Tyler Brooks hated Thursdays.
Maybe it was because they always seemed to align just to remind him how miserable his life was. On this particular Thursday, the rain fell with the same insistence as his landlady's "final notice" notes left on his door. Tyler ran through the downpour, clutching his backpack to his chest as if that would protect the semi-crumpled notes from his accounting course.
He was late for work for the third time this week.
"Brooks, do you know how to read a clock?" the manager grumbled without looking up. "This is the last time. I mean it this time."
Tyler just nodded. There was nothing else he could do; he was exhausted. Between classes, extra hours, poorly paid gigs, and overdue rent, his life was a house of cards ready to collapse. But he still smiled, remembering the reason he endured it all.
Ellen.
His girlfriend of three years. The girl he had met in college; smart, ambitious, pretty in a quiet way that always took his breath away. He had planned to visit her after his shift. Maybe have dinner together. Maybe laugh about his misfortunes. Maybe, just maybe, hear the words he desperately needed from her:
"I'm with you, Tyler. No matter what."
But life had other plans.
When his shift ended, he walked to the small apartment they shared. He opened the door... and found her silently packing her things.
"Ellen?" he asked in a thin voice.
She didn't look up immediately. When she did, her eyes held no trace of their usual warmth.
"Tyler... I can't do this anymore."
Time seemed to freeze.
"What...? What does that mean?"
She sighed, as if carrying a huge weight.
"It means we can't be together anymore. I need something better for my future. I don't want to spend my life on the brink of poverty. I'm sorry... but I can't watch you like this anymore."
Every word was a blow.
Poverty. Future. Incapable.
As if their love had evaporated without a trace.
"Is there... someone else?" was all he could manage to ask.
She looked away. And that gesture said more than any answer.
Tyler felt something in his chest break, silently, with no hope of mending. He didn't argue. He didn't shout. He had no strength. He watched her leave, close the door, and walk away from three years of shared life with the same ease as changing a coat.
When night finally fell, he was still sitting on the couch. Stunned. Empty.
His phone vibrated on the side table.
It wasn't a message from her.
DING.
[Digital Drops System Activated!]
Synchronizing…
Identifying compatible host…
Host: Tyler Brooks — Status: Needs immediate assistance
Initiating Quick Start protocol.
Tyler blinked.
"What...? Is this some kind of virus?"
Another metallic chime echoed in the room.
[Startup Reward Granted]
Random Drop: 10,000 USD — Immediate transfer complete.
The phone showed a real bank notification.
Updated Balance: $10,002.43.
Tyler gasped.
"This has to be a joke."
But the phone vibrated again.
[Host detected in critical emotional state]
Stabilization Reward: Passive Skill — Clear Mind (Rank E) Your concentration and mental processing increase by 15%.
Tyler jumped up, as if he had received an electric shock.
Real money.
An impossible skill.
A system that shouldn't exist.
"No... it can't be."
The screen glowed, almost as if the device itself was breathing life.
From today, your destiny changes.
Claim daily Drops, missions, properties, skills, and more.
Host, you are destined for the top.
Tyler swallowed hard. The echo of Ellen's words was still alive in his memory, tearing him apart. But now there was something new on his shoulder: a trace of hope, an edge of ambition... and a door open to the impossible.
"If this is real..." he murmured, his fists clenching with determination for the first time, "then no one is ever going to walk all over me again."
The phone replied with a final flash.
[Welcome to the Digital Drops System]
The ascent of Tyler Brooks has begun.
And, unknowingly, at that very moment, Ellen—several streets away—was checking her phone, wondering if she had really done the right thing.
Soon, very soon, she would regret it.