LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 41: Think of the Money
Morning... Around 9:30 am... Before Yoruto and Sanae went for their date...
There is a building located in the Kanagawa prefecture, Kawasaki city. It is the base of the game studio that created Umbra Frontier Online named Dusk Entertainment.
Inside of their office, one of the admins is currently going through the reports the players had made and noticed one of them in particular: The bugging of Old Man Jim's AI, owner of the general store of Lily Corvo.
It was the second time it had happened. The first time, he simply did not think too much about it and resetted the NPC's AI without backing up his log, believing the issue to be a small one. However, seeing the problem being reported again, he could not treat the issue lightly anymore.
So, before resetting the NPC, he saved the AI's log into a folder and began looking through its history to investigate the problem.
In his mind, he'd hoped that he could discover the cause through this method. Otherwise, he would have to run a diagnostic test and whatever tedious tasks to figure the problem out.
Fortunately, that did not come to pass as Old Man Jim's log showed him the root cause of the bug whom he watched through the eyes of the old man.
There were three players. One was a mature and sexy Dark Elf magician whom he was immediately bricked up for. The other two were a silver-haired, fox-type Beastman samurai and a small, pink-haired Human shielder.
From the image he was looking at, the three players looked like a mother accompanying her two kids in the game.
But focusing on his job and not on the Dark Elf mommy, the admin watched as he discovered how those three players caused the old man to bug out. And in response to that, he could only let out a word of amazement.
"Damn... Who'd known that repeating a repeatable quest over a number of times would fry the AI so easily...?"
It was a problem which he'd realised would need to be patched. However, he was still curious as to who these players are. Especially the Dark Elf chick who caught his interest.
So after some typing on the keyboard and clicking of the mouse, he found out their names: Yoru, Lumina and HimeHime.
The latter two he doesn't recognise. But Yoru's name most certainly was to him. For she had been mentioned in the game's forum as the main topic in several threads, and was the first person to ever clear the Liberation Quest since the game launched.
As someone part of the developer team, there was no way he wouldn't not know the name of Yoru who has become one of the biggest mysteries among the playerbase.
But, putting those things aside, the admin was pondering on what he should do with the three girls. After all, whether it was intentionally or unintentionally, they did cause a bug in their game.
Unable to decide, he decided to ask the one individual he can rely on in situations like this.
"Hey umm, boss?"
"What's up, Satou?"
"There's something I need your advice on..." Satou said, gesturing to his boss to come over to his desk.
Bossman got up from his desk and headed over to Satou's. There, he looked at the screen and "Whoa dang, she's hot!"
"I know, right? But that's not the problem." Saout proceeded to explain. "These three players seemed to have caused a bug which made Old Man Jim's AI to go haywire."
"Well damn, that's definitely a problem. So have you fixed the bug yet?"
"Oh. Not yet."
"Well, fix it then!"
"Yeah, but—"
"Satou... Satou..." the boss placed his arm around his employee's shoulder. "Listen here, boy. Fix the bug now and leave the issue for the next meeting. Today is our game's first event, you know. Focus on that instead!"
"But then, what about the players who caused the bug?"
"Leave them be! It's not like it was intentional! Besides... didn't you hear? If the event goes well, our company may get a huge business investment from the Fujimiya Corporations. This means that our budget for the game may just increase by a huge margin if the event succeeds."
"Wait... Fujimiya Corporations? As in that Fujimiya Corporations?"
"Yeah. What of it?"
"Aren't they like an infamous company because of their dirty deeds and stuff? Like, isn't the current owner and CEO, the daughter of that Tatsumi Fujimiya? I heard she's as evil of a human being as her father."
"Seriously? You living in a rock or something, Satou? That scum of a woman has been dead for a few months already."
"What?"
"Yes. The current owner and CEO is now her husband. And let me tell you... compared to Tatsumi Fujimiya and his daughter, that man is a saint!"
"Is he?"
"Hell yeah he is! Yoruichi Fujimiya is his name. And upon inheriting all of his wife's asset, the man donated over half of the wealth to notable charity organisations for a good cause; reported the members of HIS company now to the police, whom he had found out to be dabbling in all sorts of illegal activities; and he even sold many of the properties which he had inherited and created his own charity group for helping citizens living in poverty using that money."
"That... sounds like a really amazing person."
"I know, right? The man is a selfless angel for real. Yet people on the internet are attacking him for no reason other than for the sake of hating. Damn anonymous bastards..."
"I mean... I get where they're coming from. No man or woman on Earth is ever that selfless, so I'd be suspicious of him too, especially when he's the husband of that Yumiko Fujimiya and son-in-law of Tatsumi Fujimiya. But attacking him would kind of be too much."
"Gah! It's just haters being haters. Forget about them."
"So then, what's the reason for him to want to invest in us, Boss?"
"See... Apparently, his son plays our game."
"No way..."
"Yes way. And that's why we need to make this event successful. Because our company's future all depends on the opinion of one rich brat!"
"Don't let the man hear you say that, Boss..."
"Oh shut up!" the Boss grabbed Satou's head. "Think of the money, Satou. Imagine what our company can do with all of that cash in hand!" he shouted at him, as Satou closed his eyes and tried thinking hard on what would happen if the company flourished.
