ZZZ: Dawn of The Black Sun

Chapter 23: "You see her as a pet!?"



Traversing the Hollow is nothing new for Koleda. Belobog Industry specializes in construction within and outside the Hollow. Every machine and personnel were equipped with device capable of protecting from corruption. She knows what it means to traverse the Hollow and the danger that comes with it. Thus, she believes that Phaethon is the perfect person for the job.

What Koleda never experienced though, is getting a Business Negotiation 101 from the Phaethon inside the Hollow.

"There are 6 emotions that leads to decision making," Belle began. "Well, I'm using the word 'emotion' very loosely, but basically, these six things are..." she walk a step ahead of Koleda, looking back and grinning at her. "Pride, Greed, Envy, Altruism, Shame, and Fear."

Koleda nodded, taking note of what Belle says as they walk towards a wall in the distance. The wall kept becoming larger and larger as they get closer, as if they're the one shrinking. "Hmm... so people make decision based on those?"

"Important decision anyway," Belle replied. "You think people use reason to make decision? Nah, of course not! Humans are unreasonable by nature,"

It's really refreshing to hear this, Koleda noted. As the sole CEO of Belobog Industry, there's not much people she can come to when asking for business advice. Grace and Ben has been a huge help, but the former look too much in technical matter and the latter focuses too much on the financial matter. There's almost no one she can come to that can guide her on the more... nuanced part of business.

"So... now that I know this... what do I do about it?" Koleda asked.

"You start crafting a compelling argument," Belle cleared her throat. "Ahem, we believe that you, client name or politician name here, is the one who shall bring New Eridu to a bright new future. We, Belobog Industry, believe that we can give you just the quality and service for your long-lasting reign or consumer base. By choosing our service, people will admire you for your dedication to quality and service!"

Koleda nodded. "That's... appealing to Pride?"

"Bingo!" Belle grinned and pat her head, messing around with her head. "You're a quick learner, ehehe~"

"You're really not appealing to my pride right now Belle..." Koleda muttered, pushing her hand away.

The group are now ant sized, surrounded by massive boulders that are actually just dirt. Of course, no one bats an eye, it's just another way for Hollow to screw with your head. Koleda found that Belle's lecture is far more interesting than the giant mechanical ant lurking around them.

"Hmm... I guess I can use that..." Koleda muttered. "Is that how you become a great Video Store Manager? Or a great Proxy?"

"Ehehe~ That's a trade secret Miss President~" Belle said with a sing song voice. "But really, when it comes to negotiation and persuasion, those are the bare minimum," she began. "Belobog already have a name for itself, so all of those messages are already spoken indirectly by the brand, but you Koleda, need to also step up your game. You gotta rise higher than just a girl inheriting a company,"

Koleda sighed a little. "I know, that's what I've been trying to do," she folded her arms. "But no matter how much I work, it's just... It won't make me taller, if you catch my drift..." she muttered.

"Yeah, you'd better as a mascot than a CEO,"

"That does not make me feel better!" Koleda punched Belle in the rib, making her yelp.

"Owww! Sorry, sorry," Belle held up her hands. "It's just... Sorry, I really have too much fun teasing you,"

"Can we skip to the part where you teach me how to make people take me seriously?"

The group stopped in front of a gigantic chasm that looms before them, which is really just a crack on a wall. They stepped through the chasm, finding themselves deep inside a regular sized underground train tunnel.

"Getting people to take you seriously huh?" Belle looked up in deep thought, voice echoing in the tunnel. "Well, I think that's the problem, you want people to take you seriously,"

Koleda tilted her head. "Huh?"

"For example, I don't think Hans took me seriously, but he still does what I say anyway, right?"

"Well..." Koleda's cheek reddens. "I don't think it'll look good for me if I start begging,"

Belle giggled a little. "Ahaha! That's not what I meant," she replied. "What I mean is, instead of focusing to get people to take you seriously, you focus on getting people to do what you want, regardless of what they feel about you," she explained. "For example, you can make someone to like you enough, that they'll do anything for you~"

Koleda was quite for a moment, processing her words. "Make people like me?" she looked down. "Huh... never thought about it that way..."

