Chapter 70
“... look, Jason. You gotta understand. I know that you are very spooked at what happened at the Prime Royals Hotel. But this is literally a once in a lifetime opportunity.” during a meeting of the creators behind their video channel in a coffee shop, Ricky, the sound effect guy of the channel, told Jason: “We’ve got our channel for over 8 months, and we are barely covering our operational cost. The ‘Munching Munchkin’ channel is online for only 3 months and they already have big brand sponsorships.”
“I agree with Ricky. We need to think about branching out and diversifying our content - our skits and animations are not standing out enough. There are thousands of channels out there just like ours. ” Tim, who was the video editor and the one who was closest personally to Jason offered his opinion: “I’m sorry Jason. I thought really hard on this and I can’t agree with you. For this channel to survive or even become relevant we need a big break - and this will be our big break! Just come with us this Saturday, we don’t have to do all that much in the hospital anyway. We just need to follow them and appear on screen.”
“And I kept telling you, this is not it!” Jason frustratedly said: “Branston and his team are reckless, arrogant, rude and always stirring up drama. If we do this, not only will we be doing some dangerous shit with them in a fucking deserted hospital, we’ll also be considered just another lackey suck up channel of his. Branding is what I’m talking about! We do not share a category of brand!”
“Hence we need to branch out!” Jamie, the camera and special effects guy also sounded frustrated: “I know you’re worried about our safety, because of the Prime Royals Hotel. We get it. We absolutely get it, okay? But we don’t know it will be the same with the hospital! We did some research on that hospital, there’s nothing weird going on in there!”
“Aside from the mass poisoning done by the mad and murderous nurse?”
“What… what are you talking about?!” Tim was surprised by what Jason said.
“That was not mass poisoning! That was a nurse who poisoned three gangsters for revenge!” Jamie said, “That’s a fucking revenge murder when it was still running! There’s no incident after it was deserted!”
“Yeah, but it happened shortly after that. You don’t think that’s just too coincidental?”
“Please, Jason, are you actually saying there are vengeful spirits in there. Do you believe that?” Ricky scoffed: “Do you know this? Or are you just assuming?”
“What happened at the Prime Royals Hotel, Jason?” Evelyn, the writer and sourcer of the channel and the only girl among them, asked a bit timidly: “You must have seen something that made you feel this way. Can you tell us?”
Jason sighed, he had been debating the idea of revealing his powers for a while: for one, both he and Caroline had promised Jianmen that he would only reveal the fact that he was a cultivator and his powers only if it was necessary - they were not planning to reveal their powers to Stephanie and Robert, and later Jianmen just basically wiped their memory; for two, without revealing his power, it’d be really hard to make a case against going to explore the deserted hospital, and his channel buddies wouldn’t believe him.
“I don’t quite remember what happened.” Jason eventually gave a cautious and mostly true answer: “I remembered it being grim and dark... and full of despair. It’s a dark place we somehow went to. We were lucky to be alive. And I don’t think exploring a deserted and haunted hospital, of all places, is a good idea.”
“Huh, that’s not what Branston and Brian told us.” Jamie said: “They just said that they don’t remember anything, but they were sure you, and Caroline helped save them.”
“Then they remembered wrong. Fucking douchebags.”
“Yeah. I… I agree with Jason. ” Evelyn shook her head: “I don’t think we should do it - it’s just too dangerous. And illegal.”
“Evelyn, you’re the first one that suggested branching out.” Ricky said, “And this is a perfect chance.”
“Yes. But not like this… I don’t want to put myself, or you guys in danger to do that.”
Just when Jamie and Ricky were about to voice their passionate support for collaborating with Branston, three people with whom Jason and his channel buddies were very familiar with just came into the coffee shop.
“Hello there my friends. How’s your channel doing?” a short girl with short and blonde, grey and brown hair smiled at Jason and his channel buddies: “Did you make it on the weekly recommendation list yet?”
“No. We almost got on though. What about you Kathy?” Tim asked, while clenching his teeth.
“We’ve been on it for the 6th continuous week!” a tall and thin guy with a pair of goofy glasses said excitedly: “Our music videos are trending on multiple platforms. And we’re getting another big sponsor!”
“Congratulations! Good for you!” Ricky almost spoke entirely through his teeth.
“Thank you! Keep working on your animations y’all.” Kathy smiled and then turned to the barista: “I would like a pumpkin spice chai latte please. And I would like a chocolate croissant.”
“Fucking bitch! Lowbrow juvenile parody grifters!” when the three left, Tim just stopped pretending to be nice and friendly.
“Relax, Tim.” Jamie was slightly embarrassed and took a sip of coffee, then turned to Jason: “Looks, Jason, how about this? The Branston team are going anyway. And for us, this is a chance. And they said that they wanted you to be there. But they also said they are going to go no matter whether you are in or out. So let’s just go, and if anything seems wrong, we get the hell out. You okay with this?”
“Look, fuck, I’d go, even not as a member of our channel.” Ricky laid back on his chair and said.
“Look, you guys can go without me. I can’t.” Evelyn was still timid but stern: “I just can’t.”
“Fuck.” Jason sighed frustratedly: “I’ll go with you. But if anything is wrong, I’m dragging your asses out of there. You hear me? Don’t be that fucking thrill seeking idiot in horror movies.”
“Yeah, sure. If you can.” Ricky chuckled.
“Then don’t be surprised when I do.”