Chapter 76 - Real Estate of Television News

January 5, 2012 – Thursday 5 am – Kangan Capital City – Sheraton Hotel

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"… And in the other news: A young woman was arrested today with the charge of assault and battery towards her boyfriend. Anne McCall has the details."

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"Earlier this morning, the police escorted a young woman after his boyfriend called 911."

("911, what's your emergency?" "Hello? Yes! My girlfriend and I are having an argument and she's attacking me! Please send the cops before something bad happens!")

"The young woman as seen in this censored footage is resisting arrest as the police asked her to enter the police mobile. After her boyfriend, who we'll call 'J' told her that he wants to break off their relationship, she reacted violently. It turns out that the young woman has been abusive to J for years."

["6 years. For 6 years, she would punch me, kick me, or hit me with something when she's mad at something. She wasn't like this when we were in high school."]

"J called 911 many times before reporting the same incident. Unfortunately for J, the cops did not take his reports seriously. This made J film many of the young woman's abusive behavior. We'll show you one of the videos he filmed. Warning to the viewers, you may find the following footage disturbing."

("*Bleep* YOU! YOU LITTLE *Bleep*! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? HUH? WHAT?! WANNA FIGHT BACK *SLAP* HUH?! COME ON! *SLAP* HIT ME, *Bleep*!" --- "Please *name muted*. Babe! Please stop! That's not what I meant! Stop hitting me!")

"According to J, the young woman would also threaten to take her life whenever J would want to break up."

[Yeah. She would say that she'll kill herself. I'm just scared she would actually do it, so I never left her.]

"Here's the footage of that happening. Be warned: the following has sensitive content."

("WHAT? WHAT DID YOU SAY?! WHAT THE *Bleep* DID YOU JUST SAY???" *CRASH* "I'm leaving *bleep*, I can't take it anymore." "STOP! DROP YOUR LUGGAGE OR I'LL *Bleep* STAB MYSELF." "Will you really? That won't work on me anymore." "I'LL KILL THE CAT! I SWEAR TO F*CKING GOD, I'LL GUT THE LIVING *Bleep* OUT OF THE CAT!" "No, you won't! I'm calling the cops." ----- "DoN'T LeAvE mE PlEaSe *Sob*. I lOvE You! i'M sorry! I'lL Change!*Sob*" "No. I know what you're doing. I'm done, *bleep*. I'm taking the cat with me.")

["So, what made you finally leave?" "I sent a message to Joe Farley's show, and thankfully they picked it out. Joe's guest at the time, Isaac, gave me a great advice, which I followed."]

"And that advice was heard by thousands of listeners of Joe Farley's 'Kiss the Radio' two weeks ago."

("I'm no expert, but I think her suicide threat is a tool of manipulation. She is using the guilt of any decent man to her advantage, so I know it's scary to actually leave… I'm almost certain that your girlfriend will definitely not kill herself… You have proof that she's the piece of *bleep* and she's the one who should be exposed… it's important to record her abusive behavior before you leave… leave because it's also the best for her… Leave her now, before it's too late for you, or for her.")

["People told me that Isaac left Nashville, so I didn't get to thank him. So, Isaac, if you're watching, I wanna say Thank You. You saved my life."]

"While J's former girlfriend will be spending time in prison, J is finally released from the prison he was forced in. For now, according to J, ["I'll get myself a cold 12 pack of Red Abbey, hug my cat, and chill with Isaac's songs."]. This is Anne McCall, reporting."

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*slap* Tayaw closed his laptop after he watched the video link that Chala sent him earlier. "Thank goodness…" Tayaw deeply sighed at the news. Although he was confident about his advice being correct, he could not help but worry about 8312.

While Tayaw did not show it to anyone, listener 8312's question haunted him up until today. Often, Tayaw would brood if 8312 heard his advice. If 8312 did hear the advice, Tayaw was still worried if 8312 took his advice or not. If 8312 took the advice and ran with it, Tayaw lost sleep as he could have gotten 8312's girlfriend killed.

Remembering 8312's bright voice and humor, Tayaw's subconscious burden was lifted, his heart feeling light. He finally got closure.

After stretching a bit, Tayaw got up from the bed to take a leak in the bathroom. After a week of visiting spots in New York, Tayaw and his family arrived back in Teungeb two days ago while Chala actually went back to Nashville to see his girlfriend. Tayaw over the past two days stayed in Kangpan while his family, after a bus ride, is home in Okuba, safe and has a lot of stories and photos to share to their friends.

The reason why Tayaw remained in Kangpan is to scout out the main office of Teungeb's Public Works and Highways Department; PWHD for short. Yesterday, while eavesdropping with his sensitive ears, Tayaw was not able to hear anything about the "Biongo Expressway Project".

In his past life, it was the project that was able to connect the cities of the mountainous Nabla and Nukab provinces, to the busy northern coast city of Biongo and its international airport. This will in turn, boost the tourism of Nabla Province, and the economy of Ouigab City, especially Southern Ouigab.

