The Forgotten Son’s System

Chapter 002: Death As The Best Option

Williams stood frozen on the sidewalk. The truck had already passed. The strange voice still echoed in his head.

[How unfortunate could this poor system be to be assigned to such a weak and useless host?]

He looked left and right. No one was near him. Two old women walking past stared at him strangely.

“Hey boy, watch where you’re going!” one of them called.

Williams forced a weak smile. “Sorry.”

He kept walking. The voice did not come again. After a few steps he shook his head hard.

“It was just fear,” he muttered. “My mind is playing tricks because I almost died.”

He walked faster. The bag on his shoulder felt heavier than before. He had no job, no home, and no one left who cared. The words his cousin and girlfriend had said kept repeating in his mind: *You will never amount to anything in your miserable life again.*

Williams stopped at a traffic light and stared at the busy road. Cars rushed past. For a moment he thought about stepping forward. Then he remembered the kind guard who had helped him stand up earlier. The man had said, “There are no completely closed roads for human beings.”

Williams almost laughed. Easy words from someone who still had a job and a bed.

He turned away from the main road and walked toward the old bridge that crossed the river. The water looked dark and deep. Many people said it was the quietest place in the city to end things.

The voice returned, sharper this time.

[This system is not your imagination. Stop walking toward that bridge.]

Williams clenched his fists. “Leave me alone. You’re not real.”

[I am real. And you are the most useless host I have ever been given.]

Williams kept walking. He climbed the steps of the bridge. The wind was cold. Below him the water moved slowly. He put his bag down and looked over the edge.

“If I jump, everything stops,” he whispered. “No more hunger. No more shame. No more people laughing at me.”

The voice grew louder and almost panicked.

[Do not jump! This system will be destroyed with you!]

Williams ignored it. He climbed onto the low wall. His legs shook, but his mind felt strangely calm. He closed his eyes and leaned forward.

At that moment two fishermen were pulling their small boat to the side of the river under the bridge. One of them looked up and saw the young man standing on the wall.

“Hey! What are you doing up there?” the older fisherman shouted.

Williams did not answer. He leaned further.

The younger fisherman dropped his net and ran up the steps. He reached Williams just as the young man’s foot slipped. The fisherman grabbed the back of Williams’s shirt with both hands and pulled hard. Both of them fell onto the bridge floor.

Williams lay on his back, breathing fast. The older fisherman climbed up and stared at him with angry eyes.

“Are you crazy? We almost lost you in the water!”

Williams tried to speak, but no words came out. The two men helped him stand and half-carried him to their boat. They took him straight to the small public hospital near the river.

When Williams woke up, he was lying on a hard bed with a needle in his arm. His head hurt. The room smelled of medicine. A middle-aged nurse with short gray hair and deep lines around her mouth stood beside him. She held a paper in one hand and a cup of water in the other.

“You’re awake,” she said. Her voice was rough but not unkind. “Fishermen pulled you from the river. We treated you. Drink this.”

She held the cup to his lips. Williams drank slowly. The water tasted like metal.

The nurse put the cup down and showed him the paper. “Five hundred dollars. Treatment and bed. How will you pay?”

Williams stared at the number. He had less than two dollars in his pocket.

The cold voice spoke again inside his head.

[Let’s make a deal. Accept the quest I give you, and I will help you leave this place.]

Williams closed his eyes. Part of him still wanted to die. Another part was tired of being weak. He remembered the kind guard’s words. He remembered the way the supervisor had spat on his face. He remembered his cousin’s laugh.

If he accepted this strange quest, maybe he could stand up one more time. If he refused, he would stay in this bed until they threw him out with nothing.

He opened his eyes and looked at the nurse.

“What if I work here for one day?” he asked. “I can clean. I have no money now, but I can work.”

The nurse studied him for a long moment. Her tired eyes softened a little.

“We are short of cleaners,” she said. “One of the girls left last week. If you really work the full day without running away, I will speak to the doctor about the bill.”

Williams took a deep breath. The voice in his head spoke clearly.

[Ding! Quest issued: Work as a hospital janitor for the next twenty-four hours without rest. Accept or decline?]

Williams felt his hands shake. Accepting meant he was choosing to stay alive and fight a little longer. Declining meant going back to the bridge.

He looked at the cleaning tools in the corner of the room. Then he looked at the nurse’s tired face.

“I accept,” he said out loud.

The nurse nodded once. “Change your clothes. Tools are over there. I will show you the first ward.”

Williams swung his legs off the bed. His body still felt heavy from the river, but he stood up. He walked to the cleaning tools and picked them up.

For the first time in many days, he had something to do that was not running away or giving up.

The system spoke one last time, almost sounding relieved.

[Quest accepted. Host, do not fail.]

Williams put on the old gloves and followed the nurse into the hallway. Outside the window the sun was already going down. He did not know if the voice was real or if he had finally gone mad. But for now, cleaning floors was better than dying.

He pushed open the door of the first dirty ward and stepped inside.