Chapter 4
In the other world, I woke up choking for air.
The pain of drowning still clung to my chest.
I sat bolt upright in bed, gasping, then lunged for my phone.
September 30, 2024.
Only two days had passed here.
Two days in reality for three whole years inside the book.
My screen was full of missed calls from my boss and coworkers, but I skipped all of them and found the number I wanted.
Serena.
The phone rang.
Each beep pounded inside my chest like a second heartbeat.
Then she picked up.
“Candy?”
The moment I heard her voice, my throat tightened.
“It’s me.”
“You okay?”
That did it.
My eyes burned instantly.
“Are you okay?” I shot back, voice thick. “Tomorrow’s the holiday. Meet me at our usual place.”
“Okay,” she said softly.
We hung up.
I stayed seated on the edge of the bed for a long time, phone still in my hand.
If I hadn’t lived it myself, I never would have believed any of it.
Then my boss called again.
I answered just in time to get an earful.
“Do you still want this job? You vanished for days!”
I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at the ceiling.
Back in the book, I’d lived three years as a pampered rich girl.
Back in real life, I was just another office worker.
“I’m sorry, boss. There was an emergency at home. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? It’s a holiday. Be back after the holiday, and next time warn me first. Your attendance bonus is gone this month.”
I almost cried from relief.
Compared to everything I had just survived, losing a bonus felt laughably small.
After I hung up, I took a shower, got dressed, and headed out with my bank card.
When I saw the balance, I froze.
The zeros went on and on.
The system hadn’t lied.
All the money it promised us for completing the mission had transferred over.
From one day to the next, Serena and I had become rich.
Years ago, that might have sent me into hysterics.
Now, after living in luxury for three years, I only stood there blinking for a moment before nodding to myself and putting the card away.
First things first.
I paid my overdue rent.
Then I thanked my landlord and told him I’d had a family emergency.
He asked if my paycheck had come in.
I lied and said yes.
The truth was, both Serena and I had spent all our real savings earlier that month helping a child from our orphanage.
His name was Noah.
He was eight years old, abandoned as a baby at the orphanage gate and raised there ever since.
He had collapsed at the beginning of the month and been diagnosed with a chronic heart rhythm disorder.
The orphanage didn’t have enough money.
So we gave everything we had.
That night, lying in my tiny apartment with wealth I’d never imagined possible, I didn’t think about shopping.
I didn’t think about revenge.
I thought about Noah’s surgery.
And I thought about Serena still being alive.
The next afternoon, I went to meet her at our old place.
It was a cheap riverside barbecue spot that didn’t even open until late afternoon.
When we were broke, we used to sit there with skewers and warm beer and dream about getting rich.
We used to say that if we ever actually made it, the first thing we’d do was fix up the orphanage.
Not because no one donated.
People donated all the time.
But most of those donations were tiny and performative, just enough for good publicity.
The orphanage was still always short on money.
Food. School supplies. Repairs. Medical costs.
There was never enough.
“Candy!”
I turned.
Serena came running toward me in jeans, a white shirt, and a high ponytail swinging behind her.
She looked alive in a way I had almost forgotten was possible.
I stood up and opened my arms.
The second she hit me, I burst into tears.
Not graceful tears either.
Ugly, heaving, full-body sobs that turned heads all over the street.
She wrapped both arms around me and patted my back.
“Okay, okay, I’m here. I’m not dead. Stop crying.”
“You liar,” I choked out. “You absolute liar. You left early. We had a schedule.”
That made her laugh.
“Sorry.”
I cried for a very long time.
Long enough to pour out all the grief and terror from the last few days.
When I finally calmed down, the restaurant owner came over smiling and shook her head.
“You two girls haven’t been here in forever. What happened? She was fine a second ago and now she’s sobbing because you showed up.”
Serena laughed and said, “She missed me too much.”
The owner smiled, warm and envious.
“You two really do love each other. A friend like that is hard to come by.”
She told us the food wouldn’t be ready for another hour, so Serena and I wandered down by the river.
We found a quiet bench.
The late afternoon was full of ordinary sounds—children laughing, dogs barking, people talking.
I told her everything.
How I handled her funeral in the book. How I played Ethan the recording. How I threw her phone into the sea.
She listened, then smiled faintly.
“It’s over,” she said. “No point talking about them too much now.”
She was right.
That world was finished.
So instead, we talked about Noah.
“I want to give money to the orphanage,” I said. “Let them fix the place up properly.”
Serena thought about it, then shook her head.
“Not directly. Anonymous donations are safer. If we suddenly show up with too much money after being broke last month, people will ask questions.”
She was always better at thinking ahead than I was.
So I nodded.
We didn’t need to talk much after that.
Real friendship doesn’t need decoration.
Sometimes just sitting together is enough.
That night, after dinner, we were about to head home when the system’s voice suddenly broke into both our heads at once.
Warning. Warning. The male leads from the novel world are entering the real world with active strategy systems.
Targets: Candy Hale. Serena Quinn. Prepare accordingly.
Serena and I both froze.
Then turned to each other.
“What?”
The system offered only one explanation.
“Their systems and I exist in the same network. I can detect their arrival.”
“What are we supposed to do?” I asked.
“Nothing. Live normally. I will alert you when necessary.”
Then it vanished.
Neither of us slept well that night.
Not after that warning.
Because there was only one question in both our minds.
Why on earth would they come here?