7:31 PM //

"Give me the remote!" A young girl nearly 13 years old lunged at a young man while shouting.

"No! Do your Homework!" Christopher caught her incoming head and pushed her back making her tumble down the couch and fall flat on her back.

Her cute face grimaced in pain while her oceanic blue eyes got watery and she sobbed, suffering the fall and she teared up.

"I-I didn't push that hard..." Chris paused the DVD that was playing on TV and helped Cassie back up while mumbling softly in his defense.

"..." Cassie's eyes dripped more tears while looking at Chris, feeling wronged.

"FINE! TAKE THE REMOTE!" Chris shouted, annoyed. He threw the remote at her and rolled his eyes.

"Ow! Hmph." The remote collided with her cute small face making her grimace and humph in displeasure. But, somehow her crocodile tears automatically stopped falling.

"Tsk, Drama queen. You and Cathy are the same." Chris muttered remembering his fickle twin sister, Catherine.

// 8:14 PM //

Chris who was watching the comedy-drama playing on the DVD player with Cassie, suddenly felt his pockets buzz.

He took out his phone and saw that it was an unread message, a message that made his eyes widen in shock and sucked every tiny bit of happiness from his mood.

// Son of a Shark: Come to the alleyway behind your house. //

// Christopher Swarts: Why? //

With shaky hands and a few drops of cold sweat on his forehead, Chris mustered enough courage to type back.

// Son of a Shark: Since you don't want me to come over. You have 5 minutes or...// Sharky left his message incomplete, however, Chris clearly understood the unsaid threat...

Cass, I will be back in a while." Chris patted the short teenager sitting next to him and got up from the couch. Equipping a pair of cheap-looking slippers and left the small 1BHK apartment.

As he descended from the dilapidated building, his gaze scanned through the layers of dust on the floor, revealing a multitude of small bugs and insects that seemed to revel in the decaying walls catering to their every need.

Emerging from the two-story structure, Chris was enveloped in the tranquil glow of the moonlight that illuminated his path.

He walked into a narrow alleyway, where unsightly insects and stray rats were a common sight.

With a sense of dread, he looked above to see four towering figures standing tall with their imposing 6'5 heights and muscular strong looking bodies.

"Welcome~ Christopher, right on time," said Sharky, his muscles rippling as he spoke in a falsely friendly tone. "I hope you're ready to settle your debt."

I-I don't have the money right now, sir," Chris pleaded, his voice shaking as he fought to keep his composure. "Please, just give me a few more days."

"Don't worry, Christopher," Sharky said, his smile widening to reveal a mouth full of yellowed teeth. He took slow, deliberate steps toward Chris, his eyes never leaving the younger man's face. "I'm sure we can work something out."

"You have a fine body, Christopher." Sharky placed his veiny hand over Chris's shoulder and remarked, however before Chris can even ponder over his off-sounding words,

*Bam*

"Argh! *barf* " Chris's handsome face contorted in agony as he doubled over in pain suffering a strong punch right into his guts.

"We need his organs intact, you idiot!" Sharky spat to his loyal crony and turned back to the vomiting Chris.

"P-Please, I will pay back the debt in fe-" Chris tried to plea but he was interrupted by a devastating kick that sent him crashing into a garbage can.

"Did I allow you to speak?" Sharky looked at the fallen Chris coldly and spat, "Listen, Christopher, I will give you 1 last day to pay back your loan, or else... I know many other methods to recover my money,"

Sharky suddenly remembered something and added, "I also saw your sister once, she was really pretty. In case you don't have money you can always sen-"

"I will get the money," Chris interrupted, his eyes blazing with fury as he stood up against Sharky's towering figure.

"You dare cut my words?!" Sharky roared with a menacing look on his face as he took striding steps toward Chris's already limping body.

*Bang* *Clank*

Suddenly, there was a loud bang as Sharky threw a heavy punch, which narrowly missed Chris's head and instead hit the garbage can, causing a metallic clank to reverberate through the alleyway.

"You!" Sharky sent another punch at Chris's torso but, Chris managed to bring his skinny arms to block that. Alas, just with the force of the punch, Chris fell back down grunting in pain.

"One day, Christopher, I give you one day." Sharky sneered at the fallen Chris and turned to leave, but not before kicking him one last time...

*step* *step*...*step*

The four men left Chris lying in the alleyway as they walked away in this beautiful curtain of night.

"Ugh..." Chris groaned in pain trying to push his weak body up from the ground, "10,000$? In one day? hahaha." Chris cackled with his broken sense of humor, finding it funny that he needed to collect 10k in just one day.

