Makati never truly slept.
Even long after sunset, the financial district remained alive. Office towers stood like glowing giants against the dark sky, their windows lit with the cold white glow of computer screens and fluorescent lights. Down below, the streets buzzed with late-night traffic, motorcycles weaving between cars while neon signs reflected on wet pavement.
Inside one of those glass buildings along Ayala Avenue, a single office light remained on.
Julius Alon leaned back in his chair, staring at the three monitors in front of him.
Lines of code filled the screens.
Controllers.
APIs.
SQL queries.
Error logs.
He rubbed his eyes and groaned.
"Ugh…"
The clock on the corner of his screen read 11:47 PM.
Almost midnight.
And yet here he was.
Still working.
Still fixing bugs.
Still chasing deadlines.
Julius stretched his arms and cracked his neck. The quiet office floor around him felt almost eerie. Most of his coworkers had left hours ago. The open workspace that had been full of noise and chatter earlier was now completely silent.
Just the hum of computers.
And the occasional click of his keyboard.
Julius glanced out the large window beside his desk.
From the 18th floor, the Makati skyline looked breathtaking.
Luxury condos sparkled in the distance.
Billboards glowed across the city.
Expensive restaurants and rooftop bars filled the streets with life.
This place was the financial heart of the Philippines.
Billions of pesos moved through this district every day.
But Julius felt like he was watching it all from the outside.
"Imagine living like them…" he muttered quietly.
His eyes drifted toward a tall tower across the street where the top floors were rumored to contain luxury penthouses.
He imagined something for a moment.
Himself stepping out of a black Lamborghini.
Wearing an expensive tailored suit.
People greeting him with respect as he entered a building he owned.
A billionaire life.
Freedom.
Money.
Power.
No bosses.
No deadlines.
No endless bug fixes.
Julius laughed quietly to himself.
"Yeah right."
"I'd settle for just being debt-free."
Bzzzt.
His phone vibrated suddenly on the desk.
The sound snapped him out of his thoughts.
Julius reached for the phone and unlocked the screen.
A notification glowed brightly.
ONLINE LOAN REMINDER
Your payment is overdue. Please settle your outstanding balance immediately to avoid additional penalties.
Julius sighed heavily.
"Of course."
He opened his banking app.
The loading icon spun for a moment before the numbers appeared.
Julius stared at the screen.
Available Balance: ₱0.97
Outstanding Loan: ₱13,000
He blinked.
Then blinked again.
"Seriously…?"
Less than one peso.
He couldn't even buy a piece of candy with that.
Julius dropped his phone onto the desk and leaned back in his chair.
"Eight months in corporate…"
"And I'm still broke."
Actually, broke was being generous.
He was in debt.
Between online lending apps, rent, transportation, and everyday expenses, his salary vanished almost instantly every payday.
Sometimes it felt like he was running on a treadmill.
Working endlessly but never moving forward.
Julius covered his face with both hands.
"How did my life end up like this…"
DING.
A sharp notification sound came from his laptop.
Julius slowly lowered his hands and looked at the screen.
A message from the company's ticketing system appeared.
Richard assigned you a task.
Julius stared at the notification for several seconds.
Then he leaned back and shouted toward the empty office.
"UGHHHHH!"
His voice echoed across the silent workspace.
"Another task?!"
"I already finished TEN tickets today!"
No one answered.
Of course.
He was alone.
Julius slumped back in his chair.
"My brain is fried…"
He stared at the new task Richard had assigned.
Another bug.
Another API failure.
Another urgent fix that needed to be completed before morning.
Julius groaned and pushed himself away from the desk.
"I need coffee."
If he didn't drink something soon, he might fall asleep on his keyboard.
He stood up and stretched again before walking toward the office pantry.
The hallway lights buzzed softly above him.
The open office felt almost like a ghost town at this hour.
As Julius walked, his mind drifted again.
"What would life be like if I actually had power…"
He chuckled quietly.
