Chapter Nine

' '<- This symbol means online comments

With a hasty setup, I place my monitors in position. They may not be in the best condition, but they will have to suffice for now. One screen displays his livestream, while the other serves as my tool for hacking into it. Despite being a jack of all trades, I have other areas of expertise besides hacking. The annoyingly bright turquoise mask worn by the person on screen is starting to grate on my nerves; I wish I could rip it off and reveal their true identity. It would make identifying them much simpler if they used their real voice instead of distorting it into a robotic sound.

" It seems that yesterday a person has chosen a day to mess with me. An insignificant being who couldn't even come up with a better insult aimed towards me." I can sense the anger seeping into their voice as they speak. Their body language constantly changes, as if they have ADHD and are being scolded by a parent to sit still and behave. My insult may have been simple, but it still provoked a strong reaction from them. It was as if I had suggested they do something that would improve society by removing themselves from it.

With each passing second, the number of views continued to increase as if this person were a newly discovered pop star. The view count jumped from a few hundred to thousands in no time. However, I noticed some comments that were written in another language. Is it possible that this livestream is gaining popularity outside of the US?

" Mental illness is not intelligence," The person spoke in a childish, mocking tone as they held up their fingers in quotation marks like we were back in third grade. I couldn't help but silently judge them and let out a sigh. It was almost comical how this person was acting like an 8-year-old child. I pity myself for engaging in battle with a child-like mind person.

" You think you are smarter than me?! Do you think you can outbeat me?! Are you that undeveloped to understand the great distance from our intelligence?!" Their knuckles whitened as they formed a tight fist in front of their face. The veins in their pale hands bulged and turned red with anger. "I'm far superior to any of you! Get that to your heads!" 

Edel and I exchange a quick glance, both thinking the same thing. We quickly turn our attention back to the screen, not wanting to acknowledge the awkwardness between us without saying a word.

" Whoever wrote that, count your days. Death note user or not!"

They have no way of knowing who wrote it. This person has been talking about the death note since their very first livestream. Some people are skeptical and don't believe in this supposed phenomenon, while others do. But soon, both sides will come together as one. The residents of New York are convinced that it's real, especially with the increasing number of deaths and missing individuals. Those overseas are probably the only ones who aren't buying it. As soon as the topic of the death note is brought up, the comment section is flooded with international responses.

'America is full of crazy people.'

'People taking this idiot seriously? I thought it was a skit for Views'

'They probably have three body pillows to give them company'

'Wasted space for society'

The comments continued to pour in, and I found myself nodding in agreement with most of them. As this person's anger grew louder and more intense in my ear, I glanced at my second monitor. It was nearly impossible to track down their IP address, and the few that I did find were not from any New York residents. In fact, all of the IPs were from Thailand.

" Thailand? Don't all the death note users have to be solely in New York?" I shifted my gaze towards Edel, who was completely engrossed in the live stream of a person throwing a tantrum.

" Yes, remember I told you there is no way out once you accepted the death note?" 

My eyes flicked back and forth to the monitor and Edel, " Yes, I remembered you told me that."

" Well I lied, is there a way out to leave the battle in becoming the next God."

" What is it?! Also, you have to stop telling me stuff late, I should have known this since day one." I swear this shinigami is something else. From lack of information, can cause me death from losing my position of becoming God.

Edel finally turned away from the screen and looked at me, but his skull-like appearance made it impossible to read his emotions. I wished he had more human-like features so I could understand how he was feeling, but with no pupils in his eye sockets, there was no way to tell his expression. 

" Death will be punishment if you leave New York soil. Which means you are stuck here until the battle is over." He finally revealed the shocking news, but it didn't frighten me. I had no plans of backing down from this battle. I repeated my determination in my mind and out loud; I was willing to take down anyone to become the next deity. Even if it meant sacrificing thousands or even millions of lives, I would do whatever it takes to achieve my goal.

"Don't the ladyboys be in Thailand though?" Edel questioned out loud as he stroked his sharp bone jawline, "My coworkers informed me that's where they are located. It will be amusing to know that this person is a ladyboy."

A small, hard chuckle escaped from me. If it turned out that this person was actually a ladyboy, I knew I would never forgive myself for the rest of my life.

" You think I'm messing around!"

My attention is drawn back to the dramatic person who stands up from their chair. They have a more masculine appearance, and their body is thinner than the average person's. It's evident in the way they carry themselves that they have been isolated for many years, and now they are finally breaking out and expressing their anger. I know it may sound hypocritical coming from me, as I chose to be isolated, but this person seems to have been forced into isolation. It seems that school books were his only companions during all those years of solitude.

A wooden table with a saw wheel in the center held two unfamiliar individuals, their hands shackled to the surface. Once the boy removed the black hoodies covering their faces, they both appeared disoriented and unsure of their surroundings. "Yesterday I didn't make a livestream cause I was busy hunting other Candidates. This one," he went to a shaggy black-haired grown man who looked like they hadn't showered in years, " This one was busy having multiple girls in some van having sex with them. So busy with vaginas not knowing I was there waiting for him to come out." 

" Please, can we talk about this?" the older male pleaded but the young teen smacked the back of his head and walked to the opposite end of the table.

At first glance, she appeared delicate and innocent, incapable of harming even a child. But her fragile appearance was deceiving; there was a darkness in her eyes that told a different story. I could sense that she had experienced something heinous, and it showed in her demeanor."I found this woman on her murder spring, you do know you can use the death note, right? I caught her red-handed murdering people with a butcher knife and even attacking me. She almost got me but sadly didn't."

The teenager confidently strode to the center of the table, treating the camera in front of him as if it were a game show set up that he was hosting. " Do you guys know of the game tug of wars? Instead of tugging these two people will be pushing the saw to the other person." He released a burst of menacing laughter that filled the room and lingered in the air. " The pervy grown man vs the petite murderous woman."

" If they really are two God candidates then that sounds like good news to me." I leaned back in my office chair wanting to see how this would turn out.