Jiho woke up at 6 am, stretched in his bed and performed a round of his regular morning breathing exercises.

He got up, put on his clothes, made his bed, went to the bathroom, drank a cup of water, prepared his usual breakfast, shaved his face, and brushed his teeth. At 7 am, after briefly scanning through the news and emails, he took his case, already prepared in advance, put on his coat and shoes, and left for work.

He took his everyday bus, got off one stop earlier and walked the rest of the way. It was good for his health, to walk exactly that amount of steps up to the office doors.

After greeting his colleagues in the established order and slightly changing the wording for each one, not to sound too repetitive, Jiho entered his cabinet, placed his case under his desk, took off his coat, and glanced at the window. It was another one of his regular routines, glancing at the window before starting to work. It needed to last for about 20 or 35 seconds, not longer, and he was taking notes of the weather outside while doing it.

It was a gray autumn day, one of those that look like being on the verge of pouring rain, yet never actually achieving such a state, making everyone take their umbrellas and raincoats while going out, but never using them in the end.

Jiho checked his watch, produced a short nod to himself, acknowledging the 23-second interval spent on weather observation, and sat at his desk.

He worked for an hour and a half and was about to take his usual break of seven minutes to make a short stroll around the office that would also give him a chance to briefly socialize with his colleagues.

When he was about to get up, his phone suddenly rang. Not his mobile phone, the land line one, an ancient-looking red square plastic box on his table.

Jiho cocked his head an inch, a tiny bit of surprise appearing on his face for a fracture of a second. He reached for the phone, gave himself a moment to wipe off the expression of merely noticeable surprise, and picked it up.

“Observer 369.435 Jiho,” he said, then added an additional clarification: “listening.”

“Jiho…” he heard a stammering voice on the phone. “Y-yes, hi.”

It was Marleen. Forgetting all the necessary formalities, Jiho noticed to himself, again. He frowned, but kept listening silently.

“Listen,” Marleen said, her voice sounded worried, “something's happened…” She made a pause, as if waiting for Jiho's reaction, but he said nothing. “We've been running our daily data checkup this morning and... Well…” her voice trembled and she got silent again.

“Yes?” Jiho demanded, understanding that Matleen wasn't going to continue right away.

“I…” she stammered again. “I think you should come by our lab... It's better if we talk in person. Can you come by please?” Her voice was pleading now.

“Alright,” Jiho said after a pause, calming himself down after such a sudden disruption of his well-planned day. “I am coming now,” he added, making a mental note that it would still give him an opportunity to take a stroll and talk to colleagues on his way to the lab.

“Great,” Marleen said and hung up immediately, not waiting for a reply, as though being distracted by something else.

Jiho put the phone aside, adjusted it a touch, to place it back exactly where it had been before he picked it up. He stood up, made sure that his tie was sitting properly, and, after a couple of deep breaths, walked out of his cabinet.

“What took you so long?” Marleen exclaimed, seeing Jiho entering the lab. He raised his left brow an inch, indicating his slight bewilderment caused by her reaction.

“I talked to Michelle. She asked me to check her yesterday's report. It took me two extra minutes,” he added, slightly irritated by the need to clarify such obvious things.

“Michelle, right…” Marleen muttered, already forgetting about it. “You should see this, Jiho,” she handed him a brown sheet of paper covered in neat lines of numbers written in dark blue color.

“You need my help—”

“No-no,” Marleen waved him off, urging Jiho to look at the paper, “just read it, alright?”

Jiho took the paper, gave Marleen one more disapproving glance, making sure she noticed his reproach of not getting straight to the point, then slowly started to read.

It took him 32 seconds to realize what the numbers were showing, but he took another 24 to double check it.

Once he was sure of what he had just seen, he switched back to Marleen.

“I see,” he simply said to her in the end.

“You… see?” Marleen stared at Jiho, her eyes grew wide. “That's it? Your reaction is that you see it?”

“Yes, Marleen,” Jiho said in the same blank voice, then added: “It is sad.”

“Sad?” Marleen gasped. “Jiho... The numbers show that the world will end tomorrow…”

“Yes, that is what they show, Marleen,” Jiho nodded shortly. “Sad news.”

“But…” Marleen didn't know how to continue. “Should we act... Do something?”

“I should finish my daily report,” Jiho said to her uncompromisingly. “Then I should have my lunch.”

“What?” Marleen bulged her eyes at him. “You're gonna eat?” She was clearly lost for words. “What…”

Not knowing what to say, Jiho shrugged involuntarily.

“Tuna,” he said at last.

“What?” Marleen flinched. “What tuna?”

“I am going to eat tuna today,” he clarified. “Is there anything else I can help you with?” he asked her in the end, taking a look at his watch.

