She pursed her lips and left to greet another client. She was still as stunning as on her first day, which made her concern all the more touching.
After lunch, Veronica brought in our first corporate order from a large IT company in need of a good leading developer who’d be also an experienced team leader.
Processing it took me slightly longer than expected. First, I had to research the company itself in order to amass as many KIDD points as possible. The search for the right candidate, too, proved to be a long and evolved job because all the potential bidders were either located in other cities or already working for someone else. The few who were currently unemployed didn’t seem to fit the bill, either.
I finally picked a couple of names, found their contacts online and passed them on to Veronica who had to conduct the actual negotiations.
It was nearing three p.m. when Gleb reappeared in the office, beaming. He gave everyone a round of cheerful greetings, pecked Stacy on the cheek, gave a confused Alik a bear hug, then asked me to come out “for a smoke”.
We stepped out. It had begun to drizzle. Gleb lit up a cigarette and spoke as the first raindrops began rustling on the tarmac,
“First things first. Here’s the phone,” he showed me a very plain smartphone, a budget version from a well-known maker. “I’ve restored the contacts list from my laptop back home so it’s okay. I can’t thank you enough, man. I’ve paid off all the debts. I even remembered the two hundred I borrowed from a neighbor ages ago and paid it back too.”
“How did your workmates react to the sudden windfall?”
“They were surprised, of course. Many didn’t believe I’d ever pay them back anymore. There were rumors I’d hit the jackpot. I just told them I’d found a good job and paid them out of my wages. Thanks again.”
“And how did it go at home?”
“This, strangely enough, was the difficult part. I racked my brains trying to think of something believable enough to make sure she forgave me without shocking her too much. I came up with a whole story,” he bit his lip and averted his eyes.
“What kind of story?”
He shrugged my question away. “Doesn’t matter anymore. So I came home and rang the bell. My older one opened it. You should have seen him! He shouted, ‘Daddy’s back!’ and started hanging from my neck. The other one heard him and started screaming his head off like I’d come back from the dead. Then Lena came running and threw herself around my neck. Can you imagine? She said she didn’t know what to think...”
“And?”
“So we just sat down and had a talk. This story I’d come up with... it just wasn’t worth it. I told her everything as it was: about my debts and my addiction; I told her I’d been fired and that my creditor threatened to take our apartment... Then I told her about you and how you tried to talk some sense in me for my family’s sake and how you helped me to sort out this mess and get me off the hook — by a sheer miracle. I also told her I was starting a new life and that I fully intended to spent it with her and our kids. Said I wanted to grow old together with her. And once I finished, I just sat there all tense, ready to accept whatever decision she’d make. I was morally prepared, you know what I mean? If she wanted to divorce me or whatever...”
“And what did she say?”
“At first she didn’t say anything. It took her some time to digest it. Then she just walked over to me, put her arms around me and cried. And when she finally calmed down, she was my old Lena back again. She was like, ‘Get those clothes off you and get in the shower!’ Just like you spoke to me yesterday, remember?” he laughed. “She made me some lunch and packed me off to work.”
He was laughing, happy and intoxicated with the prospects of a new life. A normal life where he’d do a good day’s work and go home to his family in the evening to share his marital bed with his wife. A life which held the promise of the seaside once a year complete with palm trees and bleached white sand.
Then I very nearly slid down the wall, overwhelmed by all the system messages accompanied by the surge of unbridled joy the program had bestowed on me.
Your Reputation with Lena Kolosova has improved!
Current Reputation: Respect 20/120
Congratulations! You’ve received a new system skill level!
Skill name: Insight
Current level: 3
XP received: 1000
For your information: the following data has been unblocked in regards to all objects and subjects comprising the local segment of the Universal Infospace.
This will allow you:
1. To determine a subject’s overall potential
2. To evaluate their teamwork synergy
3. To evaluate two subjects’ matrimonial compatibility
You’ve just performed a socially meaningful action! You’ve created a new time branch and restored the integrity of the Kolosov family, namely Gleb, Lena, and their children Sergei and Alexander, preventing their respective levels from dropping and creating new favorable conditions for improving their social status.
You’ve received 3000 XP for performing a socially meaningful action!
Congratulations! You’ve received a new level!
Your current social status level: 16
Characteristic points available: 1
Skill points available: 1
XP points left until the next social status level: 2610/17000
“Phil? You all right?” Gleb tried to help me back to my feet but my rubbery legs kept giving way under me. “Phil!”
“I’m all right... man,” I replied softly once the fit of pleasure was over. “I think I need some sleep.”
“I think you do, too. Maybe you should go home?”
I shook my head. “No. I’ll get some sleep tonight.”
“Let’s go back to the office, then?”
“You go. There’s a business proposal there that needs tidying up. I’ll hang about here and get some fresh air, then I’ll join you.”
