Chapter 518: Cronk’s realization
Cronk sat back at his desk, still unable to process what he had just seen. He leaned back on his desk, and sighed.
And it was at that moment that he saw something from the corner of his eyes.
The sales report of the RD Soda was sprawled all over his desk, disorderly. There must have been about five pages filled with nothing but numbers in there.
But strangely enough, there was one page at the very end that was different from the rest. It was a page that was filled with words and sentences, structured just like any other newspaper article that they were writing.
He quickly took the paper and began to read it.
{The Reborn Company in Metropolis}
{Written by Jimmy}
Then, he realized it was indeed a newspaper article, but one solely focused on the Reborn company and their achievements.
"There’s more to the soda?" Cronk said to himself.
This article detailed the exact moment when Michael, the Reborn company’s leader, stepped into Metropolis and began their expansion.
Here, he learned about Michael’s record-breaking permit test, accomplishing something that not even the Legacies had accomplished.
"Four element mastery...he’s the Mystic Genius kid!"
Not only that, but Michael was instrumental in the downfall of Basilisk Ores and their network. He was the one who practically found out about their scheme to try and cheat their way into getting a part of Main Street.
"Kobra? No way...he was defeated by Michael?!"
Cronk’s eyes widened once he realized that Michael beat the infamous Kobra, one-on-one, in a Sanctum Duel that Kobra solely designed.
But it seemed that his surprise didn’t end there.
"Wait...Vanderbilt? He’s a Vanderbilt?!" he shockingly realized. As a major editor of the Daily Metro, he thought he knew everything there was to know about the Vanderbilts in Metropolis.
With the kind of talents and gifts that he was showcasing, Michael’s name should have been famous all over the Queens region!
It was then that he realized something unbelievable.
If the boy was being raised and helped by Yze Vanderbilt, then everyone would have known about him by now. Yet, Michael’s name wasn’t even being spoken by any other Vanderbilt or Yze.
"Maybe he did it all by himself? Without the Vanderbilts help?!"
This realization put him completely stun-locked. He had to put the article away to take a break.
After all, even the Legacies: Alaric, Aerith, and Bobby couldn’t have made it this far, this fast without the help of their conglomerate ties. There were always inheritances, connections, and other things that let them have an advantage over other start-up companies.
Yet, Michael did it all by himself.
Learning about this lit a spark of curiosity in Cronk’s journalistic heart. He knew he was looking at the story of a lifetime.
He began to read more, learning about how got the honor of being guided by the Duchess’ personal guards towards their castle.
Then, the article talked about the Vanderbilts getting their justice after learning about Jack’s fraud.
After that, Jimmy wrote about how Michael got the personal approval of the Duchess to release his products in Metropolis.
"A novice company got the seal of approval from the Duchess?! That’s impressive. What kind of products did Michael sell?
Oh, was it the RD Soda? It would make sense as to why the royal twins and their children visited his stall today.
Wait, it’s not about the soda? Then what is it?...auto...automobile..?"
As he read the description of this ’automobile’, Cronk audibly gasped out loud, getting the attention of his secretary.
"Sir Cronk? Are you alright?"
The secretary looked at their main editor and saw him look completely ashen, as if he had just seen a ghost. "Oh my god! Are you having a heart attack?!"
Cronk looked at her and finally released the breath he’d been holding in.
"HAAA...I very well may have had a heart attack after reading this..."
As it turned out, Michael was the one who owned and produced the vehicles that got the whole of Metropolis scrambling to get one. From what he heard, the vehicle was the second to last item that was going to be auctioned off this evening, meaning it was part of the main event.
The Major Factions would spend all they had to obtain those.
Cronk sat back down in his seat and rubbed his aching head. Hearing about Reborn almost made his heart explode.
"If they accomplished this in Metropolis, then what the hell have they been doing in the Kings region?"
It was just then that Cronk remembered something.
Jimmy begged him back then to read his articles about the Reborn company and their accomplishments in the Kings region.
He thought that those were just lies, given how far-fetched some of it seemed. He hadn’t even finished the whole thing before he immediately tossed it out.
After realizing this, Cronk immediately got out of his seat and began rummaging his whole office to find those articles that Jimmy wrote. He overturned the desk, emptied out all the drawers, and he even ripped out the carpet on the floor just to see where they went.
The other journalists saw this from the outside and thought that their main editor had finally lost his mind.
But thankfully, after a few more hours and some help from his secretary, they were able to find the crumbled up papers that Jimmy wrote.
Cronk mentally prepared himself, lighting up another cigar, before diving into the entire history of the Reborn company.
An hour later, his jaws were aching. From the very start of the article, he was speechless. Everything he read felt like fantasy. And if he hadn’t just witnessed Reborn work their magic in Metropolis, then he would have dismissed it as nothing but hearsay.
But now, Cronk believed that everything in the article was true.
They were so exaggerated that no one could have thought of it.
Immediately, Cronk fixed his desk and brought out his quill and ink.
For the first time in twenty years, he was going to be writing an article for the newspaper. Usually, he relegated writing to his staff and simply just supervised them. However, this piece of news was so important that he decided to write it himself!
He spent an hour furiously writing on the paper, writing down all of his thoughts and opinions about the Reborn company into one concise text that the citizens of Metropolis would love to read.
In the end, he was satisfied with his work.
He immediately wanted to publish this and have the word spread out to everyone who had eyes and ears.
However, as he looked out the window, he realized that the sun had already gone down. The window for the publication has closed.
"Sir Cronk, we have already released the newspaper article about the auction," his secretary reported.
Cronk could only curse his luck. If they had time, then this article could have been the front-page news of the day! Its importance was even bigger than the auction and the tourists.
"This will have to wait until after the auction is over," Cronk decided.
Meaning, Metropolis would still be unaware of the lion hiding under their shadow.
"Get me my formal attire," he said to his secretary. "I’m going to the auction. I have a feeling that things are about to get wild."