Immaculate Spirit c1-242

by Newbiel

  Looking through both files, Richard had to admit that was not easy to choose from the two. The two girls had both their strengths and weaknesses. He didn't know who to choose until he remembered the sports performance of Columbia this year.

  "We will go with Na Yung Kim, our feminine archery team finished dead last this year. We could use her ability to win a couple of places. Comparatively, our swimming team is in the top3 so the skill of Melissa would not be of much use to us." Richard decided.

  "Okay, I will make the necessary arrangement." Joshua says, getting back the file that he deposited on the desk until he was stopped.

  "Let me keep the LSAT of the kid, I want to read it again later when I have more time."

  "No problem. Later Richard."

  "Later Joshua."

  Chapter 46: :

  Las Vegas, 15/07/2012. 16:40

  "Now, we are about to try something that will… hummm, set us a bit apart."

  "For our final trick, we are gonna do something never before seen on a Las Vegas stage."

  "Or any stage for that matter."

  "Ladies and gentlemens… Tonight.. We are going to rob a bank!"

  "Anddd CUT! " Louis exclaimed. "That was good guys, we are keeping it!"

  They were currently in Las Vegas to turn a scene in a huge showroom. They had the room for only a day and so needed to finish quickly. It was in this exact room that the 'Horsemen' would filmed their first show.

  "Ah, finally a scene done in one shoot." Jesse said.

  "It's because our boy here is in a process to become a real man." Woody says with humor.

  "You are just jealous that I still have hair Woody and you know it." Nathaniel responds in the same way, making them laugh.

  Over the course of the movie, Nathaniel gradually became the mascot of the set. As he was the youngest here by a huge margin, everybody liked to make fun of him. He could have resent that but he could see that he was made good naturally and not in the prospect of being mean so he accepted it. Accepting it, doesn't mean he was not responding the same way.

  "Don't listen to him Nath, he is just jealous that his suit is not as amazing as yours. You look great by the way." Isla complimented.

  "Coming from the most beautiful 'Horsemen', it really means something. Thanks." He said, kissing her cheek, making her blush a little even if that was not easy to see with the makeup that she had on her.

  "You know, I'm starting to get the stinky eyes from the other women working here. You barely respond to them and yet you flirt with me."

  "It's because they look at me like I'm some kind of food they want to eat. You, on the other hand, are in love with your husband so you are easy to get along." He responded truthfully.

  "I don't have a problem with being looked at as food, it looks fun." Woody said naughtily.

  "I hear you brother but with Nathaniel here acting as an eye candy, we are powerless." Jesse added, seemingly sad.

  "Really? What about the cute blonde I saw you kissing, two days ago?" Nathaniel says with a little smile, making Jesse jump.

  "Wait, you saw that?"

  "Ah ah! things start to get interesting here." Woody says with a big smile.

  "Who is she? I want to know everything." Isla added, she could not resist the very concept of gossip.

  "I believe she works on the script but I can't be sure. I think Jesse here knows her better than all of us combined." Nathaniel laughed.

  "Her name is Ashley by the way but I have no idea why she would hook up with someone as short as you." Say someone behind him.

  Nathaniel did not have to turn around to know a serrated tongue like that could belong to only one person.

  "Hi to you too Maggie and for your information I'm not that short." Say Jesse bitter.

  "Yeah, keep telling yourself that." She adds with a humph.

  Woody and Isla turn their head on the side so their smile could not be seen by Jesse. They had long since gotten used to Maggie abused and that was nothing compared to what she was saying to Nathaniel sometimes. They didn't know how Nathaniel managed to be unbothered by it but it was surprising nonetheless. Themselves had huge experience at putting up with abuse coming from talented people but seeing it from a sixteen years old was still impressive.

  "Hi sunshine." Nathaniel said.

  "Shut your mouth. We have things to talk about, let's go." She said, leaving without waiting for him.

  "Ah, I love seeing her so happy to get me alone. That gives me faith for the future." Nathaniel said, making his co-stars laugh.

  With a hand wave, he said his goodbye before following Maggie in a loge which she closed the second he passed the door.

  "Okay, what's going on? Did the studio finally give their answer for the music?"

  "They did, that's why I want you alone. That was smart of you by the way to name your mother as the label representative, we managed to get an amazing deal for you."

  "I don't know everything about making a deal or money for that matter so naming people with experience in it is common sense."

  "Good to see that you know your limit. Ok sign that." She said, getting a huge chunk of document from her briefcase.

  "This is a NDA." Nathaniel saw on first glance.

  "Yeah, we manage to have an amazing deal with your mother but the studio does not want the news to spread so sign it fast before they come to their senses." Maggie urges.

  Trusting her and especially his mother, he hastily put his signature on the noted page.

  "Good. Now I can finally tell you what this is all about. We manage to transform this song into a partnership. So now, you are the happy detentor of 3% of the movie and they have 3% of your song. This is really good. Beyond the financial aspect, if things go well, the studio would call on you again as an actor or a singer or both."

