Chapter 79

Ending up going late into the night, I had a small digital draft of what was going to be of the song.

It would be reasonable to go late into the night considering the amount of time I had to 'compose' a whole entire song. However, since I had most of the base, rhythm, melody, and exact lyrics, there wasn't much hurry to finish.

Still, transcribing the song into many instruments is very enjoyable.

I'll stipulate with the developers that I'll have some part in the production of the song. I think they'll allow me once they see what a banger this song is going to be.

I stretched my arms and yawned.

For now, I think last night's work deserves a good early morning breakfast.

I looked to the side and saw my temporary roommate, Jagger, still fast asleep. He'd gotten back very late and gave me the news that it was looking okay so far.

There he is again though, drooling on the pillow.

Well, it's not usual for people to have an advanced brain that recharges the body and mind quickly allowing for fewer hours of sleep.

I walked to the hotel's bathroom and began brushing my teeth. Hygiene first, as always.

[Composing has gained…]

I think I'll add the drums, at the last, to make sure they really get that blood boiling essence right where I want it to be. The drums are one of the main instruments in that song apart from the voice that really impacts the audience.

That'll need some practice.

I began humming scales and practicing vocal warm-ups to get rid of the morning hoarseness and voice instability.

[Singing has gained…]

…

…

…

Days later...

I once again listened to the first few minutes of the instrumental

The instrumental so far sounds okay, but there's something missing in there…

My composing skill's instinct is blaring at me that there's something that could improve the quality by leaps and bounds.

It's been a few hours since I've tried refining the piece and thinking up of something but there's been little progress.

It feels the same as a writer's block. More or less have an idea of where to go but the execution is just missing.

I plugged in my headphones and put them on.

Maybe adding the vocal part would help a little bit.

I clicked the record button and began singing the song mechanically following along with the instrumental. Right now, I just need the notes to be clear instead of adding emotion and switching up anything around with my voice.

[Singing has gained…]

[Composing has gained…]

I clicked play once again.

Of course, the singing could be better but this is a good base draft for the real thing.

"Farewell, I've gone to take my throne above… But don't weep for me…"

Listening to the song, the hairs in my body began standing up.

However, opposite to what I thought would happen, the blaring alarming sensation of my composing skill did not diminish and rather strengthened.

With wide eyes, I stared into blank space vacantly listening to the song in my headphones.

I glanced at the keyboard and turned the volume up.

"Here we are don't turn away now."

Here come the drums.

I received another chill behind my back and the sensation only got stronger.

Damn it.

The sensation defeaned all other senses and I looked on in a daze.

Nausea began squeezing in and my unconcentrated eyes looked on with intensity.

The word began turning into different colors. The walls turned purple and bubbles of colors splattered onto my vision.

A thudding sensation appeared in my head and forced me to lie on the bed.

I raised my hand to look at it only to find its blurred image.

Still, the origin of all these things was not at all calming down.

I grabbed a fistful of my hair belonging to my dull head to try and pull for a different feeling— anything different from the current sensation I was having.

[Host is in a state of outbreak. New Quest has been issued to the host.]

My mind regained clarity and the sensation dissipated until being firmly sealed inside my brain.

Ah, damn it.

The strength disappeared from my body and I lied peacefully on the bed.

[Quest: Warriors

Finish the final components of the song.

Rewards:

500 achievement points.

?]

Ah, damn.

Currently no time to care about anything after that intense mind fuck.

God damn, that was strong.

I think I'll do the quest lat—

The dull sensation began coming back and the hard work mantra began overclouding my brain.

Ok, I'll do it now.

As fast as it covered my brain was as fast as it left.

[It is of utmost priority to finish the quest, hardworking Host.]

I acknowledged the system's message within my mind and took a drink out of a water bottle.

Well, I almost went insane trying to figure out what was missing from the composition. I think taking a breath of fresh air will be nice.

After splashing my face with water, I put the laptop in a backpack, took a jacket, and left the hotel room.

…

So far, both times I've exited Weath was for work and I never really had to appreciate the city.

I have mere faint images of Regalia in my mind and still zero clues as to how it looked like and even less of Petra.

There were skyscrapers all around the city and the lights filled the city with a beautiful skyline.

