System Within: Million Dollars From Today

After losing his delivery driver job for thinking his female manager liked him and saying to her ‘I love you’, Gabe Brando was without a doubt experiencing the lowest, crappiest phase of his life.

Being used by women, only to then be treated like trash was not new to Gabe, but it would still shock and break him every single time.

At present, seated in the opposite row to him in the bus was Sheila, a divorced woman from the same neighborhood he lived in, and she had this ‘I’m too good for you’ look.

Gabe couldn’t even make eye contact with her for long. He felt too inferior for many reasons. He was jobless. He had thin hair. He was slightly cross-eyed, and he didn’t consider himself handsome, either. He thought, no, he knew he had no chance even with a divorced woman who he also owed some money.

Such was the state the no-teen-ever Gabe was in.

“I washed my head today, and I lost more hair today,” he muttered under his breath. “Is it because I’m buying cheap shampoo, or is it just the stress taking its toll?”

Most of his current beta behavior was due to what happened almost three years ago.

Three disgustingly long years ago, Gabe was about to put the 500-dollar wedding ring on the bride, Kiera, but she pulled her hand and looked into his eyes with no guilt whatsoever when she said, “You’re a nice guy, but you’re not correct for me, Gabe. You’re not boring, but I can’t picture a fun life with you. And don’t think this is because of your aunt, or because you’re cross-eyed. I just realized I don’t really like you enough to marry you.” Saying that, Kiera confidently walked away from the wedding ceremony for which Gabe had spent a significant portion of his savings to set up.

He had spent so much time and energy for Kiera and was like a slave to her and did everything she wanted. But that wasn’t enough for her. What truly hurt him, however, was that she didn’t even say sorry. Kiera hadn’t even said sorry for dumping him on the wedding day, and he later came to know that Kiera never loved him. She had made a bet with her friends that she would make him love her to the point he’d take it to the wedding day. This was why she abandoned him on the wedding day, and the fact that she had toyed with him all along haunted Gabe to the point he couldn’t even work properly. He lost his job multiple times and also his peace of mind. It had taken him almost a year of crying and regretting to just get over the nightmarish wedding day.

Gabe somehow moved on and tried dating other girls, but nothing worked out for him. It was as if a curse had been put on him, or so he believed. Even those he thought he had a chance with eventually ended up ignoring or friend-zoning him. All he wanted was a partner who could live with him and also take care of his sick aunt. Every time he told some girl his rejection stories, they would laugh and then pity him, but that was all he got from them, enough laughter and pity that made him feel less than a man.

Thinking about the past made him feel even more miserable.

Suddenly, Sheila’s mobile fell to the floor. She didn’t bend to pick it up but just stared at Gabe. He quickly picked it up and wiped it clean with his shirt before giving it to her.

“Hmph,” she snorted and did not look at him anymore.

He still smiled through his broken heart.

Currently, Gabe was on his way to attend a job interview for working as a museum’s guard. He was never good at studies and was particularly bad in math, so landing a high-paying desk job always seemed out of reach, though probably not as out of reach as getting a girlfriend.

There were some pretty girls sitting in the back rows of the bus; he could hear their sweet voices. They were gossiping about a muscular dude sitting only two rows behind him. He was tall and handsome with a ripped physique. His tanned skin was an added attraction. No wonder even the college girls who were much younger than him were interested in him, whereas not even widows considered Gabe worthy enough to share a smile together with.

There was one exception, though. There was this one girl whom he had a big crush on. She was his classmate in middle school. He was poor at studies, so poor he would struggle to even write the spelling of many words of different subjects until he reached middle school. While most of his classmates laughed at his lack of talent, this one girl treated him differently. Not only did she never mock him, but she also clarified any doubts that he had regarding the subjects, though he only ever approached her a few times.

“Mia… I wonder what she’s doing now. It’s been a few years since I saw her. She must have married and had kids by now.” Gabe’s gut twisted a little bit. Sour juices flowed out.

By the time he came out of his thorny, torturous head, the muscular man was now kissing the girls in the back and was having the time of his life.

Sighing deeply, Gabe got down from the bus at the next stop.

