Chapter 126 - ALG Meeting

I remembered Luna telling me one time about awakeners with charisma-type traits. Depending on the trait, you could very-well find yourself naturally caught up in their flow without realizing it.

It isn’t even them attacking you or using it intentionally, traits are passive abilities that are naturally there.

For example, Luna can’t turn off her [Electric Senses] trait completely. At most, she can subdue it, it’ll always be there and affecting her.

Now, I didn’t know if chairman gramps was actually an awakener with one of these traits, but, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had one. That’s how much his presence was dominating the atmosphere.

Yet, it wasn’t an uncomfortable presence. Yeah, you could tell it was there, but, I didn’t have any averse feelings being around him.

Perhaps that was due to a trait he had though, I don’t know.

In any case, today, we were here as equals; He, or his company, was offering me a contract, and I’d be deciding whether to accept it or not. That was it.

“Then,” Eugene said, “I’ll call you Ms. Stella, it feels a little more personal that way.” He smiled warmly, “Please, take a seat.” He gestured to the couch.

There were two black couches, in between them was a small coffee table with mugs on it.

I nodded and took a seat. I nearly sunk into the cushions, to my surprise, this couch was actually an item.

[Business Haven’s Couch]

Grade B+

Creator: Vegas

This luxurious black couch was designed for maximum comfort during meetings. Made with the highest quality fabrics and materials, enjoy a relaxing negotiation to the fullest.

* Prime Condition - This couch will remain its prime condition as long as mana is injected into it regularly.

* Comforting - Sitting on this couch will ease your nerves, allowing for a more comfortable discussion.

* Temperature Control - Imbuing mana into this couch will allow you to adjust the temperature of any part of the couch to your will.

My eyes widened a bit after reading the description. Though it didn’t have many modifiers, the quality of each one was top tier.

Especially that ‘prime condition’ modifier, that one modifier encompassed all the ones I could think of and maybe more.

Was this the grace of a high-tier item? Just how much would one of these things cost?

Chairman gramps took a seat on the couch opposite of me. Next to him, both Janette and the other dude sat on either side of him. Come to think of it, I don’t know that guy’s name.

Ashley also calmly took a seat to my left.

“May I interest you in some refreshments?” He asked.

Refreshments…All the movies I watched with Luna had the professional people drinking coffee, especially during meetings and negotiations.

But…I just can’t do it! I refuse to drink something so bitter and yucky!

“Do you have hot chocolate here?” I inquired.

“I believe we do.” He nodded.

“Ashley, want anything?” I asked her.

“I’m alright, thank you though.” She said.

“Janette, Harry?” Eugene asked the two on his side.

“Um, I’m fine.” Janette nervously said.

Why’s she nervous? I wondered.

And that dude’s name is Harry?

“I’m alright.” Harry shook his head.

Eugene nodded and pressed a button before speaking into a radio, “Could you bring two hot chocolates to Janette’s office?”

…Two?

“Now,” Eugene turned to me, “I believe I should introduce these two again,” He said turning to Janette, “This is Janette, my granddaughter and a general manager.” He turned to Harry, “And this is Harry, a marketing director.”

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Stella.” Harry politely bowed his head.

“Nice to meet you too, Mr. Harry.” I said. I noticed that on Harry’s lap was a blue folder, like the ones I used to put homework in.

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A general manager, marketing director, and the chairman…I think I should feel a little honored for this, right? I’m so important that I made the chairman himself meet me when I visited his company!

I should brag about this later.

Just after I exchanged greetings with Harry, a knock at the door sounded and a woman wearing a business attire entered. She was pushing a small cart with two mugs on it.

The lady nodded to everyone politely before placing the two mugs on the coffee table. One in front of me, one in front of Eugene.

“Thank you.” Eugene said.

“Thank you!” I also said.

The lady gave a polite smile before pushing the cart out of the room and closing the door.

I recognized the mug as an item. It wasn’t as shocking as the couch, but, it still was a mid-tier item with a temperature control modifier.

