Level 2 : How to short a company

After my first kill, the idea of killing more began to consume me, like high tide eating away at the shore.

My daily routine is quite simple. Nothing special.

I wake up at 6:00 a.m.

Prepare myself before leaving for work

Leave the house around 7:00 a.m.

Walk or take public transport to the pickup zone, where the company shuttle picks up employees.

By exactly 8:00 a.m., I arrive at the office.

Work. Work. Work… until lunch. I eat, plan my tasks for the rest of the day, and by 2:00 p.m., I’ve usually finished all the important stuff. After that, I just kill time, wandering around, browsing the web, chatting with the production staff. I stay four more hours for overtime. I do nothing, and I get paid for it.

Sometimes, I sit in our boss’s chair in the conference room, rocking gently with my feet propped up on the long table, fantasizing about how to kill everyone in this building.

If only I had a machine gun, I’d love to massacre each one of them while sipping hot coffee. Maybe with bread. Cheese-dipped into the coffee.

There are only seven CCTV cameras in the entire company. We’re operating in a small building, so:

Three cameras are on the production floor

One in the admin office

One in the warehouse

One in the hallway near the entrance

And one in the loading/unloading zone

As you can see, the security is pathetic.
The one guard working 12-hour shifts sits near the gate, which is far from the building entrance.

So, hypothetically speaking, killing everyone here? Piece of cake.

I don’t have a gun. And honestly, a gun isn’t reliable in this kind of setup. One shot could alert the guard. He might call the police. Even worse, he might try to be a hero.

And if, hypothetically, I did have a machine gun and successfully killed everyone… the only way out for me would be to kill myself afterward. And that’s not an option.

Who would kill my future victims if I died first? Right?

Killing by hand or knife is impossible. There are 37 employees working during the day, and 10 more on the night shift. Stabbing? Choking? Sure, they might guarantee a kill—but 37?

Choking takes 5 to 10 minutes per person.

A knife? Too much blood. Too much screaming. Victims would fight back. Most would run.

No. That won’t work.

The best option I have is what I call the "Holy Grail." If I can get my hands on a chemical that’s Easy to acquire, Lethal in small doses, Undetectable when mixed in water.

Then I already have the perfect killing device, The five-gallon water jug in the office dispenser an ordinary object no one questions. It’s not unusual for me to be the one refilling it. Aside from my boss, I’m the only man in our department. And like I said, this is a small company. We don’t have a designated employee for tasks like that. So, when the jug runs empty, I do the refill.

There are three chemicals I’ve been considering, Hydrochloric acid, Ethylene Glycol, and Sodium Fluoroacetate.

Hydrochloric acid is accessible. You can find it in hardware stores. But it’s violent. It burns the throat, the stomach. It screams inside the victim. That kind of pain doesn’t go unnoticed especially in an office.

Ethylene Glycol is different. It’s slower. Sweeter. Tasteless to most. Found in antifreeze. And most importantly, it’s believable. The symptoms resemble the flu. Dizziness. Nausea. Confusion.

No one will panic immediately. but it takes too long to kill, by the time the victim experiencing symptoms, they might get rushed to the ER and someone orders the right test then I lose everything. There’s an antidote. Fomepizole. And once that drip goes in, it’s not murder anymore. It’s a failed attempt.

Sodium Fluoroacetate, though that’s the dream. Highly lethal. Just a few milligrams can kill. But it's banned in most countries. A restricted pesticide. Deadly? Yes. Discreet? No.

If it’s discovered during an autopsy, you’re not a genius. You’re caught. Game over.

The point isn’t to be obvious. The point is to keep going. Kill silently. Blend in.

So, while Sodium Fluoroacetate is the perfect poison in theory… it’s too perfect. Too suspicious. Too traceable.

In the end, the question isn’t what’s most lethal. but What lets me kill and keep killing, without leaving a trace?

So, the perfect tool for the job is Ethylene Glycol.

Five gallons of water—18.9 liters.

The lethal dose of ethylene glycol for an average adult is around 100 milliliters.

If I mix in 1.89 liters of pure ethylene glycol into the jug, that means every 1-liter glass will contain a full fatal dose. But most people don’t drink a full liter in one sitting. They sip. They refill. They share.

Death can wait.

Symptoms take hours. headache, nausea, confusion. The perfect mimic of a long day, a skipped meal, or the flu. By the time they feel their kidneys start to fail, it’s already too late. And by the time someone connects the dots, if they ever do, I’ll be gone. The jug will be gone. The evidence swallowed and pissed away.

