Rahul saw it was a WhatsApp call from Mr. Sharma and answered immediately.
"Rahul! Did Vikram Singh from Kingmaker Media just try to poach you in front of 60,000 people?!" Mr. Sharma demanded, his voice thick with corporate paranoia.
"That's right. He wants me to sign an exclusivity contract with his agency," Rahul said smoothly. He did not hide this matter from his former boss. Mr. Sharma, despite his flaws, had been crucial to getting this new venture off the ground; Rahul couldn't do something as ungrateful and short-sighted as stabbing him in the back for a quick payday.
"This Vikram is truly a detestable snake! As soon as you show a spark of massive popularity, he swarms over like a fly to a corpse."
"Rahul, listen to me. Do not sign anything with him. This old brother will definitely not let you lose out in our cooperation!"
Mr. Sharma's voice sounded like he had just made a massive, firm decision.
"How about this? I will provide 100% of the liquid capital required to start our new agency; you don't have to spend a single Rupee of your own money."
"You will be the CEO, and you'll only be responsible for creating viral content and managing the international talent like Wannida."
"We'll split the equity sixty-forty. Sixty percent for you, and forty percent for me!"
"I absolutely won't let that bastard Vikram get his foot in the door of this goldmine!"
Hearing this, Rahul was momentarily stunned.
If Rahul hadn't known Mr. Sharma's cutthroat, profit-driven character so well, he would have definitely thought there was a hidden, toxic trap in such an offer! This was simply a godsend of a business deal!
However, Rahul also knew that Mr. Sharma was absolutely terrified that Rahul would be poached by Kingmaker Media, creating a massive sense of crisis. So, he was leveraging a massive financial sacrifice to anchor Rahul's loyalty.
Reciprocating his trust, since Mr. Sharma was laying his cards on the table, Rahul couldn't fall short either! He decided to put the older man's mind at ease.
"Mr. Sharma, don't do this."
"Giving me a 60% majority stake while you front all the capital is basically no different from just handing me free money."
"Starting an international media company is a massive money sink. How could I feel right taking so many shares for free? Even if it's considered 'sweat equity' for my channel, it shouldn't be calculated this aggressively."
"Rahul, you—" Mr. Sharma was about to argue, but Rahul interrupted him smoothly.
"How about this, Sir. I have some liquid capital on my end from my recent brand endorsements, about ₹25 Lakhs."
"This money will be my initial cash investment. As for the shares, we keep it simple: fifty-fifty."
"Vikram Singh is a snake who stops at nothing. I don't get along with his corporate culture, so I won't sign with him no matter what."
Mr. Sharma fell dead silent upon hearing this.
After a full five seconds, he regained his composure and sighed with profound emotion:
"Rahul... you are the most loyal, principled young man I've ever met in this shark-tank of an industry!"
"You're just like I was when I first started out!"
"Let's go fifty-fifty then, and your ₹25 Lakhs will count as your official buy-in. But listen to me carefully: that specific money will be strictly allocated as the company's travel budget for your world vlogs! The money stays in your corporate account, but I'll record it in the official ledgers to keep the lawyers happy!"
"Don't refuse me anymore. If you refuse again, your older brother is going to get genuinely angry!"
Hearing this, Rahul stopped insisting. He would just show his appreciation to Mr. Sharma through his massive revenue generation in the future!
"Alright, Mr. Sharma. Then I won't say any more," Rahul smiled.
"Still calling me Mr. Sharma? Call me Boss!"
Having had his massive paranoia put at ease, Mr. Sharma was in a very pleasant, booming mood. "I won't keep you any longer. I need to get my legal team to hurry and apply for the LLC incorporation so I can get the company set up before you fly back."
After saying that, Mr. Sharma hung up the phone.
"That old fox," Rahul muttered, looking at the closed WhatsApp call, the corners of his mouth curling up unconsciously.
Just then, Rahul's phone buzzed with an international SMS from his ICBC bank app, notifying him that roughly ₹11.5 Lakhs (500,000 Thai Baht equivalent) had been successfully deposited.
It seemed SGE Entertainment's desire to cooperate with his future agency was unprecedentedly strong! Their corporate efficiency was maxed out.
He wouldn't touch this specific money; he'd wire it directly to Kabir as a massive bonus when he returned to Mumbai.
Next, Rahul checked his YouTube Studio backend. After that brief, chaotic live stream, he had earned nearly ₹1 Lakh in SuperChats alone, even after YouTube took its 30% cut. Of course, such a high income was entirely due to the massive corporate bidding war between Vikram and Mr. Sharma.
