## Chapter 219 – The Fight Beneath the Surface (2)
“Lanie. Keep an eye on things here for a bit.
I’m going to check in with Jebi.”
“Yes!! Ms. Vivian!! Ah!!
Please stand in line properly!!”
The brothel was now thriving as she had confidently predicted, and Vivian was even more energized, fully committed to her role as madam (manager).
As Vivian left the counter and walked past the long line of customers, their eyes, filled with anticipation and excitement, subtly followed her.
Her long, wavy hair, reminiscent of a clear blue sky, carried a pleasant fragrance.
Her skin was as white and soft as a baby’s, and her curvaceous, feminine figure ignited a desire for conquest in many men.
Vivian, who could be considered the highest quality in this brothel and who never yielded her body despite numerous challenges and monetary temptations from men, added another reason to visit this brothel simply by her presence.
And what about the two women at the counter, her subordinates?
They, too, seemed to be surrounded by a golden aura, never allowing any man to touch them.
There was Lanie, with her cute face and healthy, sexy figure, playfully hugging customers and acting cute, and Aurora, who greeted customers with makeup and a seductive smile that perfectly matched her face.
Whether it was wealth, looks, or even power.
Now, among the customers, the question of who would be the first to bed these three women, by any means necessary, had become a topic of gossip and interest.
“The madam smiled at me!!”
“No, she smiled at me! Look at your face before you say something like that, you jerk!!”
Vivian ignored the men who were busy fighting over her attention and left Flora’s main entrance.
She headed to the side of the slit-eyed man who was doing what he always did in front of Flora’s, a man whose inner thoughts were hard to fathom.
“Welcome, everyone!! This isn’t an everyday opportunity!!
We have amazing ladies here, you know?
The talk of the town these days!! Flora’s is open!!”
Vivian stood beside Jebi, who was diligently working as a tout, stirring up excitement in the men passing by. She watched him continue his solicitations, unfazed by her arrival.
“Welcome to Flora’s!!”
Since the women were exceptionally talented, it wouldn’t take long for even the longest line to disappear.
Eventually, Vivian joined Jebi in soliciting customers, and even more men, enticed by her presence, began to flock to the brothel.
After shouting for a while, Jebi lowered the promotional placard he was holding and took out a small water bottle from his side, gulping it down. He then offered the bottle to Vivian.
“Haa… Have a sip.”
“Ah… Okay…”
Since Jebi had already drunk from it, Vivian lowered her guard for a moment and put the bottle to her lips. The refreshing liquid soothed her throat, which had become dry from shouting.
But then she felt a bitterness that went beyond mere unpleasantness…
“Ptooey!!”
“Hahahaha!! Sorry, it was whiskey.
A little bit of alcohol is like medicine.
So, you came all the way out here, so you must have something to say?”
“Keh!! Cough!! It’s too… strong…”
It turned out that Jebi had been carrying a bottle of strong whiskey.
Vivian didn’t dislike alcohol itself, but the whiskey was too strong, so she clutched her throat for a moment before speaking with a grimace.
“First… I came to tell you that we’ve reached today’s sales target.
We’ll earn more in the next four hours, so there will be additional profits.
This is also a 40% increase compared to last week.
Compared to the beginning, the brothel’s revenue has increased nearly 20-fold.”
The brothel’s growth was now undeniable.
Unlike when they were running a male brothel with only Hwang Sonam, the brothel was now generating even more revenue, making it feel as luxurious as any high-end establishment.
A faint smile appeared on Jebi’s face as he listened to Vivian’s boastful report.
“Excellent…
It’s rewarding to see that I entrusted it to you.”
‘That’s it…?’
“Then, let’s start expanding the business…”
Surprised by Jebi’s unexpectedly bland reaction, Vivian swallowed her feelings and continued.
“Business expansion, huh…”
But Jebi cut her off, and Vivian was momentarily speechless.
“Are you confident?”
“Of course, I’m confident… if I keep at it…”
“I admit that the brothel business is doing very well.
You have a great sense of business, bringing in employees and utilizing the resources you have.
Compared to the scale of our cartel, which is like a bunch of neighborhood thugs, you and those ladies are truly wasted talent.
But that also means…”
Vivian began to feel uneasy at Jebi’s words, which were full of praise to a subtle degree.
But as she listened to his next words, it became clear where her unease was coming from, and Vivian pursed her lips and listened intently.
“It means that more flies who don’t know their place will be buzzing around.
Especially if you’re taking in this much revenue before we’ve even grown the cartel’s size.
And especially compared to the brothel businesses operating throughout the royal capital, Flora’s is still lacking.
