Financial Emperor: After I Rose From the Dead
Chapter 34: Preparing For A Bid

Chapter 34: Preparing For A Bid

Rino leaned back into the leather seat that he occupied, tapping his fingers slowly on the seat’s armrest. He decided to be patient enough to wait for Camira, who kept fumbling through the file cabinets, to get the documents he requested.

Left for the sound of the shuffles through files and the soft hum of the overhead AC that was placed to cool the office, the atmosphere remained quiet.

"Here, sir," Camira finally said, holding a large brown folder with both hands.

Deep within her, she wished this moment never came. Due to this, her reluctance to hand the files over to Rino was evident. She felt more like someone delivering bad news to a war general.

Her demeanor just hinted at her being scared, unsure, and somewhat hoping the blame wouldn’t be laid on her.

Rino stretched his hands and took the folder from her trembling hands without a word.

Slowly, he opened it and started glancing through the nominal roll first. The first page was where the full list of staff, with their names, positions, departments, and pay rates, were recorded.

It was near and well-organized, to his surprise.

"Three hundred and forty-two workers," he muttered under his breath.

Then he flipped to the payroll summary where he realized that the workers who were owed happened to be the regular staff Those with special positions were paid their salaries, even though their own payment was higher.

Not wanting to give much thought to the corrupt system of business management that is rampant in the current day, he simply moved his eyes to the amount each of the workers was owed.

Out of the 342 workers, 20 held various special positions. This meant that the people he should place his concern on were the remaining 322 workers.

And for each of these workers, they were owed $3000 from three months of unpaid salary, the current month inclusive.

It meant they were paid $1,000 on a monthly basis. That’s so poor, he thought.

The payment was all going to be part of the new proposal for the upliftment of the company once everything was over.

So, in total, the amount he should have remitted in order for the workers to settle their debts was $966,000. He would do just that.

He blinked, lowered the sheet, and rubbed his face with his both palms.

By the side, Camira stood, occasionally shifting awkwardly on her feet as she watched Rino read her sins line by line.

But, he didn’t say anything. As far as he knew where the main problem for the company’s downfall came from—poor management—he didn’t need to ask questions only to be fed with lies as answers.

He tossed the payroll to the side of the desk like it was a piece of trash and collected the next file that was in the folder.

This second file which he now held in his hands was where the records of the company’s external debts were taken note of. Before looking at the price, he first of all went through the titles that were going to specify each debt.

When he saw the loan title, he looked up at Camira who stood beside him as if seeking an explanation.

"We weren’t getting enough customers that contributed to the company economy and profit maximization," Camira said as if understanding why Rino looked at him.

"We used the loans to settle some of our high needs and expenses," she added.

Rino brought his eyes down to the book without uttering a word.

The loans they owed different financial establishments now had their interests piling up. They had breached their repayment agreement, and so, have damaged their credit score by borrowing loans from financial institutions.

This was the reason why they plunged into immediate bankruptcy, and inability to pay their workers. That was the least thought that came into Rino’s mind.

He went through the tax debts. The company owed the federal government tax payments for recent months and it all totaled to the sum of $520,000.

Rino bit his lips.

The next page he flipped too contained other company debts that Nova owed. These debts totaled the sum of $2,034,000.

"What in the world?" he didn’t know when he unleashed the words that had been hiding behind his fury.

He calmed himself almost at the same time, exhaling through his nose.

Then, he pulled out his phone and went over to the draft app to make a summary of the total debts he should be budgeting for.

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> Workers: Nine Hundred and Sixty-Six Thousand Dollars [$966,000].

> Loans: Four Hundred and Eighty Thousand Dollars [$480,000].

> Tax: Five Hundred and Twenty Thousand Dollars [$520,000].

> Other Debts: Two Million and Thirty-four Thousand Dollars [$2,034,000].

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Making use of his phone calculator app, he rounded the sum of all debts grandly owed to the sum of $4,000,000.

So, he has now a new expense added to the table. Pain quietly escaped his body as with a crooked chuckle that held no joy, he shut the file and dropped it on the desk. His hands lingered on the cover as though hoping something different would happen if he opened it again.

Maybe, something like a miracle.

But it was just a mere impossibility. The numbers would remain the same.

To make things worse, and look like it was a mandatory task that he should pay for the debts, the system showed up.

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«↓ 3¡3 Goals Identified ↑»

«↓ 3¡3: Pay Off all Debts incurred by Nova Nexus Tower ↑»

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Fuck.

"Four million dollars," he repeated inwardly.

And they still had that muttered courage. The guts to keep this place running like a playground.

"Go and get—" Rino opened his mouth to make another instruction but stopped midway.

He wanted to ask that the general ledger should be brought to me. He wondered if they even had a ledger where they made a complete breakdown of the company’s income, expenses, and company accounts.

On second thought, he decided to forget about it. It wasn’t as if it would matter or go anyway to help resolve the debt issue.

Plus, he had seen enough already. He didn’t wish to see more irrationalities.

His reason for coming over to the company has been resolved by the way. He now had the numbers he wished for in his mind.

The truth was, if he was going to be placing any bid to own this company outright, it wouldn’t just be about how much he could offer. He thought there were certain factors the government might consider.

They would probably consider who had the ability to clear the incurred debts, has financial backup to restore operations in the company, and still make the business a profitable one.

For this reason, he needed to have the debt owed by the company in mind.

And there was an advantage he would be drawing to the company’s future economy and growth if his own bid worked.

Whichever bid he was going to place, he was going to make it very high enough so that other investment companies would raise their own bids. This way, the company’s worth won’t be underrated.

And this was going to become a starting point for the company’s future growth and improvement, especially as development was directed coming into the area where it was located soon.

His mind was made up.

And his plan was clear.

He stood up from the chair slowly, picked up his phone from the edge of the table, and gave Camira one last look.

Then, without a word, he made his way toward the door, leaving the scent of authority and frustration behind.

Camira, still standing in the same spot, swallowed hard as the door clicked shut.

She wasn’t fired.