Chapter 30

When Isaac heard about Mad Dog's rather public humiliation, he visibly winced. He had gone through all that trouble to help Mad Dog, yet Mad Dog still found a way to attract trouble.

Isaac shook his head as he watched the video on the forums. With his hands in his pockets, he maneuvered around the bustling downtown streets, avoiding contact with strangers at all costs.

His body was heavy, and his lidded eyes desperately wanted to close, but he had to stream like any other day. Rent was next week, and Isaac was still leaps and bounds from making the $1400 payment.

After his father's second absence, attending school was no longer a priority. Instead, Isaac worked multiple part-time jobs as waitresses and cashiers. And at the end of his long workday, he streamed throughout the night.

Of course, if his school found out about his part-time job, he'd be expelled. Isaac just had to hope and pray no one from school decided to snitch.

With his hands in his pockets and eyes glues to his phone, he stopped outside the usual arcade he visited. But when he looked up, a panicked frown came over his face.

'Closed For Maintenance.'

Isaac clutched his head as an incoming headache slammed into his head. He impatiently checked the time on his phone.

3:54 pm.

Isaac groaned. He had six minutes to find another arcade and set up his equipment.

"Stella, where's the nearest arcade?"

"The nearest arcade is Boom Arcade. Would you like directions?" Stella's happy voice chimed from Isaac's phone.

"Yes."

As Isaac stared at the detailed map on his phone, he took off down the street and made his way to Boom Arcade.

"You have arrived," Stella said.

Isaac checked the time once more: 3:58 pm. Two minutes left.

He rushed in, and his eyes scanned over the dark rooms. Fifteen large modules at the back of the arcade caught his eye, and he promptly ran over.

Students had yet to be released from school, which meant that the arcade was relatively empty. But in 30 minutes, Isaac expected it would fill with high school students and their friends.

He ducked under the hood of the module and set his camera to have a clear view of his face. His fingers trembled as he anxiously rushed to start the stream on time.

As Isaac sat inside the module and allowed it to calibrate, he checked the time. 4:00 pm.

Perfect.

As he pressed the play button on his camera, Isaac synced the video to his Blast Streaming account.

The red light on his camera flickered to life, and Isaac's sullen expression flickered to an excited one.

"Hey, guys. As promised, today is an 8-hour Mortal Strike stream. If you want me to play anything else, make sure to comment it in the chat!"

By now, Isaac had long become tired of playing Mortal Strike for nearly 8 hours a day. The game stressed him out, and the only reason he still played was his streaming career. If not for that, he'd be at home studying for his college entrance exams.

Isaac's grades were mediocre at best, which was decent, considering that he hardly had time to study while juggling with streaming and social media. But his mediocre grades wouldn't get him any financial aid to a college.

Realistically, Isaac expected he'd have to retake his college entrance exams next year.

"Okay, I'm dropping at Hollow Harrowgate."

The more Isaac streamed, the more his cheeks became tired from smiling through his pain.

But as he smiled, an inconspicuous tear slid down his cheeks. At first, Isaac didn't even notice, and it was only brought to his attention when his chat pointed it out.

Isaac laughed it off, saying, "I'm fine, guys. It's from allergies."

But even then, the waterworks didn't stop. They streamed down his cheeks, and Isaac began to struggle to stifle his cries.

His body trembled, and his smile became pained. The corners of his lips threatened to fall, and Isaac quickly leaned forward to turn off his camera.

"Sorry, I'm ending the stream early. Family emergency," Isaac fibbed.

He shut the camera off and let his tears flow freely. His face scrunched up with tears, and he stepped out of the module for a breath of fresh air.

But he regretted doing so as soon as he saw who was staring at him.

Rem Oaks.

Isaac's cheeks flushed in embarrassment, but as much as he wanted to hide his crying face, the tears couldn't stop spilling out. Ashamed, he immediately turned his back to her.

Joan stared at him in surprise. She'd never seen Isaac at Boom Arcade. What was he doing here today?

