Time rewound to two months earlier.
The foot-massage parlor.
"Mm…"
"Looks like we really do need to expand the business."
Holding the shop's ledger in her hands, Brilliantly Shining—New Radiance—fell into deep thought.
Su Luo had left the place to her for quite a while now, and she'd been running it seriously the whole time.
But because the owner himself was the one leading the "slack off" lifestyle, the revenue had basically stayed in the red.
Very quickly, New Radiance realized something: if they relied only on Su Luo's massage skills, this shop would never grow!
They couldn't possibly keep barely staying afloat every month off whatever money Su Luo happened to "explode" from somewhere, right?
No!
She'd taken over this shop to help Oguri Cap!
She had to run it properly!
That said… she honestly had no idea how to expand the business…
Just then, the shop door knocked, and a man dressed in black walked in from outside.
"Huh? Dad? Why are you here?"
New Radiance blinked—wasn't this her father?
How did he have time to come see her?
"Of course I'm here to check on how my beloved daughter is doing~"
The man smiled as he rubbed her head.
"But it looks like you've got something on your mind. Want to tell me about it?"
"Umm…"
Feeling the warmth of her father's hand, New Radiance looked up and explained the foot-massage parlor's current predicament.
Listening to how Su Luo was operating the shop, her father raised an eyebrow.
Running a foot-massage parlor inside Tracen Academy, but the business hours depended entirely on the boss personally working?
No wonder his "secret advertising" in Tokyo hadn't helped much—turns out the guy at the top had something wrong with his head.
If the beam above is crooked, the beam below will be crooked too.
Even if he brought plenty of customers from Tokyo, Su Luo couldn't handle the volume at all.
But still… was there really someone who didn't want to make money?
New Radiance's father thought long and hard, but couldn't figure out why Su Luo would adopt such a self-sabotaging business model.
Unless…
Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind.
"Radiance—your boss is an investor, right?"
"Y-Yeah? I'm one of the horsegirls he invested in too…"
"So that's it!"
The man slapped his thigh and burst into laughter.
"Radiance, why do you think he made you the acting manager of this shop?"
"…So I'd have a chance to help Oguri Cap, I guess."
"Nope, little Radiance."
He shot back:
"If he wanted to give you a chance to help Oguri Cap, why would he hand you a half-dead shop like this? And on top of that, he set strict limits on the business hours himself?"
"A good investor doesn't invest in a project he has zero confidence in. He built all these unreasonable restrictions into the shop… but still handed full control over to you without hesitation."
"Radiance—what do you think that means?"
"..."
After her father pointed it out, New Radiance also started to sense how strange it all was.
Right.
Normally, when people run a shop, they do it to make a profit.
But ever since she took over, Su Luo had never once asked her to set a profit target…
Almost like he had no intention of making this shop profitable at all…
But how could that be?
How could anyone not want their shop to make money—unless there was an even more important goal than profit?
And every time she saw Su Luo come to work, his face always looked kind of gloomy.
Maybe that expression wasn't simply "I don't want to work"…
Maybe… it was disappointment in her?
"…Was Mr. Su Luo testing me?"
New Radiance thought it over and reached the most likely conclusion.
"Exactly!"
The man clapped his hands together with satisfaction.
"He probably noticed you've got talent for management, so he arranged this shop for you to run. Hmph—good eye, that guy."
"And nine times out of ten, those strategies that restrict the shop's growth are obstacles he deliberately set—waiting for you to overthrow them."
"That would explain why he chose you to help run this place."
He patted her shoulder.
"That guy probably really believes you can revive this shop—and wants you to show results."
"I-Is that really it…?"
New Radiance still felt uncertain, but if it wasn't that… then something else didn't add up either…
But…
So Mr. Su Luo has been waiting for me to produce results this whole time…
Then these past two months…
Haven't I just been disappointing him the entire time?!
Aaaah—!
What do I do…?
"Radiance, don't panic. You're my daughter—at times like this, you should learn to ask others for help, right?"
The man smiled and ruffled her hair, signaling her to calm down.
"Dad…?"
"Our New Radiance family doesn't lack business know-how~"
—
And at some unknown point, in some corner of Tokyo, an urban legend quietly began to spread.
They said: if you're on the streets of Tokyo and a short, chestnut-colored, tightly curled-haired horsegirl comes to talk business with you…
You'd better not refuse her.
Otherwise, you'll be hit with bad luck for a while.
Bad luck like getting harassed by the yakuza.
Or having the police show up to "inspect" you for bizarre reasons.
But if you agree to do business with her…
A mysterious major corporation will take notice of you—and from then on, your fortune will soar.
So people started calling this urban legend:
"The Lucky Cat Girl with Chestnut Curls."
Of course, some people claimed it was actually proof that a new dark emperor had been born in Tokyo's underworld…
Someone using both "black and white" to monopolize and make money!
…But for some reason, that voice also abruptly disappeared.
All that remained was a mystery-like rumor, continuing to circulate through the city.
-------
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