Modern Online Curses - Lunch

Our apartment complex stood at about four stories tall, with eight rooms per floor. My room, 407, was located on the fourth floor, and the girl accompanying me resided in room 408. Both rooms were positioned at the far corner on the right side of the fourth floor.

I wasn't sure of the exact reasoning, but every room number began with a hundred. For instance, on the first floor, the leftmost corner room was numbered 101, and the pattern continued across all floors, ending with the room on the far right corner, numbered 108.

While I wasn't privy to the official explanation, there were rumors that the place had been cursed in the past, leading the owner to alter the room numbering to start from a hundred.

Personally, I didn't care about the room numbering—so long as it didn't pose any harm to me, it wasn't a concern.

The convenience store we were headed to was situated on the opposite side of our apartment complex, requiring us to cross the street. Instead of an elevator, the apartment complex boasted a large staircase situated in the building's center, dividing the rooms into sets of four. We descended from the fourth floor to the ground level and reached the lobby. Upon exiting the building, we crossed the street and entered the convenience store.

"It's so cold in here." She said in a complaining manner after entering the convenience store.

I could understand why she would say that, considering it was in the middle of winter, yet the air conditioner in this place was still running at 17 degrees.

I recalled that this convenience store was part of a chain with other branches just a few blocks away, but that didn't explain why the air conditioner was set so low in the middle of winter.

Since lunchtime was approaching, I opted for a rice dish featuring chicken as the main dish and buttered corn as the side. As for my bespectacled underclassman, she chose a rice meal with fish as the main dish, accompanied by a salad.

She also picked up two chocolate cupcakes, designating them as dessert. While I didn't quite grasp the idea of having dessert during lunch, her happiness with what she picked was what mattered, and I didn't mind. For beverages, we both selected iced tea.

With our selections in hand, we approached the counter. The person working at the register was a girl with long brown hair in a ponytail. Her uniform screamed I'm an employee. After scanning the items, I took out some bills and paid for our food.

"Will that be all?" The orange-haired employee asked.

"Yes, that would be all." I said.

"Then would you like me to heat it up for you?" The orange-haired employee asked.

I whispered to my underclassman, and asked whether we should have our meal here or not so that we can have it heated already. The store wasn't particularly crowded, and there were plenty of vacant seats.

Personally, I didn't mind eating here, as I felt it would be inconvenient to carry everything back to the apartment. In response, she voiced her opinion.

"Yeah let's eat here since it'll be a pain going back up with everything." She said in a fun tone.

"Sure! Could you please heat our food." I told the employee.

"Yes understood, please wait until the food is heated." The employee replied with a smile.

She then took our meals and heated them in the microwave, which was positioned a little further back on the counter. After about 2 minutes, the employee returned to the counter. Placing our food onto a tray.

I picked up the tray in front of me and we headed toward the area with available seats. We sat at a table in the left-hand corner of the store, and there we began eating while talking about various things.

Eventually our topic shifted back to Modern Online Curses and their proliferation in the world.

"Do you remember? The MOC incident that happened back in university?" She asked me.

"Of course, how could I ever forget something like that."

What referring to was the Pixel incident that occurred back in university. It unfolded during my final year, sparking a significant event that resulted in the university being closed for a month and delaying my graduation by the same period. Although I had no involvement in the incident, I heard numerous accounts about it from acquaintances, friends, news, and primarily through school sites and other forums since it became such a hot topic for students.

From what I could gather it went like this:

Two girls were conversing within a dimly lit classroom. It appeared that both girls had been deceived by the same guy, prompting them to employ a curse known as Pixel to take revenge. Neither of them truly understood what Pixel entailed or the effects of the curse. All they knew was that the person subjected to the Pixel curse would face misfortune in the most unconventional manner. While their perception of Pixel's effects wasn't entirely inaccurate, it missed the mark in some aspects.

Unlike other curses, Pixel didn't possess the attribute of causing the target's death. Instead, it induced the cursed individual into a sort of dreamlike reality. They would be achieving and receiving everything they would ever want. Yet, in reality, the curse was slowly reducing them to a state resembling a human vegetable. They would become immobilized and speechless, lying motionless with wide-open eyes as if they had witnessed something deeply horrifying. This cursed existence persisted until their eventual demise, making it a fate more terrifying than death itself. Remarkably, the cursed person remained oblivious to their condition and continued to exist in a vegetative state.

However, this was only the fate that befell the person under the Pixel curse. For those who cast the curse, an entirely different outcome awaited them. The individuals responsible for placing the curse would inevitably experience divine retribution in the form of karma.

This phenomenon led to the practice of acquiring protective charms before using a curse—these charms were intended to shield the user from karma's effects. The karma associated with Pixel was closely linked to the information provided during its implementation. But the girls casting the curse were not aware of these.

It's important to remember that Pixel was a Modern Online Curse, exclusively operable on mobile devices. This curse could be accessed by visiting a specific website through a designated link. Upon reaching the website, a mascot figure in the shape of a pixelated mask would materialize.

Beneath the mask, a question would appear, reading "Are you going to curse?" with options for "yes" or "no" below it. Choosing "yes" initiated an action where the pixelated mask would laugh and redirect the users to another webpage. Here, users were required to input the name and email address of the individual they intended to curse.

In cases where the email address was unknown, any identifying information like their birthday or cellphone number could be used. After this step, the users would proceed to yet another page with the word "payment" centered on it. The user would be presented with two choices: to pay or not to pay. This decision determined the karma associated with Pixel.

Opting to pay would subject the user to the same fate as the curse's target, living life in a vegetative state. Choosing not to pay, however, would result in an unconventional death. For the two girls who employed the curse, it appeared that they opted not to pay. Tragically, both met their demise in unusual ways. One committed suicide by stabbing herself 24 times in the middle of a class, while the other jumped off the rooftop during lunchtime. The incident created such a commotion that media personnel arrived, seeking to interview students, ultimately leading to the university's closure for a month.

The explanation provided for the girls' deaths by the media was that they either didn't obtain a protective charm prior to the curse or that the charm they had acquired failed to work. As for the guy they had cursed, he was admitted to a renowned medical facility known for treating curses.

"Ready to go back?" I asked her.

"Yep." She replied.

After finishing our meal and concluding our conversation, we both rose from our seats and made our way to the automatic glass door of the convenience store. Exiting the store, we crossed the street and entered the apartment complex's lobby, proceeding to ascend the staircase. As we climbed the stairs, we encountered people both descending and ascending. Eventually, we reached my room.