CHAPTER 24: 24. DEATH THREATS

Some big, scary men stopped when they saw Evan and Riki just standing there dumbfounded next to their car.

"Hey, did you two see someone running this way?" one of them asked.

Evan quickly replied, "We didn’t—"

"We saw him, he ran that way!" Riki interjected, pointing in the other direction.

The intimidating men immediately headed in the direction Riki had pointed.

"Let’s go catch him!"

"Don’t let him get away!"

After the men had left, Evan snapped out of it and turned to Riki.

"Why did you lie? What if the person they’re chasing has a debt or something?" Evan whispered.

Riki shook his head, "No, I’m sure those people had bad intentions. We should catch the person they were chasing and interrogate him."

"You were the one who just said not to get involved, right?" Evan asked.

However, Riki had already gone to the hiding place of the person whom the system identified as a celebrity.

"Hey, do you need help? Those men are gone."

The person hiding looked up at Riki and nodded quickly.

Those unique and beautiful amber eyes stared at Riki with a flash of fear.

"Come into my car before they notice and find you here."

The celebrity agreed to enter Riki’s car, as he had no other choice. Though it felt like fleeing from wolves only to enter a lion’s den. He clearly didn’t know Riki or Evan.

But he was certain they were good people.

Evan drove the car at a moderate speed, so it wouldn’t look suspicious.

[You have successfully completed your third mission today. Your reward, in the form of information, will be written on paper and sent to your apartment along with the evidence the system has.]

[You have gained an additional 3 points for all stats and 5 system points.]

[Only 5 system points left, then you can advance to the next level]

Riki couldn’t focus on what the system was telling him. Because his focus this time was on the celebrity in front of him. Though Riki didn’t know what kind of celebrity he was. All Riki could see were those beautiful amber eyes. Riki hadn’t even figured out if the celebrity were male or female.

"Don’t you want to tell us about your situation? Maybe we can help," said Riki. He and the celebrity were sitting in the backseat. Because Riki had to interrogate the celebrity.

The celebrity finally removed the white mask they were wearing, but Riki still didn’t know whether the celebrity was a woman or a man.

Because he had a face that was both feminine and masculine. Were he beautiful... or handsome? Everything was mixed together.

However, Riki immediately knew the celebrity were a man when he saw the Adam’s apple on their neck, especially since their voice was also a man’s voice.

"I’m Sean Samuel. Sometimes called Sean, sometimes called Sam... you can call me either of those."

"Wait a minute, aren’t you the actor in the short drama ’Mystery in My Classroom’? The one who won the Best Newcomer Actor award?" Evan interjected from the front.

"Shh! Evan, let me and him talk first. So we can figure out the situation."

"Alright, I’ll be quiet."

Riki looked back at Sean, "Alright, Sean, continue your statement."

Sean glanced at the car window, then back at Riki, and sighed heavily.

"Since you already know I’m that newcomer actor... you must understand that I receive a lot of gifts from fans, right? I open them one by one, upload them to my social media, and thank them. But one day, there was a gift containing a death threat. I don’t know who it was from. But I received that threat after agreeing to star in a new series. Unlike the previous short horror-themed drama, this one is a classic teenage romance drama. There are some actor friends of mine there. Some of my friends are new actors who also became popular overnight, like Travis Averdo, Devano Hanzel... maybe— maybe it’s still possible... that their fans the one sent me that death threat. I even had to hide in that small apartment, but suddenly the people sent by the threatener came, wanting to kill me. I truly don’t understand what I did wrong."

Riki fell silent afterward, making the silence feel loud. Even Evan didn’t know what to say at that moment.

The silence between them continued until the car entered the parking lot of The Manor Residence building.

"Do you want to go to my apartment first to rest? Because I have to help Evan move into his apartment, he’s here too," said Riki.

"No need, Rik, I can carry all my stuff. You just take him to your apartment, I’ll catch up with you later."

"Alright, come on, Sean. Put your mask back on."

