In front of the TV lay my father. He scratched at his scruffy beard in his sleep, and his developing beer belly expanded and deflated, peeking out of his shirt. Fragments of broken liquor bottles littered the moldy kitchen tiles, and beside him was an ashtray building up a small hill of cigarettes. He drank away his days at the bar and came back here to beat me before lounging on the couch to watch TV before eventually drifting off to sleep. We would barely survive on the money the government gave us, but he spent it all on alcohol, so I had to scavenge for food scraps myself.

I count the days until I’m 18 and can finally make my escape.

Sometimes my thoughts run into dark places. It makes my hand reach for the drawer and stare at the old pill bottle I had filled with my father’s sleeping pills.

Then a digital screen appeared in front of my face.

_

[Automatic mission]

Dispose of the poison pills

Accidental consumption of them could lead you to feel sleepy and make you vulnerable to enemies.

Completion of the mission will lead to the rest of the system activating.

Reward: 1 point

_

It reminded me of a game. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe it was real. My mind seemed to have been knocked around too much and I’d started to hallucinate. It was funny that being told to do such a thing made me want to kill himself even more. 

I started to swallow the pills one by one with sips of water.

1

2

3

I gave up on the fourth.

I screwed the lid back on and laid back in bed and waited for the effects of the pills to take over me. Before falling into a deep slumber.

Sleep was my only salvation

_

[Emergency mission]

You have ingested poisonous pills that make you sleepy and you need to find a safe place to sleep!

Being asleep can make you vulnerable to enemies.

Completion of the mission will lead to the rest of the system activating.

Penalty: Potential death

_

Today is another day of school. I just need to get passing grades and graduate so I’m able to get a job to be able to survive.

Despite plenty of sleep, and eating an apple from a random property’s tree. I’m still seeing the same hallucination whenever I say the word ‘mission’ then when I say the word ‘close’ it will go away. I might be going crazy if I’m starting to believe it might be real.

_

[Pop-up mission]

Run away from the approaching enemies

Your body is weak right now and you cannot afford a fight.

Completion of the mission will lead to the rest of the system activating.

Reward : 1 point

_

Though I still thought it was a hallucination, maybe my subconscious mind had figured out the bullies were about to attack me. I thought about running away, but I would be caught and then be beaten even harder later. So I continued walking, pretending not to notice.

A hand roughly grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. “Oi loser.” it was Lee Seokhyun, the leader of the crew.

I was led to behind the school and, as always and they beat me up. It was the usual routine I was used to it. It was just a few more bruises. The teachers pretended to not know anything, and my father would only add to the injury. So there was no one to help me, no one to care. What was the point of fighting back?

“It isn’t fun when they don’t make a try to fight back.”

The gang of bullies walked away, leaving me beaten up lying on the ground.

I was counting the seconds until I turned 18. When I could escape this hell.

I stared at the blue sky. Hoping they would go to hell.

_

[Mandatory Mission]

Treat your injuries and recover.

Completion of the mission will lead to the rest of the system activating.

Penalty: Certain Death

_

“Fuck.” Who the fuck cared if I was delusional? My life was already practically over anyway.

I pushed myself up with the wall and started to limp to the nurse’s office. If it was real, I would die and I wouldn’t be able to procrastinate my suicide anymore. In the end I pathetically still didn’t want to die. I still had this annoying thing called hope in my heart, festering in its cracks.

“You should stop getting into fights so much,” the nurse scolded as she treated me.

She bandaged my wounds, and sent me home, but I took a detour instead.

I went to the park and sat on the bench. Because of my father, I wouldn’t have been able to recover otherwise. My body went to sleep as soon as I lay down.

When I woke up in the early morning, my body was stiff and hurt from sleeping on the bench. There was a notification waiting for me.

_

[Mission completed] +10 Exp

System is loading...

Unlocking new sections...

Welcome Player, god has assigned you a system as they have deemed you to be the destined one to fight the demon lord! 

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[Menu]

Please select where you would like to go

[Profile]

[Missions]

[Shop]

_

I pressed profile.

_

Name: Alex

Race: Human

Level: 1

Exp: [10/100]

Strength: 1

Agility: 2

Stamina: 2

Dexterity: 9

_

The stats seemed accurate, but there was only one problem.

My name wasn’t Alex.

I should’ve known something was wrong when a demon lord was mentioned.