The Ordinary Life Of a Loser

Step. Step, step.

A huddle of people squeezed through a narrow passage, forming an angry mob that pushed forward to try to take each other's places. Guards dressed in gray-black uniforms and white badges with their names written above a gold logo tried to keep people from getting hurt and arranged a straight line so people could enter without bumping into each other.

It was a quick and practical reaction on the part of the administration of the place, but some people refused to follow orders and ended up being detained by the employees of the place. Soon, in a few seconds all the confusion dispersed and the situation came to an end, some people panting and guards with light scratches from very aggressive individuals when approached.

The people organized in the lines walked slowly and calmly, the train was stopped, waiting for them to board and thus delaying the trip that should have arrived at the other station more than five minutes ago. With that in mind, the impatient pilot pressed a button in his cabin and a loud whistle sounded from all the speakers inside the train, leaving some people startled.

While all this was going on, a young man, dressed in a faded white shirt that looked a bit old, accompanied by a black jacket and pants, calmly observed the situation. He didn't look too old, nor too young, being probably between 26 and 30.

Going through such humiliation, just to board the train to go home, was already part of his typical day, so Leonard didn't even blink as he entered the angry crowd. However, he did his best not to get hurt, as if he had a fight with someone, he would probably end up getting the worst of it and being his family's only source of income, it would harm not only him but his poor little sister as well.

His eyes roamed everywhere, from the padded seats, the train, the cabin where the pilot was located, and even the people who surrounded him everywhere. His eyes were deeper than normal for his age, being surrounded by an extremely dark layer of thick dark circles that stretched vastly across his face, pale and displeased, almost as if he were older than his true age.

On his outfit, a badge from a company called 'Linus Technology Industries', hanging like a pendant on a rope attached to his neck, reaching to his chest area with the name: Leonard Ann Thompson written in bold. The badge highlighted his name and made it very clear that the boy was no ordinary person in the company's hierarchy. Well, at least that would be what a normal person would think, of course.

His occupation? It said on his badge that he was a programmer and general supervisor for Division 1, but Leonard knew better than anyone that this was just a stupid joke from his boss. After all, even having been promoted to supervisor of division 1, people used to not listen to his advice, much less his orders, following the orders of David Alisson, the supervisor of Division 2, who was a popular guy among the people who worked at the company.

"Fuhhh," he sighed deeply, thinking about what he would have for dinner today.

The line in front of him took a few steps and he followed, his consciousness still lost in his thoughts, almost as if the room around him had been completely erased from existence.

''Ticket please'', said a woman with black hair tied in a bun, stretching her arm towards him, he didn't answer and she frowned, ''I'll repeat, sir. Ticket, please.''

''Oh, sorry.''

Leonard finally woke up from the trance of thoughts and fatigue he'd been trapped in since arriving at that station and took a strange-looking ticket from his left pocket, handing it to the girl who was silently waiting while looking into his eyes. The sensation he felt was extremely uncomfortable, he wasn't used to looking people in the eye and even if he was, he wouldn't want to spend so many seconds looking into someone's eyes in silence like that woman was doing to him.

REEAC

The woman made a quick movement with her hand and the note made a low sound, at the same time her belly was slightly ripped, as proof that it had just been used by a customer. She smiled and handed the paper, now torn up, back to Leonard, beckoning him to get on the train as fast as he could.

''Good trip to you, sir.''

''Thank you, have a good night shift.''

Leonard nodded, an odd smile spreading across his face as he had forced himself to answer the woman sympathetically. He hurriedly got on the train and looked around, spotting a seat at the far back, next to a glass door with some strange stains.

He sat up, put on his headphones, and sighed once more. His thoughts were filled with many things but they were suddenly interrupted when a metallic notification sound came from his cell phone. He was confused for a second, but then he remembered something and smiled genuinely at the thought of what it could be. If it was what he really thought it was, it was certainly good news and his day, even if it had been difficult and horrible, could change if he was right.

Tin~

He pulled the notification screen down on his phone, the screen of the device was a little worn, and the case smeared with strange smudges, but he didn't seem to mind, his eyes showing anxiety as he read the message written there.

[The Order of God: Survival in an Apocalyptic World has released two new chapters]

''That's what I'm talking about.''