***

"Are you feeling better?" asked Riki. He was cooking dinner at the time. Meanwhile, Sean was just sitting there, staring blankly. In front of Sean was a glass of warm ginger drink that Riki had made for him.

Looking at Sean, Riki’s memories returned to Angelo, Angeline’s younger brother, who was a pretty boy. Though they didn’t look alike, both had unique facial features.

Riki thought the reason Sean was popular was because of his uniqueness.

But not everyone could accept a pretty boy like Sean. So Riki wasn’t too surprised if Sean received death threats.

Because in this day and age, people become fanatical about things. There are also many fanatical fans. Even someone who isn’t a celebrity like Angeline once had a stalker case.

Riki placed a plate with warm rice and slightly spicy chicken curry on the table.

"Do you like chicken? Let’s eat together; we don’t need to wait for Evan, because I’m already hungry, and he can eat later on his own," said Riki.

Sean chuckled upon hearing this, then pulled the plate closer to him.

"I can eat anything because I don’t have allergies and I’m not picky about food," Sean said.

"Should I record the two of us and say that Sean Samuel ate my cooking?"

Sean laughed at Riki’s words, "Hahaha, why would you do that?"

"So I can become famous."

"Aren’t you already famous because I saw your video taking your girlfriend out to dinner at Skydine? You rented out the entire Skydine and bought her that rare pink diamond, right?"

Suddenly, Riki felt embarrassed in front of Sean. If it weren’t for the system, Riki might never have done all that.

But there was no denying that the experience with Angeline was quite enjoyable. Riki was also happy because Angeline was happy. But it turned out that Angeline liked Riki, and she was heartbroken because Riki had to do all that forcedly.

Riki couldn’t understand women; he was indeed bad at that. So, Riki and Angeline decided to stay friends instead of dating.

Riki had also asked permission to use his date with Angeline as an excuse to reject Hannah.

Back to Sean.

"Well, it’s a pretty complicated story, but for right now, I’m not dating her anymore."

Sean stared in disbelief, "After all those romantic scenes? Goodness, even a writer was inspired by your videos, but you broke up?"

Riki laughed, feeling that he and Angeline were indeed quite silly.

"I did all that to show off, while she liked me, and she felt hurt if I didn’t truly like her. So, we chose to be friends while getting to know each other better."

Sean looked unsatisfied hearing Riki’s story.

"No, this is very silly. How could you not like such a beautiful girl? She’s Angeline Harland, right? The beautiful model? Even my friend Devano likes her. Could there be another woman?" Sean asked.

Riki smiled awkwardly, then rubbed the back of his neck and answered, "I don’t know..."

"But this is good news for my friend, because he felt heartbroken after seeing that video."

"So, did you come here with me because you already knew who I was?" Riki asked.

Sean shook his head, "No, I only remembered who you were when I saw your back while you were cooking earlier."

Riki furrowed his brow, "Oh, really?"

There was no further conversation as they focused on their food.

After finishing, Sean offered to help wash all the dirty dishes and cooking utensils.

But Riki refused because Sean was his guest.

So Riki washed everything himself. Meanwhile, Sean only watched Riki’s back.

Riki had a sturdy back, like someone who had lived a strong life.

However, as far as Sean remembered, when he watched the video clip of Riki and Angeline, Sean thought Riki was a wealthy young man who had never experienced hardship.

But it seemed he was wrong.

Riki looked mysterious.

Ugh, but why was Sean thinking about others’ fates when he was almost killed by a hired killer?

"I think the person behind the death threats is no ordinary person, Sean. Because he was able to hire that many men to chase after you. I don’t think you’re safe yet. Do you have any evidence that they want to kill you, or evidence of the death threats you mentioned... because we have to report it to the police."

Suddenly Sean looked anxious, and his next words made Riki both surprised and suspicious.

"But Riki... I’ve already reported it to my manager and the entertainment agency that represents me. They just stayed silent and told me to keep quiet, not to let anyone know, and not to report it either. Even the evidence of the death threats was confiscated by them."