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> Corpo Age [Cyberpunk Progression LitRPG] > Chapter 15: Starting a Business
Chapter 15: Starting a Business
Corpo Age [Cyberpunk Progression LitRPG] by RandomBlueCat
1k 1 48
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Having met up with our reinforcements, Flo's team, who frankly looked like they needed more saving than us, we returned to the surface level with the entire group without incident.
I witnessed the aftermath of what shook the entire building earlier as there was an enormous hole in the wall, next to the backdoor I entered from.
Once we were outside, it became a lot more chaotic as the former test subjects went their own way and scattered. Our group immediately went back to our cars.
"We should be good now. You can head back. Thanks for your help, we owe you one," The large mercenary, Flo, energetically said, despite how worn out she looked.
"No problem, I'll take you up on that favor. Are you sure everything is okay now, though? No corpo hit squad chasing after us?"
"Neuro Nexus is a startup corp at best. We'll be fine."
"What about the police?"
"Ha, good one, the ECPD only shows up after incidents to do cleanup. All right, we're set. Let's hang out at Haven sometime once Leo gets his shit fixed," Flo said as she stepped into the back of her armored van.
I waved her off as I got in the driver's seat of my car. Thorne, who had been following me, got into the passenger seat.
Watching the former test subjects scattering into the streets, I started up the car and was about to leave when the back door clicked open.
"All right boss, I'm ready for a new adventure. Let's get going!" A cheerful red-haired teenager declared from the backseat.
"I don't remember offering to hire you or to give you a ride, Claire…" I said as I turned on the auto drive.
"Come on, you heard me when I said I'll be sticking with Thorne. An offer to him equals an offer to me."
"Claire…" Thorne looked back and sighed before turning to me. "Can I ask you to hire her as well?"
"Sure, that's what I intended, but it's not like I have a company or anything yet, so don't expect much."
We drove aimlessly for a while until I decided to bring the two to a motel near my place first. Sarah and Caleb were still in my place, so it would be too crowded to have these two stay over as well.
Speaking of Caleb… Oh right, I still have to buy him ice cream. They're probably asleep by now, so I guess he'll have ice cream for breakfast…
After a night of well-deserved rest, I was fully charged. I quickly got ready instead of lazing around, as I was expecting guests later.
Yesterday, when I left Thorne and Claire at the motel with some money to pay for their rooms and food, we decided to meet up this morning at my place to plan things out.
As I basked in the hot water during my morning shower, I brought out my status sheet as I deliberated about my next steps.
Status
Level:
4
EXP:
50/400
Musculoskeletal:
51
Neural Reflex:
15
Visuomotor Coordination:
12
Endurance:
8
Sensory Perception:
37
Upgrade Points:
2
Upgrades:
Stealth +7
Hacking +3
Enhancements:
SAID: Zenitech Hoth Mk.3
Optics: Nova Tech Stars Mk.4
Cyberarm (Left): Nova Tech Mudra Mk.6
With two people under my care now, I had to start earning more so I could pay them. Overall, it wasn't a terrible trade to have two employees that I could trust… Well… more trusted than the average employee I would find off the streets.
Following my plan, I went ahead and dumped my new points into cybernetic engineering.
Status
Level:
4
EXP:
50/400
Musculoskeletal:
51
Neural Reflex:
15
Visuomotor Coordination:
12
Endurance:
8
Sensory Perception:
37
Upgrade Points:
0
Upgrades:
Stealth +7
Hacking +3
Cybernetic Engineering +2
Enhancements:
SAID: Zenitech Hoth Mk.3
Optics: Nova Tech Stars Mk.4
Cyberarm (Left): Nova Tech Mudra Mk.6
A familiar rush of knowledge entered my brain. I felt like I had gone to college studying the subject, just condensed into an instant instead of a few years.
I knew the materials requirements that are or are not compatible with the human body, the procedure to install them, and the tools required. Though I doubt I could create anything close in capability to any of the cybernetics I've seen, not without more upgrade points.
Upon walking into the living room, I noticed an argument between Sarah and Caleb. It seemed like Caleb wanted to have the ice cream for breakfast while Sarah forbade it until lunch. I ignored the argument that had nothing to do with me and proceeded to make my food.
I spent the time after breakfast looking up the procedure for starting a business in this city. It seemed like there were different classifications of businesses with a clear distinction between the local run-of-the-mill businesses, being where I would have to start from, and corporations that were further divided into several levels.
If a business did well, it could then apply for membership to join the Elevate City Consortium, which would mark the transformation of a business becoming a corporation. They would enjoy various benefits, being in a higher social class from all the other riffraffs. However, you would need to pay an annual membership fee depending on the tier. In return, they would reduce your tax rate and various conveniences related to importing and exporting.