***********

I believe this has already been said, but it's a pleasure, my name is Leonard Ann Thompson, but you can just call me Leonard.

Leonard Ann Thompson, a beautiful and dignified name, but not suitable for me. After all, I got that name because its meaning is equivalent to: brave like a lion, strong and brave like a beast, and many other meanings that have nothing to do with me.

Even though it was given with the best of intentions, not much has changed in my way of acting - my father gave me this name to be a strong man on my own who could overcome adversity and help my sister throughout her life. However, thanks to the name my father gave me, I ended up being just a normal, single, lonely man.

Not that I'm complaining about my life, after all, despite all the adversities I went through during my journey, I love my sister very much and I will undoubtedly do anything for her to have a better life than mine. And it's not that the fault is exclusive of that name, because, in addition to my personality and way of acting having nothing to do with the meaning of my name and, with the way I was taught by my father and mother, I'm not either. a social person enough for people to like me.

Summing up everything I've said, my whole life has followed this same path. I try to do my best for me and my sister and that's it. The biggest problem for me is that I live in a world full of people with supernatural powers and abilities, fighting monsters daily, but so what? I'm just a regular guy who doesn't have anything special besides the huge bills and debts he's accumulated over the years.

So I only say one thing to all of this: fuck everyone, I don't care.

To sum it all up (again), my name is Leonard Ann Thompson and I'm a 26-year-old man, very close to 27, who enjoys reading webnovels and webtoons in my spare time, trying to forget that my life sucks.

Inside a noisy subway, the sounds of conversations and murmurs filled the air of the place completely packed with people on all sides, and I was sitting quietly reading the chapters of my favorite work, completely ignoring everything and everyone around me. The music in my headphones resonated beautifully between my two ears, giving me more emotion with every sentence I read from the novel, my eyes filled with anticipation as if I were a small child receiving a gift from its parents.

But then my unique moment was interrupted by a shivering sensation on the back of my neck as I read a shocking line from the novel. I didn't know if it was because of what I'd just read or if it was because of the strange feeling that someone was watching me, but I instinctively lifted my head with surprising speed.

My eyes locked on a slender, beautiful figure that was standing in front of me. A pair of curious eyes were looking straight at my upper body, on the face of the person watching me, an expression of bewilderment was spread throughout. All these aspects, including the prying eyes that looked at me, belonged to an employee who was part of the administration and testing team for the games we developed, Amanda J. Clarence.

I looked at her from head to toe with one swift movement, and silence settled between us. I looked away but refused to end this way and looked back at her, this time trying to strike up a simple conversation.

''Oh, hello. Are you okay?''

I shuddered inside, wondering what kind of person says that kind of thing? I mean, it's okay to say it, since it's the right thing to say, but man, you hardly ever talk to her, so say something better!

"Hi, yes I'm good."

Once again the silence took over both of us. This situation was very strange, but it's not like I could just get up and get off the moving train. The woman looked at me and continued talking.

"Are you going home from work?"

"Yes, I usually go home right after work, it's a habit. How about you, Miss Clarence?" I said what came to my mind and prayed that it would work.

"Well, I usually visit some places after work. But today I didn't have to go anywhere because the people who bothered me to go out with them, traveled on business today, so I'm free.''

''I see...'', I replied dryly, trying to guess who were these people that bothered her, and then continued my speech, "I never see you around here, do you usually take the subway?"

I always took the subway at that specific time and was rarely late. If I was late, it was a minimal amount of time, so my curiosity got the better of me when I asked her that.

"This is complicated..." Amanda made a grim expression, her pretty face showing sadness as she replied.

Not to judge anyone, but it was the first time that I, a guy who had been riding the subway for years at the same time, had seen Amanda take the subway.

I didn't want to think badly of her, I didn't even know her. So I erased from my mind the rumors that people at the company were talking about her, that she was taken home by the company's bosses every day.

As soon as I shook my head in denial, the woman spoke again: "My car suddenly stopped working and the rear wheels punctured. So I had to call the tow truck''.

Car, a fucking car. One of my dreams of consumption, since I understand myself as a person.

''So you commute by car?'' I asked her, excited as a child when I said it, ''If so, which model?''

