Chester’s knuckles pressed against his desk at the sight unfolding in front of him. Anger and shame flowing through his body as a single video with his face and name plastered on the front was going through the Zodiac Online forums like wildfire. Gaining more traction every second.

[Cheshire the Fraud. Views: 757,789.]

It was a detailed analysis of his performance during the inter-city competition. Or rather, his lack of performance. Each of the three fights he’d participated in were being analysed in a robotic voice as the video pointed out his complete and utter sheer luck. It covered in depth all three of his battles and pointed out where he’d gotten lucky.

Second against Nastin because he had killed him last.

Second against Ji-Woo because he had killed him last.

Defeated by an unknown player, TidalWave.

[Cheshire doesn’t deserve to be in this competition.] The voice lambasted his reputation without hesitation. [If there is one city spot that doesn’t deserve its place and is easy to take on, it's his.]

The video had briefly peaked at the top of the forums. Then soon after came several videos allegedly from people that had met him and fought him, all saying that his skills were only mediocre. Each statement was from people he had never met before in his life. Someone was falsifying reports.

Even a baby could catch a whiff of the conspiracy circling around him. This wasn’t a bored internet dweller taking an interest in him between Cheetos and booze. It was a dedicated operation, and far too prolific. No.

This was a coordinated attack.

The worst part was that it was affecting his ability to play Zodiac Online. He’d become an internet sensation in a bad way, and his city was by far the most challenged out of all of them. It wasn’t even the players that legitimately wanted to win the team spots. Wave after wave of random players were coming after him and pitting their blades against him like bloodthirsty animals. Not just in team battles, he had also received dozens upon dozens of personal challenges. He even had enough gold from winning them to issue his own if he wanted to.

‘If only I didn’t have my damned pride.’

He’d accepted every single one of the personal challenges despite the potential ramifications it could have because he couldn’t stand these players all looking at him like lunch meat on a Friday night. Every single one of them brainwashed by the forum posts to believe that he was a weakling. No matter what skills he showed them, their attitudes never seemed to change.

It hadn’t taken him long to find out who was organising this attack on his reputation. A quick backtrack into the history of the forum poster showed him a substantial amount of videos all dedicated towards one player, Ji-Woo. Another couple of clicks and searches showed him that most of the other forums posters making fun of him also mostly centered on Ji-Woo, and they all frequented one other subgroup.

[The Number 1 Ji-Woo Fanclub Discussion Board]

‘Augh.’ Chester groaned at their discussions.

The professional player wouldn’t care about him. But his fans were different.

The subgroup actively hated him, and their users were starting a smear campaign. There was a reason for this. It was one of the latest forum articles that had originated from a shady gaming news source after the placement matches.

[Ji-Woo, not as powerful as we think?]

The news article had detailed how an unknown player named ‘Cheshire’ had defended against some of Ji-Woo’s attacks even when the professional was at ‘full power’. They’d then spent the rest of the article mocking Ji-Woo. Chester could clearly see they designed it to be inflaming, infuriating and gain clicks through controversy. And it had worked.

Ji-Woo’s fans had become enraged and were out in full force to get revenge. They couldn’t stand that the legend himself was being demeaned and were sullying Chester’s reputation online. Nobody knew who Chester really was, he definitely wasn’t famous or even well-known. But that was part of the issue in the first place. They could easily dismiss him as a once-off fluke of luck. There were dozens of comments pointing out how his attacks had defended against Ji-Woo only because the professional was going easy on him. Some even said that he had blocked the attacks because Chester had flinched and luckily twitched his sword into the right position.

‘These idiots have too much free time,’ Chester felt a twinge of annoyance as he flicked through the pages.

He was trying to think of a plan.

He clearly couldn’t hit back against them online. He didn’t have the followers or the presence to block hundreds of rabid fans from attacking him. Even if he gave a logical and calm response, the chances were high that the internet netizens would disregard it completely and increase their attacks.

‘Think, think.’ Chester hummed.

“Chester!” His body jolted as he heard a deep and angry voice calling to him from the first floor. “Get down here!”

