Big Data Killed the Social Media Star

“A phone and social media in one”

– i-Supremo X One Phone Commercial

She woke up feeling she was in someone else’s dream. The images were blurry, but she had found her
dream self sleeping on her bed without clothes on; she did not sleep like that. She had tried to wake up
her dream self. But as she was about to reach its shoulders, her eyes snapped open. She stared at the
ceiling for a moment. Her eyes darted left and right making sure she was not in a dream anymore. She
felt being watched by someone, by something. She took a deep breath and shrugged off the thought.
Her followers were waiting for her.

She reached for her phone under the pillow, a sleek minimalist black slab engraved with i-Supremo
Phone’s logo. She held it at arm’s length and checked her newsfeed. Seeing her friends’ posts made her
nerves calm, making her feel less alone. She scrolled through the comments below last night’s video
from the party, which gained more than 400,000 views. She posted some replies. She answered some
messages. And then she tapped Record. She said: Good morning, guys, and hit Post.

She got up from her bed, finally. She walked to her dressing table and turned on the displays.
Holographic images awoke in front of her. Photos and videos flew on the mirror, vivid web pages of her
social media accounts competed for space, and her holoselfies appeared and disappeared one after
another, creating a colorful display window.

Carmina Aguilar’s face was beautiful. She was in her early twenties with a morena skin and an alluring
appeal only a social influencer could have. Her cheeks were flawless, blushed in copper. Her eyes
sparkled and exuded passion. Checking herself on the mirror, she picked up a hairbrush and combed her
hair. She took selfie with her phone, tagged it with“#MinaMorning.” She edited it using her thumb to
lighten darks spots under her eyes. She applied a filter so that it looks like it was taken on a film camera.
Then she posted it. .

“Hi guys,” she said waving her hand in front of the camera. The light from the dressing table made her
face shimmer. “I just wanna thank i-Supremo Corp. for the awesome party last night. They also gave me
this new i-S phone! I haven’t check out its features. I’ll update you later. See you later guys! Bye!” She
finished filming and hit Post.

She watched the video. She skimmed over a couple of news headlines: “i-Supremo Data Breach: How to
Protect Your Data,” “Fifi Pascual: Yes, I’m a Bi-sexual,” “Diana Paula’s Sex Video Leaked Online.” News
articles came in and out of her feed. She tapped the article about Fifi Pascual but only looked at the first
paragraph. She opened a new window. She flicked some clothes she might buy. She read some new
comments below her “good morning, guys” video. She posted some replies. She took a photo. She read
a comment. She sent a message. She took a photo…

-------

Three hours later, Carmina was in a S-Taxi on her way to meet Nadine, a fellow video influencer. As an
ex-chef, Nadine initially found her niche making recipe videos. But in the past six months she had started
posting extreme eating challenges and exotic recipe videos in an effort to attract more viewers. Carmina
occasionally appeared in Nadine’s video, something social media influencers call “cross-pollination.”
Carmina was determined to enter the Top 20 this year. But for nine consecutive months she was stuck at
22nd rank. That’s why she did not hesitate for a second when Nadine called last week inviting to shoot a
new video. Carmina thought this will be a new thing for her followers other than her usual product
review posts.

Inside the car, she thought about making a vlog about her dream last night but she did not want her
followers to have a bad feeling. Instead, she checked the features of her new i-S phone. She held it in
her hand, turning it over and over. In the top right corner of the screen was a watermark, the familiar “i-
S” logo composed of two silver letters in a loose spidery handwriting. On its ads, the company touted
the phone has the most advanced “thought pattern recognition” sensor.

While staring at the phone’s dead black screen, a loading icon suddenly turned up and the speakers
crackled. “Hello Carmina, what can I do for you today?” the phone speaks in a deep robotic male voice.
Its screen whirred to life and displayed the latest weather forecast along with the traffic condition in the
area where she was at right now. And then her social media accounts flew on the screen and arranged
themselves based on their latest notification. A little Oh! hiccupped involuntarily from Carmina’s mouth.
She almost dropped the phone to the floor.

“Everything all right?” the S-Taxi driver asked looking at her passenger through the rear view mirror.
Carmina just nodded to the man behind wheel.

She held up the phone again. This time, it unlocked smoothly after detecting Carmina’s thought pattern.
Amazed with the phone’s new tech, she took a selfie and made a status about its features. As the car
navigated through the EDSA traffic, she continuously filmed herself with her new phone, asking her
viewers what they think of her hair and her outfit.