  "So, I will get 3% of the total profit of the movie in the theater and they will get the same on my song?" Nathaniel clarified.

  "Yes, you pick up quickly. The estimated profits for this movie is around 300 millions so congratulations. You just made a song for 9 millions dollars at minimum. I believe it would be much more." She exclaimed joyfully.

  Nathaniel could not help to flash a bitter smile. There were only three things that Maggie loved in this world it seems. Her daughter, bullying him and winning some money. And since she was viewing each dollar that she earned as a college fund for her daughter, she basically crossed two things off her list at once.

  "This is nice, good job Maggie. Do we have other things to talk about?"

  "Yeah, you keep getting offers by Harvard and Yale. This is crazy, if things continue, they would basically pay you to attend their school." She said, awe. She never knew that the top university of this country was competing that fiercely to get the best students.

  "Did you not tell them I was accepted at Columbia already?" He asks with a frown.

  "I did but they took it as you trying to ramp up the price so they did. Mary even told me they received at their workplace a basket of fruits as a sign of 'goodwill'."

  "Let them be, if they think a couple of baskets will win my mothers over, they are greatly mistaken. At most, they would use that to boast about me to their co-workers." He said with a laugh.

  "Boasting about our children's is a sacred right to us, Mothers." Maggie affirms with a righteous nod, making Nathaniel laugh even louder. "Stop laughing or I'm going to hit you! By the way, I asked Louis if he wanted to turn the music video and he accepted. Are you really going to take someone who has never done that before?"

  "Yes, I have a good impression of him and he was always patient with me when I delayed some scenes."

  "You can't let your feelings interfere with the business side of things." Maggie rebuked.

  "Okay see it on a business side if you prefer. Since it's his first movie clip, it would be cheaper and I could have more say in the matter and how it is done that if it was someone known."

  "That's better, if you keep listening to me and learn, you will be
come someone someday." She said in a patronizing tone.

  Nathaniel could only shake his head at that. Maggie will always be Maggie.

  Chapter 47: :

  New York, Lyndon Label. 29/07/2012. 10:00.

  On the 35th floors of the huge Lyndon Tower situated in Manhattan, in a huge office richly furnished, people could see at the window, a woman yelling at the phone. She was in her late thirties and was an extremely charming woman with jet long black hair. She was wearing a tailored blue dress with high heels who was adding to her charm and making her even more beautiful. The fact that she was really angry at the moment could not obscure that fact.

  "How the hell is this possible! Find who leaked that album today and fired him!" Mary Lyndon yells on the phone before hanging up.

  Sitting back, she starts taking slow breaths to calm herself. Someone in their Seatle branch office had just leaked the new album of one of their artists. Of course, the artist was furious, his agent was furious and she was also furious. Once leaked, their CD album would sell less, the downloading too and the label would lose money. More than money, when that happens, the label reputation would take a hit and that would impact the price of their stocks.

  They had already taken steps to delete the original link posted but once on the internet, that was over. For each link they would delete, three more would be created. It was a losing battle. Like cutting the head of the Hydra. Looking to calm herself, her eyes landed on the framed picture of her family and her anger immediately subsided. Until recently, the only picture was of her wife, her son when he was ten and her. But after her parents came back in her life and her son did the same and finally came out of a coma, a brand new picture was sitting on her desk.

  It was a picture taken before her son left for LA two month ago. They were all in the photo, her father, mother, wife and her lovely son, smiling and being happy. Even if her and her parents reconciled five years ago, when the accident happened, it was her son who made her family whole again. Just seeing her usually stern father smiling like that was warming her heart. She was not talking about his fake smile that he uses with the press or his business partners but a genuine, heartfelt smile.

  When their son was injured and his status started deteriorating, Mary and Karine became some kind of expert on coma as they were reading every health related article they could find, searching for new experimental treatment and so on. They were desperate to find a cure so he could come back to them but they never found it. That causes them a huge amount of heartache. They both knew that the chance of her son coming out of coma without everlasting consequences was unheard of. She even found out that the percentage of that happening was 0.01%, it was astronomically low.

  Even if she did not see her son for the last two month, they talked almost every day on the phone. She was missing him but just thinking about everything they were through, he deserved to accomplish his dream. That's why they did not object to him leaving alone even if they would have prefered to keep him beside them. Thinking about it, he should have come back home three weeks ago but the film had been delayed so she had no choice but to wait. She hoped she would not have to wait too long.

  Feeling calmer, she was going to pick her phone again when someone entered her office without being announced or even knocked. She didn't know who had the nerve to enter like that as even her father would not come in on her office before knocking and she was going to yell at the person when the harsh word died on her lips.

  Looking at the dashing young men entering her office, her heart almost leaped out of her chest.

  "MY BABY!" Mary yelled happily, launching herself into the tender embrace of her son.

  "Hi mom." Nathaniel murmurs in her ear, patting her hair.

  "But how? When?" She asked, still shocked, tears of joy in her eyes.

  "I finished the last scene last night so I took the first flight to come home. I miss you both." He said emotionally.

