CHAPTER 001.
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Goddamn it!

You gave yourself a heavy smack on the head once it dawned on you that you might have, in all likelihood, gotten the notion wrong. Ever since the cat left, you had been mulling it over. In turn, you realized that you might have actually overlooked some details regarding this lucky cat myth. In a lot of cultures, cats do bring some luck, but since these cultures came from different backgrounds, they were expected to be divergent from each other.

And so, this was where the discrepancy came in. It was uncertain just what kind of luck these black cats were supposed to be associated with. In some cases, they were known to be synonymous with fortune and prosperity, but in other cases, they were also regarded as harbingers of bad luck. This almost felt like a cognitive dissonance situation, and it brought you a sense of discomfort, thinking that you might have personally brought harm to yourself with your very own hands.

You muttered profanities under your breath, incredulously thinking of what a fool you were. Just how stupid could you be? From what you just did, weren't you only proving everyone's points about you being an idiot?

You once again smacked yourself in the face with your palm, which had now been moistened with nerves. It was even stupid of you to place all your hope in a cat, assuming that she could do something to pull you out of your plight.

And again, you were never the type to dwell on superstitions, but maybe it was your state of desperation that had led you to this point of paranoia. But even so, weren't you so stupid that, even with this, you still failed to be careful? A bitter smile tugged at your lips. You lowered your gaze to the ground, sarcastically congratulating yourself in shame for your sheer folly.

You didn't remain in that position for too long, knowing that you had to continue on with your trek. The sun was nearly at its peak, and you could already feel its rays starting to scorch your figure, even with a hoodie. While you were at your most humiliated stage of your life, you had no plans of being roasted to death. Such an end would probably be more embarrassing, especially when you were already in the midst of a hunger crisis.

Fortunately, there was no one around to witness your embarrassing actions, so it was easy for you to move on and forget about the previous episode. You continued to advance on to your next location—a destination that you hadn't thought of yet.

Usually, at this point in time, you would be seen hanging around a local cafe. But since you didn't have enough money with you to purchase a table, that wasn't really a feasible option for you. You could only settle yourself in another public area, preferably one in an enclosed space. You don't really do well staying out in the sun for too long.

However, as you ruminated further into your possible options, you realized that your list of selections was only a limited few.

The town you lived in, to say, was pretty small. It was so small that it didn't contain any malls nor any other grand establishments that one will typically find in a city and could be perceived as quite empty. Many people would choose to flock over to the neighboring towns for some change of this dull pace. Likewise, you were not also an exception from this. You were tempted to leave this place too. But since you're penniless, this meant that you had no other option but to stay here. However, with how much you're empty-handed right now, you couldn't even hail yourself a cab to bring you to the street across you.

You sighed, shaking your head in frustration, before stopping in your tracks once you found yourself in a pedestrian crossing. The light had just turned red when you reached the curb. You took this as the time to ponder again, wondering if there were any other spots to kill time in.

If only you could actually stay at the park, but they were conveniently located outdoors so that people could bathe themselves in the pleasant warmth of the sun and absorb its sunshine vitamin. Your other option was a church, but you had never really been comfortable with its pious atmosphere. And you wouldn't want to stay there while everyone came in to pay their respects to their divinity.

A few cars sped by until the pedestrian crossing light finally turned green, a cue that you could finally move again. You started to cross at your own leisure, not bothering to turn your head in any direction since you were confident enough that there was no need for it either. After all, for the past few years, there hadn't been anyone in town who caught themselves in a car accident, so you doubt that you would find yourself in one. But on the off chance that you did get hit though, then does that prove that you're probably the most unfortunate person in town?

–—BEEP!

A terrible car honk was suddenly heard from the sidelines, nearly shattering your unaware eardrums. You instinctively turned to your right, your eyes widening in fright upon seeing a sports car rushing in your direction at an abnormally scorching rate. If you were only a bystander on the street, you would have been amazed and admired it for its display of speed and beauty. But the thing is, you were not in the place of a bystander. Instead, you were positioning yourself as a victim right now who would soon be crushed to death by its unrelenting momentum.

What in the fuck!

Maybe you really were the most unfortunate person in town. You couldn't even do anything right now because you could already perceive at a glance that it was already too late for you to jump out of its way. Aside from that, your body had been seized by fear, and it had callously rooted your feet to the ground. Actually, you weren't even sure if it was fear. You were completely taken aback by this juncture for you to process any type of emotion. In fact, you were mostly baffled. You hadn't expected the grim reaper to come for you at this very moment.

