[My! Oh my! Isn’t this an exciting development? How does it feel to be a part of your very first soap opera, Rookie? Are you having fun? Would you like some popcorn?]

The system was enjoying watching Rin be dragged into this fight. Rin felt like he had to defend himself against all these accusations.

"Hey, it is not-"

But it turned out that no one was even interested in hearing him speak. Everyone was looking at Alex, and their demands for answers drowned out Rin’s voice.

’I was ready to explain it all, but since you don’t want to, I guess I won’t explain anything.’

Rin clamped his mouth shut and decided to watch this all go down.

[That’s for the best, Rookie. Let this situation play out as intended and reap your reward. Isn’t this the best outcome? All play and no work.]

__________

’Why is Reri doing this? And why is Rin here? This pressure...what is happening?’

Alex looked down at his body and his vision blurred. Something was happening to him and he could feel himself losing control. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

[You have been identified as an imposter by the user ’Reri’. Please clear the accusation and expose the real imposter. Otherwise, a penalty will be imposed.]

The message was the only clear thing in Alex’s vision and he focused on it. But the more he read it, the less sense it made.

’What do you mean this is an accusation? And what do you mean by penalty? Why is this happening all of a sudden?’

Wasn’t the system supposed to inform Alex about all this beforehand so that he had a chance to prevent it? At least, that was how the media portrayed it.

But the media was fictional and had no basis for its depiction of the system. This was the reality Alex was facing and he needed to focus.

First, he needed to clear his name at all costs and the easiest way to do that would be to reveal his secret.

’But no one will accept me if I expose myself-’

His eyes fell on Rin, the only person who had accepted him even after exposing his secret. His existence was proof that Alex wouldn’t lose everything, even if he exposed himself.

So what if most people in GBF wouldn’t accept him? So what if he was made to leave this settlement? He would likely end up going with Rin and living a free life.

Alex made his decision and stepped forward.

"Since you are all so interested in my secret, let me show it to you all- the reason I trust Rin and the secret we shared."

It was finally time. Alex had never thought he would be able to keep his secret throughout his life, but it sucked that it had to be revealed this way.

He removed his outer layer first and everyone closed their eyes.

"Ah, what are you doing?"

"Alex, we have kids here. And there are outsiders here? Can you not undress?"

"My eyes! Oh my god!"

People continued to panic until the last upper layer was gone and his flat chest came into view.

"It’s fine. I won’t flash anyone because I am male. I have been since birth"

"That does not make it better. Cover your chest."

Chaos broke out after Alex’s disclosure of his gender and even Reri looked stunned. Her mouth was hanging open in shock, unable to say anything.

"My gender does not change who I am or the relationships I have. So there is no need to-"

"But you hid something so huge from us all! If you can hide this, then what else could you be hiding? We have even more of a reason to not trust you. imposter or not, we should not accept a liar like you."

Someone immediately spoke up from the crowd. She was a small child, barely 12 years old but her voice was clear and strong. Something felt wrong about her...

Alex had sharp instincts and they were currently telling him that this child was not human. He needed to do something about her—

"Y-You are a guy? W-What? So why did I trust you all this time? Who else knew? No! You cannot be a man! T-This must be because you are an imposter! That’s right! If we kill you, we’ll get the real Alex back. EVERYONE, LISTEN TO ME!"

The situation got worse somehow. Instead of calming down, Reri became even more hyper and demanded everyone’s attention. People started to agree with her, causing the panic to worsen.

Alex immediately looked toward his mother, wondering if she would help. But she turned away from him and took his younger sister with her.

’Mother, did you see this happening? Then, is it my fate to be humiliated like this? Should I give in to the system?’

Alex asked, feeling his energy draining.

He did not expect anyone to stand up for him, so he was ready to give it all up. But someone did stand up for him and it was the last person Alex expected.

"Hey, aren’t you all jumping to conclusions here? This mad girl says one thing and you all jump on her words? Can’t you use common sense?"

Rin’s words felt like a knife cutting through the tension. Alex suddenly felt like he could breathe easier.

But at the same time...he was not sure if Rin should get involved in something like this. It was not his problem to take care of and he was making enemies of the GBF for no reason.

A lot of people came back to their senses after Rin spoke, but Reri finally lost her patience.

"Stop speaking. You are in league with the imposter so why would we ever listen to anything you have to say? You even used our people as shields during the last task to benefit your own people. All you want to do is use GBF for your own purposes."

Reri was causing too much trouble. Rin did not look worried, but these words must be making him stressed.

Alex needed to help, but his vision was becoming worse and worse.

Just as he thought he got it all under control, a huge system message appeared in the middle of the room.

[User ’Alex’ has been identified as an imposter by user ’Reri’. Please vote to confirm that you all agree with this verdict. If you fail to vote in 1 minute, the answer will automatically be selected as ’guilty.]

That caused panic as the panel appeared immediately and the timer began counting down.

There were only a few votes for ’not guilty’ while everyone else voted guilty. The voting period ended and a new message appeared seconds after.

[User ’Alex’ has been confirmed guilty by the jury.]

[The jury failed to reach the correct verdict. A punishment will be imposed on User Alex and the jury.]

[User Alex’s transformation into a monster will begin now. The Calamity of the Rose has now been triggered.]