[BONUS]
"How scary . . . this earthquake was."
"Yeah. Good thing our building has hydraulics underneath its footing for these kinds of things."
"But still, there are still too many buildings that collapsed when the soil cracked."
"That's nature's wrath for you."
"The death toll was so high."
"This is the first time that I have experienced something this scary."
"I heard that the water level is rising in Zone C."
"In Zone B, they said that there are still aftershocks there."
"How scary."
"Come to think of it. It's already winter, but the air is still hot."
"What has come to our world?"
Lira fixed the mask over her face and made sure to cover her head with the hood. She was out to buy pudding and microwavable meals for lunch and dinner.
She wore sweatpants and a loose hoodie jacket to make sure that no one recognized her. Anyway, the earthquake came at the right time. It shifted the focus away from her.
After making sure that she had bought all the necessary stuff, she went back to her condo.
In this empty place, Lira had never felt more alone and isolated. Her manager forbade her to go online. All her sponsors and deals were canceled, and she had to pay damages and other fees for breaching the terms in her contracts.
She was broke.
In the first place, she was spending like she wouldn't run out of money. And now, she just woke up to the reality that she had nothing left.
With no job and losing all her fans that she had painstakingly cultivated for years, she didn't know how to recover. Not to mention that her so called friends all left her the moment her true character was exposed. And this added to her depression.
Even her group in COVENANT kicked her out.
With no means of income but the game, Lira had no choice but to start over and grind to earn money alone.
But as a solo player with a class of a hunter, she needed at least someone to take the front for her, or she would die during fights.
Life was already harder than it was, but her fans turned enemies were making it difficult for her. Every time they saw her in the game, they would initiate a PvP fight, making her lose numerous times in the end. Because of that, she lost precious equipment and items.
Lira slumped on the bed and looked over at the ceiling. A big sigh escaped her lips, ruffling her fringe in the process.
Despite knowing that she'd end up regretting it, she just couldn't help herself and checked her phone.
Biting her lips as she looked, she saw that her seventeen million followers had fallen to a mere hundred thousand. And most of these hundred thousand were inactive.
Lira wanted to cry, but there were no tears left in her eyes.
At this moment, a DiinNgG pulled Lira out of her depressed state, and she saw that she had a new follower. A first-ever follower ever since that video of her in the Mad Lab circulated, cursing and screaming at her fans.
Lira gritted her teeth, and her eyes blazed with fury. If she got her hands on the one who filmed it, she would rip him to shreds.
Lira regained her calm when she noticed that it was Roz who followed her just like he promised.
That idiot . . .
Despite everything, Lira smiled.
Roz should have every right to ridicule her and to get angry at her — even condemn her and take to social media about how she ruined his life.
Everyone would surely believe him now.
Instead, he chose to forgive her . . .
'It's just that . . . I know more than anyone how it feels when everyone is angry and throwing hurtful words at you.'
Lira recalled what Roz told her, and she felt like dying inside. The guilt from hearing those words weighed her down more than losing her followers.
This feeling felt like the earth was on her shoulders. It was so heavy it was crushing her beneath its weight, making it difficult for her to breathe.
It would have been better if he had been angry with her instead. Lira thought and sadly smiled. His kindness was tearing her apart.
And it made her do things that she knew she would regret later.
Lira posted a real video of what happened in the restaurant before. It was the full video of what happened, not just snippets and the edited version she posted before.
She was ruined anyway. It wasn't right to keep ruining Roz's life.
Lira sadly smirked. At least one of them should have a happy ending.
After pressing send, she fell back into the mattress and covered her eyes with her hand.
Not long after, Lira heard multiple notifications, and she knew that it came from her manager. She blocked every notification except for that person and her family.
And as she expected, her manager was going ballistic with her. He was so nice when she was still popular, but now, he was calling her all sorts of names.
Lira only sent a f*ck you emoji and was about to close her phone when she inadvertently read another message coming from an unknown e-mail.
[You didn't have to do that
-Roz]
Lira pressed her lips tight when a smile tickled her mouth despite the situation. And it took her several seconds to come up with an answer.
[Lira: I'm doomed anyway]
[Roz: What are you going to do now?]
[Lira: I don't know . . . go back to the province. To my family. I guess. It's the end of the line for me.]
[Roz: . . . Good Luck.]
Lira wiped her tears and grinned.
[Lira: You're not good at comforting.]
[Roz: I'm not]
Lira didn't know what to say next, and she had a hard time deciding whether she should send the message she had just typed.
She took a deep breath. She had already lost everything. What more could she lose?
[Lira: Can I . . . message you from time to time?]
When Roz didn't reply, Lira got worried and immediately typed in.
[Lira: Don't get me wrong. I don't have anything to do, and I'm bored at the moment.]
The veins in Lira's eyes were red from how hard she was staring at her phone.
Was she too arrogant just now?
Why can't she just say nice words?
Lira was about to take back her words when Roz replied.
[Roz: Sure.]
And right there and then, Lira felt like the world was still a better place.
