1 The Prologue
I still couldn't believe what I was seeing in front of me. To my own credit, seeing it or reading it in a book is a lot different from experiencing it in real life. I was still looking at the small bowl of soup in front of me and personally I wasn't sure what kind of expression I should make so I simply defaulted to the basic one, mouth gaping with eyes wide in disbelief.
'Okay. Okay. Calm down. Take a deep breath.'
Aftering taking a deep breath I looked at the digital hologram-like screen in front of me. I thought back to 13 hours ago when I was prompted with this digital screen…
…
I was reading a web novel while sitting on the toilet seat taking a shit when I suddenly gained an "unique feature". Naturally my first response was a scream which followed up with, 'what the fuck' and followed up with another 'what the fuck'. I legit thought I was seeing things so I closed my eyes and rubbed my eyes before opening them, and the screen was gone.I thought very little of it and simply thought I must have been looking at my phone screen for too long and the sudden jerk of looking at the wall caused a optic illusion.
Seeing no screen, I felt I sat on the toilet seat long enough, I got up, wiped my butt and washed my hands before heading to the kitchen to make some dinner. I decided to make a pork based noodle soup dish, after cooking I brought the pot and a small bowl to my dinner table and started eating and fantasizing about myself as some main character in a novel I read and some alternative action I would have done. After 30 minutes I have all but consumed some remaining soup which I poured into the small bowl. As I was about to get up to wash the pot, a sudden idea popped into my mind. Since my little fantasy was still hot in my mind, I wanted to test whether what I saw while I was taking a shit was real or not. I murmured, "System."
I waited a couple seconds and nothing happened, which allowed me to sigh a breath of relief. But then, I thought of another word, but this time the same screen I saw when I was on the toilet seat appeared in front of me.
My first reaction was a yelp in surprise, followed by an action of pushing myself away from the table causing some soup to spill out the small bowl and almost causing me to fall backwards from the chair due to the forceful push. Luckily, I was able to balance myself in time. I looked at the screen with a questioning look.
"So the activation is 'Inventory' not 'System'? Interesting…"
I noticed a blue circle with a white question mark on the top right of the screen. I clicked on it thinking it was a sort of an info page and I was correct. A pop-up screen appeared and it read:
[This is your inventory slot, you can put any item(s) in here. The item(s) will stay in a stasis effect where the item will be exactly how it is when put in when the host decides to take the item(s) out.]
Note: There is no limit to the inventory space.
As I finished reading… I tapped the pop-up screen and it disappeared. Just as I was about to test the effects, a timer appeared above the inventory display. I wasn't sure what the timer meant, the only thought I could come up with was I was either going to be teleported away or something is about to happen to Earth. As I reached for the bowl of soup, as my finger touched the bowl, a prompt appeared.
[Would you like to insert this item?]
I answered, "Yes"
The soup disappeared, or to be more exact it digitally degraded like how you see something turn into dust in a movie and drift away. And as it disappeared, on my inventory screen an icon that looks like my bowl of soup appeared.
I reached out this time to the pot, with no intention or thought to insert the pot, when I touched the pot no prompt popped up. This interaction allowed me to confirm that I need to have the thought or action to want to insert something for the prompt to appear. I quickly ran back into the kitchen, opened my freezer and with the intention to insert something frozen, I touched the leftover ice cream and sure enough a prompt appeared.
[Would you like to insert this item?]
This time I thought of 'Yes' and sure enough it disappeared in front of me and an icon of the ice cream appeared on my inventory screen. With the testing done, I decided that I will take a rest for the night and think of a plan of action tomorrow with a clear mind and with that I washed up the dishes, took a shower, and went to bed.
…
I returned from my thoughts and looked at the soup on the table. I put my finger in it and it was still warm like when I put it in, I looked at the ice cream icon and wanted to test a method. I clicked on it and looked at my table and thought of it appearing there. The inventory as I hoped, followed my command and the ice cream appeared, still frozen just like when it was put in. This allowed me to confirm my theory.
'Interesting…'
I looked at the timer once more and it looked like I had approximately 6 days remaining. Seeing that there was no additional information, I worked up my courage and took a leap of faith. I turned on my work laptop, sent an email of resignation to my supervisor and blocked all work contacts. I decided I was not about to slave away my remaining time in a corporation and rather spend the remaining 6-ish days my way. I saved up a sizable amount of money from working in a high paying job while staying in a more frugal lifestyle. I reached out to my bank to tell them to not put any restrictions on my accounts as I plan to make some very large purchases and many of them. With the confirmation given, I got myself changed and walked out of my apartment door.
…
As I was in the middle of treating myself, the timer suddenly appeared in front of me with a prompt.
[Transportation location has been found. Host only has 72 hours remaining. Please make your final adjustments.]
I looked in surprise.
'Location? So I will be teleported away?!'
"..."
"..."
"..."
'OH FUCK' I shouted in my head, I almost blurted it out in front of tens of kids in an ice cream shop.
