Chapter 35 - Shooting Himself In The Foot (2/2)

Dunbar’s good expression also gradually disappeared.

He felt that he was not shining in glory, but standing on stage to receive insults from a group of trolls.

..

Penguin Publishing Company.

Stoner and Walter, the two editors, clinked their wine glasses together.

“It looks like we’re going to win this time.”

The two of them thought so at the same time and even prepared to have fun with many beautiful women at the villa tonight.

This was a victory that could turn the tables.

“Ghosthand” relied on the gap between the two works and eventually rose in popularity.

This was yet another successful commercial novel.

Suddenly, there was a knock on their office door.

A wretched middle-aged fat man came in.

He was the boss of Traffic Player, the “outsourcing” company.

“Look, your goal has been achieved, so shouldn’t you fulfill your promise?”

Stoner drank a glass of red wine and took out a card, handing it to the man as he said, “I’ll pay you $150,000 first. As for the remaining half, if ‘Ghosthand’ can dominate the rankings for a long time and suppress ‘Candle in the Tomb’ and ‘The Lost Tomb’ for a month, I’ll give it to you.”

Fatty held the card in his hand and said with an unpleasant expression, “Mr. Stoner, the current situation is different from the past. To surpass the two books that topped the rankings, my cost is already far higher than $200,000. If you want to dominate the rankings for a week, it’s impossible to do so without $1 million. Even that is quite impossible, not to mention dominating the rankings for a month. I actually came to negotiate the price with you aside from the initially agreed $300,000.”

“Enough, enough! I know how you operate. You’re just trying to get more money from us. Is $300,000 not enough to eat your fill? Take this and scram! Otherwise, forget about the remaining $150,000.”

Stoner and Walter were completely oblivious and only thought that the man was just trying to up the price.

This sum was already very high.

The fat man had a troubled look on his face. He gritted his teeth and said, “If that’s the case, then you can give me the remaining $150,000. We can’t help ‘Ghosthand’ to dominate the rankings for another week. It’s truly a loss for us.”

Stoner picked up another wine glass and poured half a glass of wine for the fat man as he said, “Mr. Kaft, I can give you the remaining $150,000, but from now on, we will stop hiring you for our outsourcing business. Is this the result you wish to see?”

The fat man’s expression was a little ugly.

All these years, he had been relying on Penguin Publishing and had indeed earned quite a bit of money.

If it was a normal day, he would have endured it, but the current situation was different from the past.

The rankings of “Candle in the Tomb” and “The Lost Tomb” kept increasing. If he wanted to suppress these two books within a week, the cost would be ten times or even more than usual.

Naturally, he would be spending out of his own pocket.

$300,000 was only enough to suppress them for a day.

If this continued for a week, he would probably lose his business.

Thinking of this, the fat man cried, “Boss, it’s really different this time. If you want me to suppress them for a week, I will need at least $1.5 million.”

“$1.5 million?”

The two editors looked at each other and laughed.

“That’s impossible, Mr. Kaft. You have two choices. $300,000 to help ‘Ghosthand’ dominate the rankings for a week, or take this $150,000 and get out of here. From now on, we’ll cut off all Penguin’s outsourcing business with your company. There are so many outsourcing companies like you, so if you don’t want to do it, I’m sure others will.”

Suddenly, the fat man jumped up and pounced towards Stoner.

Since he was a big guy, Stoner fell to the ground.

Without any explanation, Mr. Kaft punched Stoner wildly on the face.