– I can’t believe this.
– I love this player so much, though.
– Who voted her out?
– Did Annie not have many points? She had a lot, right? She also cleared the last mission pretty easily with only a few mistakes.
– What if… she gave away all of her points?
– That’s just ridiculous!
“Player Annie is Eliminated.”
As soon as Lucy uttered these words, everyone was surprised. None of them expected it to be her!
Minjae and his goons were sure that Zeno would have been eliminated in the seventh round; however, he had more points than they had anticipated.
Then, it was announced that Annie was leaving.
With that, the livestream cruelly ended, and the group didn’t discuss what had happened. Ari internally sighed in relief that Zeno was still in the game; however, at the same time, she wondered who had sent Annie away.
Bacon PD, as usual, didn’t have any reaction. He stood and walked away from the scene.
Annie merely smiled at them before heading to her room to get her luggage.
Zeno also stood and walked away from the living room, leaving Minjae, Minsu, and Billy in an awkward atmosphere.
“I’m glad I’m still in this game,” Minsu said, leaning against the couch. “But it didn’t end the way we wanted to.”
Billy tried to smile despite the heat he felt in his body. “All is well because we’re still here.”
Minjae, however, didn’t bother hiding his disdain. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down.
He didn’t know why he felt such emotions toward Zeno. Maybe it was because he wanted to find a flaw in his personality.
Everybody knew Zeno at this point, especially if you were interested in the entertainment industry. He was a rising star with famous works despite only starting acting at the beginning of the year.
Minjae was sure he had an edge in his personality. However, Zeno was honest and unbothered—like he had lived a hundred lives.
So, with that, Minjae assumed that his intelligence was lacking. But Zeno had proven him wrong once again, and he couldn’t deny it anymore.
So, if he was good-looking, popular, and smart—Minjae found it unfair. He shouldn’t be the winner, too. He didn’t care if he looked desperate. He wanted to defeat Zeno at all costs.
“Hey,” Billy said, breaking the tense atmosphere.
“It’s alright. At least, we know that Zeno has the least amount of points now.”
Minjae let out a deep breath. “That’s right,” he muttered. “It’s only a matter of time.”
Meanwhile, Zeno followed Annie to the women’s room. She was all ready to go when she felt someone’s presence behind her.
Zeno helped carry her luggage. “Is this all your stuff?”
Annie turned to him with an agape mouth. Zeno tilted his head.
She was almost a foot shorter than him, and at this angle, she did look like a bunny. It was amusing to think she wrote one of his favorite books.
“Annie?” Zeno called, causing her to purse her lips. She nodded silently.
Meanwhile, Ari, who wanted to take a shower after feeling hot from the elimination, couldn’t enter the room when she saw Zeno and Annie having a staring contest.
She stood away from their view as she watched, her heart racing from an unknown emotion. She slapped herself awake, feeling her cheeks redden.
“Get a grip,” she muttered before turning back to the scene, only to find out that they weren’t there anymore.
The two of them walked to the exit area. Zeno placed her luggage down before turning to her. Annie was unable to meet his eyes out of embarrassment.
They were engulfed in silence for a couple more seconds before Zeno decided to break it.
“Why did you do it?”
Annie finally lifted her head to meet his eyes. “Hmm?”
Zeno smirked and placed his hands inside his pocket. “You gave me all your points. All 110 of them.”
“You gave me around 25 of them,” she muttered. “Nobody took away from me.”
“You should have kept your points.”
She smiled. “I didn’t want to play anymore. Honestly, it’s been a while since I found an opportunity to write. I feel like everything will pale in comparison to The Forsaken Prince. So, I have been avoiding it.”
“But coming here, I found something new to write about,” she continued, the smile not leaving her lips. She appeared to be very excited and genuine, so Zeno felt quite relieved.
She didn’t give it to him out of pity.
“So, I decided to give all of my points away.”
“And you gave them to me?”
Her smile didn’t waver. In fact, it seemed the corner of her lips only rose, her teeth finally showing.
She really looked like a bunny.
“You’re the only person I can think of. You’re the one who brought my favorite character to life. For some time, I couldn’t let go of him—Hajin.”
“I really wanted to meet him even though it was impossible. He was a fictional character after all. But then, you embodied him, and now, I believe I can move on. Like I said, there are a lot of ideas in my mind right now, most of which I am excited to write about.”
Zeno couldn’t help it this time. He raised his hand to pat her head. She froze under his touch as Zeno treated her like a pet.
“You did well,” he muttered. “I’m looking forward to reading more of your books.”
Her breath hitched, and she was unable to say anything in response.
“This is the first time I’m saying this, but I’m a huge fan of The Forsaken Prince, too.”
“Especially when Hajin killed his brothers.”
With that, the doors opened, and Zeno watched as Annie got escorted out of the mansion, still unable to say anything.
The doors closed once more, but Annie’s mind was still on her interaction with Zeno. The moment she entered the car meant to escort her, she tilted her head in confusion.
Then, her eyes widened, the realization dawning down on her.
“Hajin killing his brothers?” she muttered.
That wasn’t in the final print. However, she did remember writing it.
It was a very rough draft—the first one when it was still free to read on a novel reading site.
Then, she gasped in shock. Was Zeno one of her first readers?