Free Web NovelChapter 59: Disaster for Going Viral
After changing clothes at home, they headed straight out again, driving down to the town square to catch a movie at the theater. Right after pulling into a parking garage and turning off the engine, "vwooong," a holographic screen suddenly popped up right in front of Eric’s face. Starled, he immediately read through the text:
[Quest: Compose a song, train the group to perform it, have them wear matching uniforms, record the performance, and upload it to streaming services. Reach 1,250,000 views - completed.]
[Completion Reward: $1,000,000.00 received, transferred to host account and a Building Renovation Blueprint for a one-time instant renovation received in system inventory.]
Eric’s face went completely blank as he finished reading. "Ding," a notification popped up on his smartphone. With trembling hands, he pulled the phone from his jeans pocket and unlocked the screen. Sure enough, it was a notification from his banking app, confirming that a deposit of $1,000,000.00 had hit his account, bringing his total balance to $2,430,000.00.
"Holy shit," Eric thought to himself.
Driven by curiosity, he opened the platform where he had uploaded the music video just yesterday. Eric’s eyes went wide. The stats showed 933,113 subscribers, 2,110,048 views, 1,755,916 likes, and 3,412,001 shares worldwide. Then he glanced down at the comment section, which already had over 5,000 comments:
"This track is insane... The Empress killed it... my ears are literally orgasming listening to this,"
"My heart was totally broken because of some family drama... but this song gave me my spark back. Thank you, The Empress and Eric Reed, for creating this,"
"Oh man... they are so cool... I am seriously in love with them,"
After skimming through a few comments, Eric leaned back in his seat, completely speechless. The hand holding his phone dropped onto his lap. Little did he know, the girls sitting around him inside the car had also gone pale, staring at the stats in utter disbelief.
They had completely shattered their own expectations, and some comments were even mentioning that the track had busted into the top ten hit lists in just a single day. With a shaking hand, Monica pulled up the charts on her phone, and sure enough, their song had cracked the top ten, sitting right at number eight.
The silence inside the turned-off car became deafening. Nobody said a word; the only sound was the collective rush of their heavy breathing. Finally, "driiing," Laura’s phone rang loudly out of nowhere. She looked at the screen, her eyes widening and her face draining of all color when she saw her uncle was calling.
Before Laura could even build up the courage to answer, "driing," Heidi’s phone started ringing too. Naturally, the moment she saw her father’s name on the screen, Heidi’s face mirrored Laura’s.
Once both phones finally stopped ringing, "ding," text notifications popped up for both of them. They opened their messages, and their faces went from pale to a sick shade of green.
"What is it?" Emma asked, breaking the silence.
Laura silently held up her phone for Emma to see. Eric leaned his head over to catch a glimpse of the text:
"You little brat, your face is all over the place now. If your father finds out, I won’t be able to cover for your antics anymore... get home right now, we need to talk,"
Emma and Eric’s faces instantly lost all color, but before they could even process it, Heidi held up her phone. Her message was just a video link with a freezing, short text underneath: "Get home. I’m waiting."
"What do we do... my dad is going to kill me if I go back," Heidi said, already visualizing her father waiting for her at home, pacing with his belt out. The thought made her visibly shake.
Seeing how terrified Heidi was, Priya and Monica naturally began to panic as well. Even though they hadn’t received calls from their own parents yet, they knew their fate would be exactly the same as Laura’s and Heidi’s.
Suddenly, "driiing," Chloe’s smartphone rang so loudly that everyone inside the car flinched and practically jumped out of their seats. Chloe glanced at the screen; the CEO who was filling in for her was calling.
"Hello," Chloe said.
"Ms. Chloe, can you please get back to the office? You need to give the board an explanation regarding your viral video... they are swarming my office and asking all kinds of questions," the CEO said.
"Um... okay... for now, please just control the situation until I get back," Chloe said, her face suddenly turning pale.
"Understood, Ms. Chloe. We will handle the damage control, but you better have a convincing explanation ready. Please think of an excuse that will put them at ease," the CEO said.
