"There aren't too many who can say such words to me," he knew he slightly went overboard here. But he had to act like this to get what he wanted from her.
He remained silent, looking at her while she glared back.
"Fine! Tell me then… But I warn you, if the task requires lots of work I won't agree. I'm a lazy lady after all," she leant her back, putting an annoyed expression over her face that didn't fool Hao.
"As I told you already, my plan works without the need to spend money at the start," Hao ignored her fake sense of impatience and boredom, as he continued, "but to make up for this, we need another advantage that others didn't have."
"Which is?"
"This…" Hao moved both arms in the air, pointing almost to everything around.
"This room?" she raised one eyebrow, not knowing what was special about this room.
"This room…!!!" Hao was about to give a rude comment yet he forced himself to stop midway, "I meant this entire academy."
"Are you going to tempt other players by joining the academy?" she gave him such a weird look before adding, "for the record, most players who are this good won't bother with any learning! Just look at yourself! Neglecting your studies until you grew your beard!"
"I'm not that old," he said in response, "besides I didn't mean the academy itself. I meant something else the academy has and yet unused."
"What?" she was at a loss once again, "why speaking in riddles? Just say it loud and clear!" she demanded and Hao smiled back.
This was his nature, not directly expressing himself. He always tended to use such long and twisted ways to explain his points, hating so much to directly address what he was thinking about.
"I heard that the academy had a long term licence to accept high school students," Hao started to speak out his mind, "and you have this dorm and one more building specified for that purpose initially."
"Who told you that?" She didn't confirm or deny what he said, yet he didn't need her to do that.
"I did my homework before coming here," he shrugged and she could only helplessly smile.
"We lacked funds and accepting high schoolers fees isn't that much profitable like academy students from rich families," she explained the reasons that Hao guessed a long time ago.
"But for our project to succeed, we need that dead part of the academy to be revived."
"This…" Hao knew she would react this way. After all, if this was something feasible then the academy would have done it a long time ago.
"I know it's not that easy," he said what she had in her mind, proactively taking the initiative, "Hiring staff, assigning buildings to the students… Not to mention the headache coming from the fierce competition with the other high schools in the area, right?"
She slowly nodded, admitting what he said was the truth. "It's not our turf."
"You should declare it as yours then," Hao firmly said before seriously adding, "it's not yet too late to do that. We still have more than one month before the start of the new year, right?"
"But…"
"The academy won't reject good money as an income, right?"
"Income?" her face changed once she heard this magical word. "How?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Leave this to me," he didn't give any details, "but from that income, part must go to fund our little project."
"On what basis?"
"As the academy official guild."
"No, that's not possible," unlike what he expected, she firmly shook her head before adding, "there are already a bunch of greedy masters here who sat their eyes on this title."
"They will establish a guild?" Hao was surprised to hear that, "I thought there wasn't a good player among the rich kids out there."
"That's true," she nodded, "but when things come down to good business, who can say no to that?"
Hao understood her point. Those greedy masters were just like anyone looking at a treasure in greed without having the ability to get or keep it.
"You have to find a way to get part of that money," he put aside his initial plan of making his guild the formal academy guild, "after all we are going to be the ones bringing the money here."
"Let me think more about it then," she said before adding in warning, "but I can't guarantee anything."
"I trust you," he knew she wouldn't let such a big harvest be wasted. "I also have one more thing to ask."
"What?"
"You!"
"What?!!" she looked shocked when she heard his single word. He couldn't help but bitterly smile from her reaction before explaining:
"As you know already, the upcoming Dawn game depends on two parts working together, the pro team and the guild supporting it."
"That's something I know," she nodded, "but how is that related to me?"
"I can handle the pro team," he said, "and part of the work of the guild. But the guild must have someone more capable than me to handle its affairs."
"And that… Is it me?" she pointed at herself while her face told him she was really shocked this time. "I told you already, my gaming days are way gone!"
"I can't take no as an answer," he slowly shook his head before adding, knowing that this issue must be solved here, "you have many skills in dealing with business."
"I'm a loser," she bitterly laughed, "just look at me!"
"Still much better than me," he laughed in return before adding, "no matter what, I can't take full control over the guild issues. I need someone who is more capable, someone who understands the gaming world and players."
"You can ask Hil then."