Ignoring his protests, I finally forced him back into the building. I needed to be alone for a while. I still had to work out which advantages I could expect from my new level of Insight; I also needed to decide how to invest my characteristic point. The most logical choice would be Luck but did I really need it now that I had the ring?
I also needed to give my second achievement some thought. The window that had reported it in a colorful cascade of visual effects was still open, and this is what it said:
Congratulations! You’ve received a new achievement: The Altruist!
You’ve performed a socially meaningful action by donating a sum in excess of your entire annual income to somebody who needed it more.
Reward: +1 to all main characteristics at every level gained.
Me, Phil Panfilov, a self-confessed miser who used to flog every useless piece of game junk just to save a couple of copper coins — an altruist?
You have to be kidding me.
Chapter Sixteen. Real Magic
My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That's how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they're done by a team of people.
Steve Jobs
A LONG TIME AGO when I’d only just started working, I’d noticed an interesting thing. Normally, after a protracted period of falling out with one’s spouse and the following reconciliation, the person tended to become much friendlier and happier — and definitely more productive.
No wonder Gleb experienced the same. The chance to turn his life around and even start it anew by so effortlessly repaying his debts had given him his mojo back.
When I’d returned to the office, I saw him surrounded by Alik, Stacy, Kesha and Veronica busy discussing our future website. They were all huddled around the window, some perched on the window sill, others on the desk. Stacy was pouring out the tea.
Supp
ressing a smile, I returned to my desk. I might listen to them for a bit while trying to come up with a strategy for the future. I also had the rewards from my interface to consider.
“That’s happiness for you!” Gleb exclaimed, ecstatic. “D’you all get it?”
“Gleb, we could make do with our VK page for the time being,” Veronica said. “It won’t cost us a bean.”
“Had we remained a humble employment agency, yes,” Kesha butted in. “But if we want to go big, the absence of our own website will be a big drawback. There’ll be a lot less trust.”
“What are you all arguing about?” Mr. Katz asked, appearing in the doorway.
“It’s about the website,” Alik heaved a sigh. “He says,” Alik nodded at Gleb, “that we all need to drop whatever we’re doing and work on the company’s online presence.”
“Hi, I’m Gleb,” my friend said, offering his hand to Mr. Katz.
“Pleased to meet you, young man,” Mr. Katz replied ceremoniously. “And why such a hurry, may I ask?”
“Tea, Uncle Mark?” Stacy offered.
“Yes, why not? And talking about our company’s online presence...”
They went back to their conversation while I paused, trying in vain to remember what the hell I’d just been thinking about.
So... I’d been standing on the porch downstairs trying to recover from the effects of receiving both a new achievement and a new Insight level. In the meantime, everybody had gotten to know each other and moved naturally from discussing the pressing issues of the logo design and the business proposal layout to more far-reaching matters. Such a zeal was undoubtedly welcome but this wasn’t what I’d been thinking of. Wait a sec, what did they say... It was something about... wait!
We could make do with our VK page for the time being, Veronica had said...
Had we remained a humble employment agency — that had been Kesha...
We all need to drop whatever we’re doing... that had been Alik repeating Gleb’s words.
Our company’s online presence... — that had been Mark.
Yes! Got it! It was the “we”, “us”, “our”! That’s what it was!
I leaned back in my chair, closed my eyes and tried to visualize our future company, Great Job Agency, as my workmates continued their heated but friendly discussion. Our company that belonged to us all. Gradually it began taking shape in my mind — not as an abstract notion but as a real thing put together like a virtual jigsaw puzzle. It came into focus more clearly with every KIDD point I used.
I could see our tiny office in the Chekhov Business Center. The building manager Mr. Gorelik also added his KIDD point to the mix. I was officially the head of the company because formally, Alik was still only a hired worker.
I could see all those desperate disillusioned people who still held onto the meager hope that we wouldn’t rip them off but help them find work instead.
The jigsaw puzzle began to fuse into a full-color 3D picture. I could see our agency working and expanding as our turnover grew and with it, our profits. The numbers of both our workers and clients kept increasing in real time.
I could see the financial results of 2018... 2019... 2020... Our agency kept working even after my interface license had expired although it showed practically no growth. Our annual turnover remained just over 2,000,000 rubles[45] and our clear profits gradually began to decline.
Was this my level-3 Insight at work? The picture was so tangible it felt as if all of this had already happened. I needed to ask Martha about it ASAP.
She appeared promptly, cast a curious look around the office and greeted me with a faint smile. “Are these your workmates?”
“Hi,” I grinned back as I replied mentally. “Almost. Formally not all of them but I’m working on it. I only summoned you for a moment. This isn’t the best place to talk. Take a look, please. It seems I’ve received a new ability,” I forwarded her the images. “What do you think?”
“Yes, that’s what level-3 Insight does,” she said. “It enables you to see any person’s potential.”
“Only a person? How about a company? A company isn’t a human being, is it? It’s what they call a legal entity.”