"Thanks, Bryan. Leave it to me," Chloe replied.
The call ended. Chloe’s face was now a perfect match to Heidi’s and Laura’s. She knew exactly how the board members at her company operated, they were all her uncles, just waiting for the right moment to snatch her throne and her parents’ inheritance because they still viewed her as a child.
"Um... who was that?" Eric asked.
"Bryan Vance, my right-hand man who runs my family’s business... oh man... how did things turn out like this," Chloe muttered, holding her head in both hands and looking down.
"This is bad... this is really bad... we actually went viral for real. What am I going to do if my dad finds out," Laura said, panicking.
"I’m dead... I’m dead... I’m dead," Heidi muttered over and over, tears streaming down her face.
Meanwhile, Priya and Monica were praying fiercely, pressing their hands together in front of their faces and staring up at the car ceiling, hoping they wouldn’t suffer the same fate.
"Driing," another phone rang out, but this time it was Emma’s. This gave Monica and Priya—who were frantically checking their own smartphones—a small, fleeting wave of relief. Emma looked to see who was calling and saw it was her mother, Miranda. She answered it and immediately switched on the speakerphone.
"Hey, Mom," Emma said.
"Where are you?" Miranda asked coldly. fгeewebnovёl.com
"Um... still at Eric’s place. Why, Mom?" Emma asked.
"The mothers of Heidi, Priya, and Monica are at our house right now. They’re demanding to know where their daughters are and they’ve shown me your video," Miranda answered, her voice calm and level, but the words clearly stabbed right through everyone in the car, including Eric and Emma.
This time, Priya and Monica’s faces instantly matched Laura’s, Heidi’s, and Chloe’s, turning a pale, sickly shade of green as all the energy drained from their bodies. They hadn’t escaped it after all. Heidi, on the other hand, looked completely defeated, ready to accept whatever nightmare was coming next.
"Come home right now, and bring Heidi, Priya, and Monica with you," Miranda said.
Before Emma could even reply, the line went dead. In other words, Miranda’s final words were an absolute order that left no room for argument. The silence inside the car became completely deafening.
Emma went pale. She knew exactly when her mother was absolutely furious, Miranda didn’t throw tantrums or scream, she just spoke calmly, coldly, and with absolute authority. Emma turned to look at Priya, Monica, and Heidi, who were already crying, pale, and looking like walking zombies.
While the girls were completely lost, terrified, and shaking, "brum," Eric suddenly started the car back up. Naturally, Emma, Priya, Monica, Chloe, Heidi, and Laura immediately locked their eyes on Eric in the driver’s seat.
They all assumed he was going to drop them off at their respective houses and wash his hands of the situation without helping them at all, though none of them actually said it out loud.
But Eric just turned to look at Emma upfront, and then glanced back at Monica, Priya, Chloe, Heidi, and Laura one by one. Then, he dialed a number.
"Hello?" a man answered.
"Hey, Mr. Stone. I wanted to ask, if I pull all my investments from those five companies in my portfolio, what happens?" Eric asked, intentionally making sure the girls could hear him.
"Wow... since you hold 40% of their shares, their businesses could freeze up and head straight into bankruptcy... are you sure you want to do that? A lot of employees are going to lose their jobs," Richard answered, sounding a bit anxious.
"Ah, no, sir. I was just wondering. Thank you," Eric said with a smile.
"Oh... are you really just wondering? Is there a problem?" Richard asked, worried.
"Nothing at all, sir. Thank you and have a good afternoon," Eric replied.
"Alright, have a good afternoon," Richard said.
The call ended. Eric turned back to face the girls, who were staring at him with tear-stained faces, completely confused and filled with questions, except for Emma, who wasn’t crying.
"Alright... let’s head back, meet your parents, and of course, I’m coming along to back you guys up... and Chloe, I’ll go to your office with you too," Eric said with a smile.
Naturally, the six girls, who initially thought Eric was going to abandon them and run away, were completely shocked. They had absolutely no idea what Eric planned to do when he faced their parents.