After taking a shower, he put on his three piece suit. Yesterday when he just wore his usual hoodie and rubber shoes to eavesdrop outside the PWHD office building, he spooked some employees and he was almost chased away by one of the guards of the office building.

Today, under the guise of researching government owned lands, he will enter the office this time. He wore his three piece suit to not get recognized as the one who spooked them the day before. He also had to look expensive, and in turn he would be treated more amicably.

After having a breakfast from the hotel buffet, Tayaw drove once again to PWHD Office building, arriving just in time for the office hours.

"Good morning sir, the purpose of your visit?" The guard by the entrance asked Tayaw. "Just a few inquiries about public lands. Where do you suggest I start?" Tayaw asked. "Ah. Look for a Mrs. Yohnie at that office over there." The guard pointed to somewhere inside. "Thank you very much."

Half an hour later, Tayaw walked out of the office building excited. While half-attentively talking to the people inside, he was able to overhear that there is indeed a "Biongo Expressway Project" and the engineers were just finished planning it. The project will start in a few months after the people involved in the project finish their budget estimation to submit to the Treasury Department.

"Alright. Alright.�� Tayaw silently celebrated when he got back in his car. The next step will be to buy some undeveloped land in Nasiri Hill. In the future, it will be where the top 1% of Ouigab's nouveau riche will make their neighborhood.

In the month of December, his fairy tales sold 3.1 million copies; it is back in decline. 'The Halfling', on the other hand, sold 9.3 million, 400K copies more than in November. Deducting all the cuts and taxes, he became 53,000,000 BGC richer. This makes his bank account currently has an excess of over 100million BGC, or $50M. This gives him a lot to use to invest in land in Nasiri.

"Alright. Time to go home." Tayaw said thoughtlessly, finally done with his business in Kangpan. While driving back to his hotel, he saw a huge billboard advertising an upcoming movie in one of the tall buildings. This gave him a sudden idea. "Wait. Should I visit Clambu and Kubing this time?" Tayaw dwelled on the decision. "Let's go."

His first stop will be Clambu City in Gonto Province. Clambu City is basically the where 70% of Movies and TV shows in Teungeb are produced. It's why the city is dubbed as "Teungeb's Hollywood". Teungebian's Film Scene, in Tayaw's opinion, while 'okay', at least to his world's standard, is still miles away from the old and powerful American film industry.

There will be one or two movies that come from Teungeb in every few years that would garner the attention of the international movie fans, but that's it. That does not mean that Teungebian Cinema does not have a niche international following. They would be the ones to publicize Teungebian movies that would actually be critically acclaimed even by American film critics.

Thinking about movies, Tayaw has not used the filmmaking skills that he drew from the mysterious roulette. Regarding the movies he drew, Tayaw is still considering whether he will produce them in this world. He will, eventually, but he's still debating when.

"Hmm. Should I look for actors in Clambu? Basically everyone there is either actors, or aspiring ones." Tayaw mumbled. "Ah. Big break." Tayaw sarcastically lamented the aspiring actors. "Okay. That was mean." Tayaw corrected himself the next moment, however.

Tayaw's next stop will be Ouigab's six-hour-drive-away neighbor, Nukab city in the small province of Gonto. Unlike Ouigab's music industry and Clambu's film industry, Nukab does not offer the traditional entertainment, but offers a second home for famous athletes and aspiring sportsmen alike.

It is almost universal knowledge that the higher the altitude is, the less oxygen there is in the air. Nukab, having an elevation of 2100 meters above sea level, is the best place for endurance and stamina training that Teungeb can offer.

It is also almost universal knowledge that aside from marathoners, athletes who train their endurance and stamina the most are boxers and mixed martial artists, so it would not be unusual for a Nukab City or Gonto Province native to spot a famous boxer or a martial artist jogging on some walking trails. This is also why Nukab has the unofficial title of 'Martial Arts Capital of Teungeb'.

Nukab has great weather; very much like Nabla. Teungeb, lying just above the latitude of Cancer Tropic, does not snow even in the coldest months, except for the highest mountain peaks; so the temperature would only dip to 7 or 8 degrees celcius at the lowest. Except for the typhoon months, Nukab is open all-year round.

"Alright. Why don't I look for screenwriters in Clambu? I might actually find a script I like and film the thing." Tayaw said on a whim. The more he mulled it over; however, resolve is slowly creeping up to him to actually do what he just said.

Since he got Earl Thompson's guitar in St. Louis, and since he started playing in Nashville, Tayaw has devoted almost all of his time to music. With the help of his perfect pitch, his enhanced brain, and the time freeze feature of the white void, Tayaw has written thousands of melodies and hooks, and compiled them into thousands of original compositions. What he has not done, however, is to write lyrics for the compositions.

The number of the songs he created is also overwhelming. He does not know which ones he should write lyrics for first. Once he writes lyrics for them, there's even more refining to do. After polishing, he also has to re-arrange them into the best genre the songs would fit in.

"It's easier to make a movie than to deal with those songs." Tayaw could not help but sigh.