The System Choice: Me and My Best Friend
In my last life, she chose spending, and I chose saving. She was consumed by an endless cycle of purchases and died from exhaustion. I became a secret millionaire.
At my wedding, her parents stormed in, screaming and attacking me. "You venomous witch! You murdered our daughter!"
Then I opened my eyes, and I was back on the day of the choice.
Jessica spoke first, her voice thick with a venomous exhaustion I knew all too well. "I choose... the Frugal Living system."
1.
A cold, mechanical voice echoed in my mind.
[Host Jessica has selected the "Frugal Living" system. Binding in progress...]
[Remaining system: "Spend & Earn." Bind to Host Carol?]
I looked at Jessica across from me. She was skeletal, her eyes sunken deep into their sockets as if she’d just crawled out of hell itself. But those eyes burned with a frightening intensity, a twisted, vengeful glee.
She thought she had just passed her death sentence on to me.
She thought she had stolen my golden ticket to a perfect life.
"Bind it," I said, my voice even.
The triumphant smirk on Jessica's face froze before it could fully bloom. The panic, the fear, the breakdown she had been anticipating—none of it came. I was as calm as a placid lake.
["Spend & Earn" system successfully bound. Issuing Novice Mission: Host must spend 0-00,000 within 24 hours. Mission success: receive a 0-00,000 rebate. Mission failure: instant death.]
Almost simultaneously, Jessica’s own system pinged in her head. She flinched, her hands flying to her ears as a flash of pain crossed her face.
I knew her novice mission.
[Novice Mission: Earn one dollar through acts of saving within 24 hours. Mission success: receive a two-dollar reward. Mission failure: The system will confiscate the host's most cherished possession.]
Last time, that mission had driven me to the brink of madness.
But now, a confident, predatory smile spread across Jessica's lips. She rose from her chair, walked to the window, and flicked off the unnecessary lights in the room.
[Ding! Saved $0.02 on electricity.]
Next, she moved to the water cooler and yanked the plug from the wall.
[Ding! Saved $0.05 on electricity.]
She looked at me as if I were already a corpse. "Good luck, Carol."
I ignored her. I pulled out my phone, opened a food delivery app, and found the most expensive sushi restaurant in the city. Sashimi platters, sea urchin, Wagyu beef... I tapped my screen relentlessly, filling my cart until the subtotal was a breathtaking $9,888.
Then, I navigated to the tip section and entered 0-012.
Total: 0-00,000.
Jessica watched me, a sneer twisting her lips. "A desperate last struggle. Carol, don't you get it? The rebate has to be spent in the next 24 hours. You spend ten thousand today, you'll have to spend twenty tomorrow, then forty the day after! Let's see how long you last!"
I said nothing, just waited quietly for my delivery.
Half an hour later, a breathless delivery driver arrived, hauling several large insulated containers.
I took them and met his tired eyes. "Thank you for your hard work," I said. "This... it's all for you."
The driver stared, convinced he'd misheard. "Huh? Ma'am, what did you say?"
"It's for you," I repeated gently. "Consider it a small thank you to everyone working late tonight."
With that, I closed the door.
From outside, I could hear the driver's stunned, grateful thanks.
From inside, I heard Jessica's disbelieving shriek. "Are you insane?! You just gave away ten thousand dollars' worth of food!"
I turned to her and smiled.
She didn't understand.
This system was never designed to kill the spenders.
It was designed to kill the selfish.
2.
The color drained from Jessica's face. She couldn't comprehend how I could give away something worth 0-00,000 so easily. In her eyes, it was the same as throwing my own life away.
I had no intention of explaining it to her.
[Ding! Novice Mission complete. Reward of 0-00,000 has been deposited into the system account.]
[New Mission Issued: Spend $20,000 within 24 hours. Mission success: receive a $20,000 rebate. Mission failure: instant death.]
I opened my system interface, my balance a perfect 0-00,000.
Meanwhile, Jessica's system chimed as well.
