In a certain part of the T City Convention Center, there was a circle of people forming to watch a show, but it had nothing to do with the games Finale or ADAS. No, the stars of this show were the players and developers of Finale and ADAS. And they seemed to be involved in some crazy love prism!?
Elior Renaud had always had high EQ, but he disliked people. The only people he could tolerate were his family, including his cousin, Azazel Schwarz. Because of that, he only socialized when necessary and kept people at a distance. He particularly disliked people other than his family touching him whenever they felt like it. Being who he was, he had always been desirable in the eyes of many men and women who went out of their way to get his attention, but he was never interested.
Outside the family, Jun was the only exception. From the beginning, Elior became interested first. Be it his looks or the way he carried himself, there was something about Jun that drew him in, making him become an unrestrained flirt in trying to get his attention. With these two contrasts in behavior on top of his high EQ, it was obvious to him at a glance that Li Jie was infatuated with him and Azazel, Azazel a little more than him.
"You can stop now." Elior was speaking to Li Jie. "I will never like you, so stop bothering my baby." Then he turned to Azazel with an impatient expression. "Azazel, you need to let this person know where you stand. Just loving Jun alone won't be enough." He warned.
Between the two, Azazel had always been the more affectionate and giving one, while Elior was always eager to take. They were both imbalanced in their love for Jun, but together it worked. Azazel had low EQ but he was more sociable than Elior, capable of engaging with others, even if he didn't say much. This was why he was the president who had to deal with relations while Elior was the CEO who could rely on the president to deal with people.
Not to mention he was face blind and couldn't remember people outside work-related purposes, so he relied on Elior for that. Their reliance on each other was mutual, which was why they were close and worked together.
"You're right." Azazel's EQ may be low but when it came to anything related to Jun, it was sufficient. Though he may not realize how appealing he was to men and women, he could see Li Jie as a potential threat to his beloved's happiness. In his typically cold president style, Azazel gave Li Jie a harsh slap of reality. "There will only ever be Jun in my heart. Don't you already have two pursuers who genuinely like you? Is that not enough?"
After that, Azazel and Elior took Jun away to walk around the convention center. Feng Bingwen was furious. He knew about Bai Changming's feelings for Li Jie and felt that he already had enough to deal with, but from this interaction, it was implied that Li Jie had feelings for those two men. Then what about Bai Changming? Did Li Jie also have feelings for him?
"Li Jie, what is going on? Do you like Azazel Schwarz and Elior Renaud? What about—"
He wanted to ask: "What about me?" But he could not find the words because he was afraid of the answer, that Li Jie no longer loved him. Even though he gave and was willing to give him anything, everything. Was it really as Azazel surmised—not enough?
"You... I'll talk to you more later." He had a scheduled panel and it was starting soon. In reality, he wanted to run away from the possibility of having his ego crushed. After being pursued by so many men and women with half-hearted intentions, he thought he had found a treasure, but he never considered he wouldn't be enough for Li Jie.
The truth was Feng Bingwen would have been enough for Li Jie had Jun not entered the picture with Azazel and Elior. When he witnessed Jun's transformation into an open homosexual, he was irritated and wished that was him, but he couldn't be. Then when he witnessed two powerful men showering Jun with their love and affection without a care for what the world thought, he was jealous. Why couldn't it be him?
When he sought it from Feng Bingwen, it was limited because Feng Bingwen, who was still in college and had just started interning at his family's company, held no real power. He offered to come out to his family but wouldn't that impair his progress? Then there was Bai Changming, who was already a powerful self-made man, but Li Jie couldn't love him the way he did Feng Bingwen. Both simply fell short when compared to Azazel and Elior. Jun was spoiled and well-loved by both of them, and he wanted that.
No, he wanted more than that. He wanted Azazel and Elior to be more in love with him than they had ever been with Jun. He was the better choice. Jun wasn't kind, but blunt and too straightforward. He was lazy and an underachiever. Li Jie, who had been working so hard for many years, couldn't attain what Jun did. It was just unfair!
"I am here—" Li Jie slapped Bai Changming's hand away and stomped off.
Free of the gong, shou, and love rival, Jun strolled around the convention center with Azazel, Elior, Oriana, Oriana's boyfriends, and some of the <Chains and Whips> guild members. Today was mainly the relaxation day before the main events tomorrow, the Finale demo, ADAS expansion reveal, and the ADAS Arena competition.
At night, there was a concert and a masquerade dance but Jun did not go. Today's events had already worn him out and he wanted to go back to his cave—the hotel room. Seeing that he wasn't in a good mood, Azazel and Elior simply held him to sleep. But just when Jun was about to fall asleep, Azazel spoke.
"Babe, after you graduate college, let's get married."
"But I can't marry both of you..."
