Looking at the digital balance displayed on the screen, Jet furrowed his brows deeply.
He tapped his fingers against the back of the phone and muttered, "This is not enough. I need much more money."
In exactly one month’s time, the Second Red Moon would appear in the sky.
He already had a rough idea of the tattoos he intended to get, but executing those designs would cost an absolute fortune.
After the First Red Moon appeared fifty years ago, the tattoo industry had immediately shot up, rapidly becoming one of the most lucrative and high-end industries in the current era.
Even though mainstream scientists and high-ranking Awakeners continuously claimed that there would never be another Red Moon event, the industry remained incredibly powerful due to the cultural worship of runes.
Tattoo artists had become exorbitantly expensive. Just a single, basic design could range from tens of thousands dollars to hundreds thousands of dollars, while the top master artists in the global industry charged millions for their canvas space.
The tattoos Jet intended to engrave onto his body weren’t ordinary designs. Every detail had been chosen deliberately, the posture of the figures, their weapons, symbols, expressions, accompanying imagery, even the placement of each tattoo on his body. One careless alteration could distort the Concept he intended the Red Moon to recognize.
The cost for such work would be astronomical.
That was exactly why his current savings were nowhere near enough. Even the lowest-ranked professional artist in the city district charged more than what he could currently afford to pay out of pocket.Without any hesitation, Jet opened his phone’s web browser and application store.
He began searching for and downloading all kinds of personal loan applications.
In just half an hour, his phone screen was filled with icons.
He had downloaded more than fifty separate loan apps, including predatory, unverified services and shady black-market platforms that operated with ridiculously high interest rates.
He didn’t care about the consequences. He immediately started registering his identification information and applying for loans across every single platform, consistently selecting the absolute highest borrowing limits available.
If it weren’t for the fact that visiting physical banks to request corporate loans was a time-consuming process requiring days of administrative approval, he would have visited every single branch in the city center.
In another thirty minutes of frantic data entry, the digital notifications began flooding his screen. His account balance rapidly ticked upward as the funds were automatically deposited. He checked the screen again.
The balance now displayed over $500,000 in loaned capital. Combined with his initial $100,000 savings, he had a total of $600,000 available.
"Still not enough," Jet said, his frown deepening.
He opened his contact list and began scrolling through the names. But after scrolling continuously for three minutes, he realized he didn’t see anyone he could realistically call to ask for a large sum of money.
Jet himself had very few personal friends; the vast majority of his saved contacts were low-level coworkers from his part-time jobs.
Just then, his thumb stopped. His finger hovered above a specific contact name for a few moments before he decisively pressed the call button.
The phone rang exactly three times before the line was picked up with a loud click.
"Jet, you bastard! You finally remember to call me?!" a loud voice shouted aggressively from the other end.
Jet immediately had to pull the phone a few inches away from his ear to protect his hearing.
"Hey, Frey. Long time no see. How are you doing?" Jet smiled softly, his voice relaxing.
The boy on the other end, Frey, seemed to calm down his temper for a moment upon hearing Jet’s tone.
He cleared his throat and answered, "Yeah, I’m good, man."
"How is your old man doing?" Jet asked.
"That old man is doing great. He’s actually been asking about you lately," Frey answered smoothly. He paused for a moment before continuing, "Anyway, how are you and Miriam doing? It seemed like your relationship wasn’t doing so hot these past few months."
Jet’s lips twitched at the question. He leaned back against the sofa and replied dryly, "Don’t even get me started on it. I actually got dumped today."
There was absolute silence on the other end of the line for a few agonizing moments. Then, a hysterical, booming laughter burst out of the phone’s speaker.
Frey was laughing so hard he could barely breathe."Come on, bro! You actually got dumped? I told you that bitch was no good for you!"
Frey roared through the line. "You left me, your good brother, for that girl! We literally used to share pants together back in the day, but you chose her over me! Was I not good enough for you? Bros before hoes, man, haven’t you ever heard of the saying? Now look where that’s gotten you!"
"Stop making things weird," Jet said, facepalming as he listened to his friend’s ridiculous rant.
"Hmph!" Frey snorted loudly over the speaker.
Jet let out a soft sigh and then cut straight through the jokes, his tone turning serious.
"Let’s not talk about her anymore. Look, Frey, I need some serious help right now."
"What kind of help?" Frey’s voice shifted instantly, the humor vanishing as he picked up on Jet’s gravity.
"Can you lend me some money? I promise I will pay you back," Jet went straight to the point, his voice firm.
"How much do you need?" Frey asked without a single second of hesitation.
"Five million," Jet said, keeping his face entirely serious.
"Okay. Send me your banking account details right now," Frey replied instantly.
"Thanks, man," Jet said, a genuine smile appearing on his face.
"There’s no need to thank me. That’s exactly what brothers are for," Frey stated firmly. "Just make sure you don’t cheat on me with some random bitch again."
Jet’s expression twitched at the phrasing. "Fuck you, Frey. Stop making things weird."
With that, he hung up the phone before his friend could crack another joke.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Jet watched his screen light up with a new text confirmation. A direct wire transfer of five million dollars had just been cleared into his account.
The smile on his face widened. Now he was halfway through securing the total amount of capital he needed for his survival plan.
"Now, where can I get the rest of the funds?" Jet wondered aloud.He tapped his chin, looking around the spacious living room of the three-bedroom apartment.
As his eyes took in the value of the property, a calculated, ruthless thought slowly began to form in his mind.
He could use the apartment itself as leverage.
Just then, Inez’s high-pitched voice drifted over from the kitchen, instantly snapping him out of his deep thoughts.
"Big brother! Your food is ready!"
/N: Support by adding to your novel. And dropping a powerstone or two. Thank you.