[Edward POV]
Turns out, Britta only went to a nearby bathroom inside the building, bumped into Dr. Farrah Fowler, and was brought to her lab without a chance to tell her friends what was going on.
By the time I arrived at the lab, Dr. Fowler had already started the procedure.
As I entered, I saw Britta sitting in a chair with electrodes connected to her head, while Amy monitored her brain synapses on a screen.
Smiling at me, Amy reported, "I have administered the first dose for the treatment, and we'll continue to observe her for the next few days before introducing the second dose."
"That's not all of it?" Britta asked, a bit confused.
Amy turned to her, adjusting the electrodes. "No. Life's not that simple. It'll take a month before we can see the results."
"Oh, I have to stay here for a month? What about community college?" Britta's eyes widened with anxiety.
Amy replied sternly, "I think you should be clear about where your priorities lie."
"It's fine. That's not going to be a problem. I'm closing down the college until after the 20th anyway," I said casually as I picked up Amy's research report. "Also, you might need to be here for a month. If nothing goes wrong, you can actually go back within a week."
The lab fell silent, broken only by the rustling of papers as I flipped through the report. After an hour, Amy finally took off the electrodes.
"I'm already feeling better now," Britta said with a fake smile.
Amy burst her bubble immediately, saying, "The medicine would interfere with your brain hormones. That might be the dopamine release you're feeling. Here."
She handed Britta a notepad. "You need to record your experiences when you're by yourself."
"Is it necessary?" Britta asked, reluctant.
"You can do this, or we put you in a box with a full monitoring team. Which one works best for you?" I casually threw out the threat.
Britta quickly grabbed the notepad. "I'll write down everything."
"I don't really believe you. But luckily you brought Annie here, so she'll be responsible for you," I said.
"Now, about the bills?" I turned to Amy. Britta's face paled, and she stammered, "Bil—Bills? You're billing me?"
Amy smiled, knowing what I was doing, and handed me a contract. "Here. I made her sign this before administering the meds."
"That's not a release form?" Britta asked, her voice shaky.
"Of course not. This is an agreement. The research, the materials for the drug you're using—all of it needs funding. You don't expect me to do it all from the kindness of my heart, do you? I mean, I just lost my house. I can't afford to do any charity right now."
"Umm… H-How much is it—in total?" Britta's heart raced, and her palms became sweaty. She kept drying her hands on her jeans, leaving a wet mark behind.
"Not a lot," I replied with a casual expression. Britta's hope flickered as she asked again, "How much?"
"Two fifty," I said. Britta's eyes lit up. "Wait. Only two fifty? I can pay that right now—"
"Thousand," Amy interjected, stunning Britta into silence. "Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars—after the discount." She added this with a casual smile and a slight nod.
Britta went speechless.
The data from Britta's treatment would be useful for Amy in her neurological studies, so I decided to deduct the value of the data from Britta's debt.
I snapped my fingers a few times in front of Britta's face to bring her back to reality. "Britta? Britta? You there?"
"Is this a side effect of the medicine?" Amy began checking Britta's pupil dilation, but her touch was enough to bring Britta back.
"Wh—Two-fifty. TWO FIFTY!?" Britta bolted upright from the chair, panicking. "I don't have any money to pay for that!!"
"I'm sure we can come to an arrangement," I said with a smile. "Or, you can play along with me, and have someone else foot the bill." My words carried a sinister tone, but for Britta, it sounded as pleasant as an angel's call.
After explaining to the duo, Britta was a bit reluctant to play along at first, but as I flashed the bills at her, her sense of morality quickly corroded.
"If you don't want to do this, then I can contact your parents. They are pretty well off so I think they can pay me back the money." I shrugged as I saw her conflicted expression.
"Wait, if I do this, then, I don't really trick him or anything." Britta's sense of morality finally broke down at the mention of her parents. "He's doing it to himself."