That meant, I could place both hands around it without worrying about burning my hands.

I did so, blowing on the liquid before taking a small sip.

Mm…That’s good.

When I looked up, I saw Eugene taking a small sip of his own hot chocolate. A chairman of a company actually likes hot chocolate? I thought he was just ordering it to be polite so that I wasn’t the only one drinking something!

It was so surprising, that I couldn’t help but comment.

“You like hot chocolate too?” I asked.

“I like drinking it around the cold season when the snow falls.” Eugene nodded.

“Wow, I thought that you’d only drink coffee or something during meetings.”

“That is the usual case.”

“Usual case? Really? Then, what’s so different this time?”

He smiled, “Usually, I’m meeting with people who live or die by coffee. They ask for coffee, so, I join them in drinking it; I always match what the person I’m meeting with wants to drink.”

“You match them? Why?” I asked.

“It’s a small tactic,” He gently started to explain, “When I drink the same thing as the other person, they’ll subconsciously think better of me.”

“Wah! That’s so sly!” I exclaimed before covering my mouth with both hands.

Wah!!! My professional demeanor was dismantled before we even started the meeting!?

“Haha,” Eugene chuckled, showing a warm smile, “Indeed, us old man are extremely sly. We use every advantage we can get during a negotiation.”

!? Could this also be a tactic to gain my trust!? What’s not a tactic and what’s not a tactic!?

Gah!!! I’ve lost this meeting already! No! Wait, could I somehow recover this?

“Ahem!” I cleared my throat and took a sip of hot chocolate, “Indeed. You should know that even us youngsters also use small tactics during a negotiation.” I said with my professional voice.

“Is that so?” He inquired, “Are you using one too?”

“Of course!” I patted my chest, “By acting cute, you’ll naturally feel more inclined to not scam me!”

“Or, it could make it easier to scam you.” He said.

“What!? Evil! That’s evil! It’s like stealing a cookie from me!”

“Haha,” Eugene chuckled, “That’s why you always have to be careful during negotiations. Especially ones involving money.”

Gah! Fine! I admit it! I’ve lost! I’ve completely lost this meeting!

Though the atmosphere was still professional, the tenseness in the air had disappeared.

“By the way,” I started, “I didn’t expect that I’d be discussing the contract today with the chairman himself!”

Though, I also didn’t even know who the chairman was until about five minutes ago. But! I’ll keep that part to myself.

“It’s only natural to show respect to an esteemed person with my presence. Especially when we’d like to cooperate with them.” He showed a gentle smile.

“Esteemed…” I narrowed my eyes, “Gah! I can’t tell if this is apart of your tactics or not!”

“Haha,” He chuckled, “You shouldn’t assume that falling for tactics is bad, Ms. Stella.” He said, “When you’ve been doing it for so long, these small tactics come naturally with the way I present myself. At a point, it becomes no longer a tactic, but, my personality.”

“Hm…I see, I see.” I nodded.

“Now then, shall we begin the discussion?” he asked.

I took a swig of hot chocolate and nodded before clearing my throat,

“Yes, shall we?” I said, bringing back my professional voice.

“Janette,” Eugene turned to her, “Could you grab the contract?”

Janette nodded and headed to her desk, she grabbed some paper before returning to the couch, she handed me the contract before sitting down.

“Thank you.” I said before skimming the contract.

Silence followed as they waited for me to finish reading.

I couldn’t confirm it, but! I bet they were looking to read my facial expressions! They were definitely waiting to see if I had any displeasure, surprise, or pleasure with the terms! Aha! I just know it! But! I won’t give them what they want!

Maintaining an expressionless face, I continued to read.

Skipping past all the big words and stuff I didn’t want to bother with reading, I first found what they’d implement in the game.

It was pretty much exactly the same as what they offered in messages:

* [Little Explosive Connoisseur] Title; Players will be able to purchase this as a title to use.

