[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-idle-tycoon-system":3,"chapter-idle-tycoon-system-idle-tycoon-system-chapter-47":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Idle Tycoon System",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1828043,2431,"Chapter 47: Gaming","idle-tycoon-system-chapter-47",47,"\u003Cp>Knock-knock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Noah had already secured permission from Uncle Smith and Aunt Mei.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The hallway felt gloomier up here, weighted with teenage angst and unspoken problems.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No response.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knocked once more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing no denial of entry, Noah opened the door slowly and walked in to find Ethan hunched over his desk, headphones on, playing what looked like a military shooter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rapid-fire clicks of the controller filled the space between explosive sound effects that blasted out of his headphones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Kid’s in his element. I better not interrupt mid-game.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Noah waited patiently, watching Ethan kill his opponents in the battlefield with surprising skill. The concentration on his cousin’s face was absolute—this wasn’t just entertainment, it was a way of escaping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After several minutes, Ethan’s character finally died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pulled off his headphones with a frustrated sigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Can I play with you?\" Noah asked quietly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan looked at him for a second, surprise flickering across his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without a word, he handed over a second controller, scooting his chair to make room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Gaming isn’t my strong suit, but maybe the system will help.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Noah settled beside his cousin, controller feeling foreign in his hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The game loaded—some tactical shooter with more buttons than seemed necessary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Don’t expect much,\" Noah warned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan’s lips twitched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Maybe I should’ve said that before the game started.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first five minutes were a massacre. Noah’s character died repeatedly—shot by enemies, falling off cliffs, accidentally grenading himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His kill-to-death ratio resembled a tragedy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’This is embarrassing. I’m getting destroyed in front if my own cousin.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But gradually, something changed. His reflexes sharpened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Movements became more fluid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The controller stopped feeling like an alien item.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then the notification flashed across his retina.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[You have gained the skill: Gaming (Lvl.1)]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Nice.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The change was immediate. Noah’s next life lasted significantly longer, his aim improving with each engagement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He actually managed to eliminate an enemy without immediately dying afterward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Huh,\" Ethan said, glancing at Noah’s screen. \"You’re getting better.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’ve been hiding my true skill. Watch me now!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They played in comfortable silence, the tension from downstairs melting away in digital gunfire and respawn timers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the first time since arriving, Ethan seemed genuinely relaxed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Whatever’s eating at him, this helps. Sometimes the best conversations happen without talking.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Noah’s improved performance drew increasingly impressed looks from his cousin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gaming Level 1 might not make him a professional, but it was enough to hold his own.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Time to find out what’s really wrong.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Noah thought as their characters respawned for another round.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gaming session had worked its magic—Ethan’s shoulders had relaxed, the tight lines around his eyes had softened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Bro. What’s wrong? Tell me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The brotherly tone felt natural, unforced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Noah had learned from watching Uncle Smith—sometimes family needed directness wrapped in warmth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan’s fingers stilled on the controller. His jaw worked silently, wrestling with words that clearly wanted to stay buried.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s nothing.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Try again. We aren’t that far apart in age you know. Also, you don’t have to worry about your parents finding out. I promise i won’t tell them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The teenager’s facade cracked. Pain leaked through like water through a dam.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Her name was Amy,\" he said finally. \"We’d been together for three weeks. Three weeks, and I thought...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice caught.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Noah waited, understanding that some stories needed space to breathe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There’s this guy at school. Jason Mitchell. His dad is a rich man in the city.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan’s knuckles whitened around the controller.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Guy drives a merc to school. Sixteen years old with a fucking merc.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rich kid syndrome. I remember those types.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Jason’s the school playboy. When he gets bored, he moves to the next girl, and leaves wreckage behind.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan’s voice hardened with every word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Everyone knows his pattern, but girls still line up anyway.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Money talks. Especially to teenagers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Last Friday, Amy texted saying she had some family dinner. And she couldn’t hang out on our planned date, haha.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan’s laugh carried no humor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So I’m scrolling Outstagram that night, and there’s Jason’s story. Fancy restaurant downtown. And a girl, and the designer bag he’d bought her that afternoon was on the table.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Naturally, you might think. How did I know it was Amy, if her face wasn’t fully showing in the picture. Well...it was her hand. Her hand has a birthmark that I know well.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Two hundred dollar bag. That’s all it took.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She looked so happy,\" Ethan whispered. \"Happier than she ever looked with me. That smile looked ecstatic.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Noah felt his cousin’s pain like a physical touch, that special kind of betrayal that came from discovering you’d been replaced by a price tag.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The bag cost two hundred dollars. I saw the receipt in his story—he was bragging about it. Two hundred dollars, and she threw away three weeks like it meant nothing.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three weeks feels like forever at sixteen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan’s breathing grew ragged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She doesn’t even know I found out. Still texts me like nothing happened. Like I’m just some backup option while she plays princess with money boy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The teenager’s composure finally shattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tears fell freely now, carrying days of suppressed humiliation and rage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m such an idiot. How could I compete with that? I work weekends at the grocery store for minimum wage. He probably spends more on lunch than I make in a day.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And there’s the real wound. Not just betrayal—inadequacy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Noah’s expression changed. The sympathetic cousin facade melted away, replaced by something more sneaky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A smirk played at the corners of his mouth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So what do you want to do?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Nothing.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan wiped his eyes roughly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I can’t do anything. He’s rich, I’m broke. End of the story.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No, I mean in your heart. What do you really want to do?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something flickered in Ethan’s eyes, a spark of anger that had been smoldering beneath the hurt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I want to slap them both in the face,\" he said quietly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then louder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I want to make her regret cheating on me. I want to make her come to me thinking that everything was fine before I dump her infront of the whole class.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damn, so much emotion. My cousin’s a little edge lord, huh?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Noah’s smirk intensified.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Alright. Do you have her on your social media still?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ethan nodded, gritting his teeth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I still haven’t broken up with her officially. She doesn’t know that I found out about her cheating from Jason’s story.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Perfect.\" Noah stood, energy crackling around him like hidden electricity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Now get ready. I want to take you somewhere.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",1086,"2026-06-09T06:05:14.055Z",1,"novelbin.me","3257d3dc646fbe9d6691e076a1fb200bf692d44aaefd101ade5aba47d6435314","idle-tycoon-system-chapter-48","idle-tycoon-system-chapter-46",438,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fidle-tycoon-system-cover.jpg"]