Chapter 393 - 393: Luna House

A trace of disappointment flashed through Harvey Dent's eyes when he heard that, but Bruce Wayne was not finished.

In Bruce's opinion, Karl spoiled Jason far too much—almost excessively so.

Just look at the boy's clothes.

To someone from an ultra-wealthy family like Bruce, it was obvious at a glance that both Jason's clothes and accessories were expensive. Karl had clearly provided the boy with far too many material comforts.

And then there were incidents like Jason getting into fights at school.

With the solid foundation Jason already possessed in martial arts, Bruce did not even need to imagine how dominant he would be in a school fight. All Jason had to do was beat the other kid.

Yet Karl apparently had no intention of disciplining him.

On the contrary, he seemed not to care at all.

As long as Jason was happy, Karl appeared willing to indulge him in almost anything.

When Bruce Wayne had taken in Dick Grayson at Wayne Manor, his approach to education had been completely different.

Bruce had imposed an extremely strict training regimen.

Dick exercised before dawn every day, ate painfully dull meals, and lived an almost monotonous life.

In short, Bruce had essentially recreated the harsh training methods he himself had experienced while traveling around the world, forcing Dick to taste hardship despite living in Gotham City's wealthiest household.

Jason clearly possessed excellent natural talent, yet that talent was not being properly developed.

Batman could only shake his head and sigh.

Karl was wasting Jason's potential.

If I get the chance, I should talk to Karl about this.

You can't spoil a talented kid like this until all he knows how to do is business—just like Karl.

Jason smiled.

"The private booths on the first floor are for interactive viewing. If you want to spend time directly with one of the women, head upstairs. We have nicely furnished couples' suites on the second floor, and the soundproofing is much better."

He grinned at the two men.

"If you're interested, you can go up and try one."

Bruce Wayne shook his head.

This was hardly his first time entering a place like this.

In Batman: Year One, Bruce had once disguised himself and ventured into Gotham's red-light district, where he crossed paths with Selina Kyle.

Naturally, Jason's teasing did not escape him.

After giving the boy a stern look, the disguised superhero asked,

"You said the first floor is for interactive viewing? What exactly does that mean? I've never heard of anything like it."

Bruce could hardly believe he was seriously asking.

Karl was always coming up with strange tricks.

Perhaps that was precisely what made him different from the other people running vice businesses in the district.

Hearing Bruce's question, Jason did not immediately answer.

Instead, he smiled mysteriously, his expression practically saying, You'll find out soon enough.

Just then, one of the booths suddenly opened.

A badly shaken elderly man stumbled out, hurriedly pulling up his pants as he shouted,

"Come on! For God's sake, give me twenty more tokens! It keeps cutting off right at the crucial moment! It's driving me insane!"

As he spoke, the old man pulled a crumpled one-dollar bill from his pocket and slapped it down on the counter.

Jason grinned, stood up, took the money, then scooped a handful of oddly shaped tokens from a drawer and handed them over.

Bruce Wayne's curiosity grew slightly.

Why would someone come out just to buy more tokens?

What kind of operation was this?

As though he had read their minds, Jason took out two more tokens and placed them in front of Bruce and Harvey.

"You're already here, so why not try our special service?"

Jason smiled proudly.

"I designed this myself. You won't find anything like it in the other districts."

Even Harvey Dent was stunned.

A kid this young had designed something for an adult establishment?

And Karl actually had the nerve to invest money in the idea and promote it?

Wasn't he afraid of losing money?

Bruce Wayne, on the other hand, remained much calmer.

He knew what Jason was capable of.

After all, the pinball machines and coin-operated jukeboxes outside Arkham's underground theaters were all operated by Jason.

The money Jason made from those machines became his allowance.

So naturally, this new idea also involved coins.

It was exactly his style.

With that thought, Bruce casually picked up one of the tokens.

He wanted to see what all these tightly packed booths were actually for.

Seeing that the two men were about to enter, Jason quickly stepped forward and opened one of the doors.

He then wiped the booth down with a rag and mop.

Only then did Bruce get a proper look inside.

The narrow booth contained almost nothing.

There was only a window roughly the size of a television screen, covered by a thick plywood shutter.

Beside it stood a coin-operated mechanism.

A strong, unpleasant odor lingered throughout the cramped room.

Curious, Harvey Dent inserted the token Jason had given him.

The plywood shutter automatically slid open.

Light appeared on the other side.

Behind the window was actually a fairly large stage.

Several older women were performing there.

Naturally, the specifics of the performance were not particularly suitable for public description.

More precisely, if these women had still been standing outside on the streets as they had in the past, they might have gone an entire night without getting a single customer.

But things were different here.

Under dazzling lights, accompanied by music blasting from a rather poor sound system, the women wore various costumes and performed onstage.

The atmosphere made the whole presentation considerably more enticing than simply standing outside on the street.

Selina Kyle had already built quite a reputation managing Luna House's adult business.

But she had always treated the women working under her well, especially those she had known back when she herself moved through Gotham's poorest neighborhoods.

She had no intention of simply abandoning them.

Whenever Selina found a way to make a living, she tended to remember the women who had once struggled alongside her.

As a result, more and more older women who had difficulty attracting customers had gradually accumulated around Luna House.

Eventually, the situation began interfering with the establishment's normal operations.

After all, if customers came here looking for entertainment only to open a door and find someone completely outside their expectations, they would naturally begin questioning the quality of the entire establishment.

Before Karl could notice the problem himself, Jason—Catwoman's godson—hurriedly came up with an idea to improve Luna House's business.

So far, the results had been fairly good.

A five-cent token bought eight minutes of viewing.

For pensioners living in Gotham's poorer neighborhoods, it was an inexpensive form of entertainment.

Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent clearly did not share the enthusiasm.

After watching for only a short while, both men backed out of the booth and looked at Jason with furrowed brows.

"You came up with all of this?"

Jason nodded.

"My godfather originally wanted to cut a small hole through the booth wall so customers could reach their hands through."

He spoke as though discussing something completely ordinary.

"That way they could tip the women directly and add a little more interaction."

Jason shrugged.

"But my godmother thought someone inside might get hurt, so she vetoed the idea."

"They argued about it for ages, and nothing ever came of it..."

Harvey Dent had no interest in listening to Karl's family disputes and said absentmindedly...

(End of Chapter)

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