For each of us, there comes a time when we must awaken and become what we were born to become.
A beautiful and deep quote, don’t you think?
I don’t have to explain what it means, right?
Good, because that quote very much applied to me.
Although I was born into a normal, loving middle-class family, I had always stood out from the others. From childhood until adulthood, I was praised as a genius. I was smart, athletic, charismatic, and handsome; I was literally the prince charming every girl would dream of in their childhood, and because of that, my ego may or may not have become inflated.
I guess that’s why I believed I was meant to become greater, someone who’ll rise to the top.
And graduating from the top and, apparently, hardest university in the world with flying colors at the young age of 18 solidified my belief.
After years of, not so, hard work, I became an influential and terrifying figurehead that could change the entire world if I wished.
Who was I? I am Iron Ma—excuse me, I am, what they call, a genius, one-of-a-kind, all-rounded engineer.
But is just being an engineer enough to make me so influential? No, the real reason why I’m such an influential figure is that I am a weapons dealer for the military; the best, in fact.
It’s not the noblest profession out there, but can you blame me?
Just a few months after I graduated, a war suddenly broke out between us and the enemy country.
Basically, things happened, and I saw an opportunity during that time. With my intellect, I created and sold the best equipment and weaponry to the military, which I can proudly say led to our overwhelming victory.
Due to that, I became a multi-billionaire with a lot of power in my hands. So, it wouldn’t be a stretch to call me a real-life Tony Stark.
Love me for it, hate me for it; I didn’t care as long as I got what I wanted in the end.
But the difference between him, Tony Stark, and I is that I had wonderful living parents and a sweet fiance with me.
And… a couple of years passed, and things happened.
I resigned at the young age of 34 and went on to live the rest of my life peacefully in my mansion... alone.
*****
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*
-Beep! Beep! Beep!
The sound of the alarm woke me up, and I groggily opened my eyes.
Staring at the ceiling, I thought about the things I could do today, which was pretty much nothing as usual.
-Beep! Beep! Beep!
Yes, yes, I know. It’s time for me to move, so just shut up and let me enjoy my first few minutes of the morning.
-Beep! Beep! Beep!
Aargh! “Shut up!” Annoyed by the sound, I grabbed a pillow and was about to throw it at the digital alarm clock sitting on the desk until I remembered that I could hit the few picture frames beside it, so I immediately calmed down.
[Master] a feminine and slightly mechanical voice came from the speaker on the left, and my eye twitched as my calmness was immediately replaced with annoyance.
“Haaa, FRIDAY, I’m once again asking you to call me anything but that. ‘Sir,’ ‘boss,’ literally anything but that.” I rubbed my forehead in frustration.
[But master~] her voice was somehow able to change from a mechanical one to a luscious voice.
Heh, that voice may work on lonely NEETs, but I’m no ordinary NEET because I’m no virgin!
“I will wipe you out and replace you if you really don’t stop with that,” I threatened.
[Hehe, no, you won’t.]
I sighed internally. She’s, unfortunately, right. I won’t do that.
I can’t do that.
‘Following Rigorous Instructions Day After Year,’ or what I like to call her, ‘FRIDAY,’ is the first and possibly the last AI I made and ever need. She was created by yours truly at the age of 14 and has been with me ever since.
Her calling me Master may or may not have been her way of getting revenge against me since I used to train her 24/7 just to do basic tasks.
But can you blame me? I mean, she was at the start just a bunch of ones and zeroes; she had no actual awareness needed for my tasks. If I want her to become useful, she needs her neural networks to be trained, smart, and adaptable.
-Beep! Beep! Beep!
The annoying sound of the alarm clock snapped me out of my thoughts.
“Sigh, FRIDAY, turn it off.” Thanks to her years of development, I don’t have to specify to her what exactly to turn off.
[Yes, boss.] She then paused for a moment before the beeping noise from the alarm finally stopped.
Haa, the first hour of my morning, and I’m already off to a great start.
I took a deep breath before getting off my bed and doing some light stretches, popping a few joints.
Then I went to the bathroom to wash myself up.
After a few minutes, I went out with a towel wrapped around my waist. Then, heading to the closet, my figure was reflected in the mirror beside it.
