Kairo Tan had always believed that debt was like gravity: invisible, unavoidable, and suffocating.
Standing outside his cramped apartment in the Easterview District, he stared down at his phone as though it could solve the problem with a magic swipe.
BANK ALERT: Overdue Payment: 43,200 YDollars. Final Notice Issued. Legal Action Pending.
His hands tightened around the phone. He had worked three part-time jobs that week alone, delivering packages at dawn, debugging code for underpaid clients during the day, washing dishes at night. Somehow, the debt kept growing, as if it had a will of its own.
His mother's voice rang in his memory, soft but strained from the hospital bed: "Kairo… just do your best. That's all I ask."
But "doing his best" had never been enough. And tonight, he felt the weight of impossibility pressing down harder than ever.
A sudden flash of gold flickered at his feet. Kairo looked down and saw a small sheet of paper, glinting unnaturally even in the dim alley lights. It was not wet from the drizzle, not creased, not ordinary it almost seemed alive.
He bent down and picked it up. The words shimmered in ink that seemed to be coated in rubies and shimmer in rhythm with his heartbeat:
"THE FATE MERCHANT AWAITS. DEBTS CLEARED. PRICE NEGOTIABLE."
Kairo frowned, he couldn't believe it . His first instinct was to toss it aside, scams existed, and even desperate people had limits. But he couldn't. Something in the shimmer, the slight vibrations under his fingers, pulled him forward.
The alley ahead stretched longer than it should have.
Kairo noticed it slowly at first the way the streetlights didn't just flicker, but blinked, one after another, as if sending a message he couldn't understand. His steps slowed without him meaning to. The rain sounded quieter here, swallowed by the narrow walls.
He stopped.
At the far end of the alley, a small stall had appeared where there shouldn't have been one. It looked fragile, temporary, like something that might vanish if he stared too hard. No one stood behind it, yet a small umbrella hovered above the counter, upright and steady, swaying gently as if held by an invisible hand.
Kairo's throat tightened.
This is a mistake, he thought. I should leave.But his feet refused to move.
"Expected…" a voice murmured from the shadows.
Kairo flinched, heart slamming into his ribs. His hand twitched toward his phone, fingers curling as if it could protect him. He swallowed, forcing himself not to bolt.
A man stepped into the dim light.
He wore a black suit that looked too neat for an alley like this, and a fox mask that hid everything except the faint gleam of his eyes. In his hands was a deck of cards etched with constellations, which he shuffled lazily. Each time the cards slid against each other, Kairo felt a strange pressure in his chest, as if the sound was brushing against something deeper than his ears.
"You are Kairo Tan," the masked man said.
It wasn't a question.That frightened him more than if it had been.
"I... I" Kairo stopped himself, jaw tightening. His voice came out quieter than he intended. "I don't know you."
The man tilted his head slightly, as if amused. "No matter. Your debt does."
Kairo's gaze dropped to the stall before he could stop it. A single card lay face-up on the counter. It showed a young man clutching a broken coin beneath a laughing star.
Something about the image made his stomach twist.
"You want relief," the man continued calmly. "I sell solutions."
Kairo let out a short, bitter breath, half laugh, half exhale. "I… I don't have money."The words felt defensive, automatic something he'd said too many times before.
"Not money," the man replied, tapping the card once. The sound was soft, but it echoed unnaturally in the alley. "Choice. Some debts are paid in coin. Others…"He paused, just long enough for Kairo's unease to deepen."…in consequence."
Kairo opened his mouth to ask what that meant.
The card shimmered before he could speak.
Light rippled across its surface, and the image peeled away like thin paper, unfolding into a glowing scroll that hovered in the air between them. Letters formed one by one, glowing faintly in silver and gold, as if being written by an unseen hand.
Kairo whole body sweating profusely .
Kairo took a step back without realizing it.
Every instinct he had screamed at him to run
Debt Transfer Contract
Benefactor: Veylor, Eternal Trickster
Terms: Shared Vessel Agreement
Payment: Human Experience Trials
Reward: Debt Clearance + Power Increment+ Reaching the peak of life
Risk: Soul Synchronization Drift
The man extended a pen that appeared out of thin air. "Sign. Your family's debt disappears. But he moves in with you."
