One Man Band System

The next afternoon, at the offices of Trinity Entertainment, inside a conference room with a mahogany oval table at its center, Eric sat casually beside Anthony. He had just finished explaining everything to Robert, who sat across from them still reviewing the documents Eric had brought along with a woman in her 30s beside him, wearing a blazer, a short hairstyle, and glasses, from the legal team.

They were looking over Eric’s 5% stake and checking its legal validity. After finishing her review, the woman turned to look at Robert.

"There are no issues, sir. Mr. Eric indeed holds a 5% share in our company under E-R Holdings," the woman said.

"Hmm... alright, I understand," Robert replied, still looking through the documents.

Then Robert looked at Eric with a smile on his face. The demeanor he had previously put on to deal with musicians, actors, and others clearly shifted into that of a businessman, it was all written across his face.

"And you intend to learn the ropes here, then expand your grandfather’s production house into our competitor? You hold shares in our company, and if you act like that, wouldn’t you be competing against yourself?" Robert asked calmly.

"If you put it that way, yes, but that’s not my intention, sir. I want to leverage Trinity’s name to develop my grandfather’s production house, perhaps as a new division or a separate entity, but in collaboration," Eric answered.

"Hmm... I see. So you want to become our subsidiary, is that right?" Robert asked.

"Something like that, sir," Eric answered casually.

Robert pondered for a moment, then looked over Eric’s plan written in the files once more, detailing his intentions to expand his grandfather’s production house. Eric waited to hear what Robert had to say, keeping his eyes on Robert’s face as he clearly thought hard about it, while Anthony kept his head bowed, looking eager to rush out of the room and be anywhere else. Before long, Robert put down the files and looked back at Eric.

"I see. How about turning your grandfather’s production house into a music house, handling recording, promotion, and developing its own web platform to stream all the music produced there while managing its talent, but when it comes to Rights Management, it must still go through headquarters legal, and royalties will still flow to headquarters. What do you think?" Robert proposed.

"As for the royalties... will headquarters distribute them back to us?" Eric asked.

"Of course, that’s why we’re partnering up. Furthermore, your building has a venue, right? Your talent can perform there, and everything will be covered by Trinity Entertainment. The venue at your place will officially become a high-end venue, and not just any talent will be able to perform there," Robert answered.

"Hmm... interesting. But how would the breakdown of the partnership work?" Eric asked.

"Regarding that, we’ll need to discuss it in greater depth. Today is just a preliminary chat, right? But if you’re truly serious, let’s make it happen. I just need to speak with the board first about this," Robert answered.

"I see. Are there any conditions, sir?" Eric asked.

"At this moment, I can’t say too much. Once we evaluate the state of your grandfather’s building and break down what the partnership looks like based on the assets you have, then we can discuss whether your grandfather’s building needs further development or if it’s already sufficient, and what exactly we can make use of over there," Robert answered.

Hearing Robert’s offer, Eric turned to look at Anthony beside him, who also turned to look back at him.

"What do you think about this?" Eric asked.

"Geez... why are you asking me?" Anthony answered nervously.

"Why don’t you handle the survey, Anthony?" Robert suddenly chimed in.

Hearing Robert’s words, both Eric and Anthony snapped their heads around to look at Robert, who looked completely relaxed and smiled at the two of them.

"Me... handle the survey, sir?" Anthony asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Even if we end up partnering with Eric down the line, I want you to represent us over there, so it makes total sense for you to survey Eric’s building on our behalf," Robert answered casually.

"But... I don’t really understand..."

"Ring,"

Suddenly, Robert’s phone rang, cutting Anthony off. Robert glanced at his screen and his expression immediately shifted. He picked up his smartphone from the table and answered it.

"Hello,"

"Dad,"

The screaming voice of a girl came through the phone so loudly that Robert had to pull the phone away from his ear, making Eric flinch in surprise right across from him. The woman next to Robert offered only a faint smile and shook her head, while Anthony looked as though he wished his chair would swallow him whole.

"Why are you calling me? You know I’m in a meeting," Robert said.

"Don’t go giving Anthony a hard assignment, give him some breathing room," yelled the girl, who was Sarah, Robert’s daughter and Anthony’s girlfriend.