The infrastructure was similarly advanced like Regalia. The two top cities of the United States Federation were opposites with Regalia dominating monetary and market businesses and Petra boasting high levels of tourism and beautiful exotic tourist attractions.

Still, nothing is better than the beauty of my hometown.

While looking up at the great buildings of the city, I noticed a flash pointing at my face.

I glanced at the three red-faced girls with their phones out pretending to take selfies with one pointing a white light to my face.

Pretending to take selfies to take pictures of me? 12 points of charm, huh.

The stream of people walking by noticed the white light and looked at my spotlighted face.

I pretended not to notice the white light and looked around stupidly to lower their embarrassment.

The bright flash that lasted a few seconds but felt eternal finally closed.

From the corner of my eye, their red face puffed with relief and they looked at each other with shame.

Divisions of the steam of people that looked at my face stopped and turned to stare at my face with familiarity in their eyes.

Most were young.

A group of young people around my age blossomed an excited smile and hopped over to me.

"Excuse me, are you… Charlie?"

They squinted their eyes and spoke slowly as if their vision was deceiving them.

My modeling instincts took over and my face made small adjustments to present a friendly charming face.

"Hello. Yes, I am Charlie. Nice to meet you."

"Oh my god! I told you he was Charlie!" A girl turned to her friends.

A boy patted her shoulder to calm her down.

"Charlie! I am a huge fan of yours man. I always watch your streams and they're always fun to watch bro."

I smiled,

"What's your name?"

"I—… I am uh…"

At his struggle to look for his name, I tilted my head.

Does… he not have a name?

Or could it possibly be one of those hateful names like Mike Coxlong or Mike Hunt? Or Ben Dover? Gabe Itch? Or how about Moe Lester?

I heard a click of a phone camera while I was in my confused thoughts.

I turned to stare at the group of three girls who originally were taking pictures of me by pretending to take selfies.

The one taking the picture turned redder in shame than before. Oh, how nothing is going their way today. First, it was the flash and now it's the sound.

I gave them a quick eye smile.

"He forgot his name but he's Garrett."

I turned back to the group of friends and extended my hand to Garrett.

He took it nervously.

"I'm happy you enjoy my streams, Garrett."

My outstanding height and group of people staring at me like a celebrity attracted more stares.

A small crowd of people began surrounding me.

From outside, I heard people's whispering conversations.

"Is he a celebrity?"

"I dunno, let's take a picture with him and brag about it though."

"How are you going to take a picture with someone you don't know?"

"I dunno."

Other conversations streamed into my ear,

"Hey wait, isn't that the guy that played a piano in a cafe?"

"No, he looks like the one that was in the Winter fashion show."

"Wait what? I didn't watch it this year."

"Did you not see all of the reels on Instagram? All of the accounts and even the meme accounts spammed it."

"Uh… Wait wasn't it the prince guy?"

"Yeah! Exactly. He looks like that guy."

"No way, really?! I thought he was the cafe piano guy."

"Now that you say it… He does look like that…"

It does fascinate me a little that people believe that I did both the winter show and the cafe piano playing…

Well, it is pretty unbelievable for two high-viewed trending videos were of the same person, especially in different industries…

"O-M-G, is that who I think it is?"

"Huh?"

"He's that one streamer! The one that plays Among us!"

"Uhhhhh…"

"Charlie!"

"Ohhh… Charlie…"

"You don't know him?"

"No."

"How do you not know him? He's friends with Felix and Arden…"

"Wait really?"

"..."

I scratched my head and smiled at the incoming people.

Haha… is this an informal fan meet?

I'm just… scared that these people will start texting their friends and those friends will come and suddenly I'll be surrounded by dozens of people.

It kind of feels like when I first met Felix and was taken to the Knife Agency from the cafe.

Except without the annoying reporters...

…

With messy hair and a sweaty countenance, I finally was released from the scene.

I called up a Taxi and decided to give an update to the developers on the song.

I think it'd be better for my consciousness to not have the pressure of that 'Outbreak' happening again.

Those were not good times.

The taxi ride was quick and I was once again greeted by the great sleek urban structure of the game company.

I began humming the song as I got in which was a dumb idea as I could have possibly gotten an outbreak once again and collapsed on the street.

Fortunately, nothing happened as I waited for the incoming mind break and I quickly entered the building.