12 Offer
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Inside a spacious office with glass panels on all sides.
Three people were sitting around a fancy-looking coffee table with several cups of tea served on top of them.
Irvine and Medea were both seated on a two-seater sofa at one side of the table while the owner Mister Faulkes was sitting right across them.
He was slowly stirring his cup of tea with a pleasant expression on his face while trying to make small talks with the both of them.
"Is tea perhaps not to your liking?" He asked politely.
"Not at all, though I do prefer coffee for myself."
"...I don't like drinking anything warm after exercise."
Two completely different answers resounded from the question.
Irvine smilingly gave a simple reply and lifted the cup from the table before taking a sip, while Medea was left staring at her serving.
"Haha..." The owner just laughed at the spectacle and continued,
"I must say Mister Lang, you are a hard man to investigate. I tried to find any footage of your high school plays, but apparently Greenwood High didn't even qualify for the Championships in the last 3 years for there to be one."
*sigh*
"When I remember that wonderful performance on the previous match, It truly feels like you had come out of nowhere for me to discover."
"Thank you very much." Irvine humbly accepted the compliment. He knew full well that there wouldn't be any footage of him available at this time.
Even in the future, it had been hard for people to find any visual records of his college career, with the exception of his senior year when he'd finally started to gather enough attention to put himself on the Olympus Pro League (OPL) draft list.
'Really, it was nothing short of a miracle for me to even get picked...' He grimaced in his mind.
"Although it's a really good thing that I'm the first one to discover you, I'm afraid it'll also make this talk a bit more complicated to be honest..." Mister Faulkes scratched his head as if he's in a dilemma over something.
"By the way, do you know Medea prior to today? Because Scott told me that you seem to recognize her." He softly pointed at the silent girl beside him and asked.
"Not personally. I do know that she's part of last year's Champion School's Arena team though."
Medea slightly lifted her head at the mention of her past achievement. She was a bit surprised that Irvine had recognized her.
"That's right! She's a real talent isn't she? Just like now, I made a deal with her on the spot the moment I discovered her family was moving to Zeta City. She works out here because I invited her." He explained.
"I see. So... Will this talk also be about me joining the gym as well? Because I'm already prepared to sign a membership here even before the match." Irvine pointed out.
"Well... Yes and no, the nature of our contract with Miss Dormer here is a bit more complicated than that."
"It doesn't just require her to simply come here to exercise, we need her to show certain results in the Arena world. Though in return, we also provide her with personalized training and development, including supplements, and connections of commercial value... You understand right?"
*nod*
'It's a full sponsorship, she already has her future set.' Irvine noted. He was no stranger to deals like this.
Having a business partner or a backer to support you was invaluable to any athletes.
It was like having an investment put on you, you would be nurtured and raised properly in a perfect environment until you are ready to become a commodity.
And when you're finally worth the investment, you'll have no trouble earning a steady stream of income even after you retire. Be it through product endorsements or media appearances.
All of those would be made easier through the connections of your sponsor.
In most cases, what in turn would be required of you was to maintain and raise your public performance and images in general. Of course the sponsor would also secure the rights to your 'brand' for their investments.
It's a business deal after all, the final objective would always be to make money. That's why in deals like this, the sponsor usually also had the options for them to terminate the deal written somewhere in the contract.
It acted as a fail-safe for them to cut further losses should the athletes involved fail to live up to their investments.
.
'But Medea Dormer had yet to become a Starseed player as of today, to already offer her a full sponsorship...'
"Haha, Are you thinking it's a bit rash on my side to invest in someone who hasn't even begin her college career yet Mister Lang?" The owner asked his question outright.
It would be a fair evaluation. After all, even amongst the current pro players, not many people were lucky enough to have a sponsor backing them.
Mister Faulkes was an experienced businessman, and he was confident of his skills in reading people.
The looks of various considerations on Irvine's face had shown Faulkes that he had at least understood this type of deals a little bit more than normal teenagers. Which prompted him to probe a bit more.
"No, I'm actually thinking that Mister Faulkes is a very decisive, if not insightful person. It should've been hard to convince your board of directors to agree with your point of view to support a high school player." Irvine gave him a sincere reply.
It was his honest thought.
He was probably the only person in the world who could say for certain that Medea would succeed in the near future. But the owner of Orthos Gym, with only his evaluation of the girl's high school performance, had decisively chosen to fully invest in the potential of this girl.
Just this fact alone had already said so much to Irvine as to what kind of person Mister Faulkes was.
