After a successful battering while my skin suffered multiple bruises and my joints, and fractures – the leader of the loan sharks came to grab my bleeding chin.
I was already so derailed that I could barely move my head.
"I will be back next month. If you again fail in making your payments before that, be ready to sing goodbye to this house." he spat and aggressively dropped my chin.
I could barely keep my lids open as they were too heavy to even move now.
However, "let's go." I heard his voice order his boys and further heard the door getting shut.
In large quantities, tears began to stream down my face.
My whole life was a mess. I was a mess myself.
I could not live a happy life yet, I received a daily dose of sadness.
This was too overwhelming and I along with my soul were drained. I was way too tired and silently, where I lay in my living room with fresh bruises and bleeding gums, I made a vow to myself.
I would remain here on the floor until I regained a reasonable portion of my energy.
Enough to carry me to the kitchen and pick up a knife to slit my wrist.
Yeah— I would kill myself and end this.
My life was already ending anyway because I saw no way in hell for me to gather up enough to pay the dues of three months
If those darn rats hadn't eaten up the money, maybe I'd still have some little bit of hope but the deed was done and there was no solution for me.
If this house was taken, I would be reduced to living in the streets for there was nobody who has gotten my back.
I had no friends and hadn't visited my parent's relatives in years. Even the most shameless person would know going to them because I was in trouble would be the last thing I should do.
Finally, I would join my parents when I die. Maybe in heaven, I would be slim and beautiful.
Maybe a good life was waiting for me in heaven.
That was enough to send a smile to my face and hope to my soul. I could not wait to feed my soul its yearning.
To kill me.
With that, I allowed my heavy lids little freedom. I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep. It would be a satisfactory one. It would be my last sleep on earth.
As the rest of the awakeness in my body evaporated,
[Initiating task reward.]
[Extracting a pound of weight from the host'
'Successful!]
[0.45kg of fat; extracted!]
[3,500 pounds of calories consumed; extracted!]
[One pound of weight extracted!]
[Host's current body weight=149 pounds]
[Ding!]
[Task reward status; awarded!]
I could hear the cheers from the system or whatever the hell it was.
I was just too tired to care as I continued to sleep.
.
It was the loud grumbling of my stomach that woke me up from sleep. The illuminating ray of sunlight forcing its way through the parted blinds and curtains was not close too enough to send me awake, but the excruciating hunger felt by my grumbling stomach was more than enough to send the sleep away.
Lazily, I stretched and shifted to the other side, chewing my mouth. There was basically nothing in my mouth, but I was chewing it still because my mind was still half asleep.
It was when my feet kicked the lower rail of a sofa that I realized I was still in the living room.
Memories of the afternoon flashed across my head. Those bastards did beat me up, but somehow, my body did not ache like it was before I took the nap.
Again, I shifted away from the chair, still rolling on the floor until my eyes darted to the wall clock.
Although the poor thing was probably older than my granny, it still worked. Sometimes, it might malfunction but would spring back to life when I changed its batteries.
The time was visible enough even from my sleeping position, but I had to wipe my eyes further to affirm what I saw.
It was 1:30 p.m.
How — how was it 1:30 PM?
Did someone switch back the hand of time?
Oh, the wall clock probably malfunctioned again.
I sprawled up to check the time on my phone, but something made me halt.
My body...
It felt lighter.
I knew my body so well. It was my burden. I had been living with it since the beginning of my time. It was my best friend and I knew it better than I do any other anything or person.
So, if there was a change to it, I'd know.
Suddenly, the voice of the system reechoed in my ears.
[Engage a man in a one-minute conversation to lose a pound!]
[Task status; accomplished!]
[Extracting a pound from the host's weight!]
Definitely, all of those could not be true, could they?
The voice in my head could not perform some magic to make me lose a pound, could it?
Of course, it could not. Maybe it was the effect of the beating that was making me feel things.
Anyway, there was only one way to know. I had a dressing mirror.
A broken dressing mirror under my bed. I would take it out and examine my body there just in case this was no ordinary voice in my head.
I jogged to the room in a rush even though I hated to run. With immediacy, I slipped my hand under the bed and reached out for the dressing mirror. The broken dressing mirror.
With a groan and a lot of stretching, I was able to bring it out.
The mirror was a little dusty, making it hard to fulfill my mission.
I impatiently pulled one of the dirty clothes on the floor of my room and wiped it squeaky clean.
When I gazed into the mirror, the cloth in my hand dropped.
My hands immediately went on my mouth, covering out the muffled happy sobs that were about to cough out.
I mean, it wasn't a lot but it was something. My body fat had reduced a bit and I could see the difference.
Other people might not decipher the difference, but I could see it loud and clear. It was I who had dealt with my body for long so I would damn well know if there were any physical changes to it.
This affirmed all the doubts and questions in my head.
Firstly, the system was as real as day and night and its tasks were as right as rain. It wasn't a voice in my head.
It was the response from the universe to my unanswered letters. Finally, my voice was heard. This was epic but it was my secret.
Filled with the utmost joy and sheer gratitude to the universe, I began to jump in joy.
"System, next task please, I'm ready!" I was shrieking happily, still jumping.
There was no answer from the system, but as though it sent its answer in a puzzle, something fell off the pocket of my uniform while I jumped.
It was a rumpled handbill. I had totally forgotten about it before. I stopped jumping and picked it up then opened it and began to read its contents.
It was my dream job.
A vacancy for designer slots in the modeling agency to fill in the vacant spots in their newly launched project.
This was something the system had prompted me to discover. Was it me or was this seeming like a sign from the universe itself?
The universe owned system, and it had gifted me it as a compensation for my worries and past sorrows.
If the system made me discover this because the universe wanted me to pursue this post, then I would. It was my dream and I had just gotten the only tool I needed in pursuing my dreams.
I had gotten a beauty system and with it, all of my dreams would come to pass. Thank you universe.