"Not coding power."
"Real power."
The kind that changed everything.
He imagined something ridiculous.
"If I had superpowers…"
He opened the pantry door.
"…like rewinding time…"
He grabbed a cup from the counter.
"…I could become a billionaire."
He laughed at his own joke.
"Stock trading alone would make me rich."
Julius placed the cup under the coffee machine.
Then suddenly—
CLICK.
The lights went out.
The entire office went dark.
Julius froze.
"Eh?"
A second later—
A sharp POP exploded inside his head.
"AH—!"
Pain shot through his skull like electricity.
He grabbed the counter for support.
It felt like something inside his brain had suddenly snapped.
Not like a normal headache.
Something deeper.
Something strange.
Then just as suddenly—
The pain vanished.
The lights flickered.
Flick.
Electricity returned.
The pantry lights turned back on.
Julius blinked several times.
"What… was that?"
He rubbed his temple.
Then laughed nervously.
"Hahaha…"
"Too much work."
"That's what happens when you stare at code all day."
He shook his head.
"Alright… coffee first."
He reached up toward the cabinet to grab a mug.
But the moment he opened the door—
A bowl slipped from the shelf.
Julius's eyes widened.
"Oh crap—"
The bowl began falling toward the floor.
His mind reacted instantly.
It's going to break.
Without thinking, Julius shouted—
"Back! Back! Back!"
Suddenly—
The world twisted.
The lights flickered again.
The pantry blurred like a distorted video.
For a split second, reality seemed to fold in on itself.
Then—
Everything snapped back.
The lights turned on.
Julius stood beside the coffee machine.
Exactly where he had been before.
His hand hadn't opened the cabinet yet.
Julius blinked slowly.
"…What?"
He stared at the cabinet door.
It was still closed.
His heart started beating faster.
"I just…"
"I just opened that."
He frowned.
"And the bowl fell."
Julius scratched his head.
"Okay."
"Now I'm definitely hallucinating."
Still, something about the moment felt strangely familiar.
He slowly reached for the cabinet again.
But this time he paused.
"Wait…"
A strange thought crossed his mind.
"If I open this…"
He hesitated.
"…a bowl is going to fall."
Julius stared at the cabinet door.
Then slowly—
Very slowly—
He began opening it.
The cabinet opening.
The bowl slipping.
The sound of it shattering against the floor.
Julius shook his head.
"I must be tired."
He had been coding almost nonstop since morning.
Between debugging APIs, fixing authentication errors, and updating database queries, his brain felt like it had been squeezed dry.
"Yeah," he said quietly.
"That's probably it."
Still…
The strange feeling in his chest wouldn't disappear.
He slowly reached for the cabinet again.
This time he prepared himself.
"Alright," Julius whispered.
"If the bowl falls…"
"…I'll catch it."
He grabbed the cabinet handle.
Then slowly opened the door.
For half a second, nothing happened.
Then—
The bowl slid forward.
Julius's eyes widened.
"Ah!"
He reached out instantly.
His fingers touched the edge of the bowl.
For a moment, he thought he had it.
But the smooth ceramic surface slipped through his grip.
"Wait—!"
The bowl fell.
CRASH.
It shattered on the floor.
Pieces scattered across the pantry tiles.
Julius froze.
"…Well."
He scratched the back of his head.
"That was clumsy."
He crouched down and looked at the broken pieces.
Cleaning staff would definitely notice this in the morning.
And if his boss saw it, Richard would probably lecture him about "taking care of office property."
Julius sighed.
"Great."
"Now I have to clean this too."
He stood up and looked around the pantry.
"Where's the broom…"
Then suddenly—
A thought crossed his mind.
What if…
He stared at the cabinet again.
A strange excitement began building inside his chest.
The earlier moment replayed in his mind.
The bowl falling.
Him shouting.
Reality twisting.
Then everything resetting.
Julius swallowed.
