NOVGO.NET Chapter 5: Bad Reputation
Chapter 5: Bad Reputation
[Readers check Chapter 7 title. This is temporary]
----
ANNA IMAGE
----
Standing right behind him was a tall, striking beauty, at least 170 cm.
She had wavy long hair, very alluring, with delicate and pretty features. Her flirtatious eyes sparkled like a fox’s, bright and enchanting.
She wore a tight T-shirt that outlined a firm, perky chest, and her waist was so slender you could almost wrap your hands around it, absolutely stunning.
Below, she wore tight jeans that accentuated her shapely round hips and long, gorgeous legs, a total "cannon mount" that any leg enthusiast would drool over.
Angel face, devil body, radiating femininity to the point of being a bona fide femme fatale.
A natural peacock, a princess surrounded by admirers, one of the school beauties and the department flower of the arts department, the dazzling beauty Anna.
Anna looked at Ryan with contempt, her disdain completely undisguised.
Compared to her trendy brand-name outfit, Ryan was decked out in cheap knockoffs, looking plain and rustic, simply an eyesore.
In the past, Ryan would have cowered and backed down, afraid to provoke someone like her.
But then, a system notification rang in his head:
"Ding... Bound target: Anna."
"Ding... Anna: affection -20."
Hearing that, Ryan could not help cursing inwardly. Affection in the negatives? How much did she look down on people?
Some simps behind started heckling: "Hey, you hick, you never seen a pretty girl before? Staring like an idiot!"
"Get out of the way already. Can’t even afford a bottle of cola, what a joke..."
"Yeah, come on, I’ll pay for it, just don’t waste Anna’s time."
As the arts department’s campus beauty, Anna had countless suitors, surrounded by a swarm of simps like flies around crap.
Ryan snapped out of it and grinned: "Then thanks, Anna. Let’s swap WhatsApp, I’ll treat you to a meal sometime."
Hearing that, Anna looked incredulous, clearly a bit stunned.
She did have a ton of pursuers and kept plenty of backups, but not just any random Tom, Dick, or Harry qualified.
At minimum, they had to be sons of officials or rich businessmen, or at the very least have good looks. This hick in front of her could not even clear the bar.
Not only was Ryan, the loser, staring wide-eyed, even the other simps swallowed hard.
Ryan was not thick-skinned enough to endure public ridicule. Under everyone’s mocking gazes, he ended up fleeing in embarrassment.
Compared to the heavenly Anna, Ryan’s heart belonged to his first love at first sight, Tina, the department flower of the Literature department.
Leaving school, Ryan headed straight to the Apple store at the mall.
"Hello, I’d like the top-tier iPhone 17!!"
The sales associate quickly introduced it. The top-tier iPhone 17 cost around 1200. Ryan had an idea and opened the Unlimited Money app at checkout.
"Beep... Payment successful."
It went through smoothly. Ryan was overjoyed. Sure enough, as long as the gift was for Tina, he could use that money.
Ryan returned to school with the phone, and Wester called asking him to bring food back.
Ryan brought back three portions of food and set them on the table. Wester and Jason’s eyes went wide.
"Ryan, what’s gotten into you?"
Normally, the three of them ate cheap boxed meals from the cafeteria. The stingiest of all was Ryan, who had been saving up for Tina’s birthday gift, he would eat nothing but salted vegetables with steamed buns for three meals a day if he could.
Braised pork, hand-torn soy sauce chicken, steamed pork with preserved vegetables, and three boxes of rice.
For poor college students, that was basically eating out.
"You guys worked hard taking care of me these past few days. This is my treat."
He had paid for the iPhone 17 with the Unlimited Money card. After paying off his online loans and credit card with his own two thousand in savings, he had over thousand left. Debt-free and light-hearted, he figured he would treat himself too.
"Thanks!!"
"Wooh!"
