The Upgrader

The text of every page

Every caption, line of dialogue and sound effect, page by page, with a short description of each page.

1. Page 1: A tired father in a crowded HDB flat

   Ren, tired, in his crowded flat; laundry, toys and a child's shoe crowd the frame, and the baby grips his office lanyard.

   • Baby number four made us seven, with our helper.
   • The flat? Cannot make it already.
   • I had three doors. I could open one.
   • (sound: WAAAAH)

2. Page 2: A family of seven in a small HDB flat

   A football bounces off Ren's head, the helper catches the laundry rack, Chloe covers her ears on the top bunk while Max snores, and Jessica sends Ren out for air.

   • (sound: BONK)
   • Chloe: Daddy! He snores like a T-rex!
   • Max: RAWR...
   • (sound: WAAAAH)
   • Ren: ...I go up for some air.
   • Jessica: Go lah.

3. Page 3: The Pinnacle@Duxton sky garden at dusk

   The lift races up to the 50th floor of Pinnacle@Duxton and opens on the sky-bridge garden at dusk.

   • Home. Pinnacle@Duxton.
   • (sound: VWOOOOM... DING)
   • (sound: whoooosh)

4. Page 4: Three property cards: condo, landed house, townhouse

   Ren shouts into the wind; the leaves fold into three glowing cards: Pretty Condo, Landed and Townhouse.

   • Ren: I NEED TO UPGRADE!
   • (sound: WHOOOOM)
   • Upgrade... to what?
   • (sound: FWASSSH)
   • (sound: SHING SHING SHING)
   • Three choices. Let me play each one out.
   • The bars: how much each one would take from us.
   • *My guesses.

5. Page 5: Life by a Singapore condo pool

   Ren raises the Pretty Condo card and imagines himself on a lounger by a glittering pool.

   • (sound: SHIIIING)
   • Card: PRETTY CONDO
   • Simulation one.
   • Ren: Wah. Like staying in a country club...
   • Pool, gym, everything downstairs.
   • Ren: Shiok.

6. Page 6: A condo too small for a family of seven

   The kids dive into the pool, Jessica shows how small the bedrooms are for seven, the kids do homework on a weekday, and Ren sets the card down.

   • (sound: SPLOOSH)
   • Chloe: Last one in!
   • Jessica: Seven people, you know. Rooms so small, how to fit?
   • (sound: THUNK)
   • Jessica: Kids still in school. Weekdays is homework, not swimming.

7. Page 7: A Singapore landed house with a garden

   Ren raises the Landed card and imagines a palatial house with a lawn, the kids playing and Chloe claiming an upstairs room.

   • (sound: DOOOOM)
   • Card: LANDED
   • Ren: Wah, so much space.
   • (sound: THUD)
   • Chloe: I chope this room!

8. Page 8: Renovation plans for a landed house

   Jessica lists everything the house would need changed until Ren is buried under her renovation plans.

   • Jessica: This wall must hack.
   • Jessica: That one also must change.
   • Jessica: ...Then who's going to manage all this?
   • (sound: FLUMP)
   • Ren: ...The gate can keep or not?

9. Page 9: The upkeep worries of a landed house

   Ren imagines drills, leaks and a bus-sized cockroach, and raises a single slipper.

   • (sound: gulp)
   • (sound: plik... SKREEE)
   • Ren: I have... a slipper.

10. Page 10: Setting down the landed house card

    Back in the sky garden, Ren decides the landed house is too heavy to carry and sets the card beside the first.

    • (sound: KRZZZAAAK)
    • Ren: Very nice. But too heavy for me to carry.

11. Page 11: A strata landed townhouse cluster in Singapore

    Ren raises the plain Townhouse card; its exit bar glows red over a cluster of townhouses round a shared pool.

    • (sound: ...)
    • Card: TOWNHOUSE
    • Enough room for all seven of us.

12. Page 12: Inside a strata landed townhouse

    Jessica likes the townhouse kitchen, the kids each get their own room, and Ren smiles in the doorway, half his face lit red.

    • Jessica: Eh, I like this one.
    • Chloe: Finally! My own room!

13. Page 13: A townhouse for sale, and nobody comes to view

    Ren weighs the exit worry, a sale sign at a gate nobody visits, then remembers the height marks and Chloe's own room, and closes his hand on the card.

    • (sound: tk... tk... tk)
    • But the exit... must think carefully.
    • What if one day we must sell, and nobody comes to view?
    • That bar only matters if we leave.
    • Ren: I choose...

14. Page 14: Choosing the townhouse

    Ren slams the Townhouse card down, and the light opens into the townhouse's front door; he steps inside.

    • (sound: KRA-THOOOM)
    • Ren: ...the townhouse.
    • Fits us. And much less cash than landed.
    • (sound: klk)

15. Page 15: A hall of hooded stone figures

    The door slams and sinks into stone; the hallway becomes a vast hall of hooded stone figures with sale signs at their feet.

    • (sound: BOOM)

16. Page 16: Afraid nobody will come to view

    Red light runs along the floor and the figures turn their backs on Ren, who steps back, afraid nobody will come to view.

    • (sound: tk... tk... tk)
    • (sound: GRRRRRND)
    • Ren: ...Nobody coming to view.

17. Page 17: The spirit of an HDB flat as armour

    The spirit of the old flat rises behind Ren in lamplight and locks around him as armour shaped like its window frames.

    • (sound: hmmmmmm)
    • Our old flat.
    • (sound: KLANG KLANG KLANG)

18. Page 18: Striding back to the new townhouse

    Chloe calls from deeper in the house; armoured, Ren strides away from the figures towards the lit hallway, and the last figure crumbles.

    • Chloe: Daddy! Come see my room!
    • Ren: WE'RE HERE TO STAY!
    • (sound: FWOOOOOOM)

19. Page 19: The Pinnacle@Duxton sky garden in the wind

    Back in the real sky garden, Ren stands steady in the wind, holding the Townhouse card.

    • (sound: KSSSH)
    • (sound: FWOOOOSH)
    • Every door is someone's right answer.
    • This one was ours.

20. Page 20: The new townhouse front door

    The new front door at night, a small shoe beside seven pairs on the step, and the end card: The Upgrader, Chapter 1. Next: The Unlocker.

    • The Upgrader. Chapter 1.
    • Next: The Unlocker
    • property.bluebed.ai