Chapter 3

3

Over the next three days, I posted four more times. Each one was a sleeper hit predicted by the system.

I posted each one exactly one hour before the surge, locking in the "Original Source" advantage. My follower count climbed from 280,000 to 650,000.

Becca was losing her mind.

She posted two videos in a row, throwing shade and claiming I was "using trends to wash away my reputation."

Her hardcore fans started flooding my comments again, and some confused onlookers began to waver. "Who's actually copying who?" "Grabbing my popcorn." "Riley doesn't look like a saint either."

I stayed calm. I was waiting for the third trend.

March 17th, 2:00 PM. "#HowHardIsItForOriginalCreatorsToProtectTheirWork#" hit number one.

Two minutes later, I dropped my bomb.

Title: "My name is Riley Quinn, and today I'll answer―Why is it so hard for original creators to get justice?"

The video was split into four devastating parts:

Part one: Screenshots of all my raw drafts from the last three years. Every script, storyboard, and raw asset with original timestamps and file metadata.

Part two: A side-by-side comparison of Becca's eight most-watched videos versus the materials I sent her. In every single case, her post went up right after I showed her my work.

The longest gap was six hours. The shortest? I sent it to her at midnight, and she posted it at 6:00 AM the next day.

Part three: Evidence of her buying bots. I paid someone to export chat logs from a bot farm group where the pricing was clear―"Smear Riley Quinn, use the hashtag #RileyCopiesBecca, $3 per post."

The fourth part was the kill shot.

A recording. Three months ago at her place, my phone was on the table, and it caught her talking while she was drunk.

She told another friend in the kitchen, "Riley is such an idiot. She still thinks I'm her friend. She shows me every script. Why wouldn't I take them? She has no followers anyway; she can never out-shout me."

At the end of the video, I looked straight into the camera.

"I don't need an apology. I just want everyone to remember one thing―original work should never be stepped on by a thief."

Within thirty minutes, the video had two million views.

The comment section was a nuclear site.

"Holy crap, Becca is disgusting." "Those bot chat logs are the ultimate proof." "Riley has been taking this for months just to drop the receipts now." "Unfollowed Becca immediately."

An hour later, the topic hit the top ten. My dashboard was a blur of numbers.

650,000. 800,000. One million.

My phone rang. It was Becca.

I didn't pick up.

She sent a voice note. I didn't listen; I just deleted it.

The system list was still updating. It had no emotions, but it was more just than any human I knew.