"Don’t you meddle in my business. Besides, I’m mentoring Anthony for your sake and your future together," Robert replied.

"I mean it, don’t make things hard on him or I’ll run away with him," Sarah shouted.

"Don’t you go throwing empty threats at me. That’s enough... hang up and stop interrupting me," Robert shouted back.

Robert hung up his smartphone, his face flushing slightly red. He then turned to look at the woman beside him, who avoided his gaze, before looking at Eric across from him, who appeared eager to wrap up the meeting as soon as possible.

"You heard that, Anthony. Get to work. We’ll talk after you finish the survey," Robert said.

"Yes... sir," replied Anthony, who now looked completely shrunk down and ready to disappear.

"My apologies, Eric. I don’t agree with you coming here to train and work under us. You have assets, and you’re also a shareholder in our company. It’s much better for you to make your assets productive while learning and collaborating with us. That way you grow, and we grow too. This is the best win-win solution. Do you agree?" Robert asked, his tone returning to calm yet firm.

"I agree, sir. Thank you," Eric replied.

Eric stood up and extended his hand. Seeing this, Robert stood up as well and reached out to shake Eric’s hand. After that, they moved on to discuss a wide range of topics, such as the progress of The Empress and Eric’s upcoming project.

After finishing up and saying his goodbyes to Robert, Eric stepped out together with Anthony. Eric took a good look around the interior of Trinity Entertainment’s headquarters—a building that easily stood out as the tallest in the entire complex. When they finally made their way back to the lobby and walked outside, Eric glanced back at the towering building behind him.

"Just how tall is this building, bro?" Eric asked Anthony.

"Around 55 floors, why?" Anthony asked.

"No reason... wait, haven’t you already been inside my grandfather’s building before?" Eric asked Anthony.

"Yeah," Anthony answered.

"Then why did you keep quiet back there? You’ve already seen everything from the ground floor all the way to the top," Eric said.

"Ugh... I couldn’t think straight in there. Besides, if I said I only took a look without any actual proof, I’d just end up looking ridiculous," Anthony said.

"Hmm... good point. In that case, give me a few days before you come over," Eric said.

"Oh... okay, you wanna tidy things up first?" Anthony asked.

"Something like that," Eric answered.

However, Eric’s eyes then flicked toward the holographic display beside his face, which showed his system inventory. He looked at the words "Building renovation scale model," listed right there on his screen. A subtle smirk spread across his face.

"Looks like it’s time for me to use this thing. I’ll study up first on what’s needed to build a music house like what Mr. Robert talked about," Eric thought to himself.

Anthony noticed Eric standing silently beside him, so he reached over, placed a hand on Eric’s shoulder, and leaned in closer.

"Do you want me to help you out with it? We can clean up the place together," Anthony offered.

"No need, don’t worry about it. By the way... was that your girlfriend who called Mr. Robert earlier?" Eric asked.

"Yeah... that’s right, that was Sarah," Anthony said, looking down.

"How did she even know you were being asked to survey my grandfather’s building?" Eric asked, puzzled.

"I have no idea... but somehow, Sarah has a sixth sense... whenever her dad gives me a hard assignment, she always protests. Heck, sometimes when it’s still just an idea in his head, she’s already calling her dad out, hahaha," Anthony answered.

"Wow... can she really do that?" Eric asked, impressed.

"Nah, of course not, but for some reason her timing is always spot-on, and it happens all the time," Anthony replied.

Eric began thinking hard, studying Anthony’s face—he genuinely looked like he had no clue what was going on. But suddenly, "ring," Anthony’s smartphone rang. Anthony instantly pulled out his smartphone and answered.

"Hello?"

"Babe, pick me up right now. You’re done, right?" Sarah asked.

"Wait... how do you know I’m done?" Anthony asked.

"I just know. Come pick me up, okay? I’m waiting. Love you,"

The line went dead. Anthony stared blankly at his smartphone screen, while Eric grew even more bewildered right beside him.

"Bro, you’re not wiretapped, are you?" Eric asked.

"Huh... of course not, get real. Why would Sarah wiretap... me... though... now that you mention it, I actually don’t know," Anthony said, falling deep into thought after Eric’s question.