"A pay raise..."
"Yes! A pay raise!"
"Promotion..."
"Maybe! If you worked hard enough."
"Barbeque...."
"Of course! Who doesn't love that!?"
Satou then opened his eyes, staring at his boss directly in the face because of how he was holding him.
"Now you understand, right, Satou?"
"Yes..."
"Good. Then get to work! Fix that bug pronto and keep an eye out for any issues that may occur in the event. It's about to start now, so make sure you do your job properly."
"Yes, sir!" Satou replied.
"And that applies to the rest of you as well!"
"""Yes, sir!""" the rest of the admin team replied.
And then they sighed in silence as they got back to work.
🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫
Back to the present where Yoruto and Sanae are having their date at the mall...
We are currently in one of the clothing stores that sells women's clothing, picking out a good amount of clothes for Sanae to wear.
As I looked through the various array of dresses in the store, I picked one up, turned to Sanae and asked her.
"Sanae, what do you think of—"
"Hey there girl, are you free right now?"
Two seconds I looked away from her and she's already getting hit on.
Dang... is this a world record?
"Sorry boys. I'm on a date with my boyfriend so would you kindly leave me alone?"
"Boyfriend, huh? I don't see him anywhere though."
"Well that's because he's right behind you."
"Huh?"
The two men turned around as I greeted them with a smile.
"Hello. Is there something you need from my girlfriend?" I asked, while giving them a killer glare that signals them to stay away.
"Umm... N-No. We were just... going on our way now." they got the message and dipped out before things escalated further.
Then I walked up to Sanae with the dress in hand.
"Good grief. I can't leave you alone even for a second, can I?"
"Oh yeah? Says the one who got hit on by some girls not so long ago."
"Yeeaaahh.... forget about that. Anyways, what do you think about this one?" I handed her the dress.
"Hmm... pretty nice. But it’s not really my taste. Maybe you would fit better in it, Mama~"
"Oh would you stop that already?"
"No. Fufufu~"
I sighed as Sanae walked off to look for clothes that fit her taste on her own. And in that moment when she left my side, a woman with a... peculiar sense of fashion suddenly approached me from behind.
"Why hello there, handsome~ Are you free right now?"
Am I seriously getting hit on again?
"Sorry. I'm currently on a date with my girlfriend."
"Oh. No. I'm not hitting on you, my dear." the woman then pulls our a business card from her sleeve and presented it to me. "My apologies. I should have started with this." she said.
I took the card and read it for a brief second.
"Starlight Fashion co.?"
"Yes. And I am one of their designers working for them."
"Right... So, what is it that you need from me?"
"Straight to the point. I like you." the woman cleared her throat and explained. "You see, my team was actually supposed to execute a photo shoot here at this mall today for our next magazine. However, a problem has arisen you see and well... that may end up forcing us to cancel the shoot."
"What problem exactly...?"
"Our male model for the shoot failed to show up and we are unable to contact him."
"Ok... and?"
"And because of that jackass, we were at a loss. That is until I saw you, young man, while I was strolling around the mall, thinking of how I can resolve this issue."
"So in other words, you want me to act as a replacement for that male model who failed to show?"
"Yes! That is correct! A hundred points! So, what do you say? Of course. We will compensate you for your time and we'll even give you the clothes you help us advertise if you accept."
"Umm, I..."
The offer is nice. But I rather not...
"We accept!"
"Whoa what!?"
All of a sudden, just as I was about to refuse, Sanae popped out behind my shoulder and accepted the offer in my stead.
"Thank you so much! Your girlfriend understands our troubles. She's also quite the beauty, I must say."
"Right... Umm, give me a moment." I said to the woman, then turned to Sanae, speaking with her in private.
"Why did you accept for me?" I whispered.
"And why not? That lady from Starlight Fashion offered to give you free clothes, you know. Do you know how expensive they cost on the market? It's an offer you shouldn't refuse."
"Ok... And how much of the conversation did you hear between me and her?"
"Around the part where she handed you her business card."
So from the very start basically.
I sighed.
"Have you made your purchase yet?" I asked.
"Nope. I didn't have the time when I was listening in on your conversation with that Starlight woman."
"I see..."
Well, I'll at least do it for the money then...
Our conversation was then over, as I turned back to the woman who was patiently waiting for us to finish.
"Shall we go now?" she asked us.
"Yes. We'll follow you." I replied.
"Brilliant! Then let us head off immediately. I wouldn't want to keep our Mion waiting any longer."
"Mion? Is that the name of your female model?"
"Yes. Mion Takahashi. She's our lovely star in the company. A sweet, beautiful angel that dazzles in the light."
"What...?"
The woman did not notice, but I was shocked to hear the name of the female model she spoke of. Sanae on the other hand, noticed my expression as she curiously asked.
"You know her, Yoruto?"
"If she's the Mion I'm thinking of, then yes..."
"Well that's surprising. Considering that you seem to know nothing about Starlight Fashion, yet you know one of their female models. How intriguing..."
"Well how should I put it..." I pondered for a moment. "The Mion Takahashi I know. She's... someone I used to beat up back in high school."
"I'm sorry. What?"
