I Accidentally Became A Superstar

Chapter 379: How to Stay Alive

“I can’t believe you’re really here,” Ari muttered, ignoring Zeno’s question.

Zeno’s eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms in front of his chest. She laughed out loud, similar to those times when they were both in Avalis. Zeno felt a slight pang in his chest.

“Who would have thought? After my fifteen missions, and on your twenty-fifth mission, we finally met. No wonder you were so charming! It’s because you’re 25! Goodness, you got all these humans swooning for you, huh?”

“I can’t blame them. Even in Avalis, you were popular. But you never really entertained anyone. I guess, nothing has changed.”

“I guess that makes me feel a lot better now. I’m not actually enchanted by you. You’re just 25! It’s inevitable. You’re just a charming individual in general.”

Zeno’s frown deepened with every statement that left her mouth. She was still as talkative as ever.

“Stop ignoring my question,” he calmly said. “Answer it.”

“What are you still doing here? Based on your profile, you’re already 29 years old. And you’ve already achieved a bestselling novel that made it on the big screens. Why are you still here?” he pressed on.

Ari puffed up her cheeks. “Throw me with all of the questions in the world, would you?”

“28,” Zeno warned.

“Sorry,” Ari muttered. “I guess—it’s just difficult. I never thought I would meet a Rennis in this lifetime, especially not since I’ve transcended.”

“Transcended?” Zeno whispered, remembering how his system changed and that he had been granted a chance to transcend.

He was at a loss. He thought he knew Avalis and his systems like the back of his hand. However, no matter how much time had passed, it seemed he still didn’t know everything.

“Crap,” Ari continued. “They told me not to tell anyone about this. But how can I when it’s you? I feel like I can’t withhold this information from you.”

“What are you talking about?” Zeno asked, frustrated. He felt enraged because he realized he knew too little of the system he had.

If Ari were still here, would it be possible to continue living after missions?

“Do you have some time?” she finally asked.

“No,” Zeno deadpanned. “Tell it to me right away. I don’t want the long story.”

Ari pursed her lips. “I might hold onto the information for longer now. It’s quite cute seeing you frustrated.”

“What?”

“What?” Ari giggled.

“28, be serious,” Zeno sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose.

“It’s Ari,” she said right away, sounding slightly offended. “I live by that name now. I’ll call you by Zeno, so call me by Ari.”

Zeno sighed once more before looking into her eyes. “Fine, Ari. Tell me now.”

Ari pursed her lips because, suddenly, her heart skipped a beat with the mention of her name.

Alright, maybe it was a bad decision to ask him to call her by her first name.

Still, she felt like she was in a predicament. What she was going to share was something forbidden, but if there was one person who had the right to know, it was none other than Zeno.

“Avalis is more complicated than you think,” she started off.

Zeno pursed his lips and willed himself not to talk. Only to listen.

“They say it’s a hub of helping humans fulfill their dreams, but it’s much more than that. Are we, Rennis, just meant to do these missions endlessly? Do we not have an origin? Or a dream like the humans we’ve helped?”

“Clearly not,” she chuckled, shaking her head. “We’re treated like machines because they believe it’s what we deserve. It’s the price we have to pay.”

Zeno frowned, still unable to look at the big picture.

“Anyway, Rennis, like me, who know what they want to do—in my case, writing—are actually quite rare. When I first engaged in this mission, I liked it so much.”

“I could get to write even if I wasn’t good at it. I started with writing novels on the web, and eventually made my way to screenwriting. I still enjoy writing webnovels more, but for the sake of the mission, I upgraded my skills to fulfill it.”

“Somehow, someway, when I was right about to achieve my mission, I held back.”

“I realized that I didn’t want to go back to Avalis and live life for others. Instead, I wanted to live as Ari Bae, the writer. I held it off as much as I could, until I couldn’t anymore.”

“However, before I could go back to my life as a Rennis, I woke up with a brand new meter—saying I had surpassed the original goal.”

That was what happened to Zeno, too. He tried hard to reduce his meter at first, but it continued on and on, until he gained a new system.

“I was happy, of course,” she continued with a chuckle. “But along with that, I was confused. What was this? Out of all the missions I’ve been in, this has never happened. There must be a glitch in the system.”

“What did you find out?” Zeno asked.

“Exactly that,” Ari slightly smiled. “That the system isn’t perfect, like how we think.”

“You’re still not answering my question,” Zeno muttered, frustrated. “How are you still here? What did you do to get them to make you stay?”

“They were left with no choice,” Ari finally answered. “Because the original host of my body had been lost in the matrix.”

“And why is that?”

“Because my desire is stronger than hers,” she continued. “I had to fulfill certain missions to get to where I am now—to prove that this is what I really want. To become the best writer I could.”

“A lot of things were thrown out of order, and somehow, the universe made it happen that I could stay here. However, I knew that the balance still had been offset.”

“So, you’re saying—it’s possible to continue living?” Zeno muttered. A small part of his heart hoped, and it made him feel strange. Did he… actually want this, too?

“It is,” Ari muttered. “But like I said, it’s too much for the universe to handle.”

“Things shall always be balanced.”

“What do you mean by that?” Zeno asked.

Ari pursed her lips and let out a deep breath.

“That only one individual can bypass the system and stay here. No more. No less.”