"'If' he does that." Amy corrected her. " If Edward was wrong, and he doesn't do it. Then you'll have to pay for it yourself."
"Either way, I'm still going to get my money back," I added.
"Let's do it. If he actually goes through with this, it means he doesn't care that it's my last chance. He's selfish enough to send me to the pits of hell if it benefits him."
I smirked, amused by Britta's roundabout justification. "Sure," I replied.
Soon, the plan was set in motion. Pierce, Annie, Abed, and Troy entered the lab, with Troy and Annie rushing to Britta.
"We thought we lost you forever!" Annie exclaimed as she hugged her. Troy looked concerned and added, "I thought I was going to have to go on the news, asking everyone to look for you."
I was a bit confused. "Why would you lead the search? Her close friends and family should be the ones doing that."
Troy shrugged, unable to provide an answer. Meanwhile, Pierce scanned the room with sharp eyes and suddenly fixed his gaze on a metal box marked with a warning sign. "Is this the compound you're injecting into her?" he asked, curiosity evident in his tone.
Abed leaned closer to me and whispered, "I have a bad feeling about this." I raised my hand to signal him, 'I got this,' before walking towards Pierce.
"Yeah, it's made from the blood of the Amazon Ruby Spider, radioactive chemicals, brain fluid from a spider monkey, and the testicle of an ox," I said, listing off several nonsensical ingredients. Surprisingly, Troy and Pierce took me seriously.
"So, there's a high chance this is going to give her… you know, superpowers?" Pierce asked, eyes wide with intrigue.
I chuckled and replied, "It'll improve her brain. Not sure about superpowers, though—there hasn't been any human experimentation."
" The materials needed were so rare that we could only find enough for one dose of the superserum—no, I mean, brain cure. Stupid tongue slip." I feigned punishment for my mistake by slapping my mouth before walking over to Britta.
"We're going to administer the serum now. Everyone, please exit the lab and wait outside," I said as I approached Britta and Amy.
'Will he take the bait?' Britta's expression seemed to ask as she glanced at me. I shrugged, equally curious about what was going to happen.
Annie noticed Britta sweating and staring intently at Pierce, thinking that she was nervous for the treatment. She smiled and brushed Britta's arm to comfort her. "Britta, it's going to be fine. Ed knows what he's doing."
Her blind confidence in me made me flutter a bit. Annie accidentally met my eyes and she lowered it immediately, with her face starting to blush. It made me wonder if she came here for Britta or was it for something else. Maybe a little bit of both?
"Technically, I'm the one doing the things," Amy interrupted the two girl's conversation, glancing at Annie. Annie smiled politely at her before continuing to comfort Britta again.
Pierce's eyes darted between the box and Britta, who was sitting in the chair, waiting for the medicine. His conscience urged him to stop, yet it wasn't strong enough to actually do so, only putting in a half-hearted effort.
Suddenly, Pierce grabbed the box and turned to Britta. Abed pointed at him. "Pierce, what are you doing?"
"I'm sorry, Brittles. When I become a superhero and rejuvenate my youth, I'll make sure to scour the entire world to find a cure for you. Singer dude! I'll pay for the experiment!" He opened the box and injected the yellow fluid from the syringe into himself.
"ARghh!" he yelled in agony, though he wasn't actually in pain. Annie's eyes widened in horror. "Pierce!"
Troy mumbled in disbelief, "That was Britta's only shot." Abed's mind went blank, but then he noticed my smirk, which calmed him down.
Annie lunged to wrestle the syringe from Pierce's hand, but he growled at her, snapping his teeth like a snapping turtle.
Amy turned to me and mouthed, "Wow, he's really crazy."
"I KNOW!" I mouthed back.
"Hmm, it doesn't seem to be working," Pierce said, calming down as he felt nothing from the serum.
Annie finally wrested the syringe away and berated him, "Pierce! You realize what you just did? You just gave a death sentence to Britta!"
