The road ahead stretched with infinite possibilities, like a path littered with misfortune.
What felt like a normal walkway for others resembled a trip hazard for Aiden. His eyes tracked every crack and raised stone on the pavement as he took slow steps, one thought coursed through his mind: My life is shit.
It wasn't just self-pity. It was a fact.
From the moment he was born, it was like the universe labeled him as the punchline of a cosmic joke.
Everything that could go wrong did. Not once, not twice. Always. If there was a misfortune, he just had to be at the center of it.
A pigeon pooping twelve times a day on his head? Normal. A truck almost running him over while he tried to buy groceries? Weekly occurrence. Getting electrocuted by a faulty plug, slipping on soap in public, or having his house burn down because the microwave "exploded mysteriously"? All just part of the saga.
The only reason he'd made it to eighteen was because of the two items he'd never gone anywhere without: an old, faded Bible and a strange rosary a priest had given him as a child.
He didn't know what they did, and the priest had never explained much, just said something cryptic like, "You're not cursed exactly... but you'll need this. Don't ever lose it."
So he carried them. Not because he understood their value, but because life seemed even worse without them. Not less bad luck—but bigger, nastier, potentially fatal incidents started happening instead.
The frequency of bad luck had lessened over the years, yes, but the scale had ramped up. Gone were the days of tripping in puddles or birds relieving themselves overhead. Now, it was close calls with death. Sometimes, he got hit—clipped on the arm, grazed by a mirror, nearly run over.
Not one of the experiences was pleasant. He sighed.
–Horn–
Hearing the sound of a truck horn, fear immediately gripped his heart as he gasped. His fingers reached into his bag immediately, but then suddenly his eyes widened in surprise and realization.
His Bible? It was missing, he tried to focus but no matter how much he did he couldn't remember where he had put it. The more he tried to remember the more unfocused his mind became.
He shook his head and reached for his neck. His rosary? Gone.
Aiden tried to remember what had brought him outside or why he had left home, but even such simple information became impossible for him to answer.
His eyes wandered about continuously frightened and anxious something would go wrong, but realizing he had been out and about for a few hours with no misfortune he began to calm down, maybe it was all a mistake.
He almost laughed at himself.
'I've wasted eighteen years carrying a book and beads like some self-righteous monk,' he thought bitterly.
Maybe he was never cursed. Maybe all the incidents in his life had been planned and not truly because of some sort of curse.
Of course, he didn't believe his own consolation theory. He was just finding a reason to hide behind and justify all that was happening.
He smiled for the first time in days, spreading his arms wide like he could finally breathe. His train of thought was cut off by the sound of another truck horn followed by a bright light coming from behind him.
"Oh no..." he muttered, realizing what was happening and that he was too late to do anything about it.
–Bam–
A truck crashed into him, sending his body flying across the road.
Darkness took over. He was dead.
---
[Host has finally perished]
[System is elated]
[Bad Karma system is rooting inside host.]
[Does host wish to accept the Bad Karma system...Yes/No]
---
He saw strange characters appear in a glowing red text in front of him.
Confusion immediately took root on his face. He looked around, but he was surrounded by a black empty void.
No body. No sound.
He still recalled everything that had happened, but nothing after, he seemed to have suddenly woken up in this strange void.
Taking his time to read the floating characters in red before his eyes, they immediately widened as he blinked a few times, as if he hadn't read correctly.
'Bad Karma System? System is elated? I just died and this thing is happy?'
Of course, he was excited to see such floating characters in front of him.
Before he had his life claimed he had read many books as he always tried his best not to leave his home due to his extreme bad luck, but the system saying it was excited he had died.
He felt like crying, and couldn't shake the feeling that his years of bad luck were related to the Bad Karma system.
After reading the system messages, he didn't feel obligated to accept the system, in fact, he wasn't sure he wanted in if it was just another round of suffering.
But then more texts.
---
[System quest]
[Accept the Bad Karma]
[Quest reward: 3 Unique Skills]
[Punishment: Host will suffer worse than hell]
---
Just as he was about to pick no and reject the system, the Bad Karma system brought up a new set of messages c, using him to pause.
He had read many books where the MC doubted the system's abilities and ended up suffering. Seeing a message like this he actually hesitated.
He didn't want to be that guy. He had suffered enough.
Thinking there could be nothing bad coming from it he was about to accept the Bad Karma system when another set of messages appeared in front of him, this time in blue text.
---
[Good karma system has been initialized.]
[Greetings, host.]
[Does host wish to accept the Good Karma System?]
[Reward: 3 Unique Skills.]
---
He perked his brows seeing the set of messages in blue text and only one word surfaced in his mind. 'Huh¿'
He was surprised and confused as to how he had two different sets of messages appear in front of him and apparently, they were two different systems unlike anything he had ever read.
Two systems, competing offers.
Now he was confused. He would pick the Good Karma System on any occasion as it appeared more welcoming and nice with no threats and only rewards. It didn't sound like it wanted to eat his soul.
But the Bad Karma System had a punishment where he would suffer worse than hell, and it wasn't something he would like to test.
He wondered if picking the Good Karma system could counter the Bad Karma system, but he didn't want to gamble his possible future.
Stuck between a rock and a mountain, a new set of messages suddenly appeared in red text.
---
[Punishment has been altered. Host will have an encounter with the Demon Lord ⍨]
---
He almost felt a heartache come up even as he existed without a body.
It sounded like a joke, but his instincts told him otherwise. That smiley face was definitely not friendly.
Not wanting to take any risk, he was about to accept the Bad Karma system when a set of messages appeared in blue text. He turned back to the Good Karma system, and lo and behold.
---
[Hidden Punishment Has Been Revealed: Host will be punished by the Seven Heavens if host declines.]
---
'WHAT?!' He screamed internally, now entirely confused and frightened, not knowing what to decide.
On one hand, he was to have an encounter with the Demon Lord if he declined.
And on the other, he would be punished by the Seven Heavens if he even knew what that meant.
He couldn't tell which was worse.
---
[Host has 10 seconds to accept.]
[Host has 10 seconds to accept.]
---
The messages blinked side by side, red and blue, like some cruel traffic light from hell.
He didn't know what to choose.
All he knew was; he'd rather die ten times over than be in this situation.