Chapter 10: Heather Brooks

The next morning, I arrived at the company. The game was ready, so I needed to organize a small meeting on the subject. When I walked into my office, I was met with a mountain of boxes.

The boxes were stuffed with books, papers, and various drafts. A quick glance at some of the books revealed they were all about robotics and mechanical engineering. No, of course, I had requested materials on this topic, but...

"Heather, please come in," I called for my secretary. A moment later, the door to the office opened, and a beautiful brunette in a business suit appeared before my eyes. I couldn't help but admire her. I still couldn't imagine how lucky I was to have such a charming person working for me.

"Mr. Reath, why did you call me?" she asked in a strictly professional tone.

"There you go again with your formalities. I told you to just call me Alex."

"That's not entirely acceptable. I'm just observing business etiquette," she adjusted her glasses.

"We'll get back to this. Heather, what is this mountain of waste paper doing here? I thought I told you to take all the teaching materials to the warehouse."

"The thing is, the warehouse is already completely full. Since you didn't want these textbooks to attract unnecessary attention, I thought the best solution would be to keep the surplus in your office."

"Surplus?! And how could the warehouse run out of space?!"

"Like this," she replied in a neutral tone, making it clear that indignation was futile. When I went to the warehouse, I was, to put it mildly, surprised. The room was completely filled to the ceiling with boxes. Where did she get all of this?

"How much did it all cost?"

"Using my connections, I was able to find all the available educational materials on the topic you requested. Some weren't freely available, so I had to pay a small additional amount. Several books were the only copies in the personal possession of American scientists. I also managed to find drafts with various theories and very useful educational posters. We spent $300,000 on all the material," Heather said with a calm expression. I've said it before, and I'll say it again—how glad I am to have such a wonderful secretary. Perhaps I underestimated her a little.

Money is a matter of time and resources. I've never considered myself a Scrooge McDuck, someone who hoards wealth but never spends it. I'm not particularly greedy. If you have the funds, it's better to use them than to hoard them for no reason. But using your resources wisely is another matter.

Heather Brooks is an athlete, well-connected, and simply beautiful. She was able to find all of this using her extensive network. If it were me, I would have probably just gone around libraries and been satisfied with whatever I could find. But now, much greater opportunities had opened up to me. Heather and Paul Diaz are the people in my company I can fully trust. I feel like I can rely on them.

Additionally, she is the only one who knows about my "Inventory." We share an interesting story together.

The day I first founded "Alex Enterprises," recruiting employees became a top priority. That's when I met her. Heather had worked as a product manager at the pharmaceutical company "Heart" for three years.

During this time, she established extensive connections with various influential figures in the city. Her intelligence and keen analytical mind played a significant role in this. She was a highly skilled programmer, a qualified lawyer, and even had a PhD in social psychology. And all of this at the age of 27…

Heather is a highly trained diplomat. She has a subtle understanding of human nature, which helped her conduct important and difficult negotiations for the company. While she was generally satisfied with her job, she always had the nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right.

One day, she accidentally overheard a suspicious conversation between the CEO and the regional manager. A snippet of what she heard was enough for her to deduce that the company was engaged in smuggling. However, what frightened her the most were the words "homeless" and "authorities." To confirm her suspicions, she secretly began her own investigation. Soon, she discovered inconsistencies in several documents.

The amount of goods being transported did not match the actual quantities. Upon closer examination, she uncovered much more disturbing information.

After hacking the CEO's computer, she learned everything. This company no longer interested her. She was disgusted by it and decided to resign. But of course, she wasn't going to leave without taking action. Heather devised a carefully planned strategy. On the day of her departure, she not only took her belongings but also managed to grab valuable evidence. She put the flash drive and a folder of documents into her purse and left the building. She knew that this loss would soon be discovered. A car was supposed to be waiting for her to take her to a safe place. But an unforeseen event occurred: the car was involved in an accident.