‘Huh?’ Chester rushed out the door of his room and made his way downstairs.

His feet crossed over the familiar lush carpet and his fingers stopped over the ornate handrail. His father sounded pissed. But the man had gotten everything he wanted in life, and this was no different. He took a deep breath and walked down the final set of stairs. When he got down to the living room, he stopped in his tracks as he spotted his father sitting next to a familiar face.

‘Uncle Jack?’ Chester hadn’t seen the man in months.

The black sheep of the family. Jack made it a point to never come and visit his more successful brother unless something urgent had come up, or he had some get rich quick scheme that he needed money to invest in. Usually both at the same time.

“Chester.” He could see his father’s lips curled in distaste as he walked into the room, and even his uncle seemed to look down on him. “I’ve had it brought to my attention today that you’ve become an internet laughingstock.”

Chester’s chest clenched as he saw his uncle’s expression. The man had come rushing over to spread gossip about him with his father.

‘But why?’ Chester bided his time and nodded at his uncle and father.

He wasn’t going to confront his family about this without figuring out what was going on.

“Ah, but luckily I’ve got a plan.” Jack’s eyes swerved towards Chester and he shuddered. “Don’t worry little nephew, luckily I caught onto this before it got too big. And now I’ll help you with it.”

‘Got it.’ Chester had already worked everything out.

His uncle was clearly going to use this to wrangle money out of his father somehow.

“Exactly!” Jack laughed loudly at Chester's expression. “But it’s nothing to worry about. I’ll have it all fixed up, the whole world will know your son's name by the time I’m done.” He turned towards his brother. “So long as you’re willing to pay up for it.”

“Of course!” Chester’s dad couldn’t keep the grin off his face. “Anything for my little brother. You’re doing us a big favour here.”

‘That poor sucker,’ Chester knew his father would only agree to this deal if he was going to benefit.

He definitely wasn’t an idiot, and he sure as heck didn’t care about his little brother as much as he was pretending to. His uncle would probably get thrown under the bus somehow. But he honestly couldn’t care less about what his father was planning. He had better things to do.

It was time to go online.

****

“Whassup! It’s the Cheshire Cat!”

An energetic voice called out to Cheshire the moment he logged on. A figure with a bow on his back was waving at Cheshire with an invigorating grin on his face. Just seeing the figure brought a smile to Cheshire’s face.

[Arnie: Level 50]

“Hey Arnie,” He brought his sword out as he saw the pile of notifications sitting in his chat. “How many challenges have we got here? Looks like they increased again.”

“Psh,” Arnie waved his hand flippantly. “You’re going to kick all their asses. But hey,” His eyes shifted and a small wave of worry appeared on his face, immediately being shut down as Arnie’s grin widened. “You don’t have to accept all of them you know. The bastards are a waste of your time.”

Arnie couldn’t help but worry about his friend's mental health. It was fine to fight duel after duel, and even the experience and gold gained had been great. But he’d been in some of the fights. Most of those opponents were laying it on thick with the insults. He could see his friend didn't let it faze him but he knew that somewhere deep down it had to be impacting Cheshire.

“Don’t worry,” Cheshire shot him a grin that radiated calm and pride. “Some small words aren’t going to get me down. You’re right though, they are a waste of time. NPC dialogue is a hundred times better than whatever nonsense they’re spewing.”

“Ha! That’s the spirit,” Arnie unhinged his bow and a sword appeared at his side.

Cheshire’s eyes moved towards the notifications and he could see that all four of his teammates were ready to enter the fight. They had just been waiting on him.

“Fifty-four,” Cheshire whistled in amazement.

That was a huge increase compared to the other days. One of the forum posts must have hit a nerve or convinced a few more people to challenge him. Only fifteen of those were team battles, but that left thirty-nine individual battles for him to fight.

This was going to last him the better part of the afternoon.

“Hey,” Arnie called out to him as he saw Cheshire hesitating to press the fight button. “You okay, man? We can always do it later.”

“Yeah,” Cheshire shook his head to clear it. “I just want to handle some individual battles first. Warm-up, you know?”

“Heck yeah. You go for it man, we’ll be waiting for you.”

