Chapter 45: The Orphan Gang’s Weakness and the Proposal ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for Pump

Ras’s main dish was something like dumplings, made by stuffing meat, spices, and vegetables inside thin dough before baking it and then pouring a hot red sauce over it. The rich and heavy flavor was exquisite.

“Want to try some of this?”

Ella’s dish was a rather simple grilled beef meal, but she ate it enthusiastically. However, Ras’s food apparently looked unusual to her, and since she showed interest, he offered her some. The moment the words left his mouth, he realized he might have acted too familiar, but fortunately, Ella simply nodded as though she had been waiting for the invitation, without the slightest hesitation.

“Yeah!”

“...The inside’s pretty hot, so be careful while eating.”

Using an unused spoon, Ras transferred some onto her plate. Ella took his warning seriously and carefully bit into it. Then, perhaps because she liked the taste, the ears on top of her head perked up.

After both of their main dishes were nearly empty and they slowed down while eating the side dishes, Ras attempted conversation again.

First, he asked for information about the Orphan Gang. How large it was, what kind of activities they did, how violent they were, and so on.

For whatever reason, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Ella answered quite openly without trying very hard to hide anything.

The gang’s size was larger than Ras expected. There were nearly fifty members. He already knew the children he had seen upstairs were not all of them, but he had still assumed there were only around thirty. He had no idea where the rest had been hiding.

However, after hearing more details, it seemed that over ten of them were very young children, while others were girls or weak kids, meaning the number of members who could actually pose a threat was probably under twenty.

As the real estate man had previously mentioned, they survived through things like begging and shoe polishing. Some of the children also worked in factories or stores.

Ras wondered why those children did not simply become independent, but there were reasons. Their wages were too low to afford rent in the city, and they also needed the protection of a group.

And contrary to Ras’s worries, they did not seem especially criminal or aggressive by nature.

Apparently, there had once been an incident where someone had seriously injured another person with a club, but from what he heard, it sounded more like an accidental outburst. The child responsible had already been taken away to juvenile prison.

Still, that did not mean they lacked viciousness entirely. Even Ella showed traces of fear in her eyes and gestures whenever she talked about the boss called Murstin, the knife-carrying Garrick, and the largest member, Vladik.

After gathering various bits of information, Ras paused and carefully watched Ella’s reaction. It was time to find some weakness he could exploit to somehow drive the Orphan Gang out.

“Miss Ella. Were you there when I went up to the third floor before?”

While eating her meat pie, she nodded instead of speaking. It seemed she had been among the children hiding in the shadows back then.

“Then you know that I want your group to move somewhere else, right?”

Since he could hardly call them a gang directly to her face, Ras awkwardly chose the word “group” instead. Yet despite the uncomfortable topic, Ella continued eating her side dish with the same expression and simply nodded.

“I don’t intend to force anything through violence. I haven’t even called the police or hired security up until now. But it’s true that this situation is difficult for me. Is there perhaps some way to guide everyone into moving somewhere else?”

Rather than getting angry, Ella chewed thoughtfully for a moment before shaking her head. Then, after swallowing her food, she finally answered aloud.

“Murstin would never agree to leave.”

“...Really?”

It was fortunate that Ella herself did not react antagonistically. But hearing that the boss Murstin’s resolve was firm made things troublesome.

However, the more Ras listened to her speak, the more it felt as though she was distancing herself from Murstin’s opinions. So he decided to ask honestly.

“Is there no way? Doesn’t he have some weakness? Some way to make him leave somehow?”

“Hmm...”

Apparently she truly did not have much sense of loyalty. Or perhaps, contrary to Ras’s assumptions, being forced out would not be such a huge issue, or maybe she simply disliked their current location. In any case, she did not seem particularly bothered.

“Ah! Right. Murstin hates orphanages.”

“Orphanages?”

At first, Ras wondered if Murstin had suffered bad experiences in one. Since children without parental protection were exposed to discrimination and abuse more easily, it would not have been surprising. Moreover, unlike Korea, this world still had weak protections for children, making such things even more likely.

But Ras had misunderstood slightly.

“Yeah. Because orphanages take children away.”

“Ah...”

Murstin did not hate orphanages because of trauma. He simply disliked losing subordinates. Well, that made sense. Any gang leader would dislike seeing their power weakened.

Perhaps orphanages really were terrible places, and he simply wanted to prevent his companions from being dragged away. But since Ras already had a poor impression of both the Orphan Gang and its leader, his thoughts naturally leaned toward the negative interpretation.

In any case, he had gained useful information. If he used it properly, it felt like he might finally find a solution.

Afterward, Ras and Ella enjoyed the remaining food and chatted aimlessly before parting ways.

After riding a taxi back to the office together with Ella, Ras hesitated for quite a while before finally giving her his phone number before they separated.

“This is my contact number. If something comes up... well, even if nothing comes up, you can still contact me whenever you want. But don’t give it to anyone else.”

Ella accepted it and nodded. Then a sudden thought struck Ras. Does she even have money to make phone calls? For an ordinary child, phone fees would not matter much, but her circumstances were far from ordinary.