The three starving wolves devoured everything in a frenzy. After eating, they each went back to their games. Ryan, on the other hand, was admiring the new Apple phone with satisfaction.
His two roommates scoffed at his simp behavior, but they also knew he was beyond saving and did not bother trying to talk him out of it.
"Ryan, Ryan, you made it onto the campus forum trending list."
Just before lights out, Jason suddenly stared at his phone and shouted, "Check it out. WhatsApp groups are blowing up too."
Ryan was stunned. He quickly opened his phone and saw the top trending post on the campus forum with a harsh title: "A Simp with Zero Self-Awareness Desperately Needs a Piss to Wake Up."
Clicking in, it was a photo taken by one of the hecklers, the exact moment Ryan had approached Anna and asked for her WhatsApp.
In the photo, Anna looked as dazzling as ever. Her presence only made Ryan look even more rustic, practically radiating poverty from head to toe.
All sorts of school WhatsApp groups were also blowing up over this, with countless nasty mockeries.
"Holy crap, isn’t that Ryan, that hick?"
"I’m numb. Isn’t this basically sexual harassment? Where did he get the guts?"
"He dared to hit on Anna? That’s like flipping the world upside down."
"Exactly. This broke loser has some unearned confidence."
"He’s harassing my goddess. If everyone were as shameless and self-unaware as him, my goddess would be too busy rejecting them all."
The Literature department group was the liveliest since everyone knew Ryan.
He was just a regular nobody, but with the double buff of being a simp and a broke loser, even if you had a low profile, you would still get noticed.
"Wait, isn’t Ryan Tina’s dedicated simp?"
"Pfft, it’s been three years of college. When has Tina ever given him a second glance?"
"Exactly. It’s all one-sided on his part. So embarrassing. And the guy’s all talk but no action, yet somehow everyone knows about it."
"But this simp is pretty devoted... Why did he go after Anna?"
Someone immediately mocked: "Either way, he’ll end up with nothing in the end. But between Tina and Anna, department flower vs school beauty, the school beauty obviously has better cost-performance."
"Haha, that’s true. Since you can’t get either, might as well aim higher."
"Ambitious. Our classmate Ryan is making progress."
Suddenly, Tina posted in the group: "He and I are just ordinary classmates. There’s no need for everyone to go on like this."
The lively group instantly fell silent after Tina’s message. Her tone seemed polite, but you could feel the anger behind it.
In the girls’ dorm, Tina put down her phone, her pretty face clouded over.
Her bestie Linda said indignantly, "These people are awful. Tina, you’re way prettier than Anna. What nonsense are they talking about?"
Linda was a class beauty herself, petite and cute.
But standing next to Tina, she paled a little. Tina, in her pajamas, looked serene and beautiful, with a scholarly air, truly the number one beauty of the Literature department.
Hearing that, Tina relaxed a bit and said calmly, "Linda, I’m fine. I don’t take this kind of thing to heart."
Linda continued, "But they’re way out of line. They all know Ryan is just a useless simp and a broke loser, yet they still have to use him to mock you."
Tina said curiously, "But they do have a point, where did that broke loser Ryan get the nerve to hit on Anna?"
Just as they were talking, her phone rang.
"This simp. Speak of the devil, daytime no gossiping about people, nighttime no gossiping about ghosts. The moment we mention him, this broke loser shows up."
Linda said with disgust.
Tina glanced at the screen, answered the call, and gave a soft "Hello."
"Tina, don’t believe all that random stuff in the group and online..."
Tina frowned slightly and said, "Classmate Ryan, we’re not that close. You should call me Classmate Tina."
"Okay, okay, classmate Tina. Let me explain."
"It was all a misunderstanding. The only one I like is you."
"We were playing Truth or Dare. I lost, and they made me go hit on Anna."
"In my heart, a hundred, a thousand Anna’s can’t compare to you..."
That simping confession was so cringey it made your scalp tingle. Linda made a gagging face beside her.