Ray finally put his phone away.
He stood up, headed to the bathroom, and splashed his face at the tiny sink. The cold water cleared his head a bit—at least enough to kill whatever laughter was still hanging around. He slapped his cheeks twice, staring at his reflection. Worn out, but satisfied.
Back in the main room, something caught his eye.
His computer.
On a whim, he sat down and hit the power button.
"Guess I'll look for some entertainment," he muttered. "Tomorrow's a late shift anyway."
Windows booted up. The desktop popped up.
He sat there blankly for a few seconds, not really sure what to do. His go-to gacha game launcher was already open and immediately slammed him with an update notice.
Size: 38 GB
Ray crooked a grin.
"Yeah, nah. No way my low-ass PC can handle that."
He closed the launcher and opened his browser. His hand paused on the menu without thinking.
"…Might as well clear my history."
Click.
The history list popped up.
Scroll.
Then his eyes stopped.
One entry made his eyebrow lift slightly.
AI Image Generator — Recent Session
Ray frowned.
"When the hell did I open this…?"
He clicked it.
The page loaded—and the interface jumped straight into the last session. No login needed.
And in the prompt box…
The text was still there. Not deleted.
[masterpiece, high quality, ultra-detailed, photorealistic of 35–40 y.o woman… valoptous.]
Ray stared at it for a beat.
Then, without another thought, he cleared the browser history for real this time. His body didn't have the energy to perform the Symphony of Solo Slopping tonight.
He shut off the computer.
The screen went black. The room grew quiet again—just the faint hum of the fan and night sounds drifting in from outside the window. He stood there for a second, then flopped onto the bed without even bothering to get comfortable.
He stared at the ceiling, hands resting on his chest.
His mind drifted back to the system.
"Interesting," he muttered.
Today had been way too wild to be a coincidence. Too clean to be some hallucination. Those ten minutes were real. The effects were real.
The night was dead silent. No notifications. No noise. No distractions.
He should've been able to fall asleep easily.
But his brain wouldn't shut up.
He tried thinking about the good stuff—the future, the system, all the possibilities.
Those thoughts always crumbled halfway through.
Bills. Work hours. A wrecked body. A fried brain. That same shitty routine on repeat. Tomorrow feeling exactly like today.
Ray let out a rough sigh, closed his eyes… then popped them open again.
"Shit…"
His hands gripped the sheets tight.
"I need a cope medicine right now… I know this is bullshit, but still."
He opened an imaginary Cope Menu inside his head.
First option: Nihilism.
Not bad as a philosophy.
Dangerous as a cope-medicine.
Top-tier cope for people who want everything but can't move an inch.
Works like a mental eraser—scrubs ambition, urgency, and that annoying voice telling you to do something.
"Yeah… nah."
He scrolled past it.
"Last time I overdosed on that shit, I almost logged out of life. Too much freedom. Zero gravity. Brain floating straight into madness."
Second option: Stoicism.
Again—solid philosophy.
Terrible when used as emotional anesthesia.
The premium cope for people who wanna feel tough without actually getting hit.
Teaches you how to stay calm, look wise, and nod slowly while the world chews you up.
In theory, it's about control.
In practice, it's goddamn hard to live by.
(If you can pull it off, you're probably the greatest dude in your entire family.)
Most people who think they're doing it are really just ego-lifting—wrapping avoidance in discipline, slapping a Greek font on it, and calling it wisdom in a deadpan voice.
"Hmmm… too hard."
"…Yeah, screw that."
"I'm not making another majestic plan just to never do shit again."
"It just gives my self-hating a free buff."
His eyes moved further down.
The third option felt different.
Quieter.
Not trying to dominate his head.
Wu Wei.
A solid philosophy.
More chill—sometimes misleading when mistaken for laziness
(and yeah, lazy people love that part).
As a cope-medicine, it felt safer.
Still had meaning.
Didn't crush him with pressure.
"Hmmm…"
"Yeah. This one's fine."
"It's been a long time since I used this… guess I forgot about it along with the last wuxia novel I read."
"Just for tonight."
"At least I won't spiral, go fake-tough, overthink everything—
and still do nothing."
In the end, he picked a cope-medicine.
Not a cure—just enough to stabilize his head before morning shoved him back into default mode.
He felt calmer.
Better.
Any philosophy hits hardest when he's exhausted and hurting. Once he wakes up refreshed, default mode takes over—and all that deep thinking turns into a beautiful memory he can't quite recreate.
Ray finally knocked out, his brain sinking into calm darkness, helped by the Wu Wei he'd picked as his cope pill. No fighting it. No forcing shit. Just letting everything flow until his eyes fully shut.
—
Morning rolled in slower than usual.
Ray woke up pretty late, the sun already high, beams sneaking through the gaps in the cheap-ass curtains of his crappy apartment room.
He let out a long, deep sigh—like dumping all the leftover bullshit from last night in one go. His body felt fresh. Muscles that usually ached were light now. A solid night's sleep was a rare little miracle.
He sat on the edge of the bed, rubbed his eyes, then cracked a small grin for no damn reason. The vibe felt upbeat again—especially knowing the system was legit real.
Bare feet hit the cold floor. He shuffled to the tiny kitchen corner, grabbed a glass, and filled it with water from the almost-empty dispenser.
After that, he washed his face in the bathroom.
"Mmm… mmm…" he hummed as he walked out.
"Drippy drippy lady come into my P-pee…"
His left hand drifted to the lower part of his chest, just above his stomach. His index finger tapped the tiny fingerprint icon only he could see—transparent, floating in the air, perfectly aligned with his chest.
Tap.
The system menu popped up like a light-blue hologram.
Yesterday's Simple Mission had already entertained the hell out of him.
Ray squinted. His lips curled into that sneaky-ass grin.
"Time for the next level."
He tapped the Medium tab.
[Ding!]
The panel flipped instantly.
---
[Daily Mission — Medium]
Objective:
Alter one common sense in real time.
You MUST actively participate at least once every 2 minutes until the feature duration you're using runs out.
Reward:
• +50 EXP
• +50 Alter Points
Time Limit: 24 Hours
Failure: The common sense you altered will be stuck in YOUR head for one full week.
---
"Huh? This is easy as hell."
He chuckled to himself, eyes sparkling with mischief.
"Heh heh heh… wonder what'd happen if everybody normalized that word…"
Time flew by. He got ready and headed out to work.
He opened the Global Alter feature.
---
[Input Required]
Is common sense that: …
---
Ray grinned like a madman while typing, face lit up, smiling ear to ear.
"Here we go!"
He smashed the confirm button.
[Ding!]
[Global Alter Activated — 00:10:00]
[-10 Alter Points]
On the street, he spotted some dude walking toward him—baggy jeans, oversized hoodie, scowling face, like he was about to rob a convenience store.
Ray immediately hit him with a super cheerful greeting.
"What's up, my Nii—"