This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Rick and Zoey sat across from each other in the study, both silent. Once upon a time, they'd had some genuine affection for one another, but over time, that small bit of sincerity had been worn away.

Maybe it was because Zoey hadn't shared information about the game's closed beta with Rick at first, or maybe it was because Rick hid his injury from her. Perhaps it was because Zoey never allowed Rick to participate in Lopez family meetings, or because Rick had lied about his **Divine Gift**. It could even have been the moment when they both started scheming after discovering the **Unknown Curse**.

Who made the first wrong move? Neither knew, and neither would admit it.

They had both seen each other's dark sides. As Rick had once thought, they were a perfect match—on the surface, glamorous, but inside, darker and more twisted than anyone.

Rick didn't bother pleading for his life anymore. The fact that Zoey hadn't killed him meant she was interested in his proposal.

Zoey, on the way over, had imagined hundreds of ways to torture and humiliate Rick. She wanted to strip him naked, castrate him, and hang him in the town square. She wanted to chop off his limbs and force-feed him healing potions, turning him into a pet dog for the Lopez estate. She had a myriad of cruel thoughts...

But now, she decided to endure.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

As Rick had said, he was useful.

Not just his luck, but his **Divine Gift** and even his disease were useful.

The two of them signed a contract. From then on, Rick could not hide anything from Zoey. All equipment and items Rick acquired had to be handed over to Zoey for distribution. Rick had to fully support Zoey's takeover of the Lopez family, and he couldn't harm Zoey in any way. If Rick found a way to cure the curse, he would have to tell Zoey immediately and prioritize curing her.

In exchange, Zoey would also cultivate Rick, at least ensuring that he would benefit from her **Divine Gift's Hope Song**, which could increase his attributes.

It wasn't exactly fair, but with two enforcers waiting outside, Rick had no choice but to comply.

Rick obediently handed over a **Chameleon Figurine**, which allowed Zoey to hide the curse information from her character panel.

The warmth between them was gone, but so were the lies. From now on, they would be each other's most reliable allies—even if only temporarily.

Zoey would take care of the potential fallout from Rick's exposure, while Rick would help Zoey with her curse problem. Zoey even went a step further, paying Brooks ten times the usual rate to confess that she had tricked the White family.

For a price, Brooks had no sense of integrity. Reputation? That could be bought and sold too.

Even Brooks herself was shocked that her reputation could fetch 50 gold coins.

And she could still salvage it.

Brooks privately met with the White family again, not refunding the previous payment but instead "gifting" them some insider info. "Someone hired me to mess with you guys and send you after the Lopez family, so I gave you false information."

The White family's reaction was simple: "Do we look stupid to you?"

Well, maybe, but who cares? The White family quickly went public with the story. They were still debating whether to use the information to blackmail or ruin the Lopez family's reputation when, that very afternoon, Zoey and Rick struck first.

Zoey didn't just leak her own and Rick's disease; she threw Mateo, Theodore, Matthew, and even the Lopez family's extended branches under the bus. If they could be found, their dirty laundry was aired.

AIDS? That was just one of the more mild scandals. Toss in wild orgies, incest, illicit love affairs, and all manner of unspeakable debauchery... it was scandalous, filthy, and sensational.

But the real kicker was that Zoey claimed not only she and Rick had this disease but that Mateo, Theodore, and even the Lopez family's elderly and younger members had it too.

From the family patriarch down to the youngest graduates...

Everyone had it. Don't worry, they all had it.

Within an hour, it seemed the Lopez family had become synonymous with AIDS.

The only ones in the Lopez estate not rumored to have it were the family dogs.

That day, the phrase heard most often around the Lopez estate was: "It wasn't me! I didn't do it!!"

Zoey and Rick even returned home to scream their denials into the chaos.

Soon enough, people started picking apart the stories, revealing that nearly half the rumors were outright false. But with so many layers of truth and lies tangled together, the "Lopez family AIDS epidemic" got swept into the pile of "fake news." The general consensus? Someone was definitely out to get the Lopez family.

