Second Chance For The Bullied

Time For The Next Level

Jinhoo jumped up the moment he heard the voice in his head. Though the voice was in his head and he was alone at home, he couldn't accept the fact so he still had to ask if someone was with him.

"Who is there?" He asked while looking around. When he got no reply he looked under the bed and every possible place someone could hide but he saw no one.

"Is it truly a voice from my head?"

"YES, I AM IN YOUR HEAD." The voice came again.

"Who are you?" Jinhoo has seen unimaginable things to now accepts unbelievable things casually.

"I AM THE SYSTEM GIVEN TO YOU AS A PLAYER."

"What player?" 

"I DON'T HAVE AN ANSWER TO THAT."

"Then what do you have the answer to?"

"I REGISTER YOUR TASK AND THEN AWARD YOU WITH POINTS UPON COMPLETION. THE POINT CAN BE USED BY YOU TO GET STRONGER OR MORE HANDSOME IF YOU DESIRE."

"Can it make me richer?"

"NO, IT CAN ONLY IMPROVE YOUR PHYSICAL QUALITIES."

Jinhoo sighed. "It would have been great if it can make me richer. So can it make me strong enough to be considered superman?" Jinhoo loved the idea of being able to fly and break through walls like carbon.

"NO, IT CAN ONLY INCREASE YOUR QUALITIES TO THE LIMIT OF A HUMAN BEING." 

"Another disappoint." Jinhoo's eyes widened as he remembered the old man telling him about the system. "So, how can the task be registered?" 

"IT CAN BE DONE BY YOU, JUST LIKE YOU DID NOW. IT CAN ALSO BE GIVEN BY YOUR SPONSOR. THE POINT AWARDED BY EACH TASK VARIES DEPENDING ON THE DIFFICULTIES." 

"What do you mean sponsor?"

"I CAN'T ANSWER THAT." Once again the system doesn't have an answer to Jinhoo's question. 

"Alright, can the system give me specific skills?"

"NO, BUT WITH THE POINTS YOU ACQUIRED, YOU CAN MAKE THE SKILLS YOU LEARN BETTER." Jinhoo nodded and thought the system is pretty simple, he didn't bother asking many questions since he believed things will get clearer with time.

"Alright, I guess I should start my first task." Jinhoo went down to start his push-up but paused to ask another question. "When I communicate with you, would I always have to talk out loud?" 

"NO, JUST SPEAK IN YOUR HEAD AND I WILL RESPOND, ALSO WHATEVER I SHOW YOU WOULD BE FOR YOUR EYES ONLY."

"What can you show me?"

"YOUR STATS." At the words of the system, a status window is displayed before Jinhoo's eyes. Jinhoo looked at it and read out what was written on it.

"Strength 1/5. Speed 1/5. Endurance 2/5. Agility 1/5. Accuracy 1/5. Stamina 1/5." Jinhoo sighed after reading out his status. "I don't need a soothsayer to tell me that I am at the bottom of the food chain. Better start training."

Jinhoo started his task with much enthusiasm but he soon came to realize that it is easier said than done. By the time Jinhoo was in his tenth push-up, his arms gave up and he couldn't lift himself again.

"I still have a long way to go." He muttered to him while trying his best to control his breathing. Jinhoo wasn't disheartened for this was his first exercise and after seeing how weak he is he didn't plan to reach a hundred at once. Jinhoo didn't give up, after a little rest he would start again.

Jinhoo didn't care if he was only able to do five at once or ten, he kept on going whenever and however he could. While he lost count of the number of push up he has done, the system was automatically keeping count. Jinhoo didn't do anything that day except push-ups, he ate no food and only drank a little bit of water when he is thirsty. Even when his mother came back, he only went and welcomed her and then went back to his room to continue his exercise. 

"100. YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR FIRST TASK AND TWO POINTS HAVE BEEN AWARDED TO YOU." A voice once again rang in Jinhoo's head and the relief he felt from it was satisfying. Jinhoo stood up and went to the bathroom to have a cold bath and relax his muscles

"This is just the beginning of my changes." He smiled while bathing.

Just like he said, Jinhoo kept up with his daily exercise and he didn't bother looking at his reflection in the mirror to see how much he has changed. He would do his sit up, push up, and morning jogging. He knew he needed more than that to become the strongest he hoped to be, but he wanted to get a little bit of stamina before taking a step further. Jinhoo didn't spend time with his friends anymore, he always gently dismissed them whenever they come and after a while, they stopped coming entirely. He would always jog to Bella's neighborhood hoping to catch a glimpse of her, and some days he is lucky to get what he seeks. Seeing Bella always rekindles the fire in his heart to get stronger. 

At first, when Jinhoo started his daily exercise, he could barely do ten push up at once but after two months of consistency, he could now do thirty push up and 30 sit-ups at once. He was already feeling the tightening of his muscles and his stamina building up. Also after two months, he has gathered only 30 points. He figured that the system doesn't accept a task twice, once a task has been accepted by the system as a task, the same would never be accepted. So, Jinhoo always has to do a new thing to earn a point. Also, the system doesn't accept everything as a task. Jinhoo once volunteered to help his mother go shopping for groceries. He tried registering it as a task since he planned to jog to the grocery store but the system didn't respond to it. But when he decided to jog around his neighborhood five times, the system registered it as a task and it took him two days to accomplish that. 

Until now, Jinhoo was yet to use his points to boast any of his stat, he didn't want to rely on the point just yet. Even though Jinhoo no longer earns any points by completing his daily exercise, he kept doing it since he could feel the changes in his body.

"System, Status window." Once again the window displayed before his eyes and Jinhoo smiled as he saw the progress. "Strength 2/5, Speed 1/5, Endurance 2/5, Agility 2/5, Accuracy, 1/5, Stamina 2/5." Though on the outside no visible changes could be seen, Jinhoo was happy because he could see the status bar below each of the six qualities. Each of them has a bar below them that looks like the status bar that shows the percentage of a phone battery. Once the bar gets filled up, a number would be added. When Jinhoo first saw his status bar, each qualities bar was so low that Jinhoo knew even though his strength was 1, it was the lowest of them all. But with his constant exercise, he was able to fill all these bars and added a number to them. Right now, the bar under strength is almost filled up showing it would become three in no time. Speed has added but not as much since most of the exercises he did, didn't have much to do with speed. Though his endurance was still at 2, it would soon be filled up unlike when he first started. His agility and stamina increased but his endurance barely did since nothing has pushed him to the extent that would add to his endurance. 

"Time for the next level." He smiled as he muttered to himself.