Cheshire smiled as he saw Arnie didn’t have any doubt that he’d win. The truth was that the forum posts were definitely getting to him, even if he didn’t show it.

Some small part of him had even begun to think that they could be right. That he had just defended against Ji-Woo’s attacks with luck. But by accepting every challenge and winning, he was slowly showing himself that he was just as good as he had always thought he was.

He entered the first duel and was surprised to see it be accepted straight away. Sometimes the issuers of the challenge went offline while they waited for him.

Waiting for him was a warrior with a smug grin.

“So you’re the luck-”

-70

-70

[You have won your duel.]

Cheshire didn’t waste time in killing the man. He could see the person’s eyes widen in surprise as his attacks came in lightning fast. Two precise swipes destroyed the enemy before they even lifted their sword.

Cheshire was never a lazy person, even before entering Zodiac Online. He had farmed consistently and saved gold properly to buy good items. But he had coasted on his talent rather than trying to become proficient at playing or fighting. He had prided himself on being naturally gifted enough to not need to put in effort to be in the top thousand players in every game he played. But now that had changed.

This last week had been completely different compared to any other in his gaming life. It was humiliating. Being mocked and ridiculed because of his lack of skill. And so he had trained, he trained and trained and trained.

For hours on end, he had accepted duel after duel and then practiced on his off time. Each player coming in with new abilities and tactics. He had taken them all on in a massive non-stop bloodbath and he had changed. With every swipe of a sword his perception had grown keener, his dodges more precise and his retaliation swifter and harsher.

Duel after duel, battle after battle. He was no longer coasting on raw talent alone to come out on top. He was forcing himself to improve continuously. Even if his levels and stats hadn’t changed much he was incomparably stronger than he was a week ago.

[Your duel is beginning in 3… 2...]

He moved onto the next duel with gusto.

“Gutter trash.” The latest player swung a scimitar through the air.

It was a pity that no matter how many fights he won, the internet trolls continued to pull him down. No matter how many matches he won he couldn’t change that. They didn’t care about facts or logic, only that they bring down every bit of his reputation and then some.

It was definitely weighing on him.

And if he didn’t do something about it soon he was afraid his self-worth would definitely go down the gutter.

****

“You got lucky you little crap! You aint nothing but a hot piece of shit!” The warrior shouted profanities as Cheshire backed him further into a corner.

[Your team has won the duel.]

He cornered the last player and brought his sword down to cleave the troll in half. But Cheshire’s furious expression didn’t die down as he gazed at the body.

He had finally gotten through all fifty-four matches, both individual and team. But they had insulted him the entire time despite destroying his enemies at every turn.

This one had been the final straw.

“Hey, Cheshire! Don’t take them seriously,” Arnie’s voice was underlined with panic as he saw Cheshire’s angry expression. “Those guys don’t know anything. They’re just some anonymous jerks that are following a dumb internet trend.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Cheshire put his sword away and sighed. “I don’t want to keep taking this crap day after day. I’m going to end this.”

This group of players had been even more verbal than the last. The online sentiment was growing to dangerous levels.

He couldn’t let this grow any further.

He knew what he had to do. There was no way to convince these fanboys that he was a worthy opponent because emotion drove them, not logic. But he knew that there was one person who could definitely end this thing. Someone whose words they would have to accept.

He gritted his teeth and turned towards the city. Inside was the teleportation circle that would let him get to the city of Translor. He knew that this endless wave of challenges and abuse would only continue as long as he did nothing to retaliate. But since it had started with people believing he wasn’t skilled, the right way to end it would be to show everyone that he could actually fight at the top level of the game.

“What are you going to do?” Arnie asked hesitantly.

“I’m going to fight Ji-Woo.”

****

‘I have a favour I’d like to ask. No. I definitely need a favour. No. I demand a favour. No. I would pretty please, very much like to ask something of you. Yes, a favour, your fans are being little bastards.’

Cheshire went over every scenario in his head as he waited for the duel to be processed. They had allowed him to stay in the arena and he was sitting with his sword on his lap trying to figure out what he’d say. This wasn’t some no-name greenhorn he was confronting.