The extensive museum was right before him. A lot of expensive cars were parked outside. Many people in suits and costly coats were entering through the main entrance. He was only wearing an old shirt and pants that were quite worn out. If there was anything that looked somewhat new, it was the resume file in his hand.

“I hope I qualify, or the bus charges will go to waste.”

He wished to enter the museum, but only those who were invited could enter. The interview, however, was being conducted in a small raised tent outside the museum. It was a walk-in interview, so he hurried over there.

There was only one man sitting inside and sleeping. “Uh, sir…” he called for him in a weak voice, but that wasn’t enough to wake up this interviewer. “How do I wake him up?”

Another man walked into the tent and pushed Gabe aside.

“What the—” Gabe got angry, but after seeing this man’s physique, he shut his mouth. This was the same muscular man he had seen in the bus. The same guy the college girls drooled over.

“Excuse me, sir!” the muscular man slammed the desk with his hand, waking up the interviewer at once. “I’m here for the guard’s position.”

Gabe’s heart shook. As he came to understand the significance of the words just said, he lowered his head and walked out.

The muscular man briefly glanced over his shoulder, smirked and uttered the word ‘loser’ before resuming to talk with the interviewer.

Gabe stood outside the tent, with his head tilted down. He was born with a weak physique. He wasn’t tall or muscular, and he looked more feminine than muscular. The only good thing he had going for him was his thick, smooth hair, but that started abandoning him little by little after he entered his twenties. He knew he was a loser from birth because he was born with cross-eyes. The cross-eyedness was only mild, and many people wouldn’t even notice it unless they were being careful, but it still affected his confidence a lot since he was young. He wasn’t able to talk with others, or even directly look at women even though he wanted to. This was part of the reason why his dates turned out to be disasters because he couldn’t look women in the eye for long.

But how would anyone ever understand this? They wouldn’t.

Bearing the emotions weighing his heart down, Gabe looked around. Everyone seemed busy, doing something with their life, except for him.

“If I don’t get a job today, I won’t have enough for groceries this week. I’m already buried neck-deep in debt. No one would trust and give me another penny.” After some thinking, he took a deep breath. “I have to get the job no matter what. I can’t just give up without even trying.” He turned around and was about to walk back into the tent, but he still hesitated.

Something came rolling over and hit the back of his foot. He glanced down, and it was a copper ring with the symbol A on it.

He picked it up. There was nothing special about it. A plain old copper ring, it was. He looked around to see if anyone lost it, but everyone he saw was busy with their own work. Besides, this dull-looking ring wouldn’t suit any of those people with high profiles. “Nobody would miss this cheap ring, so looking for the owner is useless. Why don’t I see how it looks on my hand?” he put it on his ring finger.

A faint surge of electricity shook his body, especially the spine. It made him stand straight and tall almost instantly.

[You are fit to wield the Alpha System.]

A message rang in his head, startling the heck out of him.

He looked around to see who just spoke. “W-What? Who’s speaking?”

[Do you wish to use the Alpha System?]

The feminine voice rang again, and the ring on his finger released faint surges of electricity, making him wonder if the ring was talking to him, as bizarre as it might have sounded.

[Do you wish to use the Alpha System?]

The voice rang again.

“W-What alpha system?” he asked back in anxiety.

[One that can give you everything you want.]

“Everything I want? Sounds too good to be true,” he may be weak-minded and may have lacked confidence, but he wasn’t lacking in terms of real world experience.

[Do you wish to accept or not?]

“I want a million dollars,” Gabe said.

[You should first accept the system before making any request. Do you wish to accept it or not?]

“Huh, avoiding my question smartly, are you? Very well. You must be some kind of AI embedded into this ring and is somehow managing to speak to me using sound waves, right? Let’s see what sort of trick you’re pulling. I accept.” The moment Gabe said those words, he felt a surge of energy flowing into his body through the ring.

[Alpha’s Avatar is being activated…]

[Alpha’s Avatar cannot be activated because of poor levels of confidence.]

“H-Huh?”

[Locating the nearest alpha for you to defeat and level-up… Found one. A rather rowdy one. He’s right behind you, in the tent. Go inside and beat him up.]

A chill crawled up Gabe’s spine. “HUH?” mucus flowed and hung from his nose.

[If you want the million dollars, then do what I am saying.]

Gabe’s eyes still stayed wide-open.