"Even with 7.4k of our savings we need 2.6k more..." Chris sighed heavily and began to walk back to his apartment, experiencing a headache over the crisis.

However, on his way, he caught sight of someone he wished he didn't see. In this dim moonlight, her face glowed with a certain charm, her black silky hair matching the serene midnight darkness. Her tall beautiful figure walked towards the same destination as Chris.

"C-Chris...?" The figure asked with uncertainty after hearing footsteps behind her, she turned and saw a familiar face limping on the street trying to hide from her sight but his slow speed prevented him.

"H-Hello Cath." Chris showed a wry smile and stopped trying to run away.

"What happened?!" She asked, concern evident in her eyes.

"Uhh, nothing... let's go home, Cass made a delicious dinner." Chris waved the question off and quickly tried to change the subject by walking ahead of her.

"Chris, I am not stupid." Cathy caught his arm and looked deep into his troubled hazel eyes.

Chris also looked back in her blue eyes, entranced for a second. He sighed deeply and began to explain the financial crisis. Of course, he left out the getting-beaten-up part.

"W-What...are we... going to do?" Cathy asked, her voice filled with worry and tension.

"We will figure something out, we always do." Chris smiled at Cath, but that smile merely looked like a fake mask that he wore to hide his pain from Cathy.

"Chris...sob," Cathy hugged Chris gently and sobbed, "I miss Mom and Dad, Chris..." she cried into his shoulders.

"..." Chris didn't know what to say. He held her tightly, stroking her hair. Unconsciously he felt his own eyes tearing up and some drops ran down his cheeks...

A memory that he hated wholeheartedly suddenly began playing in his mind again...

Chris's moist eyes began dripping tears after remembering the worst day of his life, his arms tightened around Cathy as he tried to hide his pain from her.

"Mom and Dad aren't coming back Cath. We need to survive on our own." Chris broke the silence in his mellow gentle voice.

"Mm. How did you get injured?" Cathy still burying her head in his shoulders asked in a muffled voice.

"Huh? M-Me injured? Not at all haha." Chris laughed nervously, not expecting such a sudden change in topic.

"You suck at lying..." Cathy giggled softly in her sweet sonorous voice.

"I am not lying!" Chris tried to defend herself, but, as usual, his white lie was caught easily.

"Cath, by the way, you don't need to worry about the loan. I have it under control." Chris suddenly said making Cathy's body flinch.

"N-No, I can help."

"Who said I want it? haha."

Chris, you think I can't help you?"

"Well, you are pretty useless after all."

"Try to joke again." Cathy glared at Chris finally removing her head from his shoulders.

"Haha, I wouldn't dare to."

"I can help," Cathy said again, this time looking into Chris's eyes with determination.

Hearing her say 'I can help', Chris suddenly remembered Sharky's 'offer'.

"I said I have it under control, didn't I?" Chris looked back into her oceanic deep eyes that were currently as calm as a peaceful lake.

"..." Cathy was caught off-guard by his sudden strong refusal and his raging hazel eyes.

"Fine, I trust you. But, please don't forget that you are not alone. We are in this together." Cathy didn't know the reason for his strong denial, but, she respected his wish and she smiled sweetly at him.

"You are the best, Cath. I love you, " hearing those encouraging words filled Chris's heart with a warm feeling and his lips curved into a smile.

"Love you too, now let's go." Cathy smiled back at him and tried to pull him into the building.

"Wait, I left some stuff in the alley, you go ahead, I will be right behind you." Chris however gently removed her hand from his arm.

"Mm, okay, " Cathy shrugged and went into the building, not noticing that Chris, who never even dropped a penny, suddenly left something in the alley.

...

*Bang!* *clank*

A metal can collided with walls in a dark alley, falling back on the ground as it made a lot of clanking loud noises.

"I HAVE IT UNDER CONTROL??" Chris shouted and kicked yet another can on the wall, "I don't have it in control, I don't have anything under control..." his legs grew weaker and he fell down on his knees, his eyes depicting pure suffering.

Just like a universe's sign, heavy rainfall began to fall, "Dammit all..." Chris banged his hand down on the street as his body began to drench in cold rainwater.

Chris gave a look up in the sky, watching the dark clouds making it rain on him, hiding the beautiful starry sky. A metaphor that's also easily applicable to Chris's life currently.

This loan was his cloud, hiding his beautiful life ahead...

