Chapter Eight

"And... That should be 102 pesos, sir."

I parked my car in front of a bank and turned to look at my customer.

"Here, you don't need to give me change."

"Thank you, sir."

The man said and got out of the car after giving me 105 pesos. I'm already happy to have three pesos, I appreciate everything good that happens to me. Especially now that I have acquired something amazing!

I have a system! Something that only happens in fiction! It's enough to make me jump and scream with joy.

After taking my last client to the bank, I decided to rest and have lunch at an eatery.

In this current year of 1999, there is no such thing as Uber. What I usually do is wait in the terminal or drive around until someone calls a taxi and stops me.

"Madam, can I have some adobo and two cups of rice, please?"

I smiled happily. I feel blessed.

"Here."

The woman quickly prepared my food and handed it to me.

I sat down and ate the food. Eating rice three times a day is the norm in most Asian countries, especially in the Southeast.

No matter how delicious the dish was, it was inedible if there was no rice to eat with it. In my opinion, I will never be satisfied if there's no rice. Eating delicious meal without rice is a torture.

After I finished eating, I got into the car and rested. I listened to the radio and fell asleep. I need to sleep for at least half an hour to regain my energy. However, no matter how hard I tried to fall asleep, my mind was wandering.

"Okay, fine."

I opened the holographic screen and the system greeted me with a simple interface, just like a smartphone.

There were only three options. Missions, Store, and Inventory.

[The Grind System]

I have an idea about the system, but I want to know more.

So first I clicked on Missions and there were two missions on the screen.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

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(1) [Exercise for 30 minutes today.]

[Rewards: 1 point].

[System remarks: The host needs a healthy body.]

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(2) [Start a business within 100 days].

[Rewards: 1 Golden Waving Cat]

[System message: The host is poor, and the best way to escape poverty is to start a business. Being an employee will never give the host wealth and freedom].

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Simple as that. The first mission seems understandable since it's called "Grind System". But my eyes stared at the second mission.

"Really? Business?"

It gave me a hard mission right from the start.

I raised my eyebrow. I can't believe that even the system pushed me to start one.

"Maybe it's in my veins. I guess I can't erase it..."

I sighed.

"Indeed, being an employee will never make me rich, at least being a businessman is much better. I've been a taxi driver for almost four years now, and our situation is still the same."

As for the freedom that the system noticed. It's true that I can't spend time with my family because I have to prioritize work. Otherwise, we won't have anything to eat.

I looked in the rearview mirror and found nothing.

"... Let's do it."

I said to myself. The system was giving me a chance to turn this around. It would be stupid if I let it go to waste.

Although I'm quite curious why the system only gave me two missions. I want more, to be honest.

[System remarks: The host is too weak and poor to be given another mission.]

Ugh!

System, you don't have to be so direct. I could feel the mockery even though it spoke in a robotic voice.

"Exercise and start a business..."

They were not that hard in my opinion, I can do them.

.........

......

...

6 pm and the sun was no more, I returned the car to the company and I went back to the office to give my quota, the money that the company should receive after I used their taxi... And all that was left in my wallet was 271 pesos, about 5 dollars when converted.

"Keith, you have to go to the Christmas party tomorrow."

"I promise manager, I will be there."

A smile appeared on my face. I know that tomorrow I will receive my 13th month salary and bonus. This was one of the rare times when our company was generous.

This company had about 1200 taxis running around Manila every day. I don't want to know how much money they make daily.

I smiled and said goodbye. I ride a jeepney back to my house. Of course, I bought a pint of ice cream to surprise my kids.

"Dajjy! Wow, ice cream!"

Sophia's eyes lit up when she saw the ice cream. She ran and hugged my leg and looked up at me.

"Dajjy..."

"Let's wait for your mom to eat."

I know what she wanted, but we have to eat our dinner first before eating cold food, or else she would have a bad stomach.

"En!"

She nodded and left me, running to find her mother...

It feels lonely to know that my daughter is only interested in the ice cream and not me. Well, kids are kids.

"Honey, you're here. How's the day going?"

"I'm fine."

I smiled and greeted her with a peck on the cheek. She blushed when she realized I was kissing her in front of the children.

"Keith Castillo."

"It's okay, it's not even a kiss."

I shrugged.

"But still..."

I had her in my arms before she could protest. My dear wife... We're going to have a good night together.

"Okay, okay. Just wait a moment and I will prepare the dishes."

"Hm, you're so nice and sweet, very gorgeous."

"Not in front of the children."

She said, but her curling lips and blushing cheeks could not lie. Eventually I stopped teasing her and checked on the kids, only to see Roman studying and Sophia talking to her dolls. Ah, the good old days.

Now... What exercise should I do? The system said I should exercise for half an hour today.

[Note: My phone got factory reset and I lost almost all my files. Fortunately, most of my chapters are saved in Ko-Fi and Pat reon. Although the space format is atrocious.]