* [Little Bomber] Unique Title; This will be given to your account directly, you’d be the only player with this cosmetic.

* A custom player skin designed by you; Our artists can bring any concept you have to paper.

* Custom weapon skins based off of you.

* Custom vehicle skins based off of you.

* An item named after you.

* Temporarily change part of the map to be under the ‘Little Bomber’s influence as an event.

I liked that. There wasn’t anything I could immediately think of that I’d want added or changed.

Next, I looked for the important part! How much will they pay me!?

My eyes widened as I found it.

This is…This is just crazy, isn’t it?

First, they were offering me a flat $500,000 if I sign the contract. In points terms, that’s 50,000,000 points! Or, double the price of my cauldron!

You’re telling me, I could get 1/6th of the money I need for the house just from allowing ALG to put me in a game?

But, that wasn’t all. Below that were a percentage of the royalties I’d earn from people purchasing the skin.

20%.

Twenty percent royalties from every purchase. The bundles in that game is $25, and the skin alone is $15. I’d be getting around 20% of that every time someone bought it! And there’s millions of people who play ALG Royale every day!

Oh my goodness…What am I even making potions for money for?

When I glanced up, I could see Eugene showing a warm smile on his face.

Gah! He knew he won before the meeting even started!

How could I not like this contract!?

“Are you satisfied with the details?” Eugene asked.

“…Off of first look, I do.” I nodded, “But, even if it was the best-looking contract I’ve ever seen, I would still need to sleep on it before making any decisions.” I said.

Even if I didn’t see any traps in it! There’s absolutely no way I’m signing something without professional opinions!

“Good,” Eugene smiled and nodded, “Remember, you should always wait before signing anything.”

Hm…? I noticed it before, but, is he giving me genuine advice? It was like that with telling me about the tactics too. I wonder why.

“Now, let me tell you a bit about what would happen if you were to sign the contract.” He said, “First, we’d immediately start designing your skin. Before, we would have waited for your input, but, since you’ve revealed yourself, we’ll be designing the skin off of the clear videos. Of course, if you have any requests, we can aptly adjust for any changes.”

“Mhm,” I nodded, “That’s fine. If I had to request one thing, I’d like for there to be a design of a mouse on the skin somewhere.”

“A design of a mouse?” He repeated before turning to Janette.

She nodded a jotted it down on a notepad she pulled from somewhere.

“Anything else?” He asked.

“Not that I can think of.” I replied.

He nodded, “Next…”

Eugene continued to go over what happens after I signed the contract in detail. He explained it gently and easily so that I could understand it.

After explaining the basic stuff, he turned to Harry,

“Then, we’d have you market and build up hype for the collaboration. I’ll let Harry explain.”

Harry nodded and took over explaining. Basically, I’d do Tawer posts and even a small advertisement video, which, they’d pay me for.

Other than that, I just needed to give them permission for things.

At this point, even I could tell that they were being kind and walking me through things step-by-step. I’d bet that normally, they wouldn’t do this much hand-holding when negotiating.

…Is this even a negotiation?

Hm…Well! I guess I’m just too cute! Hehe!

After they finally finished explaining everything and I nodded understandingly, Eugene said,

“And that’s it for the ALG Royale deal. Do you have any questions?” He asked.

“Mm…Not that I can think of! Thank you!” I smiled, handing the contract to Ashley to hold. She had been taking notes the whole time, honestly, I’m not too sure what to do with those.

I had her here so I looked more professional, but, I ended up being exposed within five minutes.

Maybe, I’ll show them to Luna after the skin gets implemented?

“Of course,” Eugene smiled, “Now, with that done, there’s another reason I came here.” He said.

My eyes widened. He had a secret motive this whole time?!

“Gasp!” I let out.

“Haha,” Eugene chuckled, showing an amused smile, “Don’t worry, it’s just another collaboration offer. I wanted to offer you this one personally.”

“Another collaboration offer?” I tilted my head.

What could this be about?