WebNovels

Chapter 23 - The Convert

The clip went viral before Kyle even finished his stream. Titled "Streamer Cries After Drinking $58 Water," it spread through the gaming and livestreaming communities like wildfire. But inside the stream, the atmosphere was electric with disbelief.

Kyle stared at his chat, watching the accusations fly.

LUL sellout

How much did they pay you for that acting job Kylo?

BEST AD EVER Pog

Sponsored by H2O™

The tears are fake!!!!!!!

For the first time in his professional career, Kyle ignored the chat. He wasn't performing for them anymore. He felt a desperate, clawing need for more of that water. It wasn't a craving like he felt for pizza or soda; it was a deeper, more fundamental need, as if his own cells were screaming for it. He felt like a plant that had been wilting in a dark room and had just been put in the sun.

His hands, slick with a nervous sweat, flew across his keyboard. He pulled up the Clarity website again on a second monitor, his viewers watching his every click. The accusatory comments in the chat slowed, replaced by confusion as they realized he wasn't reading their messages.

His cursor hovered over the quantity selector. He clicked it up. One, two, three, four. Four bottles. A two-hundred-dollar purchase. He added it to his cart.

"What are you doing, dude?" someone wrote in the chat, a message that finally broke through the noise.

"I'm buying more," Kyle said, his voice raw and earnest. He looked directly into the camera lens, his eyes still red-rimmed. "You guys don't get it. This isn't an ad. I have never heard of this company before today. I swear on my career, on everything."

He went to the checkout page, his viewers watching in stunned silence as he entered his payment information again. The total, with shipping, was over two hundred and thirty dollars. He clicked "Confirm Purchase" without hesitation.

An order confirmation page popped up on screen. The chat was now a mix of die-hard fans defending him and skeptics doubling down.

He actually did it!

This is either real or the most genius marketing campaign in history

Bruh he just dropped $230 on WATER on a whim

I'm still calling BS, he's just committing to the bit

"This isn't a bit," Kyle insisted, leaning forward, his passion evident. "Guys, you know me. My whole diet is... garbage." He laughed, a humorless, self-deprecating sound. "I drink energy drinks for breakfast. I live on grease and salt. My body is a chemical wasteland. When I drank this... it's like... it's like my whole system just went 'Oh, so THIS is what we've been missing.' My head is clear. The headache I always have? It's just gone. I feel... clean. From the inside out."

He picked up the empty glass bottle, holding it up like a sacred relic.

"I'm not kidding. This is going to sound crazy, but I think this stuff could change my life," he said. He looked at the chat, then back at the camera, a decision solidifying in his mind.

"So here's the deal," he announced, his tone firm. "This is happening. I'm going to drink this water from now on. I'm still gonna do my food challenges, I'm still Kylo-Bites. But from this day forward, Clarity is my official drink. We're gonna see what happens. We'll call it... The Clarity Chronicle. A live experiment. Maybe nothing happens. Maybe I turn into a super-soldier."

He let out the first genuine, happy laugh of the night. The weight of his own unhealthy lifestyle had been a secret burden for years, and he felt like he had just found the antidote. He didn't care if half the chat thought he was a sellout. The half that believed him, his true core audience, were already intrigued.

ClarityChronicle HYPPPPEE

Do it! For science!

If Kylo turns into a gigachad we'll know the water works

That night, for the first time in years, Kyle didn't end his stream by chugging a two-liter bottle of soda. He ended it by staring wistfully at his empty glass and telling his audience he couldn't wait for his next shipment to arrive.

He had bought a bottle of Clarity as a joke, a piece of disposable content meant to be mocked and forgotten. He had no idea that he had just accidentally become the world's most high-profile, and passionate, spokesman for a company that technically didn't exist in this dimension.

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