Chapter 55: New Business, New Profit Split

Half a month ago, Lynch hadn’t foreseen any of what was happening right now. More precisely, he hadn’t even considered that Michael, and everything related to him, would happen at all.

Lynch wasn’t omniscient. He was just a normal person, albeit one with greater foresight than most. But he couldn’t stand at the beginning and see the end — that would be godlike, not human.

The series of events triggered by Michael disrupted his original plan. Initially, he just wanted to make some quick money and leave. He hadn’t considered registering a legitimate company. But to deal with Michael and his associates, he had no choice but to register a company, ensuring that he appeared beyond reproach.

Even though his plans had changed drastically, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. There’s more than one road to the end — all roads lead to the bank, and the new plan wasn’t bad.

Mr. Fox hesitated for a moment and countered, “Isn’t ten percent enough?” He thought ten percent was already a lot — but it really wasn’t.

Lynch shook his head. “If all you want is currency exchange, ten percent is enough. That’s what my business is worth. But if you want to take money from me and run a business with it, ten percent won’t cut it.”

He continued without giving Mr. Fox any chance to argue or interrupt. “This isn’t me bragging — but right now, in the entire city of Sabin, only I can quickly raise a large amount of cash for you. I have ways of getting legitimate money. And you need money…”

Mr. Fox nodded noncommittally. He felt a bit of a headache. Ever since realizing Lynch’s cleverness, he felt a bit stupid by comparison.

Many people called him a cunning fox, but only in front of Lynch did he realize that cunning isn’t the same as intelligence — it’s just craftiness. He didn’t want to circle around with Lynch, because he knew he’d be the one dizzy and lost in the end. So he asked Lynch directly, “How much do you want?”

“Ten percent of the principal, and five percent of all other profits. I don’t cover any other costs.”

Mr. Fox understood every word in that sentence, but put together, they left him confused.

He paused — not because he needed time to understand, but to avoid revealing his weakness. Though Lynch likely already knew he wouldn’t get it. After half a minute, frowning slightly, Mr. Fox asked, “What do you mean?”

Lynch’s expression lit up. When dealing with any client — or benefactor — Lynch had patience, and showed more sincerity than anyone else. His smile was one such sign of sincerity.

“It’s simple, Mr. Fox. Let’s say you lent Tom a thousand Sol… just hypothetically. He gave you collateral worth one thousand Sol. But he defaulted. In the end, you recovered both the principal and interest — a thousand Sol each.”

“In this deal, your principal is one thousand, and your earnings are two thousand—”

Mr. Fox raised his hand and interrupted. “Sorry, I don’t get it. Shouldn’t my profit be just one thousand?”

Lynch patiently explained, “Remember the clause I had you add to the contract? That if the loan is overdue, the borrower automatically forfeits ownership of the collateral, and the loan and interest remain valid? That means you got a thousand Sol in interest and also a collateral worth a thousand.”

Seeing Mr. Fox’s look of realization, Lynch continued, “Ten percent of the principal and five percent of the profits — that adds up to two hundred Sol.”

This was a simple revenue-share agreement with a guaranteed base — a primitive but effective business model. Not common, but not rare either. Particularly in contracts involving speculative investment, such terms were often used to protect one party’s interests.

Mr. Fox took a long time to think it through. His expression was a mix of amusement and helplessness. “Honestly, if we just went into business as partners, it wouldn’t be so complicated. I could give you 20–30% of the shares. That’s a lot simpler than this.”

That might have been one solution, but not one Lynch preferred. With Lynch’s help, Mr. Fox’s business now appeared legal — but appearing legal isn’t the same as being legal. It occupied a gray area.

As long as Mr. Fox was strong and no one tried to challenge him, his operations were legal. But once someone did — or once the system evolved and sought to eliminate him — those same operations would instantly become illegal.

Gray areas can bring enormous profits, but they also carry immense risks.

Just look at how many people had recently been arrested or fled — this line of business was riskier than most entrepreneurs could even fathom.

Plus, it wasn’t a guaranteed-profit business. What if someone borrowed money and just refused to repay — or skipped town?

Sure, collateral might cover the principal, but that would still cut off expected future profits from capital turnover. Not to mention, debt collection often involved less-than-proper methods. Overall, Lynch had no intention of entering the business himself.

If he wanted in, he wouldn’t be negotiating with Mr. Fox — he’d just set up shop and do it himself.