Haunted System: Path To A Superstar

It was night by the time Jay Kaiya tears washed up. The well became dry, the marsh became the tundra, his emotions were released.

His eyes were strained, showing the blood vessels within. Pink eyelids peeked out from the arms that were covering him.

He needed to find the truth, know what happened. His grandpa has disappeared since long ago, his parents vanished, and his Granny became a ghost.

There was something connected to all this, and he was possibly the next to go. He started to guess the possibility that all those 'death reports' that were published, where in fact fake.

He wished to know what was happening, what was going on. He didn't wish to be a shell.

The only chance he had to find what connected the mystery, was that black phone next to him.

He never owned this, and it was claimed that it was not Aiko's, but his.

This was definitely related to the incident, the question though was how useful it will be.

Was it given to him on purpose? Or was it just coincidence that it landed on him? Logically, after soaking a whole night in blood, the phone would be stained and smelly.

Here however, the phone was sparkling clean, looking like it was newly issued.

There was no reason for Granny Jin to lie, so the only viable explanation left, was that there was something special about the phone.

The phone was pitch black with a sheen of metallic shine. Jay thought it was likely supernatural if it was related to the case.

Time waited for no man, so Jay grabbed the phone.

It was light, yet the firmness was evident. If he threw it from a high height, he predicted that this wouldn't even recieve a scratch. Just like a Nokia phone.

This item was however, thin and even felt cold. The cool temperature of the phone was the type that gives one chills.

It looked high tech as it was a modern cellphone. Yet, there were no buttons on it, contrasting from its appearance.

Regardless of his thoughts, the phone automatically turned on once it was within his grasp.

The screen was shining light blue with a opaque ciricle turning in the middle. It was loading sign, spiraling in the center.

After a couple of seconds, the light blue screen turned dark red, with hand drawn words appearing, carved by claws. Slowly forming into a complete sentence.

[Connecting to host...]

Jay's vision suddenly disapeared, shadows and smoke weaved all around him. The whisps of clouds were s.u.c.k.e.d greedly into his body.

Jay Kaiya was losing control. He wished to scream, but stuff was filled in his lungs, causing him to choke for air.

The trails of gas pressured him harder, desperately trying to settle within him. The smog penetrated through his orifices.

Jay could not breath, suffocating, his face was becoming red then purple. The bright room was gone, only darkness.

'Air!!!'

Screaming in his mind for a struggle, his body suffered more. From the lack of oxygen, Jay Kaiya blacked out.

. . .

Light shone through the window blinds, shining onto the pink sheets. Jay's eyes hazely opened, gingerly focusing.

'Fog!!!'

Jay rapidly threw the sheet off of his body, and promptly pulling his upper body up.

Searching his surroundings, the black phone was still to his side. Laying on the bed as if nothing ever happened.

Jay Kaiya knew something drastic had happened when the phone turned on. In fact the night had already passed, turning to become the day.

He knew he should not touch the phone again, but curiosity kiled the cat. Something already happened to him, whats the big deal of something else happening?

He was already getting used to it, plus he needed to know what had happenes to his body. Everything went inside him. He seemed perfectly normal now, regardless he can't shake off whatever happened, it might be bad.

The cold phone touching his palm, it automatically turned on. This time it was only a screen requiring his fingerprint.

'Fingerprint? I never used that as a lock, is this even for me though? Or is it from the original owner? It said it was connecting to me right?'

A barrage of questions shooting off into his mind, he put the thumb on the fingerprint.

The print was apparently indeed his, the screen unlocked, showing what a normal phone would.

Text, Call, Safari, Apps, and Et cetera. The only thing that stood out was the only app on the phone screen.

It had a picture of a ghoul moving back and forth, in front of a glowing blue light and a stone road, resembling a shrine. Its eyes were bright green, and the outline of the ghoul shined red, the color of blood.

The app was named Ghost Hunter. Cl.i.c.k.i.n.g it, a outline of a smile appeared on the ghoul, than it flew out of the app, and grew to take over the whole screen.

Spooked by the sudden change, Jay Kaiya dropped the phone onto the soft bed. He thought he was already used to everything after the years of horror studies and that night's incident.

Seeing nothing pop out of the phone like last time, Jay picked up the cold phone once more.

The app looked like a clicker RPG game. On the top half, covering 3 quarters of the screen, was a black ghoul.

The background was still the stone road with an asian shrine in the background, but now the character's scene was different.

The ghoul was flying around in circles, with its body curling into the motions shape. As it flew, a haze was s.u.c.k.e.d off from a boy it was floating around. It was like a hazey mist, being s.u.c.k.e.d from the life in a living being.

And that boy in the game, he was holding a paper lamp, looking around the surroundings. But, this boy was Jay Kaiya! It was him! His soul was being harvested from his body! His life was fading!

Than there was the timer. There was a block of red letters and numbers, slithering around at the top like worms.

The sentence read 'Time Till Harvest- 29:16:09:22'. The sentence clocked down with every second that ticked. Jay didn't need a big brain to understand what was going on.

The time counting down, was the time left till the ghoul harvested the boy. Harvest in this sense though, meant his death. This was a countdown to his death.

The shadow from that day, and the whisps of black fog from yesterday, must've been from this thing!

Jay was freaked! He can't pass this off as a joke after experiencing these supernatural phenomenons two days in a row! This was real! Not fake, but his one reality!

He needed to find a way out of this, and get this thing off of him! Scanning the rest of the app for the solution, the only things left were 4 pictures with titles below.

The four pictures was of a items piled together, the second was a scroll, the third was a gidt box, while the last one was a question mark.

The pictures titles in order, were shop, missions, rewards, and help. Cl.i.c.k.i.n.g help, a black speech bubble appeared above the ghoul. The bubble was black, and the letters where white.

[So hungry...]

The speech bubble disapeared, and a minus 1 appeared near the human in the game, and a day of his life was lost.

"A day! You are ripping off my life!"

Angrily speaking he pressed the question mark once more, as this answer was useless.

[Your soul can also be used... Do you wish to offer your soul?]

A ten second countdown appeared on the screen, with yes or no. Naturally Jay quickly tapped No, or else he feared he would die right then and there.

[Pity...]

The chat bubble vanished once more, and this time the character staggered down, with a minus two appearing.

Jay Kaiya just effectively lost three days of his life... He decided to quit acting on anger, as he felt the answers will keep being useless, plus increasingly worse.

Each text costed him a day of his life, it was a scam! There was no way he was going to click that again! He threw the phone down onto the blanket.

Two seconds later, he picked it up. The curiosity was killing him, and he felt strangely excited.

There was a small [1] next to the missions, so he clicked that next. The scroll spread out, filling the entire screen and soon a new scene appeared. It had a background of ancient asian art, showing a painting made by lines of a paint brush.

It took shape of a mountain scenery, with a fish in a river that was flowing out. Once loaded, a notification popped up right away, decorated by Japanese paper screens.

[*Granny's Home* - Half star scenario completed.]

Beneath it was a descreption.

[The old woman responsible, had her past catch up. Forced to take responsibilty, the house soon became a home for spirits, while the Old Lady eternally waited to message her grandson.]

The words faded away, replaced by a new notification.

[Rewards available, collect them at the gift box.]

So his Granny was related... Sighing, he brought himself back together.

Ignoring the rest of the text behind the pop up, he exited that section and went straight for the rewards. Maybe it'll help relieve his situation...