Infinite Returns: Investment Rebate System

Chapter 1

“You’re so incompetent at your job!”

The middle-aged man’s voice rose to a shrill pitch. It was followed by the loud thud of documents being slammed onto the desk. The vibrations traveled all the way down to the soles of Leonard Fincher’s feet.

Leo stood stiffly in front of the desk. His breath caught for a moment as the shrill voice pierced his ears. His shoulders tensed. Slowly, a bead of sweat on his temple trickled down, following gravity.

“How many times have I told you until I’m blue in the face? You keep making stupid mistakes like this. Are you deaf, huh?”

Although this wasn’t the first time Leo had heard it from David, his boss’s harsh words still made him tense and hurt.

Leo swallowed hard. His eyes looked down; he wanted to look David straight in the eye, but hesitation held him back. Until the itch at his temple made him scratch it with his finger.

“B-but, I did what you asked, Mr. David. I swear—”

David turned his gaze away with a click of his tongue. One corner of his mouth curled up in an expression as if he were looking at something disgusting.

“You?” He glanced over and raised an eyebrow. He scanned Leo from head to toe. “Just look at yourself. You can’t even take care of yourself!”

David smirked. The man standing before him was nothing more than a disposable commodity.

Leonard remained silent. The man’s words were true about him. He was fat and covered in disgusting oil from constantly forcing himself to work.

Once, he had certainly been a handsome and dashing young man. Back when he didn’t think too much about the real world, which turned out to be nothing like he’d imagined.

At that moment, he swallowed hard, and Leonard Fincher looked up. His hands, which had been clammy with cold sweat, began to clench into fists.

“But Mr. David… this isn’t my fault. Edward is the one responsible—”

Hearing that name, Mr. David’s eyes widened. The veins on his temples bulged, and his face flushed red. He stood up and slammed his fist on the table.

“What did you say, Fincher? You’re so rude! You’re looking for a scapegoat, huh?”

Leonard froze instantly. He should have known his defense was futile since Edward was David’s nephew.

His heartbeat quickened, pressing against him anxiously, and Leonard loosened his tie so he could breathe more easily.

“Mr. David… I’m not making excuses. You’re the one who—”

“Enough!”

David threw the documents again, but this time at Leonard’s face.

“You’re fired, you bastard!”

Instantly, everything around Leo went dark. He nearly fell over after hearing the words he never wanted to hear.

Fired…

Fired…

His heart was pounding wildly, his lips trembling, and that was the end of his career at the small, inhumane company. He ended up as nothing more than a errand boy who often had to do other people’s work because he came from an unknown university.

Leo watched his hands as they placed a faded mug into the small cardboard box in front of him. He didn’t have much here.

He exhaled. “It’s over…”

A migraine immediately struck his head with incredible intensity as he recalled the hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt he still hadn’t paid off.

“He finally got fired.”

The sound of laughter from behind him was all too clear. Leo’s shoulders felt heavy because he knew full well they were talking loudly on purpose so he could hear them.

“Good. So we don’t have to smell his sweat.”

Leo quietly tried to smell himself. His large body did make his sweat smell bad, and it made him even more insecure.

Leo hurriedly packed up his things and walked out of his workplace.

He didn’t want to hear those belittling and hurtful words again. He knew this small company was indeed trying to lay off its employees. After him, it might be their turn.

“Damn it… just you wait…”

Leo stopped walking and looked back, glaring at the small building behind him, but his expression quickly turned sad.

After all, he had now lost his source of income, after spending the past few years trying his hardest to endure all the mistreatment they had heaped upon him.

Sighing, he resumed walking with weak steps and finally entered his small, cluttered apartment. There wasn’t a single valuable item here, so he carelessly dropped the cardboard box.

“What am I supposed to do now…?” Leo asked himself.

Everything around him was dark because his head was throbbing. And the next day, he had decided to return to the small town where he was from. He would start all over again from there.

“Thank goodness I’m not late…” he quickly wiped the sweat from his brow and breathed heavily.

The sound of the shuttle bus approached. Leo sat by the window. He calmly gazed out. In his hands, he held a burger and a soda.

Shortly after, a woman boarded the bus. She walked slowly. Then, she sat down next to Leo. A woman passed by him. Her beauty still stood out, even though her style was very different from other women—dark black lipstick, several piercings on her ears, and revealing mesh clothing.

Leo’s eyes shifted slightly when the woman sat down beside him.

She casually chewed gum, and Leo noticed her glancing at the soda and burger in his hands. Slowly, he tightened his grip on both, realizing that she was fixated on the food and drink he hadn’t even touched yet.

“It smells so good…” the woman swallowed softly.

She hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday. The moment she caught the scent of the burger beside her, her stomach immediately growled. The hunger only grew worse.

Maybe… if she tried talking to him, she might get some of that food.

Before she could say anything, the bus suddenly came to a stop. causing all the passengers to nearly fall. Some people even cursed right away, and Leo managed to grab onto a pole nearby.

“What’s going on…?”

He tried to look around. It seemed someone was crossing the street without looking at the traffic lights.

Some people there clicked their tongues.

“Ugh…! Ugh…!”

Then a voice came from beside Leo, and a second later, someone was patting his arm repeatedly. When Leo looked to his side, he realized the woman next to him had a flushed face as she repeatedly pounded her own chest.

“Miss!!”

Leo screamed. He was panicking and looked around.

The people around them saw what was happening, but no one stepped in to help the woman. For her—Gisele—this kind of thing happened all too often.

No one was going to help her anymore… the suffocating feeling had struck her chest again and again. As she looked at the man beside her, she clutched him tightly, her eyes empty of hope.

“Miss! I’ll help you!”

Leo took a deep breath and then exhaled sharply, he immediately raised his hand and pounded the woman’s back hard, over and over.

“Come on! Cough it up!”

“You can do it, miss!”

The woman coughed violently, coughing up a wad of gum that was choking her.

Leo felt an immense sense of relief because he had managed to save the woman’s life.

“Drink this,” he said, patting the woman’s back.

The woman—Gisele—immediately grabbed the soda and gulped it down. After everything she had just gone through, the soda she drank felt incredibly refreshing in her throat. Feeling fortunate, she looked at the man who had just helped her.

and when she looked back at Leo, his expression was very strange.

“What is this…?” Leo thought to himself.

He felt as though today’s events were causing his mind to hallucinate. So much so that he saw a notification screen as if he were in a game.

[Investment Rebate System]

[Active]

[Name: Gisele Invarse]

[Interest Level: 5]

This was completely absurd. But his eyes were definitely seeing those words.

His attention was slightly distracted when his phone vibrated; as he looked at the screen, something shocking happened again, causing his eyes to widen even more than before