Chapter 16 – The Gamble & The Grind Begins

Chapter 16 – The Gamble & The Grind Begins

October 2017.

The first season of Fortnite had already dropped, and the hype was building fast. The second season was set to launch in November, and Ivan knew—this was his moment.

A lot had changed in the past month. He had spent every free moment mastering video editing on his grandpa's old laptop. It was slow, frustrating, and crashed constantly, but through sheer determination, he got good.

Now, sitting on €1,100 in savings, Ivan had a choice.

Do I take the gamble?

His PC setup wasn't going to fall out of the sky. He needed to make a move.

The Gamble

"Grandpa, can you drive me to the electronics store?"

His grandfather glanced up from his newspaper, raising an eyebrow. "What for?"

"I want to buy something."

"Something? What kind of something?"

Ivan hesitated for a second but then said it plainly. "A PC setup."

Grandpa set his coffee down, studying him for a moment. "You sure about this? That's all your money, isn't it?"

Ivan nodded. "Yeah. But I've thought about it. I earned it, and I know what I'm doing."

His grandfather sighed but nodded. "Alright. Let's go."

The drive was quiet, but Ivan's heart pounded. He was nervous but excited. This was a huge risk, but he knew deep down that it was the right one.

At the store, he carefully picked out a mid-tier streaming setup—nothing extravagant, but powerful enough to handle gaming, streaming, and editing. A decent PC, a solid monitor, a microphone, and a webcam. It wasn't top-of-the-line, but it would do the job.

When the cashier rang it all up, his entire savings disappeared in an instant.

But as he sat in the car with the boxes stacked next to him, he didn't regret it.

He earned this. Every euro.

Setting Up the Future

Back home, Ivan spent the next few hours carefully setting up everything. The PC, the monitor, the mic, the webcam—it was all coming together.

Then came the next step—his online identity.

He sat in front of his screen, creating his YouTube and Twitch accounts. The name? He didn't want to overthink it, so he just went with fwjelaa, his old gaming nickname from years ago.

A new start, under an old name.

He designed a clean logo, put together a basic banner, and made everything look as professional as possible.

Finally, he stared at the screen, hands hovering over the keyboard.

How do I start?

Streaming and talking in front of people felt… terrifying. His social anxiety was already bad enough in real life. How was he supposed to talk to strangers online?

But then he looked around his room, at the setup he had just built with his own money.

He had worked for this.

This wasn't something his grandmother had bought for him, or something he had been given for free. He earned it.

This was his path, and he wasn't going to let fear stop him.

School, Games & A New Plan

Despite his obsession with gaming and content creation, Ivan never let school slip.

His grades were perfect. His brother was thriving in 7th grade. Everything was going according to plan.

Now, it was time to test the waters.

He downloaded two games—Fortnite and Roblox.

Fortnite is my main focus, but Roblox games were making crazy money back then.

He remembered seeing how character-themed obbies were the only profitable thing he could realistically make at his skill level.

He had an idea.

A Sonic obby.

It was simple, fast to make, and people would click on it.

He launched Roblox Studio and got to work.

Building The Obby

For the next five hours, he grinded.

Piece by piece, he built platforms, added loop-de-loops, placed rings for decoration, and coded basic checkpoints. It wasn't anything insane, but it was fun.

By the time he finished, he had a fully functional Sonic-themed obby.

Without overthinking it, he published it.

Let's see if this actually does something…

It was late—way too late. His eyes burned from staring at the screen for so long.

Then he heard his grandma's voice from down the hall.

"Ivan! Schlafenszeit!" (Bedtime!)

He winced.

"If you get distracted by that PC, you won't be able to focus on school!" she warned.

Shit…

Ivan knew better than to argue.

He shut everything down, stretched, and went to bed before she could ground him.

Lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, he started mapping out his next moves.

The Master Plan

Fortnite Season 2 starts soon.

I'll grind after school, gather clips, and prepare my first content.

Winter break starts in 23 days—my first real stream will happen then.

If my Roblox obby randomly pops off, that's a bonus.

Until then, I'll master my editing and stay ahead in school.

Everything was lined up perfectly.

And this time, he wasn't just dreaming about success—

He was building it.