Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!

//AN// From here and out, I've messed up and confused Peter's ex's name, calling her Sarah instead of Cassie >.> I will be doing my best to fix it asap, sorry for the inconvenience//

"How many times do I have to tell you? Get the fuck out of my ass!" Cassie screamed her guts out right into Irene's face.

Cassie was a relatively calm and forgiving person.

She could find it in herself to forgive Irene for her stupid idea of going to the party… even if it turned out to be a sexually-charged mixer at the end of things.

After all, there was no definitive proof that Irene knew of the nature of the party. It was only supposed to be the last hurrah of their school class, the party to help them remember all their friends.

And yet…

After Cassie's decision to cut contact with Irene and Irene's later attempt to mend their relations…

Another big event came.

Maybe for the sake of forcing Cassie to follow along or maybe genuinely concerned over the man she indirectly screwed over, Irene coaxed Cassie into the protests against the local mercenary group that took over the legacy and inheritance of the dissolved garrison of the town.

Back then, things really appeared to take a turn for the better.

Between all the people Cassie organized and friends Irene called over herself, the two of them managed to gather quite a lot of people, all for the sake of freeing Peter from where he was held captive.

But when one of the mercenary guards pulled out the phone Peter's annoyed voice came from within…

All the hopes Cassie had for ever restoring her relationship with Irene came undone.

It didn't matter if it was planned. It didn't matter if Irene genuinely thought Peter was kidnapped.

Their actions only annoyed him. And given how he was apparently cooperating with those dreadful mercenaries… Cassie actually refused to even think about the consequences he would come to face over their stupid protest.

Ever since the day of the protests, Cassie managed to cut her ties with Irene. And ever since she did so… She realized that no matter what method or number she tried, she couldn't contact the third member of the three of them, the last party that made up the group Cassie usually hung around with at school.

No matter how much she called, how much she searched through the official records, irregardless of who she asked or even paid for their help… Her friend's whereabouts vanished just like said friend herself, leaving Fay in a world she wasn't used to at all.

A world… where she didn't have anyone to talk to.

Peter was obviously out, given how he himself broke up with her over her active willingness to go to that mixer slash party.

Irene, Cassie cut off herself.

And with her other friend now gone without a single trace… Cassie found herself to be all alone, with no one but her pretty much-estranged family to open her mouth to.

At first, Cassie wallowed in self-pity and despair. Yet… No matter how many times she asked, 'What did I do to deserve this?!' while smearing her face with tears and snot… The answer emerged before her eyes so quickly, it only made her feel even shittier by keeping up the attitude.

As much as she hated herself for what she did, there wasn't even a single doubt in her heart over what was the leading cause of this disaster of a social change of hers.

And it all started with her going to that party… without asking Peter if he wanted to go too. Without asking if he was even invited. Without asking if she should actually go… or if he had anything against her going.

It was at that moment when Cassie exhausted the limit of Peter's patience. And ever since his soothing presence left her life, all the other problems started to appear one by one.

Unused to dealing with the prose of life, Cassie soon found herself unable to waste time wallowing in self-pity.

First, she had to give up on her relatively lavish lifestyle, now that her parents happily cut her off, her savings ran out and she had literally no one to turn to, Cassie had no other choice…

'No, it's not like I didn't have a choice,' Cassie thought as she slowly walked through the darkening streets of the town.

Back then, when the reality came knocking, Cassie actually had a choice.

She could continue to be as she was and use her physical beauty to coax some other man to support her…

But while Cassie was beautiful for sure, it wasn't the beauty on a one-of-a-kind level. She was cute and sexy, but she most definitely wasn't a bombshell capable of making men faint with a small smile.

Still, getting a sugar daddy or two, joining a cabaret bar's staff, or even outright prostituting herself… all of those were options Cassie could easily take and make the most of…

And yet, after what appeared like a lifetime of making obviously bad choices, she finally decided to change her fate.

Even if it would come at the cost of working long hours of hard, menial work for little more than what she absolutely needed to support herself.

Still.

Tired after a total of thirteen hours spent in the kitchen, rushing from washing the dishes through prepping and cutting the veggies to cleaning the whole restaurant, Cassie… actually felt good.

With her second weekly paycheck sitting firmly in her pocket, she enjoyed every, leisurely step she made through the city's streets.

'The air feels nice,' Cassie thought, squinting her eyes as she allowed the refreshing winds to cool down her sweaty skin.

'I know full well what I did. My life right now is the punishment for how little I cared for others in the past,' Cassie thought, lowering her eyes to the sidewalk as she took a deep breath to stifle a fresh wave of self-pity that welled up at the bottom of her heart. 'I fucked up. Now I'm paying for it. And for how hard this job is…'

Cassie took a deep breath and slowly raised her chin as if to face the world with renewed confidence.

'It sure gives me a sense of satis…'

Tap.

Before Cassie could even take a proper breath and enjoy the short moment of rest she had at the end of the day's worth of hard, straining work, someone dropped a palm upon her shoulder.

'Wha…?!'

Initially startled, Cassie stifled her desire to flee when she recognized the voice that followed the touch.

"Cassie, please, wait!"