By the time I finished arranging a law firm to complete the paperwork for establishing my business, the doorbell to my apartment rang. Thorne and Claire arrived, so I introduced them to the raider siblings and got comfortable before starting our discussion.
"To start things off, I plan to be opening a cybernetic clinic and I will be hiring you as my assistants for now as there isn't really a fixed set of duties for you guys yet."
"Ok, cool with me as long as you're paying," Claire replied with a smile while Thorne solemnly nodded.
"I'll be paying you both 5,000 credits a month for now. I'll also cover all your expenses within reason until your first paycheck."
They both nodded and seeing as they had no comment, I continued, "I'll be dealing with the bureaucracy side of it for now, so I want one of you to deal with our current inventory over there and the other to search for potential properties for the clinic itself."
"Oooh, real estate shopping, I always wanted to buy my own place. I'll do it!" Claire energetically raised her hand.
"...I'll do the inventory then."
"Sounds good. I look forward to working with both of you." I smiled and shook their hands.
Great, bureaucracy time, woohoo, so exciting…Hopefully, this won't take too long.
It turns out starting a local business wasn't too hard but a cybernetic clinic was, simply because I had no credentials to operate and the alternative methods… weren't something I could afford right now.
Seeing how I was mainly targeting mercenaries anyway, I decided to simply start an underground clinic.
The major disadvantages were mainly no access to licensed suppliers, being unable to advertise with legitimate avenues for an unlicensed clinic, and minor things such as being unable to do business with most companies like insurance without a hefty surcharge.
The major advantages were simply no taxes. As an unregistered business, I wouldn't be paying any taxes to the corporate overlords.
This also meant that I didn't have much to do now that there was no bureaucracy to do for the past week, so I looked for suitable locations with Claire during the day and started hunting for experience during the evening.
Sarah and Caleb had left during this time after I saw them off with the Chief Steward I had hired. She gave me regular updates, as half of her payment was still with me.
Claire seemed to be finishing up her talks with the owners of all the places she found and wanted to go over the options with me to finalize our choice soon, but before that, I barely had enough money to cover all the fees and rent.
Which was why today, I headed to a clandestine clinic that Flo introduced me to sell off some of my wares.
I drove to the Neon District and found a dark stairway in between some bar and a nightclub that led down to a large metal door that looked like it could withstand a small bomb. There were no signs or anything throughout the entire way down. I'm sure if I hadn't been told of its location, I would have thought it was just some backdoor for a building.
Pressing on the intercom, I backed away from the door and stared straight at the peephole while I waited.
"What do you want?" A feminine voice spoke at a fast pace.
"Dr. Rad? Flo introduced me to this place. I have some business with you."
The door clicked open automatically. Inside was an identical door with turrets hanging from the ceiling beside it. I walked in and the door closed behind me.
After a few seconds, the second door opened, leading me to a brightly lit area with a few chairs neatly lined up. A large glowing sign stood in my path with the words 'Wait here and don't wander or you're dead!' written on it.
It seemed like I came a little early compared to the rest of her clientele, as it was noon and there wasn't anyone else here. Before I had a chance to sit down, a thin girl with purple hair walked out from the back. Though her most distinct trait was all the tattoos she had.
"Follow me, you looking for a checkup, new chrome, or what?" She turned around and asked while she started walking away all jittery, as if she had too much caffeine.
I sped up to keep up with her before replying, "Actually, I had some cybernetics to sell, brand new." I held the bag I was holding to emphasize my point to her despite she hadn't turned my way.
"Let's have a look."
We moved into her operating room and proceeded to lay out all the cybernetics I brought on a table where she then examined them.
I took the time to check out her setup, which comprised a simple terminal by her operating table that listed her products. I couldn't match the variety she had at the moment and needed to pay extra to the corporate salesperson because I didn't have a proper license.
Soon, Dr. Rad finished inspecting the cybernetics and quoted me a price. She seemed to offer about half of what it retailed for, which was pretty good considering she would have to sell below the retail price. Otherwise, people would simply go to the legit clinics unless they really didn't want any records of their hardware.
"I still have more of the same kind if you want. I can get it here within the hour." I continued to hawk as I only brought a few of each model I had.
"No thanks, maybe next time, no reason to hold too much stock. If that's all, you know the way out." She started to ignore me and started working on some half-completed cyberarm.
"Do you happen to know any other places that may be interested in buying?"
She paused for a second and put a finger to her chin, "Hmm, there may be a few. Not sure though, I don't really contact them that often. Here I sent their info to your SAID."
With the transaction complete, my balance displayed on my optics was much higher than before. I exited and restocked before I made my way to the locations she sent me to rinse and repeat the sale.
