An Immoral System Chose Me

Chapter 2: Laws of Physics vs. Laws of Plot

The Jakarta morning sun greeted him with pollution thick enough to slice with a kitchen knife. Satya sat on a slightly wobbly blue plastic stool at Mbak Sri’s coffee stall, right next to his office building. His face looked like someone who had just survived an interrogation by a foreign intelligence agency—pale, haggard, with very prominent dark circles under his eyes.

The twelve-hour "Urinary Incontinence" punishment was the most creative yet lowest form of torture he had ever experienced. He had spent the night bolting back and forth to the toilet every fifteen minutes, until he felt like his very soul was being flushed away with the tank water.

"Here’s your coffee, Sat. Are you really okay? Why do you look like you just ran a marathon while holding in a pee?" Mbak Sri placed down a glass of hot black coffee with an aromatic plume of steam.

Satya looked up, smiling weakly. "Exactly like that, Mbak. The difference is, the marathon took place inside my mind and my bladder."

"Oh, kids these days. That’s what happens when you play on your phone too much. The radiation makes you lose control of your pipes," Mbak Sri muttered while going back to wiping the table.

Satya sipped his coffee. The bitterness of the caffeine provided the small dose of reality he needed. He tried to convince himself that yesterday’s events were just a brief psychotic episode. Maybe he was exhausted. Maybe he had carbon monoxide poisoning in the meeting room. Maybe his brain had created a very strange defense mechanism to avoid Mr. Bambang’s wrath.

However, that hope vanished as quickly as the coffee steam blown away by the wind.

[Ding!]

That sound again. The sound he now hated more than the sound of an alarm on a Monday.

[Daily Quest: Building the Legend's Foundation]

[Description: A strong body is a vessel for a mighty soul. Don't let office fat hinder your destiny!]

[Objectives:]

Run 10 Kilometers.

100 Push-ups.

100 Squats.

100 Sit-ups.

[Time Limit: 23:59:59]

[Reward: Attribute Points +5, Nutritious Lunch Box (Rank E)]

[Penalty: If not completed, User will experience 'Permanent Eye Twitching' for 48 hours.]

Satya stared blankly at the blue window floating above the plate of fried snacks. He slowly set his coffee glass down.

"Alpha," Satya whispered. "Are you still there?"

[System: Always, User 001. I am part of your consciousness now.]

"Good. Now listen to me carefully," Satya leaned forward, as if he were negotiating with a drug dealer. "I am not doing this."

[System: Why? This is the standard regimen for every protagonist who wants to level up. Do you not want to have abs as hard as steel and limitless stamina?]

"Logically? No," Satya answered firmly. "First, this is Jakarta. If I run ten kilometers on a sidewalk that is only a span wide and constantly cut off by motorcycles driving against traffic, I won't become a legend. I’ll become a hit-and-run victim statistic. Second, today’s air pollution is at a 'dangerous' level. Running ten kilometers is the same as smoking two packs of unfiltered cigarettes at once. That’s not building a foundation; that’s destroying lungs."

[System: The System will protect your physical integrity during the mission.]

"Oh yeah? What about the laws of physics?" Satya pointed toward the congested street. "And what about efficiency? You’re telling me to do 100 push-ups to get 'Attribute Points'? I can go to the gym, pay a personal trainer, and get more medically measurable results without needing to see a floating window obstructing my vision."

[System: Results from the System are instant and transcend ordinary human biological limits.]

"Alpha, listen. We live in the 21st century. If I want the power to face enemies, I don’t need abs. I need connections, a good lawyer, and maybe a firearm if the situation is truly urgent. Why should I bother doing squats until my legs shake if I can solve problems with a police report or a legal notice?"

The System went silent for a moment. Satya could feel a kind of 'digital silence' inside his head.

[System: You are the most difficult User I have ever handled. Your logic is breaking the established narrative structure.]

"That’s because your narrative is trash," Satya snorted, then took a piece of bakwan. "You’re using 90s shonen tropes in a world that already knows crypto and AI. It’s irrelevant. Why aren't there Quests like: 'Invest in the right stocks' or 'Complete a work report without revisions'? That would be much more useful for my survival."

[System: ... Recalculating User's pragmatism value. Result: Too high. Recommending mission adjustment...]

Satya smiled triumphantly. He felt he had found a loophole. However, his smile vanished when the system window flashed red.

[Notice: Daily Quests are Mandatory. The Law of Plot overrides the Law of Physics. If the mission does not start within 10 minutes, the Penalty will be executed immediately.]

"You’re really stubborn, aren't you?" Satya sighed. He turned to Mbak Sri, who was staring at him suspiciously.

"Sat, are you really okay? Why are you talking to a bakwan?" Mbak Sri asked, her hand already holding her phone, perhaps ready to call the nearest psychiatric hospital.

"Uh, no, Mbak. This is... practicing a theater script. Yeah, a monologue theater," Satya lied on the fly.

"Oh, I see. But don't glare like that, it's creepy."

Satya refocused on the system window. He realized something. This window was very distracting. When he moved, the window moved with him. When he closed his eyes, the window seemed to be projected onto his eyelids. This was a very poor UI (User Interface) design.

"Alpha, can you move this window? It’s covering Mbak Sri’s face and I can’t see if there’s a fly on my fried snack or not."

[System: The interface is set by default to the center of the User's visual focus.]

