Chapter 97: 95. Trying To Save A Doomed Industry. (VI)
Disclaimer: The story takes place in an Alternate Earth with a slightly different timeline of events. So people may be born early, some may be born a few years later or maybe not at all.
This gives me more freedom to write characters as I want, also the characters in my story are obviously not an accurate portrayal of their characters.
Please remember that this story is a wish fulfillment story set in Urban Hollywood with some Fantasy elements because of the system's shenanigans so please don't take it too seriously.
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Opening Author's Note: Hello, sorry I couldn't upload this chapter on time, my internet was down. As I was beginning to write this chapter I thought about what new characters I had introduced and how to show their part in the story but naturally it shouldn't feel forced.
Another thing was that I wanted to be done with the Japan tour with this chapter. I had dragged this Arc long enough and given you enough details about what Mark had achieved in the few days he had in Japan.
So I decided to experiment a little and do a chapter from the perspective of only one character. I have done this before but to break the monotony I decided to show the POV many characters.
But this time I have done the whole chapter with only one person's POV so let's see how it turned out. If you guys did not like it then please let me know, but if you liked it then please let me know as well.
Or if you have any suggestion that could help me improve this chapter then please let me know. As it might become that I could try out more in the future, anyways thank you for reading this note. I have already kept you long enough from the chapter please enjoy.
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Recap of the Previous Chapter:
For once I don't think that this will be needed with this chapter in particular. So please read it let me know if you needed a recap this time.
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– Quotes of the Chapter –
"May we live in interesting times."
— A man lost in time.
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~ Chifuyu Oga's POV ~
(The same night Mark came for the deal)
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Date: Thursday, 27th September, 1990.
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Time: 08:57 pm.
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"Otou-san, you even agreed to give him your support in establishing his base of power. I know that he has an impressive track record and looks promising, but don't you think it's a little too early to hedge your bets on him?" She couldn't help asking her father as they sat down for dinner.
Hiroshi didn't reply and just sat there in silence as he waited for the maids to serve them dinner and leave with his permission.
After seeing that the room was cleared, he first poured some soup into his bowl and brought it to his lips to wet his tongue and warm his throat.
Lately, the cold had been getting much harsher; thankfully, he had taken good care of his body in his younger days, so he wasn't that bothered by it. After letting her sit in silence for a few more minutes as he enjoyed the peace and happy to see that she was being calm and patient.
He finally answered, "Time. It's a very important detail that we often don't pay much attention to, Chifuyu-chan."
"Right now, Marc has yet to achieve his goals in Japan; we can help him do so. But what guarantee is there that he will remember this help and return the favor when we need it in the future?"
"You're that guarantee.. This is why I want you to marry him. It will tie him to us and put all of us in the same boat, aligning our interests and ensuring that we don't end up backstabbing each other." Her father had a defeated smile on his face, and she knew it hurt him to have to use her like this.
"Father?" She
"Speak your mind, Chifuyu. Are you disappointed in your dad? Do you find this arrangement distasteful?"
"Not all, otou-san. It's a fact that I'm growing old, and I will have to get married soon. If I have to marry someone, it might as well be someone who's exceptional."
She replied sincerely; she had always had the thought that she had been brought up with the expectation that she would be used for a political marriage.
So while this arrangement did dishearten her a little, it wasn't a big deal. But a question was bubbling up in her mind, and she couldn't help but ask, "But what if Marc fails?"
"He won't; you know this is one of the reasons why I still sometimes follow you in these meetings as a passive observer, my child. You're all grown up and very competent, but what you still lack sometimes is the ability to assess your opponent."
"You saw his talent, his bearing, and his ambition, but what you failed to see was his aura, his will, and his presence."
"Don't be disheartened, peaches. This is a skill that you will only learn with time, as you experience life, meet more people and gain wisdom."
"So, what kind of feeling did you get from Marc?" She asked, feeling curious.
"He is a very dangerous man. At first glance, he might seem harmless; courteous and well-mannered would be some of the words you would use to describe him.
"But to me, It was almost like I was looking into the eyes of a predator. He could cover it up and veil it from you, but I have faced death a few times; that man is not as simple as he looks."
