Chapter 17 - Old Memories

When Om came out of the FICCI KK Birla Auditorium, the sun had already set. Om sat on an auto-rickshaw and then took a metro. After about half an hour Om reached outside the alley in which he lived.

When Om entered the alley, it was very silent and eerie. Om felt a little uncomfortable because of that so he hurriedly ran up the stairs and opened his front door. Only after closing the front door did he relax. It was getting a little bit colder outside as the winter was not far away now. So, after getting inside his rented place, he felt a little warmer. This warmth made him feel very comfortable.

Om slowly changed his clothes and took a bath. Om felt that having a bath after a long and tiring day refreshes you. So, after the refreshing bath Om cooked his dinner. Because it was only him living there, so he didn't have to cook much and after only around 45 min, his dinner was ready.

He lazily ate his dinner, and then comfortably lay down on his bed. After the refreshing bath and the dinner, bed was the most comfortable place. When Om was about to fall asleep, he abruptly opened his eyes and said, "System, open."

Immediately, a virtual screen appeared in front of Om out of nowhere. Everything was the same as before on that screen except one thing, [Popularity Value]. That had quite a change on it. Earlier it was [Popularity Value: 2100], but now it had become [Popularity Value: 3000]. There was an increase of 900. And Om knew that it was because of the two performances he did today.

Although this much was not enough for Om to spin the wheel once more b seeing the steady growth of the points made Om satisfied. So, he closed the screen and then closed his eyes and went to sleep comfortably.

…..

..

.

Next day

Om slept till 9'o clock because he didn't have to go to work today. He was given a day off by Ayush after he heard how much the audience loved his performance. He told Om that he should take care of his body and he will be informed about the next show soon. So, until then Om could stay at home. And Om happily agreed on that.

Today, Om planned to go to grocery shopping. So, after he went to the bath and had his breakfast, he wore some casual clothes and then went shopping. As the polybags were banned now, Om had to take a jute bag himself from home. After walking a little, he had reached a small bazaar which had many vendors and cart which had many types of fruits and vegetable on them. They were on both sides of the road. Some even sat on the ground with a mat and shouted to attract some attention. The vendors were shouting the prices of the vegetables and even shouting some catchy phrases about the vegetables which attracted quite a bit of attention.

There were also many people who came there to shop for groceries. The hustle and bustle of the bazaar reminded Om of when he used to shop with his mother in the previous world when he was small. He even remembered an embarrassing memory of him when he was small.

When he was small, he once came with his mother to shop. It was nighttime and all the carts and little shops were brightly lit up with different color lights. He was quite mesmerized by those lights and unknowingly let go of his mother's hand in the moving crowd. When he realized that his mother was nowhere to be seen, he was very terrified. He thought that he won't be able to see his mother now. So, he immediately shouted for his mom but in the hustle and bustle of the crowd, his voice could barely be heard. So, in desperation he clung on a middle-aged man's leg and bit strongly on it.

The man cried out in pain. When he looked down, he saw a little kid was clung to his leg and biting him. His eyes were filled with tears and his whole body was shaking. That middle-aged man, seeing this, didn't get angry instead he picked up Om and asked him what happened. After understanding the situation, he raised Om up and made him sit down on his neck so that he can see much farther from above.

And soon, Om discovered his mother in the crowd who was worriedly looking here and there. When he called out for his mother, he immediately jumped down from the man's neck and ran straight to his mother's bosom and started crying very loudly. This memory made Om feel very nostalgic. So, many years have gone and he had already died and reborn once again. Sometimes, he himself could not believe that he was reborn. Shaking his head, Om collected his messy thoughts and started walking ahead to shop.

But he once again stopped abruptly. This time not because of another memory of his past, but because of a sound. He heard the system saying, "You can now spin the wheel twice. Would you like to spin now?"

When he heard this, Om was shocked. How? Just yesterday he had only 3000 [Popularity Value]. So, what happened in just a few hours? Om was feeling very confused so he whispered, "System, open."

But soon he realized that he had made a very huge mistake. He had opened the virtual screen in front of so many people. How would he explain to them?