.
"..."
The owner was stunned for a couple seconds.
*SLAP*
"HAHAHA! Smart kid! I'm starting to like you more and more!" He suddenly burst out laughing and slapped his thigh a few times.
"That is exactly right! And it also happens to be the main point of what I want to discuss with you! Tell me, Mister Lang, what are your plans for the future?"
"I intend to go pro after college." Irvine answered without a shred of hesitation.
*nod*
"And that's completely understandable right? A man with your skills." The owner agreed wholeheartedly,
"Look, I'm gonna be honest here. I am very much inclined to give you the same offer I've given Medea before, what are your thoughts on this?"
"...I'd say it's a pretty tempting offer and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But I'm guessing it's not that simple?"
*grin*
"It's really not, and here's why;" He raised his index finger, gesturing an example.
"Point number one, in Medea's case, I have not only seen her live performance a few times, but I've also confirmed the consistencies of her skills through many recordings of her previous matches.
Whereas you, Mister Lang, though you have similarly captured my heart with your performance, it was, in the end, just a single friendly match. Add to the fact that you have virtually no prior achievement on your profile, it'll be too big of a risk for me, no?"
Up to this point, Irvine could only agree with his assessment. Truth be told he had not even thought about catching the attention of a sponsor this early in his plan.
"I'm a businessman, though I tend to trust my guts in making certain decisions. Some things you just cannot do without the appropriate amount of data available." The owner smiled.
"Which brings me to the second point. Medea herself." He pointed.
Noticing her name being mentioned a few times, Medea had also started to pay more attention to the discussion at hand.
"Bringing her in was my hard-earned victory after several disagreements and compromises with the board of directors.
As you may have guessed, we can't really sponsor her development with the same budget a company would offer a full-fledged pro player, so there are already several stringent conditions with her contract that was proposed by the board just to make this deal possible.
Becoming a Starseed player was just one of the most important ones, and she hasn't even achieved THAT result. So you can see how it would be next to impossible for me to make the same deal with you, right?"
"I agree." Irvine had nothing more to add to that reasoning, he waited patiently for his next words.
'He must have some kind of offer in mind if he bothered to personally call me up here.'
"Glad you can understand. So..."
"You must already be dying to know why I called you out here huh?" Mister Faulkes suddenly grinned like a child.
"..."
"It's simple really. As I've said before, I personally do want to cooperate with you, and what's currently preventing me from doing that is the deal I've already made with Medea, and the lack of notable records on your part."
"Medea's deal itself will be solved with time. I wholeheartedly believe that she will produce enough results for me that can convince the board sooner or later. In this aspect, time is all I need."
"So then, there's only the problem with your records and achievements. Or lack thereof." Mister Faulkes stopped at this point and leaned back on his backrest with the fingers of both his hands intertwined with each others.
"Oh? Does this mean that Mister Faulkes will give me the same offer in the near future if I were able to show enough results?" Irvine listened closely with interest.
It would be a huge boon for him if he managed to latch on early to this sponsor known as Orthos Gym.
Even if they were still small with not enough financial power to afford a pro player for their brand. Irvine had known for a fact that they would be a highly successful gym in the future because of Medea Dormer.
Not that any sponsor in general was ever a bad thing.
"Yes, of course. Any company in Olympus would give you an offer if you were successful enough, I'm not simply talking about that. In fact, I am offering you a deal right now."
"What kind of deal?" Irvine quickly responded.
"Hmm, what's your current Muscle Strength?"
"14.8"
"Slightly above average... Medea was already at 17.1 right now. Any thoughts on getting a license and Gene Modification before college starts?" This was an important point that he had to emphasize.
"Yes, I already applied for the same exam time as Miss Dormer actually. The end-of-April test."
'!'
At this mention, Medea who had been obediently seated beside him was suddenly jolted awake.
"How did you know...?" she asked cautiously.
"Mister Scott told me."
"..."
"...I won't lose!"
"The exam is not a competition though?" Irvine smiled wryly at her sharp eyes looking at him.
*CLAP*
"That's great! Then it seems we might have another Starseed player this year!" Mister Faulkes stopped the conversation from going on a tangent and brought the focus back to him.
"Then how about this for an offer Mister Lang, I will give you full access to every facility that the Orthos Gym has to offer, for free of course, but nothing more and nothing less."
"And the conditions?"
"This free access will be available to you until the start of the new academic year, after which it will either be extended or rescinded depending on your results."
