I got into a heated argument with an enemy player in an online game. That very day, a popular starlet took to social media and sicced her fanbase on me. 【Who the hell do you think you are, flaming our precious Amanda?】 【Apologize right now if you don’t want to be doxxed.】 I glanced at the 99+ abusive messages flooding my inbox and sneered. I had my assistant ban her gaming and social media accounts on the spot. Who doesn't have a secret identity these days? 1 I was in a ranked promotion match when an enemy support player, username “Amanda,” typed in the all-chat: 【Anyone want to flatter me a little?】 No one on my team responded. She typed again: 【OK, fine. Kai, wipe them out.】 And for the rest of the game, our team was slaughtered by the enemy assassin, Kai, ending with a score of 0-20. After the match, I instinctively checked Kai’s profile. His avatar was adorned with a national top-player badge. Outskilled. I sighed. At least I had a loss-protection card. I queued up for another game. Wouldn’t you know it, I was matched with Kai and Amanda again. Amanda seemed to recognize me. As soon as the match started, she specifically targeted me: 【You were the Seraphina from last game, weren’t you? How about it? Flatter me a little this time, and I’ll have Kai kill you a few less times.】 I responded with a string of ellipses. I just assumed she was some young girl. But my silence, she took as a challenge. For the entire match, with Amanda perched on his shoulder, Kai hunted me down relentlessly. No matter where I went, the moment I appeared on the map, my screen went black. She even went out of her way to taunt me over my dead body. 【Seraphina, just say something nice. We’ll let you go.】 【Still not begging for mercy?】 【Don’t push the towers yet. Let’s dive her a few more times.】 I held it in for as long as I could, but staring at my 0-16 score, I finally typed: 【Can you just end it? I have another game to get to.】 Amanda immediately shot back: 【Ooh, someone’s triggered.】 【Nope. I’m going to keep killing you. What are you going to do about it?】 【…】 2 Finally, my own teammates couldn't stand it anymore and voted to surrender. I was incredibly frustrated and was about to quit the game when a party invitation popped up. Before I could even see who it was from, I instinctively accepted. The moment I entered the lobby, the game started. It was a 5v5 custom match. I randomly picked a mage, and as the loading screen appeared, I saw their names: “Amanda” and her nationally-ranked Kai. Me: 【…】 You have got to be kidding me. Sure enough, the moment the game began, they ganged up on me, slaughtering me in every corner of the map. Every time I died, Amanda would type out a taunt. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I went AFK and started typing. 【What’s there to brag about when you’re just getting carried? You don’t actually think you have any skill, do you?】 【You even have to bring your little boyfriend into a custom lobby. Why don’t you 1v1 me if you have the guts?】 【We’re both girls, what’s with the cattiness? Flatter you? Are you even eighteen yet, little girl?】 After my rant, I voted to surrender and closed the game without a second thought. I thought that would be the end of it. But the next day, my roommate sent me a video. 【Ivy, is this your game account? I remember your name is something like this?】 A sense of dread washed over me. I frowned and opened the video. It was a screen recording of a livestream. A pretty, innocent-looking girl was sitting in front of her computer, holding her phone, a pitiful expression on her face. “I was just joking with her, why did she get so angry? Even if I went a little too far, she didn't have to curse me out so horribly, did she?” As she spoke, she aimed the camera at her phone screen, which clearly showed my in-game ID. “She’s probably blocked me already. Could you all help me apologize to her? I didn’t mean it, it was all for the stream.” The video went viral almost instantly, racking up tens of millions of views. The comments section exploded: 【Is this lady a sore loser or what? It’s a meme, why is she so bent out of shape?】 【A woman who spews profanity like that can’t be a good person. Why should we apologize to her?】 【How dare she curse at our Amanda! She picked the wrong person to mess with!】 【Guys, her friends list is full now, I can’t add her in the game to flame her.】 【Don’t worry babes, I already found her social media accounts. Let’s go get her!】 3 I closed the video, my face impassive. My roommate messaged again: 【Ivy, you really cursed out Amanda Rose?】 I frowned. 【Who’s Amanda Rose? The streamer?】 