Satya tried to experiment. He closed his left eye and squinted his right. He saw a thin line at the edge of the system window, similar to a scroll bar on a very old internet browser.

He tried to move his hand subtly, as if shooing away a mosquito, but he was actually trying to "drag" the corner of the window.

Thump.

The window shifted.

"Ha!" Satya exclaimed softly.

[System: What are you doing? Do not touch the interface source code!]

"I’m not touching the code, I’m just adjusting the layout. As the 'User,' I have a right to visual comfort," Satya continued dragging the window until it was in the bottom right corner of his vision. Now, the system window just looked like a small pop-up ad that wasn't too distracting, similar to an online shopping discount notification.

"There, that’s better. Now I can ignore you more elegantly."

[System: You cannot ignore destiny, Satya. This world is changing. You saw the 'Source Code' yesterday, which means you are not just a player. You are an anomaly that must be stabilized immediately through these missions.]

"Stabilize yourself," Satya stood up, placing a ten-thousand rupiah bill on Mbak Sri’s table. "I’m going to the office. There’s a coordination meeting that’s far more terrifying than any 'Demon King' you might summon."

Satya walked toward his office building with a relaxed pace, ignoring the Daily Quest countdown ticking away in the corner of his eye. He felt proud of himself. He had proven that human logic and a little knowledge of UI could defeat systematic coercion.

However, as he stepped into the office lobby, the automatic door's motion sensor suddenly jammed. The lobby lights flickered irregularly.

[System: Warning! Narrative Fluctuation detected. Static scenarios are no longer sufficient.]

"What now?" Satya grumbled.

Suddenly, the notification in the corner of his eye changed color from blue to a pulsing blood red.

[Emergency Mission: Rescue the Heroine!]

[Description: Destiny has brought you together with the key to the future. Protect her from the approaching threat!]

[Target: Rina (Colleague/Potential Heroine)]

[Situation: Low-level threat detected in the lobby area.]

Satya looked across the lobby. There, Rina—his colleague who had given him a pen yesterday—was standing in front of an automatic coffee machine. She seemed to be struggling to carry three trays of documents and two cups of hot coffee. Behind her, three men in black leather jackets with fierce faces and neck tattoos had just entered through the side door. They walked with heavy steps, their eyes fixed on Rina.

"Alpha, don't tell me those are 'Mob Villains'?" Satya asked internally, feeling nauseous because this cliché was actually happening.

[System: Correct. They are 'Hired Thugs' sent by fate to trigger your heroic moment. Quick, Satya! Use the 'Skill: Beginner's Charisma' that you should have received yesterday (if you hadn't cheated)!]

Satya observed the three men. They did look threatening, but something was off. They weren't carrying sharp weapons. They were carrying... plastic folders and portable credit card swipe machines?

"Wait a minute," Satya narrowed his eyes, observing one of the men who began to approach Rina. "Those aren't thugs. Those are debt collectors from a private bank. I recognize the jackets."

[System: It doesn't matter what their profession is in the real world! In this narrative, they are the antagonists! You must beat them up and save Rina so your 'Affinity Points' increase!]

Satya took a long breath, adjusting his non-existent glasses (he only did it out of habit when thinking hard).

"Beat them up? In front of the lobby's 4K resolution CCTV cameras? In front of that security guard holding a baton? And in front of Rina, who absolutely hates violence?" Satya shook his head. "That is the stupidest plan I’ve ever heard."

[System: But this is the plot! You must save her!]

"I will save her," Satya said while walking calmly toward Rina and the three men. "But I will do it in a civilized, adult way."

Satya reached into his pocket, making sure his phone was in voice recording mode, then he prepared his most cynical yet polite smile.

"Alpha, watch closely. This is how you resolve a conflict without needing to sweat or ruin my freshly ironed office shirt."

Satya quickened his pace, just as one of the men touched Rina's shoulder, making the girl jump in surprise, nearly dropping her coffee.

"Excuse me, gentlemen," Satya’s voice interrupted with a very formal tone, as if he were a museum curator reprimanding a visitor for touching an artifact. "Can I help you? It seems you’ve come to the wrong address if you’re looking for the billing department on this floor."

Rina turned, her eyes widening in relief. "Satya!"

Satya stood between Rina and the three men, not in a fighting pose, but with his hands in his pockets, showing the confidence of a man who knows exactly that he is protected by Consumer Protection Laws and applicable legal procedures.

[System: ... User, why don't you just punch them? It would be much more visually satisfying!]

"Shut up, Alpha. I’m working," Satya thought.

The battle between the Law of Plot and the Law of the Real World had just begun, and Satya had no intention of letting a cheap script win.

[Reader Rating: 1.8/5.0 - "The protagonist is too logical, it's annoying but makes me curious."]

Satya could feel the "pressure" from the air around him, as if the world itself was protesting because he wasn't following the script. But to him, nothing was more satisfying than ruining the plans of an omnipotent entity with the power of bureaucracy and common sense.

"So," Satya looked at the leader of the debt collectors. "Are we going to talk about an official assignment letter, or should I call the building manager and the police to discuss the article on unpleasant acts in a public space?"

The system in the corner of his eye flashed crazily, displaying the message: [ERROR: SCENARIO DEVIATION DETECTED!]

Satya just smiled. This was going to be a very long day.