Damian Cross stared at the number on his phone as though staring hard enough might make it change.
$47.63
He refreshed his banking app.
Nothing.
He closed it.
Opened it again.
$47.63
Damian sighed and dropped his phone onto the worn wooden desk.
"Wonderful."
The word came out flat.
Outside the small apartment window, Westbridge City was already awake.
Cars crawled through the morning traffic. People hurried along the sidewalks with coffee in their hands. Somewhere in the distance, a siren wailed before fading into the endless hum of the city.
The world was moving.
Damian wasn’t.
At least, not financially.
His university tuition for the semester had already taken a painful bite out of his savings. Rent was due in less than two weeks. His phone bill was coming up. He still had a few groceries left, but not enough to last comfortably.
And now there was another problem.
His laptop.
Damian turned toward it.
The device sat in the middle of his desk like a wounded soldier.
The screen was black.
He pressed the power button.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
"Come on."
He plugged in the charger.
The little indicator light flickered once.
Then died.
Damian leaned back in his chair.
"No."
He tried again.
Nothing.
He unplugged the charger, plugged it into another outlet, and tried once more.
Still nothing.
He stared at the laptop for several seconds.
His final project was due in five days.
A project worth twenty percent of his final grade.
And his laptop had apparently decided that five days was the perfect time to die.
"Of course."
A knock came from the apartment door.
Damian didn’t move.
Another knock.
"Damian!"
He recognized the voice immediately.
"Ethan, the door’s unlocked."
The door swung open.
Ethan Brooks stepped inside carrying two paper cups and wearing the kind of grin that suggested he had never experienced a serious problem in his entire life.
He looked around the apartment.
"Good morning, financially responsible citizen."
Damian looked at him.
"Leave."
Ethan laughed.
"Wow. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."
He tossed one of the cups onto the desk.
"Coffee."
Damian looked at it.
Then at Ethan.
"You bought me coffee?"
"Don’t make it emotional."
"You hate spending money."
"I hate spending money on myself. You’re different."
Damian picked up the cup.
"Thanks."
Ethan dropped into the chair opposite him.
"What’s wrong?"
"Nothing."
Ethan’s eyes moved toward the laptop.
"Your computer finally died?"
Damian slowly nodded.
"Yeah."
"Ouch."
"Very helpful."
"I wasn’t finished."
Ethan leaned forward.
"How dead?"
"Dead dead."
"Can it turn on?"
"No."
"Charging?"
"No."
"Did you try turning it off and on?"
Damian stared at him.
Ethan raised both hands.
"Had to ask."
A reluctant smile tugged at Damian’s mouth.
"You’re an idiot."
"An employed idiot."
"You’re unemployed."
"Exactly. An unemployed idiot."
They both laughed.
For a moment, the problem didn’t feel quite as heavy.
That was what Damian liked about Ethan.
The guy could make almost anything seem less terrible.
They had known each other for years, long before university, before Westbridge’s crowded lecture halls and endless assignments.
Ethan had seen Damian at his best.
And at his most broke.
Especially at his most broke.
He knew Damian wasn’t the kind of person who liked asking for help.
Which was why Ethan’s expression became more serious when he asked,
"How much do you have?"
Damian didn’t answer.
Ethan sighed.
"Damian."
"$47.63."
Silence.
Ethan’s eyebrows rose.
"That’s it?"
"That’s it."
"Your savings?"
"My available money."
"That’s worse."
"I know."
Ethan leaned back.
"Okay. I’ll lend you the money for the laptop."
"No."
"I wasn’t asking."
"I said no."
"Damian—"
"I’ll figure it out."
Ethan frowned.
"You always say that."
"Because I always do."
"Eventually."
Damian smiled faintly.
"Still counts."
Ethan studied him for a moment before shaking his head.
"You’re stubborn."
"So I’ve been told."
"By me."
"Frequently."
Ethan stood.
"I’ve got a lecture in twenty minutes."
Damian nodded.
