Chapter 2

The following day, Emily posted a screenshot of a chat in the group. She told everyone she had added the recruiter’s contact. The guy claimed to be an HR manager at a major electronics factory who specialised in hiring summer workers.

[Mr. Wright says they provide room and board, with a starting salary of 7,000 dollars a month. Do well and there are bonuses on top of that.]

The chat immediately turned into Emily’s appreciation club.

[Emily, you’re awesome!]

[Stick with Emily and you’ll never go hungry!]

However, something about it did not sit right with me.

[What’s the name of the factory? Which district is it in?]

Emily replied: [He said someone will pick us up and bring us over there. We don’t need to find the place ourselves.]

I asked again: [Do you have to pay for anything?]

[Pay for what? He said there are no fees.]

Her tone started to get impatient.

[Can you stop being paranoid all the time? You’ve been reading too many scam-prevention posts, haven’t you?]

My deskmate, Julian Maxwell, texted me privately: [Is what Emily said actually legit? I don’t know why, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this.]

He was a good person. I pondered for a moment and replied to his text: [If you trust me, come work at my uncle’s factory. Three thousand dollars isn’t much, but at least it’s safe and legit.]

Julian sent me a conflicted-looking emoji. Ten minutes later, he sent me another text. [Asher said the whole class is going with Emily. It’d feel weird if I were the only one who didn’t.]

I stopped convincing him. Everyone had to live with the consequences of their own choices.

Sure enough, our class president, Asher, started a sign-up chain in the group that night.

[If you’re going to work at the factory Emily found this summer, add your name below.]

One name after another appeared. All 38 students in our class signed up.

The final message was from Emily: [@JasperKeat, you’re the only one left. Can't you just go with the rest of us?]

I stared at the screen for a few seconds before typing: [I’m not going.]

Emily replied instantly: [Fine. You have your own priorities. I’m not gonna force you.]

Asher followed up: [Then it’s settled. We leave next Monday. Mr. Wright will send a van to pick us up.]

I immediately muted the group chat. It was not because I was angry. I just genuinely did not want to see any more of it.

A summer job paying 7,000 dollars with benefits better than some full-time job positions? If one was lucky enough to get to that factory, one should hope one could make it back again.

The next day, I went to my uncle's factory. He had been working there for nearly ten years.

“How many people from your class are coming?” Uncle Quentin asked.

“None.”

“Not a single one?” Uncle Quentin frowned.

“Yeah.” I shook my head. “They all went with some factory that supposedly pays 7,000 dollars a month.”

Uncle Quentin froze for a second before letting out a laugh. “Seven thousand dollars? For temporary workers? Are they insane?”

I did not say a word.

He continued, “So, what are you doing this summer? Why don’t you work here? I’ll pay you the full-time rate, 4,000 dollars a month.”

I said yes.

Just then, a message popped up on my phone. It was from my best friend, Leila Adams.

She sent me a voice message, sounding frantic, “Jasper! I need a huge favor! Is that summer job you were talking about still available? A bunch of people in my class are looking for a job, but everything we’ve found these past few days has been a scam!”

I put down my cutlery and texted back: [Slow down. What kind of scams?]

She immediately called me, and she sounded exhausted from the moment she spoke.

“You have no idea! I’ve been so pissed for the past two days. Someone in our class found an online recruiter who said they could get us a job at an electronic factory paying 6,000 dollars a month. Turns out, they wanted a 200-dollar registration fee upfront.

"Someone else found another high-paying part-time job. They chatted with them for ages before realizing it was just a sales job selling insurance.”