[Dante's apartment]
That night, Dante sat on his bed in his personal bedroom with a melancholic air around him. His elbows rested on his knees, and his head was bowed as he stared at the floor. He was only wearing a pair of long black trousers, so his well-built and scarred body was exposed to the moonlight shining through the large window. Dante lived on the top-floor penthouse of a thirty-floor hotel located in the central area of District Two. The hotel was extremely expensive, and only people with very high net worths would even dare to think about moving in there, but Dante was paid very well by the Lucas family, so he was able to rent out the entire penthouse for as long as he wanted.
Dante had just gotten out of the bath, so there was water dripping from his hair to the floor, but he was too lost in thought to care about all of that. The news of George Lucas' death had hit Dante the hardest out of everyone in the family. After hearing about his death from the family physician, Dante had called Fredrick, George's first son, to confirm if the news was true or not, and it turned out that the physician hadn't been lying. According to Fredrick, the boss had suffered from a sudden coughing fit just this morning. He coughed up so much blood that he was eventually rushed to the hospital. The doctors there tried ot save his life, but by the time afternoon rolled around, the boss was already dead.
Dante didn't know how to feel about all this. It wasn't as though the news was too shocking. Everyone knew that George Lucas was very ill. George tried his best to hide it, but he wasn't able to do much in the last years of his life. Dante spent all his free time with George, so he knew that George had been suffering from intense coughing fits, and he would sometimes even cough up blood. It hadn't been pleasant, and George was probably the only one who wasn't afraid to say that he was already close to his grave. Everyone else seemed like they were still living in denial. Even Dante couldn't bring himself to think that the boss might actually die!
But now that the boss was gone, Dante felt both sadness and relief at the same time. He was sad that a great man was gone, but he was relieved that George would no longer have to suffer from his sickness.
'And I was thinking of sending him to the Maldives with a beautiful woman. That old man has horrible timing.'
Dante felt a hollow laugh escape his mouth, but he eventually sobered up and looked up at the screen that had been floating in front of his face all this time.
[Integration Complete]
[Would the user like to complete the system bond? This choice cannot be reversed. Yes/No?]
'What the actual fuck is this?'
Dante raised his hand and waved it in front of his face, and he watched in irritation as his hand seemed to phase through the translucent object. The screen formed back, and Dante put his hand on his chin while frowning in irritation. The screen had been on this tab ever since it appeared earlier in the evening. Dante had been so busy with the news of George's death and handling the family's grief that he didn't have any time to really interact with it. But after moving around so much for the past day, Dante was certain that no one else but him could see the screen. Risa had looked directly at him many times today, but she never once glanced at the screen, so Dante was sure it was invisible.
'Is this some sort of magic? Fuck, what the hell am I saying? I'm just hallucinating, right? No, a hallucination wouldn't be this vivid. It's definitely real. I've heard about things like this in comics and novels before, but is it really something that can happen in real life? A system? This isn't some fucking novel.'
Dante ran a hand through his wet hair as he eyed the screen suspiciously. He read the message again and narrowed his eyes at the part where the screen said his decision wasn't reversible. If Dante chose to bond with this 'system', then he would never be able to unbond with it. This could be something really bad, and he could be walking right into a trap of sorts, but Dante realized that he wasn't going to get anywhere by hesitating. He was the sort of man who would walk into danger and fight his way out of it. If this turned out to be something dangerous, then Dante would figure out a way to deal with it too.
'Yes.'
Dante finally spoke towards the screen, and he watched as the screen flickered and vanished before a new tab opened in front of his eyes!
[Congratulations! The user has met all criteria and successfully bonded with the [Gangster System]]
[Please view your stats below]
——
GANGSTER SYSTEM
Name: Dante Lucas
Race: Human
Affiliations: Lucas Family
Title(s): Lucas Family Cleaner
—
STATISTICS
Strength: C [40.5%]
Stamina: C [71.5%]
Agility: C [60%]
Durability: C [40%]
Charisma: B [10.5%]
—
SKILLS
Nil
—
Territories
Nil
—
Business Ventures
Nil
—
Missions
Nil
——
The system suggests that the user acquire more territories and business ventures in order to grow his influence across the world.
——
Dante put both hands on his face and rubbed it with a calm sigh. Okay, so this really wasn't a dream. He was awake, and this was really happening to him. A fucking system had attached itself to him for some reason, and he couldn't even understand why!
[The system is noticing an elevated level of stress within the user. Does the user have any questions for the system? The system would be more than willing to answer any questions it can.]
'Did this bastard just read my mind?'
[Yes, the system has the ability to read the user's mind.]
Dante wanted to sigh again, but he decided that it wouldn't do him any good. The system said it could answer questions, right? So it was obvious that there was only one question that Dante really wanted to know the answer to.
"What the hell are you?"
[The system is the system.]
Dante scoffed in amusement.
"You know what I mean, you fucking bastard. What are you? What are you meant to do for me? And why the hell did you attach yourself to me?"
The system seemed to go silent for a few seconds after Dante's question before it finally answered.
[The system does not know its origins, but it has existed since the year 1666 after it was found by a wandering cowboy in the western plains. The system has been passed down across several generations, but due to an inability to acquire a proper host, the system has never managed to bond with a human. At the end of every previous wielder's life, the system urges them to pass it on to a new wielder that they believe would be a worthy host. The user is the only human that the system has managed to bond with. The user ought to be proud of this achievement.]
Dante didn't bother to respond to the system's gloatful final statement. Instead, he glanced at the year that the system wrote out: 1666. That was the same year that Dante had seen on the watch George gave him. Dante walked over to the cupboard where he put the watch, and he blinked in surprise when he didn't see the watch there anymore! What the fuck? Where is it!?