Roommate: 【Oh my god, you don’t even know who Amanda Rose is? She’s the second female lead in that super popular historical drama right now! The show hit a new ratings high yesterday, so she promised her fans she’d stream, and she brought the second male lead along to play with her. They were just trying to create some content, and then this happened. I just never thought the girl who cussed her out would be you. You’ve got some serious nerve.】 I was silent for a moment. 【So everyone thinks it’s my fault? Didn’t they even try to find out what really happened?】 【What does it matter? Amanda has over ten million fans across all her platforms. Besides, her whole brand is being this pure, innocent flower. Who would believe she was deliberately provoking you?】 My roommate’s tone was one of resignation. 【Ugh, you just have to take the L on this one.】 The implication was clear: if I just ignored it, it would eventually blow over. But when I got back to my dorm after my morning classes and opened my laptop to do some homework, my notifications were exploding. 【Go die, you bully!】 【Who the hell do you think you are, flaming our Amanda?】 【You think everyone has to put up with your crap, bully?】 【Apologize to our Amanda publicly, or we’ll doxx you!】 A flood of abusive messages, like an overflowing dumpster, assaulted my eyes. I read a few, my frown deepening. Her fans weren’t just flaming me on social media; they were threatening to find my personal information. This was seriously affecting my life. So I opened my social media and posted: 【I will not be apologizing. Since Amanda Rose is a public figure, she should be even more mindful of her words and actions. She was the one who provoked me in the game first. After I quit, she pulled me into a custom lobby to humiliate me. My cursing her out was justified. If we’re talking about who’s at fault, her actions were far worse than mine. Furthermore, she guided her fans to cyberbully and personally attack me, which has caused me extreme distress. I hope she will clarify the situation and act with some integrity.】 4 I thought that by posting this, I could at least correct some of their misconceptions. I wasn’t hoping for an apology, just for the vicious attacks to stop. But the comments below were a unified front of condemnation: 【Everyone knows Amanda was just creating content for her stream. You’re the one who can’t take a joke, and you have a filthy mouth. You nearly made our Amanda cry.】 【Exactly. Amanda is gentle, but we, her fans, are not to be messed with.】 【Why should we show integrity to a bully like you? We’re fighting fire with fire!】 【Less talk, more apologizing!】 And Amanda Rose, the person I tagged in my post, eventually responded with a reluctant-sounding post of her own: 【I’m so sorry this has caused you trouble. I had no idea my fans would go and bully you. But I don’t want to dwell on this anymore, let’s just pretend it never happened.】 My eyelid twitched violently. Never happened? So I was just supposed to take all that abuse for nothing? I immediately replied: 【You don’t get to just say it never happened. I’m the one being cyberbullied and threatened with doxxing. They have seriously disrupted my life. Aren’t you going to do anything to stop them?】 Amanda replied back: 【But I didn’t say anything to them. They’re just worried I’ll be upset. Please don’t blame them.】 Seeing Amanda defend them so ardently, her fans went into a frenzy. In a single afternoon, they spammed my social media until it crashed. Someone even managed to find out which university I attended. They flooded our school’s online forum, publicly insulting and cursing me, demanding that I apologize to Amanda immediately. 5 An apology was out of the question. And Amanda had already blocked me on social media. Since they wouldn’t listen to reason, I had no choice but to go offline and ignore the slander. But I never expected this. During my evening study session, as I was getting settled in the classroom, two girls sat down in front of me and demanded aggressively, “Ivy Lee, are you really going to be so stubborn and not apologize to Amanda Rose?” “It’s bad enough you’re spewing filth online, but now you’re dragging our school’s reputation through the mud.” “No one at school knows it was you yet. You should apologize on social media right now, before we expose you.” I calmly arranged my books, then looked up. “Have you not seen my explanation on social media?” “So what? Amanda was live the whole time, we all saw it. Who’s going to believe you?” “If you don’t believe me, then don’t bother me.” I sneered. “Be