This was Ji-Woo.

A legendary player that everyone knew was one of the best in the world. To demand a favour seemed like it would just backfire. But he didn't know if Ji-Woo would appreciate someone who sucked up to him. So he was replaying every sentence in his head.

‘You’ve definitely got to ask him,’ Cheshire tried to hype himself up but his resolution wavered. ‘Maybe I’ll ask him after the match?’

Before he could decide on the proper way to go about it, the arena lit up with light. Cheshire was more than familiar with this by now. His opponent was teleporting into the arena.

‘Okay. First impression,’ Cheshire felt his confidence draining as Ji-Woo’s form came into view. ‘I’ve got to make these first words count.’

“Ah, um. Hey.”

He could feel his nerves failing him as he stood up and came face to face with Ji-Woo.

‘God this was a bad idea.’ He immediately regretted his stubborn-headedness.

This was the Ji-Woo. Legendary player and one of the strongest in every game he played. He was probably the top warrior in the game right now. And Cheshire was just an ant compared to him.

‘No,’ Cheshire’s hands gripped tightly onto his sword. ‘Don’t defeat yourself before you’re even started.’

“Oh cool, I didn’t think you’d actually accept. Damn I’m… no wait.” Cheshire took a deep breath.

‘Get a hold of yourself.’

He could feel his muscles relaxing and his mind clearing as he breathed in and out. It was his decision to come and fight this man. Now that he was here he wasn’t going to chicken out.

“Hi. We met about a week ago. I’d like to fight with you.”

He raised his sword defensively and he could see Ji-Woo’s eyes flicker. But he wasn’t sure if it was derision or something else. Cheshire kept his sword held out in front of him just in case Ji-Woo decided to kill him out of spite. He was probably taking up the man’s valuable time.

“Cheshire.” Cheshire’s heart pounded in fear as Ji-Woo’s face broke out into a grin. With a flick of his hand a beautiful and deadly looking sword appeared from thin air. “I remember you.”

“And yes.”

Cheshire jolted in fear as Ji-Woo’s body seemed to disappear. Before the words had even left his mouth Ji-Woo had disappeared from his spot and he could see Ji-Woo’s blade aiming to pierce his chest.

-Blocked.

Cheshire brought up his sword to meet the oncoming weapon. Compared to the hundreds of attacks that he’d experienced this week, it was definitely the strongest he’d faced. But he’d grown so used to fighting that he knew he’d be able to block it.

That was one attack down.

“I wanted to fight you too.”

“Oh damn,” Cheshire’s eyes widened as he realised the sword had come a lot closer than he’d thought. “You don’t waste time do you.”

‘My turn.’ Cheshire threw out a strike to hit Ji-Woo.

-Dodged.

‘Holy-’

Ji-Woo dodged the attack with a well-practiced motion and struck back at Cheshire with deadly accuracy. Cheshire could hardly see the strikes and felt his fear rising as he realised he’d probably bitten off more than he could chew.

This guy was far too strong compared to the individuals he’d been fighting all week.

-Blocked.

-Blocked.

-Dodged.

‘Ah man,’ He’d had to dodge that last one.

But at least he'd blocked two. Cheshire brought his sword back and looped it around so that he could stab at Ji-Woo, but before he could bring it out fully he realised that Ji-Woo’s sword was already flying back towards him. Attack after attack pelted against him and he hastily brought back his weapon to defend himself.

Each hit seemed to be quicker and faster than the last.

“Heh.” Cheshire’s own eyes looked like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. “I knew it.”

He was still keeping up with the attacks even though they were even faster than they’d been during the placement matches. He really was strong enough to avoid dying by Ji-Woo’s hands. Even if he died here he could tell that if he wanted to, he’d be able to bring out this level of power in every fight.

“Mm?” Ji-Woo sliced at Cheshire while thoughts distracted the warrior but with a swift movement, Cheshire dodged his attack and brought his blade around to cut up Ji-Woo’s chest.

A single wrong move and both of them would be cut into ribbons. Cheshire was feeling the pressure as Ji-Woo continued to dodge his onslaught with a grin. But this was the kind of pressure he could thrive off of.