“Behind every company there’re people. Like you and Mr. Romuald Zhukov — Alik, isn’t it? You two got together and decided to provide useful services to other people. What you call an employment agency is in fact your personal stand: yours and your friend’s.”
“And Stacy’s,” I added mechanically.
“Yes, Phil?” Stacy turned her head to me.
Martha and I looked at her in unison. Stacy gave me a quizzical look, then switched her gaze to Martha standing by the window in a rather suggestive pose.
Martha promptly disappeared.
What the hell?
“Phil?” Stacy was already standing next to me. “Did you call me?”
“Eh.. yeah. Be a good girl and get me a cup of coffee, please,” I replied with a theatrical yawn. “Thanks.”
“Sure. One moment.”
She glanced at the window where Martha had just stood and went off to make coffee, leaving me completely confused.
A coincidence? In that case, why had Martha disappeared?
“Phil, are you okay?” Stacy distracted me from my musings, placing a cup of coffee next to me.
“Well, what do you think?” I said, answering a question with a question. I just couldn’t forget the strange red wrist band she’d given me last night. “You really think I’m okay?”
“I’m sure you are. There is something you should take very seriously but not quite yet. At the moment, you’re perfectly okay.”
“What kind of something?”
“We’ll talk about it later,” she nodded toward our friends and walked off, rejoining them.
They’d already finished discussing our website — or rather, they’d decided to leave it till later and brainstorm it with me — and started compiling a list of all the companies in the city who could become our potential clients. This was something neither Alik nor Gleb were interested in so they got to work designing a layout for Kesha’s business proposal regarding our outsourcing sales department.
I knew I still had to call Panchenko in Ultrapak. The unfinished task put me on edge. I wish I could delete it but I couldn’t. Why would I even bother?
I took a sip of coffee, placed the mug on the desk and leaned back in my chair. The moment I thought about it, the mental model of my future agency came back into focus. It looked a bit like a 3D picture from an economic simulation game, with an isometric projection of the office, the little figures of the workers and clients moving at high speed, and loads and loads of graphs and diagrams, all of it overlapped by my 3D figure.
I sent a mental command to add Alik, putting him on the founder member list. A Synergy box appeared next to him, flashing fat green numbers: 106% this year, 111% next year, and then a sharp rise to 160% in 2020.
Oh wow. Did that mean that the system was taking Alik’s input into account? Judging by its prognosis, he’d become more useful as the years went by. Could it be because he might go back to school? Should I send him to a college, maybe? Enrolment hadn’t yet finished this year.
Our profits seemed to grow proportionally from year to year: first by six, then by eleven and fifty-eight percent. That meant that by keeping Alik as a partner, we might earn more than without him. And considering that I’d only promised him five percent of the profits, it was a win-win situation.
This ability seemed to have a interesting effect. My hands shook as I wiped the sweat from my forehead, overwhelmed by these new developments.
Well, well, well. And what if...
I returned to the Sinergy window and added Stacy.
This time the program didn’t respond. It was either glitchy or it simply didn’t perceive Stacy as a human being.
I removed Alik, and the Synergy box disappeared. I tried to add the girl again but the program just wouldn’t have it. Could it be because I kne
w nothing about her and didn’t have enough KIDD points?
Very well. Let’s try someone else.
I brought Alik back into the picture, and hey presto! The Synergy numbers reappeared in a flash as the program kept evaluating our company’s situation. The further into the future, the slower the dates and numbers changed. Could it be the multiple-choice effect from all the reality splits which gradually turned our progress into a multi-million-option game? And the further into the future, the less accurate the forecast became.
I tried to visualize Mr. Katz next to me and Alik. The picture updated. Now there were three of us in the scene while the Synergy box showed 227% already this year. More than double. And 362% next year.
That was nothing to sniff at.
I must have looked a bit weird to the casual onlooker, sitting there with my eyes closed, smiling at something. The hubbub of voices let up a little but didn’t stop completely. My friends must have decided I’d dosed off.
Okay. Focus, Phil! Concentrate!
I left everything as it was and added... Yagoza. No idea what had inspired me to try our local criminal boss with all his prison tattoos, but the program reacted to it straight away.
The simulator flashed red. All the numbers plummeted to rock bottom, predicting negative Synergy and killing the company already by the end of next year. The graphs showed some crazy losses, with the agency closing down by 2020.
I got it, I got it. I promptly removed Yagoza and the numbers turned green again.
I spent the next two hours shuffling the company’s potential partners list, adding all the people in my immediate circle and varying their activities and input, until I’d arrived at the optimal configuration of both our shareholders and activities. This was what I had:
I’d head up the company with 51%. Another 9% would go to Alik and the remaining 40% would be shared between Kasha, Veronica, Gleb, Mr. Katz and his wife Rose. Gleb only had 5% while Mr. Katz and Rose had 7,5% each.
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