"Yes, you can," said Elior. "S Country just announced the establishment of multiple marriages."
As his eyes closed and his mind drifted off to dreamland, Jun smiled. "Really...? Then let's get married."
The next day they had to part again for the first two main events, but they'd see each other once the Arena fights began since he had also signed up. Jun often paired with Oriana during the Arena fights for doubles matches, but this would be his first time fighting in singles matches, so he was full of excitement and expectation. The Arena matches were scheduled to begin at 1 PM.
"Look, it's the goddess! Wow, she's just as beautiful in real life!"
"Is that pretty boy Archer next to her? He's cuter than his avatar haha."
"Oh my god, it's Feng Bingwen! Feng Bingwen!"
Many people were looking forward to this competition. Pretty boy Archer never fought in singles matches. Feng Bingwen and Bai Changming never accepted any of Oriana's challenges and those two men themselves had never fought each other. The new #1 ranked Healer Li Jie was also participating. How was he going to fight against such damage dealers?
Unfortunately, many of their expectations wouldn't come to fruition. Since the previous day's affair, which all attendees were aware of thanks to some bystanders' recordings, the fight everyone looked forward to most was <Reason To Be> versus <no milk tea, no life>, which would be filled with drama. But when the time came, Jun was nowhere to be found.
Oriana, who was in the waiting room for competitors, suddenly found herself on the receiving end of the wrath of two very concerned parents—er, boyfriends.
"Where is he?" Azazel asked.
"He should be in the restroom?"
"Check the tracking device," Azazel said to Elior. Oriana looked at the two men with surprise. They even put a tracking device on Jun? Even her men wouldn't do such crazy paranoid shit. Where was it? Jun had been wearing his avatar cosplay, a schoolgirl outfit without any pockets. There was no way it could have been his convention pass could it? Where else could they have hidden a tracking device?
Unless...
Oriana had a lightbulb moment and voiced her thoughts aloud. "That's some expensive tracking device." She whistled her admiration. "And two of them at that."
Azazel gave her a threatening look. This woman was too smart. Oriana lifted her hands in peace. She had no plans to tell Jun since she still valued her life.
"He's not in the building," Elior said after checking his cell phone. Azazel checked his cell phone for the details and frowned.
As for Jun, he was currently in some hotel room, blindfolded.
|I think this might be the first time I've ever been kidnapped, System.|
|You sound very calm, dearest Host. Excited even...| Having been exposed to all the debauchery Azazel and Elior were capable of, System 00 was beginning to question if his Host had a kidnapping fetish...
|I can tell they're amateurs. They only tied my hands and blindfolded me. Even their rope tying is pretty loose... Probably Li Jie fanboys?|
Li Jie, the shou, did have a lot of fanboys of his avatar. Many weren't even disillusioned when they discovered he was male, because he was just as gentle and beautiful in real life. To them, Jun would always be the villain.
"Are we really doing it?" Someone spoke.
"Yeah, for the sake of our holy maiden, we must even if we don't want to."
These people sure were lost in their fantasies, having probably long lost the ability to disconnect virtual reality from reality. What holy maiden?
"But fuck, he does have the body of a slut, doesn't he? Look at his legs—"
Someone was holding onto one of Jun's legs and caressing it disgustingly. Unable to stand it, Jun struggled out of the grip and sent a kick toward whoever it was. These people were just normal gamers, so they couldn't handle Jun who had studied and practiced aikido and self-defense for over 15 years.
In just a few minutes, he managed to loosen the rope on his wrists, get rid of the blindfold, and send the five men into an unconscious or writhing state. It was a good thing they had underestimated him and only used an insignificant amount of chloroform. When Azazel and Elior arrived like he knew they would, Jun was sitting at the only table in the room sipping on some milk tea he ordered from a delivery service.
Oriana's mouth dropped open at the sight of the tied-up men on the floor in a corner. Jun held up a drink to her. "Want to try some milk tea?"
She accepted the drink unconsciously and took a sip. "... Not bad."
While the men were interrogated by Azazel and Elior, they refused to reveal the mastermind and continued to claim things that only increased their anger.
"He deserves it for being such a slut, playing around with Mr. Schwarz and Mr. Renaud and so many other men."
Elior grabbed the collar of the man who spoke and shook him. "You actually believe that shit?"
"If he's a slut then what am I?" Oriana retorted, also offended. She had also been called a slut many times before.
"But you're the goddess..."
"So it's ok if I'm the goddess but not if it's him?"
In the end, they got nothing from the men and Jun didn't want to drag things out. It was obvious who it was, considering the time and context of the crime.
"Are you pressing charges, baby?"
"Nah, let them go so they can inform the real culprit and have him sweat."
Jun didn't want to involve himself in such drama, but Li Jie wouldn't allow him the peace he sought.