“I... I don't know what to say, Jiho... I don't know what to do!”

“You can finish your report and have lunch too,” Jiho suggested. He didn't know if he should smile to cheer his colleague up and decided against it.

“I'm not sure I will be able to work…” Marleen muttered, then added helplessly: “today.”

“Talk to Clive then. Maybe he could approve you a day off,” Jiho said with a bit of a frown on his forehead and turned around. “I will be at my cabinet till lunch, Marleen.”

Jiho finished his report, had tuna for lunch, then worked for two more hours, took another break, for eight minutes this time, had a brief talk at the water cooler with a couple of his colleagues, went back to his cabinet, started the report for the next day, and worked on it till his shift ended.

He then took his case, picked up his coat, and, glancing at the window, decided not to put it on, a bit of chill weather would only do him good.

He left the office, took a bus, got off one stop earlier, and walked the rest of his way home. Evening promenade aided digestion and better sleep quality.

He passed by the convenient store before going to his apartment to buy something for dinner.

He chose a salad and, before going to the counter, stopped by the pastries section. They had just baked cookies and the round sweets were looking at Jiho from behind the glass, inviting him to buy some.

He considered it for a moment, then slightly nodded, allowing himself to take two. He decided he could make one exception that day.

He went home, put his coat in the wardrobe, his case – near his desk, washed his hands, and went to the kitchen. He ate his dinner while listening to the news and taking notes of what had changed in the world during the day. Coming to the conclusion that everything that had changed was nothing out of the ordinary, he poured himself a glass of milk, warmed it up, took a plate with cookies, and went to the balcony.

He ate them slowly, in small measured bites, taking a measured sip of milk after each one.

When only one small piece remained, he looked at it for a moment, as if preparing to remember it and store it in his memory forever, then put it in his mouth and slowly chewed. He then finished his milk, did the dishes, and spent the rest of the evening reading through his emails and work documents.

He finished at 10 pm, took a shower, watched the weather forecast for the next day, and prepared his clothes and case. At 10:41 pm his phone rang and he frowned, not having any plans for late night conversations.

He picked it up and saw that it was Marleen.

“Yes,” he said in a slightly annoyed voice, “good evening Marleen.”

“Yes,” she repeated his words unconsciously, “good evening Jiho. Can we talk?”

“I have nine minutes,” he said firmly, but calming himself down already.

“What?” she asked in confusion. “Why?”

“I go to bed at eleven and I need ten minutes to prepare for it.”

“You are going to sleep?” she exclaimed loudly. “Now?”

“Yes, Marleen,” Jiho replied, looking at his watch. “I want to have a proper sleep. It's good for your health.”

Marleen stopped talking for a moment. Jiho realized he probably heard her sobbing.

“Can I help you with anything?” he asked, hearing nothing on the other end of the line.

“I…” her voice broke off. “I just... Don't know what to do, Jiho... The world ends in a few hours... I couldn't tell anyone, tried to do it, but just... couldn't... What's the point?” Jiho didn't reply and she continued: “I mean it's all for nothing, Jiho. Everything ends tomorrow. There's nothing we can do.”

“Yes,” he confirmed simply.

“And you…” She made a pause. ‘You're just gonna sleep? Why?’

“As I said, it's good for—”

“Not that,” she cut him off almost with anger in her voice. “Why do you keep acting like that? Living your normal life like nothing’s happened. What's the point?”

Jiho didn't reply at first and thought about it for a moment. Not about the actual reply, rather considered if he had the time for it. He needed to go to bed soon after all.

“There's no point, Marleen,” he said at last with a sigh. “I've been making these reports for many years and saw no meaning in them, in doing it all and, in fact, in everything around. I knew one day this would happen, there's frankly no other option to end this pointless existence. We started out of nowhere at some unknown and probably random point and we are going to end up exactly like that. Sooner, later, it does not matter. I’ve just decided to meet this end on my own terms. Exactly how I want it. It's either this or, well…” he stopped talking for a moment, then added: “being you, Marleen. Doing the worrying part and all the rest. I'm sorry for saying that.”

Marleen was silent for a long time. When, seeing that only a few minutes left till his evening routine, Jiho was about to say goodbye and hang up, she asked him at last: “So, you're going to sleep now?”

“Yes,” he replied, “after preparing my bed and brushing my teeth. Goodnight Marleen.”

“Goodnight, Jiho,” her voice suddenly got tired, hopeless. “Thanks... I guess.”

Jiho said nothing and hung up.

He prepared his bed, brushed his teeth, and exactly at 11 pm went to bed.

He closed his eyes, took five deep breaths in, and almost instantly fell asleep.

It was good for his health after all.

Was once posted somewhere else. Not anymore. Just want it to be here.