[ DO YOU WANT TO GET RICH? Y/N ]

Chris was lying on the ground, with a dead look in his eyes as he observed the heavy downpour, but, his vision was suddenly blocked by a bluish hologram that popped up in front of his eyes.

"Wtf!" Chris shouted trying to back away from the hologram that appeared suddenly, but it was in front of his eyes, so no matter how much he backed, it still remained there.

'Calm down Chris, you are hallucinating right now. Let's just go to sleep.' Chris closed his eyes and got up from the ground, heading towards his apartment.

"This f*cker appeared again." Of course, when he was walking and opened his eyes again, the hologram was still present there.

"Do you want to get rich? Hell yeah! Who doesn't want to get rich?!" Chris read the hologram and scoffed, ignoring it again.

But as soon as Chris said yeah, the hologram disappeared automatically, Chris also ignored it and opened the door to his apartment.

The lights were closed and Cassie and Cathy had probably already gone to sleep, Chris also threw himself on the couch, wanting to sleep and think about the debt tomorrow.

But, the same hologram appeared in front of his eyes again, with completely different texts than last time.

[Congratulations on accepting The Wealth Tap System.

Binding to Host...0%...39%...97%...100%

Binding to Host's Mobile Phone....100%

Loading The Application...Please check your mobile phone.]

As if on cue, the moment the floating hologram stopped loading, Chris's mobile phone on the center table began to vibrate violently.

'I don't even do drugs...spare me this nonsense...' Tired of his severe hallucinations, Chris turned his body on the couch and closed his eyes, and prepared to sleep.

As much as he wanted to ignore this nonsense and go to sleep, the annoying buzzing of his phone didn't allow him to!

With an annoyed click of his tongue, Chris picked up his cell phone to finally check what in the world was up with his phone today.

[Host: Christopher Swarts

Bank Details: XXXX XXXX XXXX 6587

Balance: 7,428$

Earned Money(greyed out)- Nil

(greyed out)

Lvl-1(0/500 EM) 1$/Tap

]

'T-That's my account number and account balance!' Chris no matter how suspicious of the system, had no choice but to question the reality of the situation. Especially when he saw his sensitive bank details laid out on the app casually.

Upon observing, the Wealth Tap application that was magically installed on Chris's phone had quite an easy and simple interface.

At the top was Chris's Bank information covering about 1/3rd of the total screen of the app. However, the rest part was just a big white plain box that read . At the bottom row were some locked-out tabs that were grey in color and complemented by a simple lock symbol.

'Well, here goes nothing.' with close to zero expectations, Chris casually tapped the white box a couple of times making the 'Earned Money' Heading turn from Nil to 3$ while the button turned Red from its original Grey color.

'Hmm, Withdraw that then I guess.' Chris shrugged and tapped the Withdraw button.

[Host: Christopher Swarts

Bank Details: XXXX XXXX XXXX 6782

Balance: 7431$

Earned Money- 0$

Withdraw (greyed out)

Lvl-1(0/500 EM) 1$/Tap

Click here to Earn!]

Oh my gosh! My fake balance went up, Yay!' Chris cheered sarcastically, expressing his condolences toward the poor app developer that worked hard to make such a pointless game.

That was what Chris felt up until a sudden notification rang on his phone.

//. Your A/C has been credited with 3$. Click on this link to check your total balance...//

Chris was completely taken aback reading the received notice, he read the message, again and again, to confirm that he somehow misread it.

He felt his sense of reality shutting down, his belief that the entire life he lived up until now was a dream seemed more plausible for Chris's brain to process than to believe that a simple application that wasn't even that well made can make money.

(Insert Shutting down gif)

As much as he didn't want to believe that suspicious and fishy system. The proof was right in front of his eyes. He just kept staring at his mobile screen frozen in utmost shock, blinking at the screen alone in the dark hall like some sort of a mental patient.

[Congratulations on completing the Activation of The TapEarn System.

Subsidiary Tasks Unlocked.

Main Quests Unlocked.

System wishes luck to the host for his Future Adventures.]

[Sub Tasks.

Get rid of your debt- 10,000 EM

Get to level-2 - Nil ]

[Main Quests.

Earn 10,000$ without the aid of system - System Upgrade to Level 2

Get to Level-10 - System Marketplace Unlocked ]

[System note: The conversion of the Host's Tap to Earned Money(EM) consumes the Host's stamina. Kindly keep that in mind.]

With a sudden barrage of system notification holograms, Chris was awoken from his momentary daze. He began reading the new notifications in a solemn mood.