So much for brooding over dying from starvation and heat exhaustion. In the end, you would just die from a car collision. You sucked in a breath of air and closed your eyes. You didn't want to witness the fulmination of blood and organs that would soon follow the impact. Your heart was just too weak for that, and it might just collapse first from such a sight.

But just as you were about to close your eyes, a transpicuous magical force suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It surrounded your figure, somewhat taking on the appearance of a protective barrier. As the car closed in, you initially thought that it would explode from the impact. However, it didn't. Instead, you found yourself blinded in the next moment as the indescribable force suddenly released a wave of bright aureate light. The radiance was so bright that you were eventually pressured to close your eyes, unfortunately making you lose the chance to witness this dazzling phenomenon.

When you opened your eyes, everything seemed to have settled.

Keyword: seemed.

While the protective barrier was no longer in sight, you were now in the presence of something else. You stared at him, repetitively blinking, before almost gaping. You blinked again, almost rubbing your eyes in incredulity because you couldn't believe that such a profile existed. The man was drop-dead gorgeous! His hair was a galaxy white while he seemed to hold stars in his dark blue eyes. Wait! Were you seeing stars right now? Or were you actually dead?

Your heart seemed to stop beating for a second, but it lapsed even further when he sent a grin at you. You almost broke out into a cardiac arrest! A powder of pink blush spread over your cheeks, and you couldn't help but be struck by his ethereal appeal. Considering you were only human and weren't used to seeing such beauty, you couldn't be blamed for not being able to resist being awestruck.

But...

You slightly squinted your eyes as you took in his clothes, a tad confused. If he were your guide to the afterlife though, you would have expected him to wear a more unorthodox garment. Despite his otherworldly features, he was dressed in a more casual outfit, with a hoodie and a pair of jeans on. So what in the world was he supposed to be? While he looked "human" and dressed human, you knew that his aura felt rather too mystical to be considered human.

In addition, he just appeared out of nowhere! How was he even able to do that? If he was neither an angel nor a grim reaper, then what was he supposed to be? And what was he even doing here? Your brows furrowed as you brought your hand close to your chest, as if trying to still your agitated heart. You had to be calm. You couldn't just stand there and do nothing. You had to say at least something. You drew in a sharp breath of air.

"Who are you?" you hesitantly asked. While you had mustered all your courage, you still couldn't help but stutter in the process.

There was a tiny quirk in the corner of his lips as he took in your non-verbal cues. How cute! You were obviously in fright, but you still insisted on staring straight into his eyes. While he had the impulse to petrify you further, he recognized that that might be too much for their first encounter, so he decided otherwise and indulged you with your queries.

He suddenly gave out a playful salute, mainly grinning once he saw that you were almost startled out of your place.

"Who am I?"

He made a brief pause as if he were intending to make a dramatic introduction. The stars in his eyes seemed to twinkle as he stared straight at you with his grin stretching wider before jovially expressing his name: "Well, you can call me Luck!"

Luck?

Who would even call themselves Luck? However, before you could even fully process the thought in your brain, you once again found yourself caught in a moment of astonishment.

You shrieked.

The man had just suddenly seized your hand and pressed his lips over it. While the kiss was quick and felt almost too illusive, your face erupted into a burst of flame-red. Your (E/C) eyes widened. You were quick to retrieve your hand from him, who, in turn, chuckled at the sight of your flustered reaction.

Why must you be so adorable?

Luck must admit that your baffled reaction quite well amused him. Normally, he wouldn't really care and would just carry on with his affairs. Actually, if this were the usual engagement, this would have been long overdue. But as he continued to observe your expression, there was an impulse within him that kept constantly emerging and pressing on him to stimulate you in order to witness all those vivid emotions you could muster.

Luck proceeded with his superficial introduction, but you were still dazed by his earlier gesture. Your mind was barely functioning to even take in all his words and comprehend them. You could only breathe out a "what" while you gawked at him, your hand rubbing the other that had been stained with a kiss.

Such an innocent soul.

Obviously, you were clueless about what he had in store for you. To be honest, he was curious. He wondered what you would do if you finally found out about his main purpose.

Would you suddenly be consumed by greed, just like what had mostly happened to the men he had met in the past? Or would you let your timidity restrain you, allowing you to remain true to your morals? While you seemed so demure, things might suddenly take a different turn. Mortals were known to be quite fickle after all.

