The Bullied Manager is now the Great Mage

CHAPTER 9

Online communities began buzzing with unconfirmed rumors that Aria Reeves had appeared on a cable gaming broadcast called To the King Once You Log In. Most of the gaming sphere dismissed it as ridiculous.

A three-year comeback logically happened on network television, not a gaming channel. But fragments of evidence kept surfacing. Several streamers reported encountering a mysterious challenger duo during their own broadcasts that matched the description. The rumors spread faster than anyone had anticipated, gaining organic momentum underneath the obvious shills seeding conversations deliberately.

Jason noted the pattern and told Aria the organic momentum was real. That mattered more than any manufactured narrative.

Aria was scrolling through the forum posts when she asked the question carefully. "What's the actual strategy here?"

Jason was monitoring something on his computer. He didn't look away. "You'll see soon enough."

"My magic recognition doesn't need rebuilding." Her voice came cautious but direct. "And gaming stream revenue is negligible. I trust your judgment but I want to understand what the goal actually is."

He finally looked at her. "The key condition I negotiated with Owen was keeping your participation officially unannounced while allowing the rumors to circulate freely. It builds anticipation without committing to a specific moment. Every major network is watching the forum reactions right now and they don't understand why a cable gaming show is suddenly trending."

Understanding settled across her face. She nodded once and went back to scrolling.

Broadcast day arrived and Sean cycled through anxiety while Director Hayes made increasingly tight circles through the office. Jason sat monitoring viewer reactions and said nothing, which somehow made the silence feel more precarious.

The show opened with SwordRiver's entrance. The chat received him with cautious excitement, the kind of tepid engagement that said people were here but not invested. Then the lights dropped dramatically, a reshoot Owen had organized later to create a more impactful opening. The MC's voice came clear through the speakers.

"Aria Reeves."

She walked out looking visibly uncomfortable trying to force a smile that sat wrong on her face. Twitch viewership jumped immediately. Five thousand concurrent viewers became thirty thousand in the space of perhaps thirty seconds.

The initial critical posts appeared almost simultaneously, like they'd been pre-written and queued for deployment. She was faking gaming interest for image purposes. She couldn't get network television so she was chasing attention on a niche channel. The accusations came fast and sharp, the kind of dismissive cruelty that came from people convinced they understood someone's desperation.

The criticism lasted approximately fifteen minutes.

Then the game started and Aria began playing. Her contributions to in-game conversation consisted almost entirely of variations on top gap, one accidental jungle diff directed at Dylan, and one word that got beeped out by the network. She said almost nothing else for the entire broadcast.

Sean's anxiety crystallized into panic. He looked at Jason, his voice tight. "She's barely talking. The viewers need personality. They need her to engage."

Jason didn't break his focus on the monitor. "Look at the viewer reactions instead of what you think should be happening."

The gaming community was recognizing immediately that everything Aria said was authentic. The specific vocabulary. The obsession with lane dominance. The tactical callouts that only came from someone who actually played at that level. It was the kind of thing that couldn't be performed by someone who didn't actually understand the game on a fundamental level.

The critical posts began disappearing. Their authors were deleting them and leaving. Within twenty minutes, the conversation had completely reversed. The viewers weren't demanding personality. They were demanding to see her play, to watch someone operate at a level that most of them would never reach.

Gaming forums started uploading highlight clips before the interview segment even aired. Each clip spread faster than the previous one. The momentum became self-perpetuating.

Jason's phone started vibrating. Owen's name appeared on the screen. Then again. Then a third time. Jason sent each call to voicemail without hesitation. Owen had apparently realized mid-broadcast that he'd negotiated himself into a weak position. Now he was apparently desperate.

At the same time, Sean's phone began ringing. The screen showed Chief Manager Derek Young of JM Management. The same man who had poached Ryan Lee from Unique not long ago. The same man who had mocked the company's desperation while laughing about whoever they sent on that broadcast being humiliated.

Now he was apparently very interested in talking to the company he'd been mocking a few days earlier.

Sean stared at his phone like it might detonate. His eyes found Jason's. "What do I tell him?"

Jason smiled. "Answer it."