The System's Game: A Tale of Power and Redemption

3. Mark's Change, Lisa's Ex

Mark had just posted a new photo on his social media account when he received a message from someone. Mark was curious about the account because it was set to private, and there was no profile picture. The account's username was also quite cryptic. Who could it be?

"F4nt4st1c_@l!3n? Who is this? I'm curious," Mark mumbled to himself, deep in thought. He decided to read the message first.

F4nt4st1c_@l!3n: Hey, Mark. You're an alumnus of Louis 1 High School, right? I happened to find your account. There's a reunion on Saturday, October 14th at Kencana Louis Hotel. Don't forget to come!

Mark Starlight: Sorry, but who are you?

F4nt4st1c_@l!3n: Just come, Saturday night at 7:00 PM. You'll find out who I am, hehehe. See you.

Mark Starlight: That's strange; I don't even have any friends from high school.

F4nt4st1c_@l!3n: But I know you.

Mark Starlight: Well, okay, I'll be there.

F4nt4st1c_@l!3n: Thank you, Mark.

After closing the message, Mark shook his head in confusion. Then he remembered that Jake, who was Lisa's lover and often bothered him in the past, was his classmate. Mark was sure Jake must have invited Lisa to the event. If he didn't have this information, he would never have come. But now that he knew, Mark thought about attending to show Lisa and Jake that he had changed.

[Ding! The next mission begins.]

Mark immediately looked at his phone screen, and a game appeared, waiting to load to 100%. After that, Mark could play the game.

It turned out this game was about choosing the right outfit for a model. Mark quickly combined several outfits, and within a minute, he was done. The game displayed the brand names and accessories he had chosen for the model in the game.

[Ding! Congratulations, you've earned extra funds, and your current account balance is 5 billion. Feel free to shop for upgrades to the gold level.]

"Wow, this is cool. I thought it was just an ordinary game, but suddenly, all these high-end brands appeared," Mark said, shaking his head in amazement.

"System, what is the gold level like?" Mark inquired.

[Ding! The gold level is a gift of self-confidence. You can buy anything without running out of funds in your account. To reach this level, you need to complete missions and accumulate bonus points. However, your added funds can disappear if you can't complete missions as instructed by The System's Game.]

"Oh, I see. I understand now," Mark nodded.

[Ding! Shopping time until tonight. If you complete this mission, you'll earn an extra 10 bonus points.]

"Alright, I need to go shopping immediately," Mark said and grabbed his car keys, making sure to take his debit card with him.

Since the store for these brands could only be found in the mall, Mark drove there directly. He first went to the Louis Vuitton store and bought some clothing items, then proceeded to Gucci to purchase a belt and a digital watch. He also bought a luxurious purple tuxedo with the label Gregory Handmade Tailcoat, which cost a fortune. Finally, Mark went to Prada to buy a men's bag and shoes. While passing by the Yves Saint Laurent store, Mark stopped to purchase a bottle of their perfume. All his shopping amounted to approximately 4 billion.

Mark let out a long sigh. He had brought everything in a shopping cart. Although he was hungry, Mark decided to go eat outside because, at the moment, it was more important to secure the items he had bought in his car. It seemed that the system already knew he would be attending the reunion tomorrow night, so it told him to shop this much so that he could confidently show up. But what if no one believed that Mark could afford these luxury items? Would they accuse him of something? Especially when he would meet Jake and Lisa.

***

Mark chose a Japanese restaurant because he wanted to have shabu-shabu. The place was quite busy, but not too distracting, so Mark proceeded to reserve a table. A waiter quickly provided various premium meats, different broths, various vegetables, silken tofu, udon noodles, shirataki noodles, shabu-shabu sauce, rice, and other accompaniments. Mark smiled, as he rarely had the opportunity to enjoy such a meal. He began to grill the meat and pour the various soups into a bowl to enjoy.

Within an hour, Mark had finished his meal and paid the bill at the cashier.

"Mark?"

Someone called his name, and Mark turned to the source of the voice. It was Lisa, accompanied by some of her female friends who were also spending time in the restaurant.

"Damn, why do I have to meet her now?" Mark thought to himself but didn't respond to Lisa's greeting.

"Excuse me, here's your debit card," a cashier said, returning Mark's debit card. Mark quickly took it and put it back in his wallet.

"Sorry, I have to go," Mark said and chose a different path to avoid dealing with Lisa for the time being.

"Hey, Mark! How arrogant can you be, huh? Do you have a lot of money to dine in this place?" Lisa mumbled to herself, and her friends overheard her.

"Isn't he your ex who used to be a delivery guy?" Amanda, standing next to Lisa, chimed in.

"Yeah, that's right. He's just my poor ex. Now I'm with Jake, who's wealthier and always makes me proud."

"But something seems off about your ex," Tiara, who was behind Lisa, pointed out.

"What do you mean?" Lisa turned to Tiara.

"I saw him enter a luxury sports car earlier. I think he might be wealthy," Tiara confidently remarked.

"Huh?" Lisa, Amanda, and Salma, who were in front of Tiara, were taken aback by her statement.

"Hahaha, that's not possible," Lisa laughed, shaking her head and patting Tiara's shoulder.

"You must have seen wrong, Tiara. Let's find a place to sit," Salma led Tiara to a recently vacated table, which was the one Mark had been sitting at.

"I couldn't have been mistaken; I clearly saw it while you were all talking about him. My eyes were fixed on his every move, and he got into a luxury sports car. Maybe he's wealthy," Tiara insisted.

"Come on, let's ask the cashier. What kind of package Mark chose when he ate here. If he chose the most expensive one, what Tiara said about Mark being strange might be true. Maybe there's something you don't know, Lisa," Amanda suggested.

"Alright, let's go!" Lisa got up and approached the cashier, followed by Amanda. Meanwhile, Salma and Tiara ordered their packages and waited for the waiters to serve the four of them.

"Excuse me, miss. May I ask a question? What kind of package did the man earlier order, and did he come here alone?" Lisa asked the cashier.

"Oh, the gentleman ordered the premium shabu-shabu package, miss. Yes, he came alone. He's quite handsome; I thought he might be a celebrity. Do you know him?" The cashier replied and even praised him with a bit of a star-struck tone, which annoyed Lisa.

"No, I'll be on my way," Lisa said curtly and left, even leaving Amanda behind.

"Lisa must be jealous," Amanda mumbled, shaking her head in bewilderment.

"What's going on?" Tiara asked Lisa, who had just returned.

Lisa let out a long breath. Instead of answering Tiara's question, she remembered she needed to contact someone first. "Jake needs to know about this."

Salma, who was puzzled by Lisa's sudden change in behavior, remarked, "Jake needs to know? Why, Lisa? Isn't he just your poor ex?"