His grin turned cheeky as he finally laid out his main intention for presenting himself before you. "Now, you must be wondering why I am here. The thing is... I am here at your service to grant you all the luck that no one can ever imagine."

Fuck. What?

You forwarded him a blank stare, to which Luck casually shrugged in response.

He fully grasped where the reaction was coming from. For such a huge bomb to be suddenly dropped on you, you must have been feeling so overwhelmed right now. The bomb was certainly too heavy and too unexpected for a puny mortal like you, and the responsibility that came along with it, which was heavily dependent on the answer you would soon express, had the possibility of being too difficult to bear for your weight.

"Now what kind of luck do you prefer?" Luck asked you in a playful manner while he casually tousled his silver hair in the air. His starry-blue eyes were sparkling in mirth. He still had that stupid grin plastered all across his face as he humored you, "Do you prefer good or bad?"

Maybe it was because you were too focused on his grin; you couldn't help but notice the dimples poking out on each side of his cheek. His smile was doubtlessly pretty, but it slightly unnerved you with how it had never waned the whole time he was here with you, almost reminding you of a cheshire cat.

To be completely honest, you had not yet returned to your original composure. You kept zoning out, and you were still immensely struck by his inconceivable existence, his beauty not helping your situation even more. He was just too mesmerizing. You had a difficult time breaking out of its spell.

"Fuck," you whispered.

Luck quizzically raised a brow at you.

This was the only time that his smile had finally ceased, indicating just how much surprise he had when he received your strange statement. Fuck? But that was clearly out of the two options he offered you. What did you mean by fuck? Were you trying to imply that you wanted to be fucked?

His brows furrowed as he brought his hand to his hair, shooting a strange look at you. One must not really judge a book by its cover. While he had already known humans to be unpredictable, he still didn't expect you to make such a brazen wish. You really didn't seem to be what you appeared to be. For such a meek mortal, he didn't know that you had that fiery flame inside of you.

But since that was how you really were, then so be it. He had no right to judge you, considering that was your personal life to begin with. His only purpose here was to grant you a wish and help you achieve happiness through it. Luck eventually casually shrugged his shoulders after coming to terms with your hidden personality.

Now, where was he again?

He pondered for a moment before the stars in his dark blue eyes started twinkling again in recollection. As if he was suddenly full of determination, the silly grin from before had returned to its original position. You were caught off guard when he suddenly moved his head, tossing out a series of nods, which was lively in its rhythm, as if to impart the message that he did acknowledge your obscene wishes and would try his best to support them.

"So you prefer the fuck kind of luck then?"

You didn't know when, but the silly grin he had on his face had already morphed into a sly smirk. "Well, it would be my pleasure to grant your wish then, Mortal..."

Your eyes widened. By the time his words dawned on you, it was too late for you to clear out the misunderstanding that had just occurred—the man had already snapped his fingers.

Fuck kind of luck?

What?

You blinked your eyes in a daze, only to find yourself alone once you opened them. That pretty boy before you was suddenly no longer to be found; it was as if he had gone with the wind, fading into nonexistence. He didn't even bother to leave any traces of him behind, making it quite difficult for you to confirm if everything that had happened was real and not just a portrait of illusion, an indication that your sanity might have been failing you right now.

You pursed your lips, feeling a bit conflicted. Actually, you had no idea if you wanted that encounter to be real or not. What he said almost felt too ominous, and you felt more discomfort when you couldn't even understand what he was saying.

A wish...

He said that he was going to grant you a wish, but what kind of wish was fuck luck supposed to be?

Unbeknownst to you, his disappearance served as the commencement of your fuck luck to set into motion. Your thread of fate had now been taken and wrapped into the spinning wheel of fortune—pulled and stretched out, it was uncertain if it would snap or hold out from all the other threads that you would soon be entangled with.

However, either way, you were mostly going to be fucked.

As you were still cluelessly gaping at the air before you and trying to process what had just occurred earlier, it took some time for you to realize that there was a handsome young man coming toward your direction in an obvious fit of anger.

You would have normally matched his temper since you despised being the receiving end of anger for no sensible reason. But as he was closing in, it was then that you recognized his visage. Your body instinctively froze. Taking a step back, you couldn't help but curse under your breath.

Facing the man before you—again, it was proven that you really must be the most unfortunate person in your small town.