''Yes. I bought it recently with my savings made in the last few years. As for the model, it's a Bicard-800, the latest generation.''

I sighed in admiration, that car was a real locomotion machine. If I could, I'd give anything to go for a walk with it, but my thoughts were once again interrupted by the woman.

''But before that, I rode a bike.''

''So you used to ride a bike?''

''Yeah, it was the only way I had to go to work, and I used to use it for exercise too.''

"Ah, I see."

She smiled, it looked like genuine happiness, but I'm no expert on that, so I kept silent. Being so close to her, I could understand what other men found so special about her, with her long hair and gorgeous face that contrasted with her slim, unique physique. However, I simply erased it from my mind, after all, I would never try to get involved with a woman who was close to powerful guys like the head of the company.

I had read in a novel that I liked a lot, about a guy who ended up stuck in a novel he loved: each person had a gender of life. If so, then Amanda was someone who lived a different gender than I did.

After the awkward conversation we had, came to an end, we looked at our phones nervously, looking for an excuse to look away from each other. I opened the novels app, where my favorite novel I was reading before was written, being marked right where I had stopped reading, while Amanda opened a kind of Duelingue from hell, where everything was much more difficult than the green bird app I knew.

"Es un placer hablar contigo".

"Huh?" I was confused for a second by the sudden change in the woman's language.

''It's Spanish.''

''I'm aware, I was just confused. By the way, I know some things in Spanish due to my hobby of reading.''

''I see.''

I used to study on the subway when I went home, but recently laziness and fatigue have taken over my body and my duelingue has been sitting still, just installed and not being used on my cell phone.

"Usted es muy trabajadora, señorita". I said, showing what little knowledge I had about the Spanish language. I was nervous, I didn't even know if I had spoken correctly, it was just a stroke of luck, but Amanda smiled even more than before and gave a few soft laughs.

She looked at my phone with curiosity on her face as she read the title of the work I was reading. We continued talking for several minutes and time passed quickly without me noticing. This went much better than I expected, but it ended quickly when she got off at a station not far from mine, saying it was her final stop.

''Well then, I'll go. Good night to you.''

''For you too.''

She turned and walked off the train, my eyes following her figure completely disappearing as the automatic doors of the locomotive closed. As soon as she left, I looked down, the cold cell phone I was carrying in one hand was still on, the LCD screen lit up on the screen of the latest chapter of my favorite work. I was euphoric, left the chapter page for a second, and looked at the poorly made cover with too many letters and colors that didn't match, it was the same cover from 14 years ago that was still here.

This damn romance... This romance was something that accompanied my growth, a romance that shaped who I am. And it had reached its glorious end.

[𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝙶𝚘𝚍: 𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚗 𝙰𝚙𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚢𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍]

[𝙰𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛: 𝚂𝚒𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚛_𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚎_𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚐123]

[𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜: 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚍 (7 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚘~)]

[𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚢: ''𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚏𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚐𝚘𝚍𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚙𝚜𝚢𝚌𝚑𝚘 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎... 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙴𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚑, 𝚋𝚢 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏''.... (𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎...)]

[𝙽𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝙾𝚏 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜: 2771]

[𝙻𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚁𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎: 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 2771: 𝙶𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚋𝚢𝚎, 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝙼𝚎 (𝙸𝙸) ~]

I quickly clicked on the chapter and read it, my eyes filling with tears as the train emptied more and more. I got to the end, I couldn't believe it ended like this, it didn't even have an epilogue. Still, I felt the passion that the author had for the work, even if only I and four other people were his readers, he still stood firm, publishing chapters for fourteen years in a row... he changed me, shaped who I am now and in a way, I changed him too.

My fingers shook a little, people would probably say it was just the end of something, but to me, it meant so much more than a simple end. And I think it meant a lot to the author too, because something happened at the same time I opened the novel page, to comment on my thoughts.

At that time, a notification appeared at the top of my smartphone.

[𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 2 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚜]

It was from the author of the novel. I opened the mail anxiously.

[𝚂𝚞𝚋𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝: 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜

* 𝚂𝚞𝚋𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢: 𝚂𝚒𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚛_𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚎_𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚐123]

[Dear Leonard, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for following my novel for so long. It's certainly been an amazing journey and having you follow along on the novel has been an honor, so I'd like to gift you and others who have read my work.

