‘Zeno Han Proven Innocent. Gains a Million Followers Within 24 Hours.’
‘Pop Flop Deletes False Allegations Against Zeno Han’
‘”He Was the One Who Gave Us Money” – Locals Reveal Zeno Han’s Acts of Kindness’
‘Zeno Han Helped a Man Become Clean—False Accusations Finally Exposed’
‘After Being Wrongfully Accused, Zeno Han Cleared of All Allegations’
Bobby and Moby stared at the old TV mounted on the wall and couldn’t help but feel emotional.
“We did it,” Bobby said, placing his hand over his mouth. “We beat our jinx!”
Moby nodded, looking up at the ceiling to stop his tears from falling down his cheeks. He patted his chest twice and pointed up to the sky.
“The heavens are with us on this one.”
“Zeno must be happy,” Bobby chuckled. “What a lucky young man. He had debunked such rumors in less than two days.”
The two continued to relish in their celebration when, suddenly, Moby brought up something that Bobby had unfortunately forgotten.
“Wait, sir… Aren’t you supposed to buy your kid a keyboard instrument today?”
***
[New Penalty System: The Pain Trial]
Zeno stared at his system. The words “Pain Trial: Click to Confirm” flashed in red.
Doha had started cooking while Minji went back to work. Maxie had gone with Doha, so Zeno was left all alone to internalize everything that had changed within his system.
He had strayed too far from his goal that there already was a new method of accomplishing penalty quests? He sighed and shook his head.
With that, he clicked on the ‘confirm’ button.
Instantly, a sharp, blinding pain shot through his skull. It wasn’t a normal headache—it felt like hot needles stabbing into his temples, burrowing into his brain with each passing second.
His vision blurred, a piercing ring echoed in his ears, and his knees buckled.
His hands clenched into fists as the pain spread like fire, crawling down his spine. His heartbeat pounded in his skull, and it felt like Thor’s hammer had cracked into the bone.
Sweat dripped down his face. He gasped for breath. Was this a minute? Ten seconds? A lifetime?
[Trial had ended.]
The pain vanished.
Zeno collapsed onto the floor, panting, his body trembling from the aftershocks. His system went back to normal, explaining what had happened.
[Endless Penalty Quests – Once a penalty quest is issued, completing it immediately triggers another quest. This cycle continues until the ultimate mission is achieved.]
[Penalty Quests:
1. Attend a variety show.
2. Come into good terms with Eli.
Deadline: One week]
[Failure Leads to Pain Trial – If a penalty quest is not completed within the given time, the system automatically activates the Pain Trial as punishment.]
[Penalty item system shall remain. +1 Penalty Item for every 10% increase. Unopened penalty items (6)]
“Bring it back,” he muttered, referring to his old penalty system.
That was the worst pain he had felt in his entire life!
And Zeno knew pain… more than the average human or alien.
He went to the mirror to check if the pain trial had done any physical damage. However, what met him was a more surprising sight.
[+2 Pretty Potion. Increased attractiveness by 20%. Instant results.]
[+2 Stamina Booster. Drink when you’re out of stamina. Worth a full night of sleep.]
[+1 Halo Effect. Casts a white shine above the host’s head. Activates instantly during moments of genuine happiness.]
[+1 Silver Tongue. Improved speech, diction, and persuasion skills by 10%.]
Zeno closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. He was hoping that he would wake up from the nightmare.
However, he quickly came to terms with the fact that this was the reality he was in.
He was back to square one, and the stakes had become higher. He was practically a weapon with how many items he had.
And now, he had an endless stream of quests that he had to finish until the end of his mission.
Zeno wasn’t convinced that a ten-year rest would be enough compensation if he accomplished this mission. A 100-year long rest was the only plausible answer.
He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, grabbing his phone to check his Sigmoid account.
He had garnered a million followers after losing a hundred thousand the other day.
His finger hovered above the ‘delete account’ button, but before he could do that, he felt another pain trial coming through. He clicked his tongue. So, it seemed that the pain also appeared if he tried to reverse his past penalty quests.
With that, he exited out of Sigmoid and went to his messaging app. His labelmates were spamming their group chat with celebratory banners, and it seemed he had been bombarded with multiple offers to go on different shows and other acting projects.
He sat back down. If there was a time to lose hope, then it would be now. In his past lives, achieving something had always been quite easy for him.
Now that he has to achieve nothing, he was having such a difficult time.
The only question that rang in his mind was—what am I going to do?
“Oh, Zeno!” Doha exclaimed, opening his door once more. He stopped in his tracks and stared at Zeno, narrowing his eyes because he felt that something had changed with his friend.
“Since when were you this handsome?” he asked.
Zeno lifted his head and pursed his lips. The effects had already started.
“Anyway,” Doha clapped. “I made your favorite dishes so we can celebrate your freedom from the rumors!”
“Come,” he said, holding onto Zeno’s arms and dragging him out of his room. He made him sit on the table and placed the dishes he prepared one by one in front of Zeno.
It was then that Zeno realized he hadn’t eaten anything since the morning. His stomach growled in response, causing Doha to chuckle.
Then, Doha sat in front of Zeno as the latter tried the food he meticulously prepared.
“How is it?” Doha asked. “I tried recreating your mom’s version of seaweed soup.”
“It tastes… delicious,” Zeno muttered. He was telling the truth. The soup sent a warmth through Zeno’s body that he couldn’t feel when he ate back in Avalis.
“Eat a lot then,” Doha happily said. “I made a lot, so we can eat it until the evening.”
Zeno nodded and ate quietly. However, Doha kept watching him, so he momentarily stopped.
“What?” he asked with one eyebrow raised.
Doha shook his head, the smile still on his lips. “You’ve worked hard,” he said. “I just want you to know that everything you have now is what you truly deserve.”
“Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”