Alec had been standing in the scorching sun for a few hours now as today was his morning shift, which started at nine in the morning.

He was a simple security guard working at the ‘Avalanche mall’. The mall had a good rating among people which led to quite a number of people coming to visit it.

His job was to frisk all the men entering through the gates while his woman acquaintance’s job was to do the same for all women.

Her name was Jenifer and she looked average at best but standing beside Alec gave others a false impression of her being a top-notch beauty when she was clearly not one. Why? Because Alec’s looks were to blame.

He used to have an above-average look when he was a young teen and was full of ambition but like many others, he was also thrashed by life and was shown his place. It was at that time he decided to slowly collect money by doing part-time jobs and then investing it all in himself to improve his life.

Unfortunately, this dream remained a dream. After getting a job here at the mall as a security guard with quite good pay, good in regards to him just needing to take care of himself, he got comfortable and settled for less.

The small sum of money instead of driving him to improve his lifestyle so that he could enjoy life and experience it to the fullest enticed him to spend it all on booze and other distracting activities.

He found his pill for regret in booze as a result whenever he felt that he wasn’t going on the right path and he should change his life for the better his weak mind got overwhelmed by the immensity of the task that would be required to change his life and at the end of it he would resort to drinking booze to forget about it all. The false happiness created by being in a drunk state ensured that he fell deeper and deeper into the hole he had dug for himself.

He got this job as a security guard when he was 19 years old. It had been 3 years now. He’s 22 years old now. His habits remained the same but he changed, for the worse. He was in the worst physical shape he has ever been in his life. Many people would find his current appearance revolting, his hair is all greasy from not taking a bath for 2 days in a row now which was complemented by his unhealthy skin, and a stomach that would even make a pregnant woman jealous.

The people who were being frisked by him always thanked god for the development of metal detectors because they would have preferred to die than be checked by his hands. People always judged appearances at first and from how he looked, it could even be said to be a miracle that he hadn’t been fired from the job.

Alec looked at the scorching rays of the sun with his hand covering his forehead and stared at his watch. In five more minutes, his shift was finally going to get over and he could relax for a while.

The awaited time finally arrived and he quickly left his post after giving it to the person responsible for taking over the job. In a good mood, he walked towards the changing room. Since men's and women’s changing rooms were around the same area it was natural for him to meet his partner Jenifer on the way.

“Nice work Jenifer.” He said when their eyes met.

“Hmm.” Jenifer nodded at him and just walked towards the changing room while ignoring him. Alec couldn’t help but smile wryly seeing this. Even though he had lost himself to booze leading to his current state, he was smart enough to understand why she treated him like that.

During these three years, he saw a clear change in women’s attitudes towards him. Earlier they still used to reply to his greetings and give a smile even though it was fake but now they don’t even bother doing that because he wasn’t worth the effort.

Taking a long sigh Alec walked towards the changing room with his slouched shoulder. Alec’s mind was thinking of various stuff as he was changing his clothes. It was then that he suddenly remembered the strange incident that happened in the morning.

This morning when he opened up his eyes he heard a strange machine-like voice in his mind which said “Fortune System Activated.” After hearing that all his left-over sleep had shaken away as he frantically searched his room for the source of the sound only to find nothing.

As a result of this, he was almost late for his shift and therefore only now he got his mind free enough think over this matter. “Is this the side effects of drinking too much? I’m high even when I’m not?” Alec said to himself as he put on his t-shirt.

After getting dressed, Alec went to one of the many fast-food restaurants inside the mall in the food area and ordered a large cheeseburger along with a glass of chilled beer. After finished the burger Alec jugged all of the remaining beer into his mouth in a single gulp impressing a few other customers who saw him doing this daunting task.

With his stomach filled he stood up and started walking towards the exit. His next shift would start at around seven in the evening so he was free until then. Since Alec had nothing better to do thanks to his almost empty wallet, he proceeds back home via subway.

Unbeknownst to him, Alec soon fell asleep on the metro. The people sitting beside him shifted a bit away from him not wanting him to fall over them due to the metro’s inertia. Alec was soon woken up not from the metro’s movement but because of the same sound he heard in the morning which was followed by a few words appearing right in front of his eyes.

---------------Fortune System---------------

Task: Perform 30 push-ups.

Time Limit: 24 hours

Reward: Luck would be increased by a per cent for 2 hours

Penalty: You’ll be fired from your job

--------------------X-X-X----------------------

“Guess I drank too much beer,” Alec said to himself as he once again closed his eyes and went back to sleep.