[1] “The Gambler,” written by Paolo Bacigalupi, is a science fiction novelette focusing on a young news reporter that is struggling to adapt to the fast-paced American culture.
The number of click-throughs, page views, social-pokes, and ad revenue a story accumulates are precisely what Janice Mbutu, Milestone's managing director, is looking for.
Marty, a top notch worker who generates an incredible number of readers, clicks and amount of ad dollars by formulating the story about a Russian cowboy rapper who is accused of impregnating a fourteen-year-old, speculates that Ong is on the verge of termination, and makes him a proposition.
Kulaap then proceeds to put on a show for the paparazzi by taking him out on a date to a Laotian restaurant, initially for the mere fact that she wanted to help him boost his numbers.
He compares the workers in his field to a smart monkey, asserting that they will talk about whatever they think you want to hear, completely dismissing anything else that might be depressing or negative, even if it's a pivotal and consequential subject.
Infuriated, Janice bluntly threatens that Ong have fifty thousand readers daily or else she will terminate him, which will lead to his deportation back to the chaotic Laos.