The unapologetic crazy white man muttered dismissively, "Come on. It was one shot. He can make others—" He pointed at me, and his words stopped abruptly.
Before he could finish, his eyes turned white, and he lost consciousness, falling face-first onto the floor.
"Help!" Annie quickly checked on Pierce and turned to Amy and me. "He needs help!" she stressed, noticing that Amy and I were being casual about it.
Abed turned towards me, guessing, "That's not the medicine?"
"It's not. It's a tranquilizer," I replied casually. "Mixed with some other stuff," I added in a whisper. Even though Pierce would be footing the bills for Britta, it didn't seem fair for him not to get anything, so I added some stuff that would make him healthier.
It wouldn't really be a loss for him paying a quarter million dollars for it as there was no way he would get what I made on the market. Who knows, maybe he would even cure his hypervirility and finally get an heir.
Britta looked at Pierce with extreme disdain and muttered to Amy, "So, he'll foot the bills, right? Bill him for everything he has! Take everything away from him as he callously wanted to take everything away from me!"
I shrugged at her words and said to everyone, "He won't wake up for the next couple of days. Britta, you need monitoring, so you can't really go sightseeing. Everyone else—want to come see the movie set with me and Abed?" I invited them casually, as if Pierce's cold body weren't still lying on the floor.
"Can anyone explain to me what just happened?" Annie asked, befuddled by the entire thing. I smirked at her and said, "The less you know, the better."
…
[General POV]
The entire family gathered together at Le Ciel to celebrate Haley's birthday.
The chefs prepared a full-course meal catered specifically for the guests' taste buds, and everyone enjoyed the luxurious, authentic atmosphere of the Michelin 4-star restaurant.
Mitchell and Cam walked around with Lily, leaving the table after singing the birthday song and enjoying the cake. A professional photographer, hired by Cam, captured the entire event. After the cake was cut, Cam held him hostage – insisting that he follow him around the restaurant, snapping pictures of Cam and his family at every turn.
Jay was finally satisfied after getting into the restaurant he wanted to get to. Gloria hugged his arm and rested her head on Jay's shoulder as she asked, "Jay, if we get drunk here, then how will we get back?"
A waiter interrupted them as he brought them another bottle of wine, "Don't worry about that. Mr Newgate has drivers on standby in case this happens."
There were no other guests besides family members, as it was a special event arranged at Edward's request.
"Too bad Eddy isn't here," Phil complained, raising his glass to toast Haley's birthday. Dressed in a glittery golden gown with a leg slit that reached her upper knee, Haley grinned and replied, "Ed said he'll stop by if he can."
Alex immediately exposed her lie. "Ed's not coming. She made sure of that."
Claire turned to Haley with disbelief, "Why didn't you want him to come?"
"Um," Haley stammered a bit, and Alex immediately jumped in to reveal everything, "Because she wants to see him tonight."
Claire smiled a bit and said, "Oh, so you guys already made plans huh?"
Gloria interjected, "Is he taking you somewhere romantic?"
"Huh? Ed will come to the house tonight though." Phil suddenly poured cold water to the woman's enthusiasm. Claire turned to Phil who sat next to him, "What?"
Haley widened her eyes slightly and said, "Did he tell you that?"
"Yeah. Edward said he's coming over to work on the house. We'll start today." Phil replied nonchalantly, unaware of the girl's feelings.
Jay also didn't notice it and asked, "Phil, how's the search for Edward's new house going?"
Phil grimaced a bit and said, "Not that great. I found a nice house by the beach. But it is too small for his status, and lacks privacy."
Gloria interjected excitedly, "Speaking of houses, do you know what happened today? The house in front…of our house… Ay, how do I say it?"
"It's listed for sale today." Jay continued as Gloria faced some difficulty. "But I don't think Ed will be interested in that." He continued.
Phil was a bit excited and said, "It's listed for sale? That's actually a really good thing. You guys can be neighbors!"
