Chapter 374: Curing Sarah [1]

"Why did you do that...?"

I asked the question the moment we left the office. I was still struggling to grasp the reason behind Zoey’s actions.

Why did she do that?

1.4 million wasn’t a tiny sum. It was an extremely big sum.

Even if she was rich, this wasn’t the type of money that just anyone would take out on a whim.

Was this really because of Kyle?

"You’re not going to say anything?"

"....."

Zoey finally came to a stop, her back facing my direction. She turned slowly, her eyes searching my face for what felt like an eternity before she finally started moving toward me.

"You know, I think I’ve finally realised something."

Coming to a stop, she pressed her finger over my right shoulder.

"You’re a pushover."

"....?"

"Is it that you just don’t care about anything, or that you’re too careful? Either way, you’re a pushover. The fact that you let them walk all over you back then without much of a fight pretty much showed me that. You were about to walk away, right?"

"....."

"So you were..."

Zoey pressed her hand against her face, looking completely exasperated.

I didn’t even say anything...

Although she did have a point, there was a very good chance I would’ve just left and dealt with the issue later. But it wasn’t because I was a pushover or anything like that. It was just because I thought that I had no real leverage.

The documents were signed, and besides ’killing’ them, I really had nothing else on my mind.

I wasn’t rich enough to do something like this.

’No, now that I think about it, I might be able to afford it.’

The Guild had recently given me a million dollars in extra budget for accepting Ariel in my team. I could technically use that money to pay for the debt, but...

’It feels like wasted money.’

"It’s no wonder they act like that in the first place. It’s because they know they can get away with it. Look at how you signed a contract like that. Why would you even sign something like that without reading it? That’s like the most basic of this—"

"I’ll make sure to pay you back when I can."

I cut Zoey off before she could finish her sentence.

The moment I cut her off, she let out a surprised, ’Huh?’, but I ignored it completely. I didn’t even feel like talking to her at the moment.

While I was grateful for her help, I was also pretty pissed.

What did she know?

It wasn’t like I had signed the contract without knowing that it was a shady one. I knew all along, but it wasn’t like I had a choice.

I was at a point where I thought every day would be my last.

What was I to worry about how bad or good a contract was? I had no time to think of such matters.

As if realising something, Zoey’s face changed.

"Wait, sorry, I think—"

"It’s fine."

I cut Zoey off mid-sentence. I wasn’t really in the mood to talk any longer.

Thankfully, she appeared to have taken note of my attitude and stopped speaking. I felt a little bad, but I was quite annoyed at the moment.

Looking around, I headed for the elevators.

I had had enough of this place.

***

’...Ah, shit.’

Zoey covered her face with both hands. Thinking about what she said and his reaction shortly after, she started to feel extremely bad.

"Stupid, stupid..." she muttered under her breath, trailing several steps behind him.

’Why did I say that? I completely forgot...’

The main reason she decided to follow along was that she felt bad about her past behavior. While his words and attitude were also out of order, they don’t come from a place of harm. She knew this now that she knew him better.

And yet—

’Agh!!! I really made it so much worse.’

Her intentions weren’t bad either. However, when she thought about why he would take such a terrible contract, she was reminded of his words and statement regarding the fracture in his head.

Taking out her phone, she stared at it for a couple of seconds before reaching for the back and removing the chip planted behind it.

This was something that had been given by them in order to prevent her from recording.

Not that it mattered since she was made to sign the NDA.

But more than anything, she was still hung up about the situation.

"Stupid, stupid... How did I not think of the obvious?" She muttered silently, her steps slowing down.

The reason why Seth had taken the contract was obvious. It wasn’t that he was unaware; it was that he had no choice.

’But couldn’t he have asked Kyle for help...?’

Kyle was just as rich as she was. For him, 1.4 million wouldn’t be too much. Certainly, it was no small amount, but taking into consideration how close the two were, she was certain he would pay for it without any problems.

That was unless...

Zoey’s eyes widened, and something dawned in her mind.

’That’s unless he never told Kyle...’

Thinking about Kyle and the reason why he was working so hard to earn money, Zoey realised why he had never asked.

’It’s not about ego or anything like that. He just...’

Zoey’s head slowly lifted while staring at Seth’s back, biting her lips softly. For some reason, following along from behind, she felt that it was a lot smaller than she had previously expected.

In fact, looking at him now, she realised just how pale and skinny he was.

While he had bulked up a little, he was still considerably skinny.

Her heart sank.

’I really need to find time to apologise.’

***

A tense silence followed in the room after Seth and Zoey left the room. Neither the CEO nor the assistant spoke a single word as they both stood in silence, unable to fully process what had happened.

Eventually—

Ding!

A sudden chime rang, and both heads turned in the direction of the sound.

The CEO reached for his phone.

The silence across the room stretched further.

Eventually, putting the phone down, the CEO closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"The money went through. We’ve received the full amount."

Daniel didn’t say anything and just stared at the transaction. Seeing that it had really succeeded, he didn’t have any words to say.

However, he was still relatively calm.

"This is a good amount of money. We can put this in the marketing budget. There will be a new update coming in a few months. It’ll be rather big. Let’s work towards that."

"Yes, let’s..."

The CEO nodded, in full agreement. Eventually, however, his brows furrowed.

"This is leaving a sour taste in my mouth."

He checked the phone again.

"I can see that we’ve received all of the money, but this is far from the value of the programs that were used in the game."

"That’s true."

Daniel nodded in agreement. The two of them were probably the only people who were aware of just how precious the music and programs used in the games were.

Neither fully understood how Seth managed to develop such programs, but they both understood the value of such programs.

"We have to get our hands on them at all costs."

The CEO’s fists clenched tightly.

"...It’s obvious that such scripts weren’t developed in just six months. They’re too complicated for that. It’s very likely he used company resources to create them. They are rightfully our programs. The fact that he’s still not giving them up despite us being so generous is really starting to piss me off."

In the CEO’s mind, the programs belonged to him. Seth was merely a developer who had worked on them while using their equipment and teachings.

What he had developed was all because of them.

He owed them the programs.

"I’ve tried to check the source code of the games to look at the programs, but they can’t be replicated. I think he must’ve realised that people could’ve copied them and encrypted them." Daniel spoke while going through his phone. He was reading the notes given to him by the staff he had put in charge of checking Seth’s games.

"It’s good that he did that."

The CEO replied, his brows still furrowed tightly.

"At the very least, this will prevent other companies from taking my programs away. The main issue right now is trying to get that low-end developer to give us the programs. The contract is only viable for half a year. There’s not much time left until that passes. This..."

The CEO started chewing on his nails, trying his best to think of a way to get Seth to hand the programs over.

Thankfully, Daniel was one step ahead.

"Please relax, CEO. I’ve already thought of a way."

"Hm?"

Raising his head, the CEO looked at his assistant. He found a way? Really...?

"Yes."

Daniel nodded, his expression calm.

As his lips slowly pulled into a smile, he began telling his plan. Listening to his words, the CEO’s face slowly changed, and a smile soon appeared on his face.

"Yes, yes, yes! Let’s do that!"

He laughed out loud, the previous anxiety completely gone from his face as he looked at his assistant with joy.

"Get started immediately. Make sure thata low-end developer never sets foot in this market again!"