Ten minutes turned into fifteen, then twenty. Jaokhun was starting to think Agent Pradit wasn't coming.
Above the river, the Naga and Garuda were still arguing.
"I have CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE," the Naga was saying. "I appear in LITERATURE."
"You appear in one poem from 1782," the Garuda said. "I'm in the national emblem. We are not the same."
"The emblem is tiny! No one even looks at it!"
Jaokhun sat on a bench, watching them argue. Some tourists were taking selfies by the river. None of them looked up. None of them saw the two giant creatures fighting about Thai culture.
A voice spoke behind him. "You can see them."
Jaokhun turned around. A man stood there, maybe fifty years old, wearing a wrinkled shirt and pants. He was holding coffee from 7-Eleven and looked tired.
"Are you Agent Pradit?"
"Yes." The man drank his coffee and made a face. "And you're the one who called about the Naga and Garuda."
"They're right there." Jaokhun pointed at the sky.
Agent Pradit didn't look up. "I know. I can see them too. That's why I'm here."
"So this is real?"
"Yes. You can see them. That means you have the Sight. That means I have to do paperwork." He said paperwork like it was the worst thing in the world.
"What's the Sight?"
"It means you can see through the Veil. The thing that separates the human world and the myth world. Most people can't see through it. You can." He drank more coffee. "Your life is going to get complicated now."
"My life is already complicated. I owe three months of rent."
"Good. Now you can owe rent AND see monsters." Agent Pradit looked up at the Naga and Garuda. "Hey! You two! Stop arguing!"
The Naga stopped talking. "Excuse me?"
"I said stop. I have three more cases today. I want to go home."
"Do you know who I am?" the Naga said.
"Yes. You're Naga Thongchai. You guard the river. You get banana offerings sometimes. You complained about water pollution last month. I read your file." Agent Pradit pulled out an old phone. "Go back to your realm now or I'll file a Code 19."
"You wouldn't," the Garuda said.
"I have eight years until retirement. I don't care anymore."
The Naga and Garuda looked at each other. Then they both disappeared. Just gone.
Jaokhun stared at the empty sky. "Where did they go?"
"Back to the myth realm. Where they should be." Agent Pradit sat down on the bench next to Jaokhun. "Now. Let's talk about your options."
"Options?"
"Option one: I use this." He pulled out a small device that looked like an old calculator. "It's called an Amnesia Administration Kit. You sign a form, and you forget everything. You go back to your normal life. Your rent problem. Your student problems. Everything."
"That sounds good."
"Option two: You join LMFAO. You become an agent. You handle situations like this. You get a salary. After the probation period."
"How long is the probation period?"
"Six months. No pay."
"No pay?"
"You're an intern. Interns don't get paid." Agent Pradit said this like everyone should know.
"That's not legal."
"Talk to HR about it. They're at the regional office. Good luck." He drank more coffee. "Option two means you sign a twenty year contract. You work for us. You can't quit. You can't tell anyone what you do. You handle myths, monsters, paperwork. Lots of paperwork."
"Twenty years?"
"It used to be thirty. The union changed it." Agent Pradit checked his phone. "Oh. If you quit early, you have to pay a penalty. Around 2.4 million baht."
Jaokhun's mouth opened. "I don't have 2.4 million baht."
"Then don't quit."
"This sounds terrible."
"It is terrible." Agent Pradit stood up. "But if you join, we clear your student debt. All of it. Gone. We also pay your rent for the first year during training."
Jaokhun sat up. "All of it?"
"All of it. We have an arrangement with the government. Don't ask how." He pulled out a thick folder from his bag. Very thick. "This is the contract. You can read it if you want. Most people don't. It's sixty pages. Basically says: you work for us, we own you, don't tell anyone, don't quit."
Jaokhun looked at the folder. Sixty pages. He'd never read a sixty page document in his life. He barely read his textbooks.
"What if I don't choose either option?"
"Not an option. You saw them. You have the Sight. That means you're either with us or you forget. Those are the only two choices." Agent Pradit sat back down. "Look. I'm going to be honest with you. This job is bad. The pay is okay but not great. The equipment is old. The office smells weird. You'll work overtime without extra pay. Your boss will be annoying. The myths and monsters are rude. The paperwork never ends."
