Chapter 382 - 382: A Companion in the Eyes of Others

"Kind, just like Mr. Yao Fei... But even if you won't tell me who you are, what's stopping me from finding out myself?"

As Oliver spoke, he opened the wallet and examined it carefully. Inside, he spotted a small maker's mark bearing the words Made in Gotham.

"Hmm... It has to be Gotham City. That guy already mentioned the place by name, and someone with that kind of nerve must be pretty well known in Gotham. Once I get my identity back, I'll go there and find you!"

Oliver thought for a moment before continuing.

"Come to think of it, Gotham sounds like a pretty nice place. When he was talking about it earlier, he even mentioned Batman fighting crime there. Could Gotham really be such a civilized, well-run city...?"

While Oliver was lost in thought, a sharp cry suddenly rang out nearby.

"Thief! Somebody help!"

Hearing the shout, Oliver turned around and saw a robber in a baseball cap snatch a shoulder bag from a passerby before charging straight toward him.

At the sight, Oliver instinctively moved to stop him, only for the thug to shove him aside. Oliver stumbled and fell awkwardly to the ground.

"Stay out of my way!"

As the thug ran off, he turned around and shouted mockingly.

"If you don't have what it takes, don't try playing superhero, weakling! And what's with you, anyway? You think you're Robin Hood with that little bow and arrow on your back? You're a hundred years too late!"

Only then did Oliver remember that he still had the homemade bow he had brought with him from the deserted island.

It was a crude but exceptionally useful weapon fashioned from wood and animal hide.

Whether it was an albatross with a wingspan of several meters or some other bird of prey, none had been able to escape Oliver's marksmanship.

Without giving it another thought, Oliver immediately drew the bow and sent an arrow flying toward the bastard.

Hearing the sharp whistle of something cutting through the air behind him, the thug hurriedly twisted his head around.

A crude arrow made from a tree branch streaked over his head, coming so close that it nearly took his scalp off.

"Damn it! What kind of toy are you attacking me with?!" the punk shouted back. "You think you can catch me with something like that?!"

Unexpectedly, Oliver showed no trace of panic. Instead, he calmly replied,

"Who told you I missed?"

The moment the words left his mouth, before the thug could even react—

BANG!

The awning hanging above a nearby storefront suddenly collapsed, crashing directly onto the thug and knocking the unlucky bastard unconscious.

From the beginning, Oliver had never been aiming at the fleeing criminal.

His target had been the awning beside him.

The crude wooden arrow had easily sliced through one of the straps holding it in place, allowing the heavy awning to fall naturally and flatten the thug underneath it.

"Thank you, young man!"

The woman recovered her stolen bag and gratefully thanked Oliver.

"You're welcome, ma'am!"

Oliver answered modestly.

The feeling of helping someone was surprisingly pleasant.

It gave him far more satisfaction than the life he had lived before.

At that moment, something Karl had said before leaving resurfaced in Oliver's mind, and sudden realization struck him.

That was right!

Why couldn't he do what Batman did in Gotham City?

He could put on a mask and do the right thing.

Wouldn't that fit perfectly with Karl's idea of helping the world?

As that thought crossed his mind, joy surged through Oliver.

It felt as though a door leading to an entirely new world had suddenly opened before him.

After saying goodbye to the future Green Arrow, Karl returned to his own territory.

While he had been stranded on that ill-fated deserted island, the complete lack of cell service had left him almost totally cut off from everything happening outside, which was particularly troublesome considering how much production work was waiting for him.

"Damn it. I've been away from Gotham for nine days. Hopefully nothing went wrong."

Karl thought with an expressionless face.

Unexpectedly, the first thing waiting for him when he returned to Arkham was actually a pleasant surprise.

The viewer-request program, which had originally been conceived merely as a temporary measure, had become unexpectedly popular.

Every day, large numbers of people called in to request the programs they wanted to watch.

As more requested clips were aired, other viewers began following suit, and the results were surprisingly good.

Someone had even anonymously requested The Gray Ghost series hundreds of times.

According to the Riddler's estimate, it was probably some brat sitting at home repeatedly calling in to request the children's show.

By now, the phone bill was probably already in the thousands of dollars.

Once the kid's parents discovered what had happened, they might very well break one of his legs teaching him a lesson.

The response was so successful that the owner of the telecommunications company approached ABC Television, which was cooperating with Karl, and proposed that they continue producing the viewer-request program.

He was even willing to invest in advertising and have commercials aired during Karl's request programming, ensuring the station wouldn't collapse simply because it couldn't attract enough advertising revenue.

"What? The Gotham Television Alliance wants us to stop airing the request program? And they want us to cancel the Batman television series?"

Karl stared in surprise.

"Who the hell are these people? What gives them the nerve to come here and tell us what we can and can't do?"

Karl was furious.

Admittedly, the idea of producing a Batman television series had only come to him on a whim. Whether the series ultimately got made or not wasn't especially important to him. It was simply another way of turning an opportunity into money.

However, finding and recruiting talented people was one of the best ways to expand his television network.

He had already paid the Riddler and instructed him to recruit people for the project.

Just when Karl was preparing to roll up his sleeves and get things moving, this bad news arrived.

The ABC Television employee watched his boss's furious outburst in terror. Only after Karl finally finished venting did the employee cautiously step forward and explain, his voice trembling.

"The Gotham Television Alliance is essentially an association that brings together nearly all of Gotham City's film and television media. They fund almost every program in the city. Even the old movies we've been broadcasting recently came from their archives. They're basically the largest media organization in Gotham."

Karl frowned.

"So if we insist on releasing our programs anyway, can they actually stop us?"

"...No. They can't."

The employee lowered his voice.

"But if we offend them, our programs will never appear on any of their platforms. In other words, people throughout the rest of Gotham won't be able to see our programming on television. That would be very bad for the company."

Hearing that, Karl snorted disdainfully.

"I thought you were going to tell me some government agency was refusing to give us a broadcasting license. Turns out it's just a private organization. And they're arrogant enough to act like this?"

He waved the issue aside.

"Ignore them. Keep working!"

Then Karl abruptly changed tack and gave another instruction.

"That settles it! We can't stop our preparations, but we still need to meet with these people. Arrange a time for me. I need to have a proper talk with the people from this Television Alliance."

After all, their viewer-request programming still depended on having access to a steady supply of content.

The other side took Karl's request for a meeting seriously and quickly arranged one.

However, when the time finally came for them to meet, Karl discovered that things were nowhere near as pleasant as he had expected.

(End of Chapter)

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