Chapter 72

[Author: I'm an idiot and didn't know Discord invite links could expire. Here's the new and permanent code: rvVt3sB3vn

…

After the informal dinner, we walked out towards the open air.

"Charlie… are you not taking that off?"

Blake asked me.

I looked down at myself and remembered I was still wearing the hanfu cloak.

"...I'm too lazy to change out of them… They're so comfortable too…"

They laughed.

Breathing a fresh whiff of air, I continued the conversation.

"So… what are your guys' hobbies?"

Surely, there must be something they do to relieve the stress.

Felix's eyes turned to stars.

"I've got many hobbies. Playing the guitar… oh, and I just got into Piano and… I like to dance too."

"Oh… when we first met you did tell me you enjoyed the Piano."

"Yes I'm practicing some of the classical pieces but I want to learn your Canon in D."

"Ohhh, really? Do you need the sheet music?"

He smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

"I already got one."

"You should've asked me and I would've given it to you for free."

He smiled.

"I didn't need to buy it."

"O—"

"My sister bought it. She's your fan and likes to play the piano."

Ha…

"Oh… Yeah… you did tell me."

"Yep. When she wanted to take a picture with you," his smile remained the same.

[Refer to chapter 48]

Arden and Blake began laughing.

Awkwardly, I shifted the conversation elsewhere.

"How about we get some banana milk..?"

...

After taking a long hot shower to shake away the freezing sensation of upcoming winter, I sat on the hotel room's comfortable bed.

I stared at the clear window dark with stars and showing the magnificent and beautiful city.

My hotel room was on one of the higher floors that allowed me to appreciate the huge sleek modern buildings from up top.

The luxury and view are beautiful, but I still prefer my old room on the fifth floor. I thought with amusement.

With a future set in stone with the aid of the system, the riches and luxuries of this world don't compare with the only place I have felt safe since I was transmigrated here.

I took out my phone and called my parents who most likely were itching to call me as well but weren't calling in consideration for me.

I smiled at the thought.

On the first ring, they immediately accepted the call.

"Hello."

"Charlie! Congratulations!"

"Thank you very much."

Warmth in my heart, I felt an itch in my eyes.

"I loved your attire, Charlie! Did they gift it to you? I want to take some pictures of you wearing it."

At my mother's excitement, I couldn't deny her request.

"Haha, yes. They gave it to me. Look here it is."

I pointed the camera at the cloak that I'd left on the bed before showering.

Charlotte popped up from behind them with her signature cutie smile.

"We saw you on TV, Charlie!"

"Haha, you did?"

"Yes, you were amazing!"

Her eyes sparkled.

It'd be better to be over there to celebrate with them.

"Did you like the flowers?"

"Yea! And Felix was there too? Did you take pictures with him?"

I laughed at the situation. His sister's my fan but my sister is his fan as well.

"Yes, yes. I'll show you when I'm back home, okay?"

She nodded furiously and her pigtails moved wildly behind her.

"Have you guys ate yet?"

"Yep. We ate a lot in celebration of your debut. Have you ate?"

I laughed at my dad's comment.

"Yes, I ate a lot as well."

…

…

...

[Reed: "Charlie? Is that you?"

[Elle: "Charlie? I think we're getting the wrong person."]

[Alex: "I don't think he recognizes us."]

[Catherine: "Too famous for us now."]

[Abel: "Yeah, we're just people he used to know."]

[Macy: "Hahaha, yep."]

[Irene - shaking head]

[Lizbeth: "Alright alright, calm down all of you. He's tired enough as it is."]

I chuckled at them through the screen.

"How are you all?"

[Natsumi: "Haha, we're good. We should be the ones asking how you are, though. Aren't you tired?"]

"Hehe," I scratched my ear, "...the excitement and nerves haven't worn off yet."

We laughed.

At once, all of them suddenly congratulated me.

["Congratulations Charlie."]

With a genuine smile and the similar itch in my eyes I felt when I was talking to my parents, I responded "Thank you all."

[Owen: "No problem, Prince Charlie."]

[Callie: "Your highness…"]

[Reed: "...Why must we go?"]

[Catherine playing the recorder flute.]

"Wow! Catherine, you're really good at the flute." Her butchered notes and playing that sounded like a crying cat's meows said otherwise.

We laughed at their version of our performance.

[Elle: "Anyway, Charlie your acting was very good! You should come to join our play."]

Wiping tears of laughter from my eyes,

"Thank you very much. I don't know if I'm that good at acting…"

I got the acting skill now, but grinding this thing will definitely need work.

[Elle: "That's fine. The play will be in some time and we don't know what we're doing yet."]

I nodded. "That sounds fun. Maybe we could all participate?"

[Natsumi: "That sounds fun."]

[Ronan: "Yeah, let's do it!"]

…

…

[bzoomster: "Looked like an absolute beast out there, man."]

[Poodlefluff: "Yah yah! You were amazing!"]

[Yvette: "Yup. It was super fun."]

I thanked them with a genuine smile.

