by Andrew Reise
Chapter 5
The next day Tom walked into the cafe like normal. He was finishing typing an email on his phone, so he ordered without looking up. "I'll take a coffee like normal, Alan."
He didn't hear a reply, but thought that Alan had started making his coffee.
He kept typing his email, when suddenly he heard a voice saying, "Your coffee is ready, sir."
He looked up and saw an unfamiliar young man standing behind the counter.
"Who are you?" He asked, confused.
The young man look confused. "I'm Greg...why?"
"Where's Alan?" Tom asked. "Is he taking a sick day?"
"Who's Alan?" Greg was clueless.
Tom felt extremely confused. He went over to Wendy and asked. "Where's Alan? Is he taking a sick day?"
Wendy gave him an annoyed look as she was forced to put down her cell phone, but she answered. "He got fired yesterday."
It took a moment to sink in, but when it did, Tom reacted loudly. "He was what?" He shouted.
John, in his office, heard the shout. He walked out of his office.
"What seems to be the problem, sir?" John asked, confused. He recognized this man as one of their regular customers.
"What's the deal with firing Alan? He was the only good thing about this place!" Tom scolded.
"Sir, our hiring decisions are not for you to question. Alan was insubordinate and disrespected a customer, so I fired him. However, I assure you our coffee is just as good as ever." At this point John noticed that Tom's coffee was sitting untouched on the counter. "Why don't you go try it?"
Tom snorted, but went and drank the coffee. John watched expectantly, thinking the problem would be solved. To his shock, Tom spat the coffee out, and then poured it on the floor.
"This," Tom said. "Is disgusting."
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." John said severely.
"I'll leave after you give me Alan's contact information." Tom demanded. He was a high powered businessman, so when he demanded something he exuded confidence as though he was used to people doing as he said.
"Sir, we can't give our employees' contact information out to you. Please take your leave."
Tom snorted. "Who owns this building?"
John looked at him in confusion. "What?"
"I said, who owns this building?" Tom repeated forcefully.
John answered him. "I don't see how that's relevant, but if it'll make you leave, Alexander Willington owns this building. In fact, he owns this business."
Tom pulled out his phone and began dialing a number. It picked up after two rings.
Tom spoke to the person on the other end of the line. "Contact Alexander Willington. Tell him one of his employees is being disrespectful to me, and is making me consider running his puny real estate company out of business." Tom followed up by giving the address of the cafe he was at, and then hung up. He stared at John calmly, and crossed his arms to wait.
After overhearing the phone conversation, John began to sweat nervously. He didn't realize the person in front of him was such a big shot. This guy could even threaten Alexander Willington, whereas he was terrified of Alexander Willington. He began to regret not just giving the contact information out, but before he could offer to do that, the phone in his office began to ring.
"You should probably get that." Tom said coolly, staring at John.
Chapter 6
Alan relaxed at home, enjoying the holiday with his parents. Well, he wasn't very relaxed, and his parents weren't really enjoying themselves. In fact, nothing about the current scene was very pleasant.
Alan was nibbling on a dry piece of toast. That's all his parents had given him for breakfast today, no doubt to express their displeasure with him 'quitting' his job. His dad was holding up the paper like normal, but the article facing him was, quite conspicuously, about unemployment rising.
Alan cleared his throat. "Thank you for breakfast. Tomorrow I'll be going to the bank to see if I can get a loan to start a business."
His dad grunted, not looking up from the paper. His mom just said, "Whatever you say, dear." She sounded very unenthusiastic.
Alan tried again. "No, really. I'm writing up a business plan. I'm sure the bank will lend to me. Then I'll start making money."
This time there was no reply.
Alan coughed. "Well, I'll be upstairs."
He let out a breath after he left the kitchen.
As he walked up the stairs his phone rang. He saw it was an unfamiliar number so he ignored it.
However, the same number kept calling. He frowned in annoyance. "Telemarketers these days are so persistent."
Ignoring the caller again, he went to his missed calls and blocked the caller.
Elsewhere, Tom was listening to an automated voice on a phone. "The number you tried to reach is no longer in service."
He wanted to chuck his phone across the room. "How could you get me addicted to your coffee and then just vanish all irresponsibly?"
Truth be told, he wasn't the only one feeling like this. All of Alan's customers had raised a fuss at the store. Poor John at the store was practically soaked with sweat as he contemplated his future unemployment.
Of course, the cause of all of this was sitting unaware in his room at his parents house looking up on the internet how to write a business plan, completely ignorant of the uproar he'd caused.
The next day, Alan went to the bank.
He went in, presented his plan and waited expectantly for the answer.
"Loan denied. Good day." Just like that the loan officer stood and left the room.
Alan was shocked. "My one week of experience and business plan I created in one day didn't convince the bank?"
The system remained silent.
Alan coughed, "Well, in any case, I gave it a shot, System. Now, time to look at getting a job elsewhere."
"Host, please endeavor to become a cafe owner. Work hard, Host."