  "We missed you too!" She said on the verge of crying. Her son held many secrets but his love for them was not one of them and she was very glad it wasn't. He had never been shy when he expressed his love to them and she was immensely grateful that it was something that survived his coma.

  "Sorry, it was my fault. The director wanted to reshoot some scenes because I could do things that were not in the script. I have a place for the premiere for both of you and for grandma and grandpa too, I hope you will like it."

  "Of course we will sweetie, you are on it we can't help but to love it." Mary said, soothing his worries. "Why did nobody give me heads up that you were coming? Nothing from the lobby and nothing from my two secretaries, they were sleeping?"

  "No, I just smiled at them, they were too busy blushing to stop me from entering." He said, smiling brilliantly to illustrate what he was saying.

  "Karine was right, we created a monster." Mary said with chagrin but her smile gave her away quickly. "By the way, did you call your mom to warn her that you were back?"

  "No, I wanted to surprise her but I'm still banned from approaching the DA office so I plan to surprise her when she goes eating at noon." He smiled craftily.

  "You are a monster sweetie." Mary said laughing and shaking her head.

  "By the way, I have a gift for you two." Nathaniel adds, taking an envelope out of his pocket.

  Curious, she opened the envelope and took out the brochure that was on it.

  "What is that baby?"

  "That is two tickets for a five day vacation in LA in the best resort of the city where the only thing you would have to do is relax, get massaged and take time with mom away from the city."

  "It's adorable sweetie but we can't! We have important work, we can't just leave without notice. And how much did you spend on these? It sounds really expensive!"

  "I know mom, that's why I already took the responsibility to book vacation day to both of you. In the system, your vacation appears to be reserved a month ago. And for money, don't worry about it, I could afford it. It's in one week so be ready and don't even think about rejecting, the tickets are non refundable."

  "I see that you thought about everything." She sighed. "How did you manage to enter our system to book this vacation?"

  "Mom, you should know that magicians never reveal their tricks."

  "I don't even know why I bother to ask." She shakes her head. "Thanks for the amazing gift sweetie. You right, we do need some time off but we would like it better if you were there with us."

  "No mom, you really need time with only you two. Don't worry, College starts in a month and a half. I would stay home during that period. I'm not planning to go anywhere. I need to prepare for College and finish my album by the way." He says.

  "Alright sweetie. Now sit, i want to hear everything that happened to you the last few months."

  Chapter 48: :

  South Korea. 10/09/2012. 02:00.

  Outside of Seoul, there was a little and peaceful town called Gwangju. Gwangju was the home of around three thousand people who had a very quiet life there. But on the outskirts of the town there was a little house who was quite infamous here in Gwangju. That broken down old house had the reputation to harbor evil spirits. Just walking in front of that home could be a bad omen and so even the people leaving near here would avoid it. This inhabited house could make even the stronger man in the town shiver in fear and he would run before even passing the gateway.

  The first mistake people made about this house was that it was not inhabited. Even if the main floor seemed abandoned, there was activity in the cellar. The second mistake they made was this house did not harbor any ghost or evil spirit but something far more dangerous than that.

  In the cellar dimly lit by a few candles disposed around the room, a man could be seen strapped in a chair. He was around forty years old with black hair and a strong jaw who demonstrated that he was a very strong willed individual. The once expensive suit that he wore had been torn at multiple areas making him look like a beggar. He was in a very sorry state at
the moment as he was bleeding from multiple wounds on his body. He was even missing several toes that had been cut off and all of his fingernails had been torn off. Despite the intensive torture that he experienced, that man jaw was still locked, proof that he was still holding the information that his torturer wanted.

  At that moment a man with black clothes appears in the light. He was wearing a hood and a face mask making him impossible to recognize. He would be considered short by many people considering that he was around 5"5" but the dangerous and murderous aura around him would make him appear taller in the eyes of people. Behind his shoulder, the handle of a saber could be seen and there was a gun and a knife on his belt.

  Even his weapons were black as well as his eyes that could be seen behind his hood. The man seems to be an incarnation of darkness as he appears from the shadow without even a sound.

  "I will ask again. Where are they?" He asks in a chilling tone.

  "Go f**k yourself!" The man shouted in an exhausted voice.

  The man looked unbothered by the insult and just lifted a finger. The next moment, a saber seems to materialize from the darkness and cut off another toes.

  "ARGHHHHHHH"

  "You know we are going to find them eventually, so spare you some pain and just tell us, it's for the better."

  "Never!"

  The saber came out of the darkness again but this time it cut off his right tomb making him yell even louder, blood starting to form a pool beneath him.

  "Hee-Joon stopped being so stubborn. Tell me what I want to know or we would have to get your pretty girlfriend and put her through everything that we did to you."

  "I don't have a girlfriend." Hee-Joon said weakly, his head lower.

  "What about Sun-Hi living in Seoul and working as a hairdresser?"

  Hearing that, he could not help to lift his head up in surprise, his already pale face getting even paler.

  "Please don't hurt her, she knows nothing about this and she is innocent! Don't harm her, I would do everything that you want." He begged for the first time since being tortured here.