Carmina was still amused with her new gadget when the SupremoTransport app notified her she arrived
at the apartment building. The driver maneuvered the car carefully and pulled up at a corner. He
glanced at his passenger from the rear mirror, waiting for the fare. He took a good look at her face,
which was illuminated by the phone’s glow.

“Carmina Aguilar?” he asked with a hint of hesitation in his voice. Carmina looked at the driver and
forced a smile again.

“My daughter is a fan of yours. Puwede ba magpa-picture?”

“Yeah, sure.”

The man unclipped his phone on the dashboard and held it up above his shoulders. Carmina leaned
forward from the back seat and flashed a smile. Click.

“Thanks Kuya. Say to hi to your daughter for me,” Carmina said, not looking to the driver, her eyes
pinned on her screen. “Magkano po?” she asked, her neck hunched on the phone. She opened her
SupremoTransport app.

“573 Credits po,” the driver said after checking his screen.

“Okay,” Carmina opened her SupremoBank app. It prompted her to scan her face to access her bank
account. She logged in with her old facial-recognition password, but a new prompt message asked her to
scan her thoughts for a new passcode. She hesitated for a second, and then tapped Allow. After the
process was completed she transferred Credits to the driver. The driver thanked her, and she strolled to
the building’s lobby.

Inside the elevator, she opened her phone again and broadcasted a live video. She asked her followers
to describe their craziest taxi ride ever. She received a couple of responses from her followers along
with HEART and LIKE reacts.

As the elevator reached 34th floor, she finished filming and tapped Post. The elevator doors slid open as
she walked forward, her neck still hunched down on her phone. She was welcomed by a cramped empty
hallway. There were black painted doors set into each side with numbers written on them. She looked
up to see the numbers, buts she can’t recall Nadine’s room number. So she opened the messaging app
and tried to contact Nadine. But as she was about to text her, her phone spoke.

“Nadine’s room is at 403,” it says.

“Tha… thanks.” She said, her voice quavering.

“You’re welcome, Carmina.”

She walked through the deserted corridor. Her shoes clacked with her every step. She found Nadine’s
room at the far end corner of the hallway. She stood in front of it and pressed the doorbell. It sound
echoed down to the corridor.

“Wait!” She heard Nadine behind the door, her voice was muffled. Then she heard the sound of a key
turning in a lock, and the door opened. Dressed in a denim shirt and white shorts, Nadine wore no
make-up and her hair was unkempt, as if she has just woken up. Even so, one can still notice her
attractive appearance. Nadine opened the door wide, leaned in to her visitor, and greeted her with a
kiss on a cheek.

“Hi Carmina, are you ready?” Nadine asked. Her voice a little high-pitched, a little exaggerated.

“Oh yes yes. I just have a bad hangover from last night’s party but I’m okay. “
 “Oh were you there? I was at Johnny A’s table last night. He was so cute, I swear. He promised me to
invite him in one of his videos!”

“Oh really? That’s cool.”

“I know right? He also told me he is a fan of my recipe videos. So I’m thinking of giving him a fan sign
later. I’m sure he’ll gonna like it. What do you think?”

Carmina secretly rolled her eyes. She knew Nadine was just making things up again, and for sure half of
it was not true. In fact, Carmina didn’t really care about Johnny A. He was not even in top 30 rankings.
So she just responded with a fake smile. Nadine pulled her into her room and wafted her toward the
kitchen.

Nadine’s loft-style condominium was minimally furnished. But there was an eerie feeling in its emptiness
like you’re in an interrogation room and someone was observing from a one-way mirror. The walls were
painted in clear white and there was a small window overlooking the blackish Guadalupe River. There
was barely amount of light coming inside.

“This is where we’ll shoot the video,” Nadine pointed to the L-shaped kitchen panel. Its brown tiles
gleamed and the cupboard looked freshly painted. A damp paint fume odor lingered in the air. There
was also a set of kitchen utensils hanging behind a gas range: a set of large knives, cutting boards, a
handheld meat grinder, and stainless ladles. Carmina caught a glimpse of her face in a small mirror
hanging on the cupboard and was startled.

“Do you always put a mirror here in your kitchen?” She asked Nadine.