Alan sighed. He didn't expect the system to change its mind. He also didn't really expect the bank to loan him money. He just felt like it was better to do something than nothing.
As he sighed, his phone started ringing. Another unfamiliar number. He ignored it.
It rang again. Same number. He ignored it and blocked the number.
A minute passed as he tried to flag down a cab. His phone began ringing again.
He stared at it in fury. "Did someone sell my number to a scam company or something?"
He gave in and picked up the phone. "Listen up, I'm not interested in whatever you're selling, so bug off!"
He panted as he finished shouting.
Silence ruled on the other end of the line for a second before there was an awkward cough.
"This is Tom, your customer from the cafe. I'm not trying to sell you anything."
Alan paused for a moment before clearing his throat. "Of course, Tom, what can I do for you?"
Alan decided to pretend he hadn't shouted.
Tom played along, finding it easier than pointing out Alan's mistake. "Well, I was calling to figure out what exactly happened. Why were you fired?"
Alan hesitated before going with the excuse he'd given the customer. "I have rules when serving customers. They're personal rules based on my own morals. One of them is that I can only serve a customer the ultima-" He cut off coughing. "I mean, one is that I can only serve a customer my coffee once every six hours."
Tom listened dumbly in silence. He'd heard the story from John, but he didn't really believe it. "Why couldn't you just make an exception? My daily caffeination--" He broke off coughing. "I mean, your income depended on that job didn't it?"
Alan only sighed. "Rules are rules." In his head he cursed the system for his misfortune once more.
"Hey you can't just brush this off with a simple 'rules are rules'. What's your next step? Are you working at a new cafe?"
Alan shook his head. He wasn't sure what answer to give.
"Host, a friendly remind
er, your customer can't actually see you shaking your head over the phone."
Alan's mouth hung open, before he shut it with an audible clack as he ground his teeth. He thought to himself, "Thank you for that reminder, System. I am aware that he can't see me."
"The system is just making sure Host. Host has demonstrated obliviousness before."
Alan ignored the system and responded to Tom who was still waiting for an answer.
"I'm not working anywhere at the moment. I'm not sure what I'll do going forward yet." He didn't want to tell his customer that he'd just been denied a bank loan.
"That's not acceptable!" Tom exclaimed before coughing to cover up his indignation. "I mean, you're young, you can't let yourself be stopped by such a small setback. How about I introduce you to a cafe in my building?"
Tom waited in anticipation, excited at the idea that he'd be able to have that coffee again whenever he wanted.
Alan hesitated, but finally said, "No. I don't think so. My rules are going to get in the way of a barista job anywhere I work."
Tom nearly screamed in frustration. "Well, you can't give up on your coffee making career!"
Alan noticed at this point that something was strange about this conversation. Thinking about it, he realized that Tom must be craving his coffee. An idea popped into his head.
He sighed audibly on the phone. "There's nothing I can do. I just left the bank. I tried to get a loan to start my own cafe. Sadly, they refused to lend to me."
Tom grew silent on the other end of the line. "You're trying to start your own cafe?" He asked hesitantly.
"Yeah," Alan said. "I thought that if I ran my own cafe no one would be able to fire me for enforcing my rules."
Tom grew thoughtful. "This is a good opportunity," He thought. "I can rent him a space in my building and have his coffee whenever I want! Not to mention, it gives me leverage to be his landlord; I can make him break his rule and serve me coffee more often." He found himself chuckling as he thought of this.
"Tom?" Alan said in confusion. "What's that sound?"
Tom hurriedly stopped his chuckling.
"I just thought of an idea," Tom exclaimed excitedly. "How about I rent you a space in my office building?"
Alan hesitated. This was a pretty good opportunity. He'd be able to run his own cafe, and build up experience and funds. However, he wouldn't be able to advance further in the missions. He didn't think he could be successful in the long term relying only on his ultimate cup of joe.
"Am I going to do this?" He thought to himself.
Here was a perfect opportunity, almost a heaven-sent opportunity, to start his own business. However, the system had made it very clear he wouldn't be able to advance further in the missions. Could he really be successful in the long term relying only on his ultimate cup of joe?
He shook his head doubtfully. A cafe with only one product wouldn't work for long, and if he never added more items or the other items weren't on par with the ultimate cup of joe, his client base would be upset.
He spoke to Tom. "I appreciate it, but I want to own my own cafe."
Tom looked baffled. "Right, but this could be a good step in the meantime, no?"
Alan begged the system one last time. "System, could you make an exception and give me the reward for renting a cafe, rather than owning one?"
"Host, as the future owner of the world's most luxurious cafe, you must never compromise. Compromise is the bane of luxury."
Alan sighed before saying to Tom, "My pride won't let me settle for anything less than owning my own cafe."
Tom was disbelieving. He thought he'd finally found the perfect way to ensure he could get his coffee going forward, but then this darn square kept on spouting off about his pride again.
"Alan, it was your pride that got you fired in the first place. I admire your commitment to your principles, but there is no shame in settling here. You need to learn to bend a little." Tom tried to convince Alan.