[Ding! Novice Mission complete. Reward of two dollars has been deposited.]
I saw the muscles in her jaw twitch.
Two dollars.
After all her fussing—turning off lights, unplugging appliances, denying herself water just to save a few more cents—her grand reward was two dollars.
I had earned ten thousand with a few taps on my phone.
Her eyes bored into me, the jealousy so palpable it was practically a physical force.
"Don't get cocky, Carol! This is just the beginning!" she hissed through gritted teeth. "The more you spend, the faster you'll die!"
I shrugged, picking up my phone and starting to browse online. This time, I didn't order food. I found a local, no-kill animal shelter on a charity app. They were on the verge of closing down. Their page listed hundreds of cats and dogs, along with a long, heartbreaking list of outstanding debts.
Rent for their facility, food costs, veterinary bills... the total came to just over $20,000.
I contacted the director, verified the information, and transferred the full amount. The woman on the other end of the line broke down, sobbing with relief. She kept asking for my name, wanting to put up a plaque in my honor.
"There's no need," I told her. "Just make sure they all get a good meal."
When I hung up, Jessica was staring at me as if I'd grown a second head.
"You... you donated it? Again?"
"I did."
"What are you playing at?" Her voice rose, sharp and shrill. "You know something, don't you? You came back, too! You were reborn!"
I met her gaze, my expression unreadable.
Her face went deathly pale. A profound, soul-deep terror seized her.
If I was also reborn, then her act of "stealing" the Frugal Living system was nothing but a cosmic joke.
She hadn't just picked the short straw; she'd thrown away a lifeline and grabbed a noose.
In my last life, I had used the saving system to build a fortune, compounding my earnings until I was a millionaire. She thought that was the easy path.
But she’d forgotten what that path entailed. She'd forgotten how I walked three miles under a blazing sun to save two dollars on bus fare; how I lived on plain instant ramen to shave a few dollars off my food budget; how I lowered my standard of living again and again, pushing myself into misery just to get the system's doubled rewards.
That path was its own kind of hell.
And Jessica? A spoiled princess, coddled since birth. Could she really endure it?
3.
Jessica left in a daze, utterly shattered. She needed time to process the terrifying reality that I, too, had a second chance.
I, on the other hand, began planning my grand "spending" strategy.
The reason the "Spend & Earn" system killed Jessica in our last life was because of how she spent. Handbags, sports cars, luxury goods. All those things did was feed her vanity. They had no real value.
Besides, there’s a limit to what one person can consume. When the spending requirement skyrockets from tens of thousands to millions, you can’t possibly eat ten million dollars' worth of food or wear ten million dollars' worth of clothes in 24 hours. She literally worked herself to death trying to keep up.
But the definition of "spending" is broad.
Purchasing services, technology, talent—that’s also spending.
After my $20,000 mission, the system gave me another $20,000. The next mission: spend $40,000 in 24 hours.
I opened my laptop and searched for a name: James Hayes.
In my past life, I met him at a tech investment summit after I'd made my fortune. He became my husband. A man who loved me more than money. By then, he was already a successful entrepreneur, sophisticated and charming.
But in this timeline, at this moment, he would be a brilliant but broke student hitting one wall after another.
I found his information easily. A prodigy from Kingston University's Computer Science department, a junior, working with a few classmates to develop a revolutionary social media app. The project had incredible potential, but a lack of funding had brought them to the brink of collapse.
I looked at the photo on the screen, his face still holding the soft edges of youth, and my heart warmed.
That was him.
I found his contact information and sent a short text.
"Mr. Hayes, my name is Carol. I'm an angel investor, and I'm very interested in your project. Are you available to talk?"
The message went out into the void. I wasn't worried. I closed my laptop and prepared to head out. I had a more direct way of completing my $40,000 mission.
I took a cab to the city's largest bullion exchange.
In her past life, Jessica had tried buying gold. But she went to luxury jewelry stores, paying exorbitant, fixed prices for pieces with massive markups.
I walked straight to the counter that dealt only in raw materials.
