Second World

Jack was dazed by the high acting of the fellow, he broke into a laugh after.

”What are you laughing at?” Faithstooge asked with a grim expression.

”You watched too many TV shows, man. Stop with your nauseating acting. I was wondering which outstanding guild could come up with such a brilliant scheme. Robbing people to enrich themselves. I must say Iʼm very much impressed. Corporate United really is a guild built by people who know how to maximize profits. I have just followed your strategy for half a day, but I make more earnings than I have in a week. Really applaudable!”

”What nonsense are you spouting, we are all upstanding citizens here. Do not try to twist the truth,” Faithstooge said.

”Brother, do you see a camera here? Do you see any other people watching? I should be the one that asked you to stop speaking nonsense, who are you trying to deceive here?” Jack uttered with disgust. ”These people you representing here have been robbing independent players for days now, and you want to say you have no idea? Are you telling me that you come here just to help them get back their things? And not because you are angry that I have snatched the earnings your underlings here had collected?”

”Do not try to twist the truth, villain,” Faithstooge was adamant.

”What are you wasting your breath for? Do you think you are giving a show to someone?”

”He is right, why are we wasting our breath?” Trustaide whispered to Faithstooge, he was rather exasperated with this superior of him as well.

”Are we going to continue to watch your roleplay or are we going to get down to business?” Jack added.

”The offer stands, if you recognize your erroneous way and return the stolen goods, we will let you go. If not, we will have no choice but to teach you our justice,” Faithstooge continued.

”Well then, kill me then. I bet you have a good explanation for your Manager, for losing an income of 21 gold and a ton of equipment,” Jack didnʼt back down.

Trustaide came forward and said, ”donʼt be so unreasonable, Iʼm sure we can work something out.”

”Iʼm not the one being unreasonable! Tell that to this lame actor-wannabee who has most likely lost an audition before,” Jack countered.

Faithstoogeʼs face went dark. It was true that he had lost auditions before, but he could not accept being called a lame actor-wannabee. Acting was his passion, gaming was only to pass time for him. Now that the world had turned, he had lost the avenue for him to channel this passion. He had decided instead to incorporate his passion into acting out the character he envisioned for himself in this world, but this detestable man kept making fun of him!

”Iʼm open for negotiation, but I want a cut in this operation. Whatever this robbing operation you called, I want in,” Jack continued. ”So we canʼt start to talk if this lame actor here said that there is no operation. If so, then there is no need to talk, letʼs just fight it out. Even if I die, you wonʼt get anything as well.”

The guy was calling him lame actor again, he was just about to retort when Trustaide spoke loudly beside him, with a glare hinting for him to shut up, ”the loots are ours from the start, donʼt you think it is improper to negotiate using what are originally ours? How about you return them first, we can talk from there.”

”Do you have no shame to call the loots yours? They are the belongings of the people you rob. If you consider you are entitled to them because you have robbed them, then the same applies to me. I am entitled to them because I have robbed you. Now, are we still going to continue speaking nonsense?”

The two Corporate United members looked at each other, then Faithstooge said, ”fine, what do you propose?”

”Oh, so now you admit that you have asked them to rob people?” Jack asked.

”I thought we are not speaking nonsense anymore?” Trustaide uttered with annoyance.

”We are not, but Iʼm displeased with this lame actor for keep denying it from the start. I want to hear him admit it first.”

”Donʼt be too cocky. You should look at your situation. We can kill you easily.”

”All right, letʼs just fight then!” Jack exclaimed.

Sighing, Trustaide looked at Faithstooge again. Itʼs always the worse when dealing with a lunatic who is not afraid to die. All the others were also looking at him.

Faithstooge gritted his teeth, he had always been weak against the pressure of being stared down by the audiences, thatʼs how he had failed his auditions before. He finally said, ”Fine! The robbings were organized by us. Whatʼs the point? There is no one thatʼs going to trust you anyway. Now give us back what should be ours!”

”Heh, now thatʼs better,” Jack chuckled. ”I must say again the Corporate United really is a guild filled with businessmen, to come up with such scheme. Do you mind letting me know who was it in your guild that thought of such a brilliant plan?”

”Donʼt try to stall anymore. Are you going to give the loots back or not?” Trustaide said, his patience was running thin.

”So hasty… I can return them, but I want in on the action. Iʼve met three of your robber teams, but I know there should be more positioned around the capital. Now I want to take charge of one of these teams, and 50% of the profit from this team.”

”50%? Who do you think you are?” Faithstooge exclaimed.

”You have many teams, 50% from one team is not so much. I believe you donʼt think you can do this long-term, do you? The news of your robbings will spread with the increase of victims. They will start to band together and hunt you down. Thatʼs why you use people who are not formally in your guild, to avoid implicating your guild. Ainʼt I right?”

The two of them were silent, but anyone could see from their expressions that they didnʼt deny Jackʼs words.

”Now you already see my capability. I believe you only target players who travel alone or in a small group of two mostly. You donʼt dare to target a large group, but such targets are scarce. Put me in a route with high traffic, I can take care also of large groups, thus you will maximize your profit even though you have to give me 50%. I understand your Manager, whoever it is, will agree to this. Send him a message then if you want, I will wait.”

The two Corporate United people turned around and whispered among themselves. The others glared at Jack, they were truly amazed that this guy was actually negotiating with their handlers. They had reported what had happened to these handlers and had originally come together to teach him the consequence of offending them, but how did it end up with a chance for him to join them instead?

Jack continued to wait calmly. The others were rather annoyed by how calm he was. They couldnʼt wait for their handlers to reject this overconfident a**hole so they could start beating the shit out of him. Yet the words that came out from their handlerʼs mouth made them despondent.

”We can give you 20%,” Faithstooge said.

”You are joking, right? I will be the one that does most of the work, 40%,” Jack replied.

Faithstooge shook his head, ”I canʼt give you more than 30%. Thatʼs our final offer.”

”You are truly a Corporate United member, ruthless even in haggling,” Jack said. ”How about this? After we are done with this robbing business, I want to be accepted as an official and core member of Corporate United.”

Faithstooge frowned. ”That is not the deal.”

”Well, I asked for 50%, yet you haggled like an old mom buying fish at a street vendor, so the deal has changed. Go message your Manager, Iʼm sure he will be glad to have a capable player such as me joining Corporate United.”

Faithstooge was speechless. He had a private talk with Trustaide again before he sent another message to his superior.

The others were confused. Why did it look like the player whom they initially planned to beat was instead having the initiative in the conversation?

Faithstooge returned his attention to Jack after a while, he said, ”we can agree to accept you, as an official member, but not as a core member. You will have to work yourself up like the rest of us.”

😉