After that, Lin Mo explained to Gloria the current development of the studio and the potential future responsibilities.
"So basically, you want me to act as the studio's public representative, and my current job is to maintain its stable growth?"
"Exactly. If new tasks come up, I'll let you know. But I can guarantee, no matter what unexpected situations arise at the studio, both you and David will always be protected. What I need now is an agent—someone who can handle negotiations and interactions on my behalf. How does that sound?"
"...Alright. No problem!" Gloria answered firmly after a moment of silence.
"Good. As for the written contract, I'll have it sent to you later. And while this is just a verbal agreement for now, to show my sincerity, I'll advance your first month's salary."
Smiling, Lin Mo transferred the money to Gloria without hesitation.
Such generosity, such casual disregard for money... Gloria was momentarily speechless.
Looking at the funds that just landed in her account, she truly felt the blessing that came with working at the studio. It was definitely something to be happy about, and yet, she couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt—as if she had just sold herself out.
Perhaps it was because the boy sitting across from her was just too young. A kid no different in age from her own son... and now her boss.
She sighed, brushing those useless thoughts aside. There was no point dwelling on them now. All she could do was say:
"Thank you, Lin."
"I told you, just call me Lin Mo. No need to be so formal, Aunt Gloria," Lin Mo chuckled and gave a light clap of his hands.
And with that, a procession of waitstaff emerged from a discreet door in the restaurant, seemingly already prepared. They lined up in a neat formation like planets in a solar system—an elegant Nine Stars in Alignment.
Each waiter wore a form-fitting luminescent bodysuit and carried a silver serving tray topped with a crystal dome to preserve the heat and aroma of the dishes.
"Aunt Gloria, eat as much as you want tonight. If it's not enough, we can order more. And if there's anything left, just take it home for David. I made a deal with him—if you go back empty-handed, he's definitely going to blame me," Lin Mo said.
Gloria frowned slightly and muttered, "That brat... he ran off again right after school. Won't tell me where he's going. He's always giving me a headache."
...
Downtown Night City — The Residuum Restaurant
"Achoo!"
David wiped his nose quickly and pulled a few tissues to clean up.
"What's the matter? Is the AC too cold? Or is this your first time in a fancy place, and you're crying tears of joy?"
The man sitting across from him—of Japanese descent—relaxed as he swirled a crystal wine glass in his hand, sipping on a fruit wine brewed from real ingredients, each glass worth hundreds of eurodollars.
Tonight, Kitagawa Hiroshi wore a charcoal-black suit with a bow tie, gently rolling the glass in his fingers. His gaze was sharp yet courteous, his tone polite.
Gone was the vicious street-hardened edge—his movements now radiated a refined gentlemanly air, completely hiding his background as a hardened street merc.
But even so, to the observant, his performance wasn't flawless. There was a subtle stiffness to his actions. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, his streetwise roughness peeked through in moments he wasn't aware of.
Still, no one here would go out of their way to scrutinize them.
David rolled his eyes. Like you've been to a place like this any more than I have—what a hypocrite.
But he didn't dare talk back. In both experience and tenure at the studio, Kitagawa was clearly his senior and his instructor.
If he pissed him off with banter, training sessions later would be hell.
That said, this really was David's first time in a place like this. His curiosity bubbling over, he couldn't help scanning the restaurant for the umpteenth time.
A grand piano echoed softly in the background. The pianist—a graceful woman dressed in a thin, silky gown—sat poised as her fingers danced over the keys, the music soothing the soul like ripples across a serene lake.
The restaurant was spacious, styled in minimalist Western design. The lighting was soft and dim, gently lulling guests into peace, or even sleep. One entire wall was a massive sheet of glass, offering a full view of the city's stormy brilliance.
For optimal surveillance, Kitagawa had chosen a table on the second-floor mezzanine. From here, they had a clear view of the first floor below.
Thinking about the fact that he was dining in one of the city's most expensive venues, David felt giddy, almost lightheaded.
Now this was how rich people lived.
Living the high life on the studio's dime? Hell yes.
"I say, you rookie—wipe that drool off your face. Don't forget this is your first field mission."
David's eyes widened. He hurriedly grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth—only to realize he hadn't been drooling at all.
Kitagawa burst out laughing, amused by David's gullible reaction. "Relax, I'm messing with you. Eat up while you can. The target hasn't shown up yet. Once they do, even if your stomach's killing you, you'll have to hold it in."
David's eyes lit up, and without another word, he dug into his steak, devouring it with gusto.
Watching him scarf down his meal, Kitagawa gave a small smile and began twirling his own pasta, savoring the rare taste of quality food. His thoughts drifted to his sister back home.
Maybe he'd pack something for her before heading back.
"Hey, want to take something home too?" Kitagawa asked, glancing down at his plate.
David finished his steak in a few quick bites, then took a gulp of ice-cold lemon water to help swallow.
"No need. My mom's eating out with someone else tonight."
"Oh? And she didn't invite you?" Kitagawa's eyes narrowed with amusement.
David gave him a wary look, suddenly feeling like the man was fishing for something.
But David's mind didn't operate like Kitagawa's, and he couldn't quite guess what twisted ideas were brewing behind those eyes.
Since the matter involved Lin Mo—and Kitagawa was technically Lin Mo's subordinate—David decided to keep things confidential.
"It's some business meeting. I wouldn't be any help there," he said casually.
Seeing that David didn't want to elaborate, Kitagawa didn't push it. Instead, he changed the subject.
"You full yet?"
"About seventy percent."
Kitagawa sighed. "Same here. Guess these rich-people meals aren't all that—just a little tastier, but insanely overpriced."
As he looked down at the first floor, about to call a server for another order, his eyes suddenly narrowed.
The elevator doors opened slowly.
A middle-aged man in a white suit stepped out, followed by a flamboyantly dressed blonde woman.
They're finally here... Kitagawa thought to himself.
-
-
-
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🧠💻 MY CYBERPUNK 2077 SIMULATOR 💻🧠
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📢 SYSTEM ONLINE! 📢
My Cyberpunk 2077 Simulator has 100+ chapters ahead available on Patreon! 💾🔥
Enter Night City with a simulator, a system, and the kind of advantage most mercs would kill for.
But this is still Night City.
And in a world ruled by corpos, bullets, chrome, gangs, and cyberpsychos, even a cheat-like power doesn't guarantee survival.
⚙️ Level up.
🔫 Fight harder.
🌃 Stay alive.
💀 Or get swallowed by the city.
Read ahead now before the public readers catch up!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🛑 ALSO AVAILABLE ON PATREON:
🌃 Cyberpunk: Dogtown Legend
🔥 Cyberpunk: The Relentless
👩👦 Cyberpunk: Lucy Adopted Me and I Got a System
🤖 My Girlfriend's a Cyberpsycho—Who Knew?
🛡️ Star Wars: The Rise of Mandalore
🌌 Star Wars: Relics of the Past
🏰 Game of Thrones: Secrets Beneath the Dreadfort
⚡ The Rebirth of Harry Potter
🌹 R18: Reincarnated in Her World
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🔗 Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/MrMagnus
👤 Patreon Name: SrMagnus
🐦 X / Twitter: https://x.com/SrMagnusBook
⚠️ Power Stones determine which novel gets priority!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━