From 9 pm you will be able to open this and some other things will also arrive for you. It will be useful to you, no doubt. Last but not least, I wish you and everyone else good luck, may the gods bless you guys.

Sincerely, Silver_Throne_King123.]

[1 𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚎.]

I tried to open the attachment but I couldn't, it was like there was a virtual padlock that didn't need a password, but there was no way to open it, so I gave up and checked the time on the phone's display.

I was excited about the gift idea, proposed by the author. My sadness at the completion of the novel was temporarily cured by the anticipation that took over my mind, thinking of what he would give me.

I checked the time one more time. It was 8:57 pm, I had exactly three minutes before the annex was accessible and the gift arrived for me.

So I opened my favorite novels list in the app once more. I was one of the only readers, so I thought I'd leave a few more positive comments and started writing a few things about the work, with a smile plastered on my face as I did so.

But all of a sudden my phone blinked several times and I was forced to close the app, restarting it to finish doing what I was doing before. However, a troubling message appeared before my screen:

[𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚡𝚒𝚜𝚝.]

I tried in every way to find the novel, searching several times, even trying with synonyms of the words and the author's name, but I didn't find anything. It was very strange. I had never seen a case where a romance disappeared completely without a trace, let alone on that app.

Then, suddenly, the subway train swerved to the side, throwing everyone, including me, in all directions as if we were mere dolls.

The train returned to normal, but the lights went out, leaving everyone in complete darkness. I got up, my head and arm were sore and I held them firmly, massaging them lightly. I turned on my cell flashlight and the others seemed to be thinking the same thing as me, as they did the same.

Then I heard confused voices coming from all sides.

''Hey, what the hell is going on?''

''What is happening?''

''What is it, now?''

TREECK

A metallic click suddenly came from outside the train and made many people scream, which added to the headache I had. Then I heard the sound of other people moving, footsteps coming from everywhere, they were scared and it was quite obvious.

It took a dozen seconds for the train to come to a complete stop, and when it stopped for real, I took advantage of it and tried to correct my posture to a really upright and proper one.

I looked at my phone, the flashlight still on and the battery percentage still stuck at 72%. The time was clearly fixed at 21:00, no more and no less. It was too much of a coincidence that it all happened when the gift was about to arrive and the annex was granted access, almost as if everything had been planned in advance by someone...or something.

Maybe the romance had something to do with everything that was happening now? Or maybe I was just hallucinating?

The train door opened and I heard a metallic voice accompanied by a holographic screen that floated before my eyes. My thoughts were confirmed almost instantly, and I froze, just hearing the voice speak inside my head.

[The 'Planet Earth' of planetary system 4768 has reached level 2.]

I looked away quickly, and from the way people looked up into the air and said things to each other, I wasn't the only one seeing it in front of me.

Tin~

[Planetary level changed: Beginner (1) → Intermediate (2).]

[The free protection and distribution service has been terminated.]

[Congratulations to all the inhabitants of Earth for reaching the intermediate level!]

[The real journey has started.]

[Will you fight or see your world sink into chaos?]

People were screaming, asking what nonsense this meant. And then another message popped up for me. I heard it, falling to the ground as extreme pain took over my entire body. I felt as if several needles and swords were piercing my bones and flesh, breaking them. I wanted to scream, but my throat wouldn't respond to my commands, my eyes were dilated and I was squirming on the floor.

Several people ran from outside the train and others even from inside the place, surrounding me and saying things I could no longer understand, as I was completely overcome with pain.

And just like that, I fell to the ground for good, my arms stretched out to the sides and my legs not responding to my brain commands anymore. My senses gradually stopped responding, while other windows kept telling me strange things:

[Congratulations on receiving the 'Gift of ◇◇◇◇◇◇']

[One of your gifts was used automatically.]

[Processing...]

[You obtained the 'Ultimate Evolution System'!]

[The system is being assigned to the user.]

[Remember that you may experience some pain during the system attribution.]

[Attribution Rate: 5%]

And then I gave up fighting that pain and instantly everything went black. Suddenly I couldn't see or hear anything else.

But still, that didn't stop the world from being turned upside down by everything that happened.

Unfortunately, we didn't know that this was just the beginning and that fate would still use us like fools over and over again...