Alec clearly remembered the tone with which Jenifer said that she had forgiven him and adding how small minded she was from the little interactions he had with her over the last few weeks he realized that she was definitely going to stir up trouble for him. When he had thought to this point, he was reminded of the message he got from that blue panel.
Alec once again hovered his eyes on the small blue screen at the top right corner of his vision and the blue screen once again opened up.
---------------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----------------------
“Is Jenifer the reason why I’m going to get fired?” Alec said to himself but no matter how much he thought he couldn’t make sense of how doing 30 push-ups would help him with this problem. This was all that was going in Alec’s mind as he arrived back home.
By the time he reached his home Alec had sorted things in his mind. He was most likely going to get fired from the job tomorrow thanks to Jenifer and seeing how his superiors were he believed that even if he tried to give his bit of explanation it wouldn’t affect their decision even a bit.
He had already thought of looking for a new job now but he knew in his heart that finding such a well-paying part-time job again would be quite hard for him now. He couldn’t help but think about the 30 push-ups he needed to perform to complete the task.
“Even if I’m not mad and this Fortune system thing is real, I still can’t perform 30 push-ups in a row…wait a minute…” Alec said to himself self-depreciatingly before he realized that it wasn’t mentioned that he needed to do those 30 push-ups in a row. He could definitely complete it in sets.
“If it's like that then I can do it…” Alec says to himself. He knew that if he did his max rep in every set he wouldn’t be able to complete the task as his arms would be long dead before he reached his target.
After a series of long calculations, Alec concluded that he would be doing one push-up every five minutes for now until he reached his target. With that, he got to work. Even though he considered doing a single push-up every set disgraceful it was the only thing he could do to meet his target and complete the task.
With the passing of each set, the push-ups became more and more difficult. Alec resorted to listening to motivating songs while swiping reels during his five minutes break in order to make sure that his mind didn’t give up before his body did.
By the 21st push-up, Alec was gasping for air and sweating all over his body. He could feel his arms shaking weakly telling him to forgive them for the sins they had committed in their past life but unfortunately for them, the song playing at the moment was “Till I Collapse” by “Eminem”.
All the thoughts of giving up disappeared from Alec’s mind as he again prepared himself to perform another push-up. Time slowly passed as the thoughts of giving up and lying flat on his soft bed entered his mind from time to time but fortunately, Alec was able to fight these enticements.
Alec had just done his 26th push-up and if it was him an hour back he would have given up right at this point but during this process, he realized that he had never put so much effort into doing something in a long time. The last time he did that was when his life was still in order.
Believing that this is the key to bringing his life back in order Alec persevered and performed another push-up. He used all his pent-up frustration in doing this push-up as from the way his hands were wobbling, he wouldn’t have completed the push-up.
Pushing his whole body up he finally did the 27th push-up. At this time, he had long forgotten about the 30 push-up target. He was only focused on doing the next push-up and not thinking even a bit about the 30 push-up target.
Alec sat back on the ground gasping for air with his mouth as he looked towards the ceiling lost in his thoughts. His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden change in the small blue box. It started blinking which made Alec concentrate his vision on it which led to the blue panel opening.
---------------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
TASK COMPLETED
REWARD RECEIVED: Luck would be increased by a per cent for the next 2 hours
--------------------X-X-X----------------------
Alec was both exhilarated and confused seeing this message. If he remembered correctly, he had only done around 27 push-ups but how did he complete the task? When he was thinking around this point, he remembered the three push-ups he had done in the beginning and it all started making sense.
Alec was waiting for what this increased luck thing would do as he waited patiently for something to happen. “Would I suddenly win a lottery?” He thought to himself but nothing of that sort happened. A few minutes later he got a call from his father. Alec had first thought that it was the effect of the luck thing but after hearing what his father told him he realised that was not the case.
His father informed him that the health of his uncle had deteriorated as a result he was going to visit him along with Alec’s mother. Alec soon puts the phone down in a bad mood.“ what did you mean by my luck would increase? My Uncle got sick, is that what you call being lucky?!”…Alec fumes at the message from the so-called Fortune System and goes to sleep as his overexerted body was craving for some rest.