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Reddit Diaries: Zero Sum Game
The World is a unique place. It’s a place where all men are not created equal. Soon after they are born, a Luck Rating appears on their right wrist — a number between 100 and -100.
In a World where impermanence is ubiquitous, luck ratings is the one thing that stood the test of time. It’s what made it so powerful. It is a number, that crept itself into every venture one undertook from childhood to death. It is the number that determined if you got that dream job, found a partner or survived that car accident. Your luck rating didn’t seal your fate, rather defined it.
As everyone wore the same clothes, shoes became the differentiating feature. It was the most outward indication of one’s standing in society. All those with a Luck Rating above 80 wore White boots, those between 20 and 80 wore Blue trainers and all those below 20 wore Black sneakers. Shoes were passed on from generation to generation, and was a highly sacred act. It always moved downwards, but never laterally.
With great power, comes a greater need for balance. It’s for this reason luck was a zero-sum game in the World. The LR’s of all the people in the World put together, always comes to zero. It was a rule that regulated birth, death and immigration. If this balance is shifted, society would fall to its knees. Recessions, natural disasters and pandemics of the past had…