"No way…"
He felt slightly ridiculous.
But he still whispered quietly—
"Back."
Nothing happened.
He frowned.
"Maybe I have to mean it."
Julius closed his eyes.
Then spoke again.
"Back."
The world twisted.
The pantry lights flickered violently.
The air around him seemed to distort.
For a split second, Julius felt like he was falling backward through space.
Then—
Everything snapped back.
The pantry lights blinked.
Julius stood beside the coffee machine again.
Exactly where he had been earlier.
The cabinet door was closed.
The bowl sat safely inside.
Julius slowly turned his head toward the floor.
No broken pieces.
No shattered ceramic.
Everything was normal.
His heart began pounding.
"Holy…"
He grabbed the counter to steady himself.
"Did I just…"
"…rewind time?"
Julius stared at his hands.
They were shaking slightly.
His mind raced as he tried to understand what had just happened.
"I said back…"
"…and everything reset."
He turned slowly toward the cabinet again.
"If that's real…"
"…then the bowl will fall again."
His breathing grew heavier.
"Okay."
"Okay okay okay."
"This is crazy."
Julius rubbed his temples.
"I'm either dreaming…"
"…or I just gained a superpower."
He took a deep breath.
"Let's test this."
He positioned himself directly in front of the cabinet.
This time he prepared both hands.
"Alright bowl."
"Let's try this again."
He slowly opened the cabinet.
The bowl slid forward immediately.
"Got you!"
Julius grabbed it quickly.
But once again—
The bowl slipped.
"Wait—!"
CRASH.
It shattered against the floor again.
Julius stared down at the broken pieces.
Then he slowly smiled.
"Okay."
"So it wasn't a dream."
He straightened up and whispered again—
"Back."
Reality twisted once more.
The same strange distortion filled the room.
Then everything reset.
The cabinet door was closed again.
The bowl rested safely inside.
Julius burst into laughter.
"HAHA!"
"This is insane!"
He looked around the empty pantry.
"Hello?!"
"Did anyone see that?!"
Of course no one answered.
Everyone else had already gone home hours ago.
Julius leaned against the counter.
"So…"
He whispered.
"I can rewind time."
Then something strange happened.
A faint sensation appeared in his mind.
Not a voice.
Not exactly a sound.
More like text appearing in his thoughts.
Simple words.
Clear.
Like a system notification.
Rewind Time: 0 / 60 Seconds
Below it, another line appeared.
Recharge Time: 00:59:58
Julius froze.
"What…?"
He blinked several times.
But the words remained.
Floating clearly in his mind.
He pointed at his head.
"Did…"
"Did my brain just install a user interface?"
The timer slowly ticked.
00:59:57
00:59:56
Julius suddenly understood.
"So that's the cooldown."
He laughed again.
"This is exactly like a game skill."
Rewind.
One minute charge.
He clenched his fists in excitement.
"This is amazing!"
Julius ran his hand through his hair, pacing around the pantry.
His mind raced with possibilities.
"Wait…"
"If I can rewind time…"
"…I could undo mistakes."
He imagined something else.
Stock trading.
Casino games.
Negotiations.
Everything suddenly looked different.
"You could make perfect decisions every time."
He looked toward the dark office outside the pantry.
The entire corporate world suddenly felt smaller.
Richard assigning tickets.
Endless debugging.
Deadlines.
Stress.
All of it felt meaningless now.
Because Julius Alon had just gained something extraordinary.
A power no one else possessed.
Thirty seconds of control over time.
Julius looked at the cabinet again.
Then at the glowing Makati skyline through the office windows.
A huge grin spread across his face.
"I asked for the power to rewind time…"
"…and I actually got it."
He leaned against the counter and laughed quietly.
"Does this mean…"
"…I can actually become a billionaire?"
Outside the window, the lights of Makati shimmered in the night.
And for the first time in his life—
Julius Alon felt like the future might finally belong to him.