One Man Band System

After parting ways with Anthony and returning to his grandfather’s building, Eric sat on the edge of the stage inside the venue. He opened his system inventory and held his finger down on "Building renovation scale model" for a moment. A small holographic screen popped up in front of him.

[Would you like to use Building renovation scale model x1? (Yes) (No)]

Eric pressed yes, and the entire holographic screen vanished. Moments later, a holographic scale model of the building materialized before him, displaying a miniature version of his grandfather’s entire building along with the surrounding land. Eric could see that his grandfather’s building was wide but lacked depth, leaving extra land behind it that currently served as a garage.

As he looked it over, a menu appeared beside the scale model featuring options to add floors, edit the building structure, place furniture inside each floor, and execute the build. Eric tapped the model right on the fourth floor, and it instantly enlarged to show his living space, complete with furniture arranged exactly as it was in reality.

He tried dragging the coffee table over in front of the television. After doing so, he stood up and ran to the elevator door, riding it upstairs. When he reached the top, he saw that his coffee table had actually moved in front of the television.

"Wow... so it can really do this... hmm... this is interesting... which means the building’s shape and height can be added onto and expanded," Eric murmured in his head.

He walked back into the elevator and rode it down to the basement, returning to the stage where the scale model was located, sitting down once more on the edge. He then opened the building structure edit menu, prompting a new model to appear alongside several holographic screens displaying various templates. Looking over the template model, he was shocked to find that the zoning permits for his grandfather’s property actually allowed for a maximum of 25 floors.

"Whoa... I can’t just mess around with this recklessly... what should I do?" Eric asked in his head, scratching his own head in confusion.

He noticed an auto-arrange button designed to apply the best specifications while maximizing land usage. He gave it a try and pressed it, causing the model to immediately restructure itself based on the layout of his grandfather’s land. Another holographic screen popped up, displaying calculations that scrolled endlessly upward without stopping.

The model transformed right before his eyes: the venue, which previously could only host mini-concerts and indie showcases for up to 300 people, suddenly expanded to optimize the full 2,000 square meters of land, now capable of holding roughly 1,000 to 2,000 people, complete with basement parking.

On the second floor of the venue, a strip of shops resembling a mini-mall appeared, featuring stores for musical instruments and food outlets. Above that, rising high from the middle and rear of the property, stood a 17-story tower: five floors dedicated exclusively to recording studios, rehearsal rooms, meeting rooms, and a CGI suite for music video production.

The next five floors housed management, including finance, legal, HR, and other corporate operations. The three floors above that held advertising, the IT division, and a server room that took up nearly an entire floor alongside an archive room. The next two floors were set up as offices for the board of directors and large conference rooms.

Finally, the top two floors served as Eric’s personal residence, assuming he still wanted to live inside his own building.

"Whoaaah... this is... insane. Grandpa’s building just turned into a real corporate headquarters," Eric said in his head.

His amazement lasted only a brief moment, however, because another holographic screen suddenly popped up right in front of him. As he read the text on it, Eric’s face turned pale.

[Initiate renovation process... completed.]

[Progress (a status bar filling up like an installation screen)]

Eric was suddenly overcome with fear. He knew exactly what that agonizingly slow progress bar meant. He stood up instantly, every muscle in his body tense.

"Wait, why is it already starting... I just wanted to take a look first," Eric said, panicking.

Then he hit the auto-arrange button again, only to realize that auto-arrange instantly built the layout on its own and executed the project right away. Eric tried to think fast, doing his best to stifle his panic, even though deep down, he desperately wanted to scream. In the end, he gave up and decided it was better to get out of there fast before something unexpected happened.

"Ahem... oh, look at the time, I better get going. I need to pick them up from school, then head straight back to the penthouse... no need to come back here today, hahaha," Eric said in his head, trying to stay calm as he checked his watch.

