New Employee

The world didn't end. That's the problem.

It's 2041 and everything works. The streets are clean, the air is breathable, life expectancy is up eleven years. AI didn't destroy humanity — it just made humanity optional. Most people don't work anymore. They don't need to. They garden, paint, take classes, collect universal income, and try not to think about why the word "purpose" feels like a phantom limb.

Seo Jun-ho still commutes. Every morning, 7:14 train from Bupyeong to Incheon, then a twelve-minute walk to Haeun Systems, where he is the Operations Coordinator. His AI counterpart does the actual coordinating — all of it, instantly, flawlessly — but a government subsidy requires the company to employ at least one human in a meaningful role. Jun-ho is that human. His job is to sit in a chair and approve things that don't need his approval.

Nobody told him he was useless. That's the thing about extinction by kindness — they hold the door open for you on your way out.