"Moves in?" Kairo asked, heart hammering.
"To you. Inside you. Your body, your senses, your consciousness. But he is, weak, bored, and… mischievous. He wants experience. He wants his power back . And you will have to supply it."
Kairo swallowed. He thought of his mother's hospital bills, his father's unpaid work shifts, his younger sister counting coins for school lunch. If he didn't sign… they would suffer. And this godly entity? If it harmed him? Well… maybe he could handle a little chaos.
He took the pen. Ink ran across the contract like molten silver. The moment it touched the scroll, it pulled into him, burning bright behind his eyes and rushing down into his chest like a living pulse.
The bank notification on his phone pinged violently. He looked down: 0.00YD all debts cleared.
Kairo exhaled, relief so sharp it made his chest ache. He staggered backward and that's when he felt it.
A presence, heavy and playful, like someone leaning inside his spine and whispering through his nerves.
"So this is… debt?" The voice slithered inside his mind, smooth, teasing, ancient. "Such… tiny mortal problems. I expected more from the mortals the others have often spoken highly of ."
Kairo staggered, gripping his head. "Who… what are you?, what are you doing to me?"
Veylor's laughter echoed inside Kairo's skull, light and musical, yet unnervingly deep like silver bells ringing inside a hollow cave.
"Veylor. Eternal Trickster. Former god of gambled fates. Currently… very bored."The voice lingered, amused. "And now… resident of your skull. Congratulations, Kairo."
"I… I didn't ask for this!" Kairo shouted, clutching his head.
"Oh, but you did."Veylor's tone softened, almost condescending . "You asked for debt relief. You signed a contract. In doing so, you granted me access to your body, your soul, and your mind."A pause."Lowly mortal."
The rain around them slowed.
Droplets hung suspended in mid air like frozen glass, streetlights stretching into soft halos. Kairo's apartment block, the narrow alley, the buzzing neon sign across the street , everything looked familiar, yet terribly wrong. As if the city had taken a single breath and refused to let it out.
His heart pounded. "what are you doing…?"
"Testing my new toy," Veylor replied cheerfully. "Hehehe."
A sharp pulse stabbed behind Kairo's eyes.
A translucent interface unfolded in his vision, hovering silently like a system window only he could see.
TRIAL 1 :OBSERVATION BEFORE IMITATION
Objective:Stalk the supervisor of the Riverside Construction Site without being detected.Learn his movements. Learn his habits. Learn how it feels to be him.
Secondary Objective:After successful observation, use Cloning to replace him temporarily.
Restrictions:• No direct confrontation• Remain unseen during observation
Reward:+5% Soul SynchronizationTemporary Ability Unlocked: Cloning (6 hours)
Failure:Loss of 3 months of Lifeforce
Kairo stared at the glowing words, stomach twisting.
"S-stalk?" he whispered. "You want me to… spy on someone?"
"Observe," Veylor corrected lightly. "Stalking sounds so crude."
"That's illegal," Kairo said, panic creeping into his voice. "And wrong. I...I don't even know what you mean by sabotage!"
"Relax."Veylor sounded genuinely entertained. "I didn't say you had to hurt anyone. Only that chaos must be… encouraged, in the mortal realm."
Kairo found himself standing across the street from a half-finished construction site, yellow lights illuminating steel beams and concrete pits. Workers were packing up for the night. At the center of it all stood a man in a reflective vest, barking orders and checking a clipboard.
The supervisor, Veylor whispered. "Target acquired."
Kairo's chest tightened. He ducked behind a parked van, peeking out just enough to watch. His hands trembled as he wiped them against his jeans.
Don't be seen. Don't be noticed.
He followed at a distance, heart racing every time the man turned his head. When footsteps came too close, Kairo pressed himself into shadows, breath shallow, body stiff.
"Good," Veylor murmured approvingly. "See how he walks? The slight limp. The way he rubs his temple when stressed. You'll need those details."
Kairo swallowed hard. His palms were slick with sweat.
"What if someone sees me?" he whispered.
"Then you learn the cost of failure," Veylor replied lightly.
The supervisor stopped suddenly.