activities. You have potential and truly are remarkable. However, we have to straight out tell you that we are looking for a person with more experience, especially someone with higher education. So, we have to honestly inform you that under this economic downturn, we are unable to hire you.”

The interviewer’s words continued to echo in his ears up to this point. A tall figure stood in front of a refrigerator, with his back slightly bent, in a convenience store somewhere in Thonglor. His iron-colored pupils stared at the diverse arrays of water bottles neatly arranged, prompting him to wonder whether there were some kind of guidelines the convenience store employees followed when arranging these bottles and why certain types of bottles had to be placed in this specific spot?

Similar to a job recruitment process: what methods did one use in deciding whom to hire?

Even though Joke was not much of a looker—and seemed more of a nerd with those glasses and slightly timid posture—he was a responsible person with a high-grade point average of 3.28. He might not have first-class honors, but he scored second-class honors with ease. He constantly took part in university activities and never had any blemish on his record. Granted, he only had a bachelor's degree, but it was from a top-tier university in the country…

But it was still not enough for a company to hire him…

“I tell you, it’s very rare to get hired these days unless you have a master's degree from abroad, and I don’t have the budget to send you off for a master’s abroad. So, I’m giving you one more month to go find a job. If you can’t, you have to join our family’s business. If you are still resisting, I’ll cut off your allowance this time. Just wait and see.”

His old man’s words that were still ringing in his mind were like motivators pushing him, the one and only Jakkarin, forward to fight with all his might to find a job in Bangkok; although the time limit his old man offered was running out to the point where there was only a week left.

For the past three months since his graduation, Joke had consistently been trying to land a job at a publishing company. He graduated with a liberal arts degree, majoring in English; therefore, he wanted to pursue a career in foreign literature. Nevertheless, there was not a single publisher that seemed to welcome him with open arms.

On the contrary, his best friend “Artit”, who graduated with a Japanese major, was currently working as a full-time tour guide. It could be said that he was working in the right field due to his love of traveling, talkative nature, and the fact that Japan was one of his treasured destinations. (even though Joke believed that the thing that Artit treasured more was the Japanese AV that was piling in his bedroom)

Joke could only sigh. He grabbed a bottle of his favorite unsweetened green tea from the fridge, turned the bottle around, and glanced at its 25-baht price tag—just like his defeat that was still churning inside his body.

"There's not much time left. What should I do now?" Joke sighed. "If every company alludes to the 'economic downturn' claims, then there probably won’t be a single company out there that will hire me."

Joke uttered after closing the refrigerator’s door. He was just 22. Normally, it would not be this difficult to find a job, if the economic situation was not this terrible. The point was that every company was filled with policies to downsize their employees, rather than hiring more people. He could only sigh thinking these thoughts.

"I have to attend two more interviews tomorrow. The result probably will not be any different. Perhaps I should look at other lines of work."

He sighed at those thoughts. But Jakkarin Pitaksilp was not someone who liked to give up. He would never be easily willing to go back to work in his hometown in Suphanburi. He must prove to his family that he could land a job in Bangkok. But for now, he must find a way to get through his present situation. With that being said, he walked over to the instant noodle shelf. This was not the time for him to be wasting his money because his father would surely cut off his allowance by the end of the month. During this critical time, these instant noodles had become his true, trusted friends.

Joke thoughts wandered to his university friends, trying to recall whether there was anyone who could help him find a job. But looking back, he was not a person with a lot of friends. He also could not rely on Artit as he did not have a Japanese degree—so being a guide tour was out of the picture. (Plus, he had never in his life stepped foot out of the country before!)

“One unsweetened green tea, two instant noodles, and two boxes of chocolate?” The cashier chimed in after Joke selected his (value) meal.

“That will be 155 baht, please.”

“Alright.”

It was true that he had to be frugal with his money in times like these, but today had been an extremely stressful day for him. Hence, he decided that he needed this chocolate, his all-time favorite since childhood, to heal his soul as soon as possible, even though it cost him up to 60 baht for just a box. Joke opened his wallet which, sadly, revealed that there was only a single one-thousand-baht bill left inside. The young man could only sigh and handed that precious piece of grey banknote to the cashier.

"Ah, sir, our shop is currently offering a special promotion. With every 150 baht spent, you can participate in one lucky draw to win a special prize from us!”

“A lucky draw?” he sedately replied.

“Yes, our current biggest prize is a round flight and a free trip to Japan.”

“And what about the smallest prize?”

Joke sighed, not even caring about the largest prize, and instead turned his attention to what he considered as the “lowest point of this food chain”: the smallest prize.

“Oh, you will get a card pack from Age of Summoner.”

Upon hearing that, his lips were pulled into a taut line. When speaking of Age of Summoner, it was known as the most popular card game in the world right now. Even looking up at the billboard above this convenience store employee’s head, you would realize that this convenience store was running a campaign with Age of Summoner and that the first prize would be a free flight to Japan to meet with the game’s creators and celebrities.

Just by looking at the object, he sighed again because it was worth only a hundred baht—an amount even less than what he paid.

Why was he so confident that he would draw out this particular card pack, you asked?

When it came to lucky draws, he always never had much luck. Also, what good would it do if he received a trip to Japan during a time like this?

"Ah...that's a bit unfortunate. You received a consolation prize: a card pack from Age of Summoner.”

“Okay.”

What a firm response. Joke never expected to get anything better than that in the first place. He accepted his change and a bag filled with items he bought—including that card pack. There was a cool image of a dragon and knight, which he did not recognize, as well as the phrase "Age Of Summoner -SPL" written on it.

"Don't be upset. The card pack you received is AOS's special edition collection. It was rumored that the cards in this collection would be worth more than the others. If you receive foil or rare cards, you can resell them at the Card Factory store that is located all over the country."

“Alright.”

Joke acknowledged the cashier's words before walking out of the convenience store while a soul-stirring song went off. The song was probably one of AOS's soundtracks specially made to substitute the usual convenience store's "bing-bong" jingle.

“It will turn out the same no matter how many times I open this pack anyway.”