Some contacts I visited completely ignored me and shooed me away, while some only bought limited quantities.
Now I know how those salesmen pestering me feel. Maybe I should've cut them some slack.
As evening approached, I made my way to the last contact I had gotten, in some warehouse on the outskirts of the city. There weren't much here besides a couple of chop shops.
Just as I exited my car, I heard a thunderous noise coming from just around the corner. I instantly jumped back into the car with my gun unholstered, ready to leave at a moment's notice.
"Sigh, come on, I just wanted to sell my stuff in peace today…"
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> Corpo Age [Cyberpunk Progression LitRPG] > Chapter 16: Property
Chapter 16: Property
Corpo Age [Cyberpunk Progression LitRPG] by RandomBlueCat
1k 0 46
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The thunderous loud noise rang out again, though it was quieter this time from inside my car. Seeing nothing but the junkyard around, I moved to a better vantage point to assess the situation.
Cautiously hugging the warehouse, I peeked around the corner to find two men wearing eye-catching red plate carriers in a maroon uniform underneath. They were both facing away from the warehouse, toward the scrap cars piled up. One of them had a hand raised, pointing it toward the rusty vehicles. The hand wasn't a regular one but a prosthetic one that looked more like a gigantic gun barrel than a human limb.
Before I could get closer, the thunderous noise rang out again, much louder this time as I was in direct line of sight from the source. I watched the hand cannon fire, decimating the scrap metals in its way.
Assuming they were only doing target practice, I proceeded toward the clinic, albeit discreetly, trying not to draw their attention, just in case.
The door leading into the clinic was completely open, and I could see a small lobby area. There were a few people waiting in the lobby, all seeming to be the rough-looking mercenary type, with a few dressed in the same red uniform as the two outside.
Walking in, I spotted a lady behind the counter near the entrance smiling at me.
"Hi, I'm here to see Dr. Bennett." I put an arm on the counter and leaned forward.
"Yes, take this, and please take a seat." The lady ripped a queue ticket in a practiced motion and handed it to me.
I sat down and saw a screen displaying the queue. I patiently waited for my number to come up, spending the time surfing the web through my implants.
After almost an hour of waiting, I could finally see the doctor, an older man with a hunched back, wearing a monocle.
I repeated my sales pitch, which had been well practiced by now, to the doctor and handed him some samples for examination.
"Ahh, these are brand new, very good. How many of these do you have?" The doctor asked as he continued his examination.
"How much can you offer for these models?" I fired back. This was my last sale, and I didn't want to sell too much for now. I only needed a bit more credits to hit my goal.
"Hmm… How about this price?" He sent over a small spreadsheet file with the models and offered prices directly to my SAID.
The prices were a lot lower than what I'd seen all day, which was around 35-50% of the retail price, while he offered a measly 25%.
"25% of the retail price is pretty low, I'll need at least 40% or I'd rather try elsewhere."
"Now, now. I am willing to buy in bulk, which I'm sure my colleagues wouldn't. How about this? I can raise it to 30% at most."
We spent another few minutes bargaining back and forth, but the doctor didn't seem like he would budge any further. Being so close to my goal, I decided to take the hit and sell just enough to reach my goal.
With the transaction complete, I headed back home just as the sun started to set and texted my two employees.
Once I was home, I took in the now slightly more spacious living room, having sold off a few crates that were taking up space. I barely sold more than a tenth, but should now have enough to get the equipment I need and pay for the lease, considering I wasn't looking for any prime locations.
Before long, Thorne arrived with Claire and began going over the result of her hard work.
"So, as you said, I went to look for the best potential spots for your clinic. Further narrowing down the options to the neighborhoods near District 10, there are three main types of properties listed here."
Examining the file on the terminal placed on the table between us, I secretly looked up the address for each and left a marker on the minimap displayed directly in my eyes. Once everything was settled, I should really install a proper SAID and optics for these two.
"The first type is the street-level retail locations like these. Since we don't have a license yet, we may not be able to openly operate, so this may not be the best option. The second one is these units inside various megabuildings and apartments. The third option is leasing properties from various complexes and plazas."
Considering my primary target market for the foreseeable future was mercenaries, all the properties were near District 10, where Haven was located. All these options had their own pros and cons, but now that I had sufficient funds, I could go for the options that best fit my preferences. Which would be privacy in my situation.
"Let's go for the commercial properties, something with privacy," I said while tapping my finger on the table.
"Okay, in that case, these are the remaining options," Claire started filtering the options on the terminal.
There were five options left, all similar in that they were separate buildings at a plaza, though two stood out to me. They were larger units that were a distance away from other buildings, being at the corner of the plaza. The road surrounded it on two sides and the parking lot on the other two.
