It's never too late to become what you want. Many have always lived by this code while some always think it's too late for them, Jinhoo is among the formal. Regardless of how unfair life has been to him and how cruel people have been to him. Jinhoo had to pass through many hardships throughout his life that one may think he would give up and hate life but he never did. Not for once did he bear any ill feelings towards life.
"Beautiful." Jinhoo exhaled the word as he looked at the stars in the sky. Whenever his life is a mess, he always looks up to the sky for strength. He does that a lot since his life is always a mess. He is always in a situation that would easily make one think of giving up or committing suicide, but never in his life has he thought of suicide. While looking at the stars, he started reminiscing on his younger days, and what made his life so messed up.
Jinhoo was once the best student in his middle school, though his parents weren't rich he was still among the most popular boys. Girls were nice to him and nobody bullied him, though the country was filled with corruption, Jinhoo hope he would make his life different. K-country is a country where corruption is normal and nothing can ever be achieved through legal means, but Jinhoo was hoping his case would be different. At first, things were working his way, and never had he had an encounter with any gangster or school bullies. He was loved by all, both the teachers and the students, but all this changed when he got the scar on his face. After Jinhoo middle school, an accident happened in their school laboratory. The students all gathered for an experiment, during the experiment a fight broke out between two students from a different gang, and Jinhoo was mistakenly pushed down and he fell on a chemical that melted the right part of his face. Since his parents had no money for surgery and the people responsible denied being involved, Jinhoo was left with a scar all his life. After the incident, Jinhoo's life changed and all his friends started to avoid him, girls couldn't even look at him, and his handsome face now became an ugly one. The two boys responsible for his scar started to bully him too, and since they are both in a gang and their parents are wealthy, the school couldn't help Jinhoo. Jinhoo became a loner but never did he thought of suicide, he believed with everything in him that things would be better. Though everyone abandoned him, only one girl stood by him and no matter how many times Jinhoo tried pushing her away, she would always be by his side.
"Bella." Jinhoo sighed as he remembered the beautiful girl that never ridiculed him or left him. "If I was nicer to you maybe you would still be alive." Bella died a year after their high school, nobody knew what killed her. Bella's father is a wealthy man, he is among the few that was not corrupt, and that earned him a lot of enemies. So, many people believed that Bella was killed by one of her father's enemies. Not being nice to her was one of Jinhoo's greatest regret. Because everyone ostracized Jinhoo, he built a wall around himself and never let anyone in. He always made himself believe that Bella was being nice to him out of pity. Before the incident that made him ugly, Bella wasn't his friend, so when Bella started approaching him after the incident, he felt the beautiful girl was just pretending. Jinhoo only knew that Bella wasn't pretending after she died and her friend had a conversation with Jinhoo at Bella's funeral.
"I never understood why she still loved you even after you the scar." The words of Bella's friend resounded in Jinhoo's ears and he smiled sadly knowing that was his only chance of ever being loved and he missed it. His parents are dead and he has no relatives or girlfriend, so he is truly alone with no hope of love. And just today he was fired from his work, his manager said he wasn't a good employee, but Jinhoo knew that was not the reason, they just couldn't stand his face anymore.
After reminiscing on his past, Jinhoo started thinking of the next way forward. He needs a job since his rent would soon expire. When he was a teenager he never knew that he would be bothered about rent when he is forty. Jinhoo's chain of thought was disrupted by the raving sound of the motorcycles driving past at full speed not caring that the traffic light is in red.
"Crimson gang." Jinhoo muttered as he watched them drive past. They are one of the top gangs in K-country, they have both the police and politicians in their pockets. Most of the boys that bullied Jinhoo back in school are members of the Crimson gang.
"I hope one day I would have the opportunity to pay back what has been done to me." Jinhoo said as he gritted his teeth. The anger in his heart was forgotten the moment he saw a little boy crossing the road and was about to be run over by a speeding car. The driver has the opportunity to stop and let the boy pass, or even swerve and avoid the boy, but he didn't do any of that. The driver is a member Crimson gang, so run ing over a little nameless boy would at most give him three years imprisonment, so he wasn't bothered to stop.