Realizing that she had to change her escape plan immediately, Heather began looking for somewhere to hide. Unfortunately, two large men were already tailing her. She frantically searched for an escape route. Lost in thought, she didn't notice her surroundings and collided with me, dropping her purse.

"Are you okay, miss?" I quickly bent down to pick up the folder and flash drive that had fallen from her purse and returned them to her.

"Yes, everything is fine. Sorry, but I'm in a hurry," there was impatience in her voice. We hadn't even taken a step when we were surrounded by two burly men.

"Miss Brooks, we apologize for such inappropriate behavior on our part. But we need to search you."

"What happened? I already quit. Don't try to bring me back to the company."

"Some very important documents have gone missing. We would appreciate it if you cooperated with us," the man said in a tone that brooked no argument. Well, what about me? I just silently watched the unfolding scene. What did you think? I would play the hero? They were twice my size! Of course, I wouldn't mind throwing a few punches, but not in a losing situation. Just so you know, I have no combat skills. And at this time, I hadn't yet undergone brutal training under Bruce. And they probably have weapons.

So, we stand there and hold our breath. Taking Heather's bag, they emptied its contents onto the ground. Except for a phone, cosmetics, and various feminine accessories, they found nothing else. Seeing that there were no documents, Heather was very surprised but did not show it.

Not finding what they were looking for, the two burly men turned their gaze in my direction. What are they doing? Anyway, I was also searched. I didn't put up much resistance. I still wanted to live. I was completely clean, except for my phone. Realizing that they had nothing to gain here, they decided to leave as soon as possible.

"I take it, Miss Brooks, that these were your acquaintances?" I asked, watching the thoughtful girl.

"Huh? Y-yes, they were from my previous job…"

"What were you thinking about? Was it by any chance this?" I pulled out a folder with a flash drive from my inventory. As soon as I saw this girl, my intuition told me to help her. I realized that these people were looking for these documents. On one side of the scale: two nasty guys with gangster faces. On the other: a lovely girl in a business suit. I think there is no need for any comments here.

"How?" Seeing how I materialized her things out of thin air, the girl was very surprised.

"It's all magic... Oooo!" I tried to recreate the mystical sound. But judging by her face, she didn't really feel the atmosphere of mystery. I felt that I could trust this girl. On the way to the police station, I told her about my spatial pocket as simply as possible. She listened to me with great curiosity.

Also, I was finally able to find out what exactly those two thugs wanted. A pharmaceutical company that sells drugs is engaged in the illegal trade of human organs.

Yeah... Heart pain? Here, take this medicine! Doesn't help? Then here's a new heart! We are responsible for the quality! Bastards! Kidnapping homeless people and doing this to them? I was homeless myself a month ago! Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.

The first thing we did at the police station was look for Commissioner Gordon, because he is the only one we can trust with this case. It's not easy when half the department's employees are corrupt, and maybe even more so. Having learned about the secret dealings of the local pharmaceutical company, James Gordon was simply furious. He thanked us for the information we provided.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, I made him promise to do me a favor. Speaking of favors... I didn't think about it at the time, but I think it would be a good idea to ask Gordon to help me get a driver's license. I think I should drop by the police in a few days... Having finished all my business at the station, I decided to walk Heather home.

Now she is unemployed, but with her talents, finding a job is not a problem at all. But I, having such a wonderful opportunity, could not pass it up. I offered her the position of my personal secretary in my recently created company. She agreed without thinking twice.

Heather wanted to take her mind off the fact that she was actually working for such a disgusting organization. And the position in my small company was quite to her liking. But fearing to lose such a valuable employee, I provided her with a monthly salary of $150 thousand. You may think that this is too much. Not at all! She is simply gold to me.

When I am not there, she is the one who manages the company's affairs. She is practically my right hand. Yes, without her I am as if without hands! I can't even imagine what I will do without her.

Therefore, in the future, her fee will only grow. But I do not mind, my lovely Heather is worth it.

That's the story. Taking one last look at the packed warehouse, I began to move all the available training materials to the "Inventory." A minute later, the warehouse was half empty again.

