Right now, there was no way he could stay calm.
The image of Pepper kissing that man kept replaying in Tony's mind. The more he tried not to think about it, the clearer it became.
How could he possibly stay calm in this situation?!
Someone had to tell him it was fake!
---
Ordinary Group Leader:
"Of course it's real. Why would I send you a fake video?"
Ordinary Group Leader:
"In the future, you and Pepper will get married and have children. But because of a crisis involving the entire universe, you sacrifice yourself to save everyone—so Pepper becomes single again."
Ordinary Group Leader:
"And that man next to her is your future teammate."
Ordinary Group Leader:
"After your death, he helps take care of her. Over time, feelings develop… you get it."
Ordinary Group Leader:
(serious face)
---
Child of Nature:
"…"
---
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"I die? And then my teammate steals my girl?"
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"Are you kidding me? A crisis involving the entire universe?!"
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"Do you even know how insignificant Earth is in the universe? What could a human from Earth possibly do in something like that?"
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"And there's no way I'd sacrifice myself for others. Don't joke around!"
---
Child of Nature:
"No—this is the one thing the group leader didn't lie about."
Child of Nature:
"In the future, you really do sacrifice yourself to save the entire universe."
Child of Nature:
"And even before that, you carried a nuclear missile into space—barely surviving."
Child of Nature:
"During the Thanos incident, you could have stayed out of it and lived your life with Pepper."
Child of Nature:
"But in the end, you still chose to step in."
Child of Nature:
"This is who you are—Iron Man, Tony Stark."
Child of Nature:
"A man who, with a mortal body, stands shoulder to shoulder with gods."
Child of Nature:
"You are far greater than you think."
---
Tony Stark fell silent.
He still didn't want to believe it—but the seriousness in the other party's tone didn't sound like a lie.
Would he really sacrifice himself to save others in the future?
But a crisis involving the entire universe… what kind of danger would that even be?!
With Earth's current level of technology—even including himself—it shouldn't be possible to participate in such a battle.
…Wait.
Tony suddenly realized something.
If what they said was true—that he was a character in some anime or film—then a lot of logic didn't need to be questioned anymore.
Because he's the protagonist, the war involves him.
Because he's on Earth, the war involves Earth.
Because this world is a "story," a universe-level crisis can exist.
Suddenly… it all made sense.
But damn it—why did that make it even harder to accept?!
---
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"What about you? Isn't it hard to accept that you're characters in some story?"
---
Uchiha Dance King:
"Hmph. Only the weak-willed would struggle to accept such a thing."
---
"Be My Son":
"Gurararara! So what if it's a story? I'm quite satisfied with my life."
---
Worst Spirit (Kurumi Tokisaki):
"After joining this chat group, does that question even matter anymore?"
Worst Spirit:
"Now that you know the future, would you still walk toward it unchanged?"
---
Child of Nature:
"The question you just asked—was that part of the original author's setting?"
---
Turn Da Gu into Soup:
"If you think about it differently… without those authors, we wouldn't exist."
Turn Da Gu into Soup:
"Does that make it easier to accept?"
---
Ordinary Group Leader:
"Honestly… that sounds even harder to accept."
Ordinary Group Leader:
"Other than Meowth, me, Bai Xuan, and you—do you think any of them would be satisfied with their original fate?"
---
Turn Da Gu into Soup:
"…Uh…"
Madara Uchiha was betrayed and killed by his most trusted subordinate.
Whitebeard died, and so did his entire pirate crew.
Dongfang Bubai died for love.
Minato Namikaze died sealing the Nine-Tails; his wife died too, and his son had a miserable childhood.
And as for Kurumi Tokisaki… she was still trying to kill the First Spirit to change her fate.
None of them really had a happy ending…
---
Abandoned Glory:
"Woof woof?"
---
Ordinary Group Leader:
"Oh right, I forgot about you."
Ordinary Group Leader:
"Exclude this Shiba Inu too."
---
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"Even though your way of comforting people is… unique, I think I get it now."
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"So—@Ordinary Group Leader—that Pepper scene is fake, right?"
---
Ordinary Group Leader:
"Ahem… the video is fake, but reality… that's hard to say."
Ordinary Group Leader:
"Not everyone wants to stay single forever."
---
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"…"
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"Is there a full version?"
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"Name your price. If money doesn't work, I can pay in gold or jewels."
After all, wealth was the most universally useful thing.
Gold, especially—other gems might lose value in different worlds, but gold never did.
---
Ordinary Group Leader:
(eyes shining)
Ordinary Group Leader:
"…Boring."
Ordinary Group Leader:
"I'll pass on the money. I'm too weak right now—if someone targets me, I'm done for."
Ordinary Group Leader:
"How about you make me an AI like J.A.R.V.I.S.?"
Ordinary Group Leader:
"In my world, technological development has slowed because of spiritual energy. It even messes with scientific formulas."
Ordinary Group Leader:
"With J.A.R.V.I.S. in the network, I'd basically be invincible."
Ordinary Group Leader:
"Oh, and don't make him too honest."
Ordinary Group Leader:
"We still have the internet here… and sometimes 'robbing the rich to help the poor' can't be avoided, right?"
---
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"You could've just said that directly. Do I look like an honest person to you?"
---
Child of Nature:
"Make one for me too. I'll give you a spirit energy cluster."
Child of Nature:
"It can roughly double a normal person's physical abilities—should help with your weak body."
---
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"???"
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"My body is perfectly healthy, okay?!"
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"If it weren't for that barking interrupting me today, she wouldn't even get out of bed tomorrow afternoon!"
---
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"Alright—tell me what else you want while you're at it."
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"And send me more of those spirit energy clusters."
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"Don't misunderstand—it's not for me. My body doesn't need it!"
Lighthouse's Richest Man:
"I just think Pepper's been working hard lately… so I want to reward her."
---
Ordinary Group Leader:
"…"
Ordinary Group Leader:
"You really think we'd believe that?" 😏
---