Suddenly, I Am Rich

For the next few days, Gray spent most of his time looking at people’s resumes.

He’d start each morning the same way.

He would have a black coffee in hand, sleeves rolled up, and his laptop open on the desk. The hiring portal was already filled with PDF files of resumes.

For two days straight, the notifications never stopped.

New applicants came in every few hours.

There were some long-time employees from other companies hoping to have a new opportunity. There were also a few independent small shop owners who were now looking for a more stable job.

There was even a former employee who had managed a school canteen who wrote, ”I don’t know how corporate this job is, but I know how to manage people who are tired and hungry.”

Gray couldn’t help but chuckle at that one.

By the end of the second day, his desktop was filled with notes. Color-coded tabs, shortlists, annotations, and a simple tracker sheet with names and timestamps for those he wanted to meet.

HR was also doing their own thing.

Marcus told him more than once to let HR do it, but Gray refused each time.

”I also want to see everything for myself,” he said.

And he meant it.

After what happened with Will, he couldn’t just trust what looked good on paper.

He read cover letters carefully. Checked the content to see their professionalism. Still, he scanned resumes for experience. He wanted the best of both worlds.

The more he read, the more he realized how many people out there were trying—really trying—to make a difference in small, quiet ways.

Some had no formal titles. Others had gaps in their resumes, months or years unaccounted for.

But they wrote honestly. Thoughtfully.

And Gray found himself drawn to them more than the polished, executive-polished candidates who knew all the right words.

Still, he had to think logically about this.

It wasn’t just about heart—it was about skill. About balance.

So even if he liked someone’s story, he had to check: Can this person handle pressure? Can they lead?

Every résumé became more than just a file. It was a question. A possibility.

By the morning of the third day, Gray had narrowed the list to twenty-five.

Then fifteen.

Then nine.

He leaned back in his chair, sipping his second cup of coffee for the day as he reviewed the final shortlist one more time.

One was a former department supervisor from a local chain, and another was a warehouse coordinator with five years of inventory experience.

There was also a guy who had managed a wet market stall for ten years, and a mother of two who handled both customer service and bookkeeping for her family’s mini-mart.

Each of them came from a different walk of life.

Gray clicked on a few more tabs, updating the status of the applications. He marked the remaining nine as Qualified for Interview. Then he drafted a short message to Marcus.

[Gray:] Final shortlist ready. Let’s schedule interviews tomorrow.

Marcus replied within minutes.

[Marcus:] Got it. I’ll have HR send out the interview invites today. Should I include a basic pre-screen too?

[Gray:] Just a quick form. Basic stuff. But I’ll be the one asking the real questions.

[Marcus:] Noted.

Gray didn’t reply to that. He just stared at the screen for a moment, eyes tracing the names on his list.

The rest of his day moved quietly.

Gray stayed in his office for most of it, following up on a few reports, confirming the shift adjustments for the store, and reviewing some supplier files that Marcus forwarded.

His laptop never closed. Neither did the notepad next to it. They were already filled with small boxes, arrows, and half-doodled checklists.

HR had confirmed the schedule by early afternoon. The interviews would begin tomorrow morning, two every hour starting at nine. It was just enough so they could have a room to breathe in between to reset and make notes.

There were nine candidates. If everything went smoothly, Gray could finish all of them in one day.

By the time 5 p.m. came around, it was already time to leave. People from the other departments were already heading down the elevator.

Most of them gave Gray polite nods on their way past the open glass wall of his office. He returned each one quietly.

But Gray hadn’t packed up yet.

Instead, he saved the final draft of his interview outline, double-checked the room HR had reserved for tomorrow, and cleaned up his table.

Once everything was shut and sorted, he stood up, stretched once, and grabbed his keys.

He had one more thing to do.

He had to shop quite a bit.

About an hour later, Gray found himself walking through the second floor of a department store. The mall was comfortably busy. Not too crowded, but also not too quiet.

He was here to shop for more office clothes. Lately, he’d been putting the same few outfits on rotation, and he figured it wasn’t a great look to keep showing up in the same clothes every four days.

But more than that, tomorrow wasn’t just a regular day.

He was about to meet people who were putting themselves out there—people who probably rehearsed their answers the night before, and thought of their best outfits for the chance to land a job.

So the least he could do was show up with the same energy.

He picked out four clean dress shirts, one white, one light pink, one cream, one light blue. Three new pairs of slacks. He also grabbed two ties, even if he wasn’t entirely sure he’d wear them.

[$721 has been deducted from your balance.]

[$36.05 has been refunded.]

He also bought a late dinner for himself and Lily.

[$41 has been deducted from your balance.]

[$2.05 has been refunded.]

By the time he made it back to his condo, it was already late at night. He quickly hung up his new clothes neatly and took a long breath as he stood in his room.

’Hah...’

Tomorrow will surely be a long day.