"Hil is going to be in the pro team," he firmly said, "of course she lacked a lot. But soon she will transform. I can't burden anyone from the pro team to handle the guild matters. And surely I won't entrust the guild matters to someone I don't know."
"You don't know me!"
"Yet we both are tied to one ship, if it sinks, then we will all be gone."
She looked in silence towards him, weighing what he just said. Deep inside her, a desire that she tried to suppress for a long time was slowly burning up.
"Alright," she also knew what he said made sense, "but that won't be active until you pass that one month period test first."
"Agree," he knew this wasn't the best deal but it was accepted. After all, he didn't know if she was still playing or not, or had any desire to return to play or not.
"Ah, I got a condition of my own," she suddenly said, "I want the guild to carry a name..."
"The Illuminati?" Hao had long expected such a condition, "sure, but why not explain your relation with that old name?"
"When you tell me your secret first, I'll tell you mine," she said in a way that was meant to tease him.
"Let it be for another time then," Hao could only drop this matter. In this meeting, he got exactly what he wanted and even more. In return, that lady also got what she desired, and much more.
"Alright, I'll let my lawyer get in touch with you," she stood up while adding, "Ah, my name is Cher, you can call me lady Cher."
"I'll call you Cher then," Hao teased her and she laughed while placing that hat and veil over her head.
"Keep dreaming," she left while laughing. Hao stood in his place, not knowing if he got the best part in this deal or not.
But in the end he got what he wanted. He looked at all these boxes. For him, this was just the beginning.
"Time to rest then," he knew he did lots of mental work today, so he deserved a bit of rest.
As for the next part of his plan, he would wait for the night to speak with Hil about that.
After all he needed a local guide here, and she would just do perfectly fine as that.
Hao took a nice nap for three straight hours. The talk with that lady seemed to leave a toll on his mind with the help of the jetlag.
As he finished his shower, he stood in front of the mirror while arranging his clothes. He was lost in thinking about the important talk he had with Cher.
"I aimed for my guild to be the official guild of the academy, but it seems I underestimated the propaganda of the new game."
He wanted to establish the guild and be the formal one for the academy. This was his way to not only lure more players here, but also to try and lure the riches out of the wealthy kids here to his pockets.
But he had to give up something, and in return he gained another. His back up plan of using the high school licence here was his plan B. Of course he also gained Cher on top of such a deal.
He planned before to look for players majoring in economy or administration. But why would he settle with the lower option when he got another better one?
Cher seemed like someone who could handle her own things properly. He already dug up a few details about her before coming here.
He knew she was leading a very successful fashion company for years. Yet she kept herself hidden and didn't show even her face to the public.
She got such superb administrative skills that he experienced them in the flesh during the past meeting.
"One week… I only have less than a week before the game starts…" he wasn't thinking about the time limit of his deal with Cher, but about the time before the game would come online.
He didn't doubt for even a second his ability to win that bet. But his attention was always fully focused over that game.
The opening… It held so much importance to him than anything else. He had many ideas and plans prepared, but he knew once that moment came, everything he planned would be truly tested.
Would all the plans succeed? Or would he be left out as the lone loser here?
Just that thought alone stirred up all his desire for a fight. He clenched both fists, took a deep breath before walking out of this place.
The world outside was dim, looking as the night was already marching towards the world. Inside the dorm was something else.
Many were shouting, yelling with curses, reminding him of the first scene he had when he came here yesterday.
Chaos was everywhere. Few were running, like they were having a deadline or something.
He slowly walked through everything while getting to look at all this amusing mess. In his eyes he saw them as the new members of his new guild in the game.
Of course he didn't hope to find real talents here aside from Hil, but it wasn't a bad idea to start looking for such.
"Boss…"
"Boss is here…"
"Did he survive the lady's meeting?"
"Shush, or else he might hear you."
Many whispers emerged once the students here noticed him. He didn't know what made them call him boss, but he liked the nickname.
After all, in the near future, they'd all be his guild members and he would be their boss. Hao was looking for Hil, and he found her standing just beside the main door of the dorm, seemingly shouting at her phone or something.
Hao came closer slow enough to let her notice his presence and react.
Just as she noticed him, her face slightly changed. Hao didn't know whom she was speaking to with such intensity, but it must be someone the two of them were familiar with.