The morning after Jackim's face hit every news channel in the country, the world didn't wait for him to breathe.
The Internet had declared war — not with guns or knives, but with words, rumors, and doubt sharper than blades.
> "That guy's company is fake."
"No one becomes a billionaire overnight unless it's money laundering."
"He's working with cartels. Mark my words."
By noon, BragTech's stock price had already dropped fifteen percent.
By evening, the servers were under a coordinated cyberattack.
Kelvin burst into the office, laptop in hand, voice shaking.
"Bro, someone's hammering our servers from multiple IPs. They're trying to shut down the client side, database, and wallet system simultaneously!"
Jackim spun his chair toward the holographic dashboard. The screen blinked red — thousands of attack requests per second.
"Who's behind it?" he asked, calm but cold.
Kelvin's fingers flew across the keyboard. "I traced some to Russia, some to Singapore. But the core nodes — they're from within our own city."
Jackim narrowed his eyes. "The Wheel."
Kelvin nodded grimly. "They've declared war."
For hours, chaos ruled the BragTech tower. Technicians shouted, alarms blared, and half the building lights flickered. Employees panicked as the trading interface crashed repeatedly.
Jackim stood in the middle of it all, perfectly still, as if the noise couldn't reach him. He was wearing a black shirt, sleeves rolled, a silver watch gleaming under the fluorescent lights. His expression didn't break even as Kelvin yelled, "They just breached the backup firewall!"
Then the familiar digital tone echoed in his head.
> [SYSTEM ALERT]
Host's empire under attack. Immediate response required.
Side Quest: "Defend your company's honor."
Reward: Cyber Security Mastery + $10,000,000 System Funds.
Jackim smirked. "About time."
He sat down, cracked his knuckles, and whispered, "Activate System Override — Manual Defense Mode."
> [Command Accepted.]
Instantly, his mind expanded — as though a thousand pieces of information exploded at once. Codes, IP structures, digital firewalls, encryption trees — all visualized before his eyes.
It felt like plugging his brain directly into the matrix.
Kelvin stared. "Jackim, what the hell are you doing?"
Jackim's fingers moved like lightning. "Taking back my company."
For the next two hours, he wasn't human — he was a storm.
Lines of code poured across the screen, every keystroke reversing damage, rerouting signals, encrypting data deeper than most hackers could even read.
The System's voice guided him through the chaos.
> [Deploy Quantum Firewall Sequence.]
[Lock hostile IP clusters in Blacknet quarantine.]
[Trace Origin Server coordinates.]
Jackim executed every command flawlessly.
"Got you," he muttered. The trace returned a location — The Wheel Technologies Headquarters, downtown Sue City.
He leaned back. "They're not even hiding."
Kelvin looked at the data and exhaled shakily. "This isn't just about taking you down, bro. They want to erase BragTech entirely. If they succeed, we'll lose every contract, every investor."
Jackim stood. "Then they better not fail."
Two hours later, the battle went offline — straight to the streets.
Jackim and Kelvin arrived at the BragTech Downtown Branch just as chaos erupted.
Reporters swarmed the gates, shouting questions about fraud, scandals, and black money.
Security tried to control the crowd, but the whispers were louder than any defense.
"Is it true he hacked the national bank?"
"Did he steal patents from The Wheel?"
"Are you working for criminal syndicates?"
Jackim didn't flinch. He simply walked past them, ignoring the flashes, his calm expression a statement of defiance.
Inside, the boardroom felt heavy. Half his executives looked terrified; the other half avoided eye contact.
A middle-aged investor slammed his briefcase on the table. "Mr. Ochieng, the media's tearing us apart! Unless we issue a public statement by tonight, we're done."
Jackim leaned forward. "No. We don't explain to liars. We make them beg for truth."
The man scoffed. "You think arrogance fixes this?"
Jackim smiled faintly. "Not arrogance. Proof."
At that exact moment, the System's alert tone echoed again.
> [SYSTEM UPLOAD COMPLETE.]
Evidence of The Wheel's cyberattacks compiled and secured. Option: Public exposure for triple impact.]
