As he watched, the hair seemed to be slowly retracting, shortening incrementally as if the change was still in progress.

Maybe by the afternoon, it would eventually become shorter. Perhaps it would stop at shoulder-length. But hopefully it would return to its original length. He grabbed another handful of the silver strands, running them between his fingers with a mixture of fascination and horror.

"Hmmm, hopefully the color will come back, too." He murmured to himself.

Neville quickly washed up, going through his morning routine. He brushed his teeth, splashed cold water on his face, ignoring how his silver hair clung to his wet skin. He dried off and struggled to put on comfortable clothes as his hair caught on them repeatedly.

Denial was a powerful coping mechanism.

After getting dressed in a simple shirt and loose pants, he made his way to the kitchen area. His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten yet.

Neville prepared a proper meal for himself: nothing fancy, just some scrambled eggs, toast with butter, and a cup of coffee latte. As much as it pains his savings, he wouldn’t trade comfort for some small change that he could still earn in the future.

Cooking his meal was soothing to his tense muscles and tortured mind. While he was eating, he began checking his emails on his light brain, the holographic screen floating comfortably at eye level while he forked eggs into his mouth.

He scrolled through the usual corporate notices, departmental updates, and spam messages. Then he saw something from three days ago that he had missed. He opened it, and his chewing slowed as he read the contents.

To: All Department Heads and Internal Personnel

Re: CEO’s Absence

Mr. Maxwell will be taking a brief leave of absence for personal matters. The Chief Secretary, Bryan Stewart, CFO Williams, and CTO Cox will review and deliberate on all urgent decisions. Normal operations will resume by Wednesday at the latest.

Bryan Stewart

Chief Secretary of Maxwell Corporation

Personal matters?

Neville’s fork paused halfway to his mouth. Grayson didn’t seem the type to do "personal matters." The man was a workaholic, as the system’s profile said he was.

Worry gnawed at his chest. Was Grayson okay? Has something happened?

No. Neville shook his head firmly. It was none of his business. Grayson was his boss, not his friend. Not... anything else.

Firmly pushing those thoughts aside, Neville switched to the group chats, seeking gossip and workplace drama for distraction. He immediately burst out laughing at Sarah’s message when he scrolled through the previous messages in the Latest Gossip Group chat.

IrisA.: @everyone Where’s Hope?

B.Stewart: Hope is in your heart.

IrisA.: =_=

B.Stewart: Just kidding. I don’t know.

SGCutie: Hope, you can’t just disappear when the CEO goes AWOL. Get your ass back here before I ransack your house for food. Your kids are waiting to be fed.

B.Stewart: @yourhope I’ll pay more if you just deliver for me and only me.

SGCutie: That’s cheating! Hope, give me some too!

IrisA: Okay, got the news. He’s sick. @everyone shut up, let some people rest.

SGCutie: Ugh, I’ll try to satisfy myself with a nutrient solution for now. @yourhope, rest well. Waving_white_flag.jpg

B.Stewart: shrugged.jpg

"My kids," Neville muttered, shaking his head with a smile.

Ever since he started his side job, people who had some would opt not to buy nutrient solutions anymore. It brought some issues to the cafeteria, but they have already solved them. But before it was completed, Neville had to deal with the full moon transformations.

As proof, there was even an email that said that the mass release of the cooking robots was already underway. Even though it wouldn’t be as good as the one he made since the ingredients mostly came from the system mall, it was still doable.

Seeing Bryan’s energetic reply in the group chat eased some of Neville’s concerns. The Chief Secretary wouldn’t be happily joking with his co-workers if something serious really happened to Grayson. Whatever "personal matters" meant, it probably wasn’t life-threatening.

Probably.

As he continued scrolling, he saw Lisa’s message from earlier this morning. She was asking about when he would come to the company to confirm the extension of his leave. She seemed to send it as a way to check on him and also as a reminder.

Neville glanced at his hair, which had indeed shortened considerably. It now hung just past his shoulders, still wild and untamed but at least somewhat manageable.

Just as he was contemplating whether he could pass it off as a fashion choice, a holographic screen materialized in front of him. It was covering the holographic screen of his light brain. There was only one that could do that, the system’s holographic screen.

[System Rebooted]

Hm?

Neville blinked, his coffee cup frozen halfway to his lips.

It rebooted? When?

He didn’t remember initiating any kind of reboot. In fact, he distinctly remembered the system going quiet after starting the side quest.

Has it been offline this entire time? Was that why he had gotten his legs back early?

The screen flickered again.

[Current Favorability Progress: 11%]

Neville stared at the number. Was it reminding him to do his main mission?

His stomach sank when another appeared.

[System Penalty: Silver Hair (Permanent)]

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?!" he shouted in horror.

Neville couldn’t help but curse at the sight of this notification. He was eager to punch someone right now.

A penalty? A permanent one at that? What did he do wrong?!

"Shelly!" Neville shouted, slamming his coffee cup down on the table hard enough that liquid sloshed over the rim. "Shelly, get your shell-shaped ass out here right now!"

Then, with a shimmering glow, Shelly popped into existence.

She yawned, complete with a little stretching motion of her pointed ends, as if someone had woken her up at the wrong time. It looked softer and more flexible than before, perfect to be described as the shorter and less stretchable version of tentacles.

[Morning World~ ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪]