Rewind With A Superstar System-Chapter 61: Damage Control

<🎧 Song Recommendation: I Smoked Away My Brain by A$AP Rocky, Imogen Heap, Clams Casino>

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[Julian’s Wife: I always knew that Von was a psycho! He deserves everything coming to him. Why is my baby so kind to have forgiven him? It’s so unfair!! 😡]

[Coffee Addict: I know, right! Julian is so fucking kind, that’s why he ain’t my type. Bro needs to expose that arrogant idiot and stop being a pussy 🥱]

[Am Marrying My Dog 🥹: Hey yall shld chill. We all meant to be praising Julian for his kindness not hating, he’s a chill G 😤]

[Marry Me, Von!: Are we deadass, guys! Or did that fake guy’s smile get into y’all? Why not ask what ’good boy’ Julian was doing with Von in a bar in the first place? 😒]

[Von’s Former Wife: How inhumane for you to try justifying his behavior!! that’s total sheep behavior. Von is a fucking loser with mental issues, and I ain’t want anything to do with him no more 😑]

[Von’s First BF: Chill, gal 🥀 bruv doesn’t know you exist. No one cares about your bs love.]

[Mr. Know It All 👁️‍🗨️: @Marry Me, Von! , you really made a good point, but it’s unfortunate the others are too blinded to realize it... well, I’ll only be an observer in this case.]

[The Real Smart Guy: I don’t give af about what happened but Von had no fcking reason to lay his hands on a celebrity like Julian. All you sheep fans are the reason blud remains so arrogant, and that’s truly unfair! 🤢🤦🏾]

[Aura Fan Forever: Yeah, I guess... 😞]

***

In just an hour, the article had gone from two thousand shares to twenty-one thousand. It was quickly becoming among the biggest daily stories in entertainment news.

TMZ and the other gossip rags were having a field day, dissecting the little they could find from Von’s life, his background, and painting him as a loose cannon who finally snapped.

Meanwhile, Von was slowly losing his mind. He watched the numbers on his System interface tick downward like a countdown to oblivion. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

[Current Fans: 5,411]]

Von’s face paled as his eyes darted across the holographic panel. He was truly terrified to imagine what would happen if his count dipped below the 5,000 threshold again.

Would he lose his former rewards? Would his stats degrade? The System didn’t offer an answer, and he wasn’t ready to find out himself.

"Please, Zack..." Von turned to his roommate, clasping his hands together in a desperate plea. "I’m begging you, help me out, bro! You’re the only one who can save me."

Zack was immersed in his homework , his back turned to Von. He didn’t even look up. It was quite obvious he was furious. Von knew he deserved every bit of the cold shoulder for disappearing to a shady meeting in the middle of the night and coming back with a felony-level scandal.

Suddenly, Zack slammed his laptop shut and climbed into his bed, pulling the covers up to his chin.

"I’m going to sleep," Zack said, his voice muffled by the pillow. "Feel free to run off again for another secret meeting. See where that gets you."

Von could only smile wryly at the rejection. With nothing else to do, and being too depressed to continue refreshing the hate comments, Von sighed and dragged himself to his own bed.

He lay there in the dark, staring at the ceiling, wondering if his second chance at life had just ended before it truly began, before he gave in to sleep.

(3:45 AM — Tuesday, May 1st, 2019)

Tap, tap, slap... SPLASH!

Von’s eyes fluttered open as a splash of cold water hit his face, doing the job Zack’s relentless tapping couldn’t accomplish. He sputtered, wiping his eyes, he was disoriented.

"Huh?" Von looked up with a confused stare, wondering why he was being woken up less than two hours into his sleep.

Zack stood over him, holding an empty glass and looking unimpressed. "Just imagine," Zack said, shaking his head. "You’re sleeping like a baby when you’re this close to losing everything you’ve ever worked for."

That single reminder made every semblance of sleep in Von vanish instantly. He sat up, the dread rushing back into his chest. "I really don’t know what to do about it, Zack. I’m drowning here."

Zack crossed his arms and leaned against the desk. "Well, you have me to thank because I haven’t been sleeping. I’ve been thinking. And there’s a lifeline you can try."

<

Von jumped out of bed immediately on hearing that. "What? Tell me! I’ll do anything."

Zack returned to his chair and faced Von with a serious expression. "Well, the damage has been done. The internet has already judged you, and Julian has already won the first round. Right now, we can’t aim for victory. We have to settle for damage control."

Zack paused, adjusting his glasses. "People are kind, Von. The public is fickle, but they are also desperate to forgive their favorite stars. They love a redemption arc almost as much as they love a scandal. All they need is an apology and an explanation that makes them feel sorry for you."

Von could already see where this was heading, and his stomach churned. "You mean..."

"Yes, Von," Zack didn’t let him finish. "You’re going to take the blame. You are going to make a public apology video to Julian, to the show, and to everyone who was hurt by your actions."

"But Zack, this doesn’t feel right!" Von protested, pacing the small room. "Julian was wrong. He assaulted my sister, and made me drink. I should be exposing him, not apologizing to him! If I apologize, I’m admitting I’m the villain!"

Zack face-palmed, looking exhausted. "I’m not really ready for this debate again, Von. You have two choices. Option A is that you don’t apologize, you try to fight it. You accuse Julian without enough proof. The network disqualifies you to protect their Golden Boy, the press digs into Naomi’s life and shames her for working at a strip club, and you go home broke and disgraced."

Zack held up a second finger. "Or Option B is that you swallow your pride. You apologize and live to fight another day on the stage."

Von stopped pacing. He looked at Zack, then at the dark window where the city lights of Miami flickered..

To win, sometimes you had to lose.

Von gave Zack a long, heavy sigh before nodding slowly. "Alright... Let’s do this."