Manny was finally interested after hearing that, "That will be a great opportunity for me to learn more from Edward."
Luke added, "And we'll finally have a reason to come to Grandpa's place other than to use the pool."
While the family were having lunch, Edward brought the four people to his studio where he introduced them to the movie set.
Judd was confused when he saw Edward there, "What are you doing here? Your work is done! Go home!"
"I'm only here to show my friends around and to show Donald something," Edward pointed at Troy as he said that. Judd was stunned when he saw Troy. "Donald?" he muttered in confusion. "He looks younger… Donald's long-lost brother?"
"I'm here to beat his racist allegations against me," Edward joked. He enjoyed bringing the four people to the studio, but he didn't stay with them for long.
Around 3 in the afternoon, Edward told the guests, "I'm sorry I can't hang out longer. I have some plans. If I still had my house, I would've invited you there, but right now, I don't have a place for guests to stay."
Abed didn't mind that and asked, "I have a question. If you built a house set inside the studio, would you consider staying there if you had no other place to go?"
Edward fell into deep thought for a moment, then replied, "If it has a fully functional bathroom and I'm desperate enough, then I'll consider it."
Abed said, "That's something to look forward to."
In disbelief, Edward said, "Yeah—I don't want to look forward to that. That's horrible."
"Edward, what plans do you have now?" Annie asked, gazing intently at him.
Edward replied casually, "I'm going to a recording studio to record a song right now."
The group immediately showed interest. Troy asked in a monotone voice, "Can we see that?"
"Sure," Edward said casually. "I don't think you guys will enjoy it, though. I will be singing in Japanese, so you won't know the meaning of the song."
"Japanese? Why?" Annie asked, incredibly confused.
Edward explained, "I'm starting my world tour there, so I'm thinking of releasing a short album in Japanese to ensure the Japanese people actually care about the tour."
Even with that self-deprecating joke, the tickets for the world tour in Japan were already sold out. The songs were Edward's attempt to connect and have fun with the citizens there.
Video messages where Edward spoke fluent Japanese to the Japanese citizen were already spread throughout the country. Edward also recorded an interview in Japanese and answered the questions from the interviewer, also telling the citizens there that he was looking forward to seeing the country. Edward spoke about what anime he likes, which earned him another wave of admiration from the countrymen. All the preparations were complete.
"Come on. Annie and Abed can ride with me," Edward said casually as he walked to his car. After a short drive from the movie studio, he arrived at the company building.
Edward performing in Japan would have a total of 17 concert days across eight major venues. He would spend 3 days at Tokyo Dome, which has a capacity of approximately 55,000 attendees per show, resulting in an attendance of 165,000.
Next, he would perform 2 days at Kyocera Dome, accommodating around 40,000 fans, totaling 80,000 attendees. The tour would also include 1 day at Nissan Stadium with a capacity of 72,000, bringing in 72,000 fans, and 1 day at Saitama Super Arena, which holds 37,000, contributing 37,000 to the total.
Additionally, there would be 1 day at Nagoya Dome (40,000 capacity) for 40,000 attendees, 1 day at Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome (38,000 capacity) for 38,000, 1 day at Osaka-jo Hall (16,000 capacity) for 16,000, and 1 day at Budokan (14,000 capacity) for 14,000.
In total, this concert schedule would allow for an approximate attendance of 462,000 people, making it a significant event in an artist's world tour. He didn't reveal the numbers to the public yet as he knew he would be a source of envy from the other artists.
Edward could potentially earn approximately 60 million dollars from his world tour in Japan when considering ticket sales, VIP seats, fan meet deals, merchandise, advertising, and video rights– all in the minimum projection range.
A lot of people came to the recording studio to watch him record the song. Pepper smiled at SunHee and told her, "I'll be counting on you to translate the song for me."
SunHee was baffled. Then, she retorted, "I'm not Japanese. I'm Korean!"