"You're really selling this."
"I'm not selling anything. I'm telling you the truth." Agent Pradit looked at him. "But your student debt disappears. Your rent gets paid. And you'll never be bored. So there's that."
Jaokhun thought about his bank account. Forty seven baht. He thought about Nont asking for rent money. He thought about eating one meal a day to save money. He thought about his credit card bill that he'd been ignoring for two months.
"If I sign, the debt goes away immediately?"
"Within three business days. Government systems are slow."
"And I get paid after six months?"
"Yes. Grade 1 Provisional Agent salary. It's not much. But it's something."
Jaokhun looked at the folder again. Twenty years. That was a long time. He'd be forty three years old when the contract ended. That seemed impossible. He couldn't imagine being forty three.
But also, no student debt. No rent stress. And apparently he'd get to see more mythological creatures. That was kind of cool. Maybe. Possibly. He wasn't sure yet.
"What happens during the six months of training?"
"You learn the basics. How to identify different types of myths. How to use the equipment. How to fill out forms. How to not die." Agent Pradit said that last part casually. "You'll be assigned to the Bangkok office. Your supervisor will be Khun Onepen. She's... enthusiastic."
"Enthusiastic?"
"She really likes her job. It's weird. Don't ask her questions unless you want a two hour answer."
Jaokhun picked up the folder. It was heavy. Definitely sixty pages. Maybe more.
"Can I think about it?"
"No. You decide now. If you walk away without signing something, I have to file an incident report. That's four pages of paperwork. I don't want to do four pages of paperwork." Agent Pradit pulled out a pen. "So. Contract or amnesia form. Pick one."
"That's not fair."
"Life isn't fair. The job isn't fair. The pay isn't fair. Nothing is fair." Agent Pradit held out the pen. "But at least your debt goes away."
Jaokhun took the pen. It was a cheap pen. The kind that barely worked. Very fitting for a government organization.
He opened the folder. Page one was full of legal words he didn't understand. Page two was the same. Page three had a chart that made no sense.
"Where do I sign?"
"Page sixty. Bottom right. And page twelve. And page thirty eight. There are tabs." Agent Pradit pointed at the small orange tabs sticking out from the pages.
Jaokhun flipped to page sixty. There was a line at the bottom. Above it, in small letters, it said: "I acknowledge that I have read and understood all terms of this employment contract and agree to serve the Legion for Manifestation Filtering and Anomaly Oversight for a period of twenty years."
He definitely had not read all the terms. He hadn't read any of the terms.
He signed anyway.
Then he flipped to page twelve and signed. Then page thirty eight and signed.
Agent Pradit took the folder back and pulled out the signed pages. He scanned them with his old phone. The phone made a beeping sound.
"Done. You're officially employed. Congratulations." He didn't sound like he was congratulating anyone. "Training starts Monday. 8 AM. Don't be late. The office is above the 7-Eleven on Sukhumvit Soi 23. Third floor. There's no sign. Just go up the stairs next to the pharmacy."
"Above a 7-Eleven?"
"Budget cuts. We used to have a real office building. Now we share space with a massage parlor on the second floor." Agent Pradit stood up. "Bring your ID, your student ID, and a copy of your house registration. We need it for HR."
"What do I do until Monday?"
"Whatever you want. You're not on duty yet. Just don't tell anyone about what you saw today. If you do, there's a penalty. It's in the contract. Page forty two."
"What's the penalty?"
"You don't want to know." Agent Pradit started walking away, then stopped. "Oh. One more thing. Your official job title is Grade 1 Provisional Agent. But everyone will call you 'the intern.' Get used to it."
"Wait. What exactly will I be doing?"
Agent Pradit looked back at him. For the first time, something that might have been a smile appeared on his face. It wasn't a happy smile.
"You'll find out Monday."
Then he walked away, leaving Jaokhun sitting on the bench with a cheap pen and no idea what he'd just signed up for.