001 Anti-Fraud: Everyone's Responsibility
June 2021. Richard stepped out of the university gates, only to face life's first hard lesson—'graduate today, jobless tomorrow.' The CEO of the first company he'd ever signed with had vanished with the cash the day before commencement. Forced to restart his job hunt, he was scrolling through online job listings when an unsolicited 'offer letter' appeared in his inbox.
Overjoyed, Richard clicked the link in the email at once. A black rift suddenly tore across his phone screen and pulled him in with violent force. He couldn't break free and was sucked inside.
The last thing that flashed through Richard's mind before he blacked out was, 'Why didn't I install that anti-scam app!'
September 1983. Richard realized he had been transported across time to a different era. Not only was he eighteen again, he was back in high school.
He awoke in an unfamiliar bedroom. Everything he needed for tomorrow's first day of class lay on the desk. His ID papers were locked in the top drawer; the ring of keys for every lock in the house was tucked into a hidden pocket of his backpack.
For now he lived alone, surviving in this rural Indiana town on the inheritance his parents had left behind.
Classic reincarnation story starter pack—though his pre-transportation life hadn't looked much different.
'School beats pounding the pavement for work any day,' Richard mused.
He grabbed a bottle of 1983 Coke from the living room fridge, flopped onto the sofa, and—while taking a long swig—activated the system that existed somewhere inside his consciousness.
[Agent: Richard]
**[Skills: Programming (E Rank) – As a fresh graduate you're just barely qualified to walk into a Silicon Valley office, but you'll probably get outworked.
All-around Handyman (C Rank) – An orphan's essential survival kit. Appliance broken? I'll fix it. Place dirty? I'll clean it. Anything to save a buck—my two capable hands handle everything. You're one 'money' short of most people's ideal partner.
Culinary Arts (E Rank) – Decent skill, edible results, limited repertoire.
Misfortune (E Rank) – An inborn gift. Take two seconds to briefly review your life so far.]**
[Derived Skills: None]
[Plot Points: 10]
'Tell you what—thank you very much…' When Richard read the All-around Handyman description his blood pressure spiked; his eyebrows twitched in rage. He wanted to yank the system out and punch it. And since when was Misfortune a 'skill'? Could he refuse it?
Richard drew a deep breath and calmed himself. There was no point arguing with his system—it never answered. Sometimes he swore a brick would be more useful than this lump of stone.
Still, after some trial and error he had finally figured out how the thing worked.
If he wasn't mistaken, this timeline was the setting of the show Stranger Things. To earn plot points he had to interact with the main cast.
Plot points were the gasoline that kept the engine running. Spend them to strengthen existing skills or unlock new branches derived from them.
The system was as bare-bones as its interface—so minimalist it looked like something coded by a rookie who'd just learned Programming 101. Front-end and UI? A complete mess.
But he couldn't fuss over that now; the first priority was staying alive in this world's future.
Stranger Things, a Netflix sci-fi horror series: meddling scientists open a gateway to The Upside Down through botched paranormal research. Evil entities slip into the real world, draping the town of Hawkins in terror and death. A mysterious psychokinetic girl and her brave friends must battle the darkness to save the world.
So: supernatural monsters exist, and they're hard to kill. Conventional weapons—including firearms—aren't very effective, though not completely useless.
Fire and high heat are their weaknesses, but if the flames aren't big enough or hot enough the damage is limited.
'I'll need to get my hands on a flamethrower later,' Richard thought. Buying one was impossible; he'd have to build it.
A garage-built flamethrower carried risks, but anything beat nothing, and Richard trusted his DIY skills.
Besides, Richard believed the key to overcoming adversity lay in the abilities of his System—especially the so-called "derived skills" function.
When it mattered most, he still had to rely on leveling up.
There were still two months before the main storyline of Season One officially began. Richard told himself not to panic; he could use those two months to gain the strength to protect himself.
"In any case, let's test the system's functions first and see just how powerful it can be." Richard selected Programming from the skill column and chose to enhance it.
[Ding! Detected host's first enhancement action; initiating guidance protocol.]
[To raise a skill's rank, plot points must be consumed. To refine and unlock a derived skill for a given ability costs twice the plot points required for that skill's current rank upgrade.]
[Plot-point consumption is related to the skill's inherent value, the host's aptitude for mastering it, the rank being promoted, and other factors. The three listed above are the primary influences.]
[Friendly reminder: not every rank increase will benefit the host. Please think twice before promoting a skill.]
After reading the system prompts, Richard fell into a full minute of thoughtful silence.
The first two messages he understood. The last one felt like the system warning him not to recklessly raise the rank of his innate skill, Misfortune.
This damned system still underestimated him—he wasn't someone who sought death on a whim.
Besides, Misfortune was a rule-type skill involving causality; even if he wanted to upgrade it, he didn't have the plot points.
So Richard stuck with Programming and prepared to perform an enhancement.
[Raising Programming (E Rank) costs 11 plot points; a refinement enhancement costs 22 plot points. Current refinement success rate: 20%. Please choose.]
"Pretty pricey," Richard murmured at the prompt.
He then checked the other skills one by one.
[Raising All-around Handyman (C Rank) costs 5 plot points; refinement enhancement costs 10 plot points. Current refinement success rate: 40%. Please choose.]
[Raising Culinary Arts (E Rank) costs 2 plot points; refinement enhancement costs 4 plot points. Current refinement success rate: 20%. Please choose.]
[Raising Misfortune (E Rank) costs 10,000 plot points—insufficient plot points.]
"Huh? What's with All-around Handyman and Culinary Arts? Am I fated to be a househusband?" Richard was stunned; the only skills he could afford were these two. His face crumpled.
After mulling it over, ever thrifty, Richard figured he'd start by strengthening Culinary Arts—practical and useful in daily life.
As for All-around Handyman… its rank was already high enough—why pump it higher?
He could wire a house, do basic construction, and repair appliances—wasn't that sufficient?
Upgrade Culinary Arts!
The next moment Richard felt his investment drain away.
[Ding! Your Culinary Arts has risen to D Rank!]
[Culinary Arts (D Rank) – Solid skills; home-style American dishes at your fingertips.]
The instant the skill upgraded, Richard felt weightless, almost floating. Strength surged through him, concentrating in his limbs and core, while a flood of cooking memories filled his mind. His hands moved on their own, mirroring the motions in the memories. "Muscle memory too?" A flash of clarity came before he sank back into the torrent of knowledge.
"Whew!" Only when the memories ended did Richard recover, drenched in sweat as if after a strenuous workout, his body slightly stronger. A glance at the clock shocked him: the intense experience had lasted less than ten seconds.
The thrill lit the young man's excitement. Richard selected Culinary Arts again.
[Raising Culinary Arts (D Rank) costs 3 plot points; refinement enhancement costs 6 plot points. Current refinement success rate: 30%. Please choose.]
"Let's try refining this time," he thought, unaware he was getting carried away.
Refinement enhancement!
[Ding! Refinement enhancement for Culinary Arts (D Rank) in progress…]
[Ding! Enhancement failed.]
The sound of his investment vanishing rang in his ears like cold water dousing his enthusiasm; Richard sobered instantly.