Moreover, after the cinematic video release and the live stream, his subscriber count had officially skyrocketed to 1.5 Million! And his Instagram followers had shot past 1.08 Million.
Rahul believed that once the algorithm hype for the Pattaya video stabilized, his YouTube subscriber count would likely hit 2 Million within the week.
However, he had a new problem: he was officially out of raw footage and needed to hurry and film more content.
He opened the Line app and saw that Divya had sent a message early yesterday morning. She said she would conclude her factory inspections and return to Bangkok in about three days.
After Rahul replied to her, he saw that Wannida had also sent a message.
"The first day of missing Rahul."
The message was followed by a cute little bunny emoji holding a broken heart.
"When are you coming back to Bangkok? I'm inviting you to come over to my private apartment to play!"
Rahul typed back: "It'll be a few more days before I return to the city. I'm going to travel south to film more material."
Wannida instantly replied: "Rahul works so hard! I also have to work hard at my rehearsals to become a superstar!"
"I'm going to earn lots and lots of money so that you won't have to work so hard traveling in the future, Rahul!"
Looking at the message from the innocent idol, the smile on Rahul's face almost overflowed.
"What, does the little bunny want to be my sugar mommy?"
Wannida: "How about it? I'll sing every night just to support you!"
Rahul: "I'm not a male model from a host club, you know."
After sending that message, it showed as unread on Wannida's end. Being an idol trainee was incredibly busy work without much personal time; Wannida must have already been pulled into a new vocal rehearsal in Bangkok by her strict manager.
Rahul put down his phone, filled with emotion.
The grandmasters always say: don't let a good girl down, and don't let a bad girl go to waste.
But this restrictive philosophy didn't apply to a guy with a Karma System like Rahul. As a self-proclaimed 'scumbag,' Rahul only wanted every beautiful girl he spent time with to be happy and fulfilled. Perhaps this was what poets called 'boundless love'!
Since everyone in his orbit was currently busy grinding at their corporate jobs, Rahul focused his mind entirely on his own empire: filming viral videos.
In a place like Pattaya, if you didn't go to the sleazy beer bars or the chaotic go-go clubs, there wasn't much new scenery to see. To film fresh, high-quality material, he had to go somewhere drastically different.
So, where should I go next?
Thinking of this, Rahul opened YouTube to research popular, visually stunning places in Thailand. As he scrolled his feed, he saw a targeted advertisement between a few travel vlogs.
The title read:
"Koh Phangan Full Moon Party: One of the world's three major party islands awaits you."
"A massive EDM pilgrimage that everyone must experience once in their life."
"Party countdown: 1 day left!"
Koh Phangan Full Moon Party?
Rahul's attention was immediately drawn to this location. Clicking on the vibrant advertisement video, he saw massive crowds of handsome men and beautiful women from all over the world filling a sprawling, white-sand beach lit with massive bonfires.
Each of them carried a colorful plastic bucket filled with alcohol. Bursts of explosive, bass-heavy dance music combined with brilliant neon lasers under a massive, high-hanging full moon. Everyone was covered in neon body paint, twisting their bodies wildly, releasing their restless hormones to their heart's content!
They seemed to have completely forgotten their earthly troubles and corporate sorrows. All that remained was the deafening music and their passionate, uninhibited youth!
Rahul had long heard legends of the Koh Phangan Full Moon Party back in India. It truly was considered one of the three major party capitals of the world. Held punctually every single month on the night of the full moon, it was a massive, chaotic festival that had continued non-stop since 1983!
Rahul exited YouTube and opened his Indian social media apps to check the search volume. He couldn't find a single high-quality, cinematic vlog about the Full Moon Party produced by an Indian creator.
In other words, no major domestic vlogger had ever properly documented the madness of Koh Phangan. If he went there to film an uncut, cinematic experience, the video's traffic would definitely shatter his previous records. That's just how the algorithm worked; netizens loved seeing wild, forbidden things they hadn't seen before.
Moreover, Koh Phangan was located right next to the luxurious Koh Samui—an exclusive island resort destination that wealthy, elite tourists loved to visit. The two islands were connected by a short speedboat ride.
In other words, if he couldn't harvest any Charm Points from the wild backpackers at the Full Moon Party, he would still have a massive chance to trigger a high-tier System recommendation by returning to the luxury resorts of Koh Samui afterward.
Thinking of this perfect, two-part strategy, the decisive Rahul immediately booked his ferry tickets.
He was heading to Koh Phangan! To conquer the Full Moon Party!