The Job

In a world parallel to the mundane rhythms of nine-to-five shifts and corporate ladders, there exists a secretive dimension of employment that defies conventional understanding. These are not careers one discovers through job boards or networking events—rather, they are vocations that select their practitioners through means obscure and inscrutable.

When the position chooses you, there is rarely a formal offer letter. Instead, you might notice subtle changes: newfound abilities manifesting unexpectedly, compulsions toward specific behaviors, or dreams saturated with symbolism that lingers into waking hours. The first signs are often dismissed as coincidence or imagination until the unmistakable weight of your new responsibility settles upon your shoulders like an invisible mantle.

Consider the Infidelity Inspector, who awakens one morning with the unsettling ability to perceive the fracture lines in romantic commitments. They find themselves drawn to testing the boundaries of others' fidelity—not out of malice, but compelled by an otherworldly mandate to expose relationship vulnerabilities through whatever means necessary. Their methods may seem cruel, yet they operate under cosmic directives beyond mortal judgment.

The Trend Setter walks a different path, cursed or blessed with the power to transform the absurd into the coveted. Whatever they adopt—be it bizarre fashion choices, unusual linguistic patterns, or even behaviors that skirt societal boundaries—becomes inexplicably desirable to the masses. The Trend Setter never knows why certain impulses arise within them, only that they must follow these urges, watching as their choices ripple outward in waves of imitation.

Then there is the Hospitality Examiner, who appears at doorsteps unannounced, radiating an aura that compels hosts to welcome them. They test the limits of generosity and accommodation, silently measuring each gesture against ancient, unwritten standards. Few recognize the Examiner for what they truly are; most remember only a peculiar guest whose departure left them feeling strangely judged.

What unites these supernatural vocations is their singularity—each position typically maintains only one practitioner at any given moment. When one holder's service concludes (through means often as mysterious as their appointment), another is selected somewhere in the world, the mantle passing invisibly from one unsuspecting soul to another.

It would be a mistake to classify these positions as malevolent, though their execution can certainly appear disturbing to uninitiated observers. Like forces of nature, these roles maintain necessary but misunderstood functions in the hidden workings of existence. Yet when a position falls to someone harboring darkness in their heart, the powers bestowed can become instruments of chaos—not because the role itself is corrupt, but because its wielder chooses to twist its purpose toward destructive ends.