"Hello, I'd like to buy gold bars. What's the spot price today?"
"Good afternoon, ma'am. The raw price is $2,000 an ounce."
"Perfect. I'll take twenty ounces."
Exactly $40,000.
I swiped my card, signed the papers, and the heavy gold bars were in my hand, their cold, metallic weight a solid promise.
[Ding! Spending mission complete. Reward of $40,000 has been deposited.]
[New Mission Issued: Spend $80,000 within 24 hours.]
Just as I slipped the gold into my purse, my phone rang. An unknown number.
I answered. A cool, clear male voice, laced with a hint of caution, came through the line.
"Hello, is this Ms. Carol? This is James Hayes."
4.
I met James at a coffee shop near the Kingston University campus. He was already there when I arrived, sitting by the window in a worn-out white button-down, the cheapest Americano on the menu before him. Sunlight streamed through the glass, casting him in a clean, almost aloof aura.
He was so much younger and thinner than the man I remembered.
He stood up when he saw me, a little awkwardly. "Ms. Carol, hello."
"Just Carol is fine," I said with a smile, taking the seat across from him.
He seemed surprised by my age, hesitating for a second before sitting back down.
"Carol... hi. You said you were interested in my project?" he asked, getting straight to the point, his tone laced with disbelief.
I nodded. "I am. I read your project proposal. It's incredibly innovative. I'm especially bullish on your concept of 'interest-based social circles.'"
A flicker of light sparked in his eyes, but it died just as quickly. "Thank you. But we're... we're out of money."
"How much do you need?"
He held up five fingers, the words catching in his throat. "Five hundred thousand. That's the bare minimum for seed funding."
Five hundred thousand dollars. To me, that was just a spending mission a few days from now. But I couldn't just hand it to him.
"I can invest," I said.
James's head shot up, his eyes shining with a joy he couldn't contain. "Really?!"
"On one condition," I added, my tone shifting.
His expression hardened again. "What condition?"
"I want to use that half a million to buy the exclusive first rights to all research, development, and patents your team produces for the next year."
It was an aggressive, almost predatory offer. I was essentially buying a year of a genius team's future for a fraction of its potential worth. If they created something world-changing, I would be the primary beneficiary.
James fell silent. He looked down, his fingers tracing the rim of his coffee cup.
I was making a bet. A bet on his confidence in his own talent, and a bet on how desperate his situation was.
Finally, he looked up, his gaze sharp enough to pierce through my skin. "Why?" he asked, his voice low.
"Why what?"
"Why do this? You don't exactly seem like the charitable type." His eyes searched mine, trying to unravel the mystery.
I laughed. "Because I need a way to spend money."
I wasn't lying. The amounts required by my system would only grow larger. Shopping and donations would eventually hit a ceiling. But investing in a tech company—buying their technology, their equipment, their patents, even paying their salaries—was the perfect, legitimate channel for "spending."
I was building the road for my own future.
James clearly didn't understand. He frowned, looking like he thought I was mocking him.
Just then, the coffee shop door swung open and a young woman, dressed head-to-toe in designer brands, strode in. She marched directly to our table, looking down her nose at James with pure derision.
"James, are you still at it? Scrounging for investors again? Who in their right mind would fund that dead-end project of yours?"
Her gaze then shifted to me, sizing me up with a dismissive sneer. "Oh, and you found a young, pretty one this time. Honey, a word of advice: stay away from this broke loser. All he's good for is selling empty promises."
It was Brittany, James's ex-girlfriend. The same woman who, in our last life, had looked down on him, only to be consumed by regret later.
James's face flushed a deep crimson. He clenched his fists. "Brittany, this is my business. It has nothing to do with you!"
"How does it not?" Brittany scoffed. "I'm just trying to keep this poor girl from being scammed by you!" She pulled a card from her purse and slapped it on the table. "See this, honey? This is what a real man gives a woman. Not a cheap cup of coffee and a pile of fantasies."