Everyone was speechless as they all stood still to witness what was about to happen, the boy's mother was screaming while running over but just as the car was about to hit the boy, she stopped and looked away in fear. Many people looked away since they couldn't watch the brutality, but by the time they looked back, instead of seeing the boy bleeding on the floor, they saw a man in his place bleeding profoundly from his head.
"What happened?" The mother asked as she saw her son standing out of harm's way.
"Just as the car was about to hit the boy, the man pushed him out of the way. The man sacrificed himself to save the boy, you don't see such heroes nowadays." An elderly man explained what happened as everyone started to gather around Jinhoo who is choking on his blood. The car that knocked him down has already left the scene and nobody made any attempt to go after them.
"Call 911." The lady whose son was saved by Jinhoo yelled. Jinhoo's vision was starting to get blurry and his ears were starting to go deaf. It was becoming impossible to breathe but he kept trying, keeping his ears open became a struggle but he wasn't prepared to lose.
"Even now, you are still struggling." This was the last word Jinhoo heard before everything went white.
Jinhoo opened his eyes and noticed he was in a white world. There was no sound and nothing could be seen except white."Is this heaven?" He asked."No, just a place in between." A voice answered him making Jinhoo turn around but he saw nobody."In between what?""Living and the afterlife." The old man that explained to the woman what happened materialized in front of Jinhoo."Who are you?" Jinhoo asked."Someone that saw your struggle and found it interesting." The old man answered."Do you have a name?" "That's beyond you. Well, I am here to offer you a chance.""What chance?""Chance to a better life." Jinhoo has no idea if this is a dream, but he has nothing to lose by listening to the man. "How?""You have two options, the first option is to survive the accident and become successful in whatever you do. To explain it in simple terms, if you want to become the president of the country, it would happen if you work towards it.""So it won't just magically happen, I still have to w
The mother had no idea what sort of bad dream made her son so emotional in the morning but she didn't push him away, instead, she embraced him warmly. Mrs. Lee is a full-time housewife, she only leaves the house to get groceries or go on a date with her husband. Being a housewife wasn't something she wanted but because of how corrupt the country they live in is. In K-country, ladies as beautiful as Mrs. Lee doesn't stand a chance of getting a job unless they have an affair with an official, or they are from a rich home. So, since Mrs. Lee does not have any rich background, nor does she want to be an unfaithful wife, she decided to stay at home and live with the little her husband earns. The love her husband had for her only multiplied when he realized her wife was willing to let go of her dreams in order to be faithful. Another thing Mr. Lee was happy about is that their son took after the mother and not him."Your friends are outside, you just started your summer holiday, you sh
By the time Jinhoo got home, his father was already home. Mr. Lee works at a construction company, he wasn't educated and has always felt guilty that his wife has to sacrifice so much for him. Mr. Lee has always been proud of his son for his intelligence, that's why Jinhoo never told them when he started having issues in school. When Jinhoo came back, his father was eating dinner so he decided to join him."How was your day dad?" Jinhoo asked and the man was shocked by the question. He turned to his wife and the beautiful woman simply shrugged while smiling warmly."Fine." Mr. Lee couldn't help but answer."Alright, don't overwork yourself." Jinhoo said to his father. Jinhoo knows how his parents ended and it was his father that died first. Mr. Lee died due to overworking himself, Mrs. Lee followed soon after since she was so in love with her husband that she never got over it. "What about you, how was your day?" Mr. Lee asked."Well, I took a walk around the neighborhood. I discover
