Chapter 394 - 394: Jason’s Business

"What you're doing is wrong! Young people should keep studying hard and stay in school so they can prepare for their future—"

Harvey Dent had barely finished speaking when Jason interrupted him.

"My future? You mean getting a job as a lawyer or a doctor someday?"

Jason shrugged.

"Oh, sorry, but why should I wait? I already make far more money doing what I do now than people in those professions."

"In my opinion, knowledge is just another way of obtaining wealth. If you can't actually put what you learn to use, then knowledge becomes a burden instead."

Jason smirked.

"I know a bookworm like that. He knows an incredible amount, but he wastes all of it on riddles..."

Seeing that Harvey and Jason were on the verge of starting a real argument, Bruce Wayne hurriedly pulled Harvey away from the confrontation.

Bruce understood Jason's background very well.

Before Karl took him in as his godson, Jason had been little more than a petty thief who survived on the streets by shining shoes and stealing tires.

Years of living on the streets had made him extremely sensitive about money.

Harvey, on the other hand, had not come from a particularly wealthy family either, but he had reached his current position through education and by applying what he had learned.

In the end, their completely different lives had shaped completely different views of the world.

There was nothing to gain from letting them continue arguing.

Jason did not seem angry at all.

Instead, he looked at the two men with amusement.

"If you don't like this kind of show, you can always go upstairs and enjoy the more traditional entertainment."

He glanced toward the staircase.

"But it's still pretty early. Most of the women are resting right now. I'd recommend coming back on Friday."

"Every Friday, all of the women at Luna House undergo their regular health checks. That means pretty much everyone is here that day, so you'll have the widest selection."

At that moment, a young Black man entered through the front door.

He ignored Bruce and Harvey and walked directly toward Jason.

He did not look much older than Jason himself, and the two greeted each other warmly.

Bruce Wayne's sharp eyes immediately noticed the way they slapped hands in greeting.

It was a gesture Bruce had seen often among Gotham's street gangs.

His suspicions immediately rose.

Instead of leaving, Bruce helped Harvey settle into a corner near the entrance.

They pretended to be waiting for their favorite girl to become available.

In reality, Bruce was secretly watching everything that happened.

"Give my regards to your godfather," the young man said quietly to Jason.

His respectful attitude was hardly surprising.

Karl had become an important figure within Gotham City's underworld.

After Carmine Falcone stepped down and Commissioner Loeb died, Gotham's criminal world had been left without a clear leader.

Karl, meanwhile, had defeated Bane and risen toward the very top of the city's power structure.

Some gangsters had even begun regarding him as the underworld's answer to Batman.

No wonder the young man treated Karl's godson so carefully.

"Yeah, yeah. That guy got into a fight with my godmother last night and ended up getting clawed pretty badly."

Jason spoke casually, showing absolutely no respect for Karl's dignity.

"He's probably over at Aunt Ivy's place right now, lying around in the sun."

Then Jason looked back at the young man.

"Anyway, what happened with the thing we discussed last time?"

Sitting nearby and pretending to admire the women passing by, Bruce Wayne immediately pricked up his ears.

Jason had a history of doing things behind everyone's backs.

He had once secretly formed his own gang, fought a fairly serious turf war in Arkham, and seized territory for himself.

Batman had eventually caught him and given him a harsh lesson to convince him to settle down.

If Jason was trying the same thing again, Batman had no objection to teaching him another lesson.

"Don't worry. Of course I haven't forgotten what you asked me about."

The young man smiled.

"My uncles control more than thirty small neighborhood cinemas in the predominantly Black districts. From now on, before our movies start, we'd be happy to do Mr. Karl a favor and run advertisements for your talent show."

Bruce immediately understood what was happening.

Rumor had it that Karl, as a newcomer to Gotham's media industry, was being suppressed by his competitors.

Most of Gotham City's major television stations refused to broadcast news or advertisements for his program.

With ABC Television lacking promotional channels, the situation had practically become a dead end.

But Jason had apparently found his own solution.

He had targeted the city's small neighborhood cinemas.

When Bruce thought about it, the idea was actually quite clever.

Gotham City had hundreds of small theaters like these.

Many were hidden inside neglected, gloomy buildings scattered throughout poorer neighborhoods.

Since Karl intended his talent show to be accessible to ordinary people, these venues were precisely the kinds of places where his advertisements could attract the most attention.

It was a good move.

"You agreed that quickly?"

Jason did not look pleased by the answer.

Instead, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"There's something else you want, isn't there?"

He leaned back.

"Go ahead. Tell me your conditions."

Seeing that Jason had already understood, the young man did not bother pretending otherwise.

"Our neighborhood cinemas are short on money. The major studios don't like giving us prints of new releases, and when they do, they demand huge deposits."

He sighed.

"That means we barely have enough money to maintain a proper film library..."

Jason listened with a frown but did not interrupt.

In his head, he had already worked out the problem.

The barrier to operating these small cinemas was extremely low, and their customers came from every imaginable background.

That also made piracy of new movies extremely easy.

Because of that, many major film companies simply refused to provide new film prints to these neighborhood theaters.

As though he had been building toward this point from the beginning, the young man lowered his voice.

"Mr. Karl is a media tycoon. His operation supplies something like forty percent of Gotham's adult-video market."

He hesitated briefly.

"So according to my uncles... we were hoping you might be willing to provide us with some support."

Jason finally understood.

These neighborhood cinemas wanted content.

More specifically, they wanted borderline-illicit adult films.

That kind of material was extremely popular in small theaters, especially when they could not obtain the latest commercial blockbusters.

Regardless of a customer's education or background, this kind of entertainment was an easy way to draw attention and fill seats.

"Hmm..."

Jason gave him a meaningful look.

"We haven't really focused on that business for a while. The profit isn't particularly impressive anymore."

Karl had gotten involved with adult videotapes years ago.

His original supply had largely come from smuggled tapes confiscated by the Gotham City Police Department.

As those confiscated supplies gradually ran out, Karl had increasingly moved away from the business, and the money it brought in had steadily declined.

The young man, however, thought Jason was simply trying to brush him off.

His expression became increasingly serious.

"Our theaters are having a hard time staying open."

He leaned forward.

"If Mr. Karl could help us obtain recently released adult films, business would recover. Please help us."

Jason narrowed his eyes.

"And if we refuse, does that mean our advertising deal disappears too?"

The young man immediately shook his head.

"I already told you. The gangs in our neighborhoods have great respect for your godfather."

His tone was completely sincere.

"Even if this cooperation doesn't work out, we'll still run the advertisements and do this favor for the Lord of Arkham as a sign of goodwill between us."

(End of Chapter)

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