Breath came with a gasp.
Alan Turner sat bolt upright, drenched in sweat, heart hammering like it had been trying to escape his chest. He reached for his ribs, half expecting broken bones or the smell of blood. But there was none.
At first, the absence of pain felt extremely confusing to him. He had died with his chest, limbs and head aching profusely.
But now, all of it was completely... gone.
Fluorescent light flickered overhead. A ceiling fan spun lazily, the kind that buzzed in cheap dorms.
Alan blinked. Then, slowly, he began to make out the content of his surroundings.
There was a wooden desk some meters from where he was sitting which was a bunk bed. On top of the desk was a cracked laptop, and on the wall where the desk rested was a curling poster of The Godfather.
The bed he was sitting on was part of a single twin bed, creaky but functional, and in the air, his nose captured the faint reek of microwave noodles.
What was truly odd about this experience was how familiar it all felt.
"Wait... No," he whispered.
Hearing his own voice, and startled by it, he stood on shaky legs and stumbled to the desk. There, he pulled out a locker and grabbed the hand mirror.
Anxious, Alan stared at the picture before him.
It was his face of course. But, it wasn't the one he was familiar with.
This one had no beard, no faint scars, and most importantly, no crow's feet.
He was... young. Lean. Soft-jawed. Eyes too wide. Skin unweathered by the stress of work and time.
He shot his head at the calendar beside the movie poster. It read: February 24th, 2008.
Alan couldn't believe it. He stumbled backwards, staring at the numbers before — for the third time that day — exploding into laughter.
Then he sank to his knees and howled.
×××××××
It took hours to calm down, and when he finally did, Alan went straight to work. He tore through his things like a man possessed.
First he got his ID. Constantine University.
Alan Turner. Freshman year. Engineering and Business double major.
Then he grabbed his phone: a flip-style blackberry with no biometric lock, and of course, no cloud.
He hurried to the Internet to test out the network, trying to remind himself how things worked in this time.
He simply searched 'How is the weather?' The response was fast enough for its time, but as slow and clunky as what bad network would be in his past time.
He chuckled at how old Google looked. It was like a museum piece.
There were no social media platforms in sight, only email, MySpace, niche forums. But hey, there was YouTube, but no one gave a crap about it yet.
It was all... ancient.
And it was real.
"I died," Alan whispered, pacing. "I died in that car. That crash. And now I'm here."
He thought harder. "This is serious stuff. How did it happen? Was it magic? Some sort of technology?"
As if responding to his thoughts, a golden ripple appeared in the air, like someone had cracked the edge of reality. A translucent yellowish screen blinked into existence, bearing sharp white letters.
Ding!
[BUSINESS PIONEER SYSTEM v1.0]
[Welcome, Alan Turner. You have been selected as a Pioneer Candidate.]
[Do you wish to forge a future that belongs solely to you?]
A cursor blinked below. Two options:
[> Yes]
[> No]
Alan stared at the interface. "You," he muttered. "I remember you. You're the one who appeared to me after the crash. You asked me if I would like to rewrite history."
He tilted his head. "Is that why... Is that why I am here? 17 years in the past? Is that..."
It suddenly clicked in his mind and he picked,
[> Yes]
The screen flared. The words shifted.
[Welcome host! You are one of the many selected for the Business Pioneer System!]
[Select your Pioneering Domain:]
[A Pioneering Domain refers to the trend or invention that has taken over in the timeline you were extracted from. You now have the chance to be the one who started this trend or invented the idea, reaping the rewards of wealth!]
[As long as you follow the System's Rules and Terms and Conditions]
Alan felt a rush of excitement. But even as excited as he was, he was also a person who was very thorough, and so he checked the T&C of the system.
[Rules and Terms & Conditions for the Business Pioneer System]
[1. Eligibility: Participants must be a selected candidate of the system and comply with all applicable laws.
2. Selection: Users may choose one Pioneering Domain to claim as their trend or invention. Once selected, the domain cannot be changed. (Unless using special Domain Expansion Rewards)
3. Originality: The claimed domain must not infringe on existing intellectual property or violate third-party rights.
4. Rewards: Wealth or benefits from the domain are virtual and non-transferable, subject to system discretion. Unless stated otherwise.
5. Compliance: Users must adhere to system guidelines and ethical standards in promoting their domain.
6. Termination: Violation of rules or misuse of the system may result in disqualification and a return to previous timeline. Which means YOUR DEATH.
7. Liability: The system is not liable for disputes, losses, or damages arising from domain selection or use.
8. Amendments: The system reserves the right to modify these terms at any time without prior notice.]
[By participating, you agree to these terms and conditions.]
[Host, what is your domain?!]
