"Who sent you here?" Paul looked at the two of them with a neutral expression.
This inside job has been his forte since he began working here. He already encountered numerous people, wanting to work their license with his help.
After all these years, he was already an expert on this job. Many influential people who don't have the time to fall in line, would reach out to him, and pay him a lot so that he could work with their license.
Outside, he also has a lot of contacts- people who call themselves 'fixers' who would contact people for him. In a sense, they were kind of the middleman in this transaction. Depending on the fixer, Paul would change the price of his service from time to time.
Eyeing Roland and Janine who was only wearing simple clothes, he doubts if the two of them were sent by an influential fixer.
He made a bold guess.
'This Roland took the examination previously but failed. Hence, he is now resorting to this kind of process to get a license.'
Paul already met a lot of people like this doing this kind of job. Most of the time, they were the kind of people who were prone to accidents and traffic violations on the road as they did not attend the proper seminar to get the license.
However, Paul was professional. This was his job, and this was the only way he would earn extra. He was not opposed to this kind of transaction at all. In fact, he even encourages it as it just means more money for him.
People like Roland who came here after having no choice usually don't have the right amount of money to pay for his services.
Knowing this, Paul would also try to make things difficult for them by raising the prices a little.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtIn his opinion, this was a little price to pay for skipping the trouble of having to fall in line, take exams over and over again because of how hard it was to pass.
"Adella!" Janine answered.
Paul looked at Janine and thought for a moment. Afterwards, he shook his head as he could not remember a fixer who goes by that name at all. The Adella she was talking about might be a newly recruited fixer who promises cheap prices for her new customers.
This just confirms his initial thought that Roland and Janine had come here as a last choice.
"Never heard of her. In any case, it doesn't matter anymore. Since you're already here and I have already typed in your details, you just need to pay 200 Global Dollars and you're good to go!" He said.
Roland did not react. He doesn't know the usual prices of getting a license the official way so he thought that 200 Global Dollars might just be natural. And anyways, 200 Global Dollars was really not big in his opinion.
However, the same could be said to Janine. She frowned upon hearing the price he mentioned.
"That's a clear rip-off. Getting a license in the official way would only cost around 40-50 Global Dollars including the driving course. Who are you trying to fool here?" Janine berated as she looked at Paul with a pissed expression.
She brought Roland here and even promised that the process would be smooth and cheap with the connection she had. However, instead of getting a cheap price, they would instead pay more than double? She realized that Paul was deliberately targeting them.
Janine could not take it idly, especially with her master, Roland beside her.
Roland also just realized that the price he set was not right. However, 200 Global Dollars for a smooth process was actually not that bad in his opinion.
"Hey calm down. It's just 200 Global Dollars," Roland patted her shoulders to calm her down.
Of course, as someone who came from a high-grade city, 200 Global Dollars was also not much in Janine's opinion. However, this was no longer a case of being cheap and being pricey, she promised Roland wholeheartedly, she was afraid that Roland would label her as a liar if this was not settled the right way.
Paul rolled his eyes upon hearing what he said, just 200 Global Dollars? As if you have that kind of money right now. He knew this kind of tactic. She was trying to berate him so that he would lower the price, while the other would pacify her and act as if he had the money so that their 'image' would not be ruined.
"Yeah, it's just 200 Global Dollars. So, why don't you pay up?"
"And besides, it was you guys who chose to get your license this way. Don't blame me for raising the price a little, alright?" Paul said as he looked at them as if they were a fool.
This kind of situation has already happened a lot in this line of work. He was no longer unfamiliar with such a scene and tactic. In fact, he grew old to such tactics that he now learned how to enjoy their act a little.
Hearing his blatant lie and obvious exploitation, Janine could not take it anymore as she whipped out her phone.
If it's like this then there was no one to blame other than her friend, Adella who promised that they just need to pay him a little to get the license.
Paul shook his head and ignored the two of them. He then proceeded to play his favorite game; the match 3 puzzle game called Candy Rush.
"Adella, what do you mean by this? We are already at the transportation office and in front of this Paul guy, but this guy has the nerve to charge 200 Global Dollars, can you believe it?"
After a short while, Janine put down her phone as she sat beside Roland with an exasperated expression.
"So, how did it go? You know what, just let it be. 200 Global Dollars truly isn't much-" Roland was about to convince her to just let the matter go, however, Janine interrupted him midway through his speech.
"Don't worry about it, Master. This matter is settled already," Janine assured him with confidence.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmRoland shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head, "Alright then. But did you forget? I told you just to call me by my name if we're not in the villa, right?"
On the way here, they indeed have such a conversation.
Janine smiled wryly. She was trained to be a servant, calling the 'master' by his name seemed a little inappropriate in her opinion.
However, since it was the master who said so, there was nothing she could do about it other than obey, right?"
"A-alright. R-Roland?" After some struggle she finally managed to speak his name.
Roland nodded his head, just as he was about to tease her by making her say his name again, they suddenly heard a childish tone playing in the background.
'I'm a barbie girl-'
Both Janine and Roland turned their heads towards Paul immediately.
Paul was also startled; he did not expect for someone to call him while he was playing.
Looking at Roland and Janine's judgmental look, he decided to explain, "This is my daughter's phone…"
Janine rolled her eyes at his blatant lie. "Who asked? Anyways, shouldn't you answer that phone call already?"
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Daily Chapters: 1/2
Completed Goal #1
Bonus Chapters: 2/12