“It’s been a rough week.” Cheshire wasn’t ashamed to admit it as he stabbed forward with his sword at Ji-Woo, only to hit thin air. “I needed to let off some steam, and prove something to myself as well.”

“Prove something?” Ji-Woo leaped back and with a spring in his step he shifted Cheshire’s blade away from his face and swiped at his fingers.

‘Crap.’

Cheshire brought his hand and sword back as though his fingers were getting close to lava. The blade missed him by a mile but he wasn’t taking any chances in this fight. He didn’t want to die due to a stupid slip up.

‘I might actually be able to win this duel.’

He jumped back as far as he could and stared Ji-Woo in the eyes. “Actually, I got completely smashed in the competition. So I wanted to show myself that I didn’t completely suck.”

He didn’t mention the bullying or the online rally against his reputation. Ji-Woo wouldn’t be part of that, but he still wanted to ask him that favour. He wanted Ji-Woo to tell the world that it wasn’t just a fluke that he’d managed to get this far.

“Oh?” lightning surged through Ji-Woo’s eyes as he registered what Cheshire was telling him. “You’re telling me you were feeling down on your luck and your first thought was to come and challenge me?”

Ji-Woo laughed darkly and with a gesture of his hand arcs of lightning spread out of his body, forcing Cheshire to step back further as they threatened to electrocute him. Cheshire panicked as the arcs got closer and he took a step back.

“Well then,” Cheshire’s fingers curled around his blade as his opponent spoke. “I guess I’d just be insulting you if I held back.”

Ji-Woo’s eyes lit up with lightning and Cheshire’s hair blew back as a fierce wind picked up in the arena, and the surroundings filled with the echoing of thunder. Behind Ji-Woo three swords formed in the air with a sharp crack. Each one filled to the brim with lightning.

Cheshire knew that he wouldn’t be able to guard against all of them at once.

“Lightning’s Descent.” Ji-Woo pointed at Cheshire and the swords flew towards him.

“Grand blade."

Four blade afterimages appeared in the air to meet the lightning-filled swords and Cheshire ran past them, going after Ji-Woo. He couldn’t defend against the swords continuously. He had to end this in one go.

The lightning swords clashed against the blades and Ji-Woo brought his sword up to defend against Cheshire’s sudden attack.

“Lightning’s power.”

The air crackled with electricity as the arcs of lightning surrounding him converged on his position. Each one followed his sword and struck out at Cheshire’s body.

“Grand shield.”

Cheshire didn’t hesitate to use his skills to defend himself. The seal had already broken and they were in an all out battle now.

-Blocked

-Blocked

-Blocked

A massive iron shield appeared from the ground in front of him and the arcs of lightning bounced off of it harmlessly. He had successfully defended against Ji-Woo-

-156

“What?” Cheshire couldn’t help but gasp at the damage that appeared over his head.

It was insane. The warrior appeared next to him, smashing through the giant shield and stabbing Cheshire through the arm. But this was also an opportunity.

Cheshire finally had Ji-Woo close enough that his attacks couldn’t miss.

‘Now.’

-70

-70

He swiped at Ji-Woo and made sure the distance between them didn’t increase. He had him.

“Gran-”

“Lightning’s power.” Ji-Woo’s voice cut through his and Cheshire felt the air around him electrify.

-80

-You have died

Cheshire didn’t even have time to respond as his body hit the ground.

‘Ha.’ He smiled to himself as he saw his corpse.

He had made Ji-Woo serious. He didn’t have a shred of regret about losing the match.

‘No,’ he shook his head as he revived in the area. ‘That’s a lie.’

He definitely regretted that he’d lost. Because even if he’d made Ji-Woo get serious, in the end he was definitely aiming to win, not just to come out even.

‘I guess I am a pretty competitive person,’ he brushed off the feeling of defeat and was surprised to see Ji-Woo still standing there.

The professional player had waited for him.

“That was a good fight,” Ji-Woo nodded at him, and then tilted his head in confusion. “You look like you wanted to ask me something?

