Super Rich System

3 Forced to Follow System Commands

Nothing happened for several seconds. Vino swept his gaze around his room, waiting. No change. No sound. He began to think that the system was only bluffing.

Then he heard a scream.

The scream came from outside, from the direction of the corridor. One voice, then two, then more. Vino got up from his bed and ran to the front door. He opened the door and found several of his neighbors already out of their units. Their faces were pale, confused, frightened. They were all moving in the same direction, toward the corridor balcony facing the outer side of the building.

Vino followed them. On that balcony, seven or eight people had already gathered, all of them looking down below. Vino pushed through them and followed the direction of their gaze.

Down there. Nine floors below. A body lay on the asphalt. Its position was unnatural, stiff, with both arms spread out and a head bent at an impossible angle.

Vino recognized that shirt. The dark green checkered shirt he often saw every time they crossed paths in the corridor. That was Mr. Tono's shirt.

"Mr. Tono!" screamed a middle aged woman who lived in the unit next to Mr. Tono's. "That's Mr. Tono!"

"I saw it myself," said a man in a black jacket with a trembling voice. "He was standing on the balcony of his unit, then suddenly he just climbed the railing and jumped. I wanted to scream but it was too late. He fell straight down."

"Maybe he was having some kind of problem."

"Yeah, looks like suicide."

"So tragic. He was such a friendly person."

"Has anyone called an ambulance?"

Those voices overlapped in Vino's ears, but his brain could not process any of them. His gaze was fixed on the body down there. Mr. Tono, who just this afternoon had patted his shoulder and told him to study hard. Mr. Tono, who always smiled every time they met in the elevator. Mr. Tono, who never forgot to say hello. Now his body lay rigid down there. Not moving. Would never move again.

Vino backed away slowly from the crowd. His feet felt heavy, every step toward the door of his apartment felt like walking on mud. He entered, closed the door, and leaned against it.

"Did you do that?" he whispered with a voice that was barely audible.

The system did not answer yes. The system also did not answer no. What the system said was only, "There will be a next victim if the mission is not carried out."

That sentence hit Vino harder than any kick he was now capable of performing. The image of Mr. Tono falling, or more precisely, being made to fall, replayed in his head. That man had no problems. That man did not want to die. But now he was lying down there, and the police would record it as suicide because there was a witness who saw him jump on his own.

Vino slid down to the floor. His back was still pressed against the door. His hands trembled not from the cold, not from fear of the system, but from the guilt choking his chest. Mr. Tono died because of him. Because he did not believe the system's threat. Because he thought the system was only bluffing.

"There will be a next victim if you still refuse to carry out the mission of confessing to Luna and sleeping with Luna." The mechanical voice was heard again.

Vino would not let that happen again.

"I'll do it," Vino said with a hoarse voice. "I'll sleep with Luna. Give me time."

"Forty eight hours from now. The countdown begins."

Vino closed his eyes and pressed his head to his knees. This was not a beautiful novel story like he had always imagined. There was no euphoria. No spirit of adventure. There was only fear, guilt, and a mission that for other people might sound trivial, confessing feelings to the girl he liked, but for Vino felt heavier than lifting the entire world.

An hour later, the sound of the front door opening and familiar footsteps were heard entering the apartment. His aunt had come home.

"Vino? Are you home?" Luna's voice was heard from the living room.

Vino got up from his bedroom floor and came out. In the living room, his aunt was putting her work bag on the table. Luna was thirty one years old, but anyone who saw her would definitely guess her age to be in her early twenties. Her skin was well cared for, her shoulder length hair was always neatly arranged, and the way she dressed made her look far younger than her actual age. She had never been married because she was too focused on her career, and she loved Vino like her own younger brother.

It was Luna who had invited Vino to move from the village to this city to get a better education. Since high school, Vino had been living with her in this apartment, while Vino's parents remained in the village. For Vino, his aunt was the person closest to him in this city, the only family he had in this place.

"Auntie has heard?" Luna immediately spoke even before sitting down. Her face looked shaken. "About Mr. Tono. They said this evening he fell from this floor. Downstairs it was really crowded, there was an ambulance, there were police. So tragic, Vin. Auntie still can't believe it."

Vino nodded stiffly. "Yes. I also saw it from the balcony earlier."

Luna looked at her nephew with a worried gaze. "Are you okay? You knew Mr. Tono quite well, right?"

"I'm okay, Auntie."

That was a lie. Vino was far from okay. But he could not tell the truth. He could not say that Mr. Tono's death was not suicide, that there was an invisible entity that caused it, and that same entity was now giving him forty eight hours to approach his aunt or there would be a next victim.