“Yes, you don’t do that? I want to see how I look while I cook. You know, I always have to look good on
camera.”

A pause.

“Alright so I just have to prepare. You can start fixing the camera while I dress up. Okay?” Without
waiting for Carmina’s response, she left her alone at the kitchen.

Nadine was not like that before. The two of them even had shared a video channel once before Nadine
decided to create her own channel. But even then, it felt more like a game between her and Carmina. A
way of scoring points, getting to the next level, and gaining more followers.

While Nadine was preparing, Carmina checked the latest rankings. Number 22 was flashing at the right
side of her screen together with the number of her followers. She scrolled down up to see the number 1
in the rankings. _PreciousBeaxX was still at the top with 3,504,608 followers under her name. The social
media star was smiling sardonically on her display picture as if mocking her.

It had taken sometime before Nadine appeared again. Carmina checked Nadine’s room and took a
glance inside from the ajar door. She found Nadine sitting at the dressing table, her neck hunched down
over her phone. Carmina went back to the kitchen and sat at the worktable. Still amused on how her
new phone works, she tried to find its thought pattern sensor. But after several twists and turns on the
device, she couldn’t find it anywhere. And when she stared at the front camera, she caught a glint as if a
remote hand was controlling it somewhere.

“So how was your ranking?” Carmina’s head jerked up and was surprised to see Nadine suddenly
standing in front of her. “You know I’ve posted 70 hours of video last week but my ranking hasn’t
budged. But this _PreciousBeaxX, she does not even try. She stays at the top. I wonder what her secret
is.”

She looked at Nadine for a moment and thought of a quick response. “I watched her video last week,”
Carmina said. “Her videos are so lame. I don’t get why her followers enjoy that kind of stuff. “

And speaking of her, I did not saw her at the party last night. But there are clips from the party on her
account.”

“I did not saw her either. Maybe she’s at the VIP lounge.” Nadine said batting her eyelashes, her arms
folded on her chest. “Alright, so let’s start?”

“Yeah. Sure,” Carmina stood up.

“Are you alright Carmina? You look pale.”

“I’m good, I’m good,” Carmina replied, forcing a smile. “It’s just the hangover. I’ll re-touch later. Let’s get
started.”

“And oh by the way, let’s try to shoot using this phone.” She held up the phone in her hand, showing
the i-S logo to Nadine.

“Oh you got the new one!” Nadine cheered, wide-eyed. “Lucky for you.”

Carmina attached the phone in a tripod and placed it in front of the worktable. She moved behind the
phone to adjust the tripod’s stem. She checked the display screen: the frame showed the wooden
worktable adorned with bonsai pot and a portable stove. The ingredients were laid on the tiled surface:
a tablespoon of chopped basil leaves in a cup, diced tomatoes in a saucer, crushed cloves of garlic, and ¼
cup of Parmesan cheese. The door can also be seen behind the worktable.

“It’s a bit dim. I think we need more lighting,” Nadine said, raising an eyebrow. She walked to the door
and pressed a button in the switch panel. A flash of fluorescent light poured on the kitchen worktable
illuminating the utensils.

Nadine entered the frame. Carmina adjusted the stem while looking at the display screen. She panned
the camera a little to the right putting Nadine in the middle of the display. She observed Nadine on the
screen, and then she looked up to see her at the doorway. For some reason, Carmina had an absurd
feeling that she was looking to two separate persons: the virtual Nadine on the screen and the real one
standing beside the door.
The real Nadine looked back over her shoulders, and the Nadine on the screen did the same. There was
a millisecond delay before the virtual Nadine would follow the real Nadine at the doorway. With the
phone’s high-pixel camera and enhanced lighting feature, the virtual Nadine on the screen was clearer
than the real one. But it was more than that. There was freshness to her virtual appearance, a kind of
mild glow that could only be seen through the phone’s lenses.

Carmina pressed Record Live.

“So it is true that you never went to a cooking school?” Carmina asked with a hint of mockery in her
voice.

“Wait. Are you filming me now?”

Carmina nodded and pointed to the camera. Nadine snapped into her on-screen persona. Her voice a
little louder. Her gestures a little larger.

“Where did you get that? Of course I do. Chef Carlo is one of my instructors. Why don’t you take the
course also? I’m sure you’ll love it.”

“No need,” Carmina chuckled behind the camera.