Meanwhile, Rita enjoyed watching the drama unfold through her little undead spiders. Although much of the critical communication happened through private messages, face-to-face interactions still occurred. Just like how people won't stick exclusively to texting in person, they would still talk when meeting.

After realizing both Zoey and Rick had fully crossed over to the dark side—not that they'd ever been particularly good to begin with—Rita was even more delighted.

After all, people only turn dark when their lives aren't going well. Happy people don't turn dark. Happy people turn... yellow?

If Zoey and Rick were unhappy, that meant Rita was.

She wasn't surprised that Zoey went after the Lopez family either. If the Lopez family were truly loving and harmonious, Zoey wouldn't have needed to avoid marriage by taking in a live-in husband to stay in the family.

If Zoey had truly gotten along with Mateo and Theodore, Theodore wouldn't have died at Rick's hands in the previous life.

...

By the time the Lopez-White family drama came to a close, it was already April 8th.

During this time, Rita had found three more strange artifacts in the cat's den, none of which were particularly useful but were quirky enough to keep. One predicted the weather, another changed hair color, and the last one emitted different scents based on the wearer's mood. Rita kept them all.

Additionally, the 350,000 bottles of **Ginseng Essence** were now fully bottled. Over the course of this time, Rita had also bought another 50,000 pounds of ginseng and 6 pounds of 30-year-old ginseng from Los Angeles and nearby areas, though the prices were slightly higher. She started brewing more **Ginseng Essence** while listing the first batches for sale anonymously.

The only downside was that the marketplace wasn't exactly smart—she could only list 1,000 items at a time.

But every time she listed a batch, she felt like she was stabbing Rick in the back.

The initial batch of **Ginseng Essence** sat unsold for a while. Rita made herself a cup of coffee, but when she returned, all 1,000 bottles had been sold out. She listed another 1,000, and those were gone within 3-5 minutes.

The powerful healing properties and affordable price made **Ginseng Essence** an instant hit. Almost everyone was clamoring for it.

People were talking about it everywhere, from the **World Chat** to regional and even local channels.

Young players needed it for dungeons, while older people wanted it for health reasons. "I feel stronger after drinking it," one user commented—though that was clearly a placebo effect. Another asked, "Can pregnant women take this? What about children? What are the ingredients?" clearly fishing for the recipe.

**Ginseng Essence** was perfect for elite monster battles, which often lasted 10 to 30 minutes. Players loved it because they would otherwise use up at least three bottles of healing potions, making this product far more cost-effective.

Speculation about who had created it quickly spread. "Could it be the person at the top of the wealth leaderboard?" someone guessed, pointing to the person whose wealth was increasing by the minute.

There hadn't been much reselling yet. After all, the **Ginseng Essence**'s value was in its affordability. Raising the price wouldn't make sense—players could just buy cheaper healing potions from the Special Affairs Bureau.

However, by the second day, the prices of ginseng, red ginseng, and other similar herbs began skyrocketing in the marketplace.

While no one had cracked the recipe, they figured ginseng had to be part of it, so they stockpiled it just in case.

Even the Lopez and White families began hoarding supplies.

As for the Special Affairs Bureau, they went all-in.

Rita wasn't interested in hoarding supplies for the long term. She knew the Special Affairs Bureau would soon reverse-engineer the **Ginseng Essence** recipe, and once they did, prices would drop. She needed to offload her inventory as quickly as possible.

She sold 30,000 bottles a day from the 8th to the 19th. By the time she had used up all the ginseng she'd bought, she had produced 252,000 bottles. She kept 2,000 for herself and sold the rest.

With nearly 1.4 billion people in the market, 600,000 bottles barely made a splash.

After subtracting auction house fees and paying her undead worker's salary and bonus, Rita ended up making a tidy profit of 26,600 gold. During this time, she also kept making 3 gold coins daily using her goblin skill.

Big money and small money—she was equally passionate about both.

She was very, very interested in money.