I glanced at the black card but said nothing.
Brittany, thinking she'd stunned me into silence, grew even more smug. "I came here to tell you, James, that I'm getting engaged to Preston Vance next week. You know the Vances, right? Their family is worth hundreds of millions. You'll never be in my league."
The blood drained from James's face, leaving him pale and shaken.
I sighed and took out my wallet. Then, right in front of them, I fanned out a whole stack of cards.
Black cards, platinum cards, unlimited cards... an arsenal of elite credit, gleaming under the cafe lights.
I spread them on the table like a winning poker hand.
Then I looked up at the dumbfounded Brittany and asked with a sweet smile, "Which of these did you say a man is supposed to give a woman?"
"Are these enough?"
5.
Brittany's face cycled through shades of red and white, a kaleidoscope of humiliation. She stared at the blinding array of cards on the table, utterly speechless. James was just as stunned, his gaze fixed on me, a complex mix of emotions swirling in his eyes.
Ignoring Brittany, I gathered my cards and turned back to James.
"I accept your terms," he said abruptly, his voice hoarse but firm. "Five hundred thousand, for one year of first rights to our work. You draw up the contract."
"Done," I nodded.
With my goal accomplished, I stood to leave. As I passed Brittany, I paused and leaned in.
"Not everything can be measured in money," I murmured. "Like a man's potential. Or his heart."
Without a backward glance, I walked out of the coffee shop.
I still had an $80,000 spending mission to complete.
I went to the most exclusive mall in the city, bypassing the women's boutiques and heading straight for the high-end menswear department on the top floor. I bought James several proper outfits: crisp shirts, tailored suits, silk ties, cufflinks. I chose them all based on my memory of his sizes from our previous life.
The total came to just over $70,000.
With the remaining few thousand, I bought my parents each a new state-of-the-art massage chair.
The moment the last transaction went through:
[Ding! Spending mission complete. Reward of $80,000 has been deposited.]
[New Mission Issued: Spend 0-060,000 within 24 hours.]
When I arrived home, laden with shopping bags, Jessica was sitting in the living room. On the coffee table in front of her was a bowl of plain, watery noodles. Not even a single piece of vegetable.
She was wasting away, her cheekbones jutting out sharply, a deathly aura clinging to her. Her eyes, however, lit up with a familiar spark of jealousy when she saw my bags, which quickly morphed into schadenfreude.
"On another shopping spree? I've got to hand it to you, Carol. Staring death in the face, and you still have the energy to dress up your new boy toy."
She’d already found out about James.
I set my things down, ignoring her.
"You know," she said, talking to herself as much as to me, her voice like poison. "I haven't left the house in two days. Not a single step. Because going out costs money. I eat this every day. Plain boiled noodles. One meal a day. That way, I save fifty dollars on food and at least ten on transportation. The system rewards me with one hundred and twenty dollars!"
She looked up at me, a grotesque grin spreading across her face.
"See? I'm clearing a hundred and twenty dollars a day. That's thirty-six hundred a month. Over forty thousand a year! It won't be long before I'm richer than you, Carol!"
I looked at her like she was a lunatic. She had turned herself into a prisoner for a measly 0-020 a day. This was her "golden ticket"?
"Guess what my mission is for today," I asked her suddenly.
She blinked.
I opened my phone, pulled up the system interface, and held the screen out for her to see.
[New Mission: Spend 0-060,000 within 24 hours.]
Jessica's pupils constricted into pinpricks.
One hundred and sixty thousand dollars.
An amount that would take her three and a half years to save, even if she starved herself to death.
And all I had to do was spend it in 24 hours.
The chasm between our realities hit her like a physical blow. She shot up from the couch, knocking over the bowl of noodles. Broth and limp pasta splattered across the floor.
"Impossible! That's impossible!" she screamed, her voice cracking with hysteria. "The system is broken! It has to be!"
I watched her meltdown with cold calm.
"It's not broken, Jessica," I said. "You are. From the very beginning, you made the wrong choice."
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