Chapter 90: The Jump to 6 Dollars
Monday, February 15, 2016
The California landscape blurred past the tinted windows of the black Chevrolet Suburban. Interstate 5 stretched north, a gray ribbon connecting Los Angeles with their next destination: San Francisco.
Michael sat in the second row, legs stretched out. The silence in the SUV was comfortable. T-Roc snored softly in the back seat, cap covering his face. Karl was in the passenger seat, checking emails on his phone with manic intensity. A hired driver held the steering wheel.
Tour life had officially begun.
It was no longer short trips downtown. This was an expedition. Suitcases, gear, hotels. The logistics of moving a growing empire.
Michael looked at his phone. The past week had been a frenzy of headlines due to his #1 on Billboard with 'Lucid Dreams'. The world was watching him. And he knew that attention was a currency that devalued quickly if you didn't spend it.
He had a captive audience. Now he had to deliver the coup de grâce.
He opened his photo gallery. He selected a frame from the video Cole had finished editing days ago: a distorted and grainy image of Michael in the forest, eyes rolled back and bright yellow Arabic subtitles underneath.
It looked terrifying. It looked iconic.
He opened Instagram.
He uploaded the image. He didn't need to explain much. The aesthetic spoke for itself.
He wrote the caption:
"Friday the lights go out. 'XO TOUR Llif3'. 🦇"
He pressed "Post".
He did the same on Twitter.
Within seconds, notifications started arriving. People recognized the phrase "XO Tour Life" from forums and leaks, or simply reacted to the dark image.
Michael locked his phone and looked out the window.
He felt different. Heavier, but stronger. The warm-up show they had done at a medium-sized club in Santa Barbara the night before had gone perfectly.
He no longer jumped into the crowd on the first song. He had learned to control his energy, to dose the violence. He moved across the stage like a predator, not like panicked prey. The intensity was still there, but now it was a weapon he aimed, not an explosion that consumed him.
"Is San Francisco ready?" asked Karl, without turning around, noticing Michael had moved.
"I don't know," said Michael, looking at the horizon. "But we are."
On Friday he would release the song that would define his generation. But first, he had to conquer the north.
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
The trip to San Francisco had been a resounding success. The show sold out, the energy was brutal, and the check was cashed. But after two days sleeping in hotels and eating airport food, Michael needed to return to his center of gravity.
He landed in Los Angeles in the morning and, instead of going to sleep, drove directly to the gym.
He needed the iron. He needed the routine.
He walked into "24 Hour Fitness" with his hoodie on, going unnoticed among the morning regulars. The smell of rubber and disinfectant was strangely comforting.
He walked toward the free weights area, looking for his training partner.
Amy was there, resting between sets on a cable machine. But today she wasn't alone.
Next to her was a younger girl, maybe Michael's age. She was wearing a worn My Chemical Romance t-shirt, black pants, and an expression of absolute terror as she looked toward the entrance.
Michael approached. Amy saw him and smiled, a smile that said: "Behave."
"Look who decided to come down from Olympus," said Amy, bumping fists with Michael. "I thought you were too famous for back day."
"Never," said Michael, dropping his bag. "The back supports the ego."
Amy laughed and turned to the girl beside her.
"Mike," said Amy, her voice softening. "This is the famous Rachel. The one who almost passed out when you sent her the video."
Michael looked at Rachel. The girl was visibly trembling. Her hands clutched her phone as if it were a lifeline.
Michael took off his sunglasses. He didn't want barriers. He offered her a soft smile, the most genuine one he had.
"Hi, Rachel," he said, extending his hand. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Amy says you're an OG. That you were there since 'Ghost Boy'."
Rachel took his hand. Her grip was weak, nervous.
"Y-yes," she stammered. "Since the beginning. When you had... like a hundred plays."
"That is loyalty," said Michael.
Rachel took a breath, steeling herself.
"I just wanted to tell you..." she started, her voice gaining a little strength. "Thank you. That song... and 'Star Shopping'... last year was really hard for me. My parents got divorced and... well. Your music was the only thing that made me feel like someone understood what it's like to feel invisible."
Michael felt a weight in his chest. It wasn't the weight of success, nor of money. It was the weight of responsibility.
He had read comments like that online a thousand times. But hearing a real person, flesh and blood, say it to his face, half a meter away, was different. It made everything real.
"Thanks to you, Rachel," said Michael, looking her in the eyes. "Really. I make music for that. So we aren't alone."
Amy watched the scene with a proud smile, arms crossed.
"Can we...?" asked Rachel, taking out her phone shyly.
"Of course," said Michael.
Amy took Rachel's phone. "Stand there," she ordered.
Michael put an arm around Rachel's shoulders. She smiled, a radiant and nervous smile.
Click.
"One more, just in case," said Amy.
Click.
Rachel retrieved her phone, looking at the photo as if it were a sacred treasure.
"Thank you, Michael. Seriously. I won't bother you anymore," she said, backing away. "Good luck with the tour. And with... everything."
"Take care, Rachel," said Michael.
The girl left, walking fast toward the exit, probably to call someone and scream with excitement.
Michael watched her go.
"You're a good guy, Mike," said Amy, giving him a gentle punch on the arm. "Even if you are a weird celebrity."
Michael turned to the weights, his mind buzzing.
That moment, that thirty-second connection, was worth more than a million likes. It reminded him why he made sad music. It wasn't a product. It was a lifeline.
And it reminded him why he needed the money. To have the freedom to keep making that kind of art, without any label telling him to make happy pop music.