Nadine walked toward the worktable, her hips swaying side to side, her hour-glass figure slowly filling
the frame. She stood behind the table and arranged the ingredients. Her movements were immaculately
fine and calculated. She explained the dish that they are about to cook.

“So Carmina and I have cooked up something a little special for you today. It’s called---“

“Spicy Red Pasta,” Carmina suddenly cut into view, gleefully flailing her arms in the air.

“That’s right. It doesn’t sound too bad isn’t?” Nadine responded. ”This a bit different from my usual
show of exotic dishes. But here I am to teach Carmina how to cook lovely and delicious pasta. So why
don’t you join us.” She waved her hands to the camera, inviting the audience to come closer.

LIVE was blinking at a corner of the screen. Text littered with animated emojis popped up in the livefeed.
The chatbox window came to life. The view counter in the bottom right blinked rapidly. Its red digits
currently read:

Live: 10,079

Carmina immediately put herself into the role of an expert chef. Nadine just stood in the corner and
observed Carmina’s movement while occasionally asking questions about the nutritional benefits of this
and that ingredient. Carmina was slicing the chicken breast when the doorbell rings. But as far as they
could remember, they were not expecting anyone to join the shoot. They both looked at each other. The
bell rang again, shrill and insistent.

Carmina whispered to Nadine, wondering if she was expecting any parcel or a visitor. But Nadine just
shrugged her shoulders. I’ll check, she said. She walked straight to the door and turned the doorknob.
But she was greeted not by a delivery person, but by a sight so bizarre that she can’t immediately
process it.

Standing in front of him, filling the entire doorway, was a giant sheep. Or at least a person wearing a
sheep costume.

For a brief moment, they wondered if this might be some kind of a new elaborate promotion of a
product. An advert for a new kebab shawarma perhaps. Then Nadine glanced down and saw the gun the
sheep had gripped in its hand. A gleaming, oversized revolver, like something from a cartoon. The whole
scene was so bizarre. But then the sheep took a step forward and shoved Nadine so hard that she
almost topple over. Realizing this was no joke, Carmina immediately moved to push away the sheep
man. But she was too late. The sheep had already forced its way into the apartment.

The livefeed was still on. The red dot on the video counter ticked rapidly. WOW reacts popped on the
screen in rapid succession. Nadine was down on the ground. The chatbox window was now filled with
concerns from the fans. They appealed to help the two influencers if they know where their location.
Multiple followers volunteered to call the police to report what was happening.

The sheep man pointed the gun at Carmina’s head.

“Go inside and sit the fuck down,” shouted a muffled male voice from behind the mask. “If you fucking
try anything I will shoot you on the fucking face. And stop crying.”

The two sat on the floor, their knees curled protectively to their chest. The sheep sat opposite them, the
gun cradled in his lap. He opened the livefeed app on a laptop and placed it is on the worktable. On the
screen, he could see himself and the two girls curled at the corner. The counter currently read:

Live: 100,941.

The sheep man smiled to himself behind the mask. He pulled a chair from the dining table and placed it
in the middle of the frame. He then dragged Carmina from the corner and forced her to sit on it. Tears
were flowing from the young woman’s eyes. She yelled as the sheep man points the gun to her
forehead.

“Stay calm, my dear. I will not hurt you,” the sheep man said, turning his voice low.

Carmina sobbed, her shoulders were trembling. She closed her eyes and put her arms around her chest.
Her eyes pinned on the floor.

“I’m a fan of yours Carmina,” the sheep man said grabbing Carmina’s chin, forcing her to look at him.
“I’ve watched every video that you upload. And now I want you to do something different. Why don’t
we put some thrill on your usual videos? Can you cook while a gun is pointed to your head?” The sheep
man leaned closer to her ears. His cotton mask rubbing her cheeks.

Carmina cried on the camera as she prepared the spaghetti sauce. Her hands were trembling hard. The
sheep man looked at the video counter. It had now more than half a million viewers. In the chatbox,
lines of texts appeared and disappeared one after another. Everyone was in panic. Trolls had entered
the chatbox. Giving 500 credits to Nadine’s account, they now wanted to see the sheep man pull the
trigger. Others wanted the madness to stop. Some had even reported the live feed to news media
channels.

In the corner, Nadine secretly smiled to herself. Half a million viewers. She grinned from ear to ear. She
opened the app on her phone. She was now 16 th in the rankings. The red dot at the view counter beat
incessantly as if trying to keep up with her heartbeat. She enjoyed the sweet rush of dopamine as the
reactions and comments rolled in.

