Paul was laughing, shaking Ben's hand in his office as he continued to deliver praise! "Congratulations! I hoped you'd reach new heights! I was cheering you on from the beginning! From now on, you'll be working upstairs on the 11th floor at Male's Health!"
Tina and Laura were gawking at this. 'You hoped he'd reach new heights? You were cheering him on?'
They cursed in their heads! 'You hoped he'd reach new heights so you could cheer him off a cliff!'
…
They couldn't believe these blatant lies! 'You were plotting him the whole time! You know it! We know it! And even he knows it!'
The two women looked at each other. Despite one being his wife and the other his daughter, they both felt the urge to slap the face off this shameless bastard!
…
That's also what Ben wanted to do! 'This is a classic faceslap setup! But where is my faceslap? My hand is swinging like a helicopter, but this bastard keeps dodging like it's the Matrix!'
…
Ben felt wronged! 'How could this bastard be so shameful as to have no shame?!?'
…
Although Ben didn't understand the details, he was clear on the general circumstances. 'I'm certain he was about to fire me. Then someone called to give me a promotion…' Ben thought back to the recent challenge he did in the tower with Evan, and understood something; The current situation must've related to one of the rewards from that time— possible attention from figures of the higher floors.
Still, that wasn't the most surprising thing to Ben. The most shocking aspect of all this–was still Paul's shameless turnaround!
'I've thought I've seen shameless before…when I glanced in the mirror every day! But this is…' Ben thought he was talented, but today he'd run into a genuine master…
It was a classic reality check for a budding hero…
If he hadn't titty-banged Paul's wife and was now trying to go Thomas by running the train on his whole family…Ben was almost tempted to do obeisance as Pauls' disciple!
…
In truth, Ben found this manager's ability awe-inspiring. 'Is this his special boss power?'
Even he felt strange as Paul smiled with warmth, like Ben was his pride and joy who he painfully cultivated over ten years…
Regardless, Ben understood that Paul thwarted his counterattack today. 'This boss has full immunity to slap damage…'
There was no way to make contact, not when Paul's face was coated with grease like GSP…
Since it was useless, Ben decided to pivot strategies and become friendly. 'I'm a big-hearted person. There's no reason I can't let the previous matter go.' His new magnanimous strategy was to turn swords into plow-sharing Paul's wife.
…
Paul also responded as if the two shared a deep bond. He placed a hand on Ben's shoulder, sighing as if hesitant to let him go. "You'll be starting upstairs next week. The contract will soon arrive to your email. For today, you can go home early. You've earned it…and you've done us proud… Thanks for your hard work!"
At this moment, Ben observed a massive change in Paul's system status.
[Boss of Floor 9(Public Relations): Paul Baldwin]
[Target's current relations level: friendly(+4)]
[Title: Corporate King of Kiss-ass]
…
As Paul stared at Ben with a sad face like he was sending his son off to war…the gazes Laura and Tina gave to Ben also displayed complex emotions: disbelief, doubt, and irresistible curiosity… They didn't understand how he managed to not only turn this entire situation around, but to force the proud Paul to act this way…
At that moment, Ben's IOI watch vibrated. Glancing at it, his eyes followed where the hands pointed to, towards who was sending him indicators of interest. It was Laura, and also…Paul?
…
Ben winced. 'So that's what it was!' He believed he now understood the true meaning of Paul's nickname–King of Kiss-ass!
And it made Ben want to vomit!
…
Then, when he glanced behind Paul, he noticed Tina leaning on the wall there, watching him with big wolfy eyes. Ben raised a brow. 'Oh, what big…tits you have.' Of course it was still the tits!
…
Still, when Ben looked back at Paul, he felt relief that it wasn't like that. 'Aight, we good…' He'd be watching him though…
Soon, Paul escorted him out of the office and all the way to the elevators, showering him with compliments the whole way. Not wanting to be impolite to his gracious host, Ben made sure to walk at the slowest pace possible.
…
A while later, as the elevator doors then closed, Ben couldn't help but wonder something. 'He changed so much. The relations increased by 4 levels because of a phone call?'
Now, he was very curious about the identity of the caller…but was confident he'd find out when the time came, so wasn't in a rush to dig for details. Also, there was somewhere he needed to visit, a sacred place he made a solemn swear to go to today—the two-floor Chipotle downstairs…
Meanwhile, when Ben disappeared behind the doors, so did Paul's jovial expression. Now, his face was more hideous than ever! He marched back into his office and hunkered down into his chair, ordering Laura to get back to work, leaving only Tina staring at him in confusion.
She approached him and touched his arm. "Dear, what was that all about?"
Paul stared at her with hatred in his eyes. "Shut up!"
Tina was so startled she jumped backward, hitting a file cabinet.
As she winced and rubbed her elbow, he glared at her. "Are you aware what a mess you've made?!? Do you know who that was over the phone?!? That was the assistant to the Chief of the entire publishing department! Representing the Hearth princess herself! It's the first time her office ever called me! And it was about that boy! Do you know what that means?!? It means he's caught her eye! Or even worse, they may already know each other!
If he's in her good graces, a bad word from him might ruin everything I've built here! Not only can't I afford to antagonize him, I need to set things right so this doesn't bite me in the ass! And why did this happen? Because you had a bad feeling about him!" Panting with rage, Paul continued to stab Tina with a piercing glare…
She was pale, never having expected her own husband to have such an outburst at this moment. "I-I just—"
"Don't talk!" He put his hand up and tried taking slow deep breaths to calm down. "Don't say another word. Go home. I have to think this through." He then ignored her, as he swiveled his chair to stare out his window.
Behind him, Tina's eyes turned red, and her lips quivered… Her mouth opened wanting to apologize, but she knew it was useless, because he didn't care… Paul wasn't thinking about her anymore, which was always his attitude. Work came first, and he was meticulous if it related to his ambitions, allowing nothing to get in the way of that–not even his wife.
So, she did as told, leaving the office, and heading home, to stay there alone, like always…
***
At the top of Hearth Tower, sitting at her desk, the assistant put down the phone, and glanced up at her boss. "Miss, are you sure about this?"
Near a tall window covered by peculiar thin white blinds, the boss stood with her arms behind her back, as she looked over the city. "It's worth a small gamble. Male's Health magazine has been struggling to hold onto the younger demographic recently…
As such, something needs to change there. To attract that younger segment, the magazine needs a beacon, something fresh. Or maybe not something, but someone… Besides, have you not seen the viewer numbers from last night, the ones on that boy's feature?" She smiled, turning to watch the assistant's face as it turned red.
Realizing she wasn't aware of those statistics, the assistant scrambled to click her mouse pointer, searching her computer for a certain screen. A few seconds later, when she found the viewership numbers, she gawked! "How could it be this many?"
The boss chuckled. "It surprised me too… Honestly, I'm not too sure myself. Although I'm not very knowledgeable on the subject, the video content of the workout didn't seem too special. The boy is strong but also within reasonable bounds. So, it must've been something in his words…" Her smile widened as she glanced over the skyscrapers covering millions of people below. "That's why I gave him this chance…"
"But Miss, isn't he too inexperienced?"
The woman shrugged. "It's fine, we'll just give him a column. If he fails, it'll be no big deal, for us anyways…As for him…" She released a light chuckle, one that gradually mutated with a sinister shade… "I'll eat him alive…"
Staring out from the top of the city, the woman revealed a toothy smile, flashing one peculiar, unusually sharp canine.
