C101: Flowers blooming on an abandoned road (1)
The next place Violetta showed him was the huge vacant lot where Circus was located. It was once a site for a large building, but development was canceled for some reason, leaving nothing but a huge open space.
Perhaps the reason the development was canceled was because there were only shantytowns around, so the conditions for moving in were not very good.
As a result, the city was virtually abandoned, and Circus took its place and was using it.
Standing tall in the center of the vacant lot is a shabby but large tent. It was a circus troupe that Circus was proud of and was especially crowded today.
A song came out from the inside.
"I'm trying the musical you mentioned. It's still in the early stages, but seeing what I've shown in a demonstration, the response is good. I plan to open a theater in earnest to attract customers after trying it a few times at an outdoor venue in the near future."
When I went inside the tent, the cheerful singing sound became clearer.
Circus members were seen on the central stage of the tent. They threw off the bizarre outfits they were wearing before and were dressed as neatly as possible.
The guests could not take their eyes off the spectacular performance of singing and dancing to the music. Although it was just a rehearsal, most of the reactions were favorable.
"Pinion is also very active in this matter. He was so happy with himself that he completely quit smoking."
Pinion, the leader of Circus, the man with dwarfism was singing with all his might on the podium. Surprisingly, he had an excellent singing ability.
At first, he, the leader, was furious about what kind of song he was singing, but now he is at the forefront. In fact, he must have wanted to do it the most."
"He's an unusual man."
"I wasn't honest. After this rehearsal is over, we will start ticketing in earnest."
"Have you decided on a theater where the musical will be held?"
"There's a theater that was built a long time ago, but was closed because no one came. The location isn't bad either so I paid a lot of money to fix everything. The same goes for the surrounding streets and the people are already watching with interest."
"Let's see."
Rudger could see why what was happening in the slums was also in the ears of the upper class. If they make such a big deal, everyone will be interested.
"Do you think people will gather?"
"First of all, the reaction from people around us is favorable, but it is also true that there are far more people who do not know about it, that's why you need Old Kids. Let's go to the next place."
Violetta stepped out.
The two of them came out of the circus tent and stopped in front of a building while walking on a clean footpath.
"It's a publishing house run by Old Kids."
The building, which had previously been used as an illegal gambling place for the Red Society, was renovated to become an office.
"You're here."
At the entrance, Mastella greeted us with a smile and Deon stood beside her like a stone, as always.
Violetta folded her arms and stared at the two with disapproval.
"Mastella, didn't you go to work?"
"The owner is going to come here himself so we can't leave. You have to check the progress of the project yourself, wouldn't it be right for us to guide you ourselves?"
Their eyes were tangled in the air and Violetta shrugged her shoulders.
"Yeah, do as you please."
Mastella was the right person to explain exactly what was going on inside.
She smiled and invited Rudger inside.
"Let's go in, owner."
"Yeah."
Rudger couldn't get used to Mastella acting so mature.
A cute little girl like a doll runs a business that adults should and does it with all her heart.
She was precocious, but on the other hand, it was also unfortunate that she was not able to live in a good environment and had no choice but to mature early.
There were a lot of machines running inside the building and countless papers were running fast along the rails. It was recognizable at a glance that a thin book was made by a machine.
"I made what the owner told me. Is it called a magazine?"
Rudger silently grabbed a finished magazine and opened it up. What was written on the inside were various gossips that usually appeared in magazines.
Looking through the contents, Rudger nodded.
"It's not bad."
Although it fell short of what he imagined, but given that this was the first issue, it was rather above the threshold.
Most of the information can only be obtained through newspapers, and as a result, there is almost no way to find out information that the newspapers did not provide except for organizations that buy and sell confidential information.
In particular, since most newspapers only publish articles favorable to the upper classes, the middle and working classes were reluctant to buy newspapers.
Even in these areas, the class gap still existed and the magazine was a decisive business item that would reduce the gap between those classes.
The main purpose of the magazine is to make the news more accessible to the public. However, if it contains too much information, it can be boring, so entertainment content was added to the back of the magazine.
It was a short novel that can attract people's attention, a collection of short stories called pulp fiction.
Pulp fiction on Earth means cheap short stories that were serialized in magazines made of cheap paper. However, the reason why you cannot look down on this pulp fiction is because it is the way you can enjoy genre literature the most.
Even in this world, mystery, adventure, and horror novels are gaining popularity. However, people who lack leisure time and feel pressured to pay for books are not enjoying this at all. So, what appeared as a substitute was Pulp Fiction published in magazines.
"It seems that a lot of writers have gathered."
"There's no one who writes without money."
Most of the writers of this era, except for the few who published bestsellers, were poor and couldn't even eat properly. For such poor writers, listing their short stories in this magazine could be a kind of livelihood and since a lot of money was invested in the magazine a lot of writers flocked to make some money.
"This will be a landmark first publication, but if it grows in popularity, I plan to expand into other fields."
Rudger said with conviction.
"It doesn't matter if you fail. So, don't worry about that and make as many copies as possible."
Mastella and Deon widened their eyes as if in surprise at the fact that they would not be held accountable if the magazine failed.
Most people tend to ignore even the mistakes made due to their carelessness and pass them on to others but Rudger didn't.
"After all the money is overflowing."
Even if it fails, he can make up for it because he has a lot of money.
Mastella was at a loss for words.
"Really?"
