Jin, caught in his sudden revelation, decided to explore the system a bit more.
He reached out cautiously, half-expecting it to vanish the moment he tried. But instead, the glowing screen pulsed slightly under his gaze, then expanded with a soft whoosh, revealing a new set of tabs and options.
***
STATS
SKILLS
QUESTS
STORE (LOCKED)
TENNISPEDIA (LOCKED)
***
Jin cautiously glanced at the glowing list hovering in front of him, still half-convinced this was an elaborate dream.
"Alright… stats first," he muttered. "Gotta know how bad the damage is."
He tapped STATS, and the screen shifted with a soft shhk sound, revealing a detailed breakdown.
{Physical stats}
STRENGTH: F- ○○○○○
DEXTERITY: F ○○○○○
STAMINA: F- ○○○○○
BALANCE: F ○○○○○
{Mental Stats}
Resilience: A- ○○○○○
Game Knowledge: C+ ○○○○○
Composure: D ○○○○○
Focus: D ○○○○○
{TECHNICAL STATS}
SERVING: F+ ○○○○○
GROUNDSTROKES: F ○○○○○
VOLLEY: F- ○○○○○
FOOTWORK: F- ○○○○○
Jin winced. "Yeesh… This reads like my report card in middle school."
But buried beneath the F's and D's, one stat stood out.
"A- Resilience, huh?" He squinted. "Guess dying was a reformative experience."
However after glancing at the quests and skills section hope slowly started to bloom.
However, after glancing at the Quests and Skills sections, something shifted.
The stats were rough, sure—but they weren't the whole story.
He tapped into Quests, and the screen pulsed again, displaying a short list of simple objectives.
***
DAILY QUESTS (Reset at midnight)
TASK 1: RUN 10K A DAY
TASK 2: 100 PUSH-UPS
TASK 3: 100 SIT-UPS
[REWARDS]
10 GEMS
2 STAT POINT
FATIGUE RESTORATION
[PENALTY] (In case of failure)
FILTER REMOVAL
***
Jin squinted. "Wow… System's got jokes. Big fan of Sung Jin-Woo and One Punch Man, huh?... just let me keep my hair. Also what is filter removal? Whatever doesn't matter as long as I don't fail"
He tapped then the STORE tab but was met with a message:
STORE: LOCKED
Spend Gems to unlock access. Requires 50 Gems.
"Tch. Of course."
Still, something about it made his fingers tingle.
Gems. Stats. Quests.
Still grappling with the sheer absurdity of it all, Jin decided there was no point in overthinking.
If this was real, whatever this was, then sitting around doubting it wouldn't help.
"Guess I'll just jump in and figure it out as I go."
Sometimes action was the best way to prove reality.
Jin burst out of his room like a man on a mission, nearly giving his mom a heart attack.
"I'm going for a run!!" he shouted over his shoulder.
She blinked, spatula mid-air. "Well… that's a new one."
Jin raced out his front door and was greeted by the cool, clean air of a quiet Wisconsin suburb. The street was lined with tidy lawns, tall maple trees, and houses with faded porches and wind chimes swaying gently. A sprinkler clicked in the distance, and somewhere a dog barked.
As Jin wallowed in his thoughts, his feet pounded against the pavement, wind rushing past his face, blood surging with each step. For a moment, it felt good– but the illusion didn't last.
His lungs began to burn. His legs turned to jelly.
"Holy shit," he wheezed, slowing to a jog. "I'm so weak."
Jin quickly pulled up his status to see how much progress he made and what he saw made his heart drop.
***
DAILY QUESTS
TASK 1: 1K/10K
TASK 2: 0/100 PUSH-UPS
TASK 3: 0/100 SIT-UPS
***
Jin quickly regained his bearings and pushed himself back into training mode. No backing out now.
Nearly three hours later, he crawled back through the front door, drenched in sweat, shirt clinging to him like plastic wrap.
"GAHHHHH!" shrieked his mom, nearly jumping out of her skin as she hurled her spatula at the mysterious, half-dead creature sprawled on the entryway rug.
"Mom—it's me," Jin croaked, barely lifting his head. "Stop throwing things…"
"Oh Jin, you look half-dead. Go take a shower and rest—you've got school tomorrow," his mom said, already turning back to the kitchen like nothing was unusual.
Jin froze mid-crawl. "I have school tomorrow???"
She glanced over her shoulder. "Uh, yeah? Since when do you not have school on Mondays? And isn't tomorrow your first tennis team practice with the middle school?"
Jin's eye twitched. "…Middle school tennis…"
"Exactly. So hurry up and rest. You're gonna need it."
A flicker of excitement sparked in Jin's chest at the thought of tennis practice—but it was quickly dampened by the thought of school, with its cramped hallways and all-too-familiar discomforts he hadn't missed one bit.
As he climbed the stairs, Jin reopened the system interface and redeemed his gems and his stat points.
***
SYSTEM (ServeOS)
NAME: JIN ZHANG
AGE: 13
TALENT: NOVICE +
GEMS: 10
STAT POINTS: 2
***
Seeing the tiny bump in his gem count, a faint thrill sparked in Jin's chest. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to light a fuse—proof that there was more waiting once the system truly unlocked.