Chapter 5: The Billionaire's Wrath

The lingering satisfaction of his victory was a physical sensation, a warm hum beneath his skin that was far more potent than any drug. Ethan leaned back in his chair, the chaos of Leo’s side of the room looking less like a monument to hedonism and more like the ruins of a conquered city. He had done it. He had taken the untouchable Leo Vance and, with nothing more than sound and psychology, had shattered his composure and engineered his public humiliation.

As if on cue, the System’s notifications bloomed in his vision, a cascade of triumphant blue light.

[Main Mission ‘The First Lesson’ Complete!] [Target experienced a significant negative outcome (academic failure, public humiliation, official reprimand) as a direct result of his own behavior, amplified by the Host.] [Karmic Balance Partially Restored.] [Calculating Reward…] [Reward Issued: 100 Karmic Points. New Skill Unlocked: [Evidence Concealment].]

A hundred points. And a new skill. Ethan felt a predatory grin stretch his lips. The power the System offered was intoxicating, a perfect instrument for his analytical mind. He looked at the whiskey bottle on his desk, the symbol of his initial vow. This was just the beginning.

His victory lap was cut short by a strangled cry from the doorway. Leo stumbled back into the room, his face pale and blotchy, his eyes wild with a mixture of fury and disbelief. He had clearly just come from his meeting with Chloe and his professor. He wasn't holding a reprimand; he was holding the smoldering wreckage of his grade.

He immediately snatched his phone and jabbed at the screen, his thumb moving with frantic speed. He put it to his ear. Ethan activated his newly upgraded [Observation] skill.

[Target: Leo Vance] [Emotional State: Desperation (90%), Righteous Indignation (75%), Fear (60%).] [Short-term Intention: Secure parental intervention to punish Ethan Hayes.]

“Dad?” Leo’s voice was a desperate, childish whine. “Dad, you have to do something. It’s my roommate… he’s sabotaging me! I failed my comms midterm. He did something to my alarms, I know he did! … No, I’m not making it up!”

Ethan watched, his expression placid. He could hear the faint, angry squawking from the phone’s earpiece.

“Everyone thinks I’m crazy!” Leo pleaded, his voice cracking. “The RA, my professor… they’re siding with him! He just sits there looking like a saint, but he’s a psychopath! You have to call them. Call the Dean. You told me if I ever had any real trouble… Dad, this is real trouble! He’s trying to get me kicked out!”

Leo listened for a long moment, a flicker of vicious hope returning to his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. Dean Miller. Make them listen, Dad. Make them tear this room apart. You’ll see. You’ll all see.”

He hung up, breathing heavily. He shot Ethan a look of pure, venomous triumph. “You’re done,” Leo snarled. “You think you’re so smart? My father is about to rain hell down on this whole university until they find out what you did. You’re going to be expelled. You’re going to be begging on the street. Just you wait.”

A normal person would have felt a spike of terror. Ethan felt only a cold, exhilarating surge of anticipation. The game was escalating. The board was getting bigger. He had anticipated Leo would lash out, but he hadn't predicted this. Bringing in the billionaire father was a move of brute force, a clumsy, powerful swing of a financial sledgehammer.

Less than an hour later, the official notification arrived. It wasn't a knock on the door or a call from Chloe. It was an email, sent simultaneously to both him and Leo, from the office of Dean Miller, the highest authority in Student Affairs. The subject line was chillingly formal.

Subject: Formal Investigation Regarding Room 303

The body of the email was dense with bureaucratic language that did little to soften the threat. “Serious allegations of targeted harassment and technological sabotage… Full-scale investigation… a team from Campus Security and Information Technology will be dispatched to conduct a thorough search of your living quarters… Your full cooperation is expected… Failure to comply will result in immediate suspension pending an expulsion hearing.”

Leo smirked, shoving his phone in Ethan’s face. “Read it and weep, psycho. IT is coming. They’re going to find whatever little gadget you used and then you’re finished.”

This was the checkmate move, in Leo’s mind. A team of professionals would surely find the coin-sized audio emitter he’d planted. His word against Leo’s might be one thing, but physical evidence would be immutable. The walls were closing in.

But Leo didn’t have the System.

Ethan calmly turned his attention to the notification that still hovered in his vision. He focused on his reward.

[Skill: Evidence Concealment (Level 1)] [Description: Allows the Host to designate a single man-made object (max size: 1 cubic foot) and render it undetectable to conventional physical and electronic searches for a duration of 24 hours. To designated searchers, the object becomes 'conceptually invisible,' failing to register in their perception. It is simply… not there.] [Cost: 20 Karmic Points per activation.]

Ethan’s smile was hidden behind a carefully blank expression. It was perfect. More than perfect. It was as if the universe itself was conspiring on his behalf, providing the exact shield he needed at the exact moment the sword was swung.

He focused his intent on the small, black disk still stuck to the underside of Leo’s desk, buried in a nest of power cords. 'Activate [Evidence Concealment] on the audio emitter,' he thought.

[Designate Target: Untraceable Audio Emitter? Cost: 20 KP. Activate?]

‘Yes.’

[20 KP deducted. [Evidence Concealment] is now active on the designated target. Time remaining: 23:59:58.]

A faint shimmer, visible only to him, seemed to pass over the spot where the emitter was hidden, and then… nothing. It was still there, but at the same time, it wasn't. The System had thrown a cloak of impossibility over it.

The investigation was no longer a threat. It was an opportunity. A beautiful, glorious opportunity to hammer the final nail into Leo’s coffin. They would come with their scanners and their searching hands. They would tear the room apart under the watchful eye of the university administration. And they would find absolutely nothing.

What would that do to Leo’s credibility? What would the Dean think of the billionaire’s son who cried wolf, who launched a university-wide investigation over a paranoid fantasy? He wouldn’t just be the kid who overslept. He would be the unstable, delusional liar who harassed his roommate and wasted the university’s time and resources.

The knock on the door came forty minutes later. It was firm and official.

Ethan smoothed his shirt and stood up, his posture calm and composed. Leo jumped up, his face alight with manic glee, and threw the door open.

Standing in the hallway were two campus security officers, a harried-looking man in a polo shirt with ‘IT Services’ embroidered on it, and behind them, a deeply stressed-out Chloe Jenkins.

“Leo Vance, Ethan Hayes?” the lead security officer said, his eyes sweeping the room. “We’re here to conduct a search as per the Dean’s directive. We’ll need you both to wait in the hall.”

“Go ahead,” Leo said with a sweeping, magnanimous gesture. “Check everywhere. Especially his side.”

Ethan met Chloe’s worried gaze with one of quiet, weary resignation. He gave a small, helpless shrug, as if to say, ‘Can you believe this?’ Her expression softened with a flicker of sympathy. The narrative held.

As he stepped into the hallway, leaving the investigators to their work, Ethan felt a cold certainty settle deep in his bones. This wasn't a battle for a dorm room anymore. The arena had expanded to the highest echelons of Blackwood University. And with the silent, powerful System at his back, he was more than ready to play. Let them search. He had nothing to hide.