But here’s the problem, if I’m the only one not feeling symptoms, it becomes suspicious. So, I’ll need to ingest a non-lethal dose just enough to show up on a blood test, but not enough to kill me.

That means taking the risk.

I’ll prepare a 1-liter water bottle laced with 25 milliliters of ethylene glycol. One glass from that bottle would contain about 6 to 7 millilitres enough to fake symptoms.

After work, I head to the local auto shop to buy antifreeze. Of course, not all antifreeze is the same. I’ll need a specific brand...

[spoiler]Prestone® Concentrate. contains 95–100% ethylene glycol. [/spoiler]

Killing everyone isn’t guaranteed. If I’m lucky, I might get 3 to 5 people. This is a game of chance.

Still, it’d be a shame to spend 35 dollars in local currency and kill no one.

Now, the next obstacle: how to bring the gallon inside the pantry without anyone noticing.

The best time is right before I go home. By then, almost no one’s around, except for the production staff. But I still need to avoid a few CCTV cameras.

Our pantry, where the water dispenser is located, sits near the entrance.

There’s a camera that captures anyone going inside.

It would look suspicious if I suddenly went there the night before a mass poisoning.

So the solution?

Build a habit.

For the first two weeks. no, let’s make it a month, I’ll go to the pantry before heading home.

Every single day.

Just to show it’s part of my routine.

So, when I finally make the deed, no one will question it.

After a month of pretending and careful planning, the day finally comes.

My hands are a little shaky, not because I’m nervous or scared, but because I can’t contain the excitement. After all this waiting, the idea that someone is going to die because I killed them… it’s euphoric.

Finally, I carry in the one-gallon jug of ethylene glycol and put it on my backpack. To be honest, I didn’t fully account for the 95% purity, so the math might be a little off. But at this point, I don’t need to think harder. I’m not here to be perfect. I’m here to kill.

All I want to do is pour this into the drinking water and let them die like earthworms under salt.

As usual, the guard is too lazy to check the bags. That, of course, was calculated. I’ve been running this same routine for weeks. I knew he wouldn’t check, even though management says they’re supposed to.

And so, the longest workday of my life begins.

I can’t focus. I can’t think.

My mind keeps drifting to the thought of ethylene glycol, working silently, invisibly. I keep looking at my watch. Glancing up at the digital wall clock. Again. And again. And again.

Time drags when you’re excited.

And then 5 PM came. Everyone was going home. As usual, I stayed behind, typing nonsense at my desk, just pretending to work.

Once all my colleagues had left, I wandered through the production floor like I always did. I talked to random people, most of them friendly. Honestly, the people here feel like family. I’ve been working here for almost three years now. I know their struggles, their happiest memories, even who they hate the most in the company, which is the manager, obviously.

I enjoy talking to people like them. Humble. Fun. Real. They’re the happiest bunch I’ve ever met.

But unfortunately…I’m the worst.

By 8:30 PM, I was already moving. I headed to the restroom with my bag and pulled out a bottle of ethylene glycol. One liter—poured straight into my water bottle.

Then I went to the pantry. I removed the water gallon from the dispenser. There was still about 80% left—roughly 3.8 liters. I poured in the chemical. Lethal dose. Then I repeated the process with three more gallons. By the end, I’d added around two liters of poison in total.

That was more than enough, based on what I calculated.

I placed the gallon of water back into the dispenser. I looked at my watch. Almost 9 PM. That was my cue to go home.

I exited through the main door, just like always. Act natural. That’s the rule.

As I walked toward the gate, the security guard was scrolling on his phone. But as I got closer, he suddenly straightened up, startled. He knew I could report him to the manager. So, of course, he quickly greeted me.

-- Good evening, sir. --

I nodded and walked past the gate.

A few meters out, my hand started to shake from excitement. The muscles in my face were twitching. I could barely hold back a smile.

After months of planning… waiting… adjusting the details, I had finally executed it.

And now, all I had to do…was wait a few days for the good news to come.

But hold on… I haven’t done my part yet.

Once I got home, I immediately grabbed a 15ml medicine syrup cup, washed it, and filled my 1-liter bottle with clean water.
I locked myself in my room.

Slowly, I poured the ethylene glycol into the measuring cup, then poured it into the bottle, repeating the process until the bottle contained exactly 25 milliliters of the chemical.

I opened my PC, put on “Passengers,” and slipped on my headset.

Then I started sipping from the bottle,

slowly,

calmly.

I closed my eyes...and drifted away.