"Heather, gather everyone in my office. We need to discuss the future of the company."

"Okay."

Returning to the office, I also put the textbooks here in the "Inventory." I turned on the computer and began to wait for the employees to arrive. Ten minutes later, everyone was assembled.

"So, ladies and gentlemen, I have important news for all of you... The game that we all worked so hard to create is ready."

I didn't see any applause! Everyone was pleasantly surprised. They knew that we had basically finished the skeleton of the program, but until now they had not conducted a full-scale test. And now I was telling them that the fruit of our hard work is ready.

"Mr. Reath, what are our next steps? When will we release it?" asked Darn.

"Let's not rush," Heather, standing behind me, took the floor. "We should launch a competent advertising campaign."

"The lady is right, as always," I said, regaining the attention of those present. "Miss Brooks, find a decent advertising agency. Everyone should know about our game."

"I'm afraid to achieve good results, you'll have to spend a decent amount."

Yes, you can't do without money. Right now, I have a little over $57 million in my account. Yesterday, I received weekly revenue from the sale of my books… $5,162,111. A sharp drop in sales. In principle, this is not surprising. Lovers of good literature have already bought their copy. Moreover, the book was sold only in North America. It will appear on the international market in two weeks. And I will no longer receive revenue every week, but only once a month.

This is quite reasonable: the world is vast, and controlling cash flow isn't so easy. Now, the question of how much to allocate for advertising has become quite pressing. You can't be too stingy because this is our first product, and the future of my company depends on it. But spending too much isn't an option either. It doesn't matter how much you spend on advertising, if the product doesn't satisfy people, everything will be pointless. The opposite is also true: if the product is good, it will become popular even without advertising. However, you can't do without advertising entirely. You need to find a happy medium.

Don't forget that this world is almost three times bigger than the one I came from. This means I'll have to spend more money on advertising accordingly.

"We'll spend $30 million on advertising. This amount will be enough to make a name for ourselves. Otherwise, we'll rely on the mass effect. Good reviews will help our game gain popularity. I'm confident of it," I said, measuring the others with my gaze.

"But how exactly will the game bring profit to the company?" Paul Diaz asked, a question that was on everyone's mind. "Of course, we know that according to the original idea, new characters, Hoverboards, keys, in-game currency — gold coins and the Double Coins income multiplier — will be sold for real money in Subway Surfers," Diaz continued. "But…"

"That's right," I interrupted him. "The number of coins in the game is such that even if players collect them all, they'll probably not have enough to buy certain upgrades. In this case, we'll simply offer them the option to buy coins for real money."

"But will this bring significant profit?" one of the employees asked doubtfully.

"Don't doubt it. However, this won't be the only source of income. We'll give out the game for free for the first five days. If people want to continue, they'll have to buy the license rights on the website for 50 cents."

"Isn't that too little? I think it would be wiser to set the price at least one dollar."

"You're overcomplicating things. If at least 100 million people buy the license rights, we'll receive a profit of $50 million. Moreover, this game will be played mainly by children. And 50 cents is exactly the amount most of our young gamers can afford," I finished my explanation.

"Mister Alex, what is the company's next step?" Heather asked. "Also, we haven't discussed the advertising period."

"We'll release the game in two weeks. This should be enough time for the advertising to have an impact. Now, as for further actions, if the game brings in as much profit as I expect, we'll develop in the direction of computer video games, but this doesn't mean I'm going to give up mobile game production. In these two weeks, we'll prepare the ground for a new game. Then we'll directly begin its development. In honor of the successful completion of the game, tomorrow will be a day off. Now, everyone can go free."

[A/N: Now I know everyone of you be like, why the hell is this MC like this, why would he goes around revealing his secrets to every second person, well, listen to my explanation for a second, MC has something like intuition, which takes him the best decision, so through this he knows whom he can trust and whom he can not. He knows that he can trust his life on the fact that they will not betray him.]

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