Having made my decision, I gave the two each a look and stated, "Let's go take a closer look at these two. Set up meetings so we can go take a tour."
While I sat at a red light, I watched as the ECPD carried out body bags into a van while some old lady wearing a badge leaned against the car and smoked. It was awkward when the lady made eye contact with me, but thankfully, the light turned green.
Fighting the urge to steal a glance back at her, a timely call came in. The display showed the caller ID, Flo.
"Hey Rollo, you wanted to talk?"
"Yeah, I had a job for you guys to do. When do you think you guys are available?"
"Leo's been recovering, so we haven't taken any jobs recently, which means we're free. What kind of job did you have in mind?"
"They're some medical equipment I need, was hoping you could pull off a heist," I said as I watched a group of ruffians, all armed and wearing matching green uniforms, march down the streets like they owned it.
"I thought stealing shit was more your thing. You expecting company?"
"The equipment I want is gonna take up a whole truck. I'd rather not sneak in a forklift."
Honestly, I'd rather buy the equipment properly and save myself the trouble, but without a license to operate a clinic, the sales staff was giving me a hard time with how much they were increasing the price. I could've gotten a surrogate to buy it, but I didn't know anyone I trusted enough with the money, and definitely had nothing to do with me wanting to get back at the sales staff.
"Hah, I'd love to see that."
"I'll be tagging along. Of course, I'll need you guys to do the heavy lifting. Sending the detail to your SAID now."
It only took a minute before Flo replied, "That's some hardware alright. What do you need this for?"
"For my clinic. Didn't I tell you? I'm starting a business."
"Oh, is that why Fitel's been bugging me about when you're coming off hiatus?"
"I'll get back to him once everything settles down. Anyway, I got to go. Let me know if your team has any issues with the plan. See you," I said as the car pulled up and I gazed at the building in front of me.
"They'll be good. Catch you later."
Exiting the car, I immediately spotted Claire waiting at the door with some woman in a dull grey suit and skirt.
"Hey there Mr. Halls," Claire cheerfully said while emphasizing the way she said mister, while winking at me.
"Nice to meet you, sir. I am Lea. Please feel free to ask me anything about the property." The lady said while holding the door open and gesturing for me to enter.
We slowly toured the entire building. It wasn't furnished at all, but was quite spacious and had two floors. The place seemed to be set up as more of an open retail space, though, so I would need to have walls built or dividers of some sort. It should have enough space to divide out six rooms and a lobby area on the first floor, and the second floor could be where I lived for now until everything was running smoothly.
We finished the tour after I had asked everything I needed regarding the potential work I needed done on the property and the details for the lease.
"Sir, we can definitely accommodate your needs. You only need to sign a one-year term lease with us."
"I see. I'll look over the details and get back to you. Thank you for your time," I quickly departed before she had a chance to continue talking.
Claire drove with me this time to another location quite a ways away and met up with a young man this time who acted as our guide.
The place this time was even larger, though with the caveat, it was only one floor. The price was fairly similar to the previous ones, and it also fulfilled all the requirements I had come up with Claire previously. However, they wanted the lease term to be at least two years.
Once we finished the tours, I brought us to a nearby coffee shop of a chain I frequented as I was a fan of their milkshake, or chills, as they called it.
"So, what do you think?" I asked the girl in front of me while sipping on my drink.
"I like the location of the second one more, but the first one seemed to be better space-wise for a clinic. Both could work honestly." Unlike a sweet tooth like me, she was chatting while enjoying a latte.
"Sounds about right. Let's see what Thorne thinks before we finalize the decision."
"Sure thing, Mr. Halls, you're the boss!" She said mischievously.
I glared at her, she sounded like she really enjoyed calling me Mr. Halls though she used to just call me 'boss', while Thorne was more rigid and wouldn't stop calling me Sir, not sure which one I preferred, they all made me sound old.
"Well, I sure hope you like doing logistics, because you'll be responsible for all of that after I pick out all the furniture we'll need."
"What!? At least let me participate in the shopping too! That's the fun part."
"I have a feeling our tastes wouldn't match. I'll have Thorne shop with me this time."
"No way! You guys are going to pick something so boring."
"Boring is safe, and safe is good. Go decorate your own room."
She stared daggers at me for a moment before replying, "...Maybe after I get my first paycheck, speaking of the first paycheck, that is worthy of commemoration right? I think you should commemorate it with a big bonus!"
"I'll see what I can do after we're done spending and start earning. For now, let's head out. Thorne's still waiting for us."
"Right behind you! Mr. Halls!"
Okay, maybe I should look into some auditory implants.
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