By the time he finished his sentence his face was overcome with a look of grief and pain as he remembered the tragedies in his life; losing his first wife, his son, and his heir that.. nearly broke him.
It was only the thought of Chifuyu and guiding her to build a better future for herself and the Hitotsubashi group was the only thing that was driving him and keeping him alive.
"If you ever meet someone like him, remember there are only two choices, my dear." She was paying her full attention, hanging on to his words.
"You either steer clear of them or you join them, but never, and I truly mean never, go up against them, because if you do, you won't even realize how you lost or, worse, ended up dead."
"Really?! But he is only 20 years old. What kind of a life has he led to make you feel this way?" She was really interested in knowing more about Mark's secrets and his past.
"Hehe, it's been such a long time since I met such a dangerously ambitious man who had the skills to back up his confidence and ambition."
"But still.. isn't it too soon to support him?" She couldn't help but come back to her question again because it felt like her father dodging the question.
"It is; you're correct. But like I said before, "Time." Right now, he isn't the powerhouse he has the potential to become in the future. If I help him now–"
"If you help him now in his time of need, and he succeeds, then there will be a time when he will be supporting us when we will be in need of his help." She ended up finishing his sentence as she realized her father's ploy. He wasn't dodging the question but wanted her to realize the answer herself.
"Exactly. Now, I want you to keep a close eye on him and learn all you can from him, Chifuyu, when you go to America to take over Viz Media in the next fortnight."
"I understand, father. I promise, I will not let you down," she said, and they quietly went back to enjoying their meals.
"I know you won't, dear. Unlike that useless brat who only caused grief and heartache," the old man grumbled with a frustrated and pained look on his face.
"He's gone, Otou-san. You need to stop hurting yourself over him."
"If only I raised him better, if only he turned out even just a little bit like you, my precious daughter," he choked back a sob as Chifuyu went around the table and drew him in for a hug.
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After the dinner and the emotional outburst from her father, Chifuyu had made up her mind. She decided to hedge her bets on Mark as well, so she called in her closest and most trustworthy assistant to let her know about her new task, "I want to know about Mark's whereabouts and also who he does business with.."
"With whom he's already done business with, whether it be just buying a stake into their business, starting his own, a complete buyout, even if he's just meeting someone, also get me a full report on his personality and future prospects. I want to know everything."
"Ofcourse, Chifuyu, I will get right on it. When do you want the report ma'am?" She asked politely, noting down the details of the task.
Thankfully Mark was a public figure and they had their eyes and ears everywhere so with a little effort she would get the information her young Chifuyu wanted.
"I want it the day he leaves for the states, from the moment he came here, to the moment he left, I want to know everything he did." She said with some thoughts, wanting to know what Mark did in Japan.
After all, if she could figure out Mark, then it would be much easier for her to befriend him even if things didn't work out between them romantically.
~ 3 days later ~
Chifuyu was drawing up a plan to implement the changes in the documents that Mark had sent over the next day. She was still in the planning phase but she was confident that she could get it done by the time she would have to leave for America to take over Viz Media.
Her father had already spoken to Horibuchi-san, the founder of Viz, letting him know about their deal with Mark. Thankfully the man had been level headed and understood his situation, and agreed to let her be the intermediary through which they will receive Mark's orders.
Seeing that it was almost time for them to get off, she ordered them to get going, "You guys may leave now. Hari-san, you'll be in-charge of things here when I leave for the states."
The eyes of the man lit up, he felt like his time had come. He had been working at Shueisha for over a decade now, giving his everything to be recognised by his boss and it had finally paid off.
"I hope you have already gone through the new rules and regulations that Marc-san had sent over. Do not violate or go against any of them because if you do even I won't be able to protect you is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am!" He exclaimed, bowing his head.
"Good, you may leave now." She dismissed them and sat back on her chair, waiting for the arrival of her assistant.
According to her, Mark was already on board a plane and left for the states. It felt a little disappointing that he didn't come to meet her one more time before he had to leave. But at least he called and made sure that she understood how busy he was in the last few days.
Even though he didn't need to, as she already knew all about it had been getting reports from her assistant of how Marc had been traveling all over Japan to meet with various people with most of his time being spent on the road.
And tonight she was going to get the complete report with all the details that her assistant had been able to get there about Mark's meetings and dealings.
