Listing

The sun had long risen, and its gentle rays could've cascaded into Nick's apartment if he hadn't drawn the curtains, blocking most of the light.

Nick tiredly moved about in his bed, half awake but trying for more sleep with his eyes still tight shut.

Normally, Nick was an early riser, but the past two days had him sleeping at unholy times of the night, hence why he had been waking up so late in the morning.

Resting for about a minute more, Nick found that sleep had completely eluded him—sadly—and finally opened his eyes with a long sigh.

He rose from his bed and looked about the dark apartment, only partially illuminated by the filtered sunlight of the thick curtains.

Nick groggily removed the bed sheet covering his lower body, got off the bed, and walked over to the curtains.

Whoop!

He pushed a curtain to the side, squinted his eyes, and groaned. The sun's rays were as blinding as usual.

Nick turned to stare at his bed; the last vestiges of sleep in his eyes were truly banished. His mind was now awake and active.

And strangely… maybe too active.

A thoughtful expression arose on Nick's face. He could feel it, his thoughts were clearer than ever, as though a layer of fog in his mind had receded. Yet, his brain felt noisier, for lack of a better term.

'It's like… my mind is a city, a complex city enshrouded in a thick white fog. The fog is impassable, and everything within is frozen in time. Hence, the majority of the city trapped in the fog is unusable. Only the middle area of the city is free of the thick fog, and now the fog has receded some more, revealing and freeing more buildings, roads, facilities, and… workers,' Nick thoughtfully analyzed, only now realizing he had closed his eyes and placed his fingers on his face, gently massaging his forehead.

The thick white fog represented the limits of his brain (the complex city), and the small, middle area free of the thick fog was the allowed room his brain had for consciousness. 

Previously, more complex and detailed thoughts, analyses, and mental operations eluded him, as did regular humans.

However, Nick was an Irregular now.

If his mind was a town before, now it was a small city. This was why he described his mind as noisier, simply because of the level of multitasking his mind could handle daily, with relative ease to boot.

Nick opened his eyes and let a slight curl form at the corner of his lips. 

He turned around and stared at the open window, marveling at the sight.

'I never knew light could be so beautiful.' Nick didn't stop himself from smiling. With his maxed-out perception, his brain could pick up more details it initially glossed over. 

His intelligence had truly increased!

Nick could even feel how capable he was. Now, if he put his mind into learning a particular subject like Computer Science for a year and half, he believed he would be as capable as the final-year students majoring in it.

Nick sat down on his bed, grabbed his phone, and opened it. There were no new messages, and the digital clock read half past nine.

'Investing those 3 v-points into my intelligence was a genius move. I was smart already before, but now I'm more confident in my way of thinking. Now, considering the matter at hand…'

Nick thought back to the events of yesterday with Boss Falco and his goons. He never expected the boss to send his goons to kidnap him. Why would he do that? If they kidnapped him, how would that ensure the payment of the debt?

Nick always kept it at the back of his mind that things could turn this sour between him and Boss Falco one day, and he always wondered what the greedy loan shark would do to get his money back, but really didn't want to find out.

Thinking back to when Mike barged in and caused Boss Falco to take an early leave, Nick remembered seeing him tell that "Tommy" goon something. In contrast to the previous times Boss Falco visited Nick, they always made sure to rough him up before they left, but not this time.

'Sly bastard. It didn't make sense for him to have Tommy rough me up, since he had already plans on kidnapping me. He really meant what he said by "other" means.' Nick had a few ideas of what Boss Falco's "other means" could entail, and he felt a chill run down his spine.

"I'd like to think he would just force me to perform some cheap labor in a secluded place, but that's just me giving the boss too much credit. Can his methods be so simple when it's easier for him to just… sell my organs? Exactly. I'm not wrong for thinking his plans for me consist of the worst," Nick told himself.

The stakes were still high, and Nick knew he wasn't running out of Boss Falco's grasp anytime soon. 

Nick looked down at his phone, opened the Top Idol app, and entered the Marketplace tab.

Nick paused and scrutinized the name, "Pandora's Box." 

'What if it has a deeper meaning?' He had overlooked it before, merely thinking it was given that name as a gimmick of some sort.

Nick wasn't too familiar with Greek mythology, but he knew about the more common stories, like the Titanomachy, the twelve labors of Hercules, Prometheus and the theft of fire, and Pandora's Box. 

In the story of Pandora's Box, it was told that Zeus, the king of the gods, gave Pandora—the first woman—a beautiful box as a gift and told her not to open it. However, Pandora was made to be curious, and unable to resist the temptation, she opened the box, unleashing all manner of evil and misery into the world, including sorrow, disease, vice, violence, greed, madness, old age, and death. Pandora quickly closed the box and saw that only one thing remained inside, and that was hope.

"Hope is also a form of misery; otherwise, why was it in the jar in the first place?" Nick muttered.

Some alternative versions of the story said the box contained all the good things the gods had to offer man, but as Pandora opened the box, they all escaped, leaving only hope, again.

The Pandora's Box vending machine had a dial pad, a coin slot, and also a screen that didn't display its contents, meaning one could get whatever depending on the number they chose on the dial pad. 

Correlating the idea behind the story to the Pandora's Box vending machine, Nick voiced inwardly, 'Could this mean what's inside can either be good or bad for a pointer? Or maybe whatever is gotten can be used for both good and bad? Hm, it's either one or the other.' 

Just like how Top Idol was revolutionary to the common man, raising them above others, the Pandora's Box vending machine seemed to be the same for pointers; at least, that was how Nick understood it.

Nick made up his mind. 

Heeding the cautionary tale of Pandora and her box, he threw away the greed in his heart telling him to keep the location of the Pandora's Box vending machine to himself. And instead, listened to the other greed in his heart that yearned for more information on the matter and more v-points.

At the bottom of the Marketplace tab, Nick clicked the 'sell' button, skipped the small inventory display, and gave his listing the same title as yesterday. However, he changed his description a bit, adding a few more words.

Proceeding, he chose 'sale' over auction, set the price of his listing as 300 v-points, and made it 'negotiable.'

With the only v-point he had left, he tapped "Place Listing" and held his breath.

There was a loading circle, and after about thirty seconds, there was a confirmation message: 

[Pointer4879, your listing has been approved.]

Nick's heart calmed down. His v-point wasn't wasted.

'The vending machine does have something to do with Top Idol.' Although Nick had been sure, it still felt refreshing for him to have his affirmations verified.

Now, on the Marketplace tab, the interface had a minor change. The 'sell' button had been replaced with a document icon, titled "Listings," and at the lower right corner, written as a subscript, was the number '1'.

Nick clicked it and saw the information on his listing.

[204] Location of Pandora's Box.

Seller: Pointer4879.

Seller Description: "Get access to Pandora's Box. Benefits untold. NOTE: Only buyers with information on 'Pandora's Box' will be considered for this trade."

Duration: 7 days.

Price (Negotiable): 300 v-points.

There was a 'Boost' option at the top right corner too. Nick caressed his chin with his other hand and muttered, "Too bad I have already gotten my v-points for today. Maybe I'll try it out tomorrow."

…

[Rule #7: Failure of three (3) consecutive tasks shall warrant a warning.]