Ren opened his eyes to yellow sunlight illuminating his desk and floor, giving them a unique color mix of gold and brown. His eyes focused on the white particles floating around the sunlight rays, giving him a nostalgic feeling of a non-existent "good old days"—a strange feeling of fulfillment and belonging to a home, and a picture of that scene painted itself in his mind. But soon, it became a hollow feeling as he couldn't find anyone in that picture.
Ren flipped around in dissatisfaction, facing upward again and staring at the ceiling, which was much more calming to him. For the ceiling was somewhat special; he didn't know why, but for him, every time he was cornered by some sort of feeling, he looked up and stared, no matter where he was at.
"..."
But too bad for Ren, he couldn't continue that as his angry stomach reminded him he hadn't eaten anything since the morning.
"What time is it?"
Ren fought the laziness and broke free from the bed, standing up. His body was still stiff and unable to feel energetic, even after taking a nap that long.
He looked at the alarm clock—it was 5:47 PM. He had been sleeping for about 10 hours with no break and practically no recovery.
'What the hell, System? This isn't fair!' Ren complained in his head, and as usual, the System answered in seconds:
[WITH THE USER'S LOW RANK, THE NATURAL RECOVERY WILL BE SLOW, AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.]
"Natural, you said? So there is another way to recover. Wait, I think you told me last night I can upgrade my stats with CE, right? So does that mean it can also be used for recovery? What was the exchange value? Hmm... Ah, 1 CE equals 1 point added to my stats, right?"
[YES, YOU CAN USE THE CE IN THAT MANNER TOO.]
Upon hearing the System, he smiled in a shiftier way, but before that idea blossomed more inside his head, the System spoke, answering his thoughts instantly:
[NO, IT DOESN'T. ADDING ONE POINT TO A STATUS DOES NOT MEAN THE OVERALL POOL WILL BE RESET OR THE MAX CAPACITY WILL INCREASE. IT SIMPLY MEANS ADDING JUST ONE POINT. THE OVERALL STATUS NUMBER ONLY INCREASES WHEN THE STATUS CAP IS FULL AND YOU ADD ADDITIONAL POINTS TO IT.]
Ren's smile dispersed as he heard the System's voice inside his head.
"Damn it, I thought I found a loophole. But it doesn't matter; I need my energy back to normal, at least above the red zone, so I can function tonight."
Ren thought about the System, and a window interface popped up before him.
STATUS WINDOW — Ren
Strength: 12
Stamina: 15
Perception: 6
Composure: 10
Energy: 7/40
"Let's see... I gained 1 energy for sleeping all morning. That's cheap, and... I have 14 CE. To get out of the red zone, I need 3. Hmm, should I use them all or just get myself out of the red zone?"
Ren's eyes wandered across the window interface, and suddenly, his gaze stopped at the Stamina stat. After a while, a silent smile crept onto his face.
"System, put 5 CE into Stamina, and the rest into Energy."
[OKAY]
As the System's voice started to fade, the window interface began to glow around the Stamina and Energy stats, the numbers ticking upward.
Ren watched the numbers rise. Immediately, as if he were healing in some kind of video game, his body started to feel lighter. Some of the lingering pain melted away, and a second later, the window interface returned to normal.
STATUS WINDOW — Ren
Strength: 12
Stamina: 20
Perception: 6
Composure: 10
Energy: 16/40
'Good. Is this better, even though I still feel tired?'
Ren stretched for a second before heading to the first floor to prepare a simple meal—a single portion of spaghetti. He ate it with a glass of orange juice. By the time he finished and cleaned up the kitchen, it was already night. He checked his phone: 7:11 PM.
'Finally, huh?'
Ren dried his hands, walked all the way into the living room, threw himself onto the sofa, and lay flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He stayed like that for a while.
All kinds of thoughts crossed his mind, making him cycle through a dozen facial expressions—angry, sad, empty, happy, eager, and horny. Time flew by.
At 7:30 PM, Ren felt a sudden chill in the air around him. Out of nowhere, he saw a tall figure floating above him, a belt wrapping around its entire head.
"HOW ARE YOU ENJOYING YOUR TIME, REN?"
Ren stared at the devil for a moment before a twisted smile drew across his face. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
"Great. At this time, right here, right now, I feel like I can fly. Do you know why, Master Devil?"
The devil tilted its head to the left slightly, causing the rope ends on the belt to make a small rustling noise.
"WHY?"
"Hahaha... Because in nine minutes, I'm about to witness the most pathetic face ever. Haha."
"AH, I SEE. YOU REALLY ARE AN INTERESTING PERSON, REN. I THINK THERE IS A LONG WEEK AHEAD OF YOU."
"Heh, I know that. Right out of the gate, these last two days felt like the longest two days in my entire life. You see, a lot of things happened—to the point where I feel the world is at stake. Oh, I really hope these moments keep going and never end."
The devil listened to all of Ren's ramblings without interrupting. It simply tilted its head from side to side, leaning deeply into every word Ren spoke. When Ren finally stopped, the devil's voice rang inside his mind:
"I SEE YOU ARE HAVING A LOT OF FUN. YOU ADAPTED FAST WITH YOUR POWERS AND THE SYSTEM. BUT REN, TELL ME SOMETHING: HOW ARE YOU GONNA FIX THE PROBLEM YOU FOUND YOURSELF IN?"
"Ah," Ren chuckled softly. "No, I don't need to fix anything. Things will fix themselves."
With that said, Ren raised his hand and looked at his phone. It was 7:45 PM.
Ding-dong.
Ren's twisted smile froze into something cold. He looked toward the spot where the devil had been floating. To his disappointment, the entity was gone, but that didn't change Ren's mood.
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang again, but Ren didn't bother moving. After several rings, the door unlocked, and he heard footsteps making their way toward the living room.
A second later, the front door swung open.
Someone was standing there.
Ren's head moved slowly downward. His gaze shifted away from the ceiling and fell straight onto the person standing in the doorway.
"Heh." Ren chuckled, his twisted smile no longer able to contain his laughter.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh—HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
It was Aoi. The person standing in front of him was Aoi, wearing a complex, conflicted expression.
"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAA—................."
Ren's laughter continued for a few seconds, then stopped abruptly before he spoke.
"After all of that shit you did, you still came to my house... How ironic, Aoi? Don't you think... AOI?"