Was there anything more banal than the sight of a shopping mall in a modern city?

  – Way too big so people could stroll to their heart's content.

  – Filled with happy shoppers, some followed by their personal U-Bot slave.

  – Way too flashy with holograms greeting and advertising in one breath as if rappers.

  – Filled with countless shops selling expensive things people didn't really need but bought anyway.

  There really wasn't anything more mundane than that. Hell, it had been like that for as far as anyone could remember!

  Yet, there was something phenomenal happening in the parking lot of the !

  A young woman stood still, pointing at the shopping mall with horror in her beautiful amethyst eyes.

  "No way we're going there! Don't you remember?! Window shopping without buying is illegal! Even snacks there cost a few credits!" Lilly exclaimed.

  "I know." Jack calmly nodded.

  "Heck, maybe we'd be arrested for ruining the other customers' experience. This place is Hell, I tell you!" She heatedly drove her point in.

  "Capitalist Hell." Jack nodded, entirely in agreement.

  "It's good that you understand! Let's run before they call security on our ass!" She grabbed Jack's hand, only to find out that he wasn't budging at all.

  He softly dragged her into a gentle hug.

  "Trust me, nothing bad will happen." Jack smiled at her.

  At this moment, Lilly froze, stunned. What the hell had happened to her brother?! It was stupid, but she found him wanting to go to a shopping mall even stranger than the whole pro-gamer thing.

  It just so didn't fit his usual persona!

  "Let's go." He dragged her along while she was still shocked.

  They soon reached the mall's main gate. It was big, opulent, flashy, and had a steady flow of people. But, they would all inevitably turn to look at the young man that had just shown up, frowning.

  Jack looked so out of place that he attracted all the gazes.

  Lilly tensed up as she noticed the attention they were getting. Near the automatic doors, there were two security guards. Their only job was to watch this place.

  At that moment, both guards were staring straight at them! Their piercing eyes were already evaluating if they were troublemakers. But Jack's clothes just were too horrendous!

  One of the guards was already clutching his communicator, about to ask for backup. There were undesirables!

  At this moment, Lilly was already preparing herself to salvage the situation. She was a student at , which would give her leverage. Sure she was a broke scholarship student, but she could always bluff!

  She reached for her pocket, grabbing her student ID and….

  "Are you an idiot?! Put that thing away!" The guard with the communicator was slapped by his colleague. What?! Why?! What was happening?!

  What happened next was even harder to understand. The man came forward, stopped right in front of her brother, and suddenly addressed him with incredible politeness.

  "Sir, could I please have your autograph?" He begged Jack.

  An autograph?! At this moment, Lilly seriously wondered if there was an issue with her hearing.

  As the man respectfully handed Jack a pen and some paper, she had to come to terms with reality. But even then, she just couldn't make sense of it. What the fuck was happening?!

  Was this an elaborate prank show? She looked around for anything out of the ordinary, but the more she looked, the more confused she got. Every-fucking-one around was pointing at her brother with curiosity and admiration.

  Seriously, what the fuck?!

  "There you go! Make sure to keep it preciously." Jack instructed the guard, who bowed, thankful. He then turned toward her: "Shall we go?"

  She followed him, confused beyond belief. Why wasn't anyone popping out shouting "pranked"?!

  Jack had only been gaming recently. Had he become popular through Infinite?! Even then, his character's face was slightly different than his IRL one! How had a random guard recognized him?!

  "What was that?" She softly asked.

  "How badly do you want to know?" Jack teased her, chuckling.

  Her bewildered face was so cute! It wasn't often that he could see her lose her bearings. Since he and the old man were always working, she had been forced to grow more mature and composed.

  Just as he was about to tell her, she answered him.

  "Snacks and massages! It's 100% needed for a pro-gamer! Spill the beans!" She uttered extremely quickly. She was dying to know!

  Jack approached her ear and explained in a whisper.

  "You're kidding me?! That works?!" She exclaimed, completely shellshocked.

  That's when she took another look at him, only now noticing the obvious….

  ━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━


  Back at the entrance, the two guards diligently watched their surroundings— or at least they looked the part.

  "Tell me already! Who was that guy?!"

  "Why don't you guess?"

  "Can I get a hint?"

  "Nope!"

  "Tch— Stingy!"

  One kept begging, but the other guy just gave a mysterious smile.

  Even seeing the damn autograph didn't help! It was only signed "Jack": it was such a common name! No amount of goggling would reveal his identity!

  In desperation, he turned toward the shoppers. Many had witnessed the scene and were talking about it. He used the opportunity to eavesdrop on their conversation sneakily.

  "Do you guys have any idea who he was?"

  "Nope, this young man couldn't be more unfamiliar."

  "I never forget a face and I've never seen him in my life!"

  "But you guys all saw how that guard reacted, right?!"

  "Yeah, we should have asked him to sign something for us too!"

  They were either wondering or grumbling about the lost opportunity. That's when the guard finally realized with fright.

  "Don't tell me you were messing around?! This is bad we have to—"

  "You really are blind!" His colleague sighed deeply.

  "What?!" The poor guard was confused.

  "Let me tell you. Anyone that shows that much assurance while wearing rags has to be a godly actor! Do you understand?" He explained with gusto.

  "Wait…he's an actor?! Who is he?!" He excitedly asked.

  "T-that….I don't know. Never seen him." The other admitted.

  "…."

  "…."

  "Really?!"

  "What? I like to gamble…."

  "Fucks, sakes!" The poor guard couldn't help but curse. They were risking their jobs because that guy loved to gamble?! They should have turned them away…


  He could only hope that the two youngsters wouldn't cause any trouble. They wouldn't, right?

  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━


  [A/N] Hype! Feb Mass Release Time! ??

  Day 1: #Last PRIV Tier #BlameRAJ ?? (1/6)