“Do it!” Nadine commanded.

The sheep man cocked the gun and pulled the trigger.

Confetti popped into the air, showering the worktable with rainbow of colors. A tune was turned up
somewhere playing a nursery rhyme. Shocked, Carmina’s mouth was wide open. She was still
comprehending what had just happened. Nadine entered the frame with a gleeful smile.

“Got you!” Nadine said hugging Carmina from behind. “Everything’s all right. Don’t worry.”

The sheep man took off his mask, revealing a guy with cropped hair. It was Mark Montenegro, Nadine’s
boyfriend and another aspiring influencer. He waved in front of the camera, and let out a grin. She
hugged Carmina and said sorry.

“It’s okay darling, it’s okay,” Nadine said consoling her friend. She held up her phone and showed
Carmina the latest rankings:

TOP INFLUENCERS

15 Carmina Aguilar

16 Nadine Macaraig

17 Aicel Leticia Reyes

18 Ryan Buenafe

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, sitting at her breakfast table and sipping a cup of brewed coffee, Carmina read the
comments below the yesterday’s video. It was already viral in various social media outlets. She had
gained more than two hundred thousand new followers. Nadine didn’t mean to shock her but Carmina
thanked her friend for the rank boost. She also didn’t mind they used Carmina’s account to broadcast
the video. Although there was a hint of jealousy in her voice as Carmina had surpassed her in the
rankings.

“It was a fantastic show!”

“Way to go Carmina. You’ve got me on that sheep man/gun scene.”
“Stay safe Carmina! I thought it was real .”

Carmina scrolled through the comments section, deleting comments from bashers and moving the
praises to the top section. LOVE, ANGRY, and WOW reacts had poured in on the video. Carmina posted
some replies to other influencers’ comments on the video, a way to boost the post in the feed’s
algorithm. She filmed a video assuring her fans that everything was all right.

She posted the video and scrolled her newsfeed. She found memes of Nadine’s derp face after seeing
the sheep man. There were also videos from other influencers recreating the sheep man scene. She
watched some of them and gave them a LIKE. She flipped through a couple news headlines. After a
couple of scrolls, she found a video of i-Supremo Corp. CEO Lucio Ayala. The headline reads ”i-Supremo
CEO Advices Users to Logout Their Account After a Series Data Breaches.”

Carmina was about to play video when she remembered she hasn’t posted her selfie for the morning
yet. She scrolled up to the STATUS UPDATE section and snapped a selfie. But while editing her selfie,
something happened. At first she thought it was just a glitch in the system, or a bug in a system update.
But it had turned out to be something.

After taking a selfie and choosing a filter to go with it, her account was suddenly redirected to the social
media site’s home page. Her account was logged out. The site asked her to enter her new thought
passcode. But she hadn’t updated her account yet. Wondering what happened, she tried to enter her
details on the login page. A beep error sound.

WRONG EMAIL OR PASSWORD. PLEASE ENTER YOUR THOUGHT PASSCODE.

A frown creased her eyebrows. A grip of panic was beginning to course through her. Her hair stood on
end. She unlocked the phone and typed her username and password again. This time she typed slowly
making sure she entered the right keys. But after pressing the ENTER button, the beep error sound
turned up again.

WRONG EMAIL OR PASSWORD. PLEASE ENTER YOUR THOUGHT PASSCODE.

She took a breath and shook her head. What’s happening, she said to herself. She caught a glint again
on the phone’s front camera. Thinking what to do next, she tried to login with a dummy account.
WELCOME BACK Carmina_18, the app wrote. In the chatbox panel, she saw her real account was logged
in. A green button was flashing beside its display picture. ONLINE, it wrote. She tapped the display
picture of her real account, and then a new window opened for MESSENGER. Her fingers trembled as
she typed message.

“Hello?” she wrote. Right after sending the message, the chatbox window indicated her message was
SEEN. Her account was immediately typing a response. TYPING.

“Hi! Please leave a message  I’ll get back to you shortly. Have a #MinaMorning XOXO.” It wasn’t her
automatic response; she wasn’t using automatic responses. She typed a reply.

“Who are you?” she typed.

SEEN.

She typed again. “WHO ARE YOU?”