With the valid proof, He at least understood that whatever was happening,

1st) wasn't normal and 2nd) was either a really divine gift or one of the biggest pranks in history.

Hmm, so to sum it all up, I have gained something called , and on my phone. It seems to give me something called EM when I tap the white box and it can be converted into money or used to level up. There are also missions to complete.' Chris tapped his chin with a thoughtful expression and summarised.

He didn't bother to think about Why this is happening or How this is happening, that was for future Chris to handle.

'10k with no system? I have my 7.4k that I earned without the system...Hehe, I can just try to invest it and buff it up to 10k easy peasy...ok wait, not easy peasy, but at least simpler than using normal methods.' Chris grinned making plans to complete his Main Quest number 1.

'Time to do some Tapping~" In a good mood, Chris smirked widely cracking his fingers, totally overacting for just tapping on his phone screen.

... a Few Moments Later...

"Huff, pant, I give up!" Chris panted for breath, feeling no strength in his arms anymore.

Some time ago he started to tap, and at the start, there was no problem.

But, as he began to tap faster and more continuously, his hands began to go numb and his whole body began to feel out of energy.

He felt like a bit a few years ago Chris that was umm...just did normal things of his age... umm... just, just, okay?

[EM- 375/500 Level-1: 1 EM/Tap ]

"Huff...huff...just 375$" Chris drew deep breaths, he had been tapping his phone for a while now and realized that the stamina consumption of the system was no joke!

His hands were feeling heavy and numb due to stamina getting sucked right out of them. 'Since I was tapping with my hands, the majority of my stamina was drawn from my hands. I can still feel quite a vigor left in my legs and body...' Chris hummed in thought.

'Hah! How did I not think of that!' Chris suddenly thought of an ingenious plan and opened the app downloader on his phone and...

INSTALLED AN AUTO-CLICKER!

He still remembered that he was once addicted to an online tap-idle game, but soon got tired of tapping. In the end, he wound up rigging the game with the Auto-clicker! however, later that game ended up being no fun to Chris anymore...

The auto-clicker was yet again installed on Chris's phone making his smile widen at his genius plan.

He opened the application and navigated through its interface, selecting the settings to Tap as fast as it could.

// Tap speed: 120 Clicks Per Second

Clicking Mode: Manual //

// START //

'Phew...' Chris took a deep breath to calm himself and after placing the Auto-clicker's target as the white box. He hit start.

As soon as the auto-clicker started, cash began flowing in Chris's EM bar at unprecedented speed!

With the cps of 120, Chris's old EM balance was left in the dust in just 4 seconds!

One might expect Chris to be really happy with this, right? Well, he would have been happy if he was in his right state of mind currently...

Like undergoing a deadly seizure, His body felt numb whole over and he fell on the couch feeling his life getting sucked right out of his body. His grip on his phone loosened making it fall on his chest, auto-clicker still going at it in its full capability.

Chris began feeling sleepy, his mind shutting down, eyelids automatically beginning to close. All these symptoms kept worsening as the auto-clicker worked...

'got..to...hi.t...st..o.p...' Despite his completely jumbled state of mind, Chris held on to his thin string of life dearly, his survival instincts kicking at their max.

With every ounce of limited energy he can muster, Chris slowly tried to raise his near-dead hand and maneuvered it to just tap that bright red STOP button.

// STOP //

*click*

// START //

He did it. He finally managed to toughen his near-death situation and stop the auto-clicker in time, But Chris wasn't able to celebrate that fact.

How could he, When he passed out in his cold sweat the moment he pressed that button?

-- Next Morning --

"Brother! Good Morning!" a sweet feminine voice shouted and then remarked, "Ugh, why does it stink so much here?"

"I sleep...I no work...I sleep..." Chris murmured in sleep, a language that only sleep addicts can use.

"What do you mean no work?! And don't sleep, it's 10 am already!"

"..."

"WAKE UP!"

"Fine!!!" With an annoyed yell, Chris sat up on the bed rubbing his eyes in exhaustion. He yawned and stretched his tired limbs, as the memories of last night got recalled in his mind.

"Good Morning." Cassie smiled at him, in complete contrast to her behavior a few seconds ago.

"Morning." Chris greeted back, getting up from the couch and heading toward the bathroom.

'Last night was deadly...' He shivered in his mind, still a little traumatized by the last night's events. But the feeling was natural, after all, he was lucky to survive when even being just a single second late could have cost him his life.

'But...' Chris's hand automatically headed towards his right pocket, pulling out his old smartphone...