10 Uproar

"Host, please be more ambitious." The system told Alan as he moped.

Alan sighed before thinking about what else he could do. "No use crying over spilt milk. What can I do to own a cafe?"

He began to brainstorm ideas.

"I could ask my parents for money," He thought. But he instantly shot that idea down. There was no way his parents would invest in a cafe based on his one week of experience as a barista, and it's not like he could explain the system without sounding insane.

"I could ask my friends from college!" He got excited at the thought of this. There were plenty of stories where college friends pooled their money together to start a business and became wildly successful. He went to grab his phone, when he realized a problem. "That's right," He thought miserably. "There's no way this will work because...I didn't make any friends in college!"

Alan suffered a critical blow as he realized the system might be onto something when it said he lacked charisma.

Continuing to brainstorm as a dark thundercloud of negativity poured out of him, Alan felt an idea go off like a lightbulb in his head.

"Why not just go to the bank and get a loan?" He thought. "I mean, isn't that what banks do?"

The more the thought about it, the more it seemed like his only option. Setting his resolve he decided not to put it off any longer. He strode downstairs with firm steps, and a determined gaze. He looked a changed man, a confident man. Anyone who saw him like this would have to believe he could do anything he put his mind to.

He strode with purpose through the house, and opened the door, ready to make his way to the bank. He wouldn't take no for an answer!

He strode outside and immediately stopped. "Ahem, system is that the moon?"

"Confirmed Host, that is the moon."

"I see. System what time is it?"

"Host, it is currently 9:47 at night."

"I see." Alan stood there for a moment, before turning to go back inside. "Tomorrow is soon enough to go to the bank."

A random voice seemed to call from the darkness. "I couldn't help but overhear you. Tomorrow is a national holiday so the banks are closed. Well, have a good night." A rogue author biked by.

"Why was there an author riding by at this time of night?" Alan wondered to himself, before shaking his head. It wasn't any of his business. He'd go to the bank after the holiday. As he thought this he stopped, waiting for another voice to tell him that something else would prevent him from going to the bank that day. No one called out to him. Nodding in satisfaction Alan went back inside and up to his bedroom.

****

The next day.

Tom walked into the cafe like normal. He was finishing typing an email on his phone, so he ordered without looking up. "I'll take a coffee like normal, Alan."

He didn't hear a reply, but thought that Alan had started making his coffee.

He kept typing his email, when suddenly he heard a voice saying, "Your coffee is ready, sir."

He looked up and saw an unfamiliar young man standing behind the counter.

"Who are you?" He asked, confused.

The young man look confused. "I'm Greg...why?"

"Where's Alan?" Tom asked. "Is he taking a sick day?"

"Who's Alan?" Greg was clueless.

Tom felt extremely confused. He went over to Wendy and asked. "Where's Alan? Is he taking a sick day?"

Wendy gave him an annoyed look as she was forced to put down her cell phone, but she answered. "He got fired yesterday."

It took a moment to sink in, but when it did, Tom reacted loudly. "He was what?" He shouted.

John, in his office, heard the shout. He walked out of his office.

"What seems to be the problem, sir?" John asked, confused. He recognized this man as one of their regular customers.

"What's the deal with firing Alan? He was the only good thing about this place!" Tom scolded.

"Sir, our hiring decisions are not for you to question. Alan was insubordinate and disrespected a customer, so I fired him. However, I assure you our coffee is just as good as ever." At this point John noticed that Tom's coffee was sitting untouched on the counter. "Why don't you go try it?"

Tom snorted, but went and drank the coffee. John watched expectantly, thinking the problem would be solved. To his shock, Tom spat the coffee out, and then poured it on the floor.

"This," Tom said. "Is disgusting."

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." John said severely.

"I'll leave after you give me Alan's contact information." Tom demanded. He was a high powered businessman, so when he demanded something he exuded confidence as though he was used to people doing as he said.

"Sir, we can't give our employees' contact information out to you. Please take your leave."

Tom snorted. "Who owns this building?"

John looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"I said, who owns this building?" Tom repeated forcefully.

John answered him. "I don't see how that's relevant, but if it'll make you leave, Alexander Willington owns this building. In fact, he owns this business."

Tom pulled out his phone and began dialing a number. It picked up after two rings.

Tom spoke to the person on the other end of the line. "Contact Alexander Willington. Tell him one of his employees is being disrespectful to me, and is making me consider running his puny real estate company out of business." Tom followed up by giving the address of the cafe he was at, and then hung up. He stared at John calmly, and crossed his arms to wait.

After overhearing the phone conversation, John began to sweat nervously. He didn't realize the person in front of him was such a big shot. This guy could even threaten Alexander Willington, whereas he was terrified of Alexander Willington. He began to regret not just giving the contact information out, but before he could offer to do that, the phone in his office began to ring.

"You should probably get that." Tom said cooly, staring at John.

*****

Alan relaxed at home, enjoying the holiday with his parents. Well, he wasn't very relaxed, and his parents weren't really enjoying themselves. In fact, nothing about the current scene was very pleasant.

Alan was nibbling on a dry piece of toast. That's all his parents had given him for breakfast today, no doubt to express their displeasure with him 'quitting' his job. His dad was holding up the paper like normal, but the article facing him was, quite conspicuously, about unemployment rising.

Alan cleared his throat. "Thank you for breakfast. Tomorrow I'll be going to the bank to see if I can get a loan to start a business."

His dad grunted, not looking up from the paper. His mom just said, "Whatever you say, dear." She sounded very unenthusiastic.

Alan tried again. "No, really. I'm writing up a business plan. I'm sure the bank will lend to me. Then I'll start making money."

This time there was no reply.

Alan coughed. "Well, I'll be upstairs."

He let out a breath after he left the kitchen.

As he walked up the stairs his phone rang. He saw it was an unfamiliar number so he ignored it.

However, the same number kept calling. He frowned in annoyance. "Telemarketers these days are so persistent."

Ignoring the caller again, he went to his missed calls and blocked the caller.

Elsewhere, Tom was listening to an automated voice on a phone. "The number you tried to reach is no longer in service."

He wanted to chuck his phone across the room. "How could you get me addicted to your coffee and then just vanish all irresponsibly?"

Truth be told, he wasn't the only one feeling like this. All of Alan's customers had raised a fuss at the store. Poor John at the store was practically soaked with sweat as he contemplated his future unemployment.

Of course, the cause of all of this was sitting unaware in his room at his parents house looking up on the internet how to write a business plan, completely ignorant of the uproar he'd caused.