The Snake Beside the Prophet
The rooftop of Korex Gold's media hub overlooked a sleeping city.
From up here, Lagos looked peaceful.
Too peaceful.
VDM leaned on the railing, hoodie up, headphones hanging around his neck. Below, the buzz of traffic, generators, and broken dreams hummed in the dark.
Korex stepped out holding two drinks—glass cups, no labels.
"You drink?" he asked.
"Not when I'm working," VDM replied.
"Bro, you're always working," Korex laughed, handing him the glass anyway.
VDM took it but didn't sip.
They stood in silence for a while. The city breathed below them.
Then Korex spoke, voice soft, calculating.
"They love you, you know. The streets. The kids on TikTok. Even people in the U.S. are reposting your speech. You're bigger than just protests now."
VDM shrugged.
"I didn't do this for clout."
"I know," Korex said, stepping closer. "But maybe it's time to think bigger."
VDM gave him a sideways look.
"What's bigger than justice?"
"Justice is step one," Korex replied smoothly.
"But what about leadership? You've got the voice. The presence. The movement. If you don't step up, someone else will. Someone less… honest."
VDM looked back at the skyline.
"I'm not a politician."
"You don't have to be," Korex said. "You just have to be smart. And careful."
He pulled out his phone and swiped through a few images—screenshots of tweets, headlines, comments.
"VDM for President 2026?"
"He speaks better than half the Senate."
"If he had a party, I'd vote today."
"This is momentum," Korex said. "And momentum is currency in this country."
VDM tensed.
"You didn't start this movement. You didn't bleed for it."
Korex didn't flinch.
"No, I didn't. But I know how to make it last. Your words move people.
My system moves nations. Cameras. Algorithms. Leverage. Deals."
He turned to VDM fully now, smile gone.
"You want a new Nigeria? You're gonna need more than protests. You need power."
"And what do I owe you if I take it?"
Korex grinned again.
"Nothing you haven't already given me."
💡 Subtle Manipulation Notes:
Korex frames ambition as duty: "If you don't lead, a snake will."
He plants fear of the movement losing direction without VDM taking charge.
He uses praise as a leash: social media love, foreign attention, trending momentum.
He makes himself look like a necessary evil, not the villain.
VDM doesn't respond.
He just sips the drink, finally, and stares into the skyline.
But behind his silence… a seed had been planted.
🧠 Meanwhile…
Inside Korex's office, his phone auto-synced audio from the rooftop.
A waveform blinked.
A hidden mic in the glass had recorded everything.
A message pinged on his laptop:
"Good. He's considering it."
"Push harder at the rally."
Ivie Okonkwo typed fast, her fingers flying across her mechanical keyboard in a room no one knew existed.
The walls were lined with routers, hard drives, and three different Wi-Fi sources.
She never trusted a single signal.
She wore a hijab and round glasses, but she was more dangerous than most hackers in Abuja.
Her blog, "The Watchwoman Files", had exposed:
An illegal arms deal between a Senator and a private military firm
The embezzlement of ₦13 billion from a flood relief fund
A police unit running a kidnapping-for-ransom side hustle
But this case?
This was personal.
📨 Tayo's Message
When Tayo sent her a secured message marked "HIGH URGENCY – FOR IVIE ONLY", she almost deleted it.
Until she saw the name inside.
"Korex Gold."
She sat back.
"So… the clown in the designer sneakers finally made it to the big leagues."
She opened the files he sent:
Clips, pre-written propaganda headlines, deleted posts from Korex's burner accounts.
Most were minor—typical influencer tricks.
But then she saw something huge.
📁 FILE FOUND: PROJECT IMAGE FLIP
It was buried in an encrypted folder, behind three layers of code.
She cracked it in ten minutes.
Inside:
A digital campaign plan to frame VDM as a foreign puppet.
Deepfake audio samples tagged "Emergency Use."
Contact logs with a media rep from a ruling party candidate.
Attached was a voice note labeled:
"If he won't agree to run, make the public beg him. If he resists after that… we break him."
Ivie's hands froze.
This wasn't just PR.
This was psychological warfare.
🔥 The Stakes Just Got Higher
She opened a secure voice line and called Tayo.
"This goes deeper than you think. Korex isn't just twisting the story—he's working for someone else. Someone powerful."
Tayo's voice came through, tense.
"How powerful?"
"Senator Babajide."
Silence.
That name was poison.
Babajide was one of the most feared politicians in the country.
Untouchable. Ruthless. Known for turning enemies into headlines—and allies into scapegoats.
Tayo exhaled slowly.
"VDM has no idea, does he?"
"No," Ivie replied. "And the worst part? They're building him up just to tear him down. In front of the whole world."
🎥 Final Scene
Ivie stared at her monitor.
She had enough to destroy Korex.
But to release it now could cause chaos.
To wait could be fatal.
She saved the files on three separate flash drives.
One she kept.
One she buried.
One she gave to a street boy with a note:
"If anything happens to me, find Tayo. Tell him 'Hyena's Smile.'"