Tony Snow spent the entire day juggling startup tasks.
The company was brand new—barely past registration—and as its only full-time staff member, everything fell on him. Legal paperwork, budgeting, research planning, equipment sourcing, lab site scouting, funding logistics—it was all on his plate.
Still, Tony knew it was only temporary. Once the company had more personnel, he could focus solely on technical direction and innovation. He had no plans to micromanage or turn into the type of founder who gets swallowed by operations.
The evening found him, as usual, tapping away on his laptop in the library until closing. After saying goodnight to Clara Quinn, he returned to his dorm.
"Yo, Taylor," Tony called out as he pulled back the curtain around Taylor Liu's bed.
Inside, Taylor was deep in a nightly video call with his girlfriend, which had become a daily tradition. Their clinginess hadn't waned despite dating for over a year. Every night, without fail, they'd talk for hours.
"Hold on, babe," Taylor said into the camera before pulling off his headphones. He turned to Tony with mock suspicion, his voice suddenly exaggerated and theatrical. "You perv. What are you pulling my curtain for? Planning something indecent?"
Tony rolled his eyes. "Gross. You're the only other remotely normal one in this dorm, so quit acting weird. With that face, I wouldn't hit on you even if you were the last guy on Earth. Honestly, if I were a woman, I'd gouge my eyes out before looking at you."
"Please," Taylor scoffed. "If you turned into a woman, you'd die single. And for the record, I wouldn't look at you either."
It was a classic back-and-forth. Banter like this had been standard between them since freshman year. Tony, despite his current maturity and accomplishments, had once been the kind of guy who could dive a tower in-game just to trash-talk a teammate.
"Alright, enough comedy," Tony said. "I actually need to ask you something serious."
Taylor paused, curious. "Go on."
"I'm offering you a part-time job," Tony said plainly. "If it goes well, you could convert to a full-time role after graduation. You'd start with something light, and if you stick around, you'd be first in line for promotion. A stable job right out of college—not a bad deal, right?"
Taylor narrowed his eyes. "A job? From you? Since when do you hand out jobs? Aren't you the guy buried in thesis papers and research journals 24/7?"
"Not anymore," Tony said, smirking. "I started a company. Just got it registered. I need people."
That got the attention of the other two roommates, Lucas Shaw and Zack Lin.
"Wait, what?"
"You started a company?"
"Damn, while we're all just trying to survive finals, Tony's already gone full CEO?"
"What kind of company? What's it called? How much does it pay? Do I still need to apply for grad school?"
Tony laughed. "It's called Future Tech. It's in the biotech space. We're starting with research and lab development, mostly biology-focused. As for pay, it'll be competitive with the top offers in the industry."
He turned back to Taylor. "I need lab assistants for now. There'll be guidance from senior researchers. You in?"
Taylor didn't respond immediately. He glanced at his paused call window, then back at Tony. "Let me think it over. I'll talk to my girlfriend about it tomorrow."
Tony nodded. He knew better than to press.
Then he turned to Lucas. "Didn't you just say you'd drop grad school if the pay was good?"
Lucas shrugged. "Depends. As your roommate, don't you think I deserve a better package? A little nepotism?"
Tony smirked. "Future Tech is meritocratic. Transparent payroll. If you want a bump, earn it. I can't break the model for roommates."
"At least make me a supervisor," Lucas joked.
"Get in line."
"Fine. I'll still take the grad school route," Lucas said, pulling his curtain shut. "I'm not ready to start working anyway. Let me live a little first."
Tony turned to Zack, who was already raising his hands defensively. "Don't look at me! I'm studying for the civil service exam. You want me to give that up and be exploited by a startup capitalist?"
"Startup entrepreneur," Tony corrected. "There are no capitalists anymore. I'm going to be a public-minded innovator. A 'people's tycoon,' if you will."
"Bleh," Zack said, feigning disgust. "Spare me the propaganda."
The banter drifted into laughter. After a bit more back-and-forth, Tony grabbed his towel, hit the showers, and called it a night.
While Tony was recruiting friends back home in Crestbridge, across the ocean at Halcyon University, a mathematics professor stared at his screen in disbelief.
He cursed under his breath.
"What the hell? This guy again?"
The man muttering in surprise was Professor Nicholas Katz—an aging titan of modern mathematics. With gray-white hair, a long beard, and thick glasses, Katz was one of the senior editors of The Annals of Mathematics, the most prestigious journal in the field.
As a senior editor, Katz didn't review every submission personally. Only when he had spare time or saw a name he recognized would he dive in himself. Most of the time, he let technical editors screen the flood of global submissions.
But today, as he glanced through the authors of accepted manuscripts awaiting full review, he stopped cold.
There it was again.
Tony Snow.
A student from Crestbridge University—still an undergrad—whose last paper had stirred controversy in the math community.
Now, somehow, there was another submission from the same name... and this time, the technical editor had given it a glowing recommendation.
Nicholas Katz adjusted his glasses and leaned forward.
"Well, Mr. Snow," he muttered, "Let's see what else you've got."