220 The Many Troubles of Fame
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The Bonus Chapter will be publish after the privilege chapters.
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Early morning, Ren was eating breakfast at a café near his school as usual while gathering information at the daily E-sport news.
He was so focused on his phone that he blocked out all the noises in his surroundings. He didn’t notice the other students pointing at him, whispering and giggling along the way.
“It’s him, right?” a girl said and scrolled on her phone, showing Ren’s video fighting Black Lion.
“Yes. He defeated Black Lion and Scar no less. I think he is working in a mercenary group named World Conqueror.”
Another dreamily sighed. “I would hire him just to be with him.”
Round of giggles and whispers took place.
“But doesn’t he live in the slums?”
“That’s not true. A lot of our schoolmates spotted him in and out of Diamond Palace. I think he lives there.”
“So he is rich?”
“He just fucking won top ten in the guild wars. Even the top ten prizes are worth millions. Do you know how rich he is now?”
“Rich, handsome, and so good in the game. What more can you ask, right?”
“I wonder if he has a girlfriend.”
“Or boyfriend?”
“I don’t care if he is in a relationship. I just want to ****!”
Another round of chortling and twitting percolated in the air while the subject of their discussion was oblivious to it all.
They only clamped their mouth shut and looked at each other meaningfully when Ren stood to his feet, brought his bag over his shoulder, and left the area.
“Damn . . . he is so hot . . . ,” a gay said, fanning his hands over his face.
The others agreed as they watched the straight line of Ren’s back, broad shoulders, tapered waist and his long legs.
On the other hand, Ren was walking the distance to the Academy with his nose still on his phone. He heard the whisperings, but it wasn’t clear. He thought that they were still talking about him living in the slums.
And when he was ten meters away from the cafe, a group of reporters blocked his way. Ren took a step back when they zoomed in and introduced their company before nonstop, asking him for an interview.
“Ren! Player Ren! Can we have a short interview?”
“Can we ask a few questions?”
“Can you tell us how you defeated Scar?”
“What class are you in the game?”
“What is that skill you used to defeat Black Lion?”
“How do you feel defeating one of the top guilds in the world?”
Ren blanked out because he was caught off guard. He then clamped his mouth shut and took a turn to avoid the group of reporters.
But since the paparazzi were persistent, all his route was blocked, not letting him go without squeezing him dry for answers.
Ren had enough, and his glares made the reporters take a step back. He then beamed and calmly said, “There’s a law that prohibited the media from harassing students for whatever reason. There’s a place and time for everything. If you want an interview, then practice proper procedures, or I’ll have my lawyers deal with all of you.”
Everyone took a step back. They heard that Ren was only nineteen years old and thought they could easily overwhelm him with numbers and questions. But it seemed that it was not the case.
“I see that you’re already arrogant for defeating Black Lion?” a reporter sneered.
And another added, “Be careful, boy. The media is powerful. You don’t want to be the headlines for being rude.”
Ren chuckled. “You’re right. The media is really powerful. And if I were you, I’d be careful with my words.” He then pointed at the CCTV cameras all over the place.
The reporters gasped, and they could do nothing but let Ren go. Some were angry, while some were amused at his cheekiness.
Fortunately, the school guards were already on their way to protect their students from the reporters. And Ren went back to his phone.
Walking inside the school’s wide pathway to his department, Ren was confused when people were waving and greeting him, not once, not twice, but many times. He didn’t notice it before, but the constant calling of his name made him peel his eyes off his phone.
Some were even giving flirtatious winks his way, hoping to break his stride.
Ren spun all at once to take in his surroundings and found a lot of people were waving and winking at him, whispering to each other while pointing at him and giggling. Then his ears picked up some words about him living in Diamond Palace, defeating Scar, being rich, and then something like the School Freshman . . .
Ren slightly shook his head and went to his class with wide steps.
He expected that defeating Scar would garner attention, but there seemed to be a lot of attention. A lot of it.
Ren immediately entered his classroom to escape all the attention he was receiving. He sat on his seat and sighed heavily while shaking his head. He suddenly missed his pod and the game.
“Hey, there.”
Ren wanted to scrub his hands over his face when another annoying woman stood in front of him with all smiles.
Like he remembered, Sophia was the queen bee in their class, and she definitely dressed like one.
There was a formal uniform of the Academy in case of formal events. But on regular school days, there was a no uniform choice in the campus to promote freedom of expression as long as it was morally acceptable.
Sophia was dressed in a branded bodycon dress under a trench coat, and it was apparent to all that she was the leader of the girls because of her outgoing and strong personality. Not to mention wealthy.
“I watched your fight with Scar. Congratulations.” She sweetly smiled.
“Is that so?” Ren said without a care.
But Sophia was a narcissist to notice the coldness in Ren’s voice.
“Maybe we can play in the game sometimes?”
“Sure,” said Ren without sparing her a glance just so she would go away. She was also a potential client if ever, so he had to take that in mind when talking to her.
Sophia chewed the chewing gum in her mouth while writing her number on a piece of paper. She then smacked her red lips on the note and stuck it on Ren’s table.
“Call me?” she winked before she went to her friends.
Ren felt drained all of a sudden, and he didn’t want to deal with her this early in the morning.
“Oh my God. I can’t believe you did that!”
Sophia shrugged. “I’m single. He’s single. What’s the problem?”
“How do you even know that he is single?”
“Is that a problem?” Sophia laughed, and the girls giggled.
While laughing with her friends, Sophia peeked at Ren. She misunderstood Ren’s silence and aloofness as being hard to get.
She smirked. She liked the challenge, nevertheless.
Marking the note with her lipstick was a warning to all girls in their class that she marked him and no one was allowed to flirt with him. That was her way since high school and everyone got the message loud and clear.
At the side, Rayna watched the whole thing happened with undebated attention. She was one of Sophia’s underlings, and Sophia even paid her to carry her things. She enjoyed the servitude nevertheless because belonging to Sophia’s circle warranted attention and fear in itself. Not to mention the perks.
Rayna took a deep breath and clicked her tongue. She was even planning to use Ren to do her assignments and projects since he was the most unpopular guy in the class, and no one wanted to be his friend.
She was so sure that Ren would jump at the prospect of being friends with her if she approached him and played her cards right.
But all of that was ruined when Ren suddenly became popular overnight, and it seemed like the whole campus was after him.
There was something alluring about a guy that everybody wanted. There was an undeniable desire to own that kind of man, and the feeling that you’d be the envy of the whole town if you did.
While her circle of friends was laughing and giggling, Rayna could do nothing but willed her bottom lip and rethink her whole plan.
She couldn’t go against Sophia.
Openly that is . . .
A small curve of a smile made way into Sophia’s lips.
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A/N
As you all know, I’m creating unnecessary drama here 😆
What good is life if there’s no drama, right? Ahahaha . . . hai . . .
I need drama in my life . . . 🤣