careful, or I’ll curse you out too.” The two girls were speechless. They hadn’t expected me to be so tough. With dark expressions, they left, pulling out their phones. I guessed they were going to complain on the forum about how unreasonable I was. The other students in the class who had been itching to talk to me saw how fierce I was and gave up. Just when I thought I could finally have some peace, a basketball slammed onto my desk. My glass water bottle shattered instantly, spilling hot water all over my books and my arm. I yelped in pain. I looked up angrily to see Mark Momoa striding towards me, his face a cold mask. “Ivy Lee. Get on social media and apologize to Amanda right now.” 6 Mark was the captain of the school basketball team. Last semester, I had delivered water to him twice as a favor for my roommate. Because I was known as the school’s “ice queen,” and it was the first time I’d ever been seen giving a guy anything, a rumor started that I had a crush on him. But when he heard the rumor, he had frowned and said, “Ivy Lee? No impression. Not interested.” After I heard that, I never delivered water for my roommate again. But the rumor that I was a desperate fangirl, unrequited in my love, spread throughout the school. I gritted my teeth against the stinging pain in my hand and asked coldly, “Are you insane?” Mark sneered, his eyes filled with disgust. “Anyone who has my number on campus knows I’m a fan of Amanda Rose. You were probably just jealous that I like her, so you stalked her stream and then cursed her out.” I was utterly stunned by his bizarre logic. “Mark, is there something wrong with your brain? I was unlucky enough to get matched with her twice, and you think I was deliberately stalking her? Besides, I don’t have your number. How would I know which celebrity you follow? And who you like is none of my damn business.” Mark looked at me as if I were making excuses, and said impatiently, “You said it yourself, you got matched with her twice. If you weren’t deliberately queuing at the same time, how could that be a coincidence? And you don’t have my number because I didn’t want to give it to you, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t find other ways to stalk me.” He took two steps closer, his voice aggressive. “If Amanda hadn’t been wronged, you would never have had the chance to even speak to me in your life. I’m not wasting my breath on you. Apologize to her. Now.” I scoffed. “You’re so concerned with right and wrong. So what about you smashing my bottle and burning my hand?” Mark frowned, dismissive. “I can replace the bottle. I can pay for your medical expenses. As long as you apologize, we can settle this.” “Is that so? Then you can start by replacing my bottle. It’s four hundred and fifty dollars.” Mark glanced at the shards of glass on the floor and laughed. “You? Let’s not even talk about whether this cheap bottle is worth four-fifty. Even if it was, could you even afford a four-hundred-fifty-dollar bottle? I think you’re just broke and trying to extort me.” 7 I rolled my eyes and picked up a piece of the shattered glass that had the brand logo and a QR code on it. “You can scan it to see if it’s authentic. After you’ve confirmed, find a personal shopper to buy me a new one. If you don’t know where to look, I can recommend someone.” Seeing my certainty, Mark’s confident expression faltered for a second. A moment later, he changed the subject. “Ivy, you’re just trying to get my attention, aren’t you? This is such a pathetic move. If you insist on not apologizing to Amanda, don’t blame me for exposing your identity on the forum.” I said, deadpan, “Go ahead. I’m not the one in the wrong. When your goddess personally comes out to clear my name, I’ll be holding you accountable.” Mark glared at me and started to walk away in a huff. “Wait.” “What?” He thought I had given in, and shot me a disdainful look. I stuffed the glass shard with the QR code into his jacket pocket. “You think you can just act tough and walk away? Not so fast. Don’t forget to replace my bottle. I’m going to the infirmary later, and I’ll give you the bill for my medical expenses tomorrow.” Mark stared at me in disbelief, as if I were a madwoman. He seemed genuinely shocked that I was actually going to make him pay. But I didn't expect him to be so brainless. He actually went to the school forum and posted, outing me as the person who had cursed out Amanda Rose in the game. Instantly, the forum was flooded with Amanda’s fans. They found my student ID photo and started photoshopping it into ugly memes and funeral portraits, plastering them all over the forum. The entire site was spammed with posts demanding “Ivy Lee apologize to Amanda Rose.” The rumors became so rampant that the school administration had to call me in for a talk, urging me to resolve the matter quickly. 