Chapter 1: My fate

“Welcome, Mr. George”.

“Your file says you’re applying for the position of a hunter in our company,” The blonde-haired male interviewer looked at him with shiny eyes. “So, why do you want this job?”

“Well, I’ve always felt passionately about not starving to death, so?”

Silence.

“Ahem,” The blonde-haired interviewer adjusted his glasses, looking at the black suited man sitting opposite him.

George was a handsome young man with neat black hair and shiny purple eyes. His shiny purple eyes did little in enhancing his stature though, it was clear from his second-hand suit and mannerisms that he faked it all.

That simple glance already made this interviewer lose interest.

He looked down only to see his second-hand black shoes.

‘Like I expected, another f*cking loser looking to earn some quick bucks!’

The interviewer looked at him with a poker look now on his face. “It says in your CV that you are quick at mathematics”.

He looked him up and down. “What is 17 × 19?”

“32”.

“That’s not even close”.

“But it was quick”.

Silence.

“Umm, with all due respect, Mr. George, I don’t think you have the qualifications to work as a hunter in the Beast Mania Company”.

“Please, can you leave to give way for the next applicant?”

Silence.

George adjusted in his chair. “Well, f*ck it”.

Bang!

Slamming his hand against the table, George stood up as he glared at the interviewer. He pointed a finger at him. “You entitled piece of sh*t!”

“I said I’m applying to be a hunter, not some f*cking mathematician!”

“What concerns me with being quick at f*cking mathematics?!”

The interviewer quickly dialed and rang a number. “Send security in, please come escort Mr. George out”.

“I don’t need security to leave”.

George adjusted his second-hand suit, cleaned his second-hand shoes, ruffled his black hair, leaving it rough the way he liked it before walking out.

He gave the interviewer the middle-finger as he stepped out.

Well, that was his 3^rd sending off today and his 29^th interview gone wrong this week out of the over 100 job application forms that he sent out.

Going outside and accessing the pockets of his second-hand suit, George brought his pack of cigarettes. He lit one as he took a quick puff.

“Ah!” He sighed.

“Living is hard man”.

“But f*ck it, this is my fate”. Putting one hand in his suit pocket, he swaggered away out of the premises of the big company without much of a care, only wondering about how he would fill his stomach.

George was an only son and he became an orphan a month ago.

It was supposed to be a celebratory event, his convocation from the university but on their way to celebrate with him, both his parents were involved in a ghastly car accident and were rushed to the hospital.

His convocation was interrupted when he was informed.

Rushing to the hospital, he watched from outside the theater room for 2 hours as his parents were operated on.

He watched till the last few minutes of their existence.

They both died in the theater room.

In that moment, George felt like something died in him. His parents were his world, they were everything to him well, maybe except his girlfriend.

She had her convocation on the same day with him.

On going back to the university ground, looking for a shoulder to lean on that’ll help him grasp at his quickly vanishing life, that was when he saw them.

Vanessa, his girlfriend, publicly kissed Harley, the richest boy in the university. Watching from the back, George died the second time that day.

He didn’t cry though.

“F*ck it, this is my fate”. He could only mutter.

Tears didn’t flow but his heart bled.

Vanessa didn’t even give him the chance to break up. She called him later in the evening. “George, I heard your parents died in an accident, sorry”.

“I wanted to inform you that Harley asked me out at the convocation”.

“Of course I accepted, so that’s it, we’re done”.

George could not cry, he poured his sadness into the only thing he could do, working out. He did 200 push ups at a go, mixing other workouts with it till he fainted from tiredness.

A week later, with the help of his relatives, everything was taken care of and his parents were buried.

George was left with nothing by his parents, only his education.

The worse thing was he was not exactly the bright type. Through his 4 years in the university, he was always average or poor in majority of the courses, only excelling when it came to the wildlife courses.

He was the best hunter across the university but being good at hunting animals won’t take you far in society, even intelligence was not guaranteed, only the rich like Harley were guaranteed a track to success.

“It’s my fate, I need to change it myself”.

Coming to this conviction after the 2 weeks of mourning his parents, from the 3^rd week, he freshened up and went into the labor market, seeking for a job.

Well, his fate dictated that he was not overly intelligent nor did he have any connections, he was screwed from the onset.

George kept going only due to sheer stubbornness.

But after the rejection today, he thought. ‘Perhaps it’s time I give up’.

‘There’s no place in society for a loser like me’.

‘Even Vanessa who told me I was her world left me’. He chuckled.

‘George, just give up’.

Managing to convince himself, he finally started going home. His home was a single room in a 6-story building rented apartment.

His rent was already due, perhaps the landlord was waiting for him at home.

On getting to his door, he heaved a sigh of relief as the landlord was nowhere in sight. Just before he could open it though, a hand touched him.

Tap!

He swiftly gripped the hand that touched him, showing quick reflexes.

“Ah!” The girl jumped, startled.

George raised his head to look at her, he was barely seeing at this point but still her beauty caught his attention. She was a beautiful red-haired girl with chubby cheeks and a gentle smile on her face.

“What?” George asked blandly.

“Ah! Sorry,” She smiled brightly. “You’re George Churchill, right?”

“Yeah, what?”

“Sorry, your grandfather sent this to you”.

Silence.

George went blank, he just looked at the girl. “I have a grandfather?”

“Oh, sorry, he’s dead, but he left this inheritance for his grandson. He said for you to inherit it only after both of your parents are dead”.

“Huh?”

“Thank you”. She placed a white box on his hand before leaving.

George held the box, looking around in confusion. “An inheritance? A grandfather?” He chuckled. “What a weird girl”.

Entering inside, he threw the white box at a corner and opened his game box to play his usual beast hunter game.

It was the only thing keeping him from being depressed but he couldn’t focus.

‘An inheritance? What bullsh*t!’

Standing up from the only chair in his room, he picked the white box from the corner where he threw it on. Turning it round to observe it, he noticed nothing special about it then he tore it open.

Inside was a small ancient style phone, visafone model.

“Huh?” He was disappointed though he already expected it. “Is this the inheritance? What did I expect actually?” He laughed.

He laid down on his tiny bed, trying his best to forget the numerous disappointments of today and that was when he suddenly felt drowsy.

‘What’s going on?’ He thought.

In his drowsiness, George saw the screen of the phone light up.

[Initializing Beast Capturing System…]