Oddly enough, even though I haven’t exercised in years and have been pretty much neglecting my diet, I barely have any fats, although I did lose my lean and somewhat muscular appearance. Not that I need them anyway with what I’m doing now. Though I do need to shave, I soon shrugged my shoulders at that thought. Too lazy to do that; maybe next time.
Shaking my head, I opened my closet and wore comfortable dark gray sweatpants with a matching white shirt.
Then, I went to the desk, grabbed a yoyo in the drawer, and skillfully played with it as I headed outside my room.
My destination was my office, which was in the attic down the hallway to the right.
As I walked, FRIDAY’s voice came once again. She said, [Anyway, Boss, Major ‘Dick in Ass’ has requested fo—]
“Not a chance.” Before FRIDAY could finish, I coldly cut her off. I’m not dealing with him again.
[Boss, it may be out of line for me, but I truly think he has repented for what he said that time.]
I snickered at what she said and continued to play with the yoyo as I walked. So what if he repented? It doesn’t change anything.
[Boss, you have been good friends with him for so many years. Are you really going to have it ruined because of one mistake he made? He’s been—]
“FRIDAY.” I cut her off with the coldest voice I could bring. “That isn’t for you or for him to decide. Besides, it’s exactly because we’ve been friends for years I want nothing to do with him.”
As I walked down the hallway, pictures of me, my fiance, and my parents came to view. Immediately, my expression softened. “He knew very well how I was feeling at that time, yet he said that shit. For the country? For the greater good? What bullshit.
He’s only ‘repenting’ since he’s been demoted from being a well-respected General after I pulled some strings, and even after my retirement, my influence is still greater than his.
“Tell him that if he keeps bothering me, I won’t hesitate to make his life a living hell, starting with revealing his dark browser history. He should know what I mean.”
What’s in his browser history, you may ask? Nothing special, really. Well, aside from the disgusting crap he’d do anonymously. I was only able to find it by chance since I did a full analysis and sweep of data after I announced my retirement. It was just a precaution so that nothing might come to bite me in the ass in the future. It’s good that I didn’t erase his data since I now have some dirt on him.
[Sigh, I understand, Boss. I’ll tell him right away.] With that said, her voice disappeared.
Though she’s technically not near me, she can still hear me, so I said, “Next time, don’t ever bring him up again. What I said earlier about wiping you out, it wouldn’t end as a joke.” Except it pretty much will; she’s all I have left, and I know she means well.
Stopping in my tracks, I sighed. I’m getting attached to something that doesn’t physically exist. Haha, if this keeps up, I may end up marrying her.
Ahem, anyway, I continued my way to my office, which I finally reached. In front of me was a steel door that could only be unlocked with a registered fingerprint.
After placing my thumb in the scanner, a beeping noise sounded, and the door opened, revealing the staircase to my attic.
I went up, and the room was dim. Then, placing my hand on a blurred window panel, the room’s lights turned on as the window panel became fully transparent, revealing my office.
My office had multiple series of holograms and monitors around, all connected to one powerful supercomputer. It would look like a state-of-the-art laboratory if it weren’t for the scattered random junk around and the messy pile of papers.
I quickly maneuvered towards my main desk on the far left side of the room without stepping on the junk on the floor and switched on my computer.
Then, I opened the browser, and as soon as it opened, countless email notifications appeared on my screen, annoying me, but there was one that caught my eye.
A familiar user sent it, so I opened it up.
==================
Sent by: [email protected]
Subject: Return?
Wassup, author!
I wazz just wondrin’ if you evah gon’ complete yow completely radical web novel, yo! This reader here haz realized that yow haven’t been back in the crib of web novels for a while now, yo! I abso-f’ing-lutely love yow work, so I do hope you aint droppin dis like itz in some battle royal, yo!
Thazz juzz it for today, yo!
Peace!
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“Oh god…” I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. The way its content is formatted was just… unexplainable, truly. It’s just so cringy; it’s like seeing your parents act cool or back in their youth just because they used slang that doesn’t even make sense in the current context or situation. Except in my case, they’re no parents of mine, and it’s so obvious that he’s trying so hard to sound like a cool young teen, but they obviously failed. I mean, who the hell uses ‘radical’ or ‘yo’ nowadays, much less in an email?
I’m starting to regret writing that horrendous junk they call a web novel.
