บท 28: Job at the higher floors
"Don't worry about anything. They are no bullies," Marvin said, attempting to encourage Tom. The thing was, Tom was far more excited by the prospect of the meeting than Marvin could imagine.
Even if it was for the way other reasons than what Tom allowed others to believe.
"Man, chill," Tom said while shaking his head. "I get that you are trying to help. I really do. But I'm not worried at all," Tom said before smiling gently.
The two of them entered the local Online Hub before directing their steps to its highest used floor. Given the industry standard, every single local hub looked exactly the same, with the only difference being the number of floors.
And while this place was only a third as high as the Online Hub Tom was used to, the view from the uppermost floor was still astonishing, especially when there were no other high-rise buildings blocking it.
"Here you are!" Someone called out to the two men as soon as they stepped outside from the fully glassed-out elevator. "Allow me to apologize in advance for setting the time so early," a man said while walking out from the deeper part of what looked like an enormous villa.
"It's easier to apologize than to ask for permission, huh?" Marvin said with an ugly grimace forming on his lips before dropping the act and laughing out. "For me, it's whatever, but try to take my friend's wellbeing into account next time!" he added in a protest.
"Right, your friend," the young man in suit moved his eyes on Tom. Then, his smile widened up a bit as the man lowered his head a bit. "Allow me to welcome you to the true adventure of dungeons online," raising his head back up, the man brought his hand forward. "My name is Peter. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he introduced himself.
"I'm Tom. The pleasure is mine." Peter shook Tom's hand energetically before pulling him deeper into the room.
"Listen, Marvin talked a lot about your achievements. But amidst all his stories, I can't understand one thing," Peter started. "With all this experience, why our small location? You could easily make it to the higher floors even back in your city!" he asked, instantly explaining the reason for his curiosity.
"Higher floors?" Tom asked in a questioning voice, unsure about the meaning of this particular mix of words.
"You know, it's an insider saying. People work hard on the low floors where the connecting capsules are, while people earn hard on the high floors, where they get to manage the entire thing," Peter explained with no reservation.
"Well, then the answer is pretty simple," Tom said, spreading his arms wide. "I lost my main avatar in that hub. So if I wanted to become someone important, I would have to waste a year or two to properly build it back up," Tom explained, not bothering to hide the information about his misfortune.
"If you lost your avatar, what's difference does it make to start in another hub?" Peter asked, clearly confused by Tom's situation.
"It's just that I already had an avatar in the hub here, so I could skip on the boring part," Tom said with a smile before looking around. "Either way, I didn't expect for those higher floors to be furnished so well. I take it this hub is not as deserted as I was worried it would be," he shook his head, amazed by the quality of furnishing.
To be fair, the upper floor of the hub didn't look like what was below at all. Rather than dividing the space between shops, utility rooms, and connection halls, the entire floor was fully open, with only some restrooms sitting by the wall.
"We can manage, somehow," Peter avoided the question. He then turned around and lead Tom and Marvin to one of the massive couches decorating the room. "Please, have a seat," he invited them before following his own advice and taking a seat.
For a short moment, the three of them just sat in place, looking at each other. While Peter had a look of clear expectation on his face, Tom and Marvin were simply amazed by how comfortable the couch was.
"Okay then, let's not stall for time. Tom, I invited you here because of all the stories Marvin told about your exploits." After saying his piece, Peter turned siled for a moment. He then cupped his hands together before resting his head on top of them. "Tell me, why do you think you are here right now?"
As simple as this question is, Tom could tell it was far more critical than Peter let it appear. It wasn't one of those tricky and stupid questions born in the minds of wicked HR staff and used in job interviews.
"I guess it's because you can offer me some kind of job," Tom answered without care before shrugging his arms. "Like, come on, what else could there be to it?" he asked, glancing at Peter to gauge his reaction.
"And here goes my surprise." Peter released a deep sigh, appearing to be quite disappointed.
"I told you, he is smarter than he looks," Marvin interjected, sending a wink to Tom.
"And what is that supposed to mean? If Cleo was straight, I bet I could bed her more times than you saw her wash her teeth!" Tom bounced the ball back, perfectly aware of what buttons he should push to make Marvin agitated.
"Chill, man," Marvin managed to rein his emotions back before attempting to calm the situation a bit. Sadly, he appeared to change his mind, "well, if you did something like that, then I guess I could call you a brother for more than one reason?" Marving said before falling into deep thought.
"Either way," Peter interjected when he noticed that the discussion was falling out of the main topic. "What I can offer you, is as you guessed, a job," he announced, forcing Tom to look at him.
'I guess it's time to get serious,' Tom thought before putting a wide smile on his lips.
"From how you told it, from how the entire meeting goes, I bet there are some caveats that will make it less than a desirable job for me." Tom brought his eyes to Peter's face and refused to move them away. "So, just like you said, let's stop feeding each other bullshit and get to the point. What do you want me to do, and how much will you pay me for doing it?"
Knowing one's value was the most important aspect of any kind of job interview. For someone like Tom, earning money was no longer a problem. Even with his main avatar gone, he was more than capable of earning his keep with his secondary one.
'Heck, even if you stripped me out of everything and gave me a fresh avatar, I could still easily make it work,' Tom thought, trying to reinforce his mental support behind the decision he made.
The decision to go all in.
"What I will need you to do, is to manage the online hub. Not from the organizational end, but more like, be its face," Peter explained slowly, not bothered by Tom's relentless gaze in the slightest. "Teach the new players the tricks, have meals with higher-achieving players..."
"In other words," Tom stopped Peter from wasting his time on further examples. "You want someone who started from the ground to act as a middleman between the local staff and local players of worth," Tom finished Peter's explanation for him.
Peter nodded his head while Marvin looked away.
If Tom were to appear in such a situation just a week ago, he would outright refuse. 'Using my achievements to turn me into a monkey dancing for the show? No way in hell!' Tom could even picture how the refusal would go.
But with the reemergence of his memories, the situation changed.
"I hate politics," Tom stated. "I hate it to the bone, but between working my brain off to grind the levels and exchanging pleasantries while feasting on a high-end food and wine?" Tom asked himself out loud, pretending to take a moment to think about it. Then, with a smile as wide as his face, he leaned his head over his shoulder and asked.
"Is this enough, or do you need me to officially confirm my wish to take the job?"
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