"Ughh…!"
Inside a simple-looking room, a boy woke up clutching his head.
"…What's with this headache?" he muttered, struggling to recall what he had done last night that left him in this state.
But after a moment of fruitless thinking, he let out a sigh.
"...Whatever. I'm too lazy to remember. Not worth it anyway." He continued massaging his forehead, the previous night's memories still annoyingly foggy.
Then-
[DING]
A sudden chime echoed in his mind, making him jolt.
"Uh! What the fuck?!" He looked around in panic. The sound definitely hadn't come from his phone. It had rung inside his head.
He froze, waited, listened. When nothing else happened, he forced himself to relax.
'…Probably just my imagination. Have I been playing games too much?'
But just as he was about to dismiss it-
[Welcome, user]
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" He shot upright. This time it wasn't just a chime; it was a voice... Someone speaking directly inside his head.
"Am I still dreaming?" he muttered, slapping his own cheek.
"Auchh!"
'…It hurts? So this isn't a dream?... Great. This only gets more troublesome. Sigh…'
[The system requires user confirmation for immediate binding]
The voice returned, calm, cold, and mechanical.
"…"
"Ugh, I'm going back to sleep," he mumbled, flopping back onto his bed and pulling the blanket over his head, hoping that ignoring it would make it disappear.
But it didn't.
Instead-
[DING]
[Please confirm immediately]
[DING]
[DING]
[DING]
[DING]
The relentless notifications hammered directly into his skull, each chime worsening his headache.
[Please confirm immediately]
[DING]
[DING]
"FUCK!! SHUT UP!!" he screamed, throwing the blanket aside.
[Please confirm immediately]
"…Ugh! Fine... What do you even want me to confirm?!" He shouted, desperate to make the noise stop.
[System binding requires user confirmation]
"…No! I refuse!" Taufik barked immediately.
'Binding? Seriously? If I say yes, I'll probably hear that ding-ding for the rest of my life. Who the hell wants that?!'
[DING]
[…User request denied]
Taufik froze.
"…Denied? Then WHY ask for confirmation?! What's the POINT?! Fuck, my head…" He groaned, massaging his temples as the headache pulsed harder. But the voice refused to stop, repeating the same request like a cursed alarm.
[Please confirm immediately]
"…Why is this happening to me? I just wanted a calm, peaceful morning. What did I even do to deserve this?.... Haah~ fine. You win. Future me can deal with whatever comes next." He exhaled in defeat. "Alright... confirm"
[DING... The user has granted permission]
[Binding in progress: 1%… 30%… 100%]
[Binding complete]
[DING]
[Welcome to the Daily Login System]
"…Sigh… Troublesome. What a troublesome morning," Taufik muttered, glaring at the translucent screen that materialized in front of him. "…What is this? A game status?"
Carefully, he reached out and tapped it.
*Knock. Knock. Knock*
"…Huh?"
Through his confusion, and the throbbing headache still beating behind his eyes, Taufik finally recognized where the knocking came from when a familiar voice followed.
"Fik, are you okay?"
"Ah... yeah, I'm fine, Mom," he blurted out, scrambling to sound normal.
"I heard you yelling. Are you sure everything's okay?"
"...Yeah, it's… it's just… a cockroach. Nothing to worry about"
His mother, however, clearly didn't buy it. The door creaked open, and she stepped inside with her classic I-know-you're-lying expression.
"How many times have I told you to take the garbage out?" she scolded, arms crossed.
"…"
Clearly, his excuse had failed. Taufik could only bow his head. "…Sorry, Mom. I forgot. For some reason, I was… really sleepy last night"
"Yeah, yeah, you and your excuses" she huffed. "Now hurry up, wash your face, and come down for breakfast. You don't want to be late for school, right?"
The word school struck him like lightning.
"…So it's today. Holidays are over... first day back to school." He groaned softly. "Alright. I'll be there in a minute, Mom"
Satisfied, she stepped out of his room, though not without reminding him one more time about the trash.
Taufik let out a miserable sigh. But Mother's orders were… mostly absolute. So he dragged himself up and took the garbage out.
