Martin had always liked to think of himself as a man who could turn turmoil into opportunity. Where others saw disaster, he saw views, followers, and sponsorship money. Today was no different.
Dust stuck to his hair. A cut ran along his cheek from when debris had brushed him, but he grinned anyway.
His phone was strapped tight to a chest mount, camera tilted just enough to catch both his face and the devastation around him.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, here we are, live in the middle of what could be my last ever broadcast." he said, adrenaline and playfulness in his voice.
The comments exploded with emojis and spam. But right in the middle of the flood, one line was impossible to miss:
Steel_Banana99: Bro risking his life for likes lmao.
UrbanWatcher89: Dude's insane… respect tho.
NewsHound77: Is this even real? Bro's in a collapsed mall??
Xx_SniperDog_xX: This is insane. Keep streaming!!
CrazyFireDemon: Don't you dare joke about this! If you die, I swear I'll resurrect you just to kill you again!
*ViewerCount: 12,392… 15,001… 20,476…
Martin chuckled under his breath as he shoved aside a broken plank to clear a path for two coughing survivors. He guided them to a safer section, then turned back into the collapsed part of the mall to rescue others, tossing the camera a cheeky salute on his way.
"If this is my last video, well, you know who's gonna kill me… my girlfriend, CrazyFireDemon."
Even as his jokes rolled out, he kept on hauling debris, guiding survivors, and catching raw, unfiltered reactions from those stumbling out of danger. The comments scrolled faster than he could read, hearts and shocked-face emojis flooding the screen.
His grin widened as viewer count climbed from twenty thousand to fifty thousand. His heart pounded faster, not just from the strain of lifting rubble in such a perilous place, but from the thrill of a growing audience.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Martin saw two figures darting through the wreckage. Their movements were too fast, and too graceful to be dismissed as ordinary.
One of them, a tall young man with dark hair, slid across the shattered tiles. He hurled aside a slab the size of a door as if it weighed nothing, freeing those trapped beneath it.
The other was a young woman, ponytail flicking as she pulled twisted metal apart with her bare hands, rescuing people pinned under the debris.
Martin's mouth went dry at the sheer impossibility of what he was witnessing.
"No way. That's… that's him."
The recognition hit like lightning. Martin had crossed paths with him once before, weeks ago, outside a restaurant.
He remembered snapping a photo of Kay standing beside Olivia.
That picture had exploded across social feeds. Kay, who was already becoming popular as the charming young heir who had just pulled his company back from ruin in a retrial, and Olivia being the world's 5th richest person, just juiced up the news.
Kay, already rising as the charming young heir who had just pulled his company back from ruin in a retrial, paired with Olivia, the world's fifth richest person, and the internet had gone wild.
Many had speculated and even shipped them, rooting for the two to become a couple, despite there never being a single confirmation or official announcement.
That photo alone had paid Martin's rent for half a year.
And now here he was again, rescuing survivors in the middle of a disaster.
Martin's mind struggled to process the feats Kay and his sibling displayed. Their strength was far beyond human capability.
He even began to doubt if what he was seeing was real. His thoughts were broken when the steady influx of new followers caught his eye.
The viewer count had already passed 100,000 and kept climbing. The comments scrolled so fast they blurred.
StarryEyes21: OMG IS THAT HIM??
DailyBuzz: this guy again?? holy crap
ShipperQueen: Kay + Olivia 4everrrrr
GossipGrrl21: Rescue me, Prince Charming!
StreetCamLeaks: This is trending #1 already. News outlets are linking your livestream.
CivicHeroFan: Forget the reporters, this guy's stream is where the real action is.
Martin scrolled through the flood of comments, but none mentioned the extraordinary feats Kay and his sibling showcased.
He opened his mouth, ready to ask his viewers if they had seen what he just saw but then the strangest thing happened to him.
His throat locked up, the words he wanted to say caught like splinters in his mouth.
'What the hell…? Why can't I talk?'
Before panic could take hold, a voice that wasn't his own slid into his mind, calm and deliberate.
'Just keep streaming, Martin. Don't bother trying to speak about what you've seen. You can't reveal anything I don't want you to.'
Martin panicked, and screamed inside his head, 'Who are you? How the hell are you in my mind?'
But no response came. He bit his lip, trying to fight the rising panic.
Then, suddenly, a screen overlay appeared in his vision. It showed his livestream, but what played within wasn't what had really happened.
On that screen, Kay and the young woman weren't tossing slabs like demigods anymore. They looked ordinary, frantic but human, pulling survivors out of rubble in ways anyone could believe.
The voice that hadn't responded earlier rang again in his head. 'This is what's being streamed right now. If you play this right, you could make a name for yourself. A real streamer. No more chasing paparazzi scraps. Full-time, Martin. Isn't that what you always wanted?'
Hearing an unknown voice speak as if it knew everything about him, and what he wanted, was terrifying enough. But having it delivered directly into his thoughts made it worse.
Martin stayed silent, and so did the voice. No response came again. He tried to process it all, glancing back at Kay and his sister as they helped a few more survivors. Then, like a shard of glass cutting through fog, a memory snapped into place.
That day outside the restaurant, when he snapped a photo of Kay and Olivia together.
The shot had come out perfect. Too perfect. They had been surrounded by others, yet in the photo only Kay and Olivia appeared, as if the world itself had bent to spotlight them.
At the time, he'd chalked it up to luck. But he remembered a brief moment of eye contact with Kay's elder brother, and the cold sweat it sent down his spine.
Afterward, he tried to dig deeper. The only thing he turned up was that the older brother had quietly taken the role of head of security for Nav Yuga Enterprise. Beyond that, the man was a ghost. No parties, no social media, no public appearances.
And the strangest part was that Martin couldn't even recall his face. He was sure he had seen him, but the features slipped away every time he tried to remember.
Even when he asked his girlfriend and her friends who worked at the restaurant, none of them could recall what the man looked like either.
The mystery had never left him. And now, everything seemed to fall into place.
'It's him. It has to be him.'
Martin swallowed hard, 'Just what have I dragged myself into?'
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Author Note:
The first chapter of my Manhwa adaptation for EARTH's ALPHA PRIME is now publicly released on WEBTOON!! You can simply search the book title and find it.
It would mean a lot if you could subscribe, leave a like, and maybe drop a comment with your thoughts in Webtoon. Every bit of support helps increase its reach!
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Due to ongoing piracy concerns, the final 22 chapters of Volume 3 (Ch.351 to 372) are not posted publicly. They are exclusively available through:
📘 Amazon Kindle – Volume 3 eBook & PATRE0N
👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DRQNP1ZS
📅 Chapter Release Schedule
A total of 4 chapters every week, with 2 chapters / week for each book:
Earth's Alpha Prime – Volume 4
🗓️ Wednesday & Saturday
ALTER REALITY: Online – 1st Side Story of EARTH's ALPHA PRIME
🗓️ Monday & Friday
📖 Go check this new book out if you haven't already!
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Exclusive artwork for every free chapter is now available on my PATRE0N page! You can find the link in my Discord server.
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Discord Link for 'Earth's Alpha Prime' :
https://discord.gg/EmqX6fh9cV
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