Stringsssss

Dwayne was shaken out of his wits. His fingers clenched at his side.

He do…

He had a wish.

For ten long years, he wanted to see his mother awake and smiling at him again. Not the weak, emaciated figure lying in the hospital.

Dwayne swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Can you really fulfill my wish? What if my wish is for you to heal a comatose person? Can you do that?"

Yue smiled at him. "I am a god. As long as my powers are back, there's nothing impossible for me. I can even make you immortal."

Dwayne was flustered, shaking his head vigorously. "N – No need. So, what am I supposed to do?"

Yue pointed at the book. "This will show you what. Thank you, Dwayne. And good luck."

Yue started to disappear in front of Dwayne. Even the glowing strings surrounding them were fading out.

"Ah…"

Does this mean he's going back?

When Dwayne blinked his eyes, he was now back on the bench at the small park. His broken bike was still parked behind him.

The only difference was the cat. It was no longer by his side, instead, it was replaced by the beautiful red book with gold carvings. Dwayne sat down, his head still slightly fuzzy. Had what happened earlier been real?

He pinched his thigh really hard, and he was still in the park with the magical book. It is real. Dwayne gulped.

Hesitant, he took the book and opened the first page.

[Hello, host!]

[You are in luck to have picked me up!]

[I am the book of the red string of fate. With the last power of the god of love, I have evolved into a Matchmaker system!]

[If you are curious about what you have to do, it's simple!]

[My physical form, which is this book, will let you know who has met their fated partner from the people around you. All you need to do is make sure they fall in love with each other!]

[Simple, right?]

Dwayne face-palmed.

No. It's not simple.

[But don't worry, you will also receive side tasks from time to time. Side tasks involve helping the people around you find happiness. After all, if people are happy, they are full of love!]

[Please turn to the next page.]

Like an obedient puppy, Dwayne turned to the next page.

[In this section, you will see the information of your two targets: name, age, hobbies, interests, family background, etc.! This can be very useful in your missions.]

[Please turn to the next page.]

From an outside perspective, it looked like Dwayne was seriously reading a book. An adorable young man with soft curls who did not pay attention to his surroundings as he was engrossed in his book.

[In this section, you will see the people you have successfully paired. And next is the list of skills you have gained after completing a mission!]

[I believe I have already equipped you with where to find important details. So let's talk about the strings!]

"No, no. Wait. What skills are you talking about?"

Dwayne whispered, making sure no one could hear or see him moving his lips. If he wasn't careful enough, others might perceive him as mad for talking to himself.

[Skills like hypnotizing people to give you what you want or conveniently making them forget certain memories. Of course, these skills can only be used for missions. And if you want to use them for your personal gain, I'm sorry, but it's not allowed.]

Dwayne shivered. He imagined hypnotizing people to give him money and trembled in fright. Even his soft curl on top of his head shook.

"No, I don't want it!"

The Matchmaker System ignored him and proceeded to explain the next piece of information.

[In this world, there are many different types of strings. Fated strings are red, white is for friendship, and black is for negative emotions. Just beware if the color of the string is green. That means someone is planning to harm another person or has already done the deed.]

Dwayne felt his brain had flown to the sky. He was a hardworking student, but he wasn't exactly gifted in the brain department. He struggled with remembering names, and even memorizing poems or solving mathematical problems was challenging for him.

The Matchmaker System heard his dilemma.

[Don't worry, you will easily remember this information. There's also a skill that can improve your brain capacity, sharpening your memory.]

At this, Dwayne became very interested.

"So this skill will let me remember names easily?"

[Of course.]

"Will it also help me solve math?"

[Of course!]

[….]

[Wait, what?]

"Yahooo!!!" It was too late to take back the answer the Matchmaker System had given to Dwayne. He was so happy that his face shone brightly. His smile was radiant and refreshing, especially with his small curl on top of his head.

"Matchmaker System, what should I do to get that skill?"

[…..]

[Compared to the frightened you earlier, you sound so energetic.]

"Because you are giving me a skill to help me solve math! I have exams next week, so it will be very useful!"

[….]

The Matchmaker System did not know what to say. It was the first time it had encountered a human who became so excited over a skill because it could help him solve math problems.

[Alright, if you want to have this skill, I will help you.]

[Ding! A new mission has been issued to the host!]

[A new pair is destined to meet under the roof of a waiting shed. Please help these two get to know each other.]

Dwayne got up. Taking a deep breath, he picked up his bike and walked towards the nearest bus stop. If he remembered correctly, the bus stop was not far from here. It was just up the road ahead.

As Dwayne walked, he caught a glimpse of people with strings connecting their bodies and floating up to the sky to link them with others.