Alan shook his head. Of course he wanted to bend a little, but this stupid system wouldn't let him! It wouldn't be too late to own a cafe later on. Alas, he was helpless against the system's stubbornness.
Faced with Alan's refusal Tom thought desperately for a solution. Then he realized he was overthinking! Alan just refused to rent a cafe. If he had money, he'd start his own cafe. Thus, all Tom had to do was get Alan the money he needed to start his own cafe.
"Knowing Alan's pride he won't accept the money if it comes directly from me." Tom thought to himself, formulating a plan.
If Alan was aware of Tom's thoughts he'd have cried. "What pride? If you had money I'd accept it for sure. This future boss was even willing to accept money from an old lady for accidentally stopping a robbery!" Yes, that's what Alan would have said, but unfortunately he never had the chance. Another tragedy caused by the system occurred.
Tom came up with a perfect plan. Being in real estate, he had close ties to a number of banks. He owned a number of the buildings they operated out of, and even did some investment banking in properties through them.
Needless to say he had some pull. However, he couldn't tell Alan that, so he'd have to find another way to get Alan back to the bank so he could influence them to give him a loan.
"Here's an idea," Tom offered slowly, choosing his words carefully. "How about you let me take a look at the business plan? I'll make some changes and make it more convincing. Maybe it'll make a difference. Then you can go back to the bank and try again. Which bank was it again?"
Alan felt relieved at the offered help, but he just said calmly, "Thank you, I'd appreciate that. The bank is City A Bank."
Tom suddenly thought of something and tried persuasively, "Well, if you're really grateful make me a cup of coffee and we'll call it even."
Alan thought. "Sure, I'll make you a cup of coffee as soon as my cafe opens its doors."
Tom kicked the floor on the other end of the line, cursing that Alan saw through him. He just wanted to get his caffeine fix. He'd be forced to help and do so as quickly as possible like this.
Alan scanned the business plan on his phone and sent it to Tom.
Tom checked it as it came in, and nearly choked as he looked at it.
"Alan, is this the whole business plan?" He asked incredulously, looking at the single page document in front of him.
All it said was the title of the cafe, Alan's name, and the plan was to "make money". It read like a third graders attempt at a business plan.
"Yes," Alan replied shamelessly. He knew he'd phoned it in. Still, he'd hoped they wouldn't even ask for a business plan.
Tom coughed a few times. "Well, I'll take tonight and work on it. You can go back to the bank tomorrow."
"No rush," Alan said. "I wouldn't want to put you out."
"Nonsense," Tom said hurriedly. "It'll be ready tomorrow!" Then he hung up before Alan could reply.
Alan chortled slightly. It was so easy to read him.
Meanwhile, dozens of employees at Tom's company found themselves summoned to his office as he began barking orders at them to workshop the business plan.
They had to drop everything. Some of them even leaving their children's birthdays, their doctor visits, and other important events.
"Daddy is sorry, honey, but my boss has called me in for an emergency. If I don't go I'll be fired."
And just like that, Alan unwittingly ruined a young girl's birthday party.
"Host has accrued more bad karma." The system said.
"What are you talking about, System?" Alan asked. The system didn't reply. Alan decided to just ignore it.
He whistled as he walked back home. However, as he did so, he tripped on his shoelace and crashed his head into a telephone pole.
"Host has suffered a head wound again, entering recovery mode...Recovery complete. Bad karma neutralized."
"System…" Alan said as he sat on the ground clutching his now healed head.
"Yes, Host?"
"About this headache
…"
"Yes, Host. The system considerately left you the headache to preserve survival instincts as discussed earlier. Please endeavor to stop sustaining head wounds going forward Host."
"...You're really too considerate, System."
The next day passed in a flurry. Tom sent Alan a complete business plan. He then called City A Bank and called in favors to make sure that Alan's loan was approved.
Alan walked into the bank. Much like last time, everything was over quickly. The loan officer barely glanced at the proposal. She instantly approved his loan.
Alan was surprised at how easy it was. "Maybe I really am destined to be a cafe owner."
Meanwhile a bank manager sweated profusely while assuring Tom over the phone that nothing was wrong and the loan was approved. He let out a sigh of relief as he hung up the phone. He didn't know who that young man was, but he must be important for a bigshot to pave the way for him like that.
Just like that, another misunderstanding occurred, and Alan went from a broke, unambitious twenty something to a well-connected businessman in the eyes of the bank.
Alan walked out of the bank and took a deep breath, enjoying the sun and his new lease on life.
Somewhere an author coughed up blood after reading his own pun.
"What a successful day," Alan thought to himself.
"Host, please remember that you must still find a storefront to purchase and complete the closing. The sooner you complete the mission the sooner you get the reward."
Alan felt annoyed. "Can't you let me enjoy this moment, System?"
The system ignored him.
Alan sighed and called Tom. He knew Tom worked in real estate, so he thought he might have some leads on a storefront he could purchase.
Tom answered on the first ring. Even though he already knew the answer he asked, "How'd it go?"