Top Grade Serum

"Um, can I get a loan or something? Like, even EMI will work." Liam said as he did not want to go for the high grade ones since the first serum a person takes will make the most changes in their bodies. The second and third time a person takes serums, the effects will fall to 50% of total and then to 10%, which wasn't a good number when it came to cost effectiveness. 

Rick's smile faded as he gave Liam a stern look, staring at him for a full minute before shaking his head disappointingly.

"I don't deal with loans and stuff. You pay upfront, you get the product. If you really need the Rudo and if you are confident in paying it back on time, then I know a place that lends you money as long as you give them your details. Of course, the interest rates are high but that's what you get if you don't want to get involved in those hectic bank procedures for a loan."

LIam nodded in response as he had made up his mind to get the top grade serum no matter what. 

"Well then, here you go.", Rick said and pulled out a card from his pocket before giving it to Liam, "Go to this address and you'll be able to get a loan. The interest rate should be around 15% and the maximum they'll lend should be around 200,000 Rudos so if you want to buy the top grade one and don't have 50,000 already, then it's pointless."

"Thank you. I'll be back soon so please wait for me.", Liam said as he walked towards the door and left the place. 

The place was easy to find as it was only a few streets away from Rick's shop but when he walked inside, he could tell that most of the guys in the room were people who already injected serums in their bodies. Their bald heads were very reflective, which showed that there were no more hair follicles, preventing them to ever grow hair in their lifetime unless they got a surgery. 

The first thing that Liam did was to go to the guy who had hair on his head since he looked like he was the boss. He was sitting on a sofa, which looked pretty comfortable and there was a small table placed in front of it. 

"Hello, Rick recommended this place since I wanted to get a loan. Can we talk about the interest rates and the procedures?"

The man in front of him nodded, "Sure, give me your ID so I can make a copy of it. We can give you 200,000 Rudos at an interest rate of 15%. All you have to do is sign the form and that's it. We need your signature just in case you ran away with the money. Take a seat and I'll give you the form."

Liam watched him take out a sheet of paper and push it towards him. 

"Give me a minute to read the contents.", he said as he took a look at the contents, making sure that he wasn't being scammed and once he was done crosschecking, he nodded and picked up the pen that was on the table in front of him and signed the form.

"Pretty quick aren't you?", the man said with a smile as he turned to look at the guy standing behind him, who nodded and walked into another room before bringing a stack of notes. He placed it on the table and went back to standing behind his boss.

Liam picked up the stack of notes and looked at the man in front of him before making a request, "Can I get a bag or something? Taking this much money out in the public will not be good for my safety."

The man snapped his fingers and a few seconds later, one of his bald henchmen brought a cloth bag and placed the stack of notes inside before giving it back to Liam, who thanked them and walked out happily. 

Back at Rick's shop, he placed the entire bag on the table and took out his phone, "Here's 200,000 rudo. I'll transfer the rest online."

"No wait!", Rick stopped him hurriedly, "I don't accept online transactions. It's risky since there are some groups in the government who keep an eye on these things. I don't really want to go through all that trouble. It's fine, I'll reduce the price to 200,000 for now but you'll have to pay the rest later. This is only because online stuff is too troublesome for me and also because I trust you."

Liam nodded. While he understood the reasoning behind it being troublesome, he found it hard to believe the fact that Rick trusted a guy who he barely met and it was even more unbelievable as it involved a huge sum of money. 50,000 Rudo was nothing to scoff at since most people earned lesser than 20,000 every month. 

Rick gave him the red syringe with a wide grin on his face, "You know what? If you let me administer the serum to you, you don't have to pay the extra 50,000. I just want you to stay here for a few more hours so that I can record some data. Maybe even come here for a weekly test too."

Shrugging, Liam pushed the syringe back to Rick, "Sure. But it'll only be for a month or at max two. I might also skip if there is something important for me to do."

He didn't mind letting the guy do his thing since he was getting the most value out of the deal. A top grade serum would cost him millions if he ever wanted to buy it from an official store so putting some time aside for the guy who made it happen was something he didn't mind doing. 

"Hehehe thanks! Now, pull up your sleeves and let me take care of the rest. You might feel a numbing pain for a while and then you will lose consciousness since your body will undergo something similar to reconstruction."

"Sure..."