The apartment greeted Ethan with its usual emptiness. A faint chill loiter in the air, the kind that came with a place left uninhabited for too many hours. He shrugged off his jacket, tossing it onto the worn-out couch as he kicked off his shoes by the door.
The interview at the café hadn't gone badly—at least he didn't think so. The manager had been polite, professional even, but there was no definitive answer. "We'll give you a call," the man had said, smiling in that practiced way that didn't give much away. It wasn't a no, but it wasn't a yes either.
Ethan sighed, ruffling his hair as he flopped down onto the couch. The springs groaned under his weight, protesting their overuse. His thoughts wandered, flickering between the strange woman from the café and the system quietly humming in the back of his mind.
[Welcome back, Ethan.]
"Yeah, yeah, I'm home," he muttered.
[Would you like to calculate your rewards now?]
"Sure, let's see what I've got."
A soft chime echoed in his head as the system pulled up his progress.
Rewards:
• 1,300 XP
• 1x Charming Smile
• 1x B Card
• 1x Hidden Reward
Ethan sat up straighter, his interest piqued. The XP alone was impressive. He hadn't been keeping a close eye on it, but he knew it was enough to unlock something worthwhile in the store. Still, it wasn't the XP that caught his attention—it was the other rewards.
"What's the hidden reward?" he asked, his brow furrowed.
[The hidden reward remains locked. It will be revealed when you unlock it with the trigger word.]
"Of course," Ethan muttered, rolling his eyes. "Figures it wouldn't be straightforward."
He pushed himself off the couch, deciding to check out the rewards he could actually use. Starting with the one labeled Charming Smile.
Ethan wandered into the bathroom, flicking on the light. The mirror was streaked with faint smudges, a testament to his lack of cleaning, but it was good enough to serve its purpose. He leaned in, inspecting his reflection for a moment before straightening up.
"Alright," he said, cracking his neck. "Let's see what this does."
The moment he activated Charming Smile, it was as if something shifted in the air around him. His face lit up, a radiant energy spreading through his features. The smile wasn't just a movement of his lips—it was a transformation.
Ethan stared at his reflection, momentarily stunned. His entire face seemed to glow, his features sharpened in a way that was almost ethereal. The dark circles under his eyes seemed to vanish, his skin appeared smoother, and even the faint scar on his chin from a childhood accident seemed less noticeable.
He blinked, leaning closer to the mirror. "What the hell…?"
The smile wasn't just visually appealing—it was infectious. Looking at it made him feel refreshed, almost lighter, like all the fatigue and stress of the day had melted away.
"Wow," Ethan murmured, tilting his head. "This is… really something."
He tried different angles, adjusting the intensity of the smile, testing its limits. No matter how he moved or positioned himself, the effect remained the same: captivating. It wasn't hard to imagine how others would react to it.
But as impressive as it was, it also made him wonder. Just how far did the system's power extend? If something as simple as a smile could have such an effect, what else was it capable of?
Ethan turned away from the mirror, his mind racing. There was still the B Card to check out, but before that, a thought struck him.
Physical Adaptability. The skill he had bought before.
He walked back into the living room, grabbing a dusty script off the small coffee table. It was something he'd been given over a year ago during a failed audition. The script had become a kind of relic, a reminder of how far he still had to go.
Flipping to a random page, he scanned the lines until he found one that stuck out. Clearing his throat, he stood in the middle of the room, script in hand.
"You think this is a game? You think I wanted this?" he began, his voice low and steady. "I never asked for any of it. Not the power, not the responsibility. But here I am, cleaning up after everyone else's messes because no one else will."
The words rolled off his tongue effortlessly, the emotions behind them raw and tangible.
Ethan froze, his grip tightening on the script. That wasn't how it had gone the first time he'd tried it. Back then, he'd stumbled over the delivery, struggled to find the right tone. But now… now it felt natural, as if the character's emotions were his own.
[That would be Physical Adaptability at work,] the system chimed in, almost smugly.
Ethan's brows furrowed. "It's making it easier to get into character?"
[Precisely. The item enhances your ability to physically and emotionally embody a role, provided it's one you're familiar with.]
He nodded slowly, processing the information. That made sense. He'd spent hours poring over this script, memorizing lines and studying the character. The adaptability worked because the foundation was already there.
"But what if it's a completely new character? Something I've never done before?" he asked.
[The effect would be diminished. Familiarity strengthens the adaptability. For entirely new roles, you would need to rely on your natural skills and practice.]
Ethan set the script down, a faint smile tugging at his lips. It wasn't a cheat code, then—not entirely. The system gave him an edge, but it didn't do the work for him. That was fine. He didn't want shortcuts.
What he did want was to figure out how best to use what he'd been given.
His gaze drifted back to the list of rewards, still floating in the corner of his vision. The XP was tempting—he could probably unlock something useful from the store—but his curiosity about the B Card was stronger.
"Alright," he said, sitting back on the couch. "Let's see what this card is about."
[Activating B Card…]
A faint glow enveloped his vision as the card materialized in his hands. It was simple, almost plain, with a sleek black surface and a golden border. The words etched into it were faintly luminous, shifting slightly as if alive.
Ethan held it up, his heart pounding.
"What do you do?" he muttered, turning the card over.
But the system remained silent, and the card offered no answers. Not yet, anyway.