As she waited for a reply, she heard a faint voice coming from somewhere. A muffled voice talking to
someone. Her head swung to the source of the sound. It seemed to be coming from her bedroom. But
its door was shut; she couldn’t see what’s going inside. She took a deep breath and walked to the
direction of the room. Her heart was pounding widely inside her chest.

“KRRRrrring” the phone in her hand suddenly rang. She stopped in her tracks. The screen indicated the
call was coming from an UNKNOWN NUMBER. She tapped the answer button and pressed the phone on
her right ear.

“He…hello?”

No answer.

“Hello?” she said again waiting for a voice from the other line. She checked her phone, but the call had
ended.

The screen glitched, blue lines flickered on the screen, appearing and disappearing one after another.
As the screen returned to normal, a blurred image came into view. She held up the phone closer to her
face to see the image. When the image became clearer, a cold shiver ran through her spine. The image
looked like it was taken from a CCTV camera. She saw herself on the screen, her neck hunched over the
phone. She gasped and dropped the phone to the floor.

She put her hand on her mouth and looked at the door of her bedroom. She slowly walked in its
direction. Her body was trembling. She held the cold doorknob and turned it right slowly. The door
creaked as she pushes it inward. The light on her dressing table was turned on. Its glow bathed the room
with blue light. She stood in front of her dressing table. Her eyes widen and her jaw dropped to the
images displayed on the monitor. Someone was taking over her accounts.
On one panel, it showed her bank account. Digits were ticking rapidly as the money in her account spiral
downward. No, no, no. She shook her head as tears began to flow in her eyes. At the other panel of the
display, she saw her private pictures were being posted and shared by different accounts. There were
also posts from other influencers, alerting their followers their account was being hacked. A chaos
ensued at the feed as if everyone was shouting to each other. She crouched under the dressing table
and pulled the plug. The monitor went dead and the room immediately enveloped in darkness. She was
about to get out of her room, when the monitor suddenly crackled to life. She craned her neck to the
monitor. It showed static lines at first, and then, photo and video flew on the display once again.

She finds herself again on the display screen. LIVE is blinking at the upper right hand corner of the
screen.

LIVE: 600,248

She saw herself naked on the monitor. She was on a bed the playing with herself, talking to an audience.
It’s not me, it’s not me, she says to herself repeatedly. She activated the on-screen keyboard and
hovered the cursor at the chatbox.

She typed, “Guys! It’s not me! Please help! Someone is taking over my account!

“Poser alert!” someone typed.

“Take it off Carmina! Take it off 😈!”

“No! Please. It’s me the real Carmina.”

“Bl0ck thAt $hit!!!!”

“GeT ouT G4y p0sEr!”

Carmina was about to take a photo of her self to prove to prove she was the real Carmina when the host
kicked her out of the chatbox. YOU CAN’T REPLY TO THIS CONVERSATION.

She yelled at the monitor in frustration. Panting, she went outside the room and picked up the i-S phone
on the floor. Its screen was cracked, but upon sensing her presence, the phone unlocked itself. The
speakers crackled to life.

“Hello Carmina, what can I do for you today?”

“Call Nadine! Call Nadine!” she shouted to the phone.

“Hello Carmina, what can I do for you today?”

“I said call Nadine!” She manually tapped Nadine’s numbers on the screen. But her phone couldn’t
detect any signal. She let out a scream and threw the phone to the window. Outside, there was panic on
the streets. Loud car horns were blowing. Traffic lights were flickering. Pedestrians were in panic. Their
head hunched down on their phone, talking to their devices.

“Carmina, the weather’s nice. You should get out.”

“Carmina, your new post has reached 1,709,800 people and had 523,999 engagements today.”

“Your recent live video is performing well.

“A 50 credit will be applied when you boost a post on your page.”

“A boosted post on can have monumental impact to your account.”

“When we boost posts, we see twice as much engagement, twice as much website traffic and often double
our sales”

“Reach 500,948 today by boosting your post. Tap the image to see the offer.”

“Carmina?”

“Carmina?”

“Carmina? Are you there?”

She does not find any suspicious person, but she finds a sight so bizarre that she can’t immediately
process it. She finds herself on the monitor, filling the entire screen. LIVE is blinking at the right hand
corner of the screen. Someone is using her account. She sits in front of the dresser, wondering what is
happening. Her forehead is crinkled. She reaches for the plug of her monitor underneath and
immediately plugs. Her room returns to silence.

