Chapter 10: El Psy Kongroo

After sending Rin home again, John headed back into his apartment. It was still as barren as ever, his initial objectives of shopping completely forgotten with everything else.

Taking a look at the empty room, John sighed. “I really should decorate this place.”

Again, it would be troublesome explaining the situation to guests that he had over. Maybe he should just place a few of his treasures down from his personal storage? That would-

A ringtone echoed.

John blinked.

Who could that be? He didn’t remember giving out his phone number to anybody… unless it was Rin?

Confused, John pulled out his phone to glance at the caller id.

It was unfamiliar, but since there shouldn’t be anyone with his number, he decided to answer it to see who it was.

“Yo.” A gruff male voice echoed on the other line. “I saw that you decided to go through with it after all.”

John hadn’t heard the voice in a few days, but he readily recognized it. “Kai, was it? Did you get your situation sorted?”

The man laughed and said, “I did, thanks to your help. The money and getting that building off my hands really paid off.”

“Glad to hear it… Now for what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

“I heard you signed a girl already.”

John narrowed his eyes. “And where, might I ask, did you hear this?”

“I have my ways.”

Ways, was it? In that case… Hm. “Well, as long as you don’t interfere too much.”

“Oh, protective now are we? Well, don’t worry about it.” Kai chuckled on the other side of the line and said, “I don’t have any plans of interfering at all with you since I washed my hands of that industry. I just wanted to… advise you, I suppose.”

“Uh huh.” John sat down on his couch and said, “And that advice would be?”

“Don’t be too hasty in growing your studio. While I’ve washed my hands of that place, there are others who might still be attached to it.”

“…I thought you said there weren’t any strings attached?”

“Oh I don’t think they’ll be too much trouble for a guy able to pay for the building in full like you. But I wanted to just let you know in case they start bothering your girls.”

“….Right.” John sighed. “Thank you for the information.”

“Good luck! I’ll be watching to see what you get up to, Myth Inc. CEO.” Kai chuckled again and then hung up his phone.

John stared at it and then muttered, “I really should have chosen a better organization name than that.”

It was fine when someone innocent like Rin talked about it, but coming from a shady guy like that, it really did sound like an AV industry.

“Well, not like it matters too much.” John stretched and then thought about what to do.

The name didn’t matter as much as the results. In that regard, he had to make sure that he didn’t mess up the debut of Rin- Or rather, Hana Homura.

“Hm…” John leaned back and stared at the ceiling.

Since this was an unexplored area, he needed to make sure they opened with a bang. At the same time, he needed to build anticipation…

“Should I start dropping trailers on Readit? Make an animation video? An alternate reality game…?”

He racked his brain and then frowned.

This was a problem.

He didn’t know what was ‘in’ these days… Or rather, in this place.

Everything was similar enough, but he didn’t know if memes or trends were the same. Heck, he found that out for himself when his favorite games and Anime were missing, right?

And then there was the fact that he had to get a song going for Rin. And choreography. And then all the logistics…

Streaming from the studio wasn’t an issue. He had already installed the best internet, software, and hardware around. But…

“…Should I hire some more staff?”

The problem was that it was only him…

“Ah. Wait.” John blinked, suddenly remembering something important. Something extremely important.

“…I’m a transcendent. I can just rewind time.”

Right.

What was he worried about? If all else failed, he could try again. Not only that…

John stood up and waved his hand, opening a silver portal in the air. “I know I have something in here somewhere…”

There was a giant heap of treasures stored away in his Heavenly Realm. Trinkets ranging from qi condensation pills to Divine Sparks that could elevate a person to godhood.

While he didn’t know the full inventory, that was something that Yue took care of, he should be able to look through it to grab something that could help.

“Should I get a talisman that draws attention? A luck modifier? Divine skill?”

The problem was in the degree. It was one thing to open with a bang, it was another to suddenly overturn the entire industry.

While he would be fine with it, he had to keep in mind that Rin was just an ordinary girl…

“Hm…”

John thought about it for a while longer and then said, “…Let’s start small.”

He pulled out a bundle of light. A tiny fragment of the Dao of Music, a spark of good karma, another fragment of the Dao of Dance… No wait, that was for courtesans…

Gah, this was why he hated taking in disciples. He was fine with taking all of the attention, but those weaklings-

“Hold on.”

He froze, a thought suddenly coming to mind.

…Why was it that Rin had to be the first one to debut? Putting that much pressure on a young girl… Well, it would be different if it was ‘that’ place, but this was Earth. And she had already been through a stressful enough situation.

Instead…

John stood up and then warped back to the studio. As he did, he swept his hand and activated all of the machinery, computers, monitors, and lights spurring to life.

Walking into the middle of the room, a familiar image appeared. Well, slightly different. While the attire was the same, the flowing robes and then sword sheathed at his right side, his hair was long and dark instead of his usual cropped golden hue.

“Mm… Cool enough. But wrong era.”

The ‘image’ he was going for at the start was a futuristic one. And as the manager of MirAIs…

He flicked his hand and changed his outfit. The robe was replaced by a long lab coat. His hair was trimmed short, slightly spiky and slicked back. With that, a mischievous smirk appeared on the man’s face.

“Perfect. Now…” He snapped his fingers and pointed at the giant monitor. “I am mad scientist! It’s so cool! Sunnavabich.”

John grinned.

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