Chapter 551: Starting a Business is a Rollercoaster (Part 2)

He walked into the laboratory and, skipping the pleasantries, immediately asked, “How’s it going? Has the custom inscription-set baseboard we ordered arrived yet?”

He had recently discovered a flaw in the first-generation refrigerators: they frosted over too easily.

Items people stored in the refrigerator always carried some moisture. In the cold environment, this would form frost, causing things to freeze together or stick directly to the refrigerator walls, making them difficult to remove.

It was the same principle as a tongue getting stuck to a metal pole in winter.

Therefore, Igor’s first goal for optimizing the next-generation refrigerator was to develop defrosting technology.

To that end, he had ordered a baseboard from Twin Tower City. It came with preset inscription sets, which made it easier to create certain categories of Magic.

Mages were accustomed to calling this kind of thing a “monoboard.”

Lately, Igor had been asking if the board had arrived eight times a day. Even though he ran a delivery business himself and knew the shipping speeds all too well, he couldn’t help but feel anxious.

“Not yet, sir,” a brown-haired Mage Apprentice replied. “I asked this morning. They said that barring any surprises, it should be delivered today. It’s already at the sorting center in Deepwater City.”

Asking about the package’s status had become his regular duty for the past few days.

“Oh, alright. ‘Barring any surprises’,” Igor muttered, scratching his head helplessly. He hadn’t washed his hair in a few days, and it felt a bit greasy.

“Hello, a delivery for Mr. Igor,” a courier’s voice called from the doorway.

Igor immediately spun around and dashed over.

“I knew I had good luck today! Speak of the devil, and the delivery shows up! Hahaha…”

However, his smile froze the moment he took the package.

It was a very, very thin pouch. At most, it contained a few sheets of paper. It couldn’t possibly be the baseboard.

What was worse was the sender’s name. Emblazoned on the front was “Zog Group.”

Igor had a good idea of what was inside, but he still didn’t quite dare to face it.

He took a few seconds to steel himself before tearing open the pouch.

Inside were two sheets of paper, stapled together.

The title on the first page made Igor’s heart sink.

Lawyer’s Letter.

“To the Igor Magic Energy Home Company: Your company uploaded a video to the YouTube video platform in which, without our permission, you used…”

‘So they finally came after me.’

Igor was mentally prepared for this. It was true that he had used the Snow Child’s image without permission.

‘The consequences would be deleting the video, apologizing, and paying compensation, right?’

‘I can accept that.’

He read on.

As he expected, the letter listed those three demands. But when he saw the final compensation amount, his hand still trembled.

“One Thousand Gold Coins! That’s way too much!”

Hearing their boss shriek, the workers all looked over.

Igor, realizing his loss of composure, quickly said to the workers, “It’s nothing, it’s nothing. Carry on with your work.”

But forcing a smile wasn’t going to solve the problem.

One Thousand Gold Coins was an amount he simply couldn’t afford right now.

‘Am I supposed to go to war with the Zog Group’s legal department in court?’

‘Wouldn’t that just be serving myself up for a beating? I’m in the wrong, after all.’

‘Besides, even in the one-in-a-million chance he somehow defeated the Zog Group legally, there was nothing stopping them from defeating him *physically*.’

Igor thought it over and over. There was no other way. He would just have to negotiate with the Zog Group and see if he could pay in installments, or if they’d be flexible and give him more time.

‘But the lawyer’s letter was only one page long.’

Igor suddenly realized, ‘Then what’s on the next page?’

‘It’s not something even worse, is it?’

Igor carefully flipped to the next page.

“To Mr. Igor: The Magic Energy Refrigerator you invented is incredibly practical, with a vast potential market and a bright future…”

‘Huh? That’s not right.’

Igor rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Why were they praising his refrigerator?

“The Zog Group wishes to collaborate with you. We can provide technical support, raw material supply, and promotional channels. We also hope to launch a co-branded Snow Child refrigerator…”

‘What the heck is a co-branded refrigerator?’

Igor didn’t quite understand, but from the sound of it, they were planning to grant him the rights to use the Snow Child’s image after all.

“…and will provide One Thousand Gold Coins in R&D funding for the co-branded refrigerator…”

‘Wait, this is also One Thousand Gold Coins.’

Igor suddenly recalled the various online rumors about Zog the Dragon himself.

‘Could it be…?’

He looked at the next line.

“Hee hee, were you scared when you read the lawyer’s letter? :)”

‘Hee hee, my ass!’

‘Such a big shot, playing pranks to scare a young guy?’

‘No, wait, what the hell is this “:)” thing?’

‘Am I looking at it from the wrong direction?’