Still, abruptly giving her money felt awkward. Ella did not seem like the type to take offense, but he worried it might hurt her pride. He did not want to wound her.

After thinking for a long time, Ras finally spoke.

“Hey. You called me Oppa before, right?”

“Mhm?”

Ella glanced at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him curiously, wondering why he suddenly brought that up, before nodding. Watching her, Ras smiled and took out his wallet.

“This is allowance money from an older brother to his younger sister. We probably won’t see each other much for a while, so I’m giving it to you because I’ll miss you. Take it.”

Saying that, he pulled out a banknote and pressed it into her hand.

“Wow! Thank you!”

It was not an enormous amount. One hundred Del was slightly generous for a child’s allowance, but not enough to look strange.

Apparently Ras’s worries had been unnecessary. Ella accepted it happily without hesitation, just like a child genuinely receiving allowance money. After watching her leave, Ras stood there blankly for a moment, feeling reluctant to part, before eventually hailing another taxi and returning home.

Even though vacation had begun, Ras never truly got any rest except for what had almost been a date with Ella on the first day.

He needed to release Pump before Beat Heater’s popularity faded if he wanted the results he envisioned, so he had to hurry. As for the Orphan Gang occupying the floor above the office, since they would not run into each other during the vacation anyway, he postponed dealing with it for now.

Ras first began writing the proposal. Since they already had a cooperative relationship, it was unlikely they would simply steal the idea if he sent over the proposal directly, but you never knew, and there was always a proper order to things.

I have a revolutionary idea that can firmly continue the popularity of Beat Heater. Contact me if you are interested.

Starting with those opening lines, he described it as something only possible in arcade games, an “interactive experience” game, and something guaranteed to attract people’s attention. It was written to sound extremely intriguing while remaining vague enough to maximize curiosity.

Moreover, since it came from the original creator of Beat Heater, interest would naturally increase even more.

Ras called Tshtet over and handed him the proposal.

“You don’t necessarily need to send it exactly like this. Just conveying the contents over the phone is fine too.”

“Ah. Yes.”

The Beastman man nodded heavily. But after writing the proposal so formally, Ras belatedly wondered whether directly calling Paul Roxy himself might have been faster and more efficient.

Still, now that it had already been sent, it was time to write the actual design document.

Ras created the proposal with as much detail as possible. He put even more effort into it than he did while developing Meta Soft’s games. Since he intended to earn royalties without personally developing the game, the document needed to be convincing enough that Panchi Games would feel they could create the entire thing just by following the proposal itself.

Since his drawing skills were poor, he abandoned the idea of sketching by hand and instead used a computer to create diagrams.

Of course, these were not true engineering blueprints. Ras knew almost nothing about machinery, so things like what materials to use or what kind of sensors to install beneath the foot panels were beyond his capabilities. If he actually could do those things, he would never have considered collaborating with Panchi Games in the first place.

It was merely a rough conceptual design.

After spending a long time writing the proposal, the telephone suddenly rang, startling Ras. The very first thought that came to mind was whether it might be Ella calling.

“Hello?”

“Yes, this is Paul Roxy from Barbal Soft!”

But it was not her. Instead, the rough voice of an older man came through the receiver. Ras glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. It had not even been three hours since he sent the proposal. Apparently Tshtet had relayed the information over the phone.

After exchanging greetings, the two immediately got down to business.

“Yes. Did you read the proposal?”

“Yes, of course. And I immediately forwarded it to Panchi Games.”

Apparently Panchi Games had shown interest right away. Paul Roxy said that if Ras wanted, he could arrange a meeting immediately. But if Ras intended to do that, there would have been no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reason to write such a proposal or send it through Barbal Soft instead of directly to Panchi Games.

“In the end, I don’t know anything about the hardware side of things, so even if I went to Panchi Games, I don’t think there’s much I could contribute. Instead, I’ll send over the design document, so please handle things for me.”

“Ah. Yes. Understood.”

Paul Roxy accepted immediately since he had already half expected this answer.

Barbal Soft had already worked together with Panchi Games several times, so it was not especially difficult. Moreover, considering the amount of royalties they could skim a portion from, it was a profitable arrangement compared to the level of effort required. Even without their friendship with Meta Soft, there was little reason to refuse.

However, unlike Barbal Soft, which accepted the idea easily, Panchi Games reacted poorly upon hearing that only a proposal document would be sent.

“He wants to send over a single stack of papers and collect royalties from it?”

“Ahaha...”

Amans could only laugh awkwardly in front of the black-bearded man glaring furiously. Amans himself was physically larger, but perhaps because Cheims personally worked on-site or perhaps because of his position as president, he radiated tremendous pressure.

Even regardless of that, Amans had little choice but to calm Cheims down as best he could.

Still, Cheims did not explode any further. The success of the previous three games and the excessive confidence shown in the proposal made it difficult for him to reject the idea outright.

The next day, Ras’s proposal arrived through Amans. Fortunately, it was not some casually scribbled draft but a proper design document densely packed with text and illustrations.