Alex looked out of the bus window at the distant skyscrapers. There used to be a time when he was part of that society, but everything crumbled during that final year, four years ago.
At that time, he was just an intern at one of the biggest analytic companies that worked for the Star Guild. Like many, it was his dream job to support the most popular VR-sport team of the era.
All of that was a dream come true for him; after all, the Star Guild continued to win against all odds, creating more hype worldwide. But everything ended with that single loss.
The Star Guild lost first in the finals. He still remembered the time when he showed the team leader the active volcano activity. He never dreamed that those players would attack the beast.
It was such an enormous blunder that led to the Star Guild being last. That was a world crumbling for him. As an intern on the analyst team, he also gambled all of his temporary shares on the match.
He had no choice. It was a mandatory rule in the company. All the analysts on the team had to take this risk to prove they were not involved in any shady deals with other teams.
So not only did he lose most of his money, but he was also afraid of getting fired. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't help but smile at how naive he had been.
He was slow to understand the severity of the situation. Despite all their precautions, when things went wrong, all the star players shifted the fans' outrage toward the firm.
To appease the outraged fans, the Star Guild broke their contract with the analysis firm. All the core members came to media outlets, blaming the firm, and to solidify their point, they just continued to shift the narrative of Liya's one-shot death.
Media houses worldwide helped them by suppressing opinions that tried to reveal the actual reason behind the Star's loss. It was a coordinated attack from all sides toward them.
He knew it was a mistake on the head analyst's part not to leave anyone to monitor the other team. This only happened because they were busy devising a new plan of action for the beast.
Many in the firm tried to deflect the blame by exposing the poor choices made by Eric and other players. This back-and-forth escalated the situation and led to a deeper mess.
The one thing that differentiated HUNT 4 from other VR games was not the billion-dollar prize or the billions of fans worldwide, but the active gambling. It was a game where viewers could bet on their favorite team.
This loss of the most popular team meant the loss of most fans' money. From the Star Guild to fans, everyone was looking for someone to blame. That created a war between the players and analysts.
The firm's shutdown added fuel to the fire. He still remembered the shock on his team leader's face when they heard the news.
Everyone working with real-world data knew that the moment fans knew about this, they would shift all the blame on the innocent analysts.
Many in the firm were against this decision, but a protest from a few hundred people was insignificant, and within the next few days, it became public.
The biggest shock to them was watching the top analysts admit to leaks in the media and, to take responsibility, they were firing everyone from the firm and shutting it down. None of them, including senior members who had been part of the firm for two decades, saw that statement coming. It was like their leader abandoning them in the war.
That press conference led to the start of massive riots worldwide. He was still living in the temporary company quarters, along with other senior members.
Fans were so enraged that none of them dared to leave the quarters, afraid of being lynched. Within a few days, his dream job turned into his biggest nightmare. The saddest part of all was that he got dragged into this mess with no power.
He had only been with the firm for less than three months. As a lowly intern, his opinion held little to no value. During that time, there was a debate going on among the other employees.
They had two options: the first was to leave everything and go into hiding, but doing that meant abandoning their official identity, along with all the hard work they did to reach this stage.
Most of the senior and junior analysts were not willing to do that. He understood their pain, as it was the same for him; running meant 20 years of study going down the drain.
Forget working at the firm. He couldn't even apply for other jobs that required his academic degree. It was the murder of his career.
The second choice was to expose the Star Guild players and shift public outrage toward them. It was the worst choice that he knew wouldn't help them.
The biggest difference between them and the players was the fan following. While the players had millions of followers, the combined staff didn't even have 100,000 followers.
That was the time he realized the power of the masses. In that situation, they were dealing not just with the players but also with all the companies behind them.
Players' worth was still too high, which benefited many companies. This was especially true with the announcement of the newer version of HUNT 5. A game beyond the restriction of virtual reality to dream reality.
He decided to get out of the mess and join the few that planned to run. Within the next few days, they got the chance to leave the city for good and went into hiding.
He abandoned his surname 'Lawson' that day and just kept his first name, Alex. Just thinking about that made him clench his fist around the bus seat.