Re-Awakening: I Became a Pay To Win Boss Monster

[Karina's POV]

"Team manager... I'd like to quit," Karina said, her voice slightly trembling.

She stood before the team manager who was a middle-aged man, and from his expression alone, she could tell he wasn't happy to hear that.

"Huuuh? Karina, you've only been with us for three years, and now you want to quit?" he asked mockingly. "If you jump around work like this, you do know you won't be able to ever settle down, hmm?"

She clenched her fists in anger. "Work? You call me working 16 hours a day for pocket change work? Screw you and your company, you stupid bastard."

The team manager's eyes widened as he opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, unable to utter a word.

Finally... I said it, Karina thought with a slight smile.

This scumbag and the rest of the office crew were nothing but bullies.

They kept pestering her about extra work and overtime, but not once did they return the favor. Better yet, she wasn't getting the extra money from overtime.

Normally, she wouldn't have done something drastic, but after the announcement a few days ago, she couldn't help it.

"W-What?" the team manager muttered and abruptly stood up, slamming the desk. "Karina! You're fired!"

She stared at him for a few moments and with a scoff, walked to her cubicle, picked up her plushies, then headed down to the ground level.

The office building was as dead as usual, but today especially.

Karina got to her car and sat inside, setting her box full of plushies in the passenger seat.

She leaned the seat back as far as she could and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes.

A satisfied smile crept onto her lips.

"Finally... it's back," Karina mumbled and swiftly took out her phone, then opened the Sketa Online forums.

As usual, the posts were pretty chaotic.

<Sketa Online Fan Page>

-Trending!

↳ Sketa Online is back! <442,419,689 Upvotes>

↳ Asimov's Daily Dose of Stupid Sketa Online Clips <182,174,112 Upvotes>

↳ The Zafira worshipping guild is recruiting! <94,529,092 Upvotes>

↳ The Location of the secret Milf Dungeon (R-18). <61,882,104 Upvotes>

↳ Why the Horny Boars are horny. A thread. <55,659,355 Upvotes>

She pressed on the first one, then opened the thread that had the familiar screenshot.

<Special Announcement!>

<Rael Sutekh, The True Platinum Overlord has been added as the Main Antagonist Boss of the Sketa Online Campaign!>

<Sketa Online has been prepared for release. New Content has been added. Main Story Campaign has been revamped.>

<New Faction has been added: The Blazing Sun>

<Time until V1.0 Release: 13 Hours>

↳ Storage_Ripper: Do y'all think they finally added the special bikini event where all the hot milfs of the continent are gathered? I swear... the amount of support tickets I sent is probably nearing the billions.

↳ Fwaan: Fucking pervert.

↳ Storage_Ripper: What? Don't tell me you people haven't sent a single support ticket about it? Are you not cultured?

↳ Cathulu01: Nope, you're just a pervert.

↳ Liam_Snoke: [Image Attachment]

↳ jwhbsrinvfriygrf: What the fuck? Yours is that small? Kekeke [Image Attachment]

<Users: jwhbsrinvfriygrf, Liam_Snoke have been permanently banned from the forum!>

Karina scrolled past the nonsense and arrived at a more interesting part of the thread.

↳ TheeReaper: Did anyone see the changes happening on the map lately? I swear I recall seeing more greenery on the map, but now it's all just black.

↳ AssasinsLife: Are you on darkmode?

↳ Lucas_Panzenboeck: He isn't, just check the map idiot.

↳ Juwade: [Image Attachment] Look. Celestara's forests are literally dead.

↳ Milo4more: At least the hot elves are still fine...

After the announcement dropped, she noticed the map changing drastically.

The sands of Aztera pushed onto the Holy Kingdom, and the Demonic Lands' area had expanded over to the Dwarven part of Yrgon.

Celestara seemed to have suffered the worst as 90% of its forest had turned dark, and she also saw a few fires starting on the outskirts.

She didn't know what was happening over there either, especially since Rael had started ignoring her texts, but it was clear that something serious had happened.

Still... Karina took a sip of water. I did set my spawn point there, so when I finally log in, I'll be able to help him as best as I can.

After all, with the amount of money she got from him, she bought a new apartment. With a bit more, she could finally start laying the foundation for her idol agency.

She had come up with an idea right after the beta ended, and she probably wasn't the only one who thought about it.

What if I make an Idol agency based inside Sketa Online...? Karina thought. It'd be like in the real world, but we can stream our performances easier... and the cost for special props and effects is basically annulled.

And most importantly...

If I can get Rael's help... no... I'm relying too much on him...

She slammed her steering wheel in frustration.

Karina had so many ambitions, but they all depended on Rael helping her, and with everything happening inside Sketa Online, she wasn't too sure if he'd still be willing.

She put those thoughts aside for now as she drank the rest of her water, then texted one of her friends, who had become pretty famous over the course of the last few weeks.

<Karina Florentia: Heya Asuna, or should I call you Asimov, the almighty streamer of horny men?>

A few moments later, she got a reply.

<Asuna Miyuki: Heh, call me whatever you want, though... Did you finally quit that stupid day job of yours?>

She giggled.

<Karina Florentia: Yep, I gave the team manager a piece of my mind. I'm in my car right now, wanna do something?>

All of a sudden, she heard a knock on the side of her passenger window.

She flinched and reached for the taser in her pocket, but when she noticed who was knocking, she let out a sigh.

It was a girl wearing a hoodie and sunglasses, and from the way she carried herself, plus that annoying smirk, Karina knew right away who it was.

<Asuna Miyuki: Lemme in. I got us some pastries.>

Karina unlocked the door and moved her box full of plushies to the back seat. At the same time, Asuna stepped inside the car with a box of her own.

She opened it, and a pleasant aroma filled Karina's nose, making her mouth water slightly.

But as Karina reached for the pastries, Asuna lightly tapped her hand.

"Bad Karina," Asuna scolded playfully as she picked up a pastry and slowly waved it around. "I'll give you some if you tell me what went down."

She took off her sunglasses and leaned in, a cheeky smile appearing on her face.

"Spill all the details. Don't leave a single thing out."