My Secret TikTok Life: Family Disgrace to Global Kingmaker

Chapter 7: The Last Dollar

The neon sign above the door hummed with a sickly, buzzing vibration that mirrored the rattling of my own teeth. ‘Suds & Solace – 24 Hours.’ It was a lie. There was no solace here, only the smell of industrial bleach and the rhythmic, thumping heartbeat of heavy-duty dryers.

I pushed the door open, the bell chiming a weak, tinny sound that felt like an intrusion. The warmth of the room hit me first—not a clean, comfortable warmth, but a humid, heavy heat that carried the scent of other people’s sweat and cheap detergent. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever felt.

I stumbled toward a plastic bench in the corner, my neon green shoes squeaking against the linoleum. The only other person in the laundromat was an elderly man sleeping upright against a washing machine, a tattered newspaper draped over his chest. He didn't even stir as I collapsed onto the bench, my body finally giving up the fight to stay upright.

I reached into the pocket of my soaked hoodie. My fingers, wrinkled and grey from the rain, brushed against a small wad of crumpled paper. I pulled it out and smoothed it against my thigh.

One five-dollar bill. Two singles.

Seven dollars.

In my "Bakar" life, seven dollars wouldn't even cover the tip for a valet. It wouldn't buy a single artisanal coffee. Now, it was the entire sum of my worth on this planet. It was the gap between me and a total collapse.

I looked at a vending machine in the corner. A bag of pretzels was two dollars. A bottle of water was three. If I bought them, I’d be down to two dollars. Two dollars wouldn't even buy me a bus ticket out of this neighborhood.

"Don't eat," I whispered to myself, the words feeling heavy in my dry mouth. "If you eat, you lose the safety net. Stay hungry. Stay sharp."

I pulled out the burner phone. The screen was a spiderweb of cracks, the backlight flickering like a dying candle. It was at 1% battery—a miracle it was even on. But as I stared at the display, the interface changed.

The standard icons for calls and messages were gone. In their place was a single, pulsing golden bar that seemed to glow from behind the pixels, as if the light were coming from a different dimension entirely.

[System Initialization: 99.9%...]

The bar was stuck. It hovered there, taunting me. I felt a surge of irrational panic. Don't die now, I pleaded silently. Not after everything. Don't leave me with just seven dollars and a pair of neon green shoes.

I leaned my head back against the yellowed plastic of the bench and closed my eyes. The sound of a dryer spinning nearby became a hypnotic drone.

I thought about the gala. I thought about the smell of the burning paper in the ashtray. I thought about the look in Zara’s eyes when she took my watch. It felt like a lifetime ago, yet my clothes were still damp from the rain of that same night. The "Heart of Ice" skill was still humming in the background of my mind, keeping the grief at bay, but it couldn't stop the physical exhaustion. My vision began to swim.

Bzzzt.

The vibration was so intense it nearly numbed my hand. I jerked my eyes open.

The laundromat was gone.

Or rather, the world had been overlaid with a digital veil. The washing machines were now surrounded by floating blue boxes of data: [Asset: Industrial Washer / Efficiency: 64% / Probability of Mechanical Failure: 12%]. The sleeping man had a faint red mist hovering over him: [Status: Neutral / Threat Level: 0].

I looked down at the phone. The gold bar was gone. In its place was a sleek, minimalist interface that looked like a futuristic OS.

[Initialization Complete.] [Welcome, User: Salim Bakar.] [The Kingmaker System is now fully synced with your biological and digital footprint.]

A new window popped up, glowing with a warmth that felt real.

[Current Funds: $7.00 USD] [Current Debt: $500,000.00 USD] [Status: Pariah (The world views you as trash. Use this to your advantage.)]

I stared at the "Pariah" status. It should have hurt, but with the Heart of Ice, I just viewed it as a variable. A data point.

[First Milestone Achieved: The Absolute Zero.] [You have lost your family, your home, your wealth, and your reputation.] [Reward: Influence Level 1 – 'The Invisible Manager'.]

"What can you do?" I whispered to the phone. "How does this help me get my life back?"

As if in response, the phone’s camera activated on its own. The screen showed the laundromat, but as I panned it around, I saw something I had missed before.

Hovering over a stack of abandoned magazines in the corner was a bright gold pillar of light. It looked like a beacon that only I could see through the shattered glass of the screen.

[Detection: Diamond in the Rough.] [Target identified within 500 meters.] [Potential Influence Value: S-Rank.]

I stood up, my joints groaning. The hunger was still there, a sharp clawing in my stomach, but it was overshadowed by a sudden, electric jolt of purpose. The System wasn't just a gimmick. It was a weapon. It was seeing things the "elite" Bakars could never see because they were too busy looking down at people like me.

I looked at my seven dollars. I looked at the rain still pouring outside the glass door.

"I’m not going back to the mansion," I said, my voice finally losing its tremor. "I’m going to build a new one. And I’m going to build it on the ruins of everything they value."

I pushed open the laundromat door. The bell chimed again, but this time, it sounded like a battle cry. I stepped out into the dark, early morning air. The rain didn't feel as cold anymore.

The Golden Cage was a memory. The Blacklist was a joke.

I had seven dollars, a broken phone, and a System that was about to turn the world upside down.

[New Quest: The Subway Audition.] [Objective: Locate the S-Rank Talent.] [Timer: 02:59:59...]

The hunt had begun.