@Knight Since you won't give up on this, suppose it did. Then there would exist $\delta>0$ such that if $|x-a|<\delta$ then $|f(x) - \ell|<|a|/2$. Since the set of such points $x$ is an interval around $a$, there is a rational such $x$, say $x_0$, and an irrational one, say $x_1$, such that $x_1$ is further from $0$ than $a$, i.e. $|x_1|>|a|$. We get the inequalities $|f(x_0) - \ell | = |\ell | < |a|/2$ and $| f(x_1) - \ell | = |x_1 - \ell | < |a|/2$. Then
$$ |a|<|x_1| \le |\ell| + |x_1 - \ell | < |a|$$