Chapter 1: The Overthinker's Dilemma
The ceiling fan hummed as Dev lay sprawled across his bed yawning and staring at the blank screen of his laptop.
The glow of the streetlights outside cast strange shadows on the walls, wind blew through window.
His room was a mess—books stacked haphazardly, empty coffee cups and food plates cluttered the desk, and sticky notes filled with half-baked ideas clung to the wall like silent reminders of things he would never actually do.
He sighed, running a frustrated hand through his unkempt hair.
"Eighteen years old with One wasted drop year and Zero achievements." This same kept running thought kept running in his mind
His parents had gone to sleep hours ago, probably exhausted from another day of subtly expressing their disappointment.
"Beta, you tried your best," his mother had said at dinner, forcing a smile.
That smile hurt more than their scolding.
His father hadn't even bothered with words. His Silence spoke louder.
Across the table, his younger brother had watched it all unfold with an expression that said, "I knew this would happen." cause he know how his brother truly is.
Dev had played his part in the cattle race of three years of grinding for JEE, the godforsaken exam that determined futures in India. About 16-17 lakh students give just a singe fucking exam and its admission rate about 30 thousands even in tier 2 colleges for top branches.
His three years of sacrificing sleep, practicing papers, obsessing over concepts he'd never use in real life. And for what? A rank so abysmal even bottom-tier colleges wouldn't bother looking at his application. The dream of IIT in him? Dead.
He exhaled sharply. It wasn't like he was dumb. In fact, he was the opposite.
His mind never stopped. He kept overthinking, overanalyzing, planning ten steps ahead in situations that didn't even require one.
A total geek at heart, he consumed information like a sponge—business, coding, psychology, world markets but only if it pique his interest. He could spend hours studying if it piqued his interest, but if it didn't or it gets boring? Days would slip by in procrastination.
[Dev's POV]
"It's 3 AM, and I can't fucking sleep. what will i do, will I ever achieve anything?"
He believed in himself, truly—but failure had a way of shaking even the most stubborn confidence.
Should I pray to some god for a system? No, that'd make life too easy… but then again, I've tried before, haven't I?
I had spent countless nights fantasizing about finding some hidden treasure, stumbling upon an ancient secret, or receiving a cheat code to life and what not but It was stupid, Unrealistic But damn, it was fun to imagine these things just thinking of having martial skills to fight anyone building harem of beautiful women and what not.
Man, I had dreams. Special forces, a hidden empire like those urban novel protagonists…, my one call determining fates of stocks, government change.... hell, I even dug around my grandfather's old stuff once, hoping to find some lost inheritance or a secret letter."
His parents' faces resurfaced in his mind.
"To be honest, I don't care about them. They have farmland back in the village not something 1-2 acre but around 25 damn acre selling them will make us super rich immediately. but old family beleifs farmers treat land as their mother the never sell it blah blah blah...
My dad's a cop—his life isn't even that hard but Indian police is corrupt anyway and my father don't take bribery like what the hell is wrong with him. He doesn't drink ,smoke or do any drugs.Though i am not evil kind of bastard i do thinks selfishly for my good and betterment. so I comsider myself an neutral-grey protagonist.
Talking about corruption the whole system is fucked. But what can I do about it? Nothing. It's not my problem and neither i have any power even if i had i would molded the system to my preference. I do what benefits me the most.
"AHH I get mood swings worse than girls on their period. One moment, I'd die for my family and friends, and the next, I feel like saying 'screw them all.'"
"Damn, I'm going crazy again. Ohh sleep goddess come and make me fall asleep."
I clasped my hands together mockingly.
"One last time. Dear God, just once—give me a system. I swear, I'll put it to great use."
A pause. Nothing. He sighed. Of course, nothing happens. It's not my first time doing this and its not life is an urban novel.
And then—
[Ding!]
Dev's eyes snapped open.
"What the fuck?"
[System Activation Complete.]
He sat up, frowning. A shiver ran down his spine. Did he just… imagine that?
He slapped himself—hard.
"AHHH! Fuck, that hurt!" its fucking real
But the text was still there. Floating. Glowing.
His lips curled into a grin.
"No way… no fucking way… is this real?!"
[Welcome, User.][Initializing Personalized Interface…]
His heart pounded. The blue transparent screen before him felt… surreal.
Unknowingly a grin appear on his face.
Lines of text scrolled before his eyes. His fingers hovered trying to touch the floating screen, they finger touched the screen giving a unknown feel neither of solid nor of liquid.
Then, the real message appeared.
[System Detected: User Potential—High. Objective: Play the World's Game. Do you accept?]
Dev blinked. Once. Twice.
"What… the hell?"
His eyes darted across the screen. High potential? That was it? Not extreme or god-level?
"Tsk. Shouldn't my potential be something like 'genius beyond measure'?"
His natural defence activated in unknown or situation in which he doesn't have control he try to trash talk which he learned from the one and only superhero spiderman.
"Calm yourself, you narcissistic bastard."
The screen flickered, a progress bar appearing beneath the text.
[10%... 25%... 50%...]
His pulse raced. Was this actually happening? What was 'The World's Game'?
He had spent years fantasizing about something like this—about getting an edge, about standing above the masses.
"Is this my chance?"
His fingers twitched. He took a deep breath and clicked [Accept.]
The screen flashed.
And then, everything went dark.