At the Copperfield Foundation's headquarters, a man with neat white beard sat in the center of a conference room. He was the CEO of the Copperfield Foundation, Caleb Copperfield. By both his sides were the directors of each departments. They were currently having their meeting to discuss their quarterly report.
"Well, I think if we would like to continue expanding in Country Z, we would have to watch out for our competitors in our market." The Director of Urban Planning switched to the PowerPoint slide where it showed the layout of city. The buildings were highlighted with different colours to show what company owned it. He continued to speak.
"On the east side, Hayfield Limited monopolises 80 percent of the shopping and housing districts there. Not only that, their shopping mall in the Central, The Elysian Fields, boasts the largest rich customer base in Country Z. If we would like to expand in the country, they would be the ones to watch out for. Right now, our best bet would be to expand in..."
The Elysian Fields shopping mall was in it's fifth year of opening. It was actually the place that Gray and Sato went for a meal the first time together. Back then, Sato was a university dropout that had nothing and Gray was just a cool General. Their aesthetic designs that imitated a haven for the gods, like the fountain of Poseidon pulled by his sea-horses, attracted many customers from the higher echelons of society. Every store in the mall are all internationally known brands. Annually, there would always be a bid by the different brands, in hopes of getting their store in the mall. The prices of the rental would reach astronomical heights.
After the analysis given by the director was finished, Caleb Copperfield finally spoke. "Mmm.. The analysis you've given us is sound and correct. At the moment, we do not necessarily have to compete for the largest pie in the shopping and housing districts. We shall go ahead with your plan, to expand in the west direction of Country Z. Get our agents to procure the suggested lands from the brokers. Make sure to give a higher quotation than normal so as to scare off potential buyers."
" That will be all for today. Keep up the good work everyone." Caleb gave an ending to this meeting and left first before everyone else did. The boss of the company headed back to his office room. Although his office wasn't as spacious as Martheus', it was bigger than a normal company's boss.
The well dressed man sat in his chair with a grim face. His mood wasn't gloomy because of his company, but as a result of his son, Tyron. Tyron Copperfield was his only child and was a culmination of his blood sweat and tears. He had done everything for his son, to create a better future for him. Tyron was going to takeover his position as CEO several years from now. However, that succession had been crumbled into pieces.
Several weeks ago, Tyron came back lost and distraught. His pants was stained in his own urine. His hands were shaking uncontrollably. Worse of, he couldn't speak without stuttering. Whenever Caleb tried asking what had happened to him, Tyron would immediately curl up into a ball and suck his thumb. Sometimes, if overly pressured, he would pee himself again. He had basically become a 5 year old child all over again. After all this time, his son would lock himself up in his dark room and hide in a corner.
Caleb had tried hiring a private investigator to look into the source of his problem, but in the end, there was nothing to be found. There were no witnesses other than the lackies of Tyron's, but they too were as traumatised as his son.
What had caused my son to become like this? Caleb frowned deeply. He was a person of power in this country and so, very few people would dare to offend his son. Even more, who had so much power that they could ward off any media or public attention to this incident. There were only three words that Tyron would repeat. Sorry. Mercy. Gun.
The last word was enough to show that the person his son had offended, was someone that shouldn't be trifled with. Caleb knew that his chances of revenge was slim. Now, he just wanted his son to recover back to his normal self.
...
Back at home, Sato had studied throughout the entire afternoon. When he was in the zone, he wouldn't stop studying. His hands would not stop moving, solving questions after questions. Rarely, he would be stumped by a question. If he did, he would analyse and learn from his mistake, knowing not to make it again.
By the time he stopped studying, the sun had already started to set. Sato stood up from the table and walked beside his gaming pod. He stretched himself in relish as he finally felt the stiffness in his back kick in. The current life of the young man was something he didn't think would happen to him anytime soon.
He had thought that he would have to first graduate from university and enter a fortune 500 company. Then on, he would climb the ranks for a decade, before finally settling with a high paying job. That was his plan before it was derailed by the cancelling of his scholarship.
When Sato got enough of the sunset view, he left to his bathroom to take a shower. Even though he had a bathtub, he didn't like the idea of wasting water and so, he stuck to his old ideals. While he was showering, Gray had come home from work.