She came here with Navier and the Grimm Bros but briefly parted with them to use the restroom. On her way, she encountered a genuinely shocking scene: Isaac crying.

From the impression he'd given her, Joan assumed he was an asshole, but he appeared more emotional than she thought. Had Navier and the Grimm Bros been right about streamers masking their emotions on stream?

The initial anger she saw when one of the boys that had beaten her up turned into confusion when she saw his trembling figure.

When Isaac turned away from her, she shrugged and continued to the bathroom.

But when she came back, Isaac stood in the same spot, still sobbing like a fool.

His nonsensical tears irked Joan, and she tapped his shoulder. "Go cry someplace else. You're annoying."

Isaac turned and began bawling harder at Joan's words. Joan reeled back in confusion. What was wrong with him?

"Stop crying," she demanded.

PK scoffed at Joan. "That's not how you stop someone from crying."

"What would you know? Since when were you a therapist?"

"It's common sense!" PK retorted.

Joan rolled her eyes.

Isaac, whose loud sobbing attracted all sorts of gazes, wheezed out, "Sorry."

Joan raised a brow before reaching out. She took Isaac's ear in her thumb and pointer finger and squeezed down.

Isaac twisted uncomfortable and shouted, "Ow! Ow! Ow! What are you doing?"

When Joan let go, he cupped his throbbing ear in his hand and looked at her with a bewildered expression.

"Making you stop crying," Joan said.

"That didn't help at—" Before Isaac finished his sentence, he realized his eyes were no longer watering, and the tears had stopped streaming from his eyes.

He touched his swollen eyes. "Huh? I-It stopped."

"Crying over spilled milk doesn't fix anything," Joan said.

"Nothing is working, though," Isaac miserably looked down at his shoes. "No matter how hard I try, nothing's working." Isaac didn't know why he was telling her all of this. Maybe he needed someone to vent to after bottling up all his frustrations alone.

Joan frowned, unable to relate with him. In her lifetime, she'd failed very few times. She looked to PK for advice.

"Uh-uh, scanning the web," PK said. "Calibrating. The number one result is 'Don't be afraid to ask for help'."

"Finally, being useful," Joan muttered under her breath. She patted Isaac on the shoulder in a poor attempt to comfort him. "Don't be afraid to ask for help."

Isaac looked at her pitifully. "Will you help me?"

The corners of Joan's mouth twitched. "Well-"

"I need help paying my rent," Isaac confessed. I'm 200 short, and it's due next week.

200?! Joan paled and recalled her bank balance. She only had 210 dollars!

"I-" A sense of discomfort coiled in Joan's stomach as she stared at Isaac's hopeless expression. "I-"

Isaac's expectant look made Joan avert her eyes.

"Joan, as a government employee, your duty is to help and protect the citizens," PK smirked.

What kind of bullshit was that? She was a soldier, not a charity.

"Joan," PK warned. It briefly froze Joan's body for a few seconds as a warning.

"Yeah, I have some spare cash," Joan forced out and struggled to say the bitter words.

"Really?!" Isaac exclaimed in excitement. He clasped her hands in his as his eyes sparkled excitedly.

It seemed like it was too late for Joan to back out now.

"Yeah."

���Rem, you're amazing." Isaac felt thousands of pounds of weight being lifted off his chest. Her advice was revolutionary! He regretted ganging up on her before. "I'm sorry for beating-"

Joan quickly cut him off. "Yes, I know." She wanted to avoid being reminded of her shameful defeat.

Joan kept to her promise and lent a grateful Isaac 200 dollars while keeping Navier and the Grimm Bros wondering about her whereabouts.

"Rem, I'll pay you back for this. You don't know how grateful I am," Isaac repeated.

"Yes. That's the fourth time now," Joan said.

"I'll repeat it. Rem, I'll-"

"Bye." Joan coldheartedly spun around and left Isaac hanging.

Isaac smiled at her retreating figure. Despite her cold expression and demeanor, she seemed like a genuinely lovely person. He was amazed at her generosity. He clutched his chest, swearing his sincerest loyalty to Rem Oaks.