"Yep, that's partly the reason why I took this job. Not because you're Belobog or something, but because I think you're really cute and I can't help wanting to tease you a lot,"

A tick mark appeared on her face. "Well thank you for being so honest with me!"

Belle sneaked another head pat, before jumping back to dodge a punch. "Come on, just a little bit?"

Koleda rolled her eyes. "Okay, but keep teaching me how to run a business,"

"Of course!" Belle tiptoed closer and pat her head. "So cute~" she giggled a little. "Anyway, next up is about relation," she tilted her head. "Do you know? Even though you don't deserve to be a CEO and have no skills to be one, you still get to be one. That's the power of relationship and nepotism,"

"Proxy, I really want to introduce you to my hammer right now..." Koleda muttered. "But yes, I admit I get lucky, but I don't want to keep relying on luck,"

"No, no, nepotism isn't about luck!" Belle put a hand Koleda's shoulder. "See, that's where 99% of people in the world fail. They thought that nepotism rely on luck, that you can't gain nepotism through hardwork!"

Koleda tilted her head. "You mean you can get nepotism through Hard Work? Isn't Nepotism when you gain a position because you are related to someone?"

"Well, no, it's not about 'related' as much as it's about 'relationship'," Belle explained. "You can get Nepotism from your close friends or even business partners too! For example, if I offer you a position as one of the board directors in Random Play Video Store, that counts as Nepotism,"

It was as if gears were clicking in Koleda's head. "In other words..." she began to summarize. "By working hard to build good reputation and connection, you can then find opportunities to leverage Nepotism?"

"Precisely!"

[LINE BREAK]

The group stepped out of the tunnel into an open space. They're no longer shrunk and are now standing in front of a large area. "Hmm... the signal leads here," Belle rummaged through her pocket and took out what seems to be Bangboo key chain. She handed one to Billy and Nekomiya. "This keychain contain carrot data, that tracks my location, don't veer off too far now."

"Got it!" Billy replied.

"We're going to split up nya?"

"Yep! Koleda, Billy, you go look over there," she pointed to her left. "Anby, Nekomiya, you go look over there," she pointed to her right. "And Nicole, we'll go look around in this area," she said.

With that, the group split up, leaving Belle alone with Nicole. The two started walking around, staying close to each other just in case a local space rift occurs. "So Belle," Nicole began. "Is Eous under maintenance or is this your fucked up attempt at grooming Koleda?"

Belle actually flinched at Nicole's accusation. "Ow? Where did that come from???" she shook her head. "Look, it's nothing weird, I just... yknow..." she smiled sheepishly. "Thinks that Miss Belobog here has tons of untapped potential,"

Nicole rolled her eyes. "I can't tell if you're even trying to hide it or not..." she folded her arms. "Screw it, not like I give a damn," she glanced around. "Anyway, is there any other reason you split us up? Something sensitive you wanna talk about?"

"Uhuh," Belle replied. "Can you uhhh..." she bit her lip. "Keep Koleda out of this? You know, if she ends up being part of our gang?"

"What?"

"Yeah, keep her... innocent, let her believe we're heroes,"

Nicole narrowed her eyes. "I thought you're going to groom her into a monster like you?"

"What? Nooo~ Don't use the G word!" Belle replied. "First off, I'm not a monster, I just have different priorities than most people," she explained. "Second of all, Koleda is cute and I kinda like her like this yknow?" she tapped her foot and swayed around in an unheard melody. "It's like... looking at Inky play with strings, head empty, just fun~"

Nicole's eyes began to twitch. "You see her as a pet!?"

 "A companion,"

"You're so fucked in the head you know that?" Nicole sighed a little. "Aight then, we play the good guys for her," she looked away. "You gonna raise her to be a good girl too?"

"Yep!"

"Why?"

"It's just fun I guess~"

"Jesus fuck Belle, what is wrong with you?"


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