BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The alarm clock's shrill cry pierced through the thin walls of Alex Chen's Brooklyn apartment like a rusty knife. 6:00 AM. Same time, every day, for the past eight months.
Alex's hand shot out from under his worn blanket, slapping the snooze button with the precision of someone who'd done this dance a thousand times before. The silence that followed felt almost mocking.
"Five more minutes," he mumbled into his pillow, but his body was already betraying him. His mind, that cruel bastard, was already calculating the day ahead. Subway ride to Manhattan. Equipment check. Follow around a bunch of Awakened who could probably buy his entire apartment building with their lunch money.
The second alarm – the one he'd learned to set after too many close calls – dragged him fully into consciousness.
Alex rolled over and stared at the water stain on his ceiling. It had grown again. The landlord's promises were about as reliable as his F-rank status climbing to something useful.
His phone buzzed against the nightstand. A text from Mom.
"Breakfast ready if you want to stop by before work. Be careful today, okay?"
Alex smiled despite himself. Even after five years of living in a world where people could summon fire from thin air and slice through steel with their bare hands, his mother still worried about him eating enough vegetables.
He sat up, feet hitting the cold hardwood floor. The rent notice on his desk caught his eye immediately – that cheerful yellow paper that somehow managed to look both innocent and threatening at the same time.
$800 DUE BY THE 5TH
Alex pulled up his banking app. Balance: $1,247.
"Great," he muttered, running a hand through his messy black hair. "Another month of ramen it is."
The mirror in his tiny bathroom reflected exactly what he expected: tired brown eyes, the kind of face that disappeared in crowds, and the pale complexion of someone who spent most of his time in artificial light. Nothing special. Nothing powerful. Just... Alex.
"F-rank Awakened," he said to his reflection, the words tasting bitter even after all this time. "Might as well be 'Failed-rank.'"
The shower water took three minutes to get warm – he knew because he'd timed it. Three minutes of standing there, watching his breath fog up in the cold air, thinking about all the ways his life had gone sideways.
Five years ago, when the Great Awakening happened and people started manifesting impossible abilities, everyone thought the world would change overnight. And it had – just not in the way Alex had hoped.
The strong got stronger. The rich got richer. And guys like him? They got to hold cameras and watch other people live the dream.
His phone buzzed again. This time it was a work notification from the GuildConnect app:
IRON WOLF GUILD - Hudson River Gateway (2-Star Dungeon)CLIENT: Marcus Wong (B-Rank Swordsman)PAY: $300 for 4-hour sessionREQUIREMENTS: High-res combat footage, multiple angles, hazard pay included
Alex stared at the notification. Three hundred dollars. That was groceries for two weeks, or a decent chunk toward rent. Marcus was one of the few Awakened who actually treated him like a human being instead of a piece of equipment.
He typed back: "Confirmed. See you at 9 AM."
After toweling off, Alex moved through his morning routine with mechanical precision. Black coffee – the cheap stuff that tasted like burnt water. Toast with the generic peanut butter that came in unlabeled jars. Protein bar for later, because dungeon raids could go long and cafeteria food in Guild buildings cost more than his daily food budget.
As he gathered his equipment, Alex caught himself in the mirror again. Camera drone backpack, check. Primary recording device, check. Emergency shield generator – the kind that might buy him three seconds against a pissed-off monster – check.
"Living the dream, Alex," he said to himself, shouldering his gear. "Living the absolute dream."
The apartment door closed behind him with a soft click, and Alex Chen stepped out into another day of watching other people be everything he wasn't.
But today was going to be different.
He just didn't know it yet.
To be continued...