She goes to the sala and immediately calls Nadine. But she does not pick-up the call. Her phone is only
ringing. She tries to call Mark. After two rings she picks up the call. Before taking a question from her,
Mark praises her for ranking up in three in just two days. He says he wonders if he could the same to
increase his ranking. Wondering he is talking about, Carmina visits to her real account using her dummy.
She is now LIVE with 200,000 viewers. The Carmina on the screen is playing a STRIP GAME in which she
will take off a clothing if one of her followers gets a correct answer.

------- She opens her bank account to pay for the product adverstisement
------ she tries to lure her hacker by pretending to advertise a product. She gives her money upfront as a
bait

----- A dialogue where bot is repeatedly saying something to her

------------------------------------------------------------------

receives a video call. A silhouette display picture of a man appears on the mirror, suspended in space,
hanging beside the OS watermark. Private Number calling… is written under the photo. She thinks for a
second. Then she lifts her right hand and taps “answer” in the air.

The silhouette photo zooms in on her monitor. “Hello?” she says with a hint of anxiety in her voice.

It takes some time before the person on other side to speak. His voice is cracked and deep.

“Hi, Carmina! Congratulations on your video last night. It was greatly received by fans. It is one of a kind.
I never saw anything like that. Some influencers have to try to post death-defying video but they didn’t
come close to what you had done last night. I’m impressed.
“Oh by the way, I’m sorry I forget to introduce myself. You may be wondering who is this guy talking to
you, trying to be friendly. For security concerns I do not show my face in public. I’m Henry Ayala by the
way, so may know me already by now.”

A brief pause. Henry Ayala? The CEO of Globe Broadband Corp? Why? Carmina thinks to herself.

“Since you’re now in top 15,” the CEO continues. “I would like to invite to try our new product. Well
actually it’s like an app and a new device at the same time. It is not yet out in the public but you’re one
of our precious subscribers so we are giving you the opportunity to try it yourself first hand. Plus, we’ve
also invited other selected influencers to try it. I’m sure you’re gonna like this device. We’ve also
prepared a contract for you if you are interested to endorse the product to your followers. So are you
in?”

Carmina think about for a second. The perks. The privileges of being in top 15. This is it. This is the
moment that she has been waiting for. She looks up at the anonymous display picture and says, “Of
course. I’ll take it.”

“That’s great Carmina. A driver will pick you up at your apartment this afternoon and we’ll take it from
there. Okay? See you!” The window disappears.

She looks around the room. The sheep man costume that was used yesterday is sitting beside the
dresser, facing her as if watching her movement. A cold shiver runs to her spine. Something is not right.
She is used to being watch by other people but not this way. She feels like pairs of eyes are trained on
her, observing her movements. She tries to phone Nadine to ask if she also got the anonymous call.
But Nadine does not pick up the call. She tries Mark Montenegro’s number. He answers after four rings.
Carmina asks if he receives an invitation from Globe Broadband Corp or an anonymous call this morning.
The guy replies he didn’t receive such calls. She says thank you and hangs up the call. Strange.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

From ceiling, walls, and to the floor, the entire structure of the Globe Broadband Tower appears to be
made of glass. As she steps into the lobby after a series security checks, Carmina can’t help herself
marvel at the entire structure The familiar OS logo is plastered around the building. Its lobby is a single,
seamless piece of glass, allowing her to look directly in different directions. When she rides at the
transparent elevator going to 60th floor, it’s as if she is standing on nothing but thin air.

As the elevator doors split apart, a tall well-tanned young man welcomes her. He stands in front of her,
a tablet computer in his hand. He smiles and extends his hand. “Welcome to the Globe Broadband
Tower, please follow me.”

Carmina allow herself to be led away from a series of double doors in the hallway, and along seemingly
endless series of interlinking corridors. The clicks of young man’s black leather shoes echo down the
empty corridor. Instinctively, Carmina finds herself automatically fumbling for her phone, extending her
arm above her head to record a video. But to her surprise, she finds the image on the screen is blurred.

“Sorry,” the young man beside her speaks, “Your phone won’t work while you’re inside the building. We
installed jammers to deter unauthorized devices.”

They stop in front of another of set of double doors. But unlike the others, this one has frosted glasses,
making it impossible to see inside. As Carmina is putting her phone inside pocket, the young man opens
the double doors and proceeds inside. Unsure of what next thing to do, Carmina follows him inside the
room.

