The shrill sound of the alarm stabbed my ears like a knife. When I opened my eyes, it felt like waking from a nightmare, but this nightmare was real. My mind overflowed with hazy memories: my mother's desperate screams, the lonely silhouette crying at my gravestone, my consciousness fading on the cold bathroom tiles… I bolted out of my sweat-soaked bed. My breathing was rapid, my heart pounding like a hammer in my chest. I glanced at my digital alarm: 7:15. But the date… the date was wrong. It was exactly 48 days earlier. Back to that damned moment when it all began.
For a second, I thought it was all a dream. I swallowed hard and whispered to myself, "System." Instantly, an image appeared in the middle of the room. A translucent screen, gray and white tones blending like an old textbook. Golden words floated in the air, like the interface of a video game:
Your Development System has been successfully tailored to the user!
Quest: No Country For Fat's
Details: Aren't you tired of being fat? Get your big ass up and start moving.
Objectives:
100 sit-ups daily 100 assisted push-ups 100 jumping pull-ups 12 kilometers of walking
Duration: 24 hours
Punishment: Loss of the system. Execution of the deferred death penalty.
Reward: Limited access to system functions.
I couldn't believe my eyes. It was real. It was as if God, or whatever, had given me another chance. A crooked, strange smile crept across my face. My eyebrows throbbed, my nose still ached, but I didn't care. A fire burned inside me. "I'll never regret again," I said to myself. I jumped out of bed, grabbed an old tracksuit from the closet. Screw the rain, screw food. This time, everything would be different.
I stepped outside. I decided to head to Great Lake Park in the heart of the city. The quest's name felt like it was ripped from a popular movie: No Country For Fat's. Mocking, but motivating. Walking was an achievable start, even for someone like me. In the city streets, in the early morning hours, I quickened my pace. A light rain drizzled, the cold drops hitting my face, waking my skin. With every step, the anger and determination inside me grew. Hours passed, my legs began to ache, a stinging pain like needles in my calves. But I didn't stop. When I finally reached the park, I said to myself, "Progress screen."
The same gray-white screen appeared in the air:
Quest: No Country For Fat's
Progress:
6/12 kilometers walked 0/100 sit-ups 0/100 assisted push-ups 0/100 jumping pull-ups
I closed the screen. These tasks were like a needle prodding a sleeping giant inside me. The park's loop was 1.8 kilometers. About 3-4 laps would complete the walking. It was rainy, and the park was crowded. People rushed with umbrellas, kids jumped in muddy puddles. I kept walking, soaking wet. My tracksuit clung to my skin, my shoes filled with water, squelching with every step. But I didn't slack off. I wouldn't ruin this chance.
When I finished the walk, I was gasping for breath. I collapsed onto a muddy bench at the park's edge, tilted my head back, and looked at the rain. The water streaming down my face felt like it was washing away the poison inside me. The rain was like an emotional disinfectant. Then it hit me: school was on mid-term break. 15 days—two weeks. It was a short time to transform into the best version of myself, but it wasn't impossible. Rome wasn't built in a day, right? Even with small steps, I would change.
I stopped resting and moved to the park's workout area. First target: assisted push-ups. I lay under a metal bar in the workout zone, gripping it with both hands. My body felt like it weighed a ton. On the first push-up, my arms trembled, a sharp pain shooting through my shoulders. "One," I said, breathless. On the second, my belly scraped the ground, my breath hitching. By the third, a stinging pain spread through my arms, like needles. I could only manage six at a time. By the sixth push-up, my face was beet red, sweat and rain dripping from my forehead. I collapsed, my chest heaving.
"Don't give up, Ken," I told myself. "The ones who tore your shirt at the gambling table, Daniel's kicks, Hideo's smirk… For all of them." I gritted my teeth, grabbed the bar again. Each push-up was torture. My arms went numb, my wrists creaked. On the tenth set, my right arm suddenly cramped, and I nearly fell. But I didn't stop. "One more," I mumbled. "One more." Eventually, I completed 100 push-ups. My arms were numb, like they didn't belong to me. But a strange sense of victory surged inside me. I'd won the first battle.
I looked around. The city flowed with its usual chaos. Students heading to cafes, businessmen rushing about… Then a familiar face caught my eye. A kid from school. One of Hideo's crew, one of the ones who tore my shirt at the gambling table. I remembered his smirk, that disgusting laugh. I clenched my teeth. "All of you," I said to myself. "You'll all pay." The fire of revenge erupted in my veins like a volcano.
Next up: jumping pull-ups. The metal bar in the workout area was slippery from the rain. On my first try, I jumped, but my hands slipped, and I fell into the mud. My knees were caked in dirt, my tracksuit a mess. "Damn it," I muttered. I jumped again, this time gripping the bar, but as I tried to pull myself up, my belly dragged me down. My arms trembled, a sharp pain spreading through my tendons. On the first pull-up, my chin barely touched the bar before I collapsed. My breathing was ragged, my chest burning.
For a moment, I realized I could cheat the system: just jump and touch the bar, and it might count. But I stopped. "If I cheat myself, what changes?" I said to myself. This was my fight. With every jump, I gripped the bar and pulled myself up. My hands grew calloused, my palms burned. On the twentieth pull-up, my right wrist twisted painfully, and I groaned. But I didn't give up. The rain lashed my face, stinging my eyes. By the fiftieth pull-up, my arms were completely numb, like I was using someone else's. When I completed the hundredth pull-up, I collapsed. My hands shook, my tendons throbbed. But I'd done it.
Finally, sit-ups. I lay on the muddy ground, hands behind my head. On the first sit-up, my belly was like a wall. Bending myself felt like trying to lift a mountain. "One…" I said, wheezing. On the second, a burning sensation spread through my abs. By the fifth, I was breathless, my belly scraping the ground, making the movement harder. On the tenth, my back stuck to the mud, each move making a squelching sound. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth from thirst, my throat like a dry desert. But I didn't stop. "Daniel," I said to myself with every sit-up. "Hideo. All of you." Each sit-up was a punch to the helpless Ken inside me. On the seventieth, my abs cramped painfully, and I cried out. But I didn't give up. When I completed the hundredth sit-up, I looked at the sky. The rain danced on my face. I'd done it.
The screen appeared again:
Quest: No Country For Fat's - COMPLETED!
Reward: Limited access to system functions granted.
New Function: [Status Screen] unlocked.
I lay on the ground, gasping. My body felt broken, but a victory cry echoed inside me. This was just the beginning. For two weeks, with every breath, every drop of sweat, I would rebuild myself.