<The Price of Life>

Twenty-six years old, Doha was a dead man walking. Both the job site and his life have come to a standstill, and he's languishing in his tiny one-room apartment. Time passes, and he stays put. Two bottles of water and instant noodles in the fridge, a few rejection texts on his phone, and a quiet silence. The world doesn't seem to need him. Then one night, around midnight, Doha meets a strange cat in his neighborhood alley. The cat, with gray fur, golden eyes, and a torn left ear, suddenly opened its mouth. “I'll give you one day of life. In exchange, you get a power. Every midnight, a new power. Do you want to try?” Doha thought she had lost her mind, but she reached out her hand. This was a life where no one had ever put conditions on him. It felt like an opportunity for the first time. On the first day, she gained the ability to read other people's minds, and she got the job by sensing the interviewer's anxious thoughts. On the second day, I solved a theft case by seeing into the past, and on the third day, I gained the ability to make my words come true. While my powers changed each time, my life changed. Long-forgotten friends contacted him, strangers complimented him, people looked at him. For the first time, Doha began to look forward to tomorrow. But the power came with a price. At first, a day's life.

But then the price grew heavier. Instead of healing someone, the pain metastasized in her body, and memories were lost. Some days, old friends were cut off for no reason. The greater the power, the greater the cost. Doha cried out to Leol. “Why did you choose me? Why did you make such a deal?” Leol laughed and replied. “You wanted meaning. A presence. To be needed by someone.” The words left Doha speechless. It was true: He craved a sense of being alive, of having a foot in the world. But at the same time, he felt himself falling apart. Emotions dulled, cherished memories faded, and before he knew it, he didn't recognize himself in the mirror. Then, one midnight, Leol said. “This power is yours to choose, but only at the cost of what you value most.” In that moment, Doha realized: this was no simple transaction. It was a process of proving to herself what she had to lose and what she wanted to gain at the end of her desire. Doha took a deep breath and shook her head. “I don't want to choose anymore. I'm done.” His voice was shaky, but firm. The contract stopped, and Leol quietly disappeared. The next morning dawned, my first day without my powers. Doha was a little shabbier than yesterday, but she felt a little more herself. And for the first time, she felt like she wanted to live.