Deadline Problem!

Hugo was pacing back and forth in his room like a madman, his hands on his head, his eyes wide with pure, unfiltered panic.

His feet stomped across the floor so fast that if he kept it up, he was going to wear a hole straight through the carpet.

His breathing was erratic, his thoughts were all over the place, and the only sound filling the room was his own desperate rambling.

'Oh, I knew it… I knew it! The system was too quiet! Too well-behaved! That damned thing was scheming in the shadows like a final boss waiting for the right moment to destroy me!'

He stopped in place, spun around, and pointed at the air like he was yelling at an invisible enemy.

"This is why I don't trust you, System! This is why! Every time I think things are going okay, you drop a mission that throws my entire life into chaos!"

His breath hitched, and he clutched his chest dramatically like a man who had just realized he was standing on the edge of a cliff.