I made the mistake of Googling one word.
One.
That's all it took.
It was around 2 AM. I was watching Hell Mode, expecting exactly what every isekai promises these days: overpowered protagonist, impossible odds that somehow aren't impossible, and enough RPG mechanics to make Excel jealous.
Instead, the anime kept saying one word.
Serf.
I paused the episode.
"...The hell is a serf?"
Five minutes later, I was reading medieval history.
Twenty minutes later, I somehow knew the difference between a serf, a peasant, a freeman, and a commoner.
An hour later, I was questioning modern employment.
This is why I shouldn't be allowed to have internet access after midnight.
I Thought a Serf Was Just a Poor Farmer
That's genuinely what I thought.
Poor.
Works the land.
Probably smells like dirt.
Credits roll.
Turns out I couldn't have been more wrong.
A serf wasn't just poor.
A serf belonged to the land.
Imagine your employment contract saying,
"Congratulations! You may now work here forever."
Not because you signed a five-year bond.
Not because the job market is bad.
Because... you literally don't have a choice.
You don't resign.
You don't job hop.
You don't update LinkedIn.
You don't even get to have that monthly existential crisis where you wonder if you're underpaid.
Your employer isn't just your employer.
They're your landlord.
Your government.
Your HR.
Your payroll.
Your performance reviewer.
Your customer support ticket.
Basically, if medieval society had software architecture, everything pointed to the same monolith.
Then the Anime Said "Commoner"
At first I laughed.
Imagine grinding your entire life...
...just to unlock Commoner.
That sounds less like a promotion and more like Ubisoft DLC.
Then I actually looked it up.
Commoners weren't special.
They weren't rich.
They weren't nobles.
They were just...
...free.
Free to leave.
Free to choose who they worked for.
Free to own property.
Free to move somewhere else without asking permission from Lord Spreadsheet of Excelshire.
That's when it clicked.
The promotion wasn't social.
It was existential.
They weren't leveling up.
They were finally becoming people with choices.
That realization had absolutely no business hitting that hard during an anime about magical summons.
My Brain Immediately Made It About Work
Developers have a superpower.
We cannot consume media normally.
Someone else watches Hell Mode and thinks,
"Cool summons."
I watch it and somehow end up comparing feudal society to corporate employment.
Now, before someone opens the comments already typing in all caps—
No.
Modern employees are not serfs.
Not even close.
We have rights.
We can resign.
We can negotiate.
We can tell our boss we're leaving.
Whether they emotionally accept it is a different story.
But legally?
We're gone.
The interesting part isn't the comparison.
It's the psychology.
Because I've met people—including myself at times—who stayed somewhere they hated long after they had the freedom to leave.
Not because someone stopped them.
Because comfort did.
Fear did.
Routine did.
The paycheck became emotional duct tape.
Not enough to fix the problem.
Just enough to stop you from dealing with it.
Corporate Feudalism Doesn't Need Lords
Nobody owns us.
At least, not legally.
Instead, modern companies figured out something much cheaper.
Buzzwords.
"We're a family."
Translation:
"We're about to ask for a favor that mysteriously takes six months."
"We're passionate."
Translation:
"The headcount request got rejected."
"We all wear many hats."
Translation:
"We lost three employees and decided not to replace them."
"We're looking for self-starters."
Translation:
"There is no onboarding. Good luck."
Corporate language deserves its own fantasy glossary.
The dragons are easier to understand.
Promotions Are Weird
Watching Allen's family dream about becoming commoners made me realize something.
Sometimes we celebrate promotions without asking what actually changed.
New title.
Same stress.
More meetings.
Congratulations.
You've unlocked permissions to another Jira board.
The salary increase?
Enough to finally afford guacamole without checking your banking app first.
Maybe.
The biggest promotions aren't always vertical.
Sometimes they're horizontal.
A healthier company.
Better work-life balance.
Remote work.
A boss who doesn't schedule meetings called "Quick Sync" that somehow last longer than The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Freedom scales differently depending on where you started.
My Favorite Boss Fight Was Google Search
Some people binge anime.
I binge browser tabs.
One search became another.
Then another.
Then medieval taxes.
Then feudal contracts.
Then why towns made people free.
Then why guilds mattered.
Then I somehow ended up reading legal history.
Meanwhile, the anime was patiently waiting where I paused it.
Episode progress:
12:43
Browser tabs:
27
This is what people mean when they say ADHD isn't always hyperactivity.
Sometimes it's accidentally earning a minor in medieval sociology because an anime used one unfamiliar noun.
The Weird Realization
The anime wasn't trying to teach history.
It was trying to show progress.
But somewhere between my Google searches and my fourth "wait, seriously?" moment, I realized how easy it is to take freedom for granted.
Today I can wake up tomorrow, resign, interview somewhere else, start freelancing, build a business, or completely change careers.
Will it be easy?
Absolutely not.
But I can choose.
For millions of people throughout history...
that was the dream.
Not wealth.
Not nobility.
Not becoming king.
Just having the ability to decide where tomorrow begins.
Funny how an anime called Hell Mode ended up making me appreciate Normal Mode.