"Oii!!"

What Om feared had come true. He was caught. Now, he definitely would become a lab rat for the scientists. Om gave up and closed his eyes.

"Oii! Just move aside if you are going to stand like that. Don't block the way for us!" Some people shouted who were standing behind Om.

"huh!? Oh…right. Here you go." Om stood aside and gave way to them.

He realized that no one other than himself could see the screen. And this discovery made Om very happy. Now, he could open the Life-Changing System wherever he wanted and whenever he wanted and the best part about it was that no one could see it.

After he stood aside, Om once again looked at the virtual screen. As soon as he saw the [Popularity Value], his eyes went wide and his breathing hastened. His [Popularity Value] at this time had gone through a heaven-shaking change. Right now, it was [Popularity Value: 5,10,095]. Seeing this value made Om rub his eyes 3 times. But this was not a dream. His popularity value did increase so much. But how could it increase so much? Om was very puzzled. He didn't know that all of his performance yesterday was recorded and posted on Youthube.com. It was posted under the name of All India Comedy Company. They had quite a lot of subscribers. So, when Om's video was posted it was watched by quite a lot of people and then they shared it with other people and then they shared it with others.

This was the reason for the increase in Om's popularity points. Although he didn't know about it, for now, he will come to know about it soon.

As Om didn't understand why his popularity points increased so, he didn't think much about it and just directly clicked the [Spin] button. After that, a spinning wheel appeared on the screen. And at the top of the screen, there was another button now. It was [Add]. Om clicked on it and a small window popped up on which on one side was Om's [Popularity Value: 5,10,095]. And on the other side, there was [Spins: 2]. In the middle, there was another button [Convert]. Even without the introduction of the system, Om knew what this [Add] was about.

He immediately clicked on [Convert] and soon he had two free spins now. After closing the pop-up window, Om clicked on the [Spin] and the spinning wheel started spinning. After a while, it started to slow down. Now, Om was a little nervous. He wanted the needle to stop at the [Attribute] area. The previous [Strength Enhancing Magical Fruit] enhanced his strength quite a bit and that made Om very excited. He had wanted to see what else could he get if the needle stopped at [Attribute] area once again.

But unfortunately, today was not his day. The needle stopped at [One Time Consumable Items]. Although Om was a bit disappointed, he didn't mind it that much. He had also wanted to see what other magical things could he get if the needle stopped at the other areas.

So, after the needle stopped, a small window popped up. When Om saw what he has gotten from the spin and read its summary, he was shocked. He eyes went wide and he nearly fainted. Because what he had gotten was….nothing. And in the description section, it was written… "There is literally nothing here."

His 200,000 [Popularity Value], disappeared just like that for ….nothing? This was truly the most shocking news Om had ever gotten in his entire two lives. Even the fact that he had a rebirth didn't shock him as much as the fact that his 200,000 [Popularity Value] gave him nothing.

Om was very angry. So angry that he wanted to punch the system, but he knew that he couldn't so he just swallowed his anger and thought whether or not to use his second free spin now.

He thought for a bit and then gritted his teeth and clicked in the [Spin] button once again. Once again the wheel started to spin. This time Om was more nervous than ever. He silently prayed to any god he could remember. He prayed and prayed that even if the needle doesn't stop at the [Attribute] area, but please at least give him something.

As if the gods had heard his plea, the needle once again stopped at the [One Time Consumption Items]. Seeing this, Om's heart started beating wildly. When a small window popped up and Om saw that there was something inside, only then did his wildly beating heart calm down.

What he had gotten was, [Domineering Pill]. And there was a small, round pill's image in the center. Underneath it, Om saw its description.

'Do you want to dominate every single creature in this world? Do you want to become a man of steel? Eat this pill and I guarantee you, that you will dominate anyone you point at. Just one poke from you will shake their entire existence. This is the power of Domineering Pill.'

Reading this, Om was very excited. Yes! I want to dominate everyone. Then, I won't even have to perform to earn money. Hahaha! Let's see then who can stop me from becoming a world-shaking figure.