Chapter 37: A Bet with the Clients

[Chapter 37: A Bet with the Clients]

Not far from the Los Angeles Herald office, there was a gym. The environment was somewhat simple, but it had all the necessary equipment. Today, in the center of the gym, Ian was throwing punches with his boxing coach, Jayce. The coach played a defensive game, and no matter how hard Ian tried, he couldn't break through the man's guard.

"Nice job, keep it going!" the coach encouraged, maintaining a professional demeanor while boosting Ian's confidence as he furiously punched.

Sweat dripped from Ian's forehead, and his vision blurred.

He stopped and waved his arms. "Let's take a break, Jayce. I'm wiped out."

The coach replied, filled with spirit, "A man can't say he's done."

Ian shook his head. "I don't need to prove myself with trash talk."

...

Ian stepped down from the boxing ring and sat at a nearby cafe table, casually picking up a newspaper to read. The headline shouted, "Alex Blaine Spotted with Mystery Woman," featuring a large photo below.

Ian chuckled to himself. This was exactly the scoop he had sent Bill to gather.

"Your news?" the coach leaned in, curious. "You always manage to get the good stuff."

"It's not that great," Ian replied nonchalantly.

Over the past few weeks, Ian hadn't dug up any big stories, but he had found a number of smaller ones, especially regarding the private scandals of some Hollywood stars. While not blockbuster material, a media company needed more than just major stories.

Regular news was crucial for sustaining daily sales and represented the company's baseline. It was like writing a book; while it needed explosive moments, not every chapter could be a thrill, and so, some relatively calm content was always required.

For a business, the quality of regular news indicated its baseline, while explosive stories indicated its ceiling. Therefore, after covering the Charlie Mills kidnapping case, the Blazer scandal, the Lili Marlene wild party incident, the Danny Koskri dismemberment case, and the Garrick fire report, the Herald had also published a number of relatively mundane news articles.

What Ian saw as normal news, however, was already considered pretty sensational by his peers. This meant that while the sales figures had not skyrocketed, they steadily grew, now reaching an average daily sales of twenty thousand. That was the baseline number, not peak sales. Peak sales were from the Garrick fire case, which had hit two hundred thousand copies!

Self-immolation itself was a hot topic, and interviewing the person who self-immolated was even more explosive!

...

As Ian read the newspaper, he asked, "Tell me Jayce, if you went all out and fought me, what would the result be? Honestly, I won't get mad."

The boxing coach laughed. "I could let you hit me a hundred times, and you wouldn't land a single effective punch, while I could take you down with just one."

"What about against a professional?"

Jayce shook his head. "I'm not qualified to compare myself with pros. The real difference is this: if I stand here and don't defend myself, you couldn't even hit me. Yet, an average decent amateur would struggle to land a hit against a professional, who would just use footwork to evade. A top pro would have the same experience... that's the gap, my friend. There's a massive chasm between amateur and professional! Did you ever watch a fight with Ali? His footwork could toy with any top professional! It makes you deeply feel what it means to be within reach yet worlds away!"

Ian nodded. "I appreciate your honesty. So, I guess it's better for me to practice shooting; your dodging skills can't outrun a bullet."

Jayce looked bewildered. "You said you wouldn't punish me."

"I'm not punishing you."

"But this is a punishment; you're not buying my classes anymore!" The coach seemed quite downcast.

Ian laughed heartily and patted Jayce's shoulder. "Don't worry; I'll keep buying them."

Just then, the door swung open.

...

Ron Lloyd walked in. Spotting his boss sitting there, dripping with sweat, enjoying a drink while reading a newspaper, he no longer felt any displeasure. He hurried over to Ian's side and whispered, "We've struck deals with twelve publishers, and this month's advertising revenue hit five hundred thousand!"

The Los Angeles Herald was originally a state-level newspaper, but that state-level label was just a facade. The sales slump had led to a near halt in actual partnerships despite having many potential distributor partners. However, with the improved news quality at the Herald, former partners were getting back on board, restoring the newspaper to a real state-level publication.

Other people's suffering is the media's delight! The burning torch incident helped the Los Angeles Herald hit a milestone!

But Ian remained calm, sipping his juice and continuing to read the paper, speaking leisurely, "It's almost year-end, Ron. The big sales push for the annual and quarterly is about to happen. I have an idea..."

"What is it?"

"I want you to reach out to all the channels and tell them that the Los Angeles Herald promises all customers that next year, we will publish more hot news, with at least five exclusive national headlines! Subscribing now is the cheapest it'll ever be. If we don't deliver, we owe full refunds."

Ron stared, astonished. "Are you joking? Boss?"

Ian smiled. "No, I'm dead serious. This is like a bet, just a bet with all our clients!"

Ron stood there, mouth agape, realizing he had never heard of anyone bet with clients before.

Generally speaking, it was an impossible task. But Ian was confident. He waved his hand. "With this bet in place, I'm demanding at least one hundred fifty thousand subscriptions. Do you know what that means? That sales figure could bring in a ton of advertising! What's more, you need to persuade our advertisers with this. At least five exclusive, high-profile national stories; that will be more than enough to get them to pay a higher ad fee! Of course, I'm also promising full refunds if we don't achieve it!"

He turned to the boxing coach. "Jayce, what do you think? Would this idea make you buy my newspaper?"

The boxing coach appeared flabbergasted. Was business ever done this way? Wasn't it a bit crazy? He stood frozen for a while before shaking his head. "I don't think it's a good idea, but... yes, I'd buy your paper because of it!"

Ian burst into laughter. "Well, at least the promotion's a success."

Ron chimed in, "But if you fail, you'll be bankrupt!"

Ian just laughed.

He got up and walked over to the window, gazing out at the streets of Los Angeles.

It was November, and the weather was getting cold. The winter wind whipped around lightly, and the streets showed a slight frost.

On November 7, the American election voting had completed. Democrat presidential candidate Gore and Republican candidate Bush would soon enter a lawsuit battle regarding the Florida ballot count that would last thirty-six days.

That news temporarily overshadowed Ian Carr's stories, and even though he already knew the outcome, he couldn't use this to his advantage.

But with the power of my experience from two lifetimes, I was destined to reach that point, right?

Compared to that, what was happening now?

Though making bets in business was typically frowned upon, for someone like him, not making bets would be foolish!

So he smiled and said, "Let it be bankruptcy then."

Ron looked at Ian helplessly. The once youthful man had grown, yet he had also become more reckless.

In that moment, he suddenly understood. Given Ian's current style, he was either going to be a shooting star that rapidly moved across the sky and disappeared, or he would become a towering tree blocking out all the light...

He was eager to try alongside him.

Ron smiled and nodded, "Then I'll go mad with you."

*****

https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.