The Deceitful One



Telephones were a relatively new invention, having only been made public a couple of months back. And it was very expensive to own one, to say the least. Hence, only affluent families and big businesses could afford one.

And that is exactly what the Tenant Telephone Company build their entire marketing strategy around. They would only target a particular segment of the market—the upper-class people—and cater specifically toward them.

Of course, being such a big company and having no shortages of smart employees to help them in making business decisions, they had naturally learned the advantage of selling the product to the masses which would result in substantially more revenue for the telephone company.

But herein lay the problem, the raw materials required to build a telephone from scratch were simply too expensive. This forced them to only be able to sell their products to the wealthier people. After all, they couldn't cover their costs if not for them charging a high price.

They could, technically, lower the market price and sell it to a wider market, but that would result in severe losses. And the main goal of any business was to make a profit. Hence, they did not go this route. Until the cost of raw materials was reduced, they wouldn't be able to sell to the lower class or most of the middle class.

Hence, it wasn't that they didn't want to sell it to other market segments but that they couldn't. They could not come up with a proper solution for this issue. But that's where Bryan came in. He had presented a solution, although it was an eccentric one.

Hugh was so flabbergasted that he had to read the documents once again to see if he had read them wrong. But after reading it once again, he was filled with rage. He slammed the documents on the table and roared, "You came here with this bullshit, are you kidding me!?"

Bryan was calm and composed, he didn't react one bit to Hugh's outburst. Instead, he faintly smiled. "Did you read the whole thing?"

"Do I even have to!? I already know this is going to fail!" Hugh yelled, triggered by the fact that Bryan appeared so calm. Having had enough of it, he screamed, "Stop wasting my fucking time and get out of my office."

Bryan stood up from his chair with the same smile on his face. With hands behind his back, he walked around the table, toward Hugh, and calmly spoke, "If you want to reach a wider market, this is your only option, unless the raw materials required to manufacture the telephone suddenly become cheap by a stroke of miracle."

Hugh gritted his teeth and pointed at the dossier. "And this is your fucking solution? A public pay telephone? Who the hell is even going to buy it?"

"Tsk, tsk," Bryan shook his head. "Hugh, you fool. People won't buy the payphone, they'll be buying its services. Looks like you didn't read the whole thing."

Being admonished by whom he thought to be a nobody, Hugh was furious. He was about to scream, however, Bryan cut him off. "Now before you further make a fool out of yourself, sit the fuck down and listen to me."

He released a bit of his spiritual force and instantly caused Hugh to break out in a cold sweat. His legs gave in as he fell back to his chair, looking at Bryan nervously.

Bryan looked at him and said, "Listen carefully, Hugh. You're not selling a product, you're selling an idea. In this case, you're selling the idea of wide communication. Currently, only the wealthy have access to it, but what if everyone else had it too?"

Hugh did not dare to interrupt Bryan. For some reason, he felt as if he was in the presence of his boss, Nicholas. His boss also gave off the same domineering aura and the way they both spoke was also very similar.

Bryan continued, "The telephone, as it is now, is expensive for the majority of the middle-class and all of the lower-class people to buy. But if you set up public phone booths at various parts of the city, that effectively solves the problem."

Hugh finally gathered the courage to speak up, "B-But who is going to buy the phone?"

Bryan massaged his temples as he wondered, 'Just how the hell did a dumb fuck like you get this job?' He then looked at Hugh and spoke in annoyance, "Don't ask stupid questions. People won't buy the telephone but its services, in this case, they'll be paying for minutes."

"Minutes?" Hugh was genuinely puzzled.

"If you had bothered to read my whole proposal, you would have seen that I've designed a system where people will pay and speak for a certain amount of time." Bryan walked back toward his seat.

"Certain amount of time…." Hugh's eyebrows furrowed. He hurriedly grabbed the dossier, and this time, he meticulously read the whole thing. Earlier, he hadn't read after a certain page after realizing how ludicrous the idea was.

But now, after carefully reading all the documents provided by Bryan, his hands suddenly began to tremble. He looked at Bryan, his eyes filled with shock. "T-This… Is this even possible!?"

Bryan who was now standing right beside Donald, nodded. "It is, or I wouldn't have come here. After all, my time is precious, you see. More precious than a certain foolish manager."

Hugh felt embarrassed, however, this time he didn't dare to lash out. Because now he could see that Bryan wasn't simply here to throw his money at the company and try to get rich. Instead, he had come here with a genuine idea that was sure to make the company rich as well.

He solemnly asked, "If this was possible, where would be set up these public pay-phones?"

Bryan looked at him and smirked. "Heh, now you're asking the right questions." He then gestured for Donald to go ahead.

Donald nodded and then took out a document from the briefcase he was carrying. He gave it to Hugh and provided a brief presentation. "Pay-phones will yield the highest results if they're situated in highly concentrated public spots such as train stations, bus stations, government institutions, and even hospitals."

The more Hugh heard about the proposal, the more solemn he got. Soon everything was beginning to make sense. He then asked the most important question, "How will we earn money through it?"

"Through the system I've designed, people can insert coins into the telephone. The pay-phone would have a meter that would display the amount of time left or the amount of money owed." Bryan paused for a moment and saw that Hugh was paying proper attention.

He then continued, "This will ensure that you don't have to have someone man the pay-phones at all times. It will be automated by the system that I've designed. And that's not all, I've even thought of a prepaid calling card."

"W-Wait a minute!" Hugh hurriedly stopped Bryan. He then looked at the documents once again and then spoke in a panic, "Where's this coin system that you speak of? And where's the details of the calling card?"

"Heh," Bryan's lips curled up into a smirk. "You really think I'll show you all my cards? I believe what I've provided already should be enough to keep the conversation going."

He then took out his business card from his pocket and threw it at Hugh. "Speak to your boss and then call me on that number." With that said, he turned around and left the office. Donald cast one last look at Hugh and then followed after his master.

Meanwhile, Hugh looked at Bryan's business card, then at the documents, and then finally at his office entrance. He stood there in a daze for a very long time. Then, he mumbled in disbelief, "If this really works out…."

He couldn't even begin to comprehend the amount of money they'd be making. He hurriedly grabbed Bryan's card as well as the dossier and rushed out of his office. He ran toward the elevator and finally went to the topmost floor, the floor where Nicholas Tenant worked from.

...

As Bryan and Donald exited the building, the latter nervously asked, "Master… are you not worried that the man would steal your idea?"

This was indeed a genuine concern. After all, Bryan had already laid out most of his ideas. The only thing he hadn't disclosed was the transaction system. But he truly believed that if a person like Nicholas Tenant could come out with the idea behind a telephone, he could surely come up with something similar to his transaction system.

But if Nicholas was really the man that Bryan believed him to be, then everything would go according to his plan. He looked at Donald and smirked. "I've done a lot of research on this guy, Nicholas. And I know exactly the type of person he is."

Donald was confused. "Master, you mean to say that he's too honorable to steal your idea?"

"No, not that," Bryan chuckled. "Anyone who could reach such a high position as him is surely a cutthroat and merciless person. I'm sure they wouldn't be bothered about stealing another person's idea."

"Then what do we do?" Donald asked anxiously.

"We wait," Bryan replied.

Donald still didn't understand. "For what?"

"For Nicholas Tenant," Bryan's lips curled up into a smirk. "If he's truly the man that I believe him to be, he wouldn't care much about this idea itself, but about the person who came up with the idea."

He then looked at Donald and chuckled. "I believe he'll show up at our doorstep very soon."

'And when he does, that's when the second stage of my plan will begin.' He thought to himself.