Knock ×2 "Chifuyu?"
"You may enter, Sakura."
"Chifuyu, here's your dinner and here's the report."
"Read it to me, while I eat. Have you eaten yet?"
"I did, thank you for asking."
"Begin." She said, as opened the container to see a home-made Oyakodon donburi with warm soup and a side of vegetables.
"Of course, I will be going in chronological order." Chifuyu nodded her head in acknowledgement and began to dig in.
"Marc Spector arrived in Japan on Tuesday, 25th September. Officially, he was here for his international press tour but I personally think it's just to hide his moves for some time from his enemies."
"On the very same day of his arrival he met Mr. Miyazaki from Studio Ghibli, in a roundtable discussion and made an appointment with him for the next day."
"An appointment that went really well, because from what the employees are gossiping about, they are going through a corporate restructuring just like us with quite a few changes already made to their employee compensation and overtime work rules."
"Hmm." She gulped down the food, and slowly said, "that definitely sounds like him, so now he owns Studio Ghibli?"
"Well, at least partly, ma'am. If the rumors are to be trusted he has bought a 25 to 30% stake in the studio at approximately 570 million yen." She replied unbothered with her antics.
"I see, continue." she said, inwardly feeling impressed at the level of opulence at display.
"The very same day around noon time he held a small inauguration for his new studio that he opened up in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It's called Eidolon Animation Japan. Mr. Miyazaki along with some of the senior heads of Studio Ghibli were also seen at the event."
"The rest of the day was spent on a date with a woman who is speculated to be Ms. Salma Hayek, the heroine of his debut film, Knives Out."
"I see…" Chifuyu muttered, 'well he did say that he might have a girlfriend, but what does it mean for us? Do I still have a chance? I can only know after I meet him after finishing up here.'
"He had taken her to a restaurant that had even opened up yet, so after some digging and cross checking it was revealed to be owned by him."
"Mr. Spector seems to have a fascination with the lotus flower, with it being a defining symbol of his brand."
"In Los Angeles, he co-owns a restaurant by the name of The Red Lotus, the one here is called The Black Lotus. It had its opening just the day after his date and it was well received and praised by the customers and critics."
"The next morning he had a meeting with the president of Toho for the rights for the adaptation of Godzilla. Things a bit tight lipped over there so we don't know the exact quote.
"It is believed that Mr. Spector paid around 750 to 850 million yen for acquiring Godzilla, but whether he got the merchandising rights as well is still unknown."
"Wait. Let's summarize for." She said jotting down the points in her head, she was trying to wrap her head around how Mark was spending money like crazy.
"So within this span of 3 days he met up with Mr Miyazaki and is now one of the co-owners of Ghibli."
"Inaugurated the opening of his own animation studio E.A.J and took his probable "girlfriend" on a date in the restaurant that he himself owns."
"You didn't give me quotes for how much the restaurant and Studio cost him."
"Apologizes.. Chifuyu-sama, but we're unable to glean information about it. If you want I can give you an estimated figure."
"It's fine, just spit it out." She spoke nonchalantly.
"For the restaurant including the land, around 280 to 300 million yen, for the studio our best guess would be around 420 to 450 million yen because of his aggressive hiring style and purchase of cutting edge software and computers."
"So a total of around 1.9 billion to 2.1 billion yen and we most likely aren't even done yet." She muttered in an exasperated tone though she had an excited smirk on the corner of her lips.
"And the next morning he bought the rights of Godzilla, isn't that the day that we went to see his performance right?" she asked as she had the soul binding performance played in her mind again.
"Yes ma'am. After which, at night, he had a meeting with Hiroshi-sama and you for the deal that would decide his ownership of Shueisha."
"I know how that went, about 345 million yen was his offering for the stake. So, what about after that?" She was almost done with her food.
"Well he had 5 meetings that day, in the morning he met with the owner of Tecmo, a video game studio. From our people staffed at the registrar office, we know that he completely bought it out in its entirety."
"Though the amount spent is still up for debate, we speculate he must have spent around 550 million yen on closing that deal."
"After spending the morning at Tecmo he was driven to the house of Tezuka Makoto.."
"Isn't he the son of the late Osamu Tezuka?"
"Yes, Chifuyu, the very same. He spent the afternoon having lunch with the man."