That’s why I’m out here working so hard to solicit customers, isn’t it?”
“……”
“I acknowledge your efforts and skills.
But there are still more walls to overcome.
Like the large brothels such as ‘Mademoiselle’ of the Madam Laratina Cartel.
They collect as much revenue in just one day as we have to earn steadily for about a month.
But since our revenue has increased this time, maybe the difference has narrowed to about three weeks.”
It was a harsh reality.
Even if they worked this hard, they were still far from being able to overcome the vested interests that had already established themselves.
Vivian hadn’t just been running the brothel.
In everything, there were always pioneers who had walked the path first.
When Vivian started the brothel business, the first thing she focused on was the Laratina Cartel, which was making huge profits with its high-end brothels.
She had even secretly visited high-end brothels like Mademoiselle, using the cartel’s male subordinates as escorts.
Vivian, who had studied in detail the revenue structure of these high-end brothels and the aristocratic economic system that made it possible, had concluded that she could never catch up with them using the current methods.
The brothels had decades of tradition, quality of service, and, perhaps most importantly, the quality of the women available.
Mademoiselle was a miraculous brothel that deserved an A in every category.
It has been said that the difference between the rich and the poor lies in this.
The rich are people who earn income even when they are not working.
They are the people who first complete the structural mechanism of putting money to work.
Laratina wasn’t, but her deceased husband was one of those people.
He had initially focused on the nobles, who had the most cash available, and created the high-end brothel ‘Mademoiselle’ exclusively for them.
“Still, the reality is that their daily revenue is more than 20 times higher.
What if we recklessly expand the business in the meantime and are seen as a competitor?
You never know what kind of petty and unstoppable checks and balances might come into play.
It’s a bit much to say, but that’s the underworld for you.
Can you handle it?”
At Mademoiselle, nobles indulged in luxury and pleasure, paying tens or hundreds of times the cost of the services they enjoyed.
It was like being able to make money by simply fetching water.
It wasn’t just about buying a woman and releasing one’s seed inside her, but the time spent there itself had to be enjoyable.
Laratina’s deceased husband was the first to present this paradigm, using a lump sum of money to generate revenue and make a name for himself, and ultimately growing the brothel into something that no one could touch.
She herself had presented a new paradigm of low-margin, high-volume sales, allowing commoners to easily enjoy the services of the demi-human females who were resources of the lair, unlike the high-end brothels’ profiteering.
But in the end, only the nobles could move a significant amount of money, so compared to the Laratina Cartel’s method, it remained at the level of a sidegrade.
The Laratina Cartel had grown the brothel to a great extent, which could be called an achievement, and had even grown its military power based on its financial strength.
If she were to face them as a competitor in the same industry, how long could she last?
Honestly, she couldn’t help but be afraid.
Even though it had only been a short time, it was a business that she had put her heart and soul into.
If it were to collapse so easily that nothing was left, one of her values that she could show to Enic would be lost.
“Then… what should I do…?”
But she was none other than Vivian de Grenot.
The former young lady of Grenot, the greatest marquis family in the Groden Kingdom, and no one could break her will except for one person.
Finally, ready to face them head-on, Vivian asked the question with a serious expression. Jebi pointed to himself, surprised, and slightly opened his eyes as if he was surprised.
“Are you asking for my opinion?”
“How can we grow our businesses more stably…?”
Jebi stared at Vivian’s determined face for a moment, then slowly sat down on the street.
Vivian was momentarily taken aback by his actions.
Jebi, who was looking up at the sky and scratching his chin as if he was thinking about something, raised his eyebrows and gave an answer with a smile.
“Well… there are many ways, but it won’t happen in a few years.
If you prioritize steadily growing the size of the organization as it is…
In about 20 years, you might be able to do something about Laratina’s rival cartel with your abilities.
If not…”
It was an answer that could be called textbook in a way.
But Vivian couldn’t be satisfied with that.
If she were to do that, it would take 20 years to defeat just one underworld cartel.
The grand plan to give the world to Enic,
The most basic stage of that plan would only be completed when she was in her forties, which meant that she couldn’t guarantee that the plan would be completed before she died.
But perhaps he had seen through her impatience.
Jebi’s mumbling, as if he was talking to himself while looking at the distant night sky, tickled Vivian’s ears.
“If a natural disaster were to happen and Laratina were to collapse…
That would be a different story…
But what are the odds of that happening?
Laratina’s name is worth something, after all.
Haha!!”
Jebi’s eyes curved as he chuckled, and his eyes, where his pupils were not visible, curved like a crescent moon.
Listening to his frivolous laughter, Vivian looked up at the sky and was lost in thought, with many thoughts running through her head.