Cheshire smiled. Here was a professional player treating him like an equal. Someone so important that his time was probably worth more than Cheshire could afford. But this fight had made him realise something else.

He was really god damned strong.

‘Ah. So that’s it.’ Cheshire flexed his hand as he felt a rush of emotion squeeze through him.

He had just fought against one of the strongest players in the world and held his own. This past week he had surpassed his own skill, become dedicated and proven to himself that he was just as strong as he thought he was.

The past week had been hell. He’d lost confidence in himself, he’d been beset at all sides and his reputation was in the gutter.

But now that he had regained his confidence he could finally think clearly. Dozens of players wanted to fight him daily, each with their own set of skills and abilities. Ordinarily it would be hard to find enough players wanting to fight you, and you could count them on your fingers if you were well known. Now he was practically being handed a buffet of opportunity. This was his lucky chance to improve.

‘Who cares if they insult me a bit,’ As long as he believed in himself that was all he needed.

He didn’t want to give up this golden opportunity that had been handed to him.

If he was going to show the internet he was strong, then he would do it with his own two hands. He wouldn’t rely on Ji-Woo or anyone else. Even if it took a thousand battles, he would overcome every single one of them and then show the world who he was.

“No. No questions or favours to ask about.” He stuck out his hand. “Thanks for the fight.”

Ji-Woo smiled and took the hand, giving Cheshire a firm handshake.

“Hey,” Ji-Woo’s voice grew deeper and Cheshire could see the warrior was thinking over something. “I really enjoyed this. Let’s fight again sometime.”

[You have been sent a friend request from player: Ji-Woo. Would you like to accept? Y / N]

“Yeah,” Cheshire couldn’t contain his happiness at the request. “Anytime.”

****

“So you got your ass kicked by Ji-Woo,” Arnie put up a comforting smile as he saw Cheshire returning.

He’d gotten the notification in his party chat that Cheshire had died. He believed in his friend more than anything, but against a player as skilled as Ji-Woo he honestly hadn’t expected any other result.

“Yeah,” Cheshire’s grin was unexpectedly light and genuine. “Got my ass kicked badly. But you know what, I held out for a while. I’ll take the good where it comes.”

“Ha!” Arnie’s smile widened as he saw Cheshire’s enthusiasm. “That’s just like you man. Nobody can keep you down.”

“Heck yeah!” Cheshire’s tone was upbeat as he and Arnie walked through the city. “I’m the goddamn Cheshire Cat.”

Now he only had one last loose end to take care of.

****

“You’re a real credit to our family Jack.”

Chester could hear his father’s faked politeness as he walked into the living room. It was like listening to a snake congratulating its future meal on fattening up. He didn’t doubt that his father had somehow duped uncle Jack into something. Of course, only Jack would lose if things went south; His father probably had enough backup plans to make sure he was nowhere in the blast zone.

“Ah good. You’re here.” Chester’s father turned to him with a sly smile. “I’ve figured out a way to fix this whole mess you’ve gotten into.”

“I’m not going to do it.” Chester flat out refused before he’d even heard his father’s proposal.

He didn’t need to fix anything. Besides, the only person his father wanted to benefit was himself. He knew the man had somehow organised a way to gain something from a poor sucker.

Chester watched his father’s face turn red and the man slammed a piece of paper in front of him.

“A party?” Chester scanned the paper up and down.

This wasn’t his father’s usual way of doing things.

“I will not stand a humiliation to this family,” His father’s stern tone left no room for negotiation. “You will go, and you will court the influential figures and network. I’ll be handing you a list of their details soon. You don’t know how many strings your uncle had to pull to get you this opportunity.”

Chester’s frown deepened, but as he read the details, he lightened up. This seemed like something he’d be into.

“Fine.” Chester grinned.

He didn’t care about networking or even his humiliation. He had already proven to himself that he was strong, and that was all that mattered. Soon the entire world would know his strength. But seeing the name of the organiser made him frown. His uncle had to have pulled a lot of favors to get him invited to this. He didn’t know how much it had cost to get this invitation, but this was no small company.

This was Greiche Financial.