"I have managed to reach a few of my …erm contacts. They are kinda sceptical of the current offer but I have at least set up a time and date for them to meet with you." Rei said as he got into the mini claustrophobic box of confinement to meet Jin and tell him the results. At the same time, he brought the second revision of the VR head gear so that Jin could personally test it out. This time, it looked more like a bike helmet than a simple head band.
"Thanks a lot, Rei. You helped a lot." Jin said as his eyes sparkled a little despite the weariness he acc.u.mulated on his face.
"Nah, I should be thanking you…and the System," Rei said as lately because of the System's insistence to clear the backlogs, he was relieved that he finally got his funding for his Gunndam movie production. However, there was more to that funding than he had expected which brought him a much needed smile too.
Jin had previously contacted Pei and queried if she was able to do him a favour. As reluctant as Pei would be to do extra work, she agreed to assist only because she wanted to get out of Kraft's meddling. But as to what Kraft was doing, she never spilt a single word to Jin about it. Even as Jin asked about the situation outside, both the System and Pei barely spoke a sentence out of it. It made the Dungeon Supplier suspicious as hell but since he had been put behind bars, there was only that much he could complain about.
In any case, how Rei had benefited from Pei's meddling was that Jin requested the mangaka artist to bring everyone in his movie production to the head office of Studio Mashi to hold a large scale conference. And that included all the assistants and other small fries that were involved in the project. During that large conference, Pei had 'inspired' them to re-sign a new contract with Rei for obvious brainwashing reasons. For the big wrights, there was an additional clause where any newcomers they recruited would have to sign the very same contract too.
On the outside, it might look like just another privacy concern contract but Rei knew that it was a way to induce the company into the System's arm even though the System promised that it was more of monitoring rather than interference. When asked why during the meeting, Rei cited that Pei was part of the company that was planning to invest in the movie and they wanted to keep their presence unknown until the release of the movie. In return, they would provide necessary cash and funds for the movie though they expected the courtesy to be given in terms of profit.
So, the rest had unquestionably signed it since they knew the film production was losing too much money from the constant change in the movie's directive. Initially, they wanted the existing director to get out but it seemed after a one to one intensive pep talk with Pei, the current lead director seem to be amicable to changes and remained steadfast with the current directive that they were heading. It was a surprise but the staff took whatever change of heart the director had and pressed on with the movie release.
But the most important portion was that they were going to be sent to China for the shoot which Rei indicated where they could have shots of big a.s.s giant mechatronics via the Supa Robot Wars mini instance. Thus, their contract to be in the System's subtle surveillance was required.
Eventually, they found out it had perks working under the System too.
Rei would have instant updates of his movie production and they would be unquestioning in their zeal to work to the best of their abilities. Some of the workers who experienced first hand would call it a significant morale boost for their passion in the movie they were making.
As both Rei and Jin were having this conversation, the Studio Mashi team was already in the process of moving their team into China while they were promised to have their apartments, equipment and even daily life essentials to be covered. The Pandafull delivery team had also sent a bus driver to bring them from the airport and back to Dungeon Supplier Store so that they would stay permanently until the movie production was done.
Such activities consisted of liaising with freelancing artists, editors and voice acting. Those tasks that had been outsourced were also given the very same contract which Pei introduced.
But unlike the Studio, they had no obligations to continue or sign the contract given the strict work timeline Rei outlined. So in order to compensate for that, they were also given a one off four month salary bonus if they signed it and literally everyone could not stave off the allure of cash. To top it off, there was a clause that stated that if the movie had done well, an additional form or monetary bonus would be given which further spurred them to sign on the spot and work for it.
That being said, Rei was actually more concerned with another part of his deal. His family members.
Hence, it was one of the reasons why Sebastia scouted the Mecha World. Even as much as Kraft and the other minions had advocated starting a proxy war between the two major military oriented factions, there was not much of a push factor to do so aside from stealing the Titan for the System's use.
However, the allure of highly advanced technology was worth the scouting and to Sebastia's astonishment, finding Rei's family was not as simple as it was. Apparently, the information that Rei gave was extremely outdated and they had moved away due to the dangers of the space colony they were previously staying to be attacked.
Still, Sebastia had her pride as a scout of Moloch and vowed to continue to find Rei's family. And that alone was enough to let Rei have peace of mind to give 110% to Jin's creations.
—-
"Do I have to go to Japan again?" Jin asked Rei since the meeting was set up by him and those artists were quite a nuisance to handle according to the Mecha Engineer.
"Nah, we are doing the online conference over Vroom so they have no excuse not to attend a short fifteen to twenty minutes talk," Rei said as he sent the Vroom app details to Jin. He re-emphasised Jin how irritating it was for them to leave their studio or apartments, citing them as permanent hikikomori despite their abilities and talents.
"Isn't that a great thing? We might be able to have them all by ourselves if we play this right." Jin smirked at Rei, implying to him that he had found a great group to exploit.
"Good luck with that and also this. Put it on and give it a try. There should not be any more headaches." Rei said as he tuned the Pandamonium app to synchronise with the VR headgear, allowing Jin to finally catch some 'sleep' that he had missed for ages while his mind wandered in the Virtual Reality.