"This results being you successfully becoming a Starseed player yourself and reaching a Stage-2 Human before college starts. And it's also contingent on you entering a Tier-1 college or university." The owner lifted 2 fingers to indicate the two conditions.
"...And if I succeed, I will then be offered the sponsorship?"
"Oh no no, by that time even Medea will have only just gotten her license and Gene Mod with no other results on her. I can't very well recommend another high school graduate to the board and hope they'll agree." The owner dismissed the idea.
"At that time, I will extend the free access for another year. And if during that 1 year you manage to win an individual award of any kind for any of the college Crown Tournaments, then and only then will I have enough ground to propose another sponsorship contract for Orthos."
"Now make no mistake, this is a real offer. Should you fail either the pre-college terms or the individual award, you will have to pay me back in full the cost of a full access membership times the number of months you've been using it for." He concluded the terms he'd thought of.
"So what do you say?"
'I see.'
Irvine had understood the owner's stance on him.
Because their limited budget was already reserved for nurturing Medea as a prospect, neither the owner nor the board could afford to take another risk with him.
The format of Mister Faulkes offer to him had a significantly reduced risk since Irvine would have to repay the cost should he fail the expectations set on him.
But it was still rather fair to him too because at the most, he would only need to pay the actual cost of the gym's services that he would have used during the time period.
Plus it's not like they were offering him private trainings or supplements and the like. They were simply allowing him free use of the gym's already available facility.
Granted that facilities like restoration pods were in no way cheap to operate.
"I do have one question regarding this though."
"And what's that?"
"If I can successfully become a Starseed player and even attain an individual award, what's stopping me from looking for other willing sponsors?"
"Ha! You can certainly try. How many medium-sized sports-related companies do you think there are in the Northern Sector?"
"Even among them, I'm probably the only one who's crazy enough to back a college athlete. You should know that even the most famous college Arena player only have local appeal at the most.
They can be famous in several cities or even the whole Sector but nothing beyond that. Central and Southern Sectors will have their own college stars."
"The primary reason I'm doing this is not to get a cheap local athlete to become the gym's mascot or spokesperson." He explained carefully,
"It is to nurture a future all-star player so that I can have them as a spokesperson for cheap! HAHA!"
"..." Irvine was once again speechless at the way this CEO spoke.
'Say what you will about him, but he actually made his wish come true!'
*cough* "Well, but of course I will also add a clause to the contract that said you have to make us a priority in the event that a sponsorship offer is made at the end of this contract."
This priority only meant that should another sponsorship offer with similar conditions or price range come for him. He would have to choose Orthos Gym as the sponsor or none at all.
"So, do we have a deal Mister Lang? If so, I'll start drawing up the contract right away." At the end, Mister Faulkes stretched his right hand towards Irvine urging him for a handshake.
'So the current contract is for me to use the facilities freely until the end of freshman year at maximum. Wherein if I fail to meet any of the results stated in the terms, I would have to compensate them a total cost of the highest level of membership, times a year.'
Irvine was not much focused on the current contract since he felt that the downside for him was already at the minimum.
'Highest level membership cost may be pricey, but it's not completely out of the range of a person's allowance. What's more important for me in this verbal offer was the chance to obtain a sponsorship mid-college...'
"Will the sponsorship offer be guaranteed if I completed all the terms in this deal?" He asked the owner.
"No. The only guarantee you'll have if you fulfill the contract is that you will not have to pay a single penny back for the gym's services in that one year." Mister Faulkes shook his head,
"But I personally will try my hardest to recommend you to the board and get you that deal."
"Hm..." Irvine contemplated for a little while longer before making up his mind.
"...Then I guess I will shake on it for now. The rest will have to wait until the actual contract is done right?"
He received the owner's streched hand and shook it firmly.
"Excellent." Mister Faulkes smiled with satisfaction at his decision.
"That should be all for now, I'll contact you when it's done but you can start coming here after tomorrow Mister Lang, I'll ask Scott to issue you your ID card."
"Alright."
"Oh, and Medea, will you stay a while, we need to go over your schedule for the next 2 weeks as well."
*nod*
"I think I should be off now, thank you for the generous offer Mister Faulkes." Irvine stood up from his seat, preparing to leave the office on a pleasant note.
"It's not generous just yet." The owner reminded him with a smile.
"Don't worry, it will be."
Irvine had gotten a free access to a high-end training facility which already made this trip more than worthwile for him.
'All that's left now is to regain my strengths and techniques that has been unusable because of my current physique!'