"After some snooping around we got to know that Mr. Spector had met him to request his permission to use one of late father's works as an inspiration for one of his upcoming works, which one we don't know yet."
"All we know is that they had a pleasant conversation and Makoto-san agreed to Mr. Spector's request with no monetary compensation, except for a small acknowledgement about where the work was inspired from."
"After that he traveled to Shibuya for a meeting with the owner and board of directors of Enix." Seeing the look of confusion on her face, she explained what it was, "it is a video game studio just like Tecmo, Chifuyu, but it's just a little more prominent in the scene."
"He bought a majority stake of ownership into the company for an offering of approximately 620 million yen." Her eyes widened as she heard of Mark's next purchase; the man just wasn't slowing down.
He already spent over 3.5 billion yen till now and from the looks of it his shopping spree wasn't over just yet. She knew that he benefited from the favorable exchange rate of US dollars to Japanese yen but he still must have spent around 24 million in his currency and that was not a figure to be overlooked.
"Please continue Sakura-san." She said, as she came to grips with Mark's ambition.
"Yes, so after the meeting with Enix he traveled all the way to Meguro for a meeting at Square, another video game studio. It was a quick meeting as our people spotted him leaving the place after just 48 mins of his arrival."
"He then filed paperwork for the merger of these 3 video game studio's into one, its name being Square Enix Tecmo or SET."
"He has around 65% stake of ownership in this newly formed Video game mega studio and there's a corporate restructuring going on."
"Just like in Shueisha and Studio Ghibli, Mr. Spector has introduced a set of new rules regarding workplace behavior, overtime compensation and limits, etc."
"According to the rumors, game development based on his works will begin after a month or two as soon as a new order is established."
"How much did he spend on buying Square?"
"It is still unknown as Mr. Spector had offered the owner of Square, a stock swap option for the shares of the newly established studio."
"Hmm, that was quite generous of him, he probably wants the head of Square to function as the head of this new mega Studio of his."
"That most likely is the case."
"Hmm, continue."
"After the meeting at Square he had dinner with a few stunt directors here in Japan. They were introduced to him by a director he met at the round table discussion that he had on the first day of his arrival."
"Any names that we should be aware of?"
"I'm not sure, Chifuyu, as there weren't any prominent stunt directors but quite a few promising ones."
"Hmm, otou-san was right, he is very ambitious."
"Did he end up hiring them? How much did he pay them?"
"Only their dinners, though he did invite them to the states if the rumors are to be believed."
"Interesting." she said, as she tapped her chin.
"The next day, around 10 am, Mr. Spector was in Ginza, Chuo for a meeting at Tōei, to discuss a collaboration deal to create a series based on a few works they have produced including – Super Sentai Series and Kamen Rider."
"He spent around 350 million yen to gain the majority ownership of the new yet to be named series along with the merchandising rights."
"He spent another 90 million yen after calling in Hiroshi-sama for his approval to completely buy out the adaptation contract for a currently in production anime based on Dragon Ball, a manga published in Weekly Shōnen Jump."
"Of course he did," she just chuckled as she heard about his antics.
After that he had lunch with a few creatives, like George Morikawa, the creator of Hajime no Ippo to discuss an anime adaptation of his manga.
We still don't really know the outcome of this conversation, but from Mr Spector's successful track record we can believe that he closed that deal successfully as well. Also he seemed to be in a really happy mood when he left the restaurant.
"So a little over 4 billion yen are we done?" she sounded exhausted just looking at the absurd figure.
"Almost." Sakura said with a teasing smile.
"Now you are just teasing me.. God let this be over with." She muttered an exhausted tone and pouted.
"Well he had a meeting with Nintendo for an exclusive video game collaboration deal. He wanted a small stake of ownership in the company and to partly own the games that they would be creating so that he could earn profits through merchandising."
"Ufff," she winced, "that couldn't have ended well."
"It didn't, it was why I found it so easy to collect information about this meeting. Nintendo made the details of the meeting public amongst the industry insiders, maybe in an attempt to further humiliate the man as they outright rejected him and asked him to leave."
Chifuyu-san's eyes widened and at the later half of the explanation as she wondered how Marc was going to get back at Nintendo for this slight. Because from the way her father described him this incident wasn't something that he would let go and forget.