"Let's train," said Michael, gripping the bar with renewed strength. "I feel strong today."
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Thursday was a day of tense calm. The video for 'XO TOUR Llif3' was uploaded and ready to go out Friday at midnight. The tour had had an explosive start. The encounter with Rachel at the gym had given him an injection of moral purpose.
Michael was lying on the sofa in his living room, with the TV on mute, watching the local news.
Suddenly, he felt the itch.
That old nervous tic he had managed to control during the last weeks of frenetic work returned. His right hand moved on its own toward his pocket.
He hadn't checked the price of Ethereum in three days.
For a normal investor, three days is nothing. For Michael, who lived with the constant fear that the future would change due to the butterfly effect, three days were an eternity.
'Just a peek,' he thought. 'Just to make sure it hasn't gone to zero.'
He unlocked the phone. Opened the secure folder. Clicked on the wallet app.
The loading screen spun for a second that felt eternal.
And then, the numbers appeared.
Michael blinked. He sat up on the sofa, bringing the phone closer to his face.
He expected to see $2.50. Maybe $2.60 if it had been a good week.
The number on the screen glowed neon green.
ETH/USD: $6.20
Michael stopped breathing.
'Six dollars.'
It wasn't a mistake. He refreshed the page.
$6.22
The price had tripled in a matter of days. The first big explosion of 2016 had begun.
Michael got up from the sofa, feeling a ringing in his ears. His engineer mind took control, doing the cold, hard math.
He had his initial investment of 437,500 coins. Plus the additional 50,000 coins he had bought aggressively with the royalties from 'Lucid Dreams' at the beginning of the month.
Total: 487,500 ETH.
He opened the calculator. His fingers trembled slightly.
487,500 x 6.20 =
The result appeared on the screen.
$3,022,500.00 USD
Three million dollars.
Michael fell back onto the sofa. The phone slipped from his hand and fell onto the cushion.
A year ago, he was washing dishes for minimum wage. Six months ago, he sold his dead parents' house to bet everything he had on a digital ghost worth 80 cents. A month ago, he was worried about paying Sting $50,000.
And today, at this precise moment, he was a multimillionaire.
Technically, he was a dollar millionaire, but he had three million liquid if he decided to sell. Three million that no one knew about.
The anxiety of "What if..." that had tormented him for months —What if I changed the timeline? What if the market is different here?— evaporated in an instant.
The market wasn't different. The future was exactly as he remembered it. The pattern was fulfilling itself.
A sense of absolute, almost divine calm washed over him.
He was no longer betting. He was no longer guessing.
He knew.
He knew this would reach $10. Then $100. Then $1,400.
He looked around his living room, with its cheap furniture and old TV. He laughed. A quiet laugh, of deep relief.
He could buy this house. He could buy the whole street.
But he wouldn't. Not yet.
He got up and went to the kitchen. He poured himself a glass of water. His hands were no longer shaking.
He had three million dollars in the secret pocket. And tomorrow, he was going to release the biggest song of his career.
He felt invincible. The world was his. He just had to wait to collect it.
Friday, February 19, 2016 (Night)
The clock on the MacBook Pro struck 11:59 PM.
Michael sat in the darkness of his studio, illuminated only by the glow of the screen. The cold euphoria of discovering his three-million-dollar fortune in Ethereum had settled into steely confidence.
He was no longer afraid of failure. The money had given him an indestructible safety net. Now, music wasn't a desperate necessity; it was a game of domination.
He opened the YouTube window. The video, titled "XO TOUR Llif3 (Official Video) - Dir. Cole Bennett", was uploaded and ready as "Private".
He opened his distributor's window. The song was ready to appear on Spotify and Apple Music at the turn of the minute.
The clock changed. 12:00 AM.
Michael clicked. Public.
The video premiered.
Michael watched it play once, just to savor the work.
The image was grainy, a damaged VHS tape. The music began with that hypnotic synth spiral. And then, the image: Michael walking alone through the dark forest, followed by the shaky camera.
Below him, the Arabic subtitles appeared in neon yellow, an aesthetic choice he knew would confuse and fascinate people.
And then, the climax. The bathroom scene. His face covered in black liquid, his eyes white thanks to visual effects, screaming 'All my friends are dead'.
It was a three-minute horror movie. It was art.
Michael grabbed his phone. It was time to warn the world.
He opened Instagram and Twitter.
He uploaded a clip of the bathroom scene, the most disturbing and visually impactful moment.
He wrote the caption. He didn't need desperate hashtags. Just a statement of principles.
"I don't care if you cry. 'XO TOUR Llif3'. Available now. (Link in bio)"
He pressed "Post".
He left the phone on the desk and watched.
The reaction wasn't gradual. It was a vertical explosion.
In the first minute, the video had a thousand views. In the fifth minute, ten thousand. The comments flew so fast they were unreadable.
But Michael knew the difference.
'Lucid Dreams' had been the pop hit, the song moms and radio liked.
But 'XO TOUR Llif3'... Michael saw retweets skyrocketing. He saw hip-hop forums lighting up.
This song was the cult anthem. It was the song that would define his aesthetic forever. Dark, rich, suicidal, and danceable.
Michael closed the laptop with a soft thud.
He leaned back in the chair, in the dark.
He had 3 million dollars in a secret account. He had the number 1 song in the country ('Lucid Dreams'). And he had just released the song that would become the most legendary of his career.
He felt untouchable. The outside world was in chaos over his music, but in his studio, Michael Demiurge was in complete control.