8 [Bonus chapter]Is It Bad to Enjoy This?
"The stock?! What's supposed to be the problem?" He was now genuinely concerned and alerted. How could he not be? They were talking about money; his status right now was the most important thing to manage and secure.
"It's now under attack, sir. We still don't know who is attacking our market. It has only been half an hour, and our stock has already decreased by 50%; it's even increasing now."
"Why the f**k is he targeting our company? That person must be a stock marketing monster. We're not on the super-rich side that is directly under the pressure of YE Trading. Putting all the things we've got together, the public can consider us an average kind of company that deals with electronics and a little bit with the entertainment industry."
"We don't know the answer to that question, sir," the man said solemnly as he turned his head away to avoid eye contact with Vince.
"Double... no, triple the amount of manpower in this case. We need to get all of it back!" Vince already knew that this was an impossible task since his employees must have already allotted all personnel that have knowledge of the stock market to join the defense force.
"Yes." The man can only agree. What can he do? Even if it is an impossible task, he still needs to try it; otherwise, he would lose his job—not because he was fired, but if the stock of the company plummeted to the ground, Smith Co. wouldn't be able to give them their respective salaries.
The man went out and closed the door behind him. Vince, on the other hand, had finally lost all his energy in his legs.
The domineering man of yesteryear has finally crumbled. It took him a very long time and hundreds, if not thousands, of difficulties along the way. Now, even he knew that he would lose this war.
Gerard was holding on to hundreds of employees all by himself and still managed to gain momentum after another. The result was clear: Vince could only surrender to reality.
"Does equality exist in this world?" Vince questioned; he knew the answer very well, though.
The world isn't as kind as teachers say to their elementary or preschool students. Blood and tears, flesh and bones, sacrifices, and defeats have created the history of the world. It was now Vince's turn to experience something like that.
What can he do?
Nothing, absolutely nothing. All are powerless against an indomitable and monster-like opponent.
He has now resigned himself to fate.
DoubleZ Gaming Shop, 1st Floor
Gerard was now brimming with excitement. "Is it bad to enjoy this?" He was literally playing around with a whole company, and the latter couldn't do anything against him. Gerard's analysis of the market was spot on, so each buy and sale was carefully analyzed before being made. This was the power of a max level of knowledge of the stock market.
It's a one-way landslide, and a grand one at that.
After a couple of minutes—roughly half an hour had passed—Gerard had finally gotten hold of the Smith Co.
The Smith Corporation is now bankrupt in a sense since 100% of the stock now belongs to Gerard.
He could only imagine the look on Vince and Jerome's faces when they were faced with this one heck of a problem.
The Smith Corporation is finally his. In just a span of half an hour, a somewhat big company now belongs to his feet.
Gerard leaned back and rested his hands on the chair. From now on, money will go into his pocket.
Smith Co. is a multimillion-dollar company with a total net worth of $100 million. It is a big number to gain for Gerard, but it was an even bigger loss for Vince Smith.
After a few minutes of digesting that he now has 100 percent ownership of a big company, he smiled.
Gerard can now go back to his parents; he can now be considered a very successful person; he might've been more prosperous than his past friend.
But it was not yet the right time. Gerard wanted to be more successful than he is now.
The system that he acquired should not be limited to this kind of richness; it should go beyond it.
Gerard now has a net worth of a hundred million dollars, so he could expand into another opportunity aside from the stock market.
His original problem has now been solved, and now he can use the system again to have another skill. Gerard wished it was different from the condiments he gained earlier since that would be so underwhelming.
He would rather use the money in real life than get those condiments, even if what he tasted earlier was godly satisfaction; he still wouldn't exchange permanent treasure for temporary happiness.
It would be like giving millions of dollars since you don't have any change with you. It is illogical and stupid.
3:00 p.m.
Gerard was doing his job, assisting the different users and players entering the gaming shop. He had forgone the thought of doing any chance raffle because, firstly, he didn't really have money in his bank account; it was all just bits of data as of now.
Although it was secure and Vince Smith wouldn't be able to buy back Gerard's stock, the second problem arose from the fact that Gerard was not ready to receive disappointment.
It was ironic for Gerard as he thought of it; he regarded himself as a disappointment, but he still didn't want to receive disappointment.
What a weird fellow he is.
At this time, a distinct teen arrived at the shop. Based on the height and demeanor the boy possessed, Gerard figured it might be a 16-year-old boy.
The characteristic that made the teen distinct was not because of his age; this was a gaming shop, and Gerard had already expected to see teens when he took this job, though he hadn't seen one yet because it was now the celebration of the descent of the God of Light.
The unique thing about the teen was his attire; he was wearing a ragged shirt paired with tattered shorts and no flip-flops.
The teen was busy looking around when Gerard called him.
"Yo, will you use any of the computers here?"
"No," the teen replied.
"No? What are you doing here then?" Gerard said with no malice, as he was genuinely curious.
"Is there a sign outside prohibiting me from entering these premises? Or are people like me not allowed in this establishment?" the teen answered back.
Gerard was shocked, as he didn't expect the boy to be so fluent in countering him. If not for the clothes the teen was wearing, Gerard would've assumed that the boy was rich.
"No, this store does not prohibit you from entering here." Gerard paused.
"Let's do it this way; I probably offended you with my remark earlier, so why not do this in exchange? Plus, today's a very special day!" Gerard clasped his hand as he said those words as he offered the teen the whole afternoon to freely spend using the computer. He was now a multi-millionaire, and he was not so cheap as to not help a rather unfortunate guy, even if the latter was here to play or fiddle with the computer.
The teen thought that Gerard was referring to the descent of the God of Light and shrugged it off.
Gerard, however, was not only referring to that. He especially wants to celebrate the acquisition of his system, the great food that he ate, the skills he had learned, and the money he now possesses as an asset.
"I shall sponsor your usage for today." Gerard was feeling quite sympathetic today as he viewed his past self within this boy.
"I forgot to ask your name," Gerard continued.
"My name's Chris Reid; are you sure you want to sponsor me for today? No suspicious contracts included." Chris introduced himself and asked curiously. He just went to this gaming shop with no proper clothes to add, and now some unknown stranger wants to help him.
Who wouldn't be suspicious of it?
"Don't take it badly. I just thought of my past self in you," Gerard responded.
"You were also homeless years ago."
"Not years ago, just a year ago before I entered this store today." He laughed
Gerard turned gloomy and said, "Cursed that precious friend of mine for my state today."
Chris reacted to Gerard's statement, "You also went downhill because of your friend? My past friend stole all my research and work. I should've been to a top-class university right now, probably the Cremea Academy down south.
Gerard was fascinated to hear this kind of information.
Cremea Academy is one of the most prestigious and famous in this country; it is also the top law institute in this country, with no other school near its tail.
Gerard wondered how Chris lost everything just from a simple research paper and asked, "It couldn't be that exaggerated, no?"
Chris just laughed and spoke, "You don't know the gravity of offense having been branded as a copyright violator. All charges were put against me and there were no sufficient pieces of evidence to prove my innocence…"
"But…" Chris continued.
