4 The Webnovel Author System

[The Webnovel Author System greets its host!]

"Oh, it's still a dream."

I pulled up my blanket and closed my eyes. Hah, it was just a dream—rookie mistake.

My eyes trembled. I slowly opened them again, as if lightly creaking the door open in a horror game, and even now…

It was right there.

"I am going mad…"

Let's go to sleep. Yeah. Wake up early? That's so cringe, it's for people who have seen one too many self-help videos. Who cares when you wake up? All that matters is that you don't see hallucinations.

Right.

So I went to sleep again. Two more hours.

I opened my eyes, carefully this time, and of course.

[The Webnovel Author System greets its host!]

"Is it a sign to sleep more?"

I was about to escape reality once more when a new line etched itself on the translucent blue window floating in front of my eyes.

[You can either become a Webnovel Author, or you will lose your life]

"Huh?"

As if.

This was getting ridiculous.

"What could an illusion of my mind even do—"

[Verifying. The host had agreed to lose their life for their goals.]

This thing was talking to me.

Even if I wanted to, I couldn't just ignore it anymore. I guess this is what it felt like in horror movies. It was so damn creepy and scary that just escaping or not believing it to be real seemed impossible.

My heart pounded. I sat up on my bed and looked around. The place was just like before. I checked my hand and my head as well, no wounds. I couldn't have been kidnapped or operated on or anything like that.

I next pulled out my phone from underneath the pillow and checked the date, not on the calendar app but on the web. It was much harder to fake that stuff.

It was the correct date…

Alright, so this wasn't a prank or some kind of experiment either.

"What are you?"

[The Webnovel Author System]

That answered nothing. This was crazy.

To be honest, a part of me was excited. Waking up to a system was something all of us dreamed of. So was waking up in another world. Even better if you woke up in another world with a system, now that's fantasy.

But still.

"So, you want me to write webnovels?"

[Affirmative. The Host has agreed to sacrifice everything for their dreams.]

If I was going to get a system… why did it have to be something this stupid!?

"Give me something cool! Let me shoot fireballs from my hands and summon skeletons with a simple 'arise'! What the hell kind of goal is a Webnovel Author!?"

[The Host's mental capacity is currently under scrutiny. Suggestion: Touch grass]

"Shut up! The answers? Is it from that scamming quiz from yesterday?"

I shoved the blanket aside and jumped out of the bed to my laptop.

History. I didn't visit any gentlemanly sites that I would have to wipe out of my laptop anyway. I searched for the site I had clicked on yesterday, the weird link.

It opened up, but instead of the quiz from yesterday…

{Never gonna give you up! Never gonna let you down!}

With superhuman strength, I held in the urge to punch the screen right through. This laptop was entrusted to me by my parents for running ads of the shop, if I broke it because of a rick roll I'd be disowned without second thought.

I bit my lips and tried to refresh the page. I cleared the cache and went back to the post I had first found the link from, but all it did was increase the rickroll counter.

No matter what, there was no link to the quiz. Even the replies to that post were calling the commenter out for the trolling.

"What in the world… Where is everything gone…"

It seemed the annoying system window had an answer for me. The characters etched on it faded away as brand new scribes filled it up.

[The 800$ fee came with wiping all proof of the system's existence. Thank you for your patronage]

"Fee? What fee? I didn't pay you jackshit—"

[Right. I took the liberty of making the payment in your stead. You're welcome.]

My mind blanked out.

I blinked and turned to the system window. Which was stupid considering it was right in front of my eyes, but I was in no state to pick stupid apart from smart.

Like a shopping addict wondering where all their money had gone, I opened the bank page and looked through the account statements.

This was luckily an account we only used for running advertisements and accepting payments from Online Food Service Providers like Uber Eats. That meant no one was taking a look at its statement except me, the one who handled both those things.

Of course, that was only the case till tax season. My parents won't know yet where the money went, just a debit notification. But if they ever checked, I'd be fucked over.

It seemed just the thought was enough to jinx myself as the door opened up and my mom popped her head in.

"You're awake?" She asked, without wasting a moment. "Did you spend 800 bucks this week?"

FUCK.

It happened. It seriously happened.

[=>.>=]

I glanced at the system but it was simply looking away. God damn it. Sweat fell off my head as I forced a smile and nodded at my mother.

"Y-you know! Postpaid ads are like that sometimes. They take a bit too much now and then." My excuses were half-baked, but Mom simply nodded and changed the topic to breakfast.

It was a lucky save.

For now.

As soon as the door shut close, I went right back into panic mode.

"Ugh! Why did I save my card details? Fucking thief! I'll take this to the police!"

[They'll see the money go to an orphanage or a non-profit]

"Scammers! Give it back."

[I am sorry, host. No can do.]

What the hell was this? Not only was I threatened for my life, but I was also scammed out of my money. Wasn't a system supposed to be a dream come true? So why the hell did I have to get stuck with this?

No, first.

I had to do something about the money. If they find out I recklessly spent that money, I don't know what would happen. I couldn't take responsibility for 800 dollars!

"Should I get a part-time job? No, I can't do that." Aside from very specific places for very short times, part-time jobs for students below 18 were outlawed. Those places were usually in the service industry, my parents would never let me leave the studio to work in another restaurant.

What else could I do?

"Maybe a digital marketing agency? Who would hire a 16-year-old though? Some other kind of work? Loans?"

While I was still lost, the system had a completely different plan.

[800 is not a bad goal to start with.]

"What…?"

[It is not good to owe your parents, host. Since you need to repay them, why not earn the 800$ in the next six months.]

Before the tax season. It was highly likely that they wouldn't bother checking till then.

[Six months. 800 dollars. You can make that by writing webnovels.]