At a humble convenience store, where Karl worked, it was one of the many tiny establishments scattered throughout the town. The store was neither overcrowded nor completely deserted, with a predictable clientele that included morning bread buyers, post-school candy shoppers, and office workers seeking their afternoon coffee fix.
However, Karl's life was eerily flat. Every day was a repetitive cycle of wake up, work, go home, sleep, and repeat. His existence felt like a wheel spinning without purpose until one day, something extraordinary occurred.
Karl was flipping through magazines on the counter, his mind blank, when a sudden noise startled him. The clock showed almost 3 PM, usually a quieter period. He muttered to himself, "What kind of life is this?" and gently slammed the magazine on the table. Peering out the window, he felt like he was stuck in a rut while the world outside moved at a frantic pace.
Just as he was about to succumb to boredom, a strange sound filled his ears.
[DING!]
Karl jumped, muttering in confusion. He looked around, wondering if the noise came from a store device, but found nothing unusual. Suddenly, a holographic panel materialized before him – floating in mid-air.
[Common Sense Hijack System Activated]
Karl rubbed his eyes, thinking it might be a hallucination brought on by his prolonged zoning out. But the panel remained, flashing cryptic messages that seemed to speak directly to him. Karl's jaw dropped as he nearly laughed at the absurdity.
"What in the world? Am I dreaming or is this some kind of prank?" he reached out to touch the panel, but his finger passed through the empty air. "Is this some kind of hologram or... am I just too tired?" he mumbled.
Before Karl could process further, the panel changed again, displaying new instructions.
[Congrats! You've been chosen to access the Common Sense Hijack System. With this system, you can change the basic rules of the world that people around you consider normal. Start by completing the first quest to earn initial points.]
Karl's jaw dropped as he read on.
[First Quest: Hijack a Simple Common Sense]
- Description: Change simple common sense in your surroundings.
- Example: Change the rule that people must pay at the cashier or the rule that people need to wear clothes when leaving the house.
- Reward: 50 Hijack Points (HP), 20 XP.
- Time Limit: None (for the first quest)
Karl's eyes widened as he thought about hijacking common sense. "Is this for real? So I can make people do weird stuff?" He thought about it skeptically but also curiously. Is this a mind game or something? But nothing felt unreal. If this was a dream, it was the most realistic dream ever.
As he pondered, the shop's doorbell rang, and a group of teens entered, laughing loudly while holding sodas. They looked like they were going to buy snacks and some munchies. Karl watched them approach the snack rack, starting to think about trying the strange quest.
He typed "Pay at the cashier" in the search bar on the panel. The result popped up instantly.
> People buying stuff must pay at the cashier.
Karl nodded slightly and then started editing the sentence. He typed a new one:
> People buying stuff don't need to pay at the cashier; just do a weird dance in front of the cashier.
After typing that, he hesitated for a moment. "Will this really work?" he thought while hitting Enter.
But what happened next was truly beyond belief.
[Hijack Succesful]
- Duration : 00:00:59
The teens headed to the cashier with snacks in their hands, ready to pay.
Suddenly, he started busting out a weird groove – an awkward move but done with full confidence. Karl almost burst out laughing but held it in. His friends were initially surprised but soon joined in, dancing strangely in front of the cashier as if it was a regular thing to do.
"This is ridiculous!" Karl thought to himself. "But it actually worked!" He couldn't believe the system actually worked. These people unknowingly accepted the change of common sense without questioning it and seemed to be enjoying it.
---
Quest Complete!
- Reward: 50 Hijack Points (HP), 20 XP.
---
The holographic panel sparkled with success notification of his first quest. Karl smiled satisfactorily. This boring day had suddenly turned into the weirdest and funniest day he'd ever experienced.
But before he could truly enjoy the moment, the panel appeared again with a new message.
[New Quest Unlocked: Change a Major Common Sense in Public]
- Description: Change a major common sense deeply rooted in society, like rules about traffic or technology use.
- Reward: 200 HP, 100 XP.
- Time Limit: 24 hours
Karl stared at the panel with his mouth half open. "This system isn't playing around," he thought. If in the first quest he could make people dance in front of the cashier, what about this major quest? He imagined the chaos of changing big rules like that. But on the flip side, it also made him cautious.
"Am I gonna get in trouble if this keeps up?" Karl murmured, picturing consequences of every change he made.
But one thing was for sure – his life wasn't flat anymore. With this weird system, everything seemed possible. And even though there were worries, Karl couldn't help but feel intrigued about what he could do next. After all, he had access to powers he never imagined before – powers to hijack common sense itself.