One Month Later
Aron sat alone on a bench atop a hill, overlooking the city.
His once clean and sharp self was nowhere to be found. He looked haggard, with dark circles under his eyes from sleepless nights.
He wanted to buy a drink to drown his sorrows, but he couldn't even afford one. Eating a square meal was already hard.
He was broke, living a difficult life.
And the cause wasn't the ten-billion fine from the court, nor the four trillion dollars withdrawn from his bank.
Even with that, it should have been almost impossible for him to truly fall into poverty.
Aron leaned back on the bench.
After the incident, he immediately sold all his properties across the globe, along with his assets.
He knew that as long as the public knew he still had shares in those companies, they would all go downhill.
So he sold everything, planning to wait until the public forgot about him before making new moves and investments.
Afterward, he settled the fine.
He still had about 13.2 trillion dollars sitting in his account.
The only things he didn't sell were his mansion and cars, since there was no need.
Five days after the court incident, he was summoned again.
Standing on the opposite side was his so-called wife, covered in bruises. She claimed she had endured an abusive marriage with Aron for the past two years and couldn't take it anymore.
She even fabricated a video from when he got drunk during his promotion celebration together.
She filed for divorce, forcing him to split everything equally with her. She went further, asking for medical and trauma compensation for "enduring abuse" for the past two years, demanding seventeen trillion dollars.
At that time, Aron knew she wanted to ruin him completely, leaving him no chance to seek revenge.
From the way she behaved, he was certain she had planned this for a long time but never dared to go through with it.
If she divorced him when he still held his status, she would only be dooming herself, unable to enjoy the wealth.
So instead, she ruined his reputation, destroyed his livelihood, and then took half of his wealth, the wealth he had willingly given her access to.
She knew the type of man Aron was. That's why, even after taking what she wanted, she still made sure to strip away everything: his remaining fortune and what little was left of his sinking reputation.
After back-and-forth arguments from his lawyers, the fine was reduced to 11.5 trillion.
But with his wealth already split in the divorce, and fined again to compensate his ex-wife, Aron was left with close to two trillion in debt.
He immediately filed for bankruptcy in that same court.
That day, Aron knew his life was ruined. His mansion, cars, wealth, and livelihood, everything was gone.
If it had been anyone else, they might have committed suicide. For Aron, the weight was still unbearable.
He stood there that day, hollow-eyed, lost, as reality sank in.
The realization was shocking even to him.
His eyes filled with hatred as he watched Rihanna, his ex-wife, leave the courtroom without even glancing at him.
She knew he couldn't touch her. With her new wealth and a restraining order, she had no fear. He could never make a comeback.
She had taken everything that once made him great.
***
Back to the Present
Aron was tired of life. Even with his strong mindset, the frustration of knowing he could never take revenge slowly killed him inside.
Even getting a job was impossible. The news of him being a woman-beater spread everywhere.
No one was willing to bear the heat of his reputation. Even low work as a cleaner was denied to him, let alone a real comeback.
Earning even a single dollar felt impossible.
He tried calling his friends using a public phone. A few answered only to give clumsy excuses, making no effort to hide the fact that they wanted nothing to do with him. Some outright hung up as soon as they realized it was him.
Back when he had money, he had supported them so much that almost all of them had become billionaires.
Yet now, not one of them gave him the chance to speak. They cut him off with lines like "business isn't doing well" before ending the call.
Aron felt overwhelming anger and regret. It was too much.
He stood from the bench.
"ARRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Aron released his bottled-up emotions, screaming at the top of his lungs.
After a while, he fell to his knees, tears streaming silently down his face.
He felt exhausted. The anger was too heavy. No matter how he screamed, it refused to go away.
The sky was already dark. Aron remained on the ground, tears still falling with no sign of stopping.
As he cried, he failed to notice the faint glow that began to form around him, spreading in a one-meter radius with him at the center.
The light grew brighter, and the hill beneath him began to shake.
Aron's eyes widened. He looked around, panic rising as he realized the ground beneath him was glowing, and he was at the center of it.
He tried to roll away, but before he could move, the light burst from the ground, piercing through him and shooting upward into the sky.
The beam was blinding. In the night, it was especially eye-catching, visible to countless people around the world.
The moment the light appeared, everything powered by technology around the world shut down.
Planes fell from the sky like meteors. Cars and trains screeched to a halt. Life-support machines in hospitals failed. People died by the millions.
And still, the beam of light continued to surge from the ground, passing through Aron's body.
He couldn't even scream. He was frozen, his eyes wide, mouth open, as the light streamed in and out of him, rising endlessly into the sky.
On his left palm, a shape formed, shifted, and changed again and again.
The beam continued for two full minutes before finally dying out.
As soon as it disappeared, the world came back to life. But chaos had already erupted from the devastation caused.
At the center of it all, Aron gasped for breath, his body shaking from the flood of adrenaline.
In front of him, a notification appeared.
[Your world has arrived at its waking brink.]
[You have awakened the talent: Talent Bank.]
--