Rewind With A Superstar System-Chapter 32: After Effects

<🎧 Song Recommendation: Feels Like by Gracie Abrams>

...

The official post from the Project: Star account on X had already racked up 15 Million Views, 19k comments, and 22k retweets in just a few hours.

With the relentless effort the PR team was pouring into the hashtags, it was clear this was only the beginning. The machine was awake, and it was hungry for content.

The contestants were the ones most affected by this sudden tsunami of attention. Especially those who had received decent screen time. To them, this moment felt like overnight fame in its purest, most intoxicating form.

Those with active social media accounts woke up to find their follower counts blowing up, their DMs flooded, and their old photos being dissected by strangers.

***

(Monday, March 4th, 2019 — 11:41 AM)

Von stretched as he stood up from the bed, his black hair messy from sleep.

He had a giant smile on his face. He had slept peacefully, knowing full well what would greet him upon waking. Without wasting a second, he issued the mental command.

’Status.’

The purple panel materialized instantly.

● Acquire 100 Loyal Fans (100/100)

[Milestone Rewards: +300 EXP, 2x Star Shop Vouchers]

○ Acquire 500 Loyal Fans (212/500)

[Reward: +400 EXP]

Von was genuinely impressed. Two hundred plus loyal fans from a single episode where he barely got three minutes of screen time kept him hopeful.

As more episodes aired, he would have more opportunities to harvest EXP, increase his [Vocals] stat, and finally stand a real chance of winning against monsters like Julian and Aura.

"Not bad," he muttered to the empty air, dismissing the screen.

"What isn’t bad?"

Von turned to see Julian sitting on the opposite bed with a tablet in his hand. The golden-boy of the show was wearing expensive silk pajamas and looking effortlessly perfect even in the morning.

Von realized he had been staring into space with a grin on his face. The thought of the cameras mounted in the corners of the room made him cringe internally.

’Great. Now the editors are going to use a clip of me talking to ghosts...’

He shrugged his shoulders, recovering quickly. "Nothing. Just talking to myself. Trying to manifest some good energy."

"Manifesting works," Julian nodded sagely.

Von decided to pivot the conversation before Julian questioned him more. "So... how’s the fame treating you? I saw your name trending on X last night."

Julian let out a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. "I’m used to some attention because of my dad, unfortunately. But I guess yesterday was special because it was all about me. My Photogram gained over 5,000 followers overnight."

Von raised an eyebrow. "5,000? That’s massive, man. Congrats."

He felt a twinge of jealousy. It was unfortunate he didn’t have any active social media outlets to capitalize on this.

The show’s strict contract forbade contestants from creating new accounts or engaging with fans until they were eliminated or won. If he had an Instagram right now, he might have had it easier to gain fans.

"Thank you," Julian responded with humility that seemed genuine. He returned his attention to the tablet.

"Where are the others, by the way?" Von asked, glancing at the empty beds. Max’s bed was a disaster of clothes, and Alex’s looked like no one laid on it.

They had been informed by the Staff earlier that this week was a decompression week. They were encouraged to have fun until Sunday when they’ll start with make-up and interviews.

"Oh, I think Max is playing tennis in the Game Center," Julian said without looking up. "I don’t know where Alex went. Probably didn’t even sleep here."

"I see."

Von’s ears had perked up when he heard Game Center. He was a sucker for video games in his past life, and he didn’t think the passion had faded in the slightest. So it was something he considered seriously.

"I’ll catch you later," Von said, grabbing a towel.

He decided to complete his [Daily Quest] at the gym first before having his moment for pleasure.

***

Two hours later, after a shower and a quick lunch, Von found himself standing at the double doors of the Star Mansion Arcade.

He expected it to be empty, or maybe just Max and someone else playing Tennis.

Instead, he walked into a war zone.

"LEFT! GUARD YOUR LEFT! SHE’S CHARGING!"

"NO, USE THE ULTIMATE! MAX, YOU IDIOT!"

"I CAN’T! SHE’S TOO FAST!"

Von blinked in surprise. About fifteen contestants were gathered in the center of the room, crowded around a massive 4K TV hooked up to a console.

Eleven of them were cheering screaming in terror as they watched the screen.

On the couch sat Max and a guy named Von learned was called Trent. They were gripping their controllers with with nervousness as sweat beaded on their foreheads.

It looked like they were being tortured. But the reason was unexpected to Von. Opposite them, sitting alone in a beanbag chair, was a girl with unique blue hair he couldn’t forget. Aura.

She looked bored as she casually handled her controller with a lollipop in her mouth. Sophie sat on the floor next to her with another controller on her lap, but she was dedicated to clapping and cheering instead of playing.

On the screen, Von recognized the game to be Cyber-Clash 4. It was among the most popular MMORPG-Fighting hybrids ever made.

Unlike standard fighters, Cyber-Clash wasn’t just about depleting a health bar; it was about spacing, resource management, and executing frame-perfect Breaker combos that required good dexterity.

It was a game where a single mistake could lead to a ten-second juggle in the air without touching the ground.

In Von’s timeline, Cyber-Clash 7 was already out, so the jagged polygons and slightly stiff animations he saw didn’t really impress him. But he was still captivated by the gameplay he was watching.

What was going on in the screen was a humiliating, brutal beatdown.

In the game, a small pink-haired, loli-like character lay on a couch in the background of the arena, eating digital popcorn. That was Sophie’s character, who was technically involved in the duo match-up but was treating it like a movie screening.

Meanwhile, Aura’s character; an anime swordswoman that shared the same hair with her, was absolutely dismantling Max’s giant robot and Trent’s ninja simultaneously.

Even worse was that whenever one of them got a moment of breath and tried to attack Sophie’s character that mocked them from the couch, Aura would step in and defend her, parrying two attacks at once and controlling the entire stage effortlessly.

Finally, after their health had reduced to critical levels, she pulled off a Phantom Dash cancel. She blurred across the screen, slicing through both robots in an X-shape pattern.

K.O.

FINAL WINNER: PLAYERS 1 (AURA/SOPHIE)

"No!" Max threw his controller onto the cushion. "That’s cheating! You’re button mashing!"

Aura took the lollipop out of her mouth. "I’m not button mashing. You’re just slow."

"Next!" someone shouted from the back. "Who’s next? We need to take her down!"

The room went silent. The other contestants shuffled their feet.

"I think we’ve all gone already," a guy named muttered. "She’s cleared the whole lobby."

It was clear no one wanted to be the one to go up next and get publicly executed. Von was about to volunteer when Max spotted him.

"Hey, Von! You look like a fellow nerd! Come avenge us!"