Mikael stared at the worn brown envelope lying on the table in his cramped rented room. The logo of the construction company where he had worked himself to the bone for nearly three years was coldly printed in the top-left corner. Three years under Jakarta's scorching sun, hauling cement and iron until his muscles ached every night, had now ended with a single piece of paper—his termination letter. A brutal slap that shattered his dreams. "Restructuring," read the cliché reason stated inside, but Mikael knew better. A few new faces—children and relatives of higher-ups—had been seen coming and going at the office over the past few weeks.
A bitter taste rose in his chest, mixing with the nausea climbing up his throat. It wasn't just the loss of his job, but the death of a flicker of hope to change the bleak course of his life. His meager salary had barely been enough to survive the cruelty of the capital, leaving behind a savings account so small it now felt like a mirage in the desert of his future.
Amid the suffocating whirlpool of despair, his battered phone buzzed weakly, flashing the name "Mia." A faint smile—more like a bitter smirk—formed on Mikael's dry lips. Perhaps Mia, his girlfriend of nearly two years, could be his pillar, a glimmer of light in this choking darkness.
But that hope crumbled into dust the moment he opened the message. No words of comfort greeted him, only a string of cold and sharp sentences, piercing straight through his already broken heart. Mia had ended their relationship. The reason was painfully classic: she believed Mikael had no future, was too ordinary, and couldn't give her what she wanted. Her emphasis on that last part felt like a direct insult, burning what little pride he had left.
Attached to the message was a photo link. Mikael's fingers trembled as he tapped it. There she was—Mia—laughing joyfully in the arms of an unfamiliar man, against the backdrop of a luxurious restaurant bathed in warm, ambient lights. A place far beyond Mikael's reach, where his always-tight wallet would never allow him to step foot.
Two devastating blows in one day. Unjustly fired, then dumped with degrading words. Mikael's world crumbled into shapeless pieces. He felt like trash—discarded, unloved, worthless. Every dream and promise they had once weaved together under the Jakarta moonlight now drifted away with the cold night wind, leaving a gaping void in his chest.
That night, Mikael could only curl up on his thin, musty-smelling mattress, staring at the cobweb-covered ceiling of his dingy room—a perfect abstract painting of loneliness. His mind was blank, but his heart felt like it was being crushed relentlessly by a mix of pain and rage. He felt like a failure—as a man, as a worker, as a human being.
In the pitch-black despair of the night, when hopelessness was about to consume him entirely, something strange—whether a blessing or the beginning of a worse nightmare—suddenly appeared. Right before his tired eyes, a translucent blue panel softly glowed, pulling his attention away from the abyss of despair. Strange letters danced briefly before settling into a surreal greeting:[Welcome, Host. You have been chosen for the Traveling System.]
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Below it, several glowing options appeared clearly:[Status] [Missions] [Store] [Settings]
At first, Mikael thought his mind had short-circuited from mental stress and severe sleep deprivation. But the panel was real, responding as his cold index finger hesitantly tapped on it. With a heart pounding wildly, he selected the [Status] option. Instantly, another panel appeared, displaying his information with painful honesty:
[Name: Mikael][Age: 24 Years][Strength: Not Detected][Charisma: 3 (Out of 100)][Charm: 5 (Out of 100)][Luck: -10 (Out of 100)]
Mikael scoffed bitterly at the pitiful numbers. Charisma and charm had never been his strong suits—he always fell short compared to his coworkers who could talk their way into anything and always looked sharp. But a luck stat of negative ten felt like a confirmation of the string of misfortunes that had plagued his life. No wonder he always felt like he was walking barefoot on broken glass.
Then, his gaze shifted to the [Missions] option. The mission panel displayed a now-customized description:
[Emergency Mission: Stop Anna at The Farmhouse (Devour)][Objective: Burn 10 Ritual Goats using altar fire in the back barn before Anna fully becomes the vessel of Azazel.][Additional Help: Basic information about the altar location, baiting with hay, and Anna's behavior has been uploaded to the Status menu.][Main Reward: 150 System Points (can be exchanged for various upgrades and items in the Store)][Bonus Rewards: Based on speed and efficiency (the faster the completion, the greater the bonus System Points)]
The Farmhouse. The name rang vaguely familiar. Mikael tried to recall, and finally, a memory clicked—a horror game titled Devour that he once watched on YouTube as a distraction from his monotonous work life. It was about a group trying to stop a dark ritual led by a woman named Anna in an old farmhouse. And now, he had to be there? Alone, unprepared, facing horrors he had only seen through a screen?
A chill crept down Mikael's spine, replacing the bitterness that once dominated him. This was insane. Completely illogical. But deep within his wounded heart, a tiny spark of hope—or perhaps desperation pushing him to bravery—began to grow. He had nothing left to lose. Maybe this was his only chance to change his grim fate.
The thought of Mia haunted him again, now laced with a flicker of vengeance. She had belittled him, abandoned him for having nothing. But now, this system offered Mikael the chance to transform, to become someone entirely different. The promise of power and wealth felt like the perfect path to prove how wrong Mia had been to let him go. Maybe... even to take revenge in ways he had never imagined.
With newfound determination rising from the ruins of his shattered heart, Mikael focused his gaze on the mission description for The Farmhouse. A bright white light engulfed him instantly, and a strange sensation yanked him away from his stifling room and into a world filled with unimaginable terror and danger.
As his feet landed on the cold, straw-scented soil of the dark farmhouse grounds, true fear finally gripped him. But the memory of Mia's scornful eyes and his desire to prove himself fueled a fire within. He wouldn't give up so easily. He would survive. And he would use this system to reclaim everything he'd lost—maybe even more.