[What prominent business idea do you want to make yours?!]
The first thing Alan thought of was his digital currency. The one that he had clutched in his hands when he died.
It was supposed to be the new cryptocurrency of that time, but...
but...
How about he made it the first ever cryptocurrency?!
With that burst of ideas, he declared, "Cryptocurrency! Bitcoin has not been made yet by now. But it will be in a few months! I'm going to release mine before Satoshi, and become the father of cryptocurrency!"
[Solid!]
[Is this your final choice?]
"Didn't you hear what I said?!" he huffed with excitement. "I choose cryptocurrency!"
[Ding!]
The interface solidified, icons reconfiguring.
[You have chosen to become the Pioneer of Digital Currency.]
[Objectives have been created to lead you to this goal. Here are your objectives:]
[Design, launch, and document a decentralized digital currency system before Q4 2008.]
[Avoid detection by competing developers such as Bitcoin, corporations, or regulatory bodies.]
[Achieve first mover status for enhanced global legitimacy.]
[Reward:]
[Permanent Title: The Father of Crypto]
[Passive: First Inventor's Privilege — Your version of the product is always seen as the original.]
[Bonus Skill: Digital Prophet – Grants early warnings about upcoming tech innovations.]
Alan leaned back into the creaking chair, laughing again. Not with madness, but with something colder.
Triumph.
"I can't believe this! I can't believe any of this!"
By noon, he had already drawn up a list of names. Names he remembered. People who had been around, quietly, in the old days.
People who had almost invented digital currency — or at least dallied with the idea — before Satoshi took the spotlight.
There was one girl in particular: Destiny James. She was a nerdy type, quiet, and brilliant. Had once proposed a distributed trust ledger for her final year thesis, only to be laughed out of her panel.
Alan remembered she dropped out, so he wasn't really sure what she was doing in the past timeline. But around this time, she was certainly still in his campus.
In his past life, he hadn't even noticed her name until years later, when someone unearthed her old paper.
He made her the top of his list.
And then came the timeline.
Bitcoin's white paper would be released in October 2008. Which meant he had seven months to invent what the world had not yet imagined.
That was both a ticking clock and a loaded gun.
At lunch, he sat alone on campus, eating a sandwich that tasted like cardboard.
He watched kids laugh about nothing. Dream about internships. Gossip about professors.
He felt like a ghost. Like he was completely detached from this timeline, like he didn't belong and really wasn't there.
It was the strongest feeling he'd ever had.
Still, he knew this wasn't a dream or a mind trick. He had pinched himself too many times for it to be. His forearm was basically crimson.
He had to take this seriously. Especially the system's objective.
He opened the notebook on his lap, and wrote:
'MISSION 1 – BLOCK ZERO'
Establish a secure hashing protocol.
Map transaction model.
Decide consensus framework.
Prepare pseudonym for deployment.
He grinned. Too bad for you Satoshi Nakamoto. This time, history would remember Alan Turner as the one who created cryptocurrency.
And God help anyone who tried to take it from him again.
His mind moved to the system that brought him back to life — albeit in the past. What was it anyway?
Yeah, it called itself the Business Pioneer System, but was it a conscient being? A powerful AI?
With his will, he summoned it, gazing at the yellow interface as he noticed a button for 'Candidate/Host Profile.'
Ding! The interface sang.
[BUSINESS PIONEER SYSTEM – INTERFACE v1.0]
[Profile Screen]
[User: Alan Turner]
[Status: Potential Pioneer]
[Domain: Cryptocurrency]
[Title: None]
[Wealth Rank: Broke > Thousanaire > Millionaire > Billionaire > Trillionaire]
(Present Rank is in Bold)
[SYSTEM ATTRIBUTES]
[Vision: 89 (Forecasting and long-term insight)]
[Execution: 77 (Ability to deliver concepts into reality)]
[Influence: 61 (Ability to shape public or investor opinion)]
[Resilience: 92 (Mental strength under business pressure)]
[Charisma: 58 (Negotiation and interpersonal presence)]
[Attribute Points Available: 5]
[Tip: Points can be manually distributed or automatically optimized per mission.]
[Primary Objectives:]
[Launch a secure, decentralized digital currency before Q4 2008.]
[Avoid premature attention from corporations, media, and regulators.]
[Secondary Goals:]
[Assemble a team of undervalued talent.]
[Generate early mining infrastructure.]
[Secure intellectual property stealthily.]
[Time Remaining: 218 Days]
[NOTES]
[Welcome, Candidate. Ideas shape the world, but timing shapes empires]
Alan scratched his head. "This is all too complicated but there's no point in asking questions right now. I don't have much time, so I better start working on creating my digital money!"