"Do you know what the problem is with the majority of the younger generation of leaders these days?"
"It is that they are naïve idiots who think themselves as the centre of the world."
"Having never struggled once in their life they remain unaware of the brutality of the real world locked safely within their ivory towers."
"They think themselves the puppeteers yet fail to see themselves dangling from strings themselves."
"So they make predicable stupid decisions that I am more than happy to take advantage of."
"Because to bring the change needed to this world…."
"I am willing to do anything no matter how dishonourable or despicable it may be."
James Larant, creator of Dynasties Online and CEO of Dynasties Inc.
….
"HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN!"
Spencer roared angrily at his subordinates, who suddenly turned very demure and silent as no one wanted to be on the receiving end of his rage-filled scolding despite it being the company leader's fault that they were in such a situation in the first place.
'Because you're an idiot that's why.'
Emiel thought with a sigh as once again he would have to be the voice of reason within the room.
Unlike the previous CEO, who was a talented, calm and collected man, his successor was certainly not, and was far more emotional when dealing with problems, much to the chagrin of his subordinates. However, this was likely the first time such an emotional outburst was actually warranted.
Because Spencer had just gotten off from a most infuriating call from James Larant, who had in no uncertain terms coldly threatened Spencer into cooperating with him.
What Spencer did not know was that over the next few days, he would not be the only one getting such a call, as every single business tied to their scheme would be getting a similar call from the eccentric creator of Dynasties Online, each receiving the same terms.
Though it was more of a demand than an offer, as Spencer had been so thoroughly cornered that he had no real choice but to accept James' demands
It was supposed to be easy.
It was supposed to bring that arrogant bastard James Larant to his knees.
Instead it had given him the ammunition he needed to force them to work with him at gunpoint, a most uncomfortable state of affairs, even in the best of circumstances, of which this most certainly was not.
But what Spencer could not understand was how.
How did James find out that it was them who planned it?
And how the hell did he obtain the evidence needed to force them into their current miserable state with no choice but to accept Dynasty Inc's terms?
This was something that Spencer had no idea about.
'Wasn't James Larant supposed to have only gotten a 2/1 from his business degree? Why the fuck then did it seem that he was a genius who had the whole world in the palm of his hand?'
James Larant was somewhat of a confusing and odd presence in the business world, which few knew well apart from what was released to the public, always maintaining an air of mysteriousness and distance from most other people.
Born as one of two children to one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the UK, instead of a golden spoon, he could be said to have been born with a diamond or platinum spoon and considered to be one of the luckiest people in the world due to his birth family's power.
However, he had grown up much differently from many of the other influential families, as instead of going to expensive and influential private schools to help build better connections with higher society, his parents instead decided to put him through the state school system, where most of the lower classes congregate and excelled.
He was an excellent student, always getting the highest grade possible since he was young, a bright mind that many teachers thought was a pleasure to teach, as he was not afraid to ask questions or talk to teachers about subjects that he enjoyed, building up good relationships with those that he liked.
This decision by James Larant's parents sent shockwaves through the upper echelons of society as many saw it as inconceivable that the heir to one of the leading families of Great Britain would decide to educate their son amongst the unwashed masses who they saw as having little to no use to them except when they heard about a particular talent that they wanted to snatch to further their own ends.
This all changed just over 15 years ago when on the 25th of January 2107 a series of riots broke out across the country from desperate people demanding either a job or the resources to at least live a semi-decent life.
Unemployment continued to rise past the 20% mark before reaching a peak of 30%. The government still refuses to implement UBI, relying on the existing social security systems to solve this problem.
Usually, this would have worked at least in the UK, where the social safety nets were well developed if not the best funded, the only problem was that it was meant to be a temporary, not a permanents solution to the people's plights, a way to help people in the event that they lost their jobs and needed to find new employment not something that people have to take out in the long term.
However, as jobs continued to dry up, people found that even after years of searching, they struggled to find even a job as a waiter or waitress, one of the few low-skilled jobs that stuck around, as people found they much preferred being served by a human than a robot.
The consequences of this were that unrest began to brew among the people who increasingly had to eat lower and lower quality food due to needing to save money.
Of course, people who struggle to buy food do not have much ability to visit taverns and other entertainment outlets that may have allowed them to vent their stress, so anger built up until it turned into a raging inferno directed at the rich and those who they felt were deserving of their wealth privilege and positions.
These riots went on for months, but on the first day of the riots, while returning from the theatre, the Larant family suffered a terrible tragedy.
One that would leave scars that would last a lifetime
It was said that a 15-year-old James could only watch as his parents were gunned down as they protecting their only son from a hail of bullets and laser fire while holding his frightened little 8 year old sister to his chest, only surviving because moments later Juilius the family's loyal butler came to the rescue and because it seemed that even in their rage and hate the killers hesitated for a moment to kill a young teenager and a child whose only crime was being born into the wrong family.
After this traumatic event, James Larant was said to always have a faint gloomy aura around him, the bright, optimistic, open, and kind child became much more reserved after spending months recovering from the event, closing himself off from all but his closest friends and family.
His eyes, once so filled with life and hope, had turned cold and calculating, because unlike many of the other young masters and heirs of prominent families, who were more isolated from the tension between the classes of people in society due to their attendance at private schools for the privileged James was right at the centre of it as it began to affect his relationships at school. However, he never stopped going to the government-funded schools for some reason, deciding to complete his education amongst desperate and destitute people for some reason.
In the months that followed the tragic murder, it is said that only James Larant's little sister could get a genuine smile from the once lively lad.
His university education, though, was different, he went to a prestigious university where it was said that he made a close friendship and bond with both Lee Smith and Theodore Forlond, two young talented business students who would go on to become the leaders of powerful companies.