8 In the principal’s office, he spoke to me in a fatherly tone. “It’s just an apology. When you do something wrong, you have to take responsibility. Besides, cursing at people is a bad habit.” My voice was cold. “I did curse at her, but there was a reason. I was not the one who was wrong first. And after suffering such a massive cyberbullying campaign, shouldn’t Amanda Rose and Mark Momoa be the ones apologizing to me first?” The principal sighed, frustrated. “Even if you did nothing wrong, she’s a celebrity with tens of millions of fans. As the saying goes, a commoner can’t fight an official. You could have ten mouths and still not be able to argue your case. It’s better to just bow your head, put this to rest, and get some peace.” I sneered. “So you’re saying that because she’s using public opinion and power to crush me, I have to submit?” The principal shrugged. “There’s nothing to be done. You’re just one person. No one will listen to your side of the story.” I rolled my eyes. “I will make Amanda Rose beg to clear my name.” The principal clearly didn't believe me. He rubbed his temples, looking stressed. “The negative attention on the forum is affecting the school. I’m going to have the administrators shut it down for a week. You have one week to resolve this. Otherwise, the school will have to take disciplinary action.” I looked up. “Such as?” “Such as ordering you to write a self-criticism essay, and posting a public notice about it on the school-wide forum.” I pressed my lips together. A self-criticism essay and a public notice would mean that even if it wasn’t my fault, I would be forced to take the blame. I couldn't swallow that. So I said coldly, “If this matter is cleared up, I expect the school to require Mark Momoa to apologize to me.” The principal nodded. “If it can be proven that you were the victim, then Mark’s actions will certainly warrant a public reprimand.” With the principal’s affirmation, I said no more and left his office. I pulled out my phone and called my assistant, Alex. “Alex, I need you to get me the contact information for an actress named Amanda Rose. I need to speak with her.” Alex was puzzled. “She’s just a minor actress, Ms. Lee. There’s no need for you to contact her personally. We can just notify her agent if there’s an issue.” I gritted my teeth and sneered. “Oh, it’s absolutely necessary.” 9 Alex wasn’t exaggerating. My father, a permanent fixture on the top ten richest list, owned the largest entertainment company in the country, along with a vast network of connections and resources. A minor actress like Amanda Rose wouldn’t even qualify for an invitation to our family’s business galas. The reason I chose to contact her myself, rather than have Alex handle it, was because if Alex intervened, she would most likely be blacklisted or never get work again. I didn’t want to see that happen unless it was absolutely necessary. Everyone has their struggles. I ended the call and sighed, giving myself a thumbs-up. I really was a kind person. But that afternoon, I ate my words. Alex quickly got me Amanda’s number. I dialed, and a delicate female voice answered. “Hello? Who is this?” I spoke calmly. “Let me introduce myself. My name is Ivy Lee. I was the Seraphina you were matched with during your livestream.” “…” A long silence on the other end. Then, a barrage of questions. “This is my private number. How did you get it? Did you use some illegal means? Do you want me to call the police? What do you want? Isn’t this whole thing over? Why are you still harassing me?” I was speechless for a few seconds, too tired to answer her idiotic questions. I just stated my demands. “Who said it was over? You deliberately led your fans to cyberbully me. It was bad enough they were flaming me in the game and on social media, but now they’ve taken over my school’s forum and are seriously disrupting my life. You were the one who started it in the game. I demand that you clarify this matter, and you and your fans must apologize to me.” After hearing me out, Amanda sneered. “Are you okay, lady? Apologize? I’m a public figure. Why should I apologize to some poor student? If you’re trying to ride my coattails, you can start your own livestream now. Maybe you’ll even get famous for being infamous.” With that, she hung up on me.
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