Logan's head jerked up. He looked around the empty park for the person who had spoken, but there was no one there.
Only trees, shadows, and the faint light of streetlights in the distance. The voice came back, and this time it sounded almost funny.
"Well done, Logan Hart... You are worth paying attention to for the first time in your life."
"What the fuck...?" Logan's voice was hoarse and out of breath.
His heart was still racing from the run, but now it was racing for a whole different reason. "Who's there?! Show yourself before I, Logan K'O, you!"
"There is no one there. I am here. In your mind, to be exact... you can call me the System."
Logan stood up slowly, looking around at the dark. This had to be his own tiredness.
He had pushed himself too hard and run too far, and now his brain wasn't working right. That was the only thing that made sense because he sometimes hallucinated like that.
"You are not seeing things that aren't there, but I can see why you would think that. I am very real, and I have been watching you for a while."
"Are you watching me?" Logan's hands were in fists at his sides. "Are you some kind of stalker AI?"
"Honestly, that sounded wrong... don't fucking tell me you watch me mastur--- Ehem! I mean working out, of course, maybe that counts as a workout too for fingers."
"I am a system that can see potential."
"You weren't born with it, but you also weren't given it. You worked hard and stayed disciplined for almost two whole years to earn it."
"Logan Hart, that's not common for a low-life human like you, but it's still rare enough to get my attention."
Logan's mind was racing as he tried to make sense of what he was hearing. A system. It looks like something from a video game or a web novel genre that is loved by all the readers. It sounded crazy, but the voice in his head was very real and spoke clearly, like no hallucination could.
"Yeah, I deserved being called that, but look at me now!"
"Anyway..." he asked. "Why come now if you've been watching?"
"Because you're ready now. Three years ago, you were a boy who didn't like himself."
"You are a man who has shown that he can change today. The system doesn't turn on just for potential, but it turns on for people who have shown they can make themselves worthy."
"You can just say 'activated,' by the way. 'turns on,' sounded kinda... yeah, you know what I meant..."
Logan didn't expect those words to hit him so hard. The word 'worthy' really made all of his hard work get recognized by someone other than him.
He had spent six months changing himself, but a part of him still wondered if it mattered and if he had really changed anything that mattered. Now, a mysterious random voice in his head was telling him that it did.
"What do you want from me?" Logan's breathing and voice were more steady now.
"The question is not what I want from you, but what I can give you."
"You have rebuilt your body and mind. Now I will help you get your life back on track."
"I am the Heart-Stealing System, and my job is to make you unforgettable."
Logan said again, "Unforgettable...? What the fuck does that mean?"
"That means that the people who ignored you, the women who looked through you, and the world that never gave you a chance will all change now."
"You have turned yourself into someone who can't be ignored. I will help you become someone who can't be stopped."
Logan felt something dangerous and hungry move in his chest. He had been telling himself for two years that he was doing this for himself and not for revenge or to prove something.
But the truth was more complicated than that. Some of him wanted the people who had made him feel worthless to see what he had become. Part of him wanted to show them that they had always been wrong about him.
He asked, "What's the catch? Systems don't just appear and give away power unless I die or reincarnate."
"The catch is straightforward. You will get missions, which are tasks that are meant to push you out of your comfort zone."
"If you finish them, you will get a prize. If you fail them, there will be consequences, but listen up, Logan Hart."
"I'm not here to make things easier for you. I am here to make you become even greater, where the two are not the same."
With his body still buzzing from his run, Logan stood in the empty park, contemplating what lay ahead. A way to make him unforgettable.
Tasks, rewards, and punishments. It sounded like something from a story, but then again, so did turning yourself from a total loser into someone who could run twelve miles without stopping.
He had made a promise to himself two years ago. He didn't want to become great or get revenge, all he just wanted was to stop hating the person he saw in the mirror.
He had kept his word and done the work until he worked hard to become the person he was. It might have been time to move on to enjoy this improved life of his.
"Okay. Let's fucking go," Logan said softly. "I'm in."
[User acceptance confirmed. Heart-Stealing System fully activated. Prepare yourself, Logan Hart. Your college life is about to become very interesting.]
Logan felt something change inside him, like a door opening in his mind that he didn't know was there. A lot of information came in, starting from the status screens, statistics, and notifications, and all of it covered his vision like an augmented reality display that only he could see.
He blinked, trying to make sense of it all, but the system's voice cut through the noise. "W-What the fuck...?"
"You start classes in two weeks, and you'll be invited." I think you should take a break. "Also... you'll need your strength for what comes next."
The presence in his mind faded a little, but it was still there and no longer needed his full attention. Logan was alone in the dark park, staring at screens that shouldn't be there and trying to figure out what had just happened to his life.
He had changed himself over the course of two years without any help. Now, it seems, he wouldn't be doing the rest by himself.
Logan took a deep breath, pushed the screens out of his mind, and began to walk home. His legs hurt, his body was tired, but his mind was sharper than it had ever been.
In two weeks, college would start. Even though he didn't want to go to college back then, by having a gap year, now, everything's changed for him.
He had been dreading it because it's going to be another chance to be invisible in a new place and another stage where he would have trouble fitting in. But knowing what happened today, it's not going to be that way anymore.
Logan had already shown that he could do the impossible, regardless of what this system was or what it wanted from him. He had gone from being a total loser to someone who could look in the mirror and not flinch.
The system thought it could push him even more and make him even better. He would take that challenge and see how far it could go.
Logan Hart walked through the quiet streets to his apartment. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was walking toward something instead of away from everything.
Whatever the game was, it had just started.
[Let the story of my college life... begin here...]