Apart from this, and his grades, not much was known about the reserved man who preferred to spend time alone or working on one of his many so-called 'projects' rather than partying or enjoying life like many his age did.
Though it should be noted that, after the death of his parents, James' grades went from outstanding to merely decent, his constant string of A*s, 9s or whatever else people used to grade people quickly turned to simply an A or a B+ or whatever other equivalent other countries have.
The only thing that Spencer and the wider world know is that this event greatly impacted James and significantly altered his life's path and ambitions.
It is a shame that people would only ever learn too late just by how much that was true.
So wrapped up was Spencer in the plan that he created alongside nearly one hundred other business leaders, and he never considered the consequences of what would happen should it fail.
And fail so spectacularly at that.
"Why the hell did those useless fuckups have to get captured!"
Spencer continued to rage, unaware that saying such a thing out loud for many people to hear and for a potential recording device to pick up was not the best idea in the world.
For someone who had just schemed against a rival, he seemed utterly oblivious to potential plots against him.
Luckily for him, he was in an office that is swept for bugs daily and was soundproof to ensure privacy, a precaution Spencer's father took to help stop corporate espionage or other underhanded tactics businessmen may use against their rivals when he was in power in the company.
As you can never be too careful when in a position of wealth or power.
"Young master, I did try to advise you against taking such action, ever since that tragedy happened to them all those years ago leading to James becoming an orphan the Larant family has developed and maintained one of the greatest security apparatuses in the world hiring the best of the best guards and ex special forces to defend them and their assets.
"We all also know that mercenaries like most other people, are loyal to themselves first and others later, so the mercenaries cutting a deal with James Larant to save themselves by giving up their employers or their employers contact would be more than enough for them to turn on us especially as the consequences for their particular actions would be catastrophic."
Emiel said trying to calm down his friend's son, who appeared to be nothing like his father at all, when the young CEO was first approached by one of his friends to gain his help in trying to sabotage the Dynasties Online servers he took the offer eagerly wanting to put the arrogant James Larant in his supposed 'place'.
"Is there nothing we can do?"
Spencer's voice no longer boomed but was much quieter as the anger appeared to have left and the despair and powerlessness began to set in.
"Unfortunately, there is not. They have evidence that we and the other conspirators paid for men to attack their game servers. If it is taken to court, there is no way that we will win. The only way for us to get out of this with the least losses is to give in to James Larant's demands, and if I may say sir, it may be our best course of action whether we were blackmailed or not."
Emiel replied in a stern voice.
"OUR BEST COURSE ACTION"
"YOU CALL CAPITULATION THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION!"
"HOW THE HELL IS THIS OUR BEST COURSE OF ACTION WHEN WE ARE BEING FORCED TO DO WHAT HE WANTS?"
Spencer roared his anger returning in a tsunami, his youth, stupidity, and inexperience being fully shown as an intelligent man would know that this is the way of the world, he's just lucky enough to always be in the position of the powerful, not the powerless.
"Yes it is our best course of action."
Emiel said his voice was unwavering while the others in the room broke out into a cold sweat at Spencer's anger, he did not because his position rested on the opinion of someone with far more power and influence than Spencer had.
"By the looks of it, there is nothing that will stop Dynasties Online from succeeding, no matter what means we try to use. There were rumours that James had been working on a major project since he entered university, to the point that it even affected his studies, though many thought that this was a lie to cover up James' incompetence, it is clear by now that this was not the case."
"Considering how large of an impact this new virtual world is having, we can only assume that this is the project that he had been working on."
"A project that can change the way the world works as we know it."
"He has spent 12 years meticulously planning and getting the resources he needs to make it successful he has got companies in nearly every sector so that in the event that we refuse to invest he can force us by taking away our market and lowering our profits and worse if even one company in a particular industry decides to use Dynasties Online new virtual reality online market to their advantage then to stay competitive the rest will too."
"To put it simply, compared to wasting more resources trying to fight this new change to the world order, we instead work with it and gain more in the long term."
"That is what we should do especially considering that we are being blackmailed now by James to do so."
Emiel finished clearly laying out all the reasons for
"If we do this we are forcing our industry to align with him!"
Spencer continued his enraged shouting.
This time Emiel lost his temper.
"Then why didn't you think about this before coming up with your stupid plan to destroy his servers? Do you have any idea the kind of damage we would take if our sabotage attempt were ever to go public?"
"The moment your idiotic plan went wrong and you left evidence for them to follow was the moment that you and everyone aligned with you were forced to dance like puppets on a string."
"Schemes like this are normal in the business world, but if they fail, then just like in politics, you need to pay the price!"
"And this is the price!"
"Or were you under the impression that James Larant would just allow you to scheme against him without taking any action at all?"
"Are you truly that naïve!"
"Or do you think one of the richest and most influential people in the country, if not the world, would just allow such a scheme to go unpunished?"
Emiel shouted as Spencer went quiet, stunned by his old father's friends' angered outburst as the aging man had slowly been pushed to the limit by the young CEO's foolishness.
Not to mention the constant temper tantrums.
Emiel closed his eyes, clenching his fists, and taking a deep breath to calm himself as there was only so much incompetence that he could take in one day.
"Fine we will do what he asks and end the matter here."
Spencer finally said, and Emiel let out a relieved sigh, as they should be thanking the gods that James wanted to make a deal instead of crucifying them in public for plotting such an endeavour.
Emiel imagined that the hundred other companies would make similar decisions to save their reputations, but he was wary, as he could not predict the eventual outcome of an endeavour for once.
Something that he had never experienced before, once in his long life working among the upper echelons of one of the most successful businesses in the country.
And like everyone else, it made him feel something that he had not felt in a long time.
Fear.