Without delaying any longer, Eric hopped off the stage and walked toward the door. Before stepping inside, he glanced back to see the scale model still open and visibly hard at work on top of the stage. Eric did his best to ignore it and act indifferent, stepping inside, heading to the first floor, and walking out of the shop.

***

Meanwhile, at school, Emma, Chloe, Monica, and Priya were walking out of their classroom after the final bell to meet Heidi and Laura in the next room over. But just as they reached the doorway, someone grabbed Emma’s hand from behind. Emma turned around and saw Ruby holding her hand. Naturally, Chloe, Monica, and Priya stopped as well and turned to look at Ruby, stunned by her appearance—her face looked worn out, dark circles hung under her eyes from lack of sleep, and her hair was slightly disheveled.

"What’s wrong with you?" Emma asked.

"Yeah... you showed up late today and sat around looking dazed during break, we invited you to eat and you didn’t even hear us," Priya added.

"Are you having trouble with Chad again?" Monica asked.

"Tell us what happened," Chloe chimed in.

"Um... can I talk to you guys for a second?" Ruby asked.

Emma, Chloe, Monica, and Priya exchanged glances, then led Ruby back to sit at a desk, pulling up chairs to form a circle around it.

"So... what did you want to talk about?" Emma asked.

"About Eric’s offer yesterday... I spent the whole night thinking it over... I think I want to join... what do you guys think?" Ruby asked softly.

"Oh," Emma, Monica, Priya, and Chloe chorused at once, their faces instantly brightening as they reached out to hold Ruby’s hands.

"Alright... we’re moving forward together," Monica said.

"Yep... that’s right, we’re going to fight together all the way to the top," Priya added.

"Totally agree. You can just talk to Eric as soon as you get home," Chloe added cheerfully.

Ruby turned to look at Emma, who kept staring at her without blinking, as if studying her every move. Then Emma leaned her face in close to Ruby, making Ruby nervous.

"Hmm... alright, I agree too, but before that, I need to make one thing crystal clear to Eric: if he really wants to bring that Tania girl along, I won’t have her treating me like an enemy," Emma told Ruby.

"I know... we’ll talk to Eric together," Ruby replied, holding Emma’s hand.

"Huh... what do you mean by that, Emma?"

Suddenly, an unfamiliar girl’s voice called out from the doorway. Naturally, Ruby, Emma, Monica, Priya, and Chloe snapped their heads toward the door. All five of them were shocked to see a girl standing in the doorway with long blonde hair tied in pigtails, blue eyes, and wearing a uniform from another school, someone who shouldn’t have been allowed inside, yet somehow managed to get in.

Behind the girl stood Heidi and Laura, looking confused and wanting to step inside, but blocked by the girl who stood in front of them with her hands on her hips, pouting. Seeing the girl, Emma stood up immediately.

"Tania... what are you doing here? How did you get into our school?" Emma asked, bewildered.

And sure enough, Heidi and Laura behind Tania were shocked to see two security guards arrive out of breath, it looked like they had been chasing Tania, who had waltzed into another school without permission.

Naturally, Tania noticed the two out-of-breath security guards behind her. She turned around, keeping her hands on her hips, then looked back over her shoulder.

"Hurry up and come out... Eric is already waiting outside," Tania said.

Without another word, she walked away briskly, two guards following right behind her, strutting along like royalty. Heidi and Laura stepped into the room and turned to look at Emma.

"Emma, she’s the one from that piano competition back then, right?" Heidi asked.

"Yeah... if I’m not mistaken, and judging by her uniform, she’s from an all-girls school, right?" Laura asked.

"Wait, there’s something more important, why did she say Eric is already waiting?" Monica asked.

"Exactly. Did she come here with Eric?" Priya asked.

"Oh man... you’ve got to be kidding me," Chloe muttered, shaking her head.

"There’s only one way to know for sure. Let me out, you too, Ruby," Emma said, standing up and pulling Ruby by the hand.

"Alright," Ruby replied, getting up as well.