Jackim grinned. "Do it."
A few minutes later, BragTech's official account dropped a thirty-second video — raw, unfiltered digital proof of The Wheel's hacking attempts, traced IPs, timestamps, and internal chat screenshots showing orders to destroy "that brat's empire."
The Internet exploded.
By midnight, hashtags like #BragTechExposedTheWheel and #JusticeForJackim trended across every platform.
People who had doubted him hours ago now called him "the digital lion of Sue City."
Kelvin stared at the analytics dashboard in disbelief. "We just regained all market value… and then some."
Jackim smirked. "Told you — we don't explain. We show."
The Wheel, however, wasn't done.
At 2:00 a.m., a mysterious press conference was announced by one of their branch companies — a setup designed to flip the story again.
Jackim got the alert before dawn.
> [Incoming attack: Defamation Strategy – Round Two]
He dressed in silence — black shirt, silver cufflinks, no tie.
When he looked into the mirror, he didn't see the boy from Sue City University anymore.
He saw a man who had learned how to survive war — with code, money, and pride.
Kelvin walked in, holding two coffees. "You really going to their press conference?"
"Why not?" Jackim said, smiling. "If they want to talk about me, I might as well attend."
The conference hall was a sea of cameras, executives, and false smiles.
The Wheel's spokesperson, a slick man named Raymond, stood on the podium.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he began smoothly, "BragTech's sudden rise has raised ethical and financial concerns—"
The crowd gasped as the doors opened mid-sentence. Jackim walked in, calm and confident, hands in pockets.
Raymond stuttered. "M-Mr. Ochieng, you—"
Jackim climbed the stage, took the mic, and said evenly, "If you're going to accuse me, at least do it while I'm present."
A murmur swept the room. Cameras turned instantly.
Jackim continued, voice smooth, deliberate.
"You called me a fraud. A thief. A hacker. But I've already proven who the real criminals are."
He clicked a remote — and the giant screen behind him lit up, displaying encrypted data logs, payment records, and leaked internal emails from The Wheel's own network.
Every word, every timestamp, undeniable.
The room went silent.
Raymond's face drained of color. "Where… where did you get—"
Jackim smiled. "From your servers. Maybe invest in better security."
A ripple of laughter — nervous, but powerful — spread through the hall.
Jackim leaned closer to the mic. "You tried to destroy me because you couldn't control me. But understand this — I don't play to survive anymore. I play to own the board."
Then he dropped the mic and walked out.
That night, news channels replayed the footage in loops.
"Jackim Ochieng humiliates The Wheel in live conference showdown."
"BragTech stock skyrockets 80% overnight."
Kelvin called, almost screaming with joy. "Bro, you're trending worldwide! Even international investors want in. We just hit 1.6 billion in valuation!"
Jackim was silent for a moment before saying softly, "Good. Then it's just the beginning."
> [SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Quest Complete: 'Defend your company's honor.'
Reward Granted: Cyber Security Mastery (Unlocked)
+$10,000,000 System Funds Deposited
Urban Emperor Progress: 55%
Jackim closed his laptop and leaned back on the couch, eyes half-closed. The villa was quiet, moonlight pooling across the floor like silver paint.
He thought of Lina's tearful apology, of Kelvin's loyalty, of the city that once laughed at him.
And somewhere deep down, beneath the confidence and bravado, he felt something else — loneliness.
Not the kind that comes from being alone, but from standing too far above the world that used to understand you.
The System's voice broke the silence again.
> [Host's mental balance fluctuating. Suggest social interaction.]
He laughed quietly. "You sound like a therapist now."
> [Even kings need warmth.]
Jackim chuckled and whispered, "Then I'll find my warmth… my way."
Outside, the city glowed — neon veins pulsing through the night, alive and endless.
And at the heart of it, one man sat in his villa, unbroken, unbent, unbowed —
the poor boy who once begged for a meal now commanding an empire with the flick of his words.
He looked out the window, eyes hard and bright.
"Your move, Wheel."