"Yes."
Mastella wondered how he could say it so easily and how he could put those words into practice.
'We are the abandoned people of this city.'
The slums are places that have been given up even by Leathervelk. Most of the development in the city is for the rich, and the place where the lower classes live is effectively abandoned land.
No one even pays attention to this place and no one cares.
-Who do you think would throw a penny to trash like you guys?
Every once in a while someone came over here and tried to benefit but in the end, even such a person deliberately approached with a mask in order to retrieve even a single pearl from the mud.
The moment they realized that they had nothing to gain from here, they showed their ugly inner side and fled.
It was natural not to trust anyone.
Because they were abandoned, they didn't even have expectations. So when she first saw the vision that Rudger presented to them, she was half-suspicious.
What he wanted in return for giving them the business ideas was their obedience so she thought that he wanted to use them too.
But when she accepted the proposal with that one hope that she could escape from this terrible reality Mastella never dreamed that the choice she made would be something she would never regret for the rest of her life.
Rudger got to work right away. He released a huge amount of money she didn't know where he got it from and distributed it all over the slums.
The mayor, who said he would step up to promote equality in the city, and the House members who used to say that they would do their best for the lower class repeated the same thing over the years just to say it, but Rudger has created jobs for the slums with huge funds in the last few weeks.
He showed them the way to go and gave them the impetus to move forward with actions, not words.
"The priority is to spread the No. 1 release to as many people as possible. If we build a reputation and recognition with it, more people will come."
"That's why I'm spreading rumors using the kids on the streets."
Children receive all kinds of news, but on the contrary, it is also possible to spread rumors. When children hint at their parents, they create rumors among themselves.
"I think you're doing well, so I'm leaving now."
"Yes. Goodbye owner."
After making sure that the Old Kids were working properly, Rudger left the building with Violetta.
It was confirmed that the Women of the Black Rose, Old Kids, and Circus were steadily carrying out their respective businesses as Rudger taught.
'It's still in its early stages, so it costs a lot of capital, but if the business gets on track in earnest, it will steadily earn more than the money invested.'
Rudger is not a philanthropist. He invested money in this slum because he was confident that he could earn more. Once he confirmed that the process was going smoothly Rudger decided to focus on his work.
"Where are you going now? I think you've checked everything."
"Let's go meet someone."
"Who?"
"You can think of them as colleagues who will work with us in the future."
Originally, he was going to move alone, but he thought he could introduce Violetta to them. As such it was Rudger's turn to guide Violetta.
Rudger took Violetta to the downtown area of Grand Chapel.
"Why are you here?"
"There are a lot of women."
"What?"
Violetta stared at Rudger in disbelief. She didn't think he was that kind of person.
"I know what you're thinking."
"What? I didn't really think about that."
"I'm not the target in the first place. Look at that."
Rudger raised his hand and pointed to one side. She looked carefully to see what was there and saw a man talking to a woman.
It was an unusual man, dressed in a suit that was common among people walking around, but what stood out was his exotic skin color.
His skin was brown, as if from a southern kingdom, and his curly hair shone as if gold was melted and woven into threads.
"Who's that?"
"My colleague."
Rudger replied and walked slowly toward the blond man. Meanwhile, the man was reciting all kinds of honey-filled words to attract the attention of the lady.
"Beautiful lady, would you please give me a chance to have dinner with you today?"
"Uh, um. I can't……."
At first, the lady refused but she was about to fall for his sweet talk then Rudger stepped in.
"That's it for the conversation."
"Huh? Who are you?"
The lady grimaced as Rudger interrupted at an important moment, but as soon as she saw his face, she smiled. The brown-skinned man also smiled awkwardly at Rudger.
"Haha. Leader you're here? But what are you doing here? Don't I still have time left until the appointment?"
"I think I'll be late again if I leave you like this. I'm sorry miss this guy here is my colleague, so I'll take him."
"Well, go ahead."
Rudger spoke with courtesy, and the lady waved her hand and said it was OK.
He immediately grabbed the man's back and dragged him forcibly to where Violetta was.
"Oh! There's another beautiful girl here! As expected, Leathervelk has great waters."
As soon as the man saw Violetta, his eyes lit up and he smirked. His neat teeth glowed white in the sun.
"……Is he really a colleague?"
"Yes. His actions are frivolous, but his skills are real."
"That's why you're the leader. Calling me all the way to this city means there's a hot adventure waiting for us here too? What other heart-pounding beauties and gold and silver treasures will greet me today?"
"……Are you really talented?"
Rudger opened his mouth, letting go of the back of the man he was holding.
"Let me introduce you. This is Alex, who will be working with us."
"Nice to meet you, beautiful lady like a rose. Even if I look like this, I'm from a noble family in the Southern Fatima Kingdom, so take care."
"Is he a noble?"
Rudger corrected Violetta, who was surprised and asked.
"Be careful. This guy is a scammer."
"You're a con artist?"
Violetta looked at Alex, who was still smiling, with astonishment. Did he cheat her right after meeting?
Alex asked Rudger, ignoring the astounded Violetta.
"Leader, why did you suddenly called me here?"
"Now I'm going to settle down in earnest."
"Oh, is the long wandering life finally coming to an end? So what am I going to do here?"
"What you're good at as always."
Rudger answered in a low voice so as not to be heard by the passersby's.
"We're going to rob the Kunst auction house this time."