[blacklily: "I watched it on TV! You're way taller than I thought you were."]

[Poodlefluff: "I thought that too! You looked way too tall for a 16-year-old."]

I scratched my head.

[Rykun: "I'd never watched a Winter Fashion Show, but it was super fun. I wish I could've been there."]

[Juliamn: "Yeah same, I went there last year and I thought it was a great experience but this year's looked amazing."]

[wipL: "Maybe Charlie will be there again next year or something and we can all gather. That'd be cool."]

"Definitely."

[LoafofBread: "Yeah, meeting up one day would sound really fun."]

…

Felix, Arden, and I had agreed to meet up at the cafe later in the morning for a breakfast.

I closed my phone and saw my bad case of morning hair through the mirror.

Getting out of my blankets, the wind of the cold morning air immediately hit my skin.

...I am not too sure of how to feel about Winter.

My stomach still felt bloated from last night's eating, but my skin had a type of glow radiating from it.

I felt joyous, and the success from the hard work was very gratifying.

I walked over to the bathroom and while I brushed my teeth, I opened up the system tab.

[Title: Trending, Hot Topic!, Streamer

Silver Pearl

Stats:

Luck: * *

Intelligence: 16

Charm: 12

5,072 → 14,991 Achievement points

7002/? Achievement Egg]

From the time I opened the achievement egg which was around a month ago, I gained just over 7,000 achievement points.

Just yesterday, when I checked, I had 4,000 achievement points but now I was at 7,000.

I guess taking part in huge events like these and your face being highlighted to the rest of the world through a TV does make a difference.

I'm guessing the performance blew everyone's minds, and the people that did not know about me searched me up which gained me even more achievement points.

Such a huge performance was also bound to increase the number of views I got in the piano videos and my socials.

I still am not sure how to feel about the system's raised difficulty in getting achievement points. I guess it makes sense since I am now reaching people on a worldwide scale every day through the internet.

It's okay though because I will be receiving so many achievement points from the performance later on.

Hmm, the achievement egg still confuses me though.

I'm not sure how many achievement points it will take, but I just want to open the thing up and get the Luck stat.

The +1 stat will probably be at 30,000 achievement points or something similar due to the exponential price increase.

I abruptly stopped the longest brushing tooth session I've had in a while.

I have to stop getting into my thoughts like this…

My mouth was practically mint now.

…

"Charlie, so you like playing video games?" Arden asked me curiously. It looks like he's never touched a single videogame in his entire life.

"Yea, how'd you know?"

"Oh, I looked up your stream and I saw you play a lot of videogames. I also saw you got 1 million live viewers? That's awesome. Congratulations."

I scratched my head with a smile. The viewers were there for Reed, not for me.

"Haha, thank you very much."

Felix spoke up with the coffee's environmentally friendly straw in his mouth, "How about you stream, Charlie?"

"...You want me to stream?"

"Ohh. Like a vlog! That'd be really cool."

"Or we can do a mukbang," Felix had stars in his eyes.

"What's a mukbang?"

Arden really is… not very knowledgeable on social media and trends…

"It's when you eat a lot of food and you interact with your viewers and they watch you eat the food."

I answered.

"People… like watching others eat food?"

Arden does present a good point. Why are people so interested in watching others eat food?

Felix shrugged.

"I dunno but I've never done one and I think it'd be fun."

"...Felix… are you allowed to do this?"

"Yeah, my schedule isn't as packed as the last few months and it's just a few calories. C'mon, let's do it."

"...But… my diet…"

"Ah, diet doesn't matter. What are you filming right now?"

"...For now there's nothing but a screenplay could be sent to me at any moment."

"See? You said it yourself. There's nothing. Last night you didn't eat at all and it's understandable, but this time it'll be in the daytime."

Felix's persistent attack wore down Arden's defense.

At last, he agreed.

"So how long have you been acting Arden?"

"...Hmmm… I've been passionate about it since I was pretty young. I liked to participate in my school's plays and then in college I studied Film Programs… and then Knife Agency took me in… so basically since almost twenty years ago."

"...Wow, that's incredible."

"Yep… you interested in acting?"

I scratched my cheek at being found out. Well, I am curious about the different benefits of leveling acting up.

"Yeah. I thought it was pretty fun yesterday when I performed like that."

"Hmm… yeah… you did a nice job yesterday… Maybe you could try getting experience first and seeing how much you like it. Then you can decide on what you want."

I nodded. The decision I made last night to join Elle on the school play seems to be right. Apart from the fact it'd be fun, I think getting some experience first hand would be very useful.

"Thank you, Arden."

"Yes, no problem. Just try not to spread yourself too thin. Right now, your career as a model is very prominent but don't let that pull away from your path as a pianist as well."

Very well said…

"I see. That makes a lot of sense. Thank you. Your advice is very helpful."

He smiled genuinely and patted my back.

"Anytime, Charlie."

I picked up my steaming cup of coffee and took a sip.

"Charlie, what do you want to eat? For the mukbang?"

"You can choose. What are your favorite foods, Felix?"

...