"Experiment? What experiment? Wait, first of all, you said you'll give me money?" While Arnold didn't really understand what was going on, the term money immediately attracted his attention. "Wait a second… you're not with the guys from yesterday, are you?"
"Haha, no. I'm not." The man chuckled to himself, as if mocking Arnold for not having realized earlier. "Let's say that I'm a dealer. I'm currently selling an experimental drug, and you'll be the first test subject."
"That doesn't sound very safe."
"Don't worry, I can guarantee that it won't have any side effects you won't know about."
"Alright wait, first of all, how much money?"
"How about a thousand dollars to start with?"
"…How about you piss off? This is too suspicious. If you're not a part of the sharks, why the hell should I bother? I can't trust you for shit." Putting his hands into his pocket, Arnold sneered at the man.
"Alright. Take a look." Reaching into his inner pocket, the black-haired man pulled out a thick wad of bills. Holding them up to his face, he waved them at Arnold. "I have the money to pay you, all you have to do is agree."
"…" Arnold didn't speak, but his desire showed in his eyes tracking the moving bills.
"This experiment that my company is conducting has to do with your physical wellbeing." Holding up a hand, he pointed it towards Arnold's arms.
"You mean… My muscles?"
"Yeah. Basically, we'll be extracting the muscle strength from your body using a drug, and in return we'll pay you. We've chosen you because you've worked hard on your body."
"Hm…"
The college student's face lightened up a bit with the praise, but he didn't realize that the man was being insincere.
His body did have diligent effort put into cultivating it, but his efforts were completely misdirected. Only his legs, arms, and chest were bulky. The other parts were clearly thin and neglected, but his pride didn't let him suspect the man's words.
"Do you even have a choice but to agree Arnold? I know your circumstances."
Arnold frowned upon hearing his words. Indeed, he was in way over his neck with the loan sharks and his student debt.
Buying a luxury car with his tuition, along with his fit frame, had granted him a good twenty minutes of fame. But in the end it was only temporary. When the college had come knocking for funds he didn't have, he had been forced to sell the car for used, at a price far cheaper than he had bought it for.
His immediate debt had rendered him illegible for financial aid from the government, his enrollment had been withheld, and the late fees were stacking. This was what had led him to the loan sharks.
His father didn't have the financial power to back him without dipping into his retirement funds, and he was on the verge of disowning him entirely out of anger.
This wasn't to mention the most glaring problem, being the loan sharks that had been hounding him ever since he had borrowed them from. Everything else could be solved with time, but they didn't give him that luxury.
"Listen, I can even pay you the money first before you do the experiment. Doesn't that sound nice? All you have to do is sign a contract first. It's clear cut."
Arnold had been listening well until the contract came up, to which he scoffed.
"I know what sort of havoc you people can wreak with legal bindings. Don't treat me as stupid."
He knew well because he had fallen victim to the problem himself.
"Keep in mind that these are just preliminary tests. The process won't take more than a few minutes."
"…" Arnold only kept quiet in thought.
Seeing the student's hesitation, the man smiled subtly as he held up three fingers.
"You know what, I think the price tag is the problem. How about we up the price to $3k? This is just the beginning test you know. There's a lot more money to be made."
Desire showed in Arnold's eyes as his frown deepened.
The man in front of him conducted himself in a way, in both manner and speech, that spoke of absolute confidence.
He acted as if Arnold accepting was a foregone conclusion, and Arnold didn't like the desire that he felt. He felt like he had lost. Arnold didn't know what the source of the man's confidence was, but it was there.
"How about I let you stew on this overnight? Come meet me at the gym same time tomorrow and I can show you the contract then." As he spoke, the man walked away towards the entrance of the alley. He stopped momentarily beside Arnold as he did so. "Just keep in mind that you're just one potential subject out of many. You're not special, it doesn't have to be you."
With those words he headed out of the alley, leaving Arnold to stew in his thoughts.
***
As Randolph exited the alley, he approached the four men standing by there.
"Good work today. I'll call you guys again at the same place if I need it." Nodding to them, he reached into his pocket to pull out four wads of bills that had been preprepared.
"Thanks boss, we'll be there if you need us." The men hollered and grinned to themselves as they accepted the payment, walking away in glee.
As he watched them walk away, Randolph marvelled to himself at the power of money.
He never had the money to spend. All he had was the desire to have the money to spend –so he had never realized how simple it was to get people to do things with money, or more simply put, he had never realized the power of money.
Those four hobos had been at his beck and call for the entire day for just $50 each. They had treated him grandly.
Though, he did get what he paid for. Their use was essentially
But once he had realized the power of money – as one of the ones who understood its value and the desire to have it the most – he was able to make use of the bargaining with its full potential.
Randolph turned around, walking away from the alley.
He wasn't worried about whether or not Arnold would accept. After careful observations, he knew that the man didn't have a choice. Besides, he was narrow-minded and wasteful, the perfect target.
He also wasn't the only person from the gym that Randolph had contacted over these past few days, but he was by far the most promising.
After a few minutes more of walking, Randolph came to the sudden realization that it couldn't quite be called the power of money. Rather, it was the weakness of one's own greed.
Shaking his head, he continued making his way forward.