"But it didn't bring a reaction out of him as he just calmly left as if almost expecting, he then went off to Hyogo to buy some farm land."
"A farm?" she sounded puzzled as it was quite different from the stuff that he was trying to build for himself.
"Yes, Chifuyu, he bought a breeding farm of the wagyu cows of the Kobe variety?" She asked as she
"Wait, isn't that restricted?!" she exclaimed as even though it wasn't implemented yet wagyu was slowly starting to be looked at as a national treasure.
People could still buy a breeding bull and even a few cows for their ranch but to buy the very farmland itself would be impossible for a foreigner.
"He did so through your father's connections and even though his name isn't directly on property deed, he is the actual owner of the farms."
"Ofcourse, he did," she muttered as she started laughing, remembering her dad feeling happy that Mark would be in his debts but Mark was instead using him to run small errands.
"Wait, you said Farms?" She asked with intrigue.
"Yes, Miss, he bought two of them. He also bought a Jidōri poultry farm and a huge orchard as well as the land connecting all these properties, probably in case of future expansion." As she laid out the details she thought maybe her eyes would widen but instead she just deadpanned at her.
"All these cost him 375 million yen." She laid out the costs unprompted this time as it was a repeated question.
"That's it? I thought the land price would be higher." She replied nonchalantly.
"It's because of its location, Chifuyu. The farms are situated in a rural area, far away from the city. Though he was restricted in terms of land use rules, the main reason is that the land and property rates are constantly on a downturn in this declining economy."
"Tell me he stopped here," Her voice sounded a little defeated, wanting to be done. She now understood how her dad felt whenever she wanted to go out on a shopping trip with him, it was really mentally exhausting.
"Nope, he made one last stop at Sony, I don't know how or why but I guess it was like he had used up all his luck because unfortunately he failed to close the deal with Sony."
"Sony is in the process of developing a console of their own after having a falling out with Nintendo. I'm pretty sure, Mr. Spector made the same offer to Sony that he did to Nintendo and–"
"And Sony didn't like it. So.. what's the tally now?"
"His total expenses come out around 4.3 to 4.5 billion yen or around 28 to 30 million dollars. After the meeting with Sony on the night of Sunday, he left Japan after boarding a private jet he had rented." She ended the rendition of Mark's exploits in Japan.
"This $30 million shopping spree he went on over here didn't even put a dent in his capital, did it?"
"Nope, now that he is in the showbiz business, 30 million dollars is something he can earn back in just a week by just making a good movie."
"Damn!" She exclaimed as her eyes widened in surprise at the return on investment of Hollywood filmmaking.
At first Sakura only had her curiosity but now, she has her interest. "Is that normal, I don't think that the filmmakers from other countries make that kind of money."
"No, they don't, Chifuyu, not even close." She decided to inform her young Chifuyuus a bit about the movie industry as her potential husband seemed to be a rising star in the industry.
"On average Japanese films barely even make around 500k dollars. The great ones barely make it through the 5 to 10 million mark.
"Marc Spector had started writing from the age of 10 when he published his first book. He spent a decade writing novels and investing the money he made off of them to earn a lucrative sum."
"His net worth before making his first movie was rumored to be over 450 million dollars and this took him 10 years of working as an author and investor to accumulate."
"In just a year, no, I remember reading that he graduated at the end of February this year. So it's more accurate to say that in the first 7 months of his debut as a director he made over 225 million dollars in profit."
"And his movie isn't even done being released yet, it is still being shown in the theaters so his profit from Knives Out will only keep growing with time."
"A few industry insiders even speculated that the final box office of his movie will reach around 600 to 650 million dollars worldwide."
"That will bring out his profits just from the first year of joining Hollywood to be around 300 to 325 million dollars and this is just the box office alone."
"This number might already sound absurd but this is without even considering all the other businesses he has under his banner. Over-all I would say around 65 to 70 billion yen should be his profit for this year."
She still hadn't gotten used to dealing with numbers in the American currency but when she heard that he made nearly half of her family's net worth in just 6 months her worldview broke.
It made her finally realize why her father was so adamant about her dating Marc.
"And it would also raise his net worth over a billion dollars by the time the movie is done with its run in the theaters."