After seeing that prompt, I no longer had any mood to enjoy the ice cream. I quickly put Plan B into action, which I was planning to do anyway within the last 48 hours. I began to purchase large amounts of supplies, which included fresh fruit, vegetables, meats, diary products, medicine, and more. I went to a department store and brought 2 small set generators, quite a few barrels of oil before heading to the camping section and buying camping supplies like water filters, solar charging devices and other necessities. I went to many restaurants and ordered catering. I watched as my balance started to decrease at a faster rate, thankfully I didn't get any calls for a restriction on my cards. I also decided to purchase myself 3 new phones, copying the data into each one, I even brought myself a laptop. I wasn't exactly sure why, but I thought maybe it would come to use, so I downloaded software that could be used offline sessions. With all honesty, my purchases are highly influenced upon the novels I read. I was not about to take any chances. I naturally went to the clothing store and brought sets upon sets of clothes for all weathers. Funny enough, when I entered a grocery store, I had a temptation to just steal, I was going to be teleported away. By the time they check, I would have been long gone, but after stealing a couple watermelons, my heart felt heavy with guilt for some reason and stopped. So I simply brought anything and everything I could think of. I would rather be safe than sorry…
…
I looked at the timer once more, the timer was ticking down to the remaining 3 hours. As I looked at the timer, I suddenly felt heavy-hearted. There was a reluctance to leave. Despite being an orphan with no close relatives, I still lived on this planet for almost a quarter of my life, well hopefully a quarter. I felt an odd feeling, I was not sure how to describe it. I look at the 2 pieces of document in my hands. One was a document pertaining to the properties I own and the other was liquid assets, it was practically a will of a sort. Initially, I wanted to give this to the orphanage I was brought up in but then I thought of a better idea and decided to have some fun with the remaining time I had.
I decided to drive myself over to the hospital near my home, it was one of the biggest in this region of my country. This place has treated many and the owners of this massive hospital were very kind individuals, compared to the exploitative nature of other hospitals out there, the owners of this one actively help others, many times covering the remaining cost of expensive surgeries. I walked around aimlessly inside checking to see if I could find a target and soon I found one. One that I felt I could help cheer up. I walked over to two children that looked to be the same age and had similar features, twins perhaps. I sat down beside them and asked, "Why are you two crying?"
They both looked at me and sniffed their nose.
sniff sniff
sniff sniff
The boy answered while the girl hid behind the boy as she stifled her crying while taking a peek at me behind the boy, "Mommy and Daddy are hurt and they won't wake up."
sniff
The boy didn't wait for me to ask why and continued trying hard to not cry while sucking in snot from his nose, "When we ask the doctor, all they do is look at us with a sadden face."
As the boy finished talking and seemed like he was about to burst into tears again, I suddenly got a prompt from the digital screen.
[There is 1 hour remaining. Does the host have any lasting regrets? Please use the remaining time to make your peace]
I looked at the prompt in surprise before softly muttering, "Can you grant me a wish?"
For the first time I received a response back.
[What is the host's wish?]
I looked at the prompt in surprise. I looked at the children and smiled. 'Perhaps this is fate.'
I saw the girl holding onto something and asked "Is that your parent's phone?"
The girl quickly nodded. I took out my phone and turned on the camera function. I talked to them as softly as possible.
"If you follow my 3 commands, I will grant you a wish."
The little boy and girl looked hopeful and quickly nodded.
"Smile at the camera and say cheese."
The twins did their best to smile. SNAP
I took a photo before putting my phone away into the inventory when it was in my pocket. I handed the two pieces of paper to the children and told them to sign as I handed them a pen. Seeing their hesitation, I swore to myself in front of them, it will benefit them. After a couple minutes, they reluctantly signed, this surprised me. Their parents must have taught them well and the twins themselves must be quite smart.
Finally, I asked if the girl could unlock the phone, she did so and I asked if I could take a look. She nodded before handing it to me with shaking hands. I took it gently and turned on the camera function and switched it to the outward camera before hitting the record button. Just as I was doing so, I saw a nurse come by. I asked her if she could help us record. She looked at me weirdly but thought I was just trying to cheer the children up. I looked at the twins and asked, "What is your wish?"
The twins without hesitation simply said they want their parents to wake up. When the nurse heard this, she started to show an emotional expression. I looked at her and simply smiled. I returned back to the twins and spoke gently.
"I want you both to swear in your name, that you will spend time with your parents, try not to cause trouble for them, listen to them when they talk to you, and respect your parents. If you swear it to the camera, I will grant you your wish."
The twins struggled to say all of it at once but eventually they did it. I looked at the timer and it was down to the last 10 minutes.
I thought in my mind, 'Can you heal these two children's parents and allow them to wake up?'
[...]
[...]
[Host wish has been granted.]
I sighed with relief before snapping my finger and clapping once, surprised the twins and the nurse.
"Wish granted. You may go see your parents."
The twins probably didn't even hear the second part as they rushed into the room. There I heard a shout before the nurse also ran in, I could see it in the doorway as the nurse's eyes widened, before she looked at me with utter surprise as I simply smiled back. She was unable to say anything and all she could do was ring the emergency bell for the doctor, in which 5 minutes later, he arrived. He was also shocked the parents were awake with no injuries. The doctor listened as the nurse struggled to explain the best she could. The timer hit zero just as the doctor looked over. I began to shine brightly as I heard footsteps coming over. After shining for around 10 seconds, I returned to normal.
'Did the teleportation fail?' I wondered as I smiled bitterly. But just as I was about to stand up, I saw the nurse point at my feet, I bent slightly over and saw I was turning transparent slowly from my feet up. This feeling was truly weird. Just as I looked at my hands turn transparent, I saw the twins walk to the doorway with their parents. I waved at them as they looked at me in shock. I once more simply smiled before saying a few words.
"Remember what you promised."
The twins were only able to nod as they watched me slowly drift away as I turned from transparent to sparkling dust. The last thing I heard from the sweet little girl as I closed my eyes was...
"Thank you, Mr. Angel..."