"What a drag…"
---
The kitchen was quiet, just the faint clink of a spoon against a plate.
Taufik and his mother were the only ones there. They had been a family of two ever since the tragedy years ago.
His father had been a soldier, not a decorated hero, not a high-ranking officer, but the Survivor Benefit Plan had provided enough for them to live modestly after his passing.
The circumstances of his father's death, however, were anything but ordinary.
Official reports said he died on a mission, but it wasn't a dangerous frontline battle, nor a daring confrontation with rebels. It was supposed to be a simple escort mission, protecting a group of researchers investigating ancient ruins buried deep within the frozen wilderness of Antarctica.
But then, one day… the research team vanished.
Not died.
Not attacked.
Vanished.
Their entire camp remained untouched, tents intact, equipment scattered as if someone had just stepped away. But there was no trace of life. No blood. No signs of struggle.
Nothing.
Search teams combed the frozen wasteland for months. They found no bodies. No clues. Not even footprints.
In the end, the missing were declared dead. Their fate became an unsolved riddle, one that left families suspended in grief.
The news shattered Taufik's mother.
She refused to accept it. She searched, begged officials, chased rumors, and held onto hope far longer than anyone else. But hope slowly crumbled under reality.
Eventually, painfully, she let go and focused everything she had on the one thing her husband left behind: Taufik, their only son.
When he was in sixth grade, Taufik had asked questions about his father, many questions, but his mother's answers had always been hesitant.
Not because she didn't want to tell him the truth… but because she didn't know how to explain something she herself could not understand.
As the years passed, Taufik stopped asking.
He pieced together what he could, in the quiet, instinctive way children often do.
And eventually… he understood.
Or at least, he stopped asking.
--------
After breakfast, Taufik began preparing to leave for school.
Today marked the first day back after a long holiday, and Taufik, despite his laziness and chaotic morning, was determined not to be late.
He was now a second-year high school student, and in a few months, assuming nothing absurdly dramatic happened, he would be moving up to his final year.
"…Mom, I'm off to school"
Taufik called out as he tightened the straps of his backpack.
"Yeah, be careful," his mother replied, distracted as she hurried through her own routine.
With her words in mind, Taufik stepped out of the house and began the walk to school. The morning air was cool, the sun still low, and for a moment everything felt normal.
Until he remembered the thing he'd acquired this morning.
"Uh… what should I even call you?... System?" he muttered, eyes shifting around to make sure no one heard him talking to himself.
[Yes, Master]
"Oh, so 'System' is fine then… Alright, first things first, explain yourself. What are you, and how do you work?"
[I am what you may consider your assistant, designed to help the Master utilize the plug-in you have received]
"Huh. That sounds interesting." Taufik rubbed his chin, curiosity growing. "Then what's that 'Daily Login System' you mentioned earlier?"
[The Daily Login System grants the Master a random reward each day. The prizes may range from mediocre to god-level items. It depends entirely on the Master's luck]
Despite the flat, emotionless voice, the words made Taufik's heartbeat quicken.
"God-level items?" he repeated, eyes widening.
[Yes, Master. Rewards may include bloodlines, artifacts, pets, and many more]
"Bloodlines? Like superheroes who get powers from their ancestry?" Taufik asked, his mind already running wild with possibilities.
[Yes, Master]
"Incredible…!" He couldn't hide the excitement creeping into his voice anymore. "Then what are we waiting for? I feel lucky today. Let's see if I get something awesome! What do I need to do?"
[Simply say 'LOGIN', Master]
"LOGIN!"
The moment the word left his lips, a glowing box flickered into existence before him, floating in midair like something out of a high-budget fantasy movie.
Its surface shimmered with shifting colors, rippling like liquid light.
Question marks pulsed along the sides, brightening and dimming as if alive. The hues cycled from blue to green to red before finally snapping into a brilliant, radiant gold that shone as though it were made of sunlight.
Taufik's breath caught.
For a second, he forgot he was walking on a public sidewalk.
'…I don't know why, but I feel like I just hit the jackpot…'
....
...
..
.