"Hmm, seems like filmmaking in Hollywood is a very lucrative business." she said but in a way that sounded like a question because she was curious if that really was the case.
"That's not always the case, Chifuyu. Mr. Spector has done a really great job in marketing his film and quality wise his movie is considered in the top 3 best films from Hollywood this year." She said, with absolute surety as many critics and media personalities have claimed the same.
"Wait but isn't he a rookie like isn't this his first movie?! Is it supposed to be that good?" She knew it was her fault for not straight out asking him when she had the chance.
But at this moment she felt like Marc had hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, ran amok and straight out deceived her without even trying. This truly was a man after her heart, he was like an onion and it felt amazing to just slowly pull one layer at a time discovering something new.
"The master was correct in his analysis, Marc Spector is a dangerous man, his monstrous talent, his ambition," she shivered as she remembered the few seconds she held eye contact with Mark, those eyes were kind and gentle but held power within them. "I'm glad we are on his side."
"In just the 7 months that he has established his studio he has made it one of most sought after studios to work in or collaborate with in Hollywood."
"It is his first movie, Chifuyu but defying all odds and logic, what he has made is simply a masterpiece. If you haven't already I would highly recommend you to give it a try."
"Well, with you praising the hell out of it, it seems like I will have to now. Also, I'm supposed to be dating the man, I need to know just how good he is."
"Hmm, so now that he has entered Hollywood his net worth will definitely explode. I remember him mentioning that he planned on releasing 3 movies next year."
"Even if the three of them didn't receive such success, with such greater numbers he will definitely double his profits compared to this year's." Chifuyu realized what kind of a gold mine Marc was sitting on.
Seeing that her missus realized Marc's potential, she decided to add in her two cents. "He most certainly will, unless he fails to deliver on all three movies. But after watching Knives Out, I personally think that it is highly unlikely. Your father has definitely chosen wisely again, Chifuyu-sama."
"Even if it doesn't work out between the two of you. As long as you can maintain a friendship with him and learn all you can from him, this deal would be completely worth it."
"Coming back to your original question, Mr. Spector's net worth is around 700 million dollars; a 30 million dollar shopping spree is not much to him." She said ending her piece and fell silent.
"Thanks for the comprehensive report, Sakura. We need to be thorough in making people adhere to the changes that he wants us to make and the transition should be as smooth as possible."
For the next 2 weeks she was hard at work, streamlining the manga creation process as it was in the comic book industry. Mark had them introduce the concept of content houses where the creatives who were single would live together and work on the manga.
This cohabitation style would root out the mishaps early on whether the group would be able collaborate in harmony or clash heads. It also reduced the raise in pay they would have to offer as they were offering living spaces to their employees.
There were some growing pains but by the time the two weeks were over she observed a rise in their quality of work and the productivity of the mangaka teams that had been created.
They had also received quite a few Eidolon comic issues that Mark had sent over to be translated and published. These included four issues of Naruto, four issues of DOOM and the new Secret Wars series.
The need for people who could transform Naruto from an English comic book to a Japanese manga led to the creation of even more new job opportunities. All these new jobs that they created in this declining economy also helped with their public image and reputation.
The situation at Shueisha was finally settling down, Hari-san had really stepped up as the one who would be guiding the company in her absence. Now, she couldn't wait to go to the states and start a new chapter of her life.
— To be continued…
In the next episode of Will Trent.
*Cough* *Cough*
I meant in the next chapter of Hollywood: Head-Hunting System.
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Word Count: 5229 words (after excluding the disclaimer, opening Author's Note and the closing Author's Note.)
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Closing Author's Note: Apologizes for not delivering this chapter yesterday, my wifi provider had some issues that caused my internet to just shut down. Thankfully it's back up again, this chapter was supposed to be Monday's chapter but I am over half a day late and it's Tuesday now.
If this weird wifi outage doesn't hinder me again, I promise to upload the next chapter on schedule. The next chapter will be uploaded on Thursday after around 48 hours of the posting of this chapter.
Anyways if you like my work then please comment let me if you liked the chapter, leave me some cool ideas, suggestions and vote with power stones. I love you guys and gals for reading my work and supporting my dream. I hope you all have a beautiful day. Stay safe and healthy.
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