The young man goes to the far end of the office. Behind him, Carmina can see the clear metal skyline of
the capital that stretches towards the Manila Bay. The young man sits behind the mahogany table and
clasps his hands together.

“So what can you say? Beautiful isn’t?” He says.

Speechless, Carmina just nods in response, trying to comprehend what is happening. She looks around
the minimally furnished office room. It is large and sparsely furnished, though here all of the walls are
mirrored. The effect is mesmerizing. Carmina can see her own reflection from so many angles. Every
time Ayala crosses his legs, an endless army of clones instantly mimics him. Everywhere she looks he is
there.

“Henry Ayala?” Carmina says, her forehead wrinkled.

The young man lets out a belly laugh and leans in to the backseat. “Are you surprised?” He grins widely
showing his perfect set of pearly white teeth. “Well I thought you knew all along. Anyway, let’s get
started. Why don’t you take a seat first?” He extends his hand and gestures to the leather seat in front
of the mahogany table.

Ayala crosses his legs and puts his hands on the table. Around the room, a billion of Ayalas copies his
movement.

“Now, tell me Carmina, explain to me what it is that you do?”

“Um… I make videos?”

“Yes, I’m aware what you are doing. But what I’m trying to get at isn’t so much what you do, but the
purpose is. What is the point of you, Carmina?”

A brief pause. It take some time before Carmina can answer back. She is distracted with the reflection of
Ayala on the walls. Billions of eyes watching her.
“I guess the point... is the people like to know what I think. They can relate with me and they care about
what I think about… stuff.”

Ayala beams. “Bingo! That’s what trying to get at. You’re a commentator. The voice of the people. Your
followers really love you. They value your opinion and they consider you as a friend.” He pauses and
shifts his sitting position. ”But I’m afraid video blogging is going to be over a couple of years.”

“Over?” Carmina frowns.

“Yes, because you will be part of the revolution just like other influencers.” With flick of a hand, the
surface of very mirror goes instantly black. The room is solely lit by the light from the windows. It takes
Carmina a second to understand that rather than glass, the walls, floor and ceiling are actually are
enormous plasma screens. The screens show the top 15 influencers. Strings of figures and information
are writtne beside their photo.

“Video blogging will be the thing of a past. After launching its own social media channel and a line of
gadgets, Globe Broadband Corp. is now heading towards the future. With the new OS +, you can now
stream your thoughts without using your gadget. It is just a microchip that we will install on your
temples. And that’s you can connect to your audience directly.”

Ayala studies Carmina’s face. “Don’t worry, it’s painless. I also have one installed in my head.” The
screens are now showing a sort of beach holiday in a tropical island. Ayala is now on the frame, touring
the audience island, talking about the places to be. “It’s my own private channel, and only a select group
of people watching it. Hotel managers and surfers mostly.”

“So say, do you want to be part of the future?”

Ayala walks slowly toward Carmina. She is still mesmerized on what is happening. Ayala gets something
inside his jacket pocket. A silver box. He turns the cover, getting a small, coin-shaped gadget from inside.
Carmina leans closer to the young executive. Ayala carefully gets the gadget using his thumb and index,
and slow put it on Carmina’s right temples.

The gadget whirred to life as it attaches itself to Carmina’s skin. She feels slight sting as it penetrate her
skin. And then as if magic the gadget inserts itself into Carmina’s forehead and disappears completely.
Carmina touches her temples. There’s no trace of the installation as if nothing has happened.

“Wait for it,” Ayala flicks his hands to the screen. And then the images show Carmina in a red carpet,
walking in the aisle. Camera flashes flicker around her. And then suddenly the image turns into a beach
wedding together with a celebrity.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. It usually take some time before you can control the gadget.”
---- describe how to the young man can easily put the spotlight to himself.

---- offers her to put a microchip on her head

---- the next morning she shoots another video. But adverts come in the way of her videos
---- And then the broadcasts that are projecting to the screen is not her anymore

her cellphone suddenly rings. She is not expecting a call from somebody.
-- an anonymous call.
-- possibly from government

--- the government extracts information from her

--- puts her into a virtual world

-- adverts

_ Plot

- they will start their show

- a doorbell suddenly rings

- a sheepman shows up. It tries to kill Nadine

- it was prank from Carmina to increase her followers