Puzzled, Igor tilted his head.

“…”

Igor folded the letter, put it in his pocket, and began to take deep breaths.

‘Don’t get worked up. Don’t get worked up. It’s bad for my health.’

Now he understood. The online rumors about Zog—like ‘a Dragon on the outside, a bratty kid on the inside,’ ‘the most obnoxiously cheeky rich person I’ve ever seen,’ and ‘can’t say a single serious thing’…

They weren’t quite accurate.

They were understatements.

After composing himself, Igor said to the Mage Apprentice, “I have something to take care of today, so I need to step out. If the monoboard arrives, just sign for it.”

“Okay, boss.”

After giving his instructions, Igor splurged on a Teleportation Scroll and went directly to Deepwater City.

Zog’s letter, aside from teasing him, had also summoned him to Deepwater City to discuss the investment and collaboration.

Travel expenses would be reimbursed.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been willing to pay for the scroll.

…

「Deepwater City, the Lord’s Mansion.」

Zog was playing with his swivel chair. There was no particular reason for it; he was just bored.

All of his scenes for *Dancing with Dragons* were finished. In the end, Nick still couldn’t breathe fire accurately, so they had to have Furin create an Illusion.

He wasn’t needed for the rest of the filming.

Zog had commissioned the swivel chair from a merchant guild specializing in furniture. It was part of an upgrade for all the office chairs in his Group.

The old ones were traditional wooden chairs that were hard to move around and made your butt sore after sitting for a long time.

Zog was very pleased with the final product.

“Swivel chairs are really fun,

Considering my employees’ posture woes,

I’m a good boss.”

“Pfft—”

Elsa’s suppressed snort of laughter came from the doorway.

“What is it!” Zog snapped, pretending nothing had happened.

“Igor is here.”

“Good. Bring him here.”

Elsa turned and left. A few seconds later, her explosive laughter echoed from the hallway.

“Hahaha, ‘I’m a good boss’… That’s not supposed to be a poem, is it? Hahaha, it’s worse than the Bane Furnace song…”

“Laugh again and I’m docking your pay!”

Zog’s draconic head poked out of the office doorway as he shouted in frustration.

Soon, Zog met Igor.

He was a young man with a little Magic Power, but not much. His clothes were wrinkled, and his hair was slick with grease.

“You’re Igor?”

“Yes.”

“You designed the refrigerator.”

“Yes,” Igor said, a little nervous.

“And the advertisement? The one where you freeze the Snow Child. Was that your idea too?”

“Er, yes, that was me too.”

“What a talent.”

Igor couldn’t tell if Zog was praising or mocking him. His tone was strange.

“If you wanted to use the Snow Child’s image, why didn’t you contact the animation production team for a collaboration?” Zog asked, suddenly serious. “It’s not a huge issue on its own, but infringement is a bad practice. Respect for copyright is the foundation that protects creators. If you don’t respect it, what’s to stop others from copying the refrigerator you invented?”

“I understand. I just… I didn’t have any other options at the time. I couldn’t afford the licensing fee,” Igor explained. “But I promise it won’t happen again.”

His apology was very sincere.

Zog didn’t press the issue. After all, the refrigerator the man had invented was a genuinely good thing.

‘Bring glorious, ice-cold cola to the world!’

After that, Zog and Igor finalized the details of the investment and collaboration.

Ultimately, the Zog Group became the majority shareholder in Igor’s Magic Energy Home Company.

With the official business concluded, Zog moved on to the next item on the agenda.

“I’ve designed a special logo for the co-branded refrigerator.”

“Really? Thank you so much.” Igor hadn’t expected Zog to be so thoughtful.

“See? Isn’t it distinctive?”

“Er…”

Igor stared at the logo. Two child-like figures stood side by side. It looked like Snow Child and… Little Deer?

And they were both wearing shorts.

‘Why is Snow Child wearing shorts?’

‘And why is Little Deer *only* wearing shorts!?’

“Yes, um, it’s… very distinctive.”

“Fine, you don’t like it. I can tell.”

“No, I…” Igor didn’t want to displease Zog, but he just couldn’t bring himself to praise the logo.

“You don’t have to use the logo, but you absolutely have to listen to this suggestion,” Zog said conspiratorially. “The new refrigerator should be split into top and bottom sections. Refrigerator on top, freezer on the bottom. It’s more convenient than a single big box split side-by-side.”

Igor thought for a moment. It did seem to make sense. “That’s a good point. I’ll think about how to implement that. But… if we do that, can we still call it a refrigerator?”

In the Common Tongue, the word for “refrigerator” is made up of the words for “ice” and “box.”

“We should call it an ‘ice cabinet’.”