Before leaving the house that morning, Evan first used the Reaper Server to copy out the source code for the upgraded game—something he'd promised Director Tate earlier. After calling Tate to let him know it was ready, Tate said he'd come by Northfield City later that afternoon to pick up the files.
Just as Evan hung up the phone with Director Tate, his phone rang again. Seeing his mother Kelly's name on the caller ID, Evan answered with a slightly puzzled expression.
His mother's voice was absolutely exhausted, but it wasn't despondent anymore. Instead, it carried a rare note of genuine joy.
"Evan, your father's awake. He wants to see you right now."
Twenty minutes later, Evan walked into his father's hospital room.
After spending two full days bedridden, Frank Carter's complexion was far from healthy-looking, but his eyes were still sharp and alert. It seemed like his father hadn't been completely crushed by everything that had happened, and Evan felt a wave of relief wash over him.
"Your mother told me you've been running the company these past couple of days?"
Evan nodded. There was no point hiding anything between father and son.
"I have been managing it for the past two days, yeah. The company's in a really difficult situation right now and needs to get itself out of this mess. And I believe I can actually do it."
Then Evan sat down in the chair beside Frank's hospital bed and carefully walked him through everything he'd been doing recently. He explained how his uncle had wanted to sell off the entire company. How he'd confronted his uncle directly about it. And of course, the most important parts—winning the award at Harborview University, successfully licensing the game to Silver Ridge, and how he'd already launched a brand new game project at the company with the goal of turning the market situation around.
After finishing his recap of all these developments, Evan looked at his father seriously and said cautiously, "So, Dad... your previous project is basically unsalvageable at this point, and honestly, I never intended to try to save it in the first place. However, I have a lot of confidence in this new game I've launched. So I'm hoping to be given full responsibility for the new game going forward. By the beginning of next year, I'm confident I can deliver results that'll satisfy everyone."
Frank laughed heartily at that.
"You little brat. You're finally brave enough to actually negotiate with me." Then his voice shifted, taking on a more emotional tone. "Your old man and I came to Northfield City with your mother, starting completely from scratch. Back when everyone else was going into more traditional businesses, your dad faced pressure from all sides when I decided to make games instead. Over more than a decade of ups and downs, some old friends left the industry entirely, others just lost contact, and I watched Redbird grow from a tiny startup with less than ten people to what it is today."
"I know I don't have that much natural talent when it comes to making games—I've mostly just been imitating what works for other people. But I can't help it, son. I genuinely love games. Being able to do something meaningful for gaming already makes me incredibly happy. And actually, over these past ten-plus years, what's made your dad happiest hasn't been the company at all. It's been you."
"Huh?" Evan listened, completely confused now. How did this suddenly relate to him?
"Dad doesn't know if it's my influence rubbing off on you or just your natural personality, but you've been interested in games since you were really little. At the same time though, you also seemed to look down on pretty much every game you played, like you felt deep down that all of these games could be made so much better than they were."
Evan couldn't help but feel a little awkward at that. Apparently he hadn't been very good at disguising his transmigrator opinions when he was younger.
"Dad has always been incredibly pleased that you've maintained excellent grades from childhood all the way through school and never caused your mother and me any real worry or trouble. So when you told us after graduating high school that you wanted to study game design in college, Dad was absolutely thrilled. Because honestly, I could already see back then that my son was definitely going to become an excellent game producer someday in the future."
"So this time around, Dad also had to face the reality that I might genuinely lack the experience and the luck necessary to make truly great games." At this point, Frank's tone dropped a bit lower, but then his voice became energized and spirited again. "However, even though I, Frank Carter, can't make good games myself, I absolutely believe that my son is going to be an exceptional game designer in the future! So go ahead and do what you need to do!"
Evan felt a surge of emotion rising in his chest and nodded firmly. "Okay!"
"But there's one thing you didn't handle well enough." Just as the conversation seemed to be wrapping up, Frank changed direction and brought up Evan's uncle. "In dealing with your uncle, you could have gone much further than you did. You were still being too soft-hearted about it."
Evan hesitated. "He is my uncle after all, and at the time, I was also thinking about your relationship with him..."
Frank shook his head. "Initially, I brought your uncle into Redbird for two specific reasons. One, because your uncle was kind of a rough character back then, and at the time, he could genuinely help the brand-new Redbird deal with a lot of gray-area problems—extortion attempts, shady business tactics from competitors, that kind of thing. The other reason was simply because he's your uncle. He's my brother."
Frank emphasized those last two words deliberately. "So your uncle joining Redbird was also a kind of transaction, in a way. For me personally, as long as your uncle didn't go too far or cross any major lines, I wasn't going to interfere with how he operated. But for you, if you want to accomplish something real with this company, you don't need to have any reservations about him whatsoever. Do what needs to be done. Because when it comes to your uncle, ultimately, just let him come complain to me about it."
Hearing his father say this so directly, Evan hesitated before asking, "Dad, are you thinking about... retiring?"
Frank nodded. "Small companies have their advantages, you know. Last year, when you came to the company for your internship, after about a month, people from the technical department came to tell me that your abilities were incredibly strong. They said they couldn't really teach you anything anymore and could only assist you with implementation. At that point, my whole mindset shifted completely. I was no longer expecting you to learn anything at Redbird—instead, I was hoping the technical department could actually learn something from you. I noticed your growth back then, and now I think it's finally time."
Frank reached over and patted Evan's shoulder twice, like a massive burden had just been lifted from him. "From this point forward, you're going to be in charge of Redbird's direction."
Evan felt slightly disoriented for a moment.
"So... I'm the boss now?"
His father nodded.
"I can just fire my uncle?"
Frank nodded again. "The company's growth had been slowing down in recent years anyway, so a few years back, I made your uncle an offer he couldn't refuse. I bought back his shares and transferred them into your mother's name instead. Do whatever you need to do."
"Then, Dad, you're not getting the company to reimburse you for this hospital stay."
Frank made a gesture like he was about to smack him, and Evan immediately covered his head and scrambled backward toward the door. His father's voice called out from behind him.
"I've been busy for way too long anyway. I'm planning to stay in the hospital for another day to rest properly and get a full checkup done. As for the company, just go ahead and run it however you see fit. If you run into any serious problems, you know where to find your old man."
Evan smiled knowingly. His father and mother definitely had a lot they needed to talk about privately right now, so he wasn't going to stick around and interrupt them.
Even though he'd been thinking about eventually inheriting his father's company for a long time now, when this day actually arrived, Evan still felt this strange sense of unreality about the whole thing. He'd originally come to this world with vague aspirations about shaking things up, and now it seemed like he'd finally taken that crucial first real step forward.
Thinking about it more carefully now, even though he'd sometimes felt like his father didn't take him seriously enough, looking back on it now, it had actually been more about his father's complete trust in his abilities.
However, now that he was officially the boss, did that mean he could also hire a secretary? So the real question was—should the secretary understand games? Or be good at taking care of administrative tasks? Or should he just go for the simple and crude option and choose someone with big—
Evan left the hospital, lost in those very important thoughts.