Jinhoo jumped up the moment he heard the voice in his head. Though the voice was in his head and he was alone at home, he couldn't accept the fact so he still had to ask if someone was with him."Who is there?" He asked while looking around. When he got no reply he looked under the bed and every possible place someone could hide but he saw no one."Is it truly a voice from my head?""YES, I AM IN YOUR HEAD." The voice came again."Who are you?" Jinhoo has seen unimaginable things to now accepts unbelievable things casually."I AM THE SYSTEM GIVEN TO YOU AS A PLAYER.""What player?" "I DON'T HAVE AN ANSWER TO THAT.""Then what do you have the answer to?""I REGISTER YOUR TASK AND THEN AWARD YOU WITH POINTS UPON COMPLETION. THE POINT CAN BE USED BY YOU TO GET STRONGER OR MORE HANDSOME IF YOU DESIRE.""Can it make me richer?""NO, IT CAN ONLY IMPROVE YOUR PHYSICAL QUALITIES."Jinhoo sighed. "It would have been great if it can make me richer. So can it make me strong enough to be conside
Jinhoo could be seen standing outside a training center. The Signpost above the training center was written: "Best In The World." "What an irony." Jinhoo scoffed as the shabby-looking training center is different from its noble name. Jinhoo lives in a beat-up neighborhood so the only training center he could find is nothing to write home about, besides he doesn't have the money to register in a well-built training center."Here goes nothing." Jinhoo walked in expecting to see two or more personal training but he saw no one expected the person lying on the ground with his back facing Jinhoo. "Hello?" Jinhoo called as he went closer to the man while looking around to see the types of equipment the training center has. Though Jinhoo has not been to any gyming center before, he still has an idea of what a good gym should look like. The one he is currently seeing could barely pass as a gyming center, the equipments are all worn out, and some can't even be used anymore."Hello?" Jinhoo ca
On his way home, Jinhoo saw the crimson gangs trying to bully two teenagers, a boy, and a girl. They appear to be the same age as Jinhoo, they are lovers that were coming back from their date. Crimson gangs stopped the lovers and asked the girl to come with them."Your boyfriend would be safe if you agree to follow us to our party." One of them said as he touches the girl's chin. They were four in number, two of them were pinning the boy down and one was just standing and watching everything then the one that seems to be the leader of the group was standing close to the girl and he is the one speaking."Just let us go." The girl cried as she felt as powerless as her boyfriend. "How can you still defend such a weak boyfriend?" The leader said as he walked over to the boyfriend and placed his foot on top of him. "He can't even say a word to save you." The leader mocked.While this was going on, Jinhoo watched from a safe place. He recognized the four, they are second-year students and
Bella always sneaks out of the house to enjoy her freedom. Today happens to be one of those days and fate had it that Jinhoo had to cross her path."Hope you are not injured." Jinhoo helped her to stand and she just smiled and shook her head but after seeing how Jinhoo was covering his face, Bella couldn't help but take a step back."You don't have to be afraid." Jinhoo was quick to understand so he removed everything that was covering his face and Bella's eyes widened."I know you." She said as her cheek got stained red."You do?" Jinhoo was genuinely surprised for he has no idea that Bella would be able to recognize him at the moment."Yes, you are the boy that always sits beside the window." Bella's voice was no longer loud and sharp as it first was."You are correct, I know you too." Of course, everyone in school knows Bella, she is not only the most beautiful girl but also one of the richest. "And because I know you, I am surprised to see you on this side of the neighborhood.""W
Jinhoo was surprised about his recent task, not only was the point so high, but the task is also difficult, and never had the system ever said it would deduct a point if ever he failed to complete a task. While Jinhoo was thinking about the latest development, a car arrived and Bella stepped out of it. All attention went over to her, she was radiating like the sun, and as such everyone would certainly go to her for warmth. Bella looked around as if she was looking for someone in particular, but before she could find whoever she was looking for, her friends rushed over to her side."Hi, Bella." Su-Ho came and hugged her best friend. Su-Ho is Bella's best friend, and she never liked Jinhoo, her hatred further increased when Bella died. "Su-Ho, how was your vacation?" Bella asked. Just like Bella, Su-Ho is also from a wealthy family but unlike Bella, she loves spending her parents' money. Su-ho's parents are into automobiles, and they have done a lot of shady deals in order to keep the