At the door, Ethan paused.
"Seriously, though. If you need anything, call me."
"I know."
"I’m not joking."
"I know."
Ethan nodded.
"Good."
He left.
The apartment became quiet again.
Damian looked down at his coffee.
Then at the dead laptop.
Then at his phone.
$47.63.
He wasn’t ashamed of being poor.
At least, he tried not to be.
But there were moments when poverty became more than an empty bank account.
It was the hesitation before buying something.
The calculation before ordering food.
The quiet embarrassment when a card declined.
The constant mental arithmetic of deciding what could wait until next week.
Damian hated that.
Not because he wanted to flaunt wealth.
He simply wanted freedom.
The freedom to solve a problem without wondering whether solving it would create another one.
He opened his laptop bag.
Maybe there was something he could salvage.
Nothing.
He searched online for affordable replacement laptops.
The cheapest decent one he could find was around $430.
Damian stared at the screen.
Then laughed.
A dry, humorless laugh.
"Yeah. Sure."
He closed the browser.
For the next few hours, he tried everything.
He checked repair shops.
He searched for used laptops.
He messaged two classmates.
Nothing.
Finally, around noon, Ethan sent him a message.
~Ethan: Found a used laptop shop near campus.
~Damian: Price?
A few seconds passed.
~Ethan: $45.
Damian sat upright.
~Damian: You’re joking.
~Ethan: Wish I was.
~Damian: Send location.
The shop was only a fifteen-minute walk from his apartment.
Damian grabbed his wallet and headed out.
The city was brighter now.
Westbridge was beautiful when Damian could afford to enjoy it.
Glass skyscrapers reflected the afternoon sunlight. Expensive cars moved through downtown streets. Restaurants displayed menus whose prices made Damian instinctively look away.
He reached the electronics shop twenty minutes later.
The owner, an older man named Mr. Carter, showed him the laptop.
It wasn’t new.
It wasn’t pretty.
The casing had several scratches, and the keyboard had clearly seen better days.
But it worked.
Damian checked everything carefully.
The screen.
Keyboard.
Battery.
Ports.
Storage.
It wasn’t powerful, but it could handle his university work.
"$45," Mr. Carter said.
Damian reached into his pocket.
His wallet felt strangely heavy.
Not because it contained much.
He pulled out his card.
For a moment, he hesitated.
Then he remembered the project.
The deadline.
The tuition.
Everything waiting for him.
He tapped his card.
Payment successful.
Damian picked up the laptop.
One problem solved.
At least for now.
He stepped outside.
The afternoon wind brushed against his face.
He pulled out his phone to check his remaining balance.
Then—
DING!
Damian froze.
A notification appeared across his face.
It wasn’t from his bank.
It wasn’t from any app he recognized.
It was a floating gold notification box with strange gold lettering.
«[10X Cashback System successfully activated.]»
Damian blinked.
"What?"
Another notification appeared.
«[Purchase detected.]»
«[Amount: $45.00]»
«[Cashback multiplier: 10X]»
«[Cashback received: $450.00]»
Damian stopped walking.
His thumb hovered over the screen.
For several seconds, he simply stared.
Then his banking app opened.
He refreshed the balance.
$452.63
Damian’s breathing stopped.
He refreshed again.
$452.63
He checked his transaction history.
There it was.
Cashback Deposit: +$450.00
His eyes widened.
"No way."
He refreshed again.
The number remained.
Four hundred and fifty-two dollars.
Damian looked around.
People walked past him without a second glance.
Nobody seemed to notice the world had just changed.
He felt a vibration.
Another notification appeared.
«[Welcome, Host.]»
«[The 10X Cashback System has chosen you.]»
«[Every legitimate purchase you make will return 10X its value as cashback.]»
Damian stared at the screen.
His heart began pounding.
He slowly looked at the cheap laptop in his hand.
Then